Boston Marathon bombing: can we at least speculate logically?
The speculation began before the smoke cleared: who was responsible for Monday’s terror attack at the Boston Marathon? What was their motive? Not only is it human to speculate, it’s just about impossible for us not to. We’re inherently theoretical animals, constantly seeking more informed and reliable ways of understanding and explaining (and predicting) how the […]
Reckoning with a solidly right-wing America
A week ago, Glenn Greenwald performed an excellent dissection on a New York Times article about President Obama’s secretive anti-terrorist “death panels.” When Greenwald finished peeling back the skin, he aptly pinned a great many horrible hidden things with descriptive tags to help us see the inner blood and guts more clearly. There is more […]
Bin Laden grows a conscience
Osama Bin Laden was concerned with how the brutality of al Qaeda’s affiliates was losing the hearts and minds of Muslims.
Nature publishes instructions on how to make a Frankenstein monster
My doctoral dissertation addressed what I called the “Frankenstein Complex.” So guess why this story bothers me. Today, a scientific journal published a study that some people thought might never be made public at all. The paper describes experiments that suggest just a few genetic changes could potentially make a bird flu virus capable of […]
“Don’t retreat, reload”: vigilantes at large
What Palin captured, with her belligerent “Never Retreat, Reload” war cry, looks back to our lying invasion into Iraq (indeed ten years of foreign policy) plus today’s street stalking of Trayvon Martin, violent politic rhetoric and increasing, take-no-prisioners manias dominating the right’s politics.
What if Arbabsiar was all about the drugs, not terror?
Alleged would-be assassin Manssor Arbabsiar may have been more interested in cashing in on a drug deal than pulling off acts of terrorism.
Did the U.S. capitalize on the murder of Pakistani journalist Shahzad?
The C.I.A. may have obtained information on a key terrorist’s whereabouts from the I.S.I.’s interrogation of Syed Saleem Shahzad.
The lesson that bin Laden learned from Reagan
There is a particular narrative about Ronald Reagan and the end of the Cold War that has always struck me as compelling. I bought the argument at the time and I think I still do, to some extent, even though I’m hardly a Reagan fan. The story goes like this: Reagan was able to finally […]
On September 11
I am compelled to write about 9/11, an event which affected me profoundly in ways I still do not completely understand. On September 11, 2001, we were on Long Island at a company offsite. During a break, I went back to my room and picked up a message from Jill telling me that an event […]
As Taliban tactics grow more sophisticated, why does it still use suicide bombers?
If the Taliban wishes to be taken more seriously, it needs to outgrow suicide bombing.
DJ Enhanced Interrogation Techniques: 30-Day Song Challenge, the Sequel, day 27 – a song you think would be an effective instrument of torture
It seems that America now officially believes in torture as a primary tool of investigation. And back in 2008, I did a little story on how, believe it or not, we are using music as an implement of torture. So I suppose today’s challenge has a dark side, huh? Mercifully for those suspected terrorists in […]
The Death of Shahzad: leave it to the ISI to make al Qaeda look tame in comparison
Though he reported al Qaeda and the Taliban’s innermost machinations, Syed Saleem Shahzad was most likely killed by his own country.
Decapitating the head of the snake: bin Laden and our inner avenger
The national celebration of the killing of bin Laden suggests it’s time we all confronted our inner avenger.
S&R Honors
Click here to learn more about past honorees...- S&R Fiction: “The Treehouse,” by Aimee Stahlberg
- Republicans perpetuate myths to keep Cold War alive
- S&R Nonfiction: “The Nobodies,” by Jennifer Pocock
- “See You in Hell” and the dominatrix garage: The Lost Patrol drops a new video, and btw, the CD is fantastic
- Iran’s election nuclear, but not nuked
- Mystery Unraveled: How a white, moderate, married, churchgoing, middle-class, middle-aged woman could vote for Obama
- An open letter to Burt Rutan, regarding his WSJ commentary on human-caused climate disruption
- Meet the men of Match.com: Really, guys, are you serious?
- Climate scientists still besieged
- Pelosi on Bush: “He’s not worth impeaching”
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wilywascal: Overcoming the knee-jerk reaction using logic may …
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Frank Dilatush: The Israelis might dispute your foundation argumen…
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My final word on Oakwood? | Lack of Environment: […] theScholars and Rogues website, Brian A…
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