Welcome! This is an unapologetic, agenda-free zone. Just commentaries on current events that’ll move you to think, laugh, rage, and even cry.
Coups, natural disasters, and tribal politics are dominating headlines, making America look more like Africa these days. Perhaps that’s why events in Africa are getting even less media attention than usual. I’m not suggesting beleaguered Americans should commiserate with Africans. But from Tangier to Cape Town, a “silk curtain” is descending across the continent. China… Read more.
Ah, yes, because the real tragedy of these wildfires is the loss of celebrity (second) homes. Forget the ordinary people who lost their only homes or the firefighters risking their lives to protect what’s left. They’re just the extras on this Hollywood disaster set, apparently. At least Arnold Schwarzenegger had the decency to reject this… Read more.
President-elect Trump: Scrap your inaugural balls. Instead, redirect the hundreds of millions your billionaire donors gave for this occasion to aid Californians left homeless by wildfires. Then, challenge them to donate 10 times more to relief efforts than they did to your balls. Because nothing says ‘let them eat cake’ quite like Americans dancing in… Read more.
Republican Scott Jennings triggers viral outrage almost daily with his racist or misogynistic comments on CNN. But don’t blame him; blame CNN. Fox News has become a ratings hegemon by pandering to Americans who just want to be enraged or entertained – you know, like Romans before the fall. More to the point, Donald Trump… Read more.
Wildfires: California’s new normal Nothing underscores my take on the wildfires ravaging California more than the title of a commentary I published a few years ago — “Groundhog Day: California’s Burning.” Alas, wildfires scorching wide swathes of the state are the new normal. The Pacific Palisades fire, alongside the Eaton, Hurst, and Woodley fires, has… Read more.
Trump: Everybody wants to be my friend Suddenly, everyone is kissing ass to curry favor with MAGA America, thinking it will help them thrive. That explains billionaire Jeff Bezos greenlighting a propaganda biopic on Melania Trump, sports commentator Stephen A. Smith gushing to MAGA’s chief propagandist Sean Hannity about their friendship, and liberal comedian Bill… Read more.
Faustian bargain coming home to roost for US firms In the chess game of global politics, China just flipped the board. Beijing slapped sanctions on 28 US companies, including defense giants Raytheon, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin. Framed as safeguarding national security, the move underscores China’s growing confidence. It believes America now needs its economy as… Read more.
I am shocked, shocked! Elon Musk is breaking up with Nigel Farage! Why? Because Nigel dared to tell Elon to stop championing the lost cause of British White supremacist Tommy Robinson. Frankly, Musk’s nostalgia for the good old days of Apartheid South Africa has him fraternizing with far-right demagogues worldwide. And it’s troubling enough that… Read more.
Billionaires as eunuch scribes In a disheartening display of obeying in advance, media magnates are muzzling their outlets to placate the looming specter of Trump’s Second Reich. Jeff Bezos, Amazon overlord and owner of The Washington Post, quashed his editorial board’s Kamala endorsement, triggering resignations and a subscriber exodus. But he couldn’t care less. Bezos… Read more.
From on-set tension to courtroom drama Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie just wrapped their epic, 8-year divorce saga, but don’t worry—Hollywood’s next offscreen spectacle is already underway. Justin Baldoni directed It Ends With Us. Blake Lively stars. But the legal battle now playing out between Baldoni and Lively (and her husband Ryan Reynolds) is shaping… Read more.
