Everybody Hates Ted Cruz

Texas senator and presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is rising in the polls, but he may also be the the man most hated by his congressional colleagues.

Movie: Spotlight

Reporters at the Boston Globe (Mark Ruffalo, Matt Carroll, Sasha Pheiffer) stuggle to uncover a coverup by the Catholic hierarchy of sexual abuse by priests. 

Movie: Concussion

Will Smith portrays Dr. Bennett Omalu, a medical doctor (and immigrant) who confronts the power of the NFL when he investigates and publishes proof of the systematic brain damage and dementia among professional football players.  

Climate: States at Risk

Which states are most at risk of baking or drowning due to climate change, and how well are they responding (or failing to respond) to the challenge?

The Necessity of Football

JAMIL SMITH The New Republic
Too few of us recognize ourselves in the beauty and the carnage the NFL presents each Sunday. The game won’t change because we’re not changing. I hope a new audience will be exposed to Dr. Bennet Omalu’s story and understand that the only way to get football to change is to present its faults in an uncompromising fashion, pressuring the NFL and those who love the sport to face themselves and do better.

The Reign of Absurdiocy

Uri Avnery Gush Shalom
There is no such thing as "international terrorism". To declare war on "international terrorism" is nonsense. Politicians who do so are either fools or cynics, and probably both.

Scans Prove There’s No Such Thing As a ‘Male’ or ‘Female’ Brain

Jessica Hamzelou New Scientist
The idea that people have either a “female” or “male” brain is an old one. To test the theory, scientists looked for differences in brain scans of 1400 people. They found that very few people had all of the brain features they might be expected to have, based on their sex. Averaged across many people, sex differences in brain structure do exist, but an individual brain is likely to be just that: individual, with a mix of features.