Politics

The USWNT Fails While Daring Greatly

Photo illustration by Slate. Photos by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images and Robin Alam/USSF/Getty Images. The US Women’s National Soccer Team lost, in penalty kicks, to Sweden in the first elimination round of the final 16 teams in the 2023 Women’s Soccer World Cup hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand. As discussed earlier on the Eastern Woodlands, the US team seemed... Read more →


Jason Aldean's Tough Small Town Doesn't Take Care of Its Major Problems

Jason Aldean certainly threw some wood on the fire that feeds the American culture wars with his song Try That in a Small Town. (See complete lyrics below.) Aldean's morally pure, no-nonsense view of the small town reminds us of the Neo-Confederate portrayal of Antebellum South as moonlight and magnolias, when it was, in fact, "an Antidemocratic, Centralized State, a... Read more →


... a very primitive species ... by marc a. cirigliano As eponymous character Starman observes, "I think you are a very primitive species." And, he continues with his observation that his planet is different from earth, "The strong do not victimize the helpless." When it comes to climate change the poor around the world are helpless and they are being... Read more →


Our Land by Langston Hughes

Published under Fair Use Our Land by Langston Hughes We should have a land of sun, Of gorgeous sun, And a land of fragrant water Where the twilight is a soft bandanna handkerchief Of rose and gold, And not this land Where life is cold. We should have a land of trees, Of tall thick trees, Bowed down with chattering... Read more →


Reprinted from Bloomberg under Fair Use. If Trump Won’t Lead the World, Others Must The White House leaves a leadership vacuum in the midst of a pandemic. By Michael R. Bloomberg April 28, 2020, 5:30 AM EDT Look elsewhere. Photographer: Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/Bloomberg The gravest emergency to confront the U.S. in decades has fallen on the watch of a uniquely... Read more →


Reprinted with permission from Letters from an American. April 27, 2020 Heather Cox Richardson Apr 28 Each morning, aides produce for the president the President’s Daily Brief (PDB), a classified report that summarizes the most important developments in security threats. Today the Washington Post reported that, beginning in early January, US intelligence agencies produced more than a dozen classified briefings... Read more →


Reprinted with gracious permission. Original link here. Letters from an American by Heather Cox Richardson April 19, 2020 The big news for two days has been the “protests” of state governors’ stay-at-home orders and mandatory business closings to try to contain the novel coronavirus which, as of today, has taken more than 40,000 American lives. The protests started last week... Read more →


... from Bloomberg: The Virus Should Wake Up the West by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge

Reprinted from Bloomberg under Fair Use. Politics & Policy The Virus Should Wake Up the West The job of government is to protect its citizens. The pandemic reveals that key institutions in Europe and the U.S. are no longer up to the job. By John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge April 12, 2020, 10:00 PM EDT Don’t be held back. Photographer:... Read more →