The world has changed a lot since 2003 when Queer Eye first aired on television. Originally known as Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the show shortened its title in order to appeal to a wider audience and subject matter. After the series cancellation in 2007, the show returns eleven years later, but this time as a Netflix Original Series and with an all-new cast. All eight … [Read more...] about Queer Eye (2018)
Dress Rehearsal For A Scandal: How Putin Came To Embrace & Weaponize The Web
The Russia scandal has shown Vladimir Putin to be extraordinarily savvy at using the Internet to advance his agenda by impeding others' agendas. In the case of the 2016 U.S. presidential election, this included targeting undecided voters cool to Hillary Clinton with avalanches of fake news and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts that were false fronts for anti-Clinton … [Read more...] about Dress Rehearsal For A Scandal: How Putin Came To Embrace & Weaponize The Web
Meat substitutes in Europe have grown by 451% in the past four years
Europeans are reportedly enjoying legumes more and more, and are increasingly looking for alternatives to meat. A display of legumes. Image credits: CSIRO. The most common legumes include alfalfa, clover, peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, lupin bean, mesquite, carob, soybeans, peanuts and tamarind. A new report carried out by researchers working in the TRansition paths to … [Read more...] about Meat substitutes in Europe have grown by 451% in the past four years
Trump deceived those who believed his populist promises
WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration is an aberration, an outrage, a threat to the nation's very soul. But most of all it's a great big fraud. Voters who thought President Trump would at least try to fulfill his populist, America-first campaign promises were cynically and cruelly deceived. Trump placates these supporters with rhetoric, distracts them with cultural warfare … [Read more...] about Trump deceived those who believed his populist promises
Wife Beaters (Column, Cartoon and Video)
Last week, Deputy White House Press Secretary Raj Shah addressed comments made by Omarosa Manigault about the turmoil in the executive branch by saying, “Omarosa was fired three times on The Apprentice, and this is the fourth time we let her go.” I am not defending Omarosa, who has gone from the West Wing to the reality show Big Brother where she said she is “haunted” by … [Read more...] about Wife Beaters (Column, Cartoon and Video)
Trump’s ‘Due Process’
While, I have often cried out against the callousness with which this administration speaks about or treats refugees, legal and undocumented immigrants, Dreamers and, yes, people from “shithole countries,” I will this time let two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Nicholas Kristof do most of the talking. Referring to President Trump’s suggestion that “the aim of his crackdown on … [Read more...] about Trump’s ‘Due Process’
On Marijuana Legalization: The Unique Struggle of a Recreational Medicine
Over fourteen years ago, Portugal decriminalized all drug use and chose to treat addiction as a medical condition. It was a bold move that many saw as a last resort to combat out-of-control abuse of heroin and other hard drugs. To the surprise of many, drug abuse has been all but eliminated in the country. The United States is not a progressive enough place for such a policy … [Read more...] about On Marijuana Legalization: The Unique Struggle of a Recreational Medicine
Yes, a Republican Running for Congress is Also a Nazi
Forget Washington for a moment. Forget the news that the Republican Congress has voted to massively deepen the budget deficit, the same deficit they used to blame Obama for. Instead, let's trek to the American Midwest and play "Meet the Nazi." In case you haven't heard - and this will be a worthy footnote in the annals of dystopic 2018 - an actual Nazi is the official House … [Read more...] about Yes, a Republican Running for Congress is Also a Nazi
Home Prices Won’t Be Going Down Anytime Soon
Over the last decade since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2007, home prices have made a steady comeback. Home prices hit their low in the Spring of 2011, having dropped over 20% since their peak in January of 2007. As the stock market makes a correction, one might ask, are we due for a correction in housing prices? I don’t believe so. A couple of things are … [Read more...] about Home Prices Won’t Be Going Down Anytime Soon
The Gift
