Smoke has played a prominent role in the succession of humankind, from rudimentary heating and cooking fires to elaborately staged ceremonies featuring smoke from incense burners, or ritual smoking pipes. Few cultures, if any, are devoid of traditions and practices that include smoke of some sort, as a meat preserver, signaling device, in cremation processes […]
Bruce Robinson: Whose hate speech?
Let’s begin with the understanding that there is no “hate speech” exception to the First Amendment. That has been settled law since the founders first signed the Constitution of the United States in 1787. Yet, on college campuses all across the United States, the First Amendment rights of commencement speakers have been repeatedly violated by […]
Dennis Lund: The domestic terrorism count
I’ve known Richard since 1981, as a mentor, competitor and colleague, and I consider him a friend. I only recently though found out how liberal he actually is, but I do not hold that against him. During a recent business trip, he brought up the subject of terrorism. He stated that the biggest terrorist threat […]
Mark Altgelt: Support clean energy legislation
By Mark Altgelt Special to the Herald California legislators recently took a giant step toward creating a sustainable future by passing Senate Bill 100, the “California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program.” That legislation requires development of renewable energy and zero carbon resources for California to produce 100 percent clean energy by 2045. Senate Bill 100 will […]
Grant Cooke: Gas stations are going away
Recently, Tesla passed General Motors as the most valuable U.S. automaker. Last week, my writing partner came back from Beijing, talking about how the Chinese were developing new electric cars. The Chinese are predicted to the lead the “NEV” or New Energy Vehicle cycle in a decade. Hayward now has a hydrogen refueling station, and […]
Matt Talbot: Some thoughts on a brutalist monument
Toward the back of the UC Berkeley campus is a building that is storied for its utter, hideous ugliness. It is called Wurster Hall, and was designed in the aptly-named “brutalist” style. It is, astonishingly, the place that the University trains architects. During a recent visit to the campus with a couple friends, I remarked […]
Dennis Lund: A modest proposal for the Supreme Court
Once again the nation has suffered through the process of a Supreme Court nomination. Having done so, we can now either sit back and wait in dread for the next one, or we can consider modification of probably the most divisive process in politics, save for presidential elections. Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell has played […]
Matt Talbot: Race, Democrats and the South
I concluded last week’s column with the following: “…I believe that the Democratic Party needs to do far more for working-class voters – and not just in terms of discrete policies they can point to, but getting reacquainted with the 70 percent of America that does not have a college degree, and whose incomes have […]
Pam Donohue: Beware of credit card usury
By Pam Donohue Special to the Herald Call me paranoid, but after all the phony calls and emails I have been receiving lately, I am beginning to feel that everyone is out there trying to steal what they can from me! At least once a month, I receive what the bank calls “phish” emails telling […]
Matt Talbot: The rhymes of history
Between 1845 and 1852, over a million Irish men, women and children starved to death in an event referred to in Irish Gaelic as An Gorta Mór – “The Great Hunger.” Many Irish starved in their farmhouses and in the fields; others on the road to cities, where the authorities had promised relief. Many who […]