Category: Dan Rodricks

On Friday, the Senate passed the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act requiring the Government Accountability Office to investigate federally funded cancer trials and outline options to make them more racially inclusive. The act addresses the problem of racial and ethnic diversity in cancer research. It was the subject of my recent column. The late … Continue reading Followup: Senate passes Henrietta Lacks bill filed by the late Elijah Cummings

Please pardon another post about the Maryland Republican congressman Andy Harris, but, in a radio interview posted to his Facebook page, he just went off on restaurants being linked to the spread of coronavirus. He says they are not “significant contributors” to community spread. He’s basically quoting what you can hear on FOX “News" any … Continue reading Andy Harris again criticizes government action to control spread of the virus

I need to thank Thomas Lecaque, a historian and assistant professor at Grand View University in Iowa, for the explanation I have been seeking: Why would 80 to 90 percent of evangelicals support the Pandemic President in the recent election? Now, keep in mind, I knew a lot of that support was there. I understood … Continue reading Evangelicals really don’t believe what the Bible says

Maryland is among four states that gave Joe Biden at least one million more votes than it gave Trump. The final numbers -- still listed as unofficial by the Maryland State Board of Elections -- were: Biden: 1,985,023 Trump: 976,414 And, of course, Maryland's Republican governor, Larry Hogan, who apparently couldn't bring himself to vote … Continue reading Four states gave Biden at least a million more votes over Trump. Maryland is one.

I learned about "The Way of the Heron" one Thanksgiving from Evan Pritchard, a descendant of Algonquin-speaking people, director of the Center for Algonquin Culture in New York, a professor of Native American history at Marist College and the author of several books, including, "Native American Stories of the Sacred" and "No Word For Time, … Continue reading Algonquin wisdom: The Way of the Heron

The Republican Party, having done next to nothing to become the "big tent" it was advised to become after Mitt Romney's loss to Barack Obama in 2012, embraced Donald Trump and allowed him to trash all aspects of American democracy. They did this because it's the only play they have -- eschew precedent and norms, … Continue reading Make them pay a price for supporting Trump

Thanks to Max Weiss, editor-in-chief of Baltimore magazine and long-time critic of film, for taking on "The Queen's Gambit," not so much to review it -- that has been done aplenty elsewhere -- but to explain why it's a hit. When a crusty, old fishing friend from Florida told me he had binged all seven … Continue reading ‘The Queen’s Gambit’ is a great story, but it never happened. You know that, right?

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Everyone pretty much agrees that 2020 has been the worst year we've ever experienced. For people of a certain age, the only year that comes close would be 1968 -- nearly 17,000 U.S. military personnel killed and nearly 90,000 wounded in the Vietnam War, the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King … Continue reading Is 2020 the worst year ever?

In the most famous novella about fly fishing in Montana, Norman Maclean referred to his brother Paul’s special way of getting a rise out of a trout by repeatedly making a long false cast over a feeding lane or pocket: "He called it shadow casting. Keeping his line above water long enough and low enough … Continue reading Shadowing casting, East Coast style