Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Juneteenth and reparations for slavery Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States. It stems from slaves in Galveston, Texas, not being informed of their emancipation until June 19, 1865. That was two and a half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation took effect on January 1, 1863. What about reparations? The US House of Representatives… Read more.
Donald Trump doesn’t have much to commend in his presidential legacy, but criminal justice reform stands out. Trump’s criminal justice reform The legislation signed by President Donald Trump on Friday makes big changes to the treatment and rehabilitation of low-level federal prisoners. The new law, called the First Step Act, retroactively applies changes Congress made to drug sentencing… Read more.
Trumpian newspeak President Trump issued his “most essential command” on Tuesday during a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He commanded, Don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news. … Just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening. (CNN, July 25, 2018) In other words, we all… Read more.
I know many of you have no idea who Colin Kaepernick is, and couldn’t care any less about what he did. But bear with me. Kaepernick told NFL Network on Friday night that he chose not to stand [during the National Anthem] because: ‘I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag… Read more.
Woman on dollar bill The US government is teasing plans to put a woman on a dollar bill. Except that paper currency is falling into desuetude. That’s why the media hype surrounding this belated and misguided honor seems contrived. This celebration is like hailing the appointment of a Native American as Postmaster General of the United States Postal… Read more.
John Kerry left an open seat in the Senate when he became secretary of state. Yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (D) appointed his former chief-of-staff to fill it. William “Mo” Cowan Cowan will serve until a special election in June. I have mixed feelings about this. I am glad Patrick ignored Rep. Barney Frank’s… Read more.
Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney pulled a “full Ginsburg” on Friday by appearing on all of the major TV networks in a futile attempt to counter the pummeling he was taking from the Obama campaign about his business practices at his investment firm, Bain Capital. Specifically, Team Obama was flooding the media with stories about… Read more.
There is nothing new about female sex tourism. It’s only that women who travel for sex have been more discreet than men who do. Female sex tourism The Cannes Film Festival is famous for launching modest films into worldwide acclaim. Some of those films even become blockbusters. That was the case, for example, with Fahrenheit… Read more.
Black users of crack cocaine are far more likely to end up in jail than White users of powder cocaine. Nothing exemplifies unequal justice in America better than this. Two things explain this disparity: racism and wealth. They also explain why Blacks who steal peanuts end up in jail while Whites who embezzle millions walk… Read more.
Think what you will of Sarah Palin, but she made a really good first impression on the national stage: remember her VP-nomination speech in 2008? Of course, she’s been such an unmitigated embarrassment since then that Republicans can be forgiven for thinking that speech was just a political wet dream. Which makes watching her flirtation… Read more.
