The White House insisted that President Biden did not establish a new policy when he bluntly answered “yes” to the question, “Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?” To this point our policy has gone under the heading of “strategic ambiguity”. What does that mean? Well, it …
The child welfare system is, we are told, in place to protect children from abuse. In fact, the inordinate number of interventions in Black families suggests that the touted benevolence has turned into significant overreach tearing these families apart and thrusting children into a foster care system known to cause devastating harms. Often the crime …
When we have dreams about what our future may hold for us, is there anything that limits the possibilities we imagine for ourselves? In this country, the American Dream holds out the promise of limitless choices for all. However, Janet Ruane and Karen Cerulo, our guests on this podcast, two sociologists and co-authors of ‘Dreams …
The Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. Vivek Murthy, has issued a new Advisory highlighting the urgent need to address the health worker burnout crisis across the country. Health workers, physicians, nurses, community and public health workers and others have faced systemic challenges in the health care system even before the COVID-19 pandemic, leading …
There have been two periods in American history when the Democratic Party was dominant for an extended time frame. One was the Age of Andrew Jackson, which began in 1828 and ended on the eve of the Civil War, and the other the Age of Roosevelt which began in 1932 and ended in the early …
Let’s be honest, we all have biases. Often times they seep in unconsciously given the society into which we are born. The role of men and women, for instance, is societally reinforced by a host of cues, behaviors and modeling. Bias affects the individual who has to overcome someone else’s sense of who they are …
Not long ago, the technology industry was seen as a tonic for freedom and democracy. Not anymore. Every day, we see headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks and social media platforms fostering lies and hatred. Our guest, Jamie Susskind, has been called ‘one of the foremost thinkers on the transformative impact of …
State Senator Doug Mastriano(R) recently romped to the GOP gubernatorial primary win in Pennsylvania. He opened his victory remarks by evoking Scripture, saying “God uses the foolish to confound the wise.” He then went on to cast the November election in vivid religious terms with another biblical reference ‘Let’s choose this day to serve the …
The most enduring legacy of COVID may be how governments around the world used it as cover to undermine freedom, subvert the flow of information and establish ways of avoiding accountability that will outlast the pandemic itself. The United States federal government tried to flood the zone with questionable theories about how to deal …
The future solvency of Social Security hangs in the balance by decisions that lawmakers in Washington will have to make over the next decade. While many of us might think that Social Security’s solvency is fungible–just move some pots around–that’s not how the system was set up. It’s pay as you go using only funds …