Each year on April 28, Canadians remember and honor those who have been killed or suffered injuries or illness at work. This day, known as the National Day of Mourning, was established by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984 and made official in 1991. The United States has no such equivalent, though Workers Memorial Day is now worldwide.
The Conversation
What Socrates’ ‘Know Nothing’ Wisdom Can Teach a Polarized America
Our apparent national impasse points to a lack of “epistemic humility,” or intellectual humility – that is, an inability to acknowledge, empathize with and ultimately compromise with opinions and perspectives different from one’s own. In other words, Americans have stopped listening.
Willie Nelson at 90: Still On the Road
Assessing Willie Nelson’s legacy is challenging because there are so many Willies to assess. There is historical Willie Nelson, child of the Depression. There is iconic Willie Nelson, near embodiment of Texas myth. There is outlaw Willie Nelson, revolutionizing the country music industry. There is activist Willie Nelson, Farm Aid’s co-founder and biofuel pioneer. There is Willie Nelson the songwriter of rare and poignant gifts, and more Willie Nelsons yet to be named.
Tucker Carlson, Fox ‘News’ and the Problem of Faking ‘Authenticity’
Carlson’s departure came on the heels of Fox News’ US$787.5 million settlement of the lawsuit lodged by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s promotion of misinformation about the 2020 election. Dominion had cited claims made on Carlson’s program as well as on other shows as evidence of defamation.
The Supreme Court Takes a Chill Pill: Behind the Mifepristone Stay of Execution
How to make sense of what four federal court decisions mean for the FDA’s authority to approve drugs – and where that leaves access to medication abortion, which is used in more than half of all abortions today.
‘Stand Your Ground”s Fatal Risks
America’s love affair with guns and lethal self-defense is replete with laws that selectively shield citizens from criminal responsibility when they use force and claim self-defense. Since their Florida start in 2005, these “stand your ground” laws have spread to around 30 states, transforming the United States’ legal landscape.
Clarence Thomas Is Undoing Thurgood Marshall’s Legacy
Throughout Thomas’ tenure he has pushed the Supreme Court to revisit prior decisions that embraced robust rights for society’s most vulnerable, and to replace Marshall’s vision with one more amenable to the powerful than the powerless.
Time to Abolish Laws Allowing Adults to Spank and Hit Children
Globally, efforts to end violence against children, including corporal punishment, have been underway for half a century. To date, 65 countries and states worldwide have banned corporal punishment. Unfortunately, Canada and the United States, including Florida, are not among them.
How Hip-Hop Enhanced American Education
2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of hip-hop. People around the world are taking time to reflect on and celebrate hip-hop’s accomplishments. Educators are not only remembering the obvious ways hip-hop has influenced language and fashion or provided the soundtrack to our study sessions and sports events, but we are also acknowledging how hip-hop has changed education.
El Niño Is On the Way, With Oceans Already at Record High Temps
During El Niño, a swath of ocean stretching 6,000 miles warms for months on end, typically by 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit–more than enough to completely reorganize wind, rainfall and temperature patterns all over the planet.
Dominion’s Defamation Case Against Fox Is Not Easy to Prove
The statements against Dominion have already been proved false. The question now is whether the statements harmed Dominion’s reputation enough to rise to the level of defamation. But it is far easier to throw around as an accusation than it is to actually prove fault.
In Defense of Major League Baseball’s New Rules
There’s an almost mythical belief that baseball doesn’t change over time. When this assumption is challenged, accusations of blasphemy result. But baseball has changed, and so have the rules.
Anti-Mifepristone Court Decisions Rely on Bogus Medical Information and Flawed Reasoning
One decision cites no evidence – because there is none – that mifepristone alone causes complications. Further, it cites no evidence that access to mifepristone through the mail, or up to 10 weeks of pregnancy, increased the rate of complications.
The Challenge of Boosting Electrical Vehicle Market to 67% of U.S. Car Sales
The proposal would require a huge change in production and consumer choice. To put it in perspective, in 2022 about 6% of U.S. passenger vehicle sales were all-electric. But U.S. automakers are already ramping up to meet the California rules, as well as aggressive requirements in Europe and China.
Banning TikTok May Weaken Personal Cybersecurity
Blocking access to TikTok by filtering traffic destined for addresses believed to be owned by TikTok is possible but would be difficult to accomplish. Server addresses can be changed and a TikTok ban could devolve into a game of cat and mouse.
Fox News ‘Journalists’ Lied With Impunity. It’s Their Business Model.
Businesses exist primarily to make a profit and doing actual news isn’t essential. Adam Serwer, reporting for The Atlantic, wrote “sources at Fox told me to think of it not as a network per se, but as a profit machine.” Profit machines can hire anybody who falls off a turnip truck and label them journalists because the job has no standardized requirements.
