Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes. (Andy Warhol, 1968) There is no denying that the Kardashians have made a mockery of Warhol’s well-known aphorism by extending their 15 minutes of vacuous fame for many years, and counting. But from the time Anna Nicole Smith did so over a decade ago, I have… Read more.
I must confess that when the Vatican introduced Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new pope this afternoon, I was not inspired. To be fair, this probably had more to do with how little of the Holy Spirit resides in me (the son of a preacher man) than with any failure on Bergoglio’s part to… Read more.
Annually on 8 March, thousands of events are held throughout the world to inspire women and celebrate achievements. A global web of rich and diverse local activity connects women from all around the world ranging from political rallies, business conferences, government activities and networking events through to local women’s craft markets, theatric performances, fashion parades… Read more.
[I]t is my pleasure to introduce you to my favorite columnist, Christopher Hitchens, a regular contributor to such acclaimed publications as The Atlantic, The Nation, Vanity Fair, Slate, and World Affairs. (“Who Outed Valerie Plame?” The iPINIONS Journal, August 31, 2006) I always get a kick out of people regaling me about a topic on… Read more.
Nobody should have been shocked yesterday afternoon when Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez finally died after a well-publicized, two-year battle against cancer. Nor, shamefully enough, should anybody have been shocked when so many in the United States joined a virtual conga line to dance on his grave … even before his body went cold. Which stood… Read more.
Given the way real news anchors delivered their “Weekend Update” on former NBA star Dennis Rodman’s trip to North Korea, one could be forgiven for thinking they were substituting for comedian Seth Meyers on Saturday Night Live. Rodman visited along with a film crew last week to shoot an exhibition basketball game as part of… Read more.
I usually reserve updates for the annual book version of my commentaries. But I feel constrained to put my two cents in on the spectacle that attended the confirmation of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel as Defense Secretary. Especially because it so epitomizes the dysfunction that has the U.S. government now running on “sequester” mode,… Read more.
I am among those who have been agitating for years for the United States to lift its hypocritical, unconscionable, and demonstrably misguided embargo against Cuba. Not least because the people who have been (and are being) harmed most by it are poor Cubans, the majority of whom are Black. Instead of merely extolling the Pope’s… Read more.
