How did we get to the brink of war in Europe, with Russian President-for-Life Vladimir Putin threatening to overrun Ukraine, the second largest country by land area in Europe after Russia? First of all, Putin is a former KGB officer, who loyally served the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and has dreams of restoring the […]
WEATHER EMERGENCY Multnomah County, followed by the City of Portland and the State of Oregon declared a State of Emergency just before Christmas, because they expected 1 to 6 inches of snow in Portland over the Christmas weekend! One local merchant said with a smile: “I’m from Minnesota.” Yes, many living in tents in Portland […]
Even though among the darkest and coldest months of the year, we have much to celebrate this December. Although plagued by problems made worse by an elderly and inept President, American freedoms and wealth remain largely intact. And we seem increasingly resolved to confront our problems, instead of letting them get worse as some pretend […]
The Noble Lie, where elites say something they know to be false but intend for the greater good, has a long history going back to the Ancient Greeks. Socrates argued that the Noble Lie advocated by Plato in his ‘Republic’ was completely appropriate. That was long before the Evangelical Christians of the 17th century (Puritans, […]
Believing the unbelievable has consequences, sometimes very bad consequences. We expect our public officials to have IQs greater than shoe size and therefore to make wise decisions. That is increasingly not the case. And no political party (on the Left or Right) has a monopoly on stupidity. The British and their European allies are a […]
The rapid collapse of Afghanistan under an onslaught of religious fanatics with primitive weapons was completely predictable. Yet President Biden maintained that it would not happen, as we closed our largest military base (Bagram air base), reduced our military presence, and eliminated our offensive capability in the middle of Afghanistan’s summer fighting season. We have […]
Because the global temperature has been very close to normal for several months, most people will wonder about a “Great Heat Wave,” except those who live in the Pacific Northwest. At the end of June, Western Oregon and Washington experienced one of the most extreme heat waves ever observed. For three days, temperatures rose to […]
It is almost the same story, time and again. Most people prefer to trust rather than verify, opening the door to fraud, sometimes fraud on an incredible scale. Just a little competent checking might have prevented monumental disasters. Did anyone note the recent passing of one of the most brazen con men of all time: […]
The problem with allowing politicians and other non-scientists to practice science is that they have no idea what they are doing and may get things so dreadfully wrong that vast numbers of people are seriously harmed. To the politically inclined, science is a means to an end, not the end in itself. Real scientists are […]
This is a tale about mad scientists or mad ‘wanna-be’ scientists who have the money and/or power to implement their very dangerous ideas. It is a cautionary tale about the great dangers we face from those who claim to understand science, but frequently have no idea even what science is, let alone understand its complexity. […]