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’ve been lamenting the normalization of apocalyptic wildfires for years in commentaries like “Wildfire Redux: California Burning … Again,” October 25, 2007, “Texas Is Burning,” September 7, 2011,” and “California Burning: ‘The New Normal’?” August 2, 2018. More to the point, in “Wildfires Rivaling Hurricanes,” October 10, 2017, I alluded to the way climate change… Read more.
I am a despairing anti-monarchist. This is why I was so encouraged yesterday when Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull explained his government’s decision to ban Queen’s Honours as follows: This reflects modern Australia. The knights and dames are titles that are really anachronistic; they’re out of date; they’re not appropriate in 2015 in Australia. (BBC,… Read more.
I took a lot of flak for my commentary “Lone Wolf Terrorizes Australia,” December 15, 2014. This excerpt might explain why. ___________________ The “Breaking News” is that police stormed the café after nearly 17 hours of futile negotiations. Never mind that negotiating with a Muslim terrorist is like