America Trends

America loves to tell itself fables about many things.  For instance, the issue of poverty is often thought of as an issue of ‘them’ not ‘us’.  Yet over an adult lifetime, owing to divorce, job loss or health calamity, over half of us will experience poverty for a year or more.  We have so many … Continue reading EP 453 Poverty in America is Poorly Understood

It may seem like marijuana laws across the country have been changing almost overnight, but according to our guest, Paul Armentano, deputy director of NORML, a group that has long sought these changes, it’s been about a fifty year process.  We are a long way from ‘Reefer Madness’ and Cheech and Chong, as we see … Continue reading EP 452 Marijuana Laws Changing Across America

 The pandemic has upended much about American life, including where we work.  The concept of ‘one person, one desk’ in a large office building may never be the norm again.  With the rise of agile working, third space working and new technological innovations, the traditional office space may no longer be the place where the … Continue reading EP 451 Where Is My Office?

  In medicine it is said that you only find what you’re looking for.  If you do not dig deep to find out whether, say, drinking was at the root of a medical condition, you may never know.  And the problem goes unsolved.  Money is the same way.  In a society where safety nets are … Continue reading EP 450 Why Would a Doctor Talk to a Patient About Money?

American government is broken and has been so for a long time.  In some periods of history we muddle through and use our natural advantages, like remote location from adversaries, to give us time to figure things out.  At other points, like after The Great Depression, we needed a whole new toolkit of government ideas … Continue reading EP 449 Healing America Will Require Government to Work Again

The topic we are bringing you on this podcast startled me.  My concept was that we, the medical consumer, gain protections year after year.  In fact, Harriet Washington’s chilling expose, ‘Carte Blanche: The Erosion of Medical Consent’, reveals just the opposite.  It is becoming harder to avoid being part of risky medical research as the … Continue reading EP 448 Informed Medical Consent Bypassed by the Medical System

Much of the attention drawn to QAnon of late has common from the mainstream media and not the dark corners of the internet.  The election of an adherent to Congress and a rebuke of her utterances has also shone light on a movement with some very unusual beliefs and indeterminate motives and goals.  According to … Continue reading EP 447 QAnon: A Political Movement or a Gathering of Lost Souls?

It is a head scratcher to many of us that the anti-vaccination movement has taken hold in the way that it has in the 21st century given the unassailable fact that vaccines have saved hundreds of millions of lives.  The achievements are astounding. Vaccines have eradicated small pox, virtually eliminated polio, brought measles transmission down … Continue reading EP 446 Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-Science

  For many of us we still scratch our heads as to how Donald Trump made it to the White House in the first place.  We have all had our theories which range from the wrong candidate opposing him, a strong reaction to the Obama presidency from disgruntled white voters in rural communities and those … Continue reading EP 445 Twice for Obama and Twice for Trump: Who Are These Voters?

Presidential races are covered more like a horse race than a contest of ideas.  What impact does that have both on crowding out more important news about the candidates, like positions on issues, and on how we feel about the race depending on how our preferred candidate is doing?  Then there’s the growing concern that … Continue reading EP 444 Political Polling: Is it Reliable or Necessary?

While the title to this episode is not original, it does state something that has become more real year in and year out.  The U.S. Senate’s deliberative nature has become sclerotic and impediments to popular legislation never see the light of day.  Senator Mitch McConnell, a master of Senate rules, in the Trump years recognized … Continue reading EP 443 The U.S. Senate Where Legislation Goes to Die

The pandemic has locked us in our homes and unlocked the delivery economy.  Many times a day we can look out our windows and see delivery trucks stopping to deliver all manner of goods from groceries to toiletries, from a cooked meal to a new pair of jeans.  Now that we are growing accustomed to … Continue reading EP 442 Is the Stay at Home Economy Here to Stay?

 You must have read about the recent cyberattack.  Which one you ask?  Take your pick.  There seems to be a new one daily.  It could be your hospital system, your bank or one level or another of your government.  What’s amazing is how many ways hackers have of slipping through the digital back door or … Continue reading EP 441 Cyberattacks, Cyberattacks, Everywhere a Cyberattack

 Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order to end the sale of new gas-burning cars by 2035. That is a big deal because California’s impact on climate matters set the standard for 14 others states that follow their lead and automakers who will adapt to the market established by America’s country within a country, … Continue reading EP 440 Electric Cars Get Big Boost From California

 After the debacle of the Vietnam War, astute observers of our failed attempt at counterinsurgency said let us not do this again.  Yet, we went into Afghanistan following the attack on 9-11-2001 and have found ourselves in a similar quagmire ever since.  There was a more strategic approach to rooting out Al Qaeda, but we … Continue reading EP 439 The Lessons of the Afghanistan War Going Forward

In the finals days of the Trump Administration, the President attended primarily to one piece of business, the handing out of pardons.  We were told that Donald Trump liked this power because it was virtually absolute.  Others felt he he used it to keep authorities away from his front door when he became Citizen Trump … Continue reading EP 438 Pardon Me, Mr. President

What is the difference between pharmaceuticals and drugs?  Often it’s the type of person selling one or the other and the type of person consuming the product.  Patients who have become addicted to that which their doctor has prescribed generally have been viewed as innocent victims, while those who develop a similar habit outside of … Continue reading EP 437 Are Drugs Sold at the Pharmacy Or On a Street Corner More Dangerous?

  America tells itself a lot of stories about its ethos that turn out to be misleading, or worse yet false, when put to true historical scrutiny.  Waves of immigrants have made their way here thinking that their lot would be so much better when they reach our shores, only to find many roadblocks and … Continue reading EP 436 Is America Really a Welcoming Place for Immigrants?

Here’s some history to draw you into this podcast.  America was at the heights of solidarity and common purposes for over half a century beginning in the early 1900’s through the 1960’s and then we began to split apart as a society, as we had in the late 19th century.  America’s past was divided and … Continue reading EP 435 Can America Come Together Again?

While the Trump era is over, there looms a great question as to whether America is in any position to resume a leadership role in the world.  As past plagues and pandemics have revealed, the weaknesses of empires often is recognized well after their influence has peaked.  Wade Davis, an anthropologist from the University of … Continue reading EP 434 America is Unraveling Before Our Eyes