Efforts to Ban Critical Race Theory Have Hit 49 States
Researchers at the UCLA School of Law Critical Race Studies Program have created a new database to track attempts by local and state government to outlaw the teaching of the theory, which holds, among other things, that racism is not just expressed on an individual level, but rather is deeply embedded in the nation’s laws and policies.
Global Warming Is Powering More Home Runs
More home runs might sound exciting, but that boost in homers is also a visible sign of the much larger problems facing sports and people worldwide as the planet warms.
Millions At Risk of Losing Free Preventive Care After Court Ruling on Obamacare
A federal judge in Texas’s ruling would eliminate free coverage for many basic preventive care services and medications. The federal government appealed the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Massive Bloom of Brown Seaweed Heading for Florida, Threatening Sea Life
Scientists who monitor the formation of sargassum in the Atlantic Ocean say that 2023 could produce the largest bloom ever recorded. That’s bad news for destinations like Miami and Fort Lauderdale that will struggle to clean their shorelines.
Trump’s Charges and the Obstacles Ahead for the Prosecution
A former prosecutor and law professor who studies the American criminal justice system provides three key points to understand in the Trump indictment and the challenges that lie ahead for the prosecution of the former president.
Jacinda Ardern’s Goodbye: Her Politics of Kindness Fell on Unkind Times
Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as prime minister in January was a courageous and pragmatic decision for herself, her family and her party. Although many said she’d done a great job as leader, she rightly reminded us that a great leader is “one who knows when it’s time to go”.
Trump’s Arrest May Energize, Not Humiliate Him
Trump got what he wanted, as he, according to recent media reports, wanted to be the center of attention and create a spectacle. His detractors also got what they wanted, which was a visual record of Trump officially submitting to authorities, five days after he was indicted for 34 alleged felonies related to business fraud and a hush money payment to a porn star.
Regulating AI
Deceptive image and text generators are now available to millions of people and don’t require technical knowledge to use. Given the potential for widespread harm as technology companies roll out these AI systems and test them on the public, policymakers are faced with the task of determining whether and how to regulate the emerging technology.
Why Tornadoes Are Still Hard to Forecast
Meteorologists have gotten a lot better at forecasting the conditions that make tornadoes more likely. But predicting exactly which thunderstorms will produce a tornado and when is harder, and that’s where a lot of severe weather research is focused today.
I’m a Librarian Who Banned a Book. Here’s Why.
While this may anger some people and some groups, a balance in points of view is what any good library finds essential. Occasionally, some offended person asks to have a title withdrawn from being used, which is called a “challenge”; occasionally, these challenges are successful.
Prosecuting a President Is Divisive. Here’s Why Many Countries Do It Anyway.
Presidents and prime ministers aren’t just anyone. They are chosen by a nation’s citizens or their parties to lead. They are often popular, sometimes revered. So judicial proceedings against them are inevitably perceived as political and become divisive.
Trump’s Indictment and the Presidential Race
The Constitution does not require that the president be free from indictment, conviction or prison. But an indictment, conviction or both – let alone a prison sentence – would significantly compromise a president’s ability to function in office. The Constitution doesn’t provide an easy answer to the problem posed by such a compromised chief executive.
Against Baseball’s New Pitch Clock
The Major League Baseball executives who restlessly tinker with the rules in an effort to speed up the game are doing so less as its reliable custodians and more as marketers. Why else would they have adopted the new pitch clock rule?
Body Language Books Get It Wrong
Reading body language can be a useful skill in understanding how someone is feeling or what they might be thinking. But it’s important to remember that it’s not an exact science and there can be cultural or individual variations in how people express themselves through body language.
George W. Bush’s Promise of Democracy in Iraq, 20 Years On
While Iraq today has a constitution, a parliament and holds regular elections, the country struggles both with popular legitimacy and with practical aspects of governance, such as providing basic education for children. In 2023, Freedom House continues to score Iraq as “Not Free” in its measure of democracy.
Woke’s Potential Despite the Culture War’s Mercenaries
Open-ended terms like woke can evolve over time to symbolize more than their creators could have ever imagined. Words used ambiguously and in excess can eventually become meaningless. They can even experience semantic bleaching. This is when words lose their meaning through repeated and varied usage.
‘Salam, Ramadan Mubarak!’: 4 Ways Schools Can Bring Ramadan Into the Classroom
As Muslims begin observing Ramadan, it’s a good time to consider the importance of building a strong sense of belonging at school. Affirming the identities of Muslim students and all minoritized and racialized learners is a way of creating a positive classroom culture.
