The story about the debate I had with ChatGPT. — Ever since the 2008 financial crash, the free market system has endured a withering assault by academics, intellectuals and those whose economic fortunes were crushed. The magnitude of the economic calamity has prompted many voices to call for the dismantling of the free enterprise system to put an end to…

In spite of the right’s attempt to caricature another Black narrative, this backlash reveals a deeply entrenched ignorance among rank and file Americans. — Mark Twain gets credit for a most illuminating quote: “It’s easier to fool people than convince them they have been fooled.” It suggests an attachment to one’s beliefs that is almost impossible to pry apart by an instrument of truth. The Twain quote sets the parameters of false consciousness, a…

“Listless Vessels” is polite terminology for American voters who have hooked their collective destinies to Donald Trump’s imploding star. — Here’s the bitter pill for personality politics to swallow: eventually the object of any following’s fixation gives up or dies. Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT) commanded a significant national following when he ran for president in 2016 and 2020. His crotchety brand of progressive politics illustrated that a small donor-funded presidential…

The anonymous quote actually says, “Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.” I edited it for accuracy. You’re welcome. — As well meaning was the intent of the anonymous source who coined the aforementioned phrase, it reads rather redundantly, in my view. The ruling class has far too long defined the parameters of poverty and its causes, a view that has mostly penetrated the consciousness middle- and working classes. The…

An unforgettable day I spent in the learning lives of a small group of special needs students. — “The Heimlich Group” is the visual pun I imagined about a private school that my agency had assigned me to as a substitute teacher a few months ago. The institution’s logo features two triangles–human torsos, arguably–one triangle superimposed upon the lower triangle. …

There’s no end of reportage on what Ellsberg did to hold the Pentagon accountable, but there’s little discussion about what we, as a nation, have learned. — The recent passing of Daniel Ellsberg, a defense analyst-turn-whistleblower, has prompted a number of obituaries recalling the impact of one man on the Vietnam War. In 1971, he unveiled the U.S. …

This Tisha B’Av, Jewish leaders all over the world will weep and mourn the loss of Judaism’s holiest edifice. Not a word will be uttered about the conduct that prevails today, which led to the Temple being razed almost two thousand years ago. — The end of the lesson in tractate Gittin 57a reads rather bluntly, dispensing the lesson learned from the destruction of Judaism’s Second Temple in 70 CE.

Luke Combs' chart success covering Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" ignites yet another shallow debate about racism; a furor which overlooks the fact that there would be no distinctly American music without the Black experience. — Entertainment rumor rag, TMZ, whipped up a teapot tempest featuring country musician Luke Combs' successful cover of "Fast Car". With the pretense of taking the Washington Post down a peg or two, TMZ attacked a column that addresses some awkward reactions to the single's chart-topping presence in country music's rankings.

Fiction — Smoke and laughter fill the air near cabin deep in the woods. A handful of men — lifelong friends — sat at a picnic table, drinking and playing cards long into the night. The last embers of the adjacent fire pit revealed the waning fury of the evening’s revelry. …