The TMV article posted today “What happens to Our Consciousness when we Die” got me thinking about my own experiences being with people who die and what meanings I take out of that experience. As we go about our daily lives, grumbling about traffic or some slight we received from a coworker, it is important to keep things in perspective. To start putting our daily lives in … [Read more...] about The Gift
The agony of the moderate left
WASHINGTON -- It's not easy being on the moderate left these days. Politicians and activists committed to defending both liberal democracy and a practical, socially generous approach to government find themselves constantly torn between short-term imperatives and long-term hopes. This was brought home last week by two very different political struggles. In the United States, … [Read more...] about The agony of the moderate left
Guest Editorial: Once again, immigration gets punted while Dreamers wait in limbo
Like two football teams afraid of reaching the end zone, congressional Republicans and Democrats find themselves in a perpetual punting game on the subject of immigration. Promises abounded that immigration would receive a fair debate in Congress before a key March 5 deadline, but they were made only because Republicans needed Democratic votes to win approval… … [Read more...] about Guest Editorial: Once again, immigration gets punted while Dreamers wait in limbo
Good Memo, Bad Memo (Cartoon, Column and Video)
In a normal world where right-wing lunatics don’t base their political beliefs upon ridiculous conspiracy theories, the Democrats in Congress wouldn’t have to release a memo to counter the cherry-picked blatant partisan one put out by the GOP. The entire gist of the Republican memo is that the FBI broke rules and procedures by using a dossier, funded by the Clinton campaign, … [Read more...] about Good Memo, Bad Memo (Cartoon, Column and Video)
Peter Rabbit (2018)
In a quaint countryside village, Peter Rabbit follows the misadventures of the story's namesake and his family. Having to be self-reliant in many ways, Peter has taken upon himself the unofficial role of leading his siblings, and his cousin, to ensure that they live well and have food to eat. Doing that, however, requires going into Old Mr. McGregor's garden, which can be quite … [Read more...] about Peter Rabbit (2018)
Great Music – Chapter 7
In today’s Great Music journey, unlike previous journeys into the distant past, we enter the Wayback machine and set the controls to 1967 to hear Procol Harum play “A Whiter Shade of Pale”. Great Music did not die with the passing of the old European White Guys a couple hundred years ago. Modern music can make it in the Great Music portfolio because modern musical instruments … [Read more...] about Great Music – Chapter 7
We treat them miserably, and yet immigrants keep making America great
By Brian Regal It was a chilly day in Manhattan with light flurries falling that I sat in the third floor portrait gallery of the New York Public Library. I loved to go to the library to sit and think and write (I still do). There was a crowd of people walking around slowly looking at… … [Read more...] about We treat them miserably, and yet immigrants keep making America great
What Happens to Our Consciousness When We Die?
Clinically, we understand death to mean the state that takes hold after our hearts stop beating. Blood circulation comes to a halt, we don't breathe, our brains shut down—and that's what divides the states we occupy from one moment (alive) to the next (dead). Philosophically, though, our definition of death hinges on something else: the point… … [Read more...] about What Happens to Our Consciousness When We Die?
Falsehoods fly freely in Trump’s America
WASHINGTON -- This is the autopsy of a lie. On the night of Nov. 18, Border Patrol Agent Rogelio Martinez was found dying on the side of an interstate in West Texas. There were immediate signs it had been an accident. Martinez's partner, Stephen Garland (who suffered a head injury and doesn't recall the incident), had radioed for help, saying he thought he ran into a … [Read more...] about Falsehoods fly freely in Trump’s America
Cartoon: Today’s Republican Party
Gabon fights elephant poachers with hi-tech tracker collars
Ever tried to put a GPS real-time tracking collar on a five-tonne animal? Well in Gabon conservationists have begun trying to use the devices on elephants; tracking and drugging the animals, before attaching the high-tech gadgets in a bid to stop poachers and ivory trafficking. But it is not a simple task. Each operation needs around… … [Read more...] about Gabon fights elephant poachers with hi-tech tracker collars