Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Mandatory Minimums Nothing betrays the latter-day puritanism that governs so much of life in America quite like the hundreds of thousands of people who are incarcerated in state and federal prisons for using drugs… For decades I have been among those calling for decriminalizing non-violent, victimless crimes [like using drugs or selling sex]. Unfortunately this progressive… Read more.
Who would’ve thought this tiny island nation would outperform the mighty United States in the premier Track and Field events of these Olympic Games? (“2008 Beijing Olympics: Jamaicans Bolt…” The iPINIONS Journal, August 21, 2008) I made no effort to disguise my Bahamian schadenfreude as Jamaican sprinters (with the notable exception of Usain Bolt) followed up their… Read more.
He’s got that kind of slouch, looking like the bored kid in the back of the classroom. (Obama on Putin during White House press conference, CNN, July 9, 2013) I’m on record suggesting that, instead of boycotting the Sochi Winter Olympics next year, American athletes should convey their outrage over Russia’s anti-gay laws by displaying… Read more.
This week, in an open letter to British Prime Minister David Cameron, acclaimed renaissance man Stephen Fry added his voice to those calling for a boycott of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia to protest that country’s new anti-gay laws. In his inimitably dramatic fashion, Fry suggested that attending the Games in homophobic Russia today… Read more.
The University of Connecticut (UConn) made news on Wednesday by banning sexual relationships between students and faculty. Here’s the official reason the university gave for this new policy: The power difference between faculty and staff as compared to students means that any romantic relationship between a faculty or staff member and a student is potentially… Read more.
The Heisman Trophy is easily the most coveted award in college sports. Indeed, it is so respected and revered among Football players that I suspect many of them would rather have a Heisman Trophy in their home than a Super Bowl ring on their finger. The Heisman is awarded annually to: … the outstanding college… Read more.
[NOTE: Yesterday the United States ordered the evacuation of embassy personnel in Yemen and urged all Americans living there to leave. Never mind that, just as it insists on referring to the coup in Egypt as something Orwellian like an army-assisted move to re-try democracy, the Obama Administration is referring to this evacuation as a… Read more.
After months of suspense, Major League Baseball finally announced yesterday that Alex Rodriquez (aka A-Rod) is headlining a list of 13 players being suspended for violating the league’s drug policy. They were all ensnared by their illicit association with Biogenesis – a steroids lab in Miami masquerading as an anti-aging clinic. All of the players… Read more.
U.S. politicians and security analysts have been all over TV in recent days warning about “specific, credible and imminent attacks” al-Qaeda operatives are planning to launch against U.S. interests … worldwide. Which compels one to wonder how this warning would have been designated according to the government’s ill-fated, soon-discarded color-coded threat level advisory system…. But… Read more.
Truth be told, the only thing newsworthy about Wednesday’s general elections in Zimbabwe is how peaceful they were. It certainly came as no surprise when the state Election Commission announced today that President Robert Mugabe was re-elected with 61 percent of the popular vote over Opposition Leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who garnered only 33. No less… Read more.
