Toxic polarization is paralyzing democracy. The “war” declared by far-right aligned politicians on their political enemies is fueling hatred and violence and diminishing dialogue in democratic systems. These politicians, interested in destroying the adversary, have become “human bot machines” by immeasurably spreading fake news and misinformation, which ends up making their political practices obscure, denialist [...]
Hamline University in Minnesota has fired adjunct art professor Erika Lopez Prater for showing 14th-century paintings of the Prophet Muhammad in class. The University asserts that the professor’s act is Islamophobic and that bringing the artwork to the classroom with Muslim students breached the limits of academic freedom. The facts do not suggest that Professor [...]
Aiding and abetting a crime has long been a societal sanction in domestic legal systems throughout the world. Within modern international criminal law, it is also a crime and a viable charge in any indictment. By way of a recent example, one only has to look at former President Charles Taylor of Liberia who is [...]
Are the recent tech founder scandals going to change Silicon Valley or future appetite for investments in tech firms? It seems that investors are unphased by losing millions through the failures of Elizabeth Holmes or the sudden collapse of crypto exchange FTX. Investors seem to love tech visionaries whose brash rhetoric fueled the recent tech [...]
Why was the cryptocurrency exchange FTX valued at $32 billion before it filed for bankruptcy? Many of the world’s most sophisticated investors believed it was worth that much and invested billions based on that valuation. They failed to detect the company’s massive misconduct and their investments were completely wiped out over the course of a [...]
We the peoples… …reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, …establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained [...]
This commentary proposes that a high-profile political leader, such as former prime minister Imran Khan, who recently suffered an assassination attempt at a public rally, should be declared a “permanent protectee” of Pakistan’s State Security. The notion of the permanent protectee, borrowed from U.S. security laws, empowers secret security services to seize and whisk away [...]
The US Supreme Court last week denied a petition from Pennsylvania Republicans to invalidate the state legislative maps adopted by the 2021 Pennsylvania Legislative Redistricting Commission. This leaves in place a ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that okayed the maps, a win for fair district advocates in the run-up to the November 8 midterms. [...]
“That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. This is the entire Torah; the rest is commentary…: Rabbi Hillel, Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 31a Israel’s continuous support for Donald J. Trump represents a grim irony of Jewish history. Even before the latest revelations concerning this former president’s anti-Semitic outbursts (that is, his [...]
It is my belief that the protest movement that has swept Iran since Sep. 16 is a feminist uprising. It all started with the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who was detained for wearing what was termed “improper hijab” — i.e., failure to adequately comply with Iran’s mandatory head-covering requirement for women. [...]
