Reading Time: 8 minutes In the late 2000s, research blossomed around our use of online avatars. Did our videogame icons and social media profiles represent our actual selves, our ideal selves, or something else entirely? And did they have a reciprocal impact, a “Proteus effect” that transformed self-perception? Did we change in the real world based how our online […]
national security
Posted inPolitics
Trump’s “Big Lie” a weapon of mass destruction. Why is he still free?
Reading Time: 4 minutes President Joe Biden this week warned, “Democracy is in peril.” The reason is Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” — an utter fabrication that his minions believe.
Posted inPolitics
Trump-incited attack against U.S Capitol was frontal assault on truth
Reading Time: 5 minutes The lie-inspired, Christianity-aided Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is but a symptom of Donald Trump’s continuing full-scale assault on truth.
Posted inReligion, The Secular
Fewer births and sagging religiosity are not destroying the world
Reading Time: 4 minutes Conservatives worldwide lament falling birth rates and growing secularization. But there’s no evidence this shift is putting civilization at risk.
Posted inScience
The ‘White Knight is talking backwards’ as the slaying virus spreads
Reading Time: 3 minutes Donald Trump’s super power is the ability to convince his supporters to ignore evidence contradicting what he says. It’s a dire threat to everyone else.
Posted inUncategorized
When the dust settles after Biden wins, we’ll need some new laws
Reading Time: 5 minutes Donald Trump has taken a wrecking ball to the U.S. republic largely because we have no laws to hold such wannabe autocrats accountable. That must change.
Posted inUncategorized
With pandemics, sickness and death only a fraction of devastation
Reading Time: 4 minutes When human catastrophes strike, the precious resources immediately needed — skilled people and critical materials — can be in very short supply. And it often gets worse as time passes.
Posted inThe Secular
China right to hold religion in check. But its tactics too harsh.
Reading Time: 4 minutes Like secular Americans, leaders of officially atheist Communist China want to keep religion from disrupting society. But can the U.S. find a gentler path to that noble goal?
Posted inGeneral
While Ukraine roils, VP is twisting arms for Christians in Mideast
Reading Time: 3 minutes If you loathe what the Trump administration has been doing in Ukraine, you’ll hate how Vice President Mike Pence is favoring Christians over others in the Mideast.
Posted inGeneral
The cult of Schiff? Meanwhile, GOP lies prostrate for ‘The Donald.’
Reading Time: 4 minutes As cult leaders go, U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff is about as charismatic as Don Knotts. Donald Trump on the other hand, is out of central casting, to our peril.