Words For the Wise

Words For the Wise

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Deadly Israeli attack on Iran's Evin Prison kills 71 but mainstream media bury the lede.
Prisoners, prisoner families, prison staff are reportedly among the dead. New York Times puts the story on page 11. Washington Post does a bit better.
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Michael Balter
2
Human Evolution: A new face for the Denisovans?
A cranium found in China more than 90 years ago gives up its molecular secrets.
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Michael Balter
Musical Moment: "Slave Driver" by Bob Marley and the Wailers.
In honor of Juneteenth, and in artistic remembrance of the horrors of slavery.
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Michael Balter
Musical Moment: The greatest version of one of Van Morrison's greatest songs.
"Angeliou" featuring a singer with an angelic voice.
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Michael Balter
"Those to whom evil is done."
The latest article by Yahia Lababidi, an Arab-American writer of Palestinian heritage. Don't use the Holocaust as a shield against criticism of what…
1
Musical Moment: Brandee Younger Trio. You heard that right, jazz harp.
A new discovery for "Words for the Wise."
Is genocide good for the Jews?
Maybe the best way to fight antisemitism is to convince the world that Jews are not natural born killers, despite the massacres in Gaza.
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Michael Balter
3
Étienne-Émile Baulieu, "father" of the "abortion pill," dies at age 98. A profile.
Republication of a profile of Baulieu we published in Science 25 years ago, on the occasion of FDA approval of RU-486 (mifepristone)
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Michael Balter
Federal judges are not "judicial activists." They are the Talmudic scholars of the law--and often they are poets as well.
An exegesis of the latest court decision in the Mahmoud Khalil case.
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Michael Balter
5
Is the New York Times up to the job of reporting on the Democratic Party's future?
The first article in an "occasional series" on this topic is woefully inadequate. A lesson in how not to do journalism.
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Michael Balter
For Memorial Day: What I did in the war.
Re-upping a piece about my U.S. Army adventures during the war in Vietnam. I didn't go along with the program.
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Michael Balter
3
Musical Moment: Is it sacrilegious to cover a Stevie Nicks song and do it just as well?
Or maybe even better? But let's not get carried away.
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Michael Balter
Words For the Wise
Words For the Wise
Politics, science, academia, #MeToo, investigations
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