Columns

The 30-by-30 goal is not a radical idea

Published on Tue, 11/17/2020 - 4:29pm

With the election of Joe Biden, we have a leader who recognizes that we need to use science to effectively deal with the threats of climate change and biodiversity loss.

To address these twin threats to the planet’s stability and integrity, the president-elect supports the goal of using science-based decision-making to protect 30 percent of U.S. lands and waters by the year 2030.

The best estimates suggest that only 12% of the United States land area is currently protected (much of this in Alaska).

The invisible COVID symptom: Anxiety

Published on Mon, 11/16/2020 - 4:49pm

COLUMBIA, S.C. - As I lay myself down to sleep on Thursday night, I began my usual review of the universe, the meaning of life, the interminable election and, of course, covid-19.

My eyes would not close. I reminded myself to breathe.

Then I did something my pre-pandemic self would have considered a waste of time: I downloaded a meditation app. It downloaded so slowly I fell asleep before it finished. Clever.

Who will tell the emperor?

Published on Mon, 11/16/2020 - 4:48pm

This is getting serious.

I’m not talking about the nightmare scenarios being spun about by law professors, most of whom, respectfully, have never walked a precinct. 

The states will finish their counts, certify them and send the electors who are pledged to the winner to the Electoral College.

Difference is quality of the work

Published on Wed, 11/11/2020 - 12:00am

This last week gave everyone even more reason to dislike media-types.

The ghost of future Trump

Published on Wed, 11/11/2020 - 12:00am
Article Image Alt Text

Relax. Breathe. Wait.

Freeloader U

Published on Tue, 11/10/2020 - 4:06pm

Yale University has fancy dining halls. They pay no property tax.

Local restaurants struggle to compete, but their tax burden makes that hard.

“We basically pay one-third of our rent in taxes!” complains Matt West, manager of Koon Thai Restaurant. “Yale is a money-making machine.”

It is. 

Many colleges are.

Yale has a $31 billion endowment. Harvard’s is $40 billion. My alma mater, Princeton, has $26 billion.

The GOP’s bad faith lives on

Published on Tue, 11/10/2020 - 4:04pm

WASHINGTON — It is not over.

The presidential election is certainly over, and the result was not particularly close. President-elect Joe Biden won a decisive majority of the popular vote and likely a considerable electoral college victory. Claims of widespread electoral fraud would be spurious even if they weren’t made by a prating fool in front of a Philadelphia landscaping firm. The 2020 election is done. Concluded. Finished.

What has not ended — what seems endless — is Republican bad faith and poltroonery.

Tamping down the health care hysteria

Published on Fri, 11/06/2020 - 12:00am
Article Image Alt Text

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court stimulates America’s most vibrant industry, which manufactures synthetic hysteria. The nomination to the court of Amy Coney Barrett occasioned high-decibel warnings that her confirmation would imperil the health care of Americans with preexisting medical conditions. Actually, however, Tuesday’s oral arguments probably will presage a ruling with negligible consequences for health care.

The woke lose

Published on Thu, 11/05/2020 - 12:00am

On Tuesday night, the American people spoke. They spoke with millions upon millions of voices to produce the greatest presidential election voter turnout in over a century. And they sent a variety of messages, most of them quite positive.

A fashionista rules?

Published on Wed, 11/04/2020 - 12:00am

It ain’t easy being a socialist.