Independent since 2002 Issue No. 1102 Week of November 7, 2026 Get the free email dispatch →

Category: Nafsi ya Jamii

Commentary

God Particle: Nexus of Science and Religion

By Wilson Riles Columnist

Western Culture prioritizes one way of knowing (the scientific method) above other ways of knowing (characterized as religious). This is a particularly powerful hang-up. Killings, thievery, and all manner of uncivilized behaviors were justified by this cultural bias. The belief in the superiority of science significantly blunted the criticism of horrendous acts through an immoral…

Western Culture prioritizes one way of knowing (the scientific method) above other ways of knowing (characterized as religious). This is a particularly powerful hang-up. Killings, thievery,…

Continue reading 9 min

Cover Story

Who Didn’t Have Sex with Neanderthals? – Black History Month

By Wilson Riles Columnist

“Who didn’t have Sex with Neanderthals?” was part of the title of a recent article on the scientific journal website LiveScience. It turns out that the “only modern humans whose ancestors did not interbreed with Neanderthals are apparently sub-Saharan Africans.” New research indicates that those of European white, Asian, and North Africans ancestry “carry genetic…

“Who didn’t have Sex with Neanderthals?” was part of the title of a recent article on the scientific journal website LiveScience. It turns out that the…

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Commentary

Camaraderie Does NOT Build Real Community

By Wilson Riles Columnist

At the military inaugural ball, the Commander in Chief’s Ball, President Obama invited the audience to clap for their “comrades” who were on a viewing screen televised from Afghanistan. There was a small twitch that flashed across his face and that was recognizable in his voice as he used the term. “Comrades” is a term…

At the military inaugural ball, the Commander in Chief’s Ball, President Obama invited the audience to clap for their “comrades” who were on a viewing screen…

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Commentary

Obama…Organizing for America…Action

By Wilson Riles Columnist

First let me admit that I was wrong in my last column in regards to the Congressional Republican’s death wish because of the anger and disfavor generated through their holding the “faith and credit” of the country hostage to their demands being fulfilled before voting to lift the debt ceiling. It seems that some of…

First let me admit that I was wrong in my last column in regards to the Congressional Republican’s death wish because of the anger and disfavor…

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Cover Story

The Platinum Trillion Dollar Coin, the Deficit, and Tricksters

By Wilson Riles Columnist

Did you listen to the public discussion about the platinum trillion dollar coin as a way that Obama could avoid the debt ceiling debacle? The tone put forward by most of the perpetrators of this talk was “tongue in cheek.” Yet, almost all knowledgeable spokespersons ended up “copping” to the fact that the procedure is…

Did you listen to the public discussion about the platinum trillion dollar coin as a way that Obama could avoid the debt ceiling debacle? The tone…

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Commentary

Collective Anti-Capitalism: Learning from Anti-Racism Struggles

By Wilson Riles Columnist

John Locke was wrong: capitalism and democracy do conflictDon’t be fooled by biased economist’s rhetoric. Capitalism is largely a social psychological phenomenon similar to racism. It is a set of beliefs about human nature that channel human interactions in specific directions, based on insubstantial information. Capitalism functions through many of the same cultural elements (memes)…

John Locke was wrong: capitalism and democracy do conflictDon’t be fooled by biased economist’s rhetoric. Capitalism is largely a social psychological phenomenon similar to racism. It…

Continue reading 9 min

Commentary

Next Black Senator: Tim Scott, Republican

By Wilson Riles Columnist

Scott cannot make their racism more palatable or open black ears to their false solutions.There have only been six blacks in the U.S. Senate in the history of the country. This is not surprising because the Senate was always intended to be an exclusive “club.” There were three Democrats from Illinois (Carol Mosely Braun [1993…

Scott cannot make their racism more palatable or open black ears to their false solutions.There have only been six blacks in the U.S. Senate in the…

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Commentary

Enslaved People Built That

By Wilson Riles Columnist

The capital from stolen lands and stolen labor was concentrated, centralized, and made available to mostly Republican business tycoons.Where are U.S. economics headed? Before we can truly know where we may be going, we must know where we have been and where we are now! That is a basic concept in path-finding. All other things…

The capital from stolen lands and stolen labor was concentrated, centralized, and made available to mostly Republican business tycoons.Where are U.S. economics headed? Before we can…

Continue reading 8 min

Cover Story

Lincoln and Race: Not So Simple

By Wilson Riles Columnist

We should remember that it was Lincoln and the Republicans (in a Congress without advocates for a southern route) who championed the transcontinental railroad that with Federal support lead to the rise of the national railroad barons, progenitors of the corporatist Romney.Stephen Spielberg’s movie, Lincoln, ‘speaks’ to the race-consciousness of the nation at a propitious…

We should remember that it was Lincoln and the Republicans (in a Congress without advocates for a southern route) who championed the transcontinental railroad that with…

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Commentary

The Nonexistent, Toothless Middle

By Wilson Riles Columnist

It takes careful work to overcome racism Not even a newly invigorated Obama will be able to find and activate the nonexistent, toothless middle. He and any who follow him are looking in the wrong place if they believe that the solutions to U.S. problems can be found in “the middle.” The so-called middle or…

It takes careful work to overcome racism Not even a newly invigorated Obama will be able to find and activate the nonexistent, toothless middle. He and…

Continue reading 6 min

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