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The idea that America had reached some level of post-racism with the election of Barack Obama was always delusionary. But it was true that great strides had been made in the half-century or so that followed the civil rights movement. Now, because of the persistence of racism and a relaxation of the fight against it, we are moving backwards.

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Clergy and lay people have played a crucial role in Ferguson. These religious leaders provide a buffer at protests, press for justice for Michael Brown, and witness against systemic racism and inequality.

Russell Brand

I understand anti-Semitism to be a hatred of Jews, the denial of the right for Jews to have a homeland, the denial of the horrors of the last century and the plight of the Jewish people throughout history. This is obviously not my position. Anti-Semitism, Islamaphobia and homophobia are all prejudices that I resolutely reject, like any right-minded person.

Clearly, we need to work harder about working smarter -- by not working all the time. The "work martyr" complex needs to go the way of the Dictaphone, typewriter and green eyeshades as relics of the workplace of the past (okay, I like typewriters, but you get the idea).

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There are no shortcuts in business. In order to be successful there are some things that you must know. These are not all of them by a long shot, but IMHO they are 6 of the most important.

Some doctors seem to have embraced the airlines' model for doing business -- you know, the one where they now charge fees for things they used to just do for free.

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The U.S. has ensured that ISIS can reinforce its fighters in Iraq from Syria and vice versa. So far, Washington has been successful in escaping blame for the rise of ISIS by putting all the blame on the Iraqi government. In fact, it has created a situation in which ISIS can survive and may well flourish.

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If the early reports are correct and journalist James Foley was, in fact, executed by ISIS, you can honor him -- and not play into the terroristic hands of that organization -- simply by not watching the video of his murder.

I'm not about to bring another free loader with bodily fluids into my house. I've occasionally considered a goldfish and deemed them too much hassle less than 24 hours later. We are gloriously pet-free and I refuse to feel bad about that.

Larry Weber

In 1978, a 14-year-old boy invented email. He created a computer program, which he called "email," that replicated all the functions of the interoffice mail system: Inbox, Outbox, Folders, Memo, Attachments, Address Book, etc., the now familiar parts of every email system.

If young girls form their ideas of Mr. Right based on romantic comedies like Say Anything and When Harry Met Sally, don't we also dream of friendships like those in Thelma and Louise and Fried Green Tomatoes?

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It's up to elected officials in Ferguson and communities across the country, and to the people who live in them, to address the deep-seated societal problems that fueled the explosion of outrage following the Brown shooting.

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It's fine for pundits to yearn for open dialogue and rhetorical leadership from the White House. It's less helpful for them to ignore the unpleasant realities of nasty partisan politics in the age of Obama. It does no good to pretend race baiting hasn't become a badge of honor and a professional path to success for lots of right-wing pundits.

If you also believe that most Black families in the United States have talked about Ferguson, what does it say about the rest of us if we have not?

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The similarities between Ford's death and Michael Brown's death beg not just for answers as to why this continues to be a common occurrence, but also demand swift and permanent change.

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No matter how appalling, the death of civilians during armed conflict does not in itself constitute a war crime. While the sin qua non of international humanitarian law is protecting human life, civilian casualties is a ghastly reality of war.

I knew I could never make any sense of this depthless horror. But now I can say, 25 years on, that I'm able to understand a bit better what it was that killed my dad, the path his death propelled me down, and the healing that would happen in the most unlikely of ways.

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Nobody knows what will happen tonight. Perhaps another night of peace, or perhaps another night of running from flashbangs and hoping live fire isn't next.

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While trying to catch my last wave or last fish of the summer, I begin a mental routine that energizes me and prepares me for the next ten months of teaching and learning. Part of this routine involves a series of affirmations I use to update and re-familiarize myself with my teaching philosophies and techniques.

A truly honest effort in this area would address both the police and civilian constituencies, and de-escalate an arms race that has been going on for far too long -- to the benefit of only the gun industry.

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In recent years, oil and gas developers have been agitating for the first new lease for off-shore drilling in California waters since before the Santa Barbara oil spill. And where the project would be located? You guessed it: just miles from the site of the 1969 disaster in Santa Barbara County.

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This guy. Next you're going to tell me it's not rad to leave no trace in your own apartment. Okay, whatever. Like clothes on the floor are so badass. You don't even know man. Quinoa salad is delicious.

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Clinical assessment that includes a test of the knee jerk reflex is fine. Clinical decisions driven by it are not, but they too, are out there.

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We breathe rockets, we inhale their fumes, we dream of their long tail. I could crush the phone, but I can't stop the rockets. I could delete the app (my wife would just replace it), but I can't stop the sirens.

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Last week my friend, Professor Jenny Boylan of Barnard College, penned an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times entitled "Trans Community Can Change Minds by Changing Discourse." She uses the promotion of marriage equality as the gay analogue to what the trans community now needs. With all due respect, I think she's got it backwards.

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The point is that black American life and white American life stay rigidly separated at absolutely key moments of human communication. Do some people feel they are "better" than some other people? Or maybe it's not that at all. Does it, in fact, cut far deeper?

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I'm using the word "reconciliation" in a very specific rules-of-the-Senate fashion. Because McConnell just revealed to Politico how he intends to govern, should his party take control of the Senate in November -- and it appears that the previously-arcane "budget reconciliation" maneuver will figure heavily in his playbook.

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One look at Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey's voting record in 2013 explains why he is the winner of our next Dirty Denier$ award. He voted against every piece of environmental legislation except one.