Writer/Author
Congratulations, fellow Americans, our nation’s infrastructure is not failing. We have squeaked by, once again, with a D+ grade. The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) grades U.S. infrastructure every four years. ASCE released its 2017 Infrastructure Report Card March…
(WASHINGTON—FNN) President Donald J. Trump stunned assembled dignitaries and a worldwide audience during his inaugural speech Friday when he announced that he will produce, direct and star in a new alt-reality television show called “The Sorest Winner.” “I won, OK,…
Pretend college awards made-up degree to sham university founder (WASHINGTON—FNN) For the first time in United States history, the Electoral College’s 538 electors convened by teleconference from their respective states Monday and agreed by a vote of 270-268 to award…
Merging Donald Trump’s surname with the word “empire” presents an irresistible neologism, given his carefully cultivated status as our era’s most overweening plutocrat. A Google search finds the term showing up online more than 5,000 times, its use dating back…
Gov. Paul LePage, R-Maine, who longs for “authoritarian power,” is a striking example of our need to improve public education in history and civics. “Sometimes, I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump…
9/11 changed everything, everyone said. Fifteen years later, we have some perspective to consider the truth of that statement. Physically, there is no doubt about the permanence of 9/11, even amid great change. What seemed for years a gaping, unhealable…
In recognition of World Photo Day, I am posting images of the first photograph and the earliest known photograph of people. We can thank two Frenchmen for these photos, and for their contributions to the development of photography. (Raise a…
The Syracuse Online Business Blog recently published my article, “The Coffee Trade: Fair, Direct or Transparent?” If you love coffee, you may never stop to consider that the steaming cup in front of you also contains an ethical question: Is…
On this Independence Day, I salute editors—those unseen gatekeepers who make writing better and whose absence highlights the risks of too much independence. Freedom. Liberty. Rugged individualism. They are in our national DNA and inseparable from American culture. But like…
One week after Cincinnati Zoo officials fatally shot a gorilla to protect a child, one aspect of the public outcry proves many humans are birdbrained. That’s actually unfair to birds. Many are quite intelligent. A study two years ago found…