American democracy  is threatened, but not for the reasons  depicted in recent election law porn.  Donald Trump’s comments about mail-in-voting being rift with fraud or his refusal to respect a peaceful transition of power if he loses, while troubling, are merely a symptom of deeper  problems plaguing American democracy. More

A quarter-century in prison and this decade past now in solitary confinement is part of my integrity. As responsibility for the serious transgressions of my past, prison is not a good place no matter how well a fellow strives to do his time here. COVID-19 is a weird, weird nemesis once it invades your body. This is the saga of my battle with a virus and a plea to friends in closing. From Coffield Prison in Texas. More

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD), with the help of private companies, built a large and sophisticated intelligence gathering operation. One company is slowly building a database of every license plate in the United States. Another has clients that include neo-Nazi and white supremacist websites, and more than a half dozen groups listed as terrorist organizations by the U.S. Department of State. A third sells its surveillance technology to authoritarian regimes that use it as part of investigations that include torture. A fourth is partly owned by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). More

I was six years old in 1956 when my parents decided to return to Ireland from London, though a polio epidemic was in full swing in Cork city thirty miles from where we lived. They thought we would be safe in our house deep in the countryside and were encouraged by the fact that there were no cases in the nearest town. More