Facts and Honest Opinions
According to data from the Feds, home sales have surged in the last few years and the median sale price has steadily risen. At the same time rental vacancy rates have plunged to 5.6% as of the end of 2021. The most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that 46% of renters in the U.S. spent more than 30% of their income on rent in 2020. The Department of Housing and Urban Development defines this level as being . . .
The Big Bang Theory argues that “space” suddenly and rapidly started to expand about 13.8 billion years ago. “The Big Bang” is referred to as the “birth” of the universe. It represents the point in history where the laws of physics, as we understand, them work. It was not an explosion of matter in space but rather an expansion of space itself. The expansion continues. Twenty minutes after the initial bang, the universe cooled enough to allow the formation of subatomic . . .
George Santos (R- New York) has created a fabulous personal history out of thin air. His history, as an elite athlete and volleyball star, savvy business tycoon, friend of dogs, grandson of holocaust survivors got him elected. So it worked? When we read history, we tend to accept it as being truthful. It’s written down by maybe a professor from Harvard and contains many facts, most probably true. But, it can’t contain all the facts. What about those missing . . .
Why can’t we get things done collectively? There are many reasons why our personal plans fall short. One common reason is that our plan is not well thought out. A cure for this is to collaborate with someone. “Two heads are better than one”, attributed to John Heywood in his Dialogue of proverbs (1546), is solid folk wisdom. For the bigger challenges of our time such as gun violence, ruining the planet, and chaotic and massive human migration, we need . . .
War has played a major role in human history, whether war is raging or not. During peace-time the military prepares for war, while society absorbs the cost. Some theories consider war to be an integral part of the essence of humankind while others consider war to be the result of specific economic or ecological conditions. Philosophers have wrestled with the concept of being “human” for centuries. Do we have an essence, a nature, which causes us to start wars and . . .
The US poverty rate when first measured in 1959 was 22.4%. The rate declined during the 1960s. Since then, however, poverty has consistently been between 10% and 15%. The most recent official poverty measure estimates that 11.4% of the US population, 37.2 million people, were poor in 2020. In 2018, poverty in the US was set as an annual income less than $25,465 for a family of four with two adults and two children. This measure takes into account the cost of . . .
More innocent peopleare jailed than ever before. Exonerations are up exposing a justice system that doesn’t provide justice for the poor. The statistics of who gets convicted while innocent show stark differences by race. Children and people with mental disabilities are also treated unfairly. Why? There are several reasons. Here are important ones: Poverty and Ineffective Defense Counsel: Poor people disproportionately get entangled in the criminal justice system and are convicted wrongfully. A huge cause of this is ineffective assistance . . .
Needing Clothes, Food and Shelter The UN projects that the world population will reach eight billion by November 15 this year and ten Billion by 2060! Of course, projections are based on assumptions that may be wrong. Replacement level fertility rate is 2.1 children per woman. At this rate, population is at stasis from generation to generation. The exact rate varies from region to region and is affected by mortality rates and longevity. The current US fertility rate is 1.7 . . .
Thomas Hobbes declared in 1651, in Leviathan, that without a social contract in which everyone gains security in return for subjecting themselves to an absolute authority, a “state of nature” will prevail. Life becomes “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” when individuals are bound only by their personal power and conscience. Unlimited “natural” freedoms include the right to plunder, rape and murder. Social contract theory asserts that law and political order are not natural but a means to an end. . . .
An independent can be defined as someone who votes for candidates on issues rather than on the basis of a political ideology or partisanship. Let’s think for ourselves. Why rely on a political party with its lobbyists selecting a position on a list of issues from healthcare, military spending, gun control, income gap, or climate change? What if you love your guns and are also worried about our response to climate change? Why are these issues tied together? Because that is how the . . .
