Tag Archives: freedom

Whips Used to Break-Up Pussy Riot Protest of Vladimir Putin at Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics

Those wielding the whips are Cossack militia. These are some brave women activists: ___________

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In Light of Kiev, Will Vladimir Putin Be Tightening the Screws Even Further on Russian Dissidents?

Julia Ioffe, at The New Republic, thinks so: Moscow’s liberals are watching Kiev with a mix of horror, envy, and admiration: they’re just like us, but look at what they’ve been able to do against a president they didn’t like. … Continue reading

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With Marijuana Legalization In Colorado, The End Of The Drug War Has Begun

Social progress in the United States displays a decisive pattern: the right panics and presses every emotional button surrounding the horrible things that will ensue if x becomes law; x becomes law; nothing particularly bad happens (and if it does, … Continue reading

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Our Collective Existential Situation in a Nutshell (In Case You Missed It)

Here’s the two-fold problem: (1) each of us is limited to a body we did not choose and that dies, and (2) science since Darwin has revealed living things to be machines that evolve by competition (the proteins in cells, … Continue reading

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Gay Marriage: Liz Cheney’s Antigone Problem

In her bid to become a Republican Senator from Wyoming, Liz Cheney is in a bind. She wants the love of her sister, Mary, who is lesbian, but she also wants the love of Tea Party primary voters (who hate … Continue reading

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A Pretty Awesome Disruption of Business as Usual

Speaking truth to power and standing up for the stigmatized and persecuted.

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Celebrating Beardage

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Getting People to Sign Up for Obamacare in October

Here’s one way Oregon is trying to doing it: catchy and gentle persuasion. I like it. Carrots are better than sticks. But after October, maybe recycle this into the rotation at the Baby Channel? __________ Conservatives, I presume, will probably … Continue reading

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What Gay Marriage Is Really About

If we zoom out to a perspective of one hundred years from now, what has the gay marriage debate of the early 21st century really been about? I think that historians of the future will see an underlying issue that … Continue reading

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Assert Yourself

The below video is a nice introduction to existentialism. And so is this brief passage written by historian Carlin Barton in her great book, Roman Honor: The Fire in the Bones (University of California Press 2001, 31-32): On the morning of … Continue reading

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Billionaire Russian Roman Abramovich’s Yacht in New York

The biggest yacht in the world, owned by a Russian billionaire, came down the Hudson River today: __________ Here’s more footage of it: __________ It will be docked in New York for perhaps a month or more, establishing temporary residency. … Continue reading

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Rick Warren: Gay Orientation Is Natural, Like Arsenic

Rick Warren recently said on CNN that, if you’re gay and act on your orientation, you’re doing something akin to punching a person in the nose or cheating on your spouse! Oh, and being gay is like arsenic. Here’s his … Continue reading

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Zeev Sternhell’s Question: What Is To Be Done About The Anglo-French Enlightenment?

In The Anti-Enlightenment Tradition (Yale 2009), Israeli historian Zeev Sternhell (b. 1935) sees a fault line running through much of contemporary global culture: what to do about the Anglo-French Enlightenment. By the Anglo-French Enlightenment, he means the intellectual movement initiated in 17th … Continue reading

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Zygmunt Bauman On What Made The Holocaust Possible (And Whether Something Like It Could Happen Again)

In Modernity and the Holocaust (2000 edition), sociologist Zygmunt Bauman (b. 1925) explores the question of responsibility: who or what is responsible for the direction of the modern world? He explores this question via the prism of the Holocaust and has a provocative thesis: … Continue reading

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This is Life Affirming

And recalls a song:

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Penn Rages: 1 In 6 In Prison For Marijuana; Let The Marijuana People Go!

This is Moses to the Pharoah, and I say amen. __________ A transcript excerpt: Do we believe, even for a second, that if Obama had been busted for marijuana — under the laws that he condones — would his life have … Continue reading

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Evolution’s Eccentricity: Head Injury Savants And The Right Way To Organize Society

Imagine banging your head and suddenly having a talent for piano playing (or oil painting, or doing complex mathematics). It’s a real phenomenon. Here’s an example: __________ To my mind, this suggests that individuals are a lot like birds. Birds … Continue reading

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Republicans Oppose the Violence Against Women Act—and Lesbians

The Republicans are reluctant to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act this year. Why? Because nondiscrimination against lesbians is included in the bill. The poet Adrienne Rich, who died this past month at the age of 82 and who raised … Continue reading

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Jerry Coyne: Free Will Is Also A Delusion

It’s not just God that’s a delusion. Free will is also. And our language should change to reflect it. That, at any rate, is University of Chicago biologist Jerry Coyne’s opinion. Here’s his recommendation, from his blog today, of what … Continue reading

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A Better Angel of Our Nature: Democracy and the Way of Bees

If alpha-male behavior (dominating, hierarchical, authoritarian) is, at some level, natural, it’s also possible that democracy too is natural. These contending impulses—the authoritarian personality and the democratic personality—may be competing evolutionary strategies that, in fact, take up habitation in different … Continue reading

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