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William James: Free will requires that we be able to exorcise habits

William James: Free will requires that we be able to exorcise habits

Gordon Marino writes: William James (1842–1910) is arguably one of the most brilliant and fecund minds this nation has ever produced. James and his friend Charles Sanders Peirce were the progenitors of the only distinctly American philosophical movement, pragmatism. The Principles of Psychology, published in 1890, marked James as the first prominent American psychologist. His The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902) established him as a pioneer in the study of comparative religion. Americans have long looked to Europe for intellectual…

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Engine No. 1’s big win over Exxon shows activist hedge funds joining fight against climate change

Engine No. 1’s big win over Exxon shows activist hedge funds joining fight against climate change

Engine No. 1 wants Exxon to focus less on fossil fuels. AP Photo/Matthew Brown By Mark DesJardine, Penn State and Tima Bansal, Western University One of the most expensive Wall Street shareholder battles on record could signal a big shift in how hedge funds and other investors view sustainability. Exxon Mobil Corp. has been fending off a so-called proxy fight from a hedge fund known as Engine No. 1, which blames the energy giant’s poor performance in recent years on…

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Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think

Why electric cars will take over sooner than you think

BBC News reports: We are in the middle of the biggest revolution in motoring since Henry Ford’s first production line started turning back in 1913. And it is likely to happen much more quickly than you imagine. Many industry observers believe we have already passed the tipping point where sales of electric vehicles (EVs) will very rapidly overwhelm petrol and diesel cars. It is certainly what the world’s big car makers think. Jaguar plans to sell only electric cars from…

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Just In Time is now running late

Just In Time is now running late

The New York Times reports: In the story of how the modern world was constructed, Toyota stands out as the mastermind of a monumental advance in industrial efficiency. The Japanese automaker pioneered so-called Just In Time manufacturing, in which parts are delivered to factories right as they are required, minimizing the need to stockpile them. Over the last half-century, this approach has captivated global business in industries far beyond autos. From fashion to food processing to pharmaceuticals, companies have embraced…

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Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate U.S. military

Deep-rooted racism, discrimination permeate U.S. military

The Associated Press reports: For Stephanie Davis, who grew up with little, the military was a path to the American dream, a realm where everyone would receive equal treatment. She joined the service in 1988 after finishing high school in Thomasville, Georgia, a small town said to be named for a soldier who fought in the War of 1812. Over the course of decades, she steadily advanced, becoming a flight surgeon, commander of flight medicine at Fairchild Air Force Base…

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Charges after U.S. Capitol insurrection roil far-right groups

Charges after U.S. Capitol insurrection roil far-right groups

The Associated Press reports: Former President Donald Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election united right-wing supporters, conspiracy theorists and militants on Jan. 6, but the aftermath of the insurrection is roiling two of the most prominent far-right extremist groups at the U.S. Capitol that day. More than three dozen members and associates across both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers have been charged with crimes. Some local chapters cut ties with national leadership in the weeks after the…

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Republicans fear Trump will lead to a ‘lost generation’ of talent

Republicans fear Trump will lead to a ‘lost generation’ of talent

Politico reports: Trump has driven sitting GOP lawmakers and political aspirants into early retirements ever since he burst onto the scene. But there was hope that things would change after his election loss. Instead, his influence on the GOP appears to be as solid as ever and the impact of those early shockwaves remain visible. When asked, for instance, if he feared the 45th president was causing a talent drain from the GOP ranks, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush —…

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Trump’s rebooted rallies have no place on your television

Trump’s rebooted rallies have no place on your television

Hayes Brown writes: Former President Donald Trump has lost access to some of the biggest guns in his political arsenal. He can no longer tweet directly to the masses; nor can his Facebook page gin up excitement and ardor among his fans. But starting this week, Trump is firing up his most powerful remaining weapon. The good news is there are ways to blunt its effects. NBC News’ Jonathan Allen reported Tuesday: “Trump returns to the electoral battlefield Saturday as…

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‘We know occupation’: The long history of Black Americans’ solidarity with Palestinians

‘We know occupation’: The long history of Black Americans’ solidarity with Palestinians

Sam Klug writes: “Bassem was one of us. He showed up ready.” That is how Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) described the late Bassem Masri, a Palestinian-American activist from St. Louis, on the House floor on May 13. On a day when the headlines called attention to Israel’s escalating airstrikes on Gaza, which ultimately killed over 200 Palestinians in an 11-day period, Bush’s speech linked the Palestinian cause with events closer to home. Masri, who died in 2018, was one of…

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The women who preserved the story of the Tulsa race massacre

The women who preserved the story of the Tulsa race massacre

Victor Luckerson writes: After teaching an evening typewriting class, Mary E. Jones Parrish was losing herself in a good book when her daughter Florence Mary noticed something strange outside. “Mother,” Florence said, “I see men with guns.” It was May 31, 1921, in Tulsa. A large group of armed Black men had congregated below Parrish’s apartment, situated in the city’s thriving Black business district, known as Greenwood. Stepping outside, Parrish learned that a Black teen-ager named Dick Rowland had been…

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How young GOP leaders sold out their generation

How young GOP leaders sold out their generation

Charlotte Alter writes: Once upon a time, a shiny new trio of young conservatives — Ryan Costello, Carlos Curbelo and Elise Stefanik — wanted to help build a modern, millennial Republican Party. The 30-somethings, all sworn into Congress in 2015, understood that millennials often agreed on many of the nation’s core problems, and believed it was up to them to offer conservative solutions. They were out to create a new G.O.P. for the 21st century. “Whether it’s environmental policy or…

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Bannon has his MAGA megaphone back. GOP candidates know it

Bannon has his MAGA megaphone back. GOP candidates know it

NBC News reports: Steve Bannon has a new MAGA megaphone, and Republicans eager to shine in a party still tethered to former President Donald Trump know it. Bannon, the former Breitbart News executive and one of the architects of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement, has increasingly leveraged his “War Room: Pandemic” podcast into a kind of proxy primary. Ambitious Republicans are flocking there for the chance to demonstrate loyalty to Bannon’s former boss and pitch themselves to Trump’s voters…

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Donated by India, vaccines languish and may expire in Afghanistan

Donated by India, vaccines languish and may expire in Afghanistan

By Ruchi Kumar, Undark, May 27, 2021 Mohammad Rahmani is not a Covid-19 denier. He wears a mask and practices social distancing. But the 24-year-old software engineer from Kabul, Afghanistan is deeply skeptical of Covid-19 vaccines. Online videos — created in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, then uploaded on social media — have convinced him that SARS-CoV-2 and the vaccine that protects against it are part of a large conspiracy to reduce the global population. This kind of skepticism is common…

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‘Silicon Six’ tech giants accused of inflating tax payments by almost $100bn

‘Silicon Six’ tech giants accused of inflating tax payments by almost $100bn

The Guardian reports: The giant US tech firms known as the “Silicon Six” have been accused of inflating their stated tax payments by almost $100bn (£70bn) over the past decade. As Chancellor Rishi Sunak called on world leaders to back a new tech tax ahead of next week’s G7 summit in the UK, a report by the campaign group Fair Tax Foundation singled out Amazon, Facebook, Google’s owner, Alphabet, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft. It said they paid $96bn less in…

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