Inequality and the end of #ISIS

There is a very strong case for calling ISIS a terrorist organization. However, unlike Al Qaeda, the people who founded ISIS built it on a foundation that is rooted on every last tenet of Islam. In fact, if we can accuse ISIS of anything, it is of being too punctilious in applying Islamic canon.  In this sense, ISIS is no different than the extreme of any religion. While Christianity ended its crusades a few hundred years ago, it isn’t implausible for Islam to now wage its own version. It is, after all, the youngest of the major religions. Continue reading Inequality and the end of #ISIS

FBI Director Comey’s Truths about Policing and Race

FBI Director Comey ‘s speech is notable for many reasons.  It is most notable for his directness in referencing and qualifying racism in a way few in public service have dared show in recent memory. For that, I thank and commend him. It is clear that this is a subject near and dear to his heart. Continue reading FBI Director Comey’s Truths about Policing and Race

Memories of Ailey’s “Cry”

One of my fondest and most vivid memories of a cultural event is of the original Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater troupe. I saw them when I was ten or eleven. I was lucky enough to be able to finally take my daughter to see them last year. Much to my chagrin, they didn’t perform Cry. I’d shown her the YouTube videos, so she knows what Cry is about. Continue reading Memories of Ailey’s “Cry”

Honesty, the media, and the shrinking public trust

It seems as if NBC’s Brian Williams is the latest national media figure to fall from grace after he told what is either an embellishment or a lie about an experience he’d previously talked about on television. When caught, Williams did the right thing and apologized. Time to move on? Well, no. Continue reading Honesty, the media, and the shrinking public trust

#PoliticalCorrectness as I see it

I write this on the heels of reading Jamelle Bouie’s always excellent newsletter.

He writes:

A good chunk of the Internet has been consumed in a conversation over Jonathan Chait’s New York magazine on the “new political correctness.” I have…tried to avoid that conversation as much as possible. Continue reading #PoliticalCorrectness as I see it