Politics

Dear Donald Trump, You may remember (you do, after all, have a "perfect memory!"), that we met back in November of 1998 in the green room of a talk show where we were both scheduled to appear one afternoon. But just before going on, I was pulled aside by a producer from the show who said that you were "nervous" about being on the set with me. She said you didn't want to be "ripped apart" and you wanted to be reassured I wouldn't "go after you". "Does he think I'm going to tackle him and put him in a choke hold?" I asked, bewildered. "No," the producer replied, "he just seems all jittery about you." "Huh. I've never met the guy. There's no reason for him to be scared," I said. "I really don't know much about him other than he seems to like his name on stuff. I'll talk to him if...

Dear Mr. Trump, It certainly isn't a revelation that America and its politics are sharply divided. Vilifying the "other" major political party is seemingly more palatable than advancing transformative ideas or reaching across partisan lines to achieve meaningful compromise. Smaller factions within both major parties, though with greater emphasis on your side, command disproportionate influence while expressing little interest in bridging these divides. Significant numbers of Americans have disengaged from major parties altogether. Increasingly stark divisions in socio-economic status are apparent, and despite varying degrees of progress overcoming divides involving race, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, there is much left to be done. Moreover, justice in America often...

I am the father of a child with Angelman Syndrome (AS), a neurological disorder with a genetic root cause. In AS, a mutation or deletion of the maternal UBE3A gene causes moderate to severe developmental delay, an inability to speak, issues with learning, memory and mobility, and debilitating seizures. As the genetic events that cause AS are random, incidence is global. Despite these challenges, Angels can lead long lives, as long as caregivers keep them safe and their seizures under control. The Angelman Syndrome community has always held out hope for a cure, and the science agrees this is possible. The biology of Angelman Syndrome is simple and well understood. In AS, the nervous system is well formed, but individual neurons do not function properly due to the lack of a key...

The best thing for the nation and all of us, says Michael Galvin, is for Tony Abbott to just keep his mouth shut. TONY, the day you lost your job three months ago was the happiest day of 2015 for me. I leapt for joy. I felt that Australia had dodged an enormous bullet. Not the bullet that might result from your “policies” (I can only use that word in inverted commas in regard to your prime ministership because your prejudices turned into government actions makes a mockery of the normal meaning of the word). Indeed, many of the manifold dangers in your “policies” have not been expunged yet, but that is now some-one else’s problem and not the point of this letter to you. What I found even worse than your “policies” was your feckless and dangerous incompetence. Hard to believe that you...