Understanding ‘logos’ — The power of words

As the dust settles on another contentious election cycle, Americans are left to ponder the lasting impact of the countless speeches delivered by those vying for our votes. These orations, often derided as mere “campaign rhetoric,” are, in fact, far more profound. They represent a timeless exercise of the ancient concept of “logos” — the art of using words to paint vivid pictures, conjure entire worlds and shape the very course of our nation.

Tuesday’s election showed the democratic system works

Whether Wednesday morning brought jubilation or despair, American voters should agree that the nation’s electoral system worked. President-elect Donald Trump’s sweeping victory came remarkably smoothly on Election Day. While there was some isolated trouble at polling places across the country, voting to a vast degree was orderly, safe and convenient, which should underscore public confidence in the result.

Biowearables are the future of personalized health care

People are hungry for information about their bodies. Nearly one-third of Americans don smartwatches and other wearable technology to measure things such as step counts, calories burned and heart rate, according to research published in the medical journal JAMA Network Open.

San Francisco uses the ocean as its toilet and wants to flush a key environmental law

San Francisco has long used the Pacific Ocean as its toilet. In heavy rains, the city on the hill cannot store all the storm runoff and sewage that flows toward an oceanside treatment plant in a single old pipe, so some heads out to sea. Now, in a case with national implications, San Francisco is hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court will allow it to pollute the ocean on occasion without violating the federal Clean Water Act.

As I See It: Social media

The authors of the Constitution were brilliant. Sure, they did not get it perfect, but they did it in 87 days with no computers. Nowadays we can’t draft a dog license bill in a year. James Madison is considered the author of the Bill of Rights but he was not satisfied with the final document so he pushed for the bill of rights to include “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.” Apparently, Justice Samuel Alito was unaware of the Ninth Amendment when he ruled that there was no right to abortion in the Constitution.

Kamala Harris came out strong Wednesday night in her CNN town hall with Anderson Cooper and an audience of undecided voters in Pennsylvania’s Delaware County. She began by citing the testimony of Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, along with his national security advisers, his secretaries of defense, his chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his vice president — all of whom have spoken of his unfitness to serve as president.

Retired judge: Vote ‘Yes’ to Question 2