Today’s piece on SafeSport was pegged to the release of a letter by the US Soccer Athletes’ Council, but it was actually months in the making. 'SafeSport is failing': how a body made to protect athletes has fallen short SafeSport was formed to protect athletes from abuse. But the mounting number of critics who say it's failed in its…www.theguardian.com You could also add in all the years of experience I have covering a lot of these issues, and you end up with a…

Spending all of your time monitoring and fretting about the state of American freedom and democracy surely isn’t good for one’s mental health. But while we all enjoy some well-deserved summer R&R, it’s worth amplifying some of the most perceptive voices in the harrowing field of monitoring and describing the…

This week, I hopped on “Threads,” the Meta alternative to Twitter. I also may have locked myself out of Twitter, so the move may be permanent, like it or not. Also this week — July 7, to be exact — is my 20th anniversary as a blogger. My first blog…

James Randi is a hero to skeptics — those of us who believe that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. A magician by trade, Randi was a master at coming up with controlled experiments to test psychic powers. He offered $1m for anyone who could demonstrate paranormal abilities. …

Out of all the Twitter interactions I’ve had — arguing with Hope Solo, dealing with the unleashed fury of Alex Morgan’s followers, fending off some dude from the UK Independence Party who reeked of smugness — the strangest I’ve had was this week. I found myself arguing that we should…

Ranked-choice voting. Let candidates present more than two points of view, and make it so the winner is someone who as least palatable to a majority of voters.

The danger of today’s Republican Party is simple. They’ve lost every argument. All of them. They’ve painted themselves into a corner in which they cannot win in the media or academia because their arguments do not stand up to scrutiny. In some cases, like guns, today’s Republicans have terrible arguments…

Good satirists say so much with a few words, and we could argue that no one does it better than The Onion: Trans Teen Hatches Nefarious Plot To Undergo Years Of Medical Treatments And Counseling To Win At… STOCKTON, CA-Cackling as the steps of the dastardly plan crystallized in her mind, local trans teen Brie Chandler told…www.theonion.com In this on-target piece, The Onion’s writers outline the plan of “local trans teen Brie Chandler,” who doesn’t even care about being a woman but wants that coveted…

This post is a quick intro to or substitute for the long blog posts I’ve written, all based on countless hours (I’m figuring 100, easily) spent poring over 990 forms and board minutes, exchanging emails, doing a survey of clubs, etc. USA Curling is responsible for developing the sport in…