Outer Cape non-residents pushing to vote locally

When Wellfleet’s non-resident taxpayers began to organize themselves about 20 years ago, they made a big point of declaring their innocence of any ambition for a vote in local affairs. But some, at least, of the growing demographic of second-home owners are now pushing for the vote. The Wellfleet Non-Resident Taxpayer Association (NRTA) recently held […]

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August 3, 2018 – 12:54 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (1)

Feelings complicate the immigration puzzle

Immigration has even a lot of liberals scratching their heads trying to figure out how we should feel about the various issues around the phenomenon of fellow human fleeing terrible conditions in other counties. The daunting complexity of the issues around the phenomenon of asylum-seekers just got a bit clearer with the outcry over the […]

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July 27, 2018 – 12:29 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged | Comments (0)

The fight is on. Which side are you on?

Something’s wrong with our political system when the most unpopular and, in the opinion of most, morally dubious president ever will, via Supreme Court nominees, have one of the greatest influences on American life in coming decades. No doubt Trump idolators are chortling at the irony. Checks and balances? None of the three branches of […]

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July 21, 2018 – 7:29 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Roth: hetero guy and great writer

Philip Roth, who died on May 22 at 85, has long been castigated by feminists for sexism, but his case represents a twist on what has, in the MeToo, era become a familiar scenario. The careers of the likes of Morgan Freeman, Garrison Keillor, (or more seriously Bill Cosby) have been seriously damaged by their […]

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June 18, 2018 – 2:46 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Roseanne vs. “Roseanne”

Should “Roseanne” have been cancelled because Roseanne is a racist? The MeToo era, in which art is being removed from museums and TV shows cancelled because of the extracurricular behavior of the artists, raises the old question: How should we view the relationship between the art and the artist? Apparently ABC didn’t find “Roseanne” racist. […]

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June 18, 2018 – 1:46 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

WHY THE FUSS ABOUT ONE SELF-DRIVING CAR FATALITY?

The death in March by an Uber self-driving prototype in Phoenix has been a serious speedbump on the road to what many think is the imminence of this revolutionary technology. The car’s braking system was apparently mis-programmed and the human overseer possibly distracted. In media stories, all the emphasis has been on the unacceptability of […]

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May 28, 2018 – 4:05 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

What is causing “Deaths of Despair”?

“Deaths of despair on the rise across state, country” read the headline of a recent story in this paper. Massachusetts is only 34th in the nation in deaths from suicide, alcohol, and drugs, as such deaths are being defined. But the Cape’s suicide rate is twice that of the state, the story noted. Given that […]

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May 25, 2018 – 1:07 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Are we dying? Or just changing?

In Wellfleet’s recent town meeting a speaker noted, as shocking evidence of the need for affordable housing, that “in last 25 years we have lost 62% of the young people in our town.” In a column a couple of years ago I raised the question “are Outer Cape towns dying?” I had seen an article […]

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May 9, 2018 – 11:41 am | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Does Facebook have more to apologize for than electricity or the telephone?

I’m sure there must be an easy answer to the following question that occurs to this pre-millennial. In Mark Zuckerberg’s recent appearance before a congressional committee, Rep. David McKinley, a West Virginia Republican, pointed to Facebook ads offering opioids for sale without a prescription and addressed Zuckerberg accusingly: “Facebook is actually enabling an illegal activity, […]

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April 18, 2018 – 2:58 pm | By Brent | Posted in Posts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Thoreau: liberal or conservative?

173 years ago this March, Henry David Thoreau, age 28, took his axe down to the still chilly shore of Walden Pond and began cutting down pine trees with which to frame his famous cabin. It was an iconic American moment, embodying youth, hope, can-do spirit. It’s my favorite part of “Walden,” the perennial classic […]

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March 30, 2018 – 3:19 pm | By Brent | Posted in Columns | Tagged , , | Comments (0)