Elon Musk of Tesla says self-driving cars will be safer in the aggregate. But most people don’t trust the same tech companies that screw up routine updates to smartphones and expose them to ransomware with their lives.
The Politics of Destruction
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We used to build things: infrastructure, government programs. No more. In the Age of Trump, we’re all about watching Mr. Destructo destroy anything and everything. All we can do is watch, and try to find pleasure in what we hope turns out to become creative destruction.
The Predator Option
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Hollywood production mogul Harvey Weinstein was fired from his own company after being accused by numerous alleged victims of sexual harassment over the years. Now there are rape allegations as well. The media and online pile-on makes some people uncomfortable, and the bigger issue is the power dynamic inherent to capitalism and the treatment of employees like property by employers, but this is one of those issues where it shouldn’t be hard to find the right side.
We Have Met “The Other” And They Are Us
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Only 54% of Americans know that Puerto Rico is part of the United States. Maybe that’s why President Donald Trump is getting away with not sending enough assistance in the wake of two devastating hurricanes.
Culture of Violence? Us?
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After mass shootings, many people point to easy access to guns as the cause of the problem. Others look at America’s culture of violence. How, they ask, can we put an end to that culture that glorifies violence? There’s almost certainly no way since it’s baked in on the left as well as the right.
Rise of the Brobots
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Some men are reacting to the “women in tech” movement by complaining that a “feminist cabal” is trying to subjugate men.
Can’t Do Gun Control. How About Crazy Control?
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Another mass shooting, this one in Las Vegas at a country music festival. As usual, liberals want to discuss gun control and conservatives say this is no time to talk about it. But half the equation is the mental state of the shooter. If you can’t ban guns because of the Constitution, how about banning mental illness? That could be hard too.
Free and Brave, Say It or Else!
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Some coaches and teams are telling sports players that they must stand during the singing of the National Anthem during sporting events or risk getting fired and blackballed, as happened to NFL player Colin Kaepernick.
Freaked Out About Not Freaking Out About the Freak
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President Trump has continued to lash out with bizarre and outrageous public pronouncements. He has threatened to destroy North Korea. He says athletes who protest police brutality should be fired. And he has no sympathy for the people of Puerto Rico, which has been devastated by a pair of hurricanes. In any other country, people would take to the streets to demand that the president be removed. But we’re chill…too chill.
Party Like It’s 1999 Degrees
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Most scientists agree: it’s too late to reverse, or even slow down, global warming/climate change. Too much energy has already been pumped into the atmosphere by greenhouse gases. Yet Al Gore and other environmentalists continue to argue that there’s still something we could do, just maybe. Of course we should stop polluting; pollution kills us and other living things. But climate change? Better to accept that it’s happening and that we ought to have done something about it decades ago.
