(Source: Mashable) It makes sense that we are indignant (though perhaps not indignant enough) about the scandal of illicit spying by America’s National Security Agency. But we should not be surprised. We should have seen this coming. Our reaction recalls Nietzsche’s reproach of people who spend their lives being surprised to discover things they had […]

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(Source: CNN) Think about it. The Obama administration is close to an agreement with the Iranian government to achieve a decade’s long goal. Iran would give up any plans it might have to develop nuclear weapons (verified by international inspections) in exchange for the lifting of some international sanctions that are doing significant damage to […]

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(Source: National Review) One of the more enviable political skills Republicans possess is the ability to sell their policies and ideas to the public even when those ideas directly contradict any notion of reality or good sense. They relentlessly insist the sky is red until voters believe them and Democrats are too intimidated to speak […]

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(Source: Getty) I was asked during a recent interview what happens to the tips we leave in restaurants. Do they actually go to the workers? I said they’re supposed to. Often they don’t. First, tips don’t only go to servers. They are typically shared—with bussers, runners, bartenders, floor captains, and more. These workers receive varying […]

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Jack Metzgar argued recently that working-class grit has value for all of us. Perhaps the most talked about notion of grit is Angela Lee Duckworth’s. She defines grit as maintaining “effort and interest over years despite failure, adversity, and plateaus in progress.” Duckworth created a “grit scale” focusing on the individual’s ability to commit to […]

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