“Like, Ya Know?” — Listening to other people’s conversations or watching talk shows, you hear a lot of “likes” these days. It’s an unconscious habit. My wife and I sometimes play a game when listening to others: “count the likes.” A good score, but hardly rare, would be 4 likes in a single sentence. (Lyrics)

“New York City” — Seems like there is always tension between New York City residents and inexperienced visitors. I thought I’d help out with some advice. You know — in a song. (Lyrics)

“Will Humanity Survive?” — We’ve known for decades about the eventual harm climate change would bring. Yet, the political class continues to deny and delay. How obvious does it have to be for them to get serious? (Lyrics)

“America’s Coming Back” — Yeah, we realize the U.S. did an incredibly stupid thing in the last national election, but we’re working on it! And there are some encouraging signs. (Lyrics)

“People Invented Religion” — I cherish the values I learned from my parents as they exposed me to their religious faith. But people who take religious stories literally make me worry about humanity’s future. (Lyrics)

“Economics 101” — I spent some of my undergrad time studying Marxist theory. My views on standard economics were pretty harsh. I eventually lost interest in Marx when other students treated it like a religion, but I still dream of a different sort of America. (Lyrics)

“Citizens United” — When did money become the main factor driving political elections in the United States? Ask Constitutional scholars and legal writers. One nefarious SCOTUS case made everything suddenly much worse. (Lyrics)

“Sorry, Ancestors” — The last of my ancestors to immigrate to the U.S. arrived in the 1820s. Some came to New York City in the 1600s when it was still New Amsterdam. I would feel ashamed if they were here to see what is happening to the country lately. (Lyrics)

“All One Animal” — We’ve spent way too much energy dividing human beings into groups based on physical features. But, even in the U.S., some things are getting better — very slowly. (Lyrics)

“Old Age” — There are important things to learn about aging before you’re actually old. I’ve started to learn many of them myself. (Lyrics)

“American Boomer” — America’s “Baby Boomers” (born 1946-1964) have been living longer than most people in the country, which means we’ve seen more politics. It’s been bad before, of course, but never this bad in our lifetimes. (Lyrics)

“Always Notice the Price” — Smoking weed, drinking, and using other stuff can be fun when we’re young, but the goal should be to stop as soon as possible. Because there’s a price. (Lyrics)

“Done with Intent” — Working in public safety research, you learn that simply deferring to the strongest statistical evidence has a price. It creates a bias for explaining social problems through the lens of individual defects rather than social-structural factors. (Lyrics)

“Ya Gotta Do The Work” — When you work in public safety research, you learn that politicians don’t know much about statistics or how to infer causality from relevant data. Many don’t seem to care if their statements about crime are true or even reasonable. (Lyrics)

“Research or Data Science” — People assume “data science” must be a rigorous type of research because, hey, the word “science.” But no, they’re different professions. Both would benefit from dropping the fetish for good answers and instead focusing on Good Questions.  (Lyrics)

“Attribution Error” — Elected officials love to claim responsibility for crime drops, attributing positive changes to their own efforts. Exactly how do so many Governors and Mayors produce similar crime declines at the same time? Such questions don’t seem to trouble them. (Lyrics)

“How They Make Our Rules” — The firearm violence rate in the U.S. is shameful and disgusting. It doesn’t have to be this way. We just need to reduce the influence of fools and their money in our politics. Simple. (Lyrics)

“Guardrails” — Accessible, policy-relevant research is more important in the U.S. today as the federal government degrades science and increases risks to health, safety, and peace. Credible research is now part of national security. (Lyrics)

“Effective Prevention is the Key” — I spend my days thinking about the effectiveness of crime prevention strategies. I wish lawmakers would get serious about it, and not just make up stuff for their campaigns. (Lyrics)

“Academia” — Most of my career has been in research, but I don’t call myself an academic. I think research should be non-ideological, action-oriented, freely accessible, and understandable to a broad audience. That’s not the way to succeed as an academic. (Lyrics)

“Pay Walls” — During the paper publication era, the best sources for research were academic journals. Most of those journals are now privileged academic websites, hidden behind paywalls. This could be my Act 1 Finale when someone hires me to write a Broadway play about social research. Someone tell Lin-Manuel Miranda. (Lyrics)

“Cause and Effect” — I’ve had many research clients in my career. Some genuinely fund us to evaluate a policy or program, but sometimes it turns out they don’t really want objective research. They want academic-style support for their preconceived ideas. (Lyrics)

“An Issue Like Few Others” — Many politicians don’t really try to reduce violent crime. They use the issue to motivate their voter base. (Lyrics)

“Policy Must be Factual” — I’m disturbed by how many social policies are designed for political purposes, without concern for research or facts. Oh, and this could be the final number in that Broadway play about social research when someone commissions one. And, hey, maybe call Andrew Lloyd Webber, not only Lin-Manuel Miranda. (Lyrics)