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Photo by The New York Public Library

The Time Is Right for Tax Fairness and Sensible Spending Priorities in Seattle

Local residents are getting their first taste of property-tax hikes courtesy of Olympia this month and, in many cases, it’s shocking. According to The Seattle Times, a spokesman for the county assessor noted the 2018 boost is “the largest property-tax increase in King County in modern history.” In at least one community — Carnation — homeowners of a median-assessed-value property might see an astonishing 30 percent increase.

While middle-class Washingtonians are paying more taxes than ever, some politicians are laying the blame on the state’s “regressive” tax system. But, as is often the case, proponents of higher taxes cloak a more complete picture of state taxes and spending prioritization with emotional arguments about “inequality and fairness.” Recently, King County Executive Dow Constantine and King County Assessor John Wilson joined the debate, pressing the case in a Seattle Times Op-Ed for tax reform, even calling a proposal for a new capital-gains tax as one of “several innovative ideas.”

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Twitter: Just Trust Our Algorithm

So I was out at the movies the other night, one of millions who have been enjoying the new Black Panther movie. We got there early, in time to be indoctrinated by the pre-show entertainment. One of the ads surprised me – it was for Twitter. Ads promoting social media platforms are not really that common. But even more surprising was the Read More ›

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Your Mind Uploaded in a Computer Would Not Be You

Transhumanists, as they are often called, pursue several approaches to attaining, if not exactly eternal life, then an indefinite existence. Some aim at radically extending life expectancy through biotechnology, such as by overcoming cellular aging, manufacturing cloned organs to replace worn-out body parts, and using stem cell therapies. But the most prominent transhumanist immortality proposal these days aims to upload our minds into computers, enhanced with artificial intelligence capabilities, whence we can “live” in the Cloud or as cyberbeings. Read More ›

Your Mind Uploaded Into a Computer Would Not be You

Man, who is born of woman, is short-lived and full of turmoil. Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. — Job 14:2 The human immortality movement is all the rage among the hyper-rich and supposedly visionary futurists in Silicon Valley. Their goal? Nothing too audacious—just the defeat of death itself. Transhumanists, Read More ›

Obliged to Kill

A court in Ontario, Canada, has ruled that a patient’s desire to be euthanized trumps a doctor’s conscientious objection. Doctors there now face the cruel choice between complicity in what they consider a grievous wrong—killing a sick or disabled patient—and the very real prospect of legal or professional sanction. A little background: In 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada conjured Read More ›

Why the 2018 “Gerber Baby” Choice is so Important

Each year, Gerber, the baby food manufacturer, holds a “cute baby” photo contest, the winner of which receives a $50,000 cash prize and may appear as a “spokesbaby” to advertise the company’s products. Media coverage of the contest is usually limited to sweet human-interest pieces. Not this year. The contest made huge news when Lucas Warren, a child with Down syndrome, was Read More ›

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Original artwork by Nate Jacobson

Wikipedia: 2018 Censor of the Year

February 12 is the birthday of Charles Darwin, aka Darwin Day, which we recognize each year as the occasion for naming a Censor of the Year, or COTY. As Darwin himself said, in a scientific context, “A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.” But through Read More ›

The War on the Hippocratic Oath

I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury and wrong-doing. Neither will I administer a poison to anybody when asked to do so, nor will I suggest such a course. Similarly, I will not give to a woman a pessary to cause abortion. —The Hippocratic Oath The Read More ›

The Deadly Legacy of Eugenics

We’ve seen it happen: A new assault on the sanctity of human life appears—say, infanticide being promoted in a major bioethics journal, or officials in Iceland bragging that no children with Down syndrome are born there, thanks to prenatal genetic screening—and some horrified opponents respond in horror, “That’s what the Nazis did!” It’s an easy accusation to wield, but rarely Read More ›

The New York Times Needs to Get Over its White Supremacy Fetish

We used to think of interracial marriage as a sign of social progress. Now, thanks to The New York Times, we know it’s just another sinister tool of white supremacy.

Over the past few years, it seems like every week our media-academia complex discovers a new addition to the list of “things that seem completely innocuous but are actually white supremacist.” In recent months, for example, we’ve learned that mathlogic, and even square dancing are “weapon[s] of white supremacy.” (You should feel a pang of guilt for every time you do-si-doed in elementary school.)

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The GOP’s Tax Reform is Great for Gig-Economy Workers

This is the untold story of tax reform: It’s a boon for freelancers, contractors, and the 24 million American workers who participate in the “gig economy.” Next year, Uber drivers, Web designers, and contract janitors will see large reductions in their taxable income, leaving them more money to spend taking care of their families or reinvest in their businesses. Contrary to the Read More ›

Joseph Fletcher’s Dark Dreams Becoming Our Reality

Joseph Fletcher (1905–1991) was one the most influential philosophers and bioethicists of the twentieth century. His advocacy blazed the path for many of the radical social transitions we are experiencing today. He gained fame as the prime proponent of “situational ethics,” popularly known as social relativism. But his work in bioethics eroding the sanctity of human life and promoting a Read More ›