Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
I have written many commentaries over the years decrying South African President Jacob Zuma’s corrupt and incompetent leadership. For example, here: One wonders what could have prompted the ANC to emasculate Mbeki. … If he heeds the ANC’s recall … Zuma will become the next duly elected president. Then, I fear, he will do for South Africa… Read more.
Exactly! His letter makes no sense. I am on record hailing Russell Simmons for his political activism in such commentaries as “Black Political Leadership in America Is Dead! Thank God for Hip-Hop Mogul Russell Simmons,” April 26, 2005. Notably, his activism includes chairing The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, whose “sole mission is to fight bigotry… Read more.
According to the February 13, 2014, edition of Business Insider, Venezuela sits on the world’s third largest energy reserves – valued at $34.9 trillion. This includes 297.6 billion barrels of oil – the most of any oil-producing country. Therefore, it speaks volumes that 25 percent of Venezuelans live below the poverty line. Even those who… Read more.
I must begin with a little rant about cable news networks. They do so much to annoy and dismay these days – with their beating-a-dead-horse coverage of any and everything – I invariably tune out after just a few minutes. This was the case on Friday when they began broadcasting reporters scavenging through the home of… Read more.
Lawmakers have voted to expand Germany’s role in the fight against ISIS… Germany’s post-World War II constitution hinders it in participating in battles on foreign soil… [Instead, it will] deploy high-tech intelligence jets over Syria and northern Iraq to help other countries’ forces pinpoint targets. (CNN, December 4, 2015) Related commentaries: Bombing ISIS… Read more.
In “Harper Lee: To Milk a Mockingbird,” February 5, 2015, I poured scorn on the media hype surrounding publication of Lee’s “newly discovered masterpiece,” Go Set a Watchman. Here is an excerpt. ___________________ I enjoyed reading To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee’s classic 1960 novel about racism and criminal justice in early twentieth-century America, more… Read more.
Alas, gun violence has become so commonplace in the United States that reacting to it has now descended into gallows humor. Only this explains Reddit compiling a list of every mass shooting this year, which now stands at 355, under the subreddit heading “Guns Are Cool.” (A mass shooting is defined as any shooting that results… Read more.
World leaders are meeting in Paris this month in what amounts to a last-ditch effort to avert the worst ravages of climate change. Climatologists now say that the best case scenario — assuming immediate and dramatic emissions curbs — is that planetary surface temperatures will increase by at least 2 degrees Celsius [3.6 degrees Fahrenheit]… Read more.
Nothing accounts for the dumbing down of public debate quite like hundreds of millions of people relying on social media for news and information. After all, even tweets and posts by erstwhile intelligent people often smack of snark – intended more to incite emotion than provoke debate. Only this explains Rupert Murdoch, publisher of the… Read more.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! Back Nov 30 Read more.
