Category Archives: Social values

Portland Mayor Decries Mounting Bloodshed, Tells ICE to Get Out After Federal Agents Shoot Two

Portland mayor Keith Wilson called on ICE to halt operations pending a probe of its latest shootings. That won’t happen. So what do cities do?

This entry was posted in Banana republic, Guest Post, Income disparity, Legal, Politics, Social policy, Social values on January 9, 2026 by Yves Smith.

American Hegemony by AI: The Role of Israel

The India-Middle East-Europe Corridor is back from the dead, but what of all the issues with an imperial strategy that relies on data centers and desalination in a hotbox ready to blow.

Trump DHS Post Calling for ‘100 Million Deportations’ Suggests Intent to Kick Out Nonwhite Citizens

One journalist called it “absolutely insane Nazi propaganda, posted by the US government.”

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class on January 4, 2026 by Conor Gallagher.

Screens and Social Media Are Damaging Kids’ Conversation Skills. Here’s Why This Matters, and How to Get Them Back

Quelle surprise! Smartphone fixation is producing conversation-deficient children.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Social values, Technology and innovation on January 3, 2026 by Yves Smith.

Coffee Break: More on Our Lousy Diet and Recovery of the Iconic American Chestnut

Part the First: Ultra-Processed Foods and Addiction. Big Ag and Big Food may finally have a problem with their big moneymaking products. We have discussed UPFs here several times before. They fill the center aisles of grocery stores in much of the Anglophone world. This article in Scientific American adds to wave of information coming […]

This entry was posted in Coffee Break, Social policy, Social values, Species loss on January 2, 2026 by KLG.

There Are No Free Markets

Neoliberal free market ideology was always a fantasy. But what comes next given the late stage capitalism breakdown?

Deaths by Liposuction Still Fail to Stop Ads Promising ‘Dream Body’ With Minimal Risk

Liposuction deaths at a private-equity-backed spa chain, after other liposuction deaths, fail to elicit responses like curbs on advertising.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Health care, Regulations and regulators, Ridiculously obvious scams, Social values on January 1, 2026 by Yves Smith.

A Few Notes on Progress in Gene Therapy

Gene therapy has been a goal of medicine since the first “inborn errors of metabolism” were identified by Sir Archibald Garrod in the early twentieth century. This was before anyone had a good idea of what a gene was, but the principles of Mendelian genetics were used by Garrod, with the assistance of William Bateson, […]

This entry was posted in Health care, Science and the scientific method, Social policy, Social values on December 31, 2025 by KLG.

Progressive Educator Myles Horton’s Lessons for Fighting for Social Justice Today

Horton’s work offers a compelling model of how popular education can contribute to progressive change, fostering critical thinking in slow times and accelerating the spread of radical ideas during movement peaks.

This entry was posted in Free markets and their discontents, Income disparity, Politics, Social policy, Social values on December 29, 2025 by Conor Gallagher.

Coffee Break: Boxing Day Miscellany

Part the First: No, This Is Not Another Bell Labs. Bell Labs was justifiably renowned as the place to do high level physics and engineering. It also supported Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson in their research that identified the background cosmic microwave radiation that is the remnant of the Big Bang. But Bell Labs worked […]

This entry was posted in Coffee Break, Curiousities, Health care, Market inefficiencies, Politics, Social policy, Social values, Species loss on December 26, 2025 by KLG.

What World Was Jesus Born Into? A Historian Describes the Turbulent Times of the Real Nativity

On the debate over the life of the historical Jesus.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Politics, Social values on December 24, 2025 by Yves Smith.

Americans Aren’t Traumatized Enough by Gun Violence

More on American resignation and hypocrisy about gun crimes.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Legal, Politics, Social policy, Social values on December 23, 2025 by Yves Smith.

Coffee Break: Climate, Eugenics, and a Note on mRNA Vaccines

Part the First: Climate, “What, Me Worry?” Once again Alfred E. Neuman comes to mind as “policy-based science” remains the order of the day in the Current Administration as Trump Administration Plans to Break Up Premier Weather and Climate Research Center. The Trump administration said it will be dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research […]

This entry was posted in Coffee Break, Global warming, Guest Post, Science and the scientific method, Social policy, Social values on December 19, 2025 by KLG.