I began writing this on February 26, the thirteenth anniversary of Trayvon Martin’s death. Years have passed and the same question remains: freedom to, or freedom from? Said juxtaposition frames the entire relationship society had with the murder of Travyon Martin — although I know the jury didn’t view it that way. Did Travyon Martin […]
How Old is Too Old?
Benjamin Franklin’s saying, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes,” underscores the inevitability of aging and mortality — topics many prefer to avoid. Despite a reluctance to discuss aging, cognitive decline, and mortality, age became a highly contentious issue in the 2024 presidential election. When Joe Biden was still in the race at 81 years […]
Our Enemies Are Weaker Than We Thought
We’ve reached the three-year mark of Putin’s three-day lightning strike to seize Ukraine. Evidently, Russia is hardly the superpower that we thought it was. What’s more interesting is that it’s not just Russia: over the past few years, a number of anti-democratic regimes have revealed that the West overestimated its strength. It’s worth understanding why […]
The Center Holds by a Thread in Germany
After three and a half years of economic stagnation, rising prices, and political infighting, outgoing Chancellor Olaf Sholz’s tenure atop the German government ended with a whimper. Leaving office with a 20% approval rating, Sholz presided over the worst electoral result in his party’s history, as the Social Democrats (SPD) cratered to just 16% of […]
Searching for Order and the Afikomen
In a few weeks, Jews around the world will sit down at elaborately decorated dinner tables, muster smiles as they chew herbs dipped in bitter saltwater and hard-boiled eggs, and stumble along through the Haggadah. The Jewish holiday of Pesach, or Passover, is a yearly reminder of the limited range of Jewish cooking, but also […]
Quashing Quakers in Massachusetts Bay
Mary Dyer had already been twice banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, but she had no intention of leaving lost souls behind. Three times she returned to preach a gospel of the Inner Light, a theological claim characteristic of the Quakers which teaches that people have individual access to God and thus no need for […]
The Secretary of Defense May Want Me Dead
January 25 saw the first of what is bound to be many confirmations of controversial nominees off the Trump slate; the day also saw a run-of-the-mill excusal of anti-Muslim sentiment, which has become all too common in the wake of 9/11. When 50 senators and the sitting vice president voted to confirm Pete Hegseth as […]
China’s Play in the Global EV Order
The race to dominate the global electric vehicle (EV) market is on, and China is leading the charge. In 2023, China overtook all its competitors – Japan, Germany, and the United States– to become the world’s largest auto exporter, a position that marks the beginning of a seismic shift in global trade and technological power. […]
Should We Be Worried About China?
For over 30 years, the US has been unquestionably stronger than any opponent to our national interests — the People’s Republic of China is bringing those days to an end. The underlying source of tension between the US and China is Bejing’s territorial dispute with Taiwan. Since 1949, both nations have rejected the other’s autonomy, […]
Israel’s Concerning Presence in the Golan
Just days after the fall of the Assad dynasty in Syria, Israeli security forces moved to control the strategically valuable territory that separates Israel from its neighbors to the north and east. At the time, the Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, claimed in front of the General Assembly that the operation was […]