I have used my Hebrew name by preference since I was 17. I decided that my values and consciousness come from two strains--Judaism (especially Haskalah Ashkenazi Judaism, but that absolutely built upon traditional religious Judaism) and Americanism. I was reminded constantly of the one just by living here and I also wanted a constant reminder of ( Read more... )

There's a bullshit Politico piece out, with a headline making it seem that Sanders is accusing Warren of representing the elites. As I said, it's bullshit. Sanders didn't do that ( Read more... )

I propose January 1 as MeWe Migration (from Facebook) Day. (You don't have to stop posting on Facebook, even if you're in ( Read more... )

Rules aren't always perfect for every situation, but good rules need to be generally enforced, even when they aren't ( Read more... )

Several decades ago, I came to realize that virtually all things that we think of, nouns, whether concrete or abstract, are really systems of smaller things. The solar system makes a very good illustrative example. These parts interact with each other, following some laws of their nature and the nature of the larger system ( Read more... )

This is nominally about baseball, but it's really about the shared responsibility of elections and the shared responsibility of living in society ( Read more... )

We will not accept Lord of the Flies as a defense against 1984. Nor will we accept 1984 as a defense against Lord of the Flies. It doesn't matter whether oppression comes from something that calls itself a government ( Read more... )

Bullying affects people you know, even if you don't know it.
I was bullied throughout my time in public school. It was worst in 2nd grade, but even as it got better, it never stopped.

The most physically damaging incidents came as I got older.

• I have hearing loss from a firecracker (M80, probably) thrown into an enclosed stairwell I was in.
• The ( Read more... )

Let's put that question I asked in May in plain language ( Read more... )

When I was young, I gave serious thought to the morality and technique of overthrowing the government. I came to realize that a literally revolutionary movement here could not destabilize the government, could not win a civil war even if it did destabilize the government, and had no way to avoid becoming even worse than the status quo as it would ( Read more... )