Connecting the Dots

Prepare Yourself for Battle With an Army of Bots

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In preparation for President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday, I went back and rewatched Star Trek: The Motion Picture, released in 1979, recalling that it was one of the first science fiction movies to depict a computer machine nearly destroying…

The News Suffers from Mad Cow Disease: Just Call Me a Peacenik Please

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — There is a desperation coming through over the airwaves that is making people sick. It’s no wonder so many people in the United States have stopped paying attention to news, and that includes me. It’s all just too much. Too much sensationalism. Too much…

The Tenth Anniversary of the New American Journal May be the Last

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Have we reached the ‘singularity’ from science fiction when computer robots take over? – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — This is no longer science fiction. The computer robots are taking over, if they haven’t already. In 2007, the year Steve Jobs announced that Apple had invented the iPhone and…

The Osgood Files: When the Cutting Edge Becomes Obsolete

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — When the news broke in the New York Times this past week that Charles Osgood Wood died, I knew there would be a retrospective on CBS’s “Sunday Morning” show. I made it a point to get out of bed at 9 a.m. in time…

When the Press is In League with Nazis

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It would be nice to wake up one winter morning in America and turn on the news to find out that the world is at peace, prosperity abounds. How about this for a lede story banner headline? THE WORLD IS AT PEACE, THE ECONOMY…

If A Tree Falls in the Forest, Will it Ever Be Heard From Again?

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Under the Microscope – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it really make a sound? This, of course, is an age old thought experiment that is tinged with the stink of Anthropocentrism, homocentricism, or if you like, human…

Year in Review for 2023: Democracy on Trial, the Planet in Peril

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one sure sign that traditional press and media outlets have been influenced, for good or ill, by the rise of social media, look no further than the end of the year review stories. For a couple of centuries, newspapers filled space between the…

The End of Innocence: Everybody Cheats, Even Facebook and Harvard

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Everything has changed since Donald Trump cheated and got himself elected president in 2016. All of us true believers in American democracy were naive, including the top public opinion pollsters and journalists. Almost no one gave him a chance. Now many of the same…

Is a Trump Dictatorship Inevitable?

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Everyone should remember this day elevon months from now on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Election Day — because of what I’m about to say. As the one American journalist and public opinion analyst who predicted that Donald Trump would win the presidential election of…

What if Rat King Trump Returns to Power?

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nothing will make us healthier or happier in America when we never have to hear about or talk about Donald Trump ever again. The country and the world would be a much better place if the most corrupt politician in American history would just…

The Changing Nature of What’s Considered ‘Cool’ in the U.S.

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“We are all captives of the picture in our head – our belief that the world we have experienced is the world that really exists.” – Walter Lippmann The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — What image pops into your head when you see or hear someone say, “That’s cool, man?”…

Some Christians See Israel-Hamas War as Fulfillment of Prophecy?

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The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was just a matter of time. Too bad we don’t have televangelist Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell around anymore to remind us so we can run stories making fun of them. Give Mike Johnson, the new Louisiana Christian conservative Speaker of the House,…

We Can Overcome Ignorance and Fascism — By Reading

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“I must judge for myself, but how can I judge, how can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.” – John Adams The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — There’s no good excuse these days to be ignorant about anything. Any information you want or…

Court Secrecy Undermines Trust in Google Antitrust Trial

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Guest Column – By Caitlin Vogus – Freedom of the Press Foundation Before a single witness could utter a word of testimony in the Google antitrust case on Tuesday, the public and the press were temporarily barred from the courtroom. It’s just another step in a long list of anti-transparency measures styming access to the…