Category: Politics
Religious Right Fuels National Attack On School Boards, Exploiting Parental Frustration Over Covid Restraints
by Anne Nelson | Nov 23, 2021 | PoliticsOne of the few questions that Democrats and Republicans can agree upon is the school board controversy’s outsized role in the Republican victory in Virginia’s recent gubernatorial election. Although much of the press coverage suggested that the protests involved a “grassroots” movement, they have actually included an elaborately orchestrated operation to exploit parents who are […]
Next Steps on the U.S. AI Bill of Rights
by Dr. Lorraine Kisselburgh and Marc Rotenberg | Nov 2, 2021 | Politics, TechnologyThe President’s top science advisors, Dr. Eric Lander and Dr. Alondra Nelson, have called for a Bill of Rights for Artificial Intelligence. In a recent commentary for Wired they drew powerful analogies with traditional areas of government regulation. “It’s unacceptable to create AI systems that will harm many people,” they wrote, “just as it’s unacceptable to […]
The Pyrolysis Solution: Senator Manchin, Addressing Climate Change is Not a Zero-Sum Game
by Carlton Brown | Oct 31, 2021 | Climate, PoliticsBecause Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia insisted that Democrats walk back many of the critical climate protection measures in President Biden’s legislative agenda, the United States will, ironically, lose a historic opportunity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions while at the same time retaining the jobs of the 14,000 West Virginia coal miners whose livelihoods […]
The Legacy of Colin Powell, and the Legacy of Vietnam
by George Black | Oct 26, 2021 | Health, PoliticsThe cause of General Colin Powell’s passing will be recorded on his death certificate as complications from Covid-19. But his vulnerability to a rare breakthrough infection was the result of two underlying conditions, Parkinson’s disease and multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood that destroys the bone marrow cells that strengthen the immune system. Those […]
Big Taxin’ Deal: Reforming Corporate Income Taxation
by Steven Pressman | Oct 26, 2021 | Economy, PoliticsThe United States began taxing corporate income in 1909, with a 1 percent tax on profits exceeding $5,000 ($150,000 in today’s dollars). The top tax rate peaked at around 50 percent between World War II and 1978. It then declined slowly, reaching 35 percent in 1998. President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act cut […]