Category: Essay

Fake News in the Post Truth Era and How to Fix it

October 19th 2017

Fake News in the Post Truth Era
and How to Fix it
By Peter Barnet

"Without accountability for free speech there can be no trust and without trust our democracy is doomed."

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Letters to the Editor

  • Peter Moore: “The first amendment should not protect anonymous speech.” [read more]
  • William Jastromb: “Fake news is at the heart of what we think is the role of government in a resilient democracy.” [read more]
  • Haven Pell: “The NY Times is ... responsible for its content ... Should Facebook be less so?” [read more]
  • Joe McCarthy: “We have become a society of protesters ... on behalf of individual myopic self-interest.” [read more]
  • Pierre Everaert: “The proposed solution ... might very well eliminate “fake news” forever.” [read more]
  • Michael Wyly: “If We The People ... do not ... separate true news from fake news ... the American dream is over.” [read more]
  • Charles Deahl: “It is not the ... fake news that makes the difference; it is the receiver, the reader, the voter ...” [read more]
  • John MacMurray: “Franklin would have been revolted by ... the First Amendment’s prohibition of Congress making any law abridging the freedoms of the press or speech ...” [read more]
  • Richard Collier: “A reporter writes a story that's news. It consumes only eleven column inches. The editor has a need for thirty ...” [read more]

Wanted: Dead!

December 21st 2016

WANTED: DEAD!
THE ISLAMIC STATE
AND HOW TO
DEFEAT IT
By Robert Hardy

"One cannot bomb an idea or an ideology and IS can survive physical defeat and dispersion.”

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Letters to the Editor

  • John Hennessy: "Forget the idea of us and or our allies arming or advising any participants." [read more]
  • Jean Klaimepenser: "We must . . . launch a full ideological war . . . without worrying about shaking up moderate Islam." [read more]
  • John MacMurray: "I would deal in the short run with ISIS the same way Alexander the Great dealt with Thebes." [read more]
  • Peter Moore: "Trump is responding exactly the way ISIS wants him to." [read more]
  • Dan Simpson: "The idea of Iran pursuing a new “Persian Empire”, and as the most serious enemy, is just wrong." [read more]
  • Stefano Starace Janfolla: "Iran is perceived as a mortal danger by Israel whereas Saudi Arabia is not." [read more]
  • Thomas H. Tucker: ". . . we should reexamine our unconditional support for Israel." [read more]
  • Michael Wyly: "Walesa, said that it was the Catholic Church with the stronger ideology that defeated Soviet communism." [read more]

Mandatory Voting

October 12th 2016

MANDATORY VOTING
By George Cadwalader

“If a bovine majority is willing to let itself be ruled by activist minorities, then… what we have is no longer a democracy”

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Letters to the Editor

  • Peter Barnet: "The Founders never thought that most citizens would not care enough to vote, let alone cast an ignorant one" [read more]
  • John Cogswell: "…it is an illusion to think that voting by itself can ever be a solution." [read more]
  • George Doubleday: "… the more likely solution is probably vote-by-mail" [read more]
  • Gerald McGee: "I would only support mandatory voting if it were coupled by mandatory public or military service" [read more]
  • Peter Moore: "The ills that afflict the body politic are not going to be cured by the fraction of the population that turns out on election day" [read more]
  • Haven Pell: "…it is hard to see the difference between 120 million low information voters and 180 million low information voters" [read more]
  • David Simmons: "I was seriously considering not voting until I read this" [read more]
  • Thomas H. Tucker: "…the real problem in the U.S. is not really voter participation but rather voter registration."[read more]
  • Michael Wyly: "We now have a new version of royalty, surrounded by vassals willing to do anything for 'the crown'" [read more]

Curbing an American Oligarghy

January 15th 2016

CURBING AN AMERICAN OLIGARCHY
By Joseph Novitski

“No qualification of wealth, of birth, of religious faith, or of civil profession is permitted to fetter the judgment or disappoint the inclination of the people.”
Federalist #57 (Hamilton or Madison)

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Letters to the Editor

Migration into Europe is an American Responsibility

October 3rd 2015

MIGRATION INTO EUROPE IS AN AMERICAN RESPONSIBILITY
By Daniel H. Simpson 

“You broke it, you bought it,”
Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.

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Letters to the Editor

Did Occupy Wall Street Pick The Wrong Address?

April 25th 2015

DID OCCUPY WALL STREET PICK THE WRONG ADDRESS?
By Haven Pell

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Letters to the Editor

Mortality, Morality And Honor: The End-Of-Life Paradigm

December 7th 2014

Mortality, Morality And Honor: The End-Of-Life Paradigm
By Charles Hamlin, MD

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Letters to the Editor

A National Public Education Goal, And How To Get There

September 10, 2014

A National Public Education Goal, And How To Get There
By John C. MacMurray

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Letters to the Editor