Often insightful, usually humorous, and always irreverent: Our editorials are regularly among our most-read pieces. Here is Part 1 of our selection of our favorites from this year.
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Newspapers in New York, NY. Photo credit: Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts via ZUMA Press
Our Quest for Journalistic Honesty in an Era of Shouts and Lies
Should the News Be “Fair” or Be Right? Founder and CEO of WhoWhatWhy ponders TK
Aircraft flying over Mount Rushmore on July 3, 2020. Photo credit: Trump White House Archived / Flickr
Remembering American Disasters
The biggest threats to America used to come from terrorist groups outside the country; now they are coming from inside the country as well.
Billionaires are as bad as monopolies. Left to right: Bill Gates, Elon Musk, and Jeff Bezos. Photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from NORAD / Wikimedia, iafastro / Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0), and Chris Lehmann / Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0).
Billionaires Are As Bad As Monopolies
Billionaires exert a gravitational field distorting the market around them the way a black hole distorts space.
Then President Donald J. Trump participates in a prayer with African American Leaders and Pastor Paula White in the White House on February 27, 2020. Photo credit: Trump White House Archived / Flickr
On Bullshit, Lies, and Politics
Is there any real difference between a liar and a bullshitter? Harry Frankfurt, teacher of analytical philosophy, thinks there is. He suggests that even liars respect the truth — that’s why they spend so much time evading it. Trump and a slim majority of Republicans in Congress appear determined to prove Frankfurt’s assessment is true.
The crowd applauds as President George W. Bush approaches his birthday cake. Photo credit: George W. Bush Presidential Library
Bush’s Cake and FOIA Red Tape: A Whimsical Look at a Serious Transparency Issue
The practice of actually using the laws intended to promote transparency illustrates just how broken the process of legal disclosure can be.
Hurricane Wilma. Photo credit: © Sun-Sentinel/ZUMA Wire
Hardening Our Houses for Typhoon Trump
None of us have the luxury of saying “Don’t bother me, I can’t cope.” Not now, and not on any of the tomorrows that creep in between now and Tuesday, November 5, 2024 — and, quite likely, beyond.
A demonstration outside of Fox News Channel in New York City denounces the lies broadcast by the network. Photo credit: © Gina M Randazzo/ZUMA Press Wire
A Plea to Fox Viewers: Read More, Watch Less
An entertaining rumination on the dangerous power of entertainment in spreading lies.
Photo credit: Adapted by WhoWhatWhy from Gage Skidmore / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
‘They’re Coming After You!” The War Song of Donald J. Trump
They’re not coming for you. They’re coming for him — with significantly more care and due process than is ordinarily accorded to criminal suspects.
Photo credit: Groman123 / Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Has the Worm Finally Turned on Our National Nightmare?
Donald Trump has done his work all too well. If he disappeared tomorrow, America would remain dangerously divided and on the brink. Some worry the center won’t hold.
God Guns and Trump hat. Photo credit: © Robin Rayne/ZUMA Press Wire
In Guns We Trust? The Unnerving Alliance of Violence and Belief
Many Americans cite their gun ownership and their religiosity as virtues. Maybe we have a reality problem.
