A default of the US government would not only be very harmful here, it would probably send the country back into deep recession, but it just might crash the international financial system.

In the early 1940s, as a young teenager, I was utterly appalled by the racist and jingoist hysteria of the anti-Japanese propaganda. The Germans were evil, but treated with some respect: They were, after all, blond Aryan types, just like our imaginary self-image. Japanese were mere vermin, to be crushed like ants.

Peace is preferable to war. But it’s not an absolute value, and so we always ask, “What kind of peace?

As long as nuclear weapons exist, the chances of survival of the human species are quite slight.

Those who actually do have a valid claim to such special competence have a particular obligation to make very clear to the general public the limits of what is understood at any serious level; these limits are typically very narrow in matters of significance in human affairs.

The local grocery store was a gathering, a community place. You knew the owner, if you didn't have any money they'd let you go for a couple days. You talked. It was a friendly place. Supermarkets are totally impersonal. I mean, you may say hello to the checkout girl or something, but the personal connections are all gone.

The Irish sea is a chasm, and it just depends who's been holding the whip for 800 years and who's been under it for 800 years.