Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Told you so! In fact you’d be hard-pressed to find another regional leader who has gone out of his way to orchestrate such self-serving photo ops with President Obama…. Related commentaries: Fifth Summit of the Americas: managing expectations Read more.
Just days after Barack Obama was elected president of the United States, I previewed what this portended for the Caribbean as follows: I feel constrained to note that, racial pride aside, those in the Caribbean who are heralding Obama’s election as the dawn of a new day in our relations with the United States are… Read more.
Surreal celebrity Phil Spector was dealt a pretty devastating dose of reality this week. But it’s a tossup whether he found it more devastating that he was convicted of murder or that nobody seemed to care. After all, his (first) murder trial began in 2003 with fanfare that rivaled that of O.J. Simpson. But it… Read more.
In previous commentaries, I have criticized President Obama for adopting many of the war-on-terror tactics, like renditioning and wiretapping, that he condemned President Bush for deploying. However, my criticism stemmed not from his (sensible and pragmatic) adoption of these tactics, but from his cynical attempts to pretend otherwise. Now he’s further undermining his credibility by making this patently disingenuous declaration of war on piracy. After… Read more.
As reported by the Washington Post, the little fella is a 6-month-old Portuguese water dog given to the first family as a gift by “that Portuguese water dog-lovin’ senator himself, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts. The Obamas have named him Bo; reportedly because first lady Michelle Obama’s father was nicknamed Diddley and it is a tribute to him and singer… Read more.
Whispers of disillusionment with Barack Obama among left-wing pundits are growing louder each day. Their disillusionment stems primarily from the fact that he is proving to be far more pragmatic than ideological as president. For example, these pundits – who take credit for getting him elected – lament that Obama has failed to appoint a… Read more.
[Author’s Note: I published the following commentary originally on November 20, 2008. I trust it will be self-evident why I’ve decided to republish it in light of the drama unfolding today between the crew of the US-flagged Maersk and Somali pirates. For the record, despite American reporters covering it as if the Marines were invading Somalia to avenge Black… Read more.
One can be forgiven for thinking that North Carolina winning the NCAA (men’s) championship on Monday is the biggest story in basketball this year. After all, even President Obama took time out of his busy schedule to have ESPN broadcast him filling out his NCAA tournament brackets, which he completed by picking North Carolina to win.… Read more.
Team sports have a way of instilling pride (and hope) in people like no other human endeavor. This is why the Chinese invested so much in hosting the Olympics last year. And it is why I wanted Michigan State to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship last night. After all, with its “Hip Hop Mayor” (Kwame Kilpatrick)… Read more.
Westerners reacted with indignation and contempt last week when it was reported that President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan had signed a bill which, according the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) “legalizes rape.” In pertinent part, the offending Article 132: … requires women to obey their husband’s sexual demands and stipulates that a man… Read more.
