The troubling war on marijuana

While measures to legalize, or at least decriminalize, the use of marijuana are spreading all over the country, we should look at the heavy toll that the war on drugs, and marijuana specifically, is taking on everyone. Because so many people think marijuana is safe to use and do so recreationally, it leads to repeated police-public confrontations by over-zealous police, who can use the excuse that they smelled something to launch highly intrusive searches.
[Read more…]

Iran sanctions already crumbling

The 60-day deadline for Congress to vote its disapproval of the deal arrived at between Iran and the P5+1 nations is September 17, giving them roughly two weeks to do so after they return from their August recess. If a vote of disapproval does pass, president Obama has guaranteed a veto and so much attention is focused on whether the two chambers can muster the 2/3 majority to override the veto.
[Read more…]

When the tables are turned on those who spy on us

Over at The Intercept Peter Maas has a fascinating article that turns the tables on one of the people at the NSA who takes pride in his job conducting surveillance on people and finding out all that they can about them. He had been invited by the NSA to be the ‘Socrates of SIGINT’ (SIGINT stands for Signals Intelligence) and to blog internally and ‘write a philosophically minded column about signals intelligence’.
[Read more…]

Brave Ugandans

Last weekend, Cleveland held its annual Gay Pride parade that had to be rescheduled when the original one a month earlier was rained out due to a torrential downpour. These events are now very festive ones because Cleveland has become a city that is known for being welcoming to gays, even hosting the Gay Games last year, and one rarely hears about any protestors at these events
[Read more…]

More on the use of nuclear weapons

My post on the anniversary of the use of nuclear weapons on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where I unequivocally stated that it was a barbaric and inexcusable act and a war crime, generated some heated pushback and I urge people to read the comments there. I started to respond but realized that it was becoming rather long and decided to make it into a follow-up post.
[Read more…]

Two somber anniversaries of a moral atrocity

Today marks the 70th anniversary of one of the most horrific acts in history, and that is the dropping of a nuclear weapon on the city of Nagasaki. It follows by three days a similar act committed against the city of Hiroshima. The bomb on Hiroshima killed 80,000 people instantly and another 60,000 in the months that followed and the one on Nagasaki resulted in another 70,000 deaths in the short term. Of course, to these grim totals we must add to that the uncounted number of long-term deaths and illnesses and genetic defects that ensued and the creation of a wasteland where once had been two cities.

This deliberate killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians was an act of moral degeneration, a vile decision and a war crime by any measure. I find it incredible that anyone could have consciously made the decision to incinerate such vast numbers of people in a single moment. As barbaric as that act was, what is even more appalling is that many others not only exulted in it then, but continue to justify it now. It is indeed a sad reflection of our flawed humanity how the tribal mentality prevents ‘us’ from seeing ‘our’ side as incapable of evil and tries to whitewash this unspeakable act and somehow justify it.
[Read more…]