Volume 267 | No. 15

Sun, Apr 9

2018—Other networks report that the FBI raided the office of President Trump’s lawyer; Fox reports that pandas—a non-native species, let’s recall—are aggressive and sex-crazed. 2006—“Scooter” Libby says “W” OK’d leaks of secret CIA intel. 1967—“We appeal to North Vietnam,” says a veteran-bought ad in the N.Y. Times, “if they really want peace, to stop bombing the United States—or else get the hell out of Vietnam!” 1961—The two top planners of the Bay of Pigs invasion, now eight days off, tell their boss Dick Bissell that it is bound to fail. He says do it anyway. 1927—In Massachusetts, death sentences issued against Nicolas Sacco and Bartolomeo …

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Facts, Rationality, and Respect

To the Editor, During a thirty plus year career teaching in higher education, I have engaged in numerous dialogues with students and colleagues as part of learning and problem-solving processes. This experience suggests that successful dialogue relies on three critical principles. First, parties to the discussion must agree on a common set of facts before any evaluation or analysis can begin. Without this, there is simply no basis for mutual understanding or reaching a common conclusion. Second, the examination of the facts must be guided by rational analysis and critical thinking in a give and take process. Without this, no realistic conclusion can be reached. …

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Let There Be Light

by W.D. Ehrhart Anyone who was alive and sentient back in 1966—the year I graduated from high school and joined the U.S. Marines—will surely remember that perhaps the least popular man in America (white America at least) was loudmouthed full-of-himself Cassius Clay, who had defeated Sonny Liston for the heavyweight boxing championship of the world only to announce that he was henceforth to be known as Muhammad Ali, proud member of Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam. He further alienated himself from mainstream America—even many Black Americans, including former heavyweight champ Floyd Paterson—when he refused to be drafted into the U.S. Army at the height of …

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All Quiet at 111 New Hampshire Avenue

Readers are probably wondering by now, “where are all our Mike Dater cartoons?” We regret to report that Mike has been on temporary medical leave. We expect him to return before long. In the meantime, we offer the item above. Originally published 17 years ago today, it seems, unfortunately, more on-point than ever. –=≈=– We used to love mocking what we called the Award-Winnning Local Daily. What shall we call it, now that it’s no longer printed here in Our Fair City? These days, poking fun at the AWLD would just be cruel. Let’s just call it the Portsmouth Herald—while we still can. Economists love …

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Doomsday Came Forty Years Ago

A little over forty years ago—on January 18, 1983, to be exact—the U.S. of A. hit the skids. “Ridiculous,” you may say. “Nothing is that simple.” And you would be right, of course. Nothing ever is that simple. But, like Schrödinger’s famous feline—which is simultaneously dead and alive thanks to quantum mechanics—you would also be wrong. Though it is absurdly simplistic, our opening statement is also true. This vexing state of affairs is the consequence of a phenomenon we’ll call quantum politics. What is true for one person may be false to another. Facts are matters of opinion, and opinions are matters of fact. Routine, …

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