In August 2020, the New York Times asked me to write an op-ed for a special feature on authoritarianism and democracy. They declined to publish my submission, which I am sharing here instead. W...
With less than two months left before the election, this is an explainer for the politically panicked. You're anxious, you feel the need to do something, and you have a little money to spare. Who...
https://idlewords.com/2020/09/effective_political_giving.htm
Last week I spoke with Sara Huddleston, candidate for Iowa state house in district 11 (Storm Lake). A longtime community organizer and three-term city council member, she was the first Latina ele...
https://idlewords.com/2020/08/sara_huddleston_on_the_latino_vote_in_iowa.htm
Last week I spoke by video chat with Alyse Galvin, who is running for Congress in Alaska's sole, enormous Congressional district in a rematch against Don Young, the longest-serving member of Cong...
https://idlewords.com/2020/06/alyse_galvin_on_coronavirus_in_alaska.htm
On Sunday I spoke by video chat with my friend J.D. Scholten, who is running for Congress in Iowa's 4th district. J.D. is a retired baseball player who rose to national prominence in 2018, when h...
https://idlewords.com/2020/04/j.d._scholten_on_coronavirus_in_iowa.htm
Let's talk about masks! On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control recommended that every American wear a face covering when in public. Masks will be the hot, bold look for summer. The medic...
I am a privacy activist who has been riding a variety of high horses about the dangers of permanent, ubiquitous data collection since 2012. But warning people about these dangers today is like...
https://idlewords.com/2020/03/we_need_a_massive_surveillance_program.htm
On September 26, 2019, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam held her first listening session after seventeen weeks of protest. Her government, which had spent the summer nearly incommunicado, had...
On Saturday I went to join the march up in To Kwa Wan. Throughout August, the police had been growing more skittish about granting the once routine “no objection” letters that make a protest ...
My mom fainted the first time she set foot in an American supermarket. It was 1981 and we were freshly arrived in America, and some combination of the culture shock and smell and sensory overload...