Category: Viewpoints

Lessons from the pandemic: why free trade should come second to national security

While those days are almost a year behind us now, I want you, reader, to think back on those troubled few weeks before the Coronavirus made a jump over to American shores. I, news junky that I am, was following the situation with rapt attention. At first, it seemed like a modern-day Moses had visited… Continue reading Lessons from the pandemic: why free trade should come second to national security

Actually, yes, they are using “Orwellian” correctly

Times are strange when the word “Orwellian” is actually getting redefined right before our eyes. For those who didn’t read (or perhaps suffer through) George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, the book describes the travails of Winston Smith, a low-level desk worker in the propaganda ministry of a fictitious totalitarian regime. The work was… Continue reading Actually, yes, they are using “Orwellian” correctly

UT’s actions towards Groves evidence of moral cowardice

On Dec. 26, 2020, The New York Times published a story entitled “A Racial Slur, a Viral Video, and a Reckoning.” The article by Dan Levin details the saga of Mimi Groves, a 19-year-old graduate from Heritage High School in Loudoun County, Virginia. She would have been an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee… Continue reading UT’s actions towards Groves evidence of moral cowardice

A eulogy for MAGA

What started at the bottom of an elevator in June of 2015 ended on the trash-strewn steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Make America Great Again (MAGA) coalition, cobbled together by President Trump and touted as his ride-or-die, unwavering base for years, has, by the looks of things, reached its zenith.… Continue reading A eulogy for MAGA

Tennessee represents one extreme of the government’s herky-jerky pandemic response

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. At least, that’s what I always heard. Apparently when United States Congressmen and senior federal and state officials were growing up, they heard that aphorism expressed as “lead a horse to water and bribe it to drink.” With a $900 billion dollar… Continue reading Tennessee represents one extreme of the government’s herky-jerky pandemic response

Vaccinate yourself against blind trust in authority

The world has never been more on edge over a vial of chemicals. A COVID-19 vaccine, the mythical ambrosia of the gods, has emerged from laboratories run by Pfizer, Moderna and other giants of the drug industry. In the span of a few months, the world’s most sought-after drug has emerged and is almost ready… Continue reading Vaccinate yourself against blind trust in authority

Lessons from the pandemic: density may be the best policy

In the last hundred years, the name of the game in housing and work has been density. Since 2007, more people globally live in the world’s urban centers than outside of them. In America specifically, that number goes up to 80%. Higher density urban development has come with some costs, like increases in rent across… Continue reading Lessons from the pandemic: density may be the best policy

Championship or bust for women’s hoops going into Perry and Waldrop’s senior seasons

The women’s basketball squad suffered a heartbreaking conclusion to their otherwise stellar 2019-20 season, as the Skyhawks lost to the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championship and were unable to compete in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) due to COVID-19. Prior to all of that, the Skyhawks claimed the 2019-20… Continue reading Championship or bust for women’s hoops going into Perry and Waldrop’s senior seasons