Recent content by JBG

I just finished reading George Orwell‘s Animal Farm. This book, obviously a classic, is a parody Communist takeover and of life under Communism. I am surprised that I had never read this book before. It was not assigned to me in middle school or in high school. I found it sitting on my shelf...

I think that someone that maintains email correspondence with a pedophile does not become one by association.

Loitering around its corridors and "working" by having a few hours of debate a week.

I do not understand your last sentence, highlighted.

The United Nations has its origins in the brutality of World War II, that war's origins in Germany's and Japan's unchecked territorial ambitions, and the need to end the war in the debris of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden. The U.N. was supposed to replace war with dialogue. To quote George...

I just finished reading Reagan: The American President by Larry Schweikart. If 3 1/2 were available I would’ve given it a 3 1/2 rather than a three. To be sure, the book was extremely moving. It described quite well a person who was decent, but imperfect. He was a lousy parent and a great...

Leader of Columbia Brain Institute Quits Over Friendship With Epstein (link, excerpts below, no paywall) This is exactly what I was worried about; damage to innocent people. There is no suggestion that professor Axel was involved in any wrongdoing but, as H.R. "Bob" Haldemann notoriously said...

Why did NYC require ID for snow shoveling? What to know, (link, excerpts below) New York City just got pounded by almost 20" of heavy, wet snow, which is now blowing around. Not everyone is in shape to shovel and some are willing to help. Mayor Mamdani is requiring multiple forms of ID. This...

The article " ‘Corn Lady’ Builds a Culinary Empire, With a Side of Scorn" (link, no paywall, excerpts below) is a stirring example of what it takes to develop a country; a lot like the way the U.S. developed. This example hails from Botswana, admittedly not the most downtrodden of Third World...

I just finished reading Realm of Ice and Sky: Triumph, Tragedy, and History's Greatest Arctic Rescue by Buddy Levy. This is my second of his books, having recently read American Legend: The Real-Life Adventures of David Crockett. Realm is a more recent book and as one Goodreads reviewer wrote...

For discussion of contrasting shootings see ICE shooting of arrest resister - What's the real atrocity, "Bullet Price" Charged in Iran for Loved One's Bodies or ICE Activity?

Yesterday's NY Times, not a right wing paper had the following (link, not paywalled): No one in the U.S., on college campuses or in Minneapolis cares. But they are going crazy over the shooting by an ICE officer of a man who, at the very least, scuffled to block an ICE arrest and at the most...

I just finished reading Let Them Lead: Unexpected Lessons in Leadership from America’s Worst High School Hockey Team by John U. Bacon.The book was nominally about high school hockey. In reality the book was about leadership and an inspirational path to a better life. One of the few books that...

Whine to the U.N.

I received an email from a group to which I subscribe, Heatmap, that is advertising a free webinar entitled The Reliability Blind Spot in Solar and Storage (link). Heatmap is an activist group working to stem "climate change." Some of the concerns include the risks posed by "electric wiring and...