WhoWhatWhy’s Best Opinion Pieces of 2023, Part 1 - WhoWhatWhy WhoWhatWhy’s Best Opinion Pieces of 2023, Part 1 - WhoWhatWhy

Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Mike Johnson
Left to right: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), attend a Menorah lighting to celebrate the eight-day festival of Hanukkah, in the US Capitol on December 12, 2023. Photo credit © Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via ZUMA Press

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Newspapers, New York, NY
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


Donald Trump, Mount Rushmore, Jets
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.


Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos.
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.


Donald Trump, laying hands, Christians
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.


George W Bush, crowd, applauds, birthday cake
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 Naples FL
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.


demonstration, Fox News, lies
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.


Donald Trump, pointing
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.


The Worm Turns
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 hats
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.


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