Society’s Slender Threads Are Fraying. How Can We Restore Them?

In my first Substack post in January, 2021, I wrote: "Society's Slender Threads Are Fraying. How Can We Restore Them?" Things have only gotten worse since then. I outlined an 11-point mission statement for a newsletter and online community. Read. A weekly e-newsletter is free. Full access to all content is just $5 a month …

‘Not Exactly Lying: Fake News and Fake Journalism in American History’

Columbia University Press: "Long before the current preoccupation with “fake news,” American newspapers routinely ran stories that were not quite, strictly speaking, true. Today, a firm boundary between fact and fakery is a hallmark of journalistic practice, yet for many readers and publishers across more than three centuries, this distinction has seemed slippery or even …

U.S. Needs Immigrants To Maintain Global Economic and Political Power

"Demography is destiny," supposedly said 19th-century French philosopher Auguste Comte, noting that increases in population enhance the political and economic power of a region or nation, while decreases in population reduce the economic or political power of a region or nation. China and Russia are losing population, so is India and Japan, partly due to …

Save One Life, Save the World?

An extraordinary feel-good movie, One Life, about how one "ordinary" British man, Nicholas Winton, portrayed by Anthony Hopkins, saved 669 Jewish children in Czechoslovakia from the Holocaust in 1939, is now streaming in the U.S. It does, unintentionally, raise uncomfortable questions as to what humanitarians can do to save the lives of the children of …

Indonesia’s War For Independence From the Dutch Empire In 1940s Illuminated by ‘The East’ Movie

A 2020 Dutch war film, "The East," popped up on my recommendations to stream. It is set in the Dutch East Indies of 1946 during the Indonesian National Revolution, also known as the Indonesian War of Independence. A soldier, deployed to suppress post-WWII rebellion in Indonesia, finds himself torn between duty and conscience when he joins an elite …

Optimistic Vs. Pessimistic Views of History: Which Wins Out?

I learned that a former neighbor, Doris Flexner, wrote a strong-selling book, The Optimist's Guide to History, published in 1995. But typical of human nature, it wasn't as popular as her previous book, The Pessimist's Guide to History, a "Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem," published three years earlier. That one was a bestseller. …

An American Expat in Egypt, Jordan, So Different From A Decade Ago

What's it like to be an American expat in the Middle East now, with regional tensions high and many locals blaming the U.S. for sticking with Israel? Samantha Childress on Substack shares her experiences in Egypt and Jordan. Goodbye to All That: On Loving and Leaving Cairo. Vignettes from Life in Amman. Despite a loud …

Immigration in America: A Mini-Course

I've posted a 10-part mini-course on immigration to my Substack. "Anti-Immigrant Sentiment Is Historic. And ignorant, against U.S. interests. Can we break with the past?" is part one, which has been e-mailed to subscribers. Click. It begins with a link to a NYT series on new state laws in 10 states restricting Chinese nationals from purchasing …

Russia Currently Has Battlefield Advantage, Ukraine Concedes. US Aid Is Mostly Defensive

The six-month delay on the U.S. military aid package has led to tactical disadvantages for Ukraine, says Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Shmyhal talks about the country's relationship with NATO and Canada's support for Ukraine during the war. Click. The U.S. aid is almost entirely defensive, and will not empower Ukraine to regain lost territory, analysts …

2 Books on ‘Tyranny of the Minority’ in the U.S.

PBS News Hour: "America’s democracy is in an uncharted and fragile place, according to two Harvard government professors. In their new book, “Tyranny of the Minority,” Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt say politicians are welcoming anti-democratic extremists into their party ranks and part of the problem lies in the Constitution. Laura Barrón-López spoke with the …

Israel-Hamas War At 8 Months: Disastrous

On May 7, 2024 the war between Israel and Hamas begins its eighth month. Some 1,200 Israelis were murdered by 1,000 Hamas operatives on October 7, 2023. In the seven months since then, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza. Among them, according to the Israeli Defense Force, were 11,000 Hamas soldiers, along …