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 on the infamous O.J. Simpson saga, including on the occasion of his first parole hearing in “O.J. Simpson: He’s Baaaack,” May 15, 2013. In each I made clear my belief, beyond any reasonable doubt, that he is an unrepentant, even remorseless double murderer. This is why I greeted his conviction… Read more.
Venezuela has been on a political and economic descent into the heart of darkness for years. I have bemoaned this unfolding tragedy in many commentaries, including most recently in “Venezuela’s Death Spiral of Recession, Protest, and Repression,” April 24, 2017. But it speaks volumes that so much is being made of Sunday’s pyrrhic reprieve –… Read more.
Venus [Garbine Muguruza of Spain] powered her way to her first title at Wimbledon and second at a Grand Slam tournament Saturday, beating a fading Venus Williams 7-5, 6-0 by claiming the final’s last nine games. … At 37, Williams was bidding for her sixth championship at the grass-court major, 17 years after her first.… Read more.
Liu Xiaobo, the renegade Chinese intellectual who kept vigil at Tiananmen Square in 1989 to protect protesters from encroaching soldiers, promoted a pro-democracy charter that brought him a lengthy prison sentence and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize while locked away, died under guard in a hospital on Thursday. He was 61. (New York Times,… Read more.
President Trump received near-universal praise for his state visit to Saudi Arabia in late May. But I found this praise utterly bemusing and delineated the reasons why in “WTF: Saudis Giving Islamophobic Trump the Royal Treatment,” May 20, 2017. Evidently, those praising him didn’t bother to ask why he made this cradle of terrorism his… Read more.
[President Trump is a] man who barks out bile in 140 characters, who wastes his precious days as President at war with the West’s institutions — like the judiciary, independent government agencies and the free press. He was an uneasy, awkward figure at this gathering and you got the strong sense some other leaders were… Read more.
I’ve written far too many commentaries on this topic to count. Unfortunately, they’ve done little more than lump me together with the “heretics” trying to temper increasing alarms about climate change with calming facts about environmental protection and conservation. Therefore, on behalf of all proud heretics in this respect, let me hasten to clarify that,… Read more.
Foremost, with all the humbug about Russian President Vladimir V. Putin, bear in mind that American President Donald J. Trump might be a bigger danger to Westerner democracies. Putin must be laughing at his dumb luck. After all, he could never have imagined having an American president who seems almost as hell-bent as he is… Read more.
Emily Ratajkowski thinks Hollywood is blackballing her because she’s too sexy. But that’s like Donald Trump thinking Washington is blackballing him because he’s too smart. Both of them are as clueless as they are narcissistic. Ratajkowski is ‘too sexy’ for acting Ratajkowski personifies confused millennials. One day, they’re clamoring for safe spaces in public places. The next day, they’re exposing themselves on social media, too… Read more.
Just nine days ago, I vowed to stop commenting on the Kabuki dance between North Korea launching ballistic missiles and the United States reacting with feckless outrage and hollow threats. I did so in “North Korean Nukes like Quicksilver for China and US,” June 26, 2017. But North Korea busted a milestone move in this… Read more.
