Posts that deal broadly with the physical, mental, and intellectual health of communities.

Saving Rural America

West Virginia has given much of itself to benefit the rest of the country, but the rest of the country hasn't been entirely appreciative. Our state is seen too often as just a mine and now, when the mines are running out, as a lost cause. Jim Bauman argues that the centuries of outsiders taking have left West Virginians thinking that giving away our resources is the only thing we can do to survive. Or is it?

The Worst of the Worst

The "worst of the worst" is a phrase thrown around by the Trump administration to justify the huge expense of detaining and deporting hundreds of thousands of undocumented people in the United States. It's an enormous undertaking that's not possible with ICE personnel along. So the Department of Homeland Security is enlisting local and state law enforcement in the effort. Jim Bauman describes an ACLU study showing that the worst of the worst are a miniscule number of those caught in ICE operations.

AI Luddism

Artificial Intelligence with its promise to solve all our problems is undergoing an image crisis. The cost of AI to society is not just the threat to our jobs, but the damage it's bringing to our land and our ability to live on it. Throw in local control our Republican legislature has taken from us, and it looks like we need to fight back. Emily Asaf lays out a plan to regain some of that control.