Why the Bitter Reaction to the Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr. Sculpture?
Despite the intended show of mutual affection between Coretta and Martin Luther King Jr., two of the most revered civil rights leaders in modern American history, many of the tweets shared on national news feeds after the unveiling were crude and misinterpreted arms for other body parts.
Should the U.S. Ban TikTok? Can It?
Banning TikTok on work-provided phones is one thing. A full ban of the app is another matter, which raises a number of questions: What data privacy risk does TikTok pose? What could the Chinese government do with data collected by the app? Is its content recommendation algorithm dangerous? And is it even possible to ban an app?
In Congress, Civility Is Increasingly Out of Order
A growing list of norm-breaking events away from a long tradition of decorum and civility are coloring how the GOP-controlled House, during the 118th Congress, is conducting business.
Trump’s Latest Attempt to Degrade American Institutions
Autocratic populists like Donald Trump claim they are the sole voice of “the people” and those against them are “bad” or even “evil.” They undermine any and all opposition to them and attempts to hold them accountable, including independent institutions like courts, elections and the media. This is how such populists become so dangerous for democracy and the rule of law.
Climate Is Reaching a Critical Turning Point, Report Warns, But Options Remain
The world is in deep trouble on climate change, but if we really put our shoulder to the wheel we can turn things around. Loosely, that’s the essence of today’s report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Farmed Salmon’s Fake Color Is Good For You
Utterly false claims that farmed salmon is naturally gray and malnourished are perpetuating myths that can confuse or scare salmon consumers. The truth is that the color of salmon fillets is red due to naturally occurring molecules called carotenoids, such as astaxanthin. This is part of a natural diet of wild salmon, and is added to the food for farmed salmon.
Iraq War: A Relic of the Past to a Whole Generation
The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the war that followed are defining events in the histories of both countries – and the region. Yet, for many young people in the United States, drawing a connection between the war and its present-day impact is becoming more difficult. For them, the war is an artifact of the past.
Why SVB and Signature Bank Failed and What’s Ahead
The failures at SVB and Signature were two of the three biggest in U.S. banking history, following the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. How could this happen when the banking industry has been sitting on record levels of excess reserves – or the amount of cash held beyond what regulators require?
Downing Drones and International Law
Russia violated international law when it failed to act with “due regard” for the U.S. right to engage in freedom of overflight. In fact, based on the U.S. account, Russia directly interfered with that right. And it is presumably on this basis that the State Department spokesman called the drone’s downing a “brazen violation of international law.”
MAGA’s Pulse at CPAC: A Confederacy of Demons
The Make America Great Again faithful at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference trotted out all their demons: China, transgenderism, wokism, the media, and undocumented immigrants.
‘Cultural Misogyny’ and Why Men’s Aggression To Women Is So Often Expressed Through Sex
Some men participate in sexually denigrating women – both those in authority as well as those in positions of submission in hierarchical organizations. Why is male aggression towards women so often expressed through sex rather than through other means?
Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Look at an Often Misunderstood Sect
In many countries, Jehovah’s Witnesses are known for their outreach work, going door to door or standing in public areas to try to distribute religious material. But many people are unfamiliar with their beliefs, and when the group makes headlines, it is often for reasons related to persecution abroad. So who are they?
Why the Job Market Is Still On Fire Despite Fed’s Hosing
The U.S. economy added 311,000 jobs in February, higher than economists were forecasting, keeping unemployment near the lowest level in over 50 years, despite the most aggressive pace of interest rate hikes since the 1980s. Why?
Barbie’s Endurance More Than 60 Years On
Sixty-four years on, Barbie continues to be the subject of cultural, sociological and psychological interest. By creating an iconic brand with special meaning for fans of all ages toy company Mattel has successfully extended the lifecycle of the Barbie brand for well over half a century. Barbie is also a polarizing, paradoxical figure.
When Asked, Voters Typically Reject School Choice Proposals
Of those 121 school voucher or charter programs in 45 states, only two have been approved by voters. In 16 referendums, the proposals have failed 14 times.
Springing Time Forward Is Bad for Your Health
Researchers are discovering that “springing ahead” each March is connected with serious negative health effects, including an uptick in heart attacks and teen sleep deprivation. In contrast, the fall transition back to standard time is not associated with these health effects, as my co-authors and I noted in a 2020 commentary.
Drag Show Curbs Likely Violate First Amendment
Republican lawmakers in numerous states, including Florida, seek to restrict or eliminate events like drag shows and drag story hours. These efforts have been accompanied by inflammatory rhetoric not grounded in fact about the need to protect children from “grooming” and sexually explicit performances.