Over the years we’ve noted a trend in the American language whereby two words are made to substitute for one. I’m sure we’ve missed some and would appreciate any additions you, dear reader, can provide.…
Posts published by “Fred Gardner”
My medical problem wasn't as grave as Bruce Anderson's (described in the AVA February 28), but I, too, have been impressed by and grateful for the care I received at UCSF's Mission Bay campus. My…
I’m saying goodbye to books we won’t have room for in the beautiful wine country. (Brer Rabbit was jiving when he said, “Please don’t throw me in the briar patch,” but I sort of mean…
The greatest threat to mankind is the cowardice of the Democratic Party. – Corbin Trent The Dissing of Barbara Lee When Kamala Harris was elected Vice President in 2020 – leaving the US Senate without…
It seems like only yesterday that Gina Kolata of the New York Times was cheerleading without restraint for Ozempic/Wegovy. (It’s the same drug, based on a hormone that acts on insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.)…
Jeremy Scahill, Matt Taibbi, Naomi Klein, David Yearsley, Ryan Grim… I think of these very good young journalists as young, but they're all in early middle age. I've been listening to Grim's new book as…
Soon after the federal prohibition was imposed by Congress in 1937, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia assigned the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) to study the city’s alleged “marihuana problem.” In addition to physicians and scientists…
The most misused word in the English language is “we.” “We” have military bases in more than 100 foreign countries. The base in Jordan where last week three US troops were killed and more than…