I often see infographics and memes about how, in contrast to public perception, Democratic administrations tend to be better for the U.S. economy than Republican administrations, but they always seem a little cherry picked to me, and they never explain their data or their methodology. So I decided to try doing my own calculations. I selected six major, commonly used economic indicators, collected data from official, public sources for each, and processed the data in uniform ways.… [more]
Or: “A Snowball’s Chance”
Several years ago, Republican U.S. Senator James Inhofe brought a snowball into the Senate as “proof” that climate change was a hoax. This exemplified a common misunderstanding about global warming: that the entire biosphere would heat up uniformly like a cup of tea, when in reality, the global weather system is much more complex. (And even that cup of tea probably contains subtle layers and currents.)… [more]
Democrats are beginning to understand the power and extent of the right wing media bubble. For the past three election cycles, many of us have asked, “How could so many people have voted for someone like Trump?” More and more, we’re realizing that the answer is not any particular issue or line of reasoning, not anything “deplorable” about the people themselves, but: “Because right wing media was their sole source of the news.” … [more]
I regularly post recommendations for the most effective giving we can do each election season, and more and more, my top choices have featured organizations that do their work all year round — for which, in fact, the most effective work occurs well in advance of any election.
I’m repeating those recommendations here and adding other groups that don’t just turn out existing voters to the usual contests, but also grow the electorate and expand the range of challenges we need to make to MAGA extremism at every level of government, in every locality.… [more]
On this Father’s Day, 2023, I’d like to share two excerpts from my forthcoming novel about the Chinese immigration experience through Angel Island in the early 1900’s (Bridge Across The Sky, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Fall 2024) that were inspired by memories of my father.
The opening stanza of the novel is based on the only story I ever heard my father tell about his younger days.… [more]
Starting in 2023, I’ll be expanding my social media presence to include two promising would-be Twitter/Facebook replacements: Post and Mastodon.
Update 5/23/2024: Post is shutting down! So I’m replacing it with Bluesky. I’ve also ended my Haiku Diem and Trumpbert posts to Twitter/X due to its…well, Elon Muskiness.
I’m especially interested in the potential of Mastodon. You can read my thoughts about it here.… [more]
My Mastodon call
A lot of people are looking for a Twitter replacement these days. Some have considered Mastodon, the decentralized platform that describes itself as “Social Networking that’s not for sale.” … [more]
This is the first of a series of posts I’ll be making about how political positions we hold compare with the policies of the other countries of the world. Often, the propaganda of the political parties within this country can give us a distorted view of what’s normal, and the “echo chambers” that we create for ourselves through our social media circles and our choice of news sources can distort that view even more.… [more]
The publisher of one of my books just informed me that the book won an award from a contest they entered it into, but instead of posting about my win everywhere I can, I’m writing this post in which I’m not even going to mention the name of the book or the award, because I don’t believe the award is legitimate.… [more]
I regularly post 
