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Ecuador is one of a very few countries in the world which currently allows travelers from the U.S. to enter the country, and even here, there is a mandatory 14-day quarantine. However, if you are over 65 and can show a recent clean Covid test, you are permitted to...
By Matthew Smith For decades, oil rich Ecuador proved to be a risky and unprofitable jurisdiction for foreign companies seeking to tap its vast mineral wealth. This peaked with the $9.5 billion court ruling against integrated international energy major Chevron in...
By John Keeble A British city that traded 500,000 slaves during the 17th and 18th centuries has been catapulted into the Black Lives Matter forefront by the toppling of a slaver's statue and its replacement in a dawn protest raid with a resin-and-steel figure of a...
By William Haseltine The debate over whether herd immunity will be our salvation to the escalating Covid crisis was recently fueled by two new reports. The first was the release of a new nationwide study from Spain, a former Covid hotspot, which suggested that too...
By J.B. Handley Why did politicians ever lockdown society in the first place? Can we all agree that the stated purpose was to “flatten the curve” so our hospital system could handle the inevitable COVID-19 patients who needed care? At that point, at least, back in...
By Seth Borenstein Acts of kindness may not be that random after all. Science says being kind pays off. Research shows that acts of kindness make us feel better and healthier. Kindness is also key to how we evolved and survived as a species, scientists say. We are...
By Jaime Moreno Do you know what is the difference between politics and science? Our understanding is that science requires evidence, coping with uncertainty, weighting efficacy and safety. Whereas politics aspires for certainty, resulting in a true fight between the...
By Miriam Drake It is challenging, anywhere in the world to care for a husband whose health has deteriorated to the point that he cannot speak, one side of the body is completely paralyzed, and he has no sensations in his core. In Cuenca, Ecuador it is beyond...
By John Keeble This is an age of hate and fear and anger. And, for many, it will be getting worse over the coming months. Of course, for others it will be a way to cash in on political support and profits. And, for some, it will be yet more incentive to vent their...
By Ray Horsley When I was a kid the word “cult” meant a bunch of hippies living out of abandoned school buses running around naked in the Arizona desert. Ah, those were the days; innocuous groups who kept to themselves while they tried an alternative life style,...
By Clayton M. Dalton We’ve learned an incredible amount about the novel coronavirus these last few months. It seems that people can transmit the virus without symptoms, that virus particles can spread through a lingering, mistlike aerosol, and that a deadened sense of...
By Jeffrey McCall The principle of free expression succinctly packaged into the First Amendment reflects the decent and honorable notion that people should be able to think independently and express those thoughts in the public square. The free expression concept...
By Matt Taibbi Watching all the terrible news in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, it’s been hard not to think about Eric Garner. The cases have so many similarities. Once again, an unarmed African-American man in his forties has been asphyxiated in...
By Matt Taibbi Sometimes it seems life can’t get any worse in this country. Already in terror of a pandemic, Americans have lately been bombarded with images of grotesque state-sponsored violence, from the murder of George Floyd to countless scenes of police clubbing...
By Eoin Higgins More than seven months after claims of fraudulent elections sparked an undemocratic coup that led to the ouster of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the New York Times late Sunday reported on new research showing the U.S.-led Organization of American...
By Jeff Deist In the period leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration and its media accomplices waged a relentless propaganda campaign to win political support for what turned out to be one of the most disastrous foreign policy mistakes...
By Ed Konderla I am always surprised how many people are amazed that I’m unabashedly pro-President Trump. When he won the election my feet didn’t touch the ground for three days. I was elated by the shock and pain I saw in the eyes of liberal progressives, especially...
By Jan Dynes I was asked to write a short piece by a very reputable magazine about how anyone can find happiness in today’s world -- the one of pandemics, war, starvation, ‘dog eat dog’ politics and ‘man’s inhumanity to man’. I couldn’t write that article. I had to...
By Ed Konderla What do you see? I used to carry a copy of this picture in my wallet and pull it out whenever I felt put upon by life. It functioned as a graphic reminder of how tough life is for many and that I had an obligation to be grateful for how good I had it...
By John Keeble Do you think you can turn the clock back? Or even make it stand still? Stupid questions. Of course, you can't. But then, why are big businesses, political leaders and some nations intent on doing it? This is a big issue in the Covid-19 recovery. Do we...
