A Promised Land

America as a Developing Country

Babes, Beast Mode, Big Dog Fauci and the Challenge of Promoting Vaccination

A Chat with Babes

Early in my 1987-93 stint in the Philippines, I met with an attorney who conducted paralegal training – that is, sessions aiming to help selected farmers, shanty town residents, women and other disadvantaged groups acquire basic legal knowledge and skills, so as to in turn help their fellow community members with land, housing, domestic violence and other problems. Babes, as he was called (a typical Filipino nickname), explained that “it took me a while to realize that when I thought I was doing paralegal training, I was just giving law lectures” that his audiences didn’t understand.

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The First Shoots of Spring in Our Covid Winter

Surging stupidity, inequity…and hugs.

All Ears for Better News…

The Bad News First

Amidst a looming surge in a more transmissible and/or dangerous Covid variant, prompting our CDC director to warn of “impending doom,” many politicians are still throwing caution to the wind. With a 40,000-plus, potentially super-spreader crowd for the Texas Rangers’ baseball season home opener and Governor Greg Abbott banning any sort of “vaccination passports,” Texas is racing to win the state equivalent of the Darwin Award.

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Cry Until We Laugh

Some Funny Takes on Why We Must and Don’t Learn from Australia About Gun Violence

In the wake of eight shot dead in Georgia and ten in Colorado over the past couple of weeks, I was going to take a deep dive into gun violence. I would draw on analyses discussing: a wide range of relevant data; how we compare to other countries; U.S. mass shooting statistics; going small by “chip[ping] away at a large problem through a public health approach”; and a contrary prescription that asserts, “To change the status quo, Democrats should go big.”

On second thought…

Nah.

If you’re up for exploring any or all of these excellent articles, go at it.

But what strikes me about many such analyses is, through no fault of their own, how recycled they are. They update diagnoses, descriptions and prescriptions from a few years ago. They leave me disinclined to reinvent or regurgitate the wheel on this debate.

I’m not criticizing these thoughtful, informative commentaries; they’re as valid today as when originally written. But the refrains bring to mind this piece the Onion publishes each time we have a mass shooting: “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”

Instead, then, I’ll offer constructive laughter rather than despairing tears. I’ll recycle some humorous but extremely insightful videos contrasting American firearms policies and perspectives with those of Australia.

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