For almost the entirety of human history governmental systems have not been democratic. Though we in America like to think of Ancient Greece as the birthplace of democracy well over 2,500 years ago, even that's more fiction than fact; the Greek city-state of Athens, with... Continue

"Many consider the elevation of Voice of America (VoA) to the status of the official domestic news organ of the United States as emblematic of when authoritarianism became fully established in America. Quietly, and without much notice, the Trump administration had been actively recruiting for... Continue

What-Has-Been opposes Things-to-Come, while at the same time What-Has-Been creates Things-to-Come. Things-to-Come makes What-Has-Been obsolete, yet Things-to-Come mirrors What-Has-Been. The relationship between What-Has-Been and Things-to-Come is not paradoxical, rather interpenetrating. They are not separate, they are not the same; this is because neither What-Has-Been nor... Continue

Women have been putting up with piggish men for a long time; do you recall the cartoon showing a helpless woman being dragged by the hair while a caveman says to his friend, "I love these pre-holiday sales!"? For a very long time, the meme... Continue

Speculation and conspiracy theories naturally flow from horrific massacres such as occurred in Las Vegas: Steve Paddock was trying to sell guns, was killed to make it look like a suicide; he was a hit man with a specific target among his victims, all others... Continue

Are we doomed to suffer? There seems to be widespread belief that suffering is the nature of human experience; (a) we are all born sinners afflicted with original sin; (b) we are bound within the circle of Samsara where our attachments breed suffering; (c) we... Continue

My wife and I moved to Sonoma in April of 1990 after purchasing a six-room bed and breakfast inn on West Spain Street. It was later in that year, in November, when we first encountered what we used to call "the slow season." By December,... Continue

The color of Mars, the color of blood, the color of sunlight through a sky filled with smoke, red on the Cal Fire map means the land is burning. Buddhist paintings depicting wrathful deities often show the figures surrounded by red flames. Though deities like... Continue

For all the attempts to cast humanity in the brightest way possible -- religious positivism, new-age soul-making, liberal visions of the evolution of virtue, and fairy-tales with happy endings -- the dark side keeps casting a shadow across history. Is this simply, as some believe,... Continue