Plastics and Politics

I went to the grocery store a couple of weeks ago. I parked, got out of my car, and opened my trunk to collect my reusable bags. A woman who was just getting out of her car said, “Ugh! Bags! What a wonderful state we live in!” She was clearly being sarcastic. For those that…

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Impeachment

A couple of days ago, Nancy Pelosi announced that the House of Representatives would begin formal impeachment hearings against President Trump. The left is over the moon about it. They’ve been calling for impeachment for months. The right thinks it’s just more harassment that’s interfering with the good job the president is doing. Setting aside…

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Some Early Thoughts on the 2020 Election

The 2020 presidential election is well underway. There are a ton of Democrats running. And the pathetic excuse for an incumbent Republican is running. I’m nowhere near deciding which candidate to support yet (hint: not Trump). I honestly can’t even name everyone who’s running. But some things have struck me about this election season. The…

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The Loss of Optimism

I’m an optimistic person. I’m not unrealistic, but my natural assumption is that things will work out OK in the end. I don’t deny the bad things that happen, I just feel like we’ll be able to work through or past them. It works for me. It keeps me hopeful and looking forward. It extends…

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Vote!

Here we are again, about a week from a big election. So, here I am again, encouraging everyone who might read this to vote. It’s taking more effort than usual to write this little plea. I’m seeing a lot of pieces out there lately that are rationalizing people’s decision to forgo voting. They range from…

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The New York Times Shouldn’t Have Published The Anonymous Op-Ed

I wasn’t on the editorial side of opinion writing for very long, but a conversation did come up about publishing anonymous op-eds. At the time, I didn’t think there was anything wrong with it- if the person was risking their career or their safety, wasn’t it our job as journalists to share their views while…

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