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Politics

Homefront Battles for Democracy (America, April 2023)

In my Dec. 10, 2022, column, I wrote about the global authoritarian wave gaining strength since around 2006 and cresting after 2016; I recognized democratic countercurrents expanding over the past four years, but also warned about dangerous antidemocratic crosscurrents flowing inside the world's democracies.

We are in the midst of a cold war ...Read more

Spammed to Death, Part II

In the first part of this column, I laid out, in Andy Rooney-ish style, a typology of email spam, starting with targeted emails, the sort that can potentially be useful based on their recipients' identified interests; a writer, for example, getting emails on publishing and editorial services, book festivals and the like.

Since I am in education...Read more

Emailed to Death: Spam, Unending Survey Requests and Other People's Initiatives That Further Impinge on Our Time, Part I

Most of you of a certain age (say, above 30) should immediately recognize the name Andy Rooney (1919-2011). He was the grumpy, often whiny, scruffy and bushy eyebrowed, always honest TV commentator, whose five-minute segment closed the "60 Minutes" program from 1978 to 2011. Tick tick tick tick tick tick...

Once called "America's Grouch-in-...Read more

 

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Jeff Koterba Dick Wright Christopher Weyant Mike Smith Andy Marlette Gary Markstein