K. Lee Lerner's Blog, page 6

Iran’s nuclear progress renders JCPOA moot.

Reality intrusion on Iran nuclear talks: Iran’s nuclear progress renders the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) essentially moot. Even with revisions proposed by the Biden Administration, recommitment to the JCPOA would provide little protection. The JCPOA is intended to provide a one-year window of safety between Iran’s commitment to build a nuclear weapon and […]

“Scientific American does an asinine hit job on E. O. Wilson, calling him a racist” — Jerry Coyne

“I could rant forever about the ignorance of this woman [Monica R. McLemore], but will try to refrain.” — evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne. professor emeritus at the University of Chicago in the Department of Ecology and Evolution. I agree. Scientific American recently published a hit piece on the late E.O. Wilson. Penned by Monica R. […]

Myths Have Their Reasons. Isaac Ariail Reed, The Hedgehog Review

Recommended Reading: Myths Have Their Reasons. Exploring myth as background and subject matter for politics. “There’s a certain account of modern society that goes something like this. Once upon a time, primitive peoples believed in myths about gods, goddesses, and supernatural events. Pre-modern folk told and re-told these fantastic tales because such stories made sense […]

Revolution And Rebellion In Ukraine

The Discredited Steele Dossier: A test of media ethics

November 17, 2021 As Jeff Stein writes on his excellent SpyTalk site, the so-called Steele Dossier “is in tatters.” For clarity, the following comments about the Steele Dossier reflect my personal assessments and opinions. The Steele Dossier itself was a form of raw intelligence not a finished intelligence report. Compiled in 2016 and consisting of […]

Afghanistan — U.S. Withdrawal Debacle: Blood in the water over intelligence reports

There is blood in the water now… It was hard to imagine things getting worse for President Biden. First his administration bungles the withdrawal. Now we have reports he ignored intelligence reports warning of a rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan. The New York Times report cited below also points toward substantial intelligence failures. Despite saying […]

Haiti Remembered

Today is a sad day, not only for the people of Afghanistan but also for the people of Haiti who suffered a strong magnitude 7.2 earthquake on Saturday. Within 24 hours the reported death toll stood at 1,297 people dead with 2,800 injured. Both numbers were expected to climb as rescue and recovery efforts, now […]

The 2020 Olympics Golden Moment

Watching Olympic high jumpers Qatar’s Mutaz Essa Barshim and Italy’s Gianmarco Tamberi each receive gold medal was the best “feel good” moment of the Olympics in many decades. I wish Jim McKay were alive to see it and to put this “up close and personal”  moment of sportsmanship in words apparently lost to sportswriters since […]

Hemingway: Burns and Novick’s Portrait of the Artist and the Man

For my grandsons:  Owen Cafferty Lerner and Cary Cafferty Lerner. Part I: Hemingway’s enduring intimacy I am a scientist, an author, occasionally a journalist, and an editor of science and factual media. I’m not a literary scholar, but I have read all of Hemingway’s published works and spent many days with his personal writings and […]

Russian military buildup escalates tensions with Ukraine

The world has little noticed, but the Ukrainian Civil war started in 2014 has never ended. Now, seven years after Ukraine first plunged into chaos that allowed Russia to invade the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and also annex Crimea by force, tensions are again escalating as Russians mass troops and weapons along the border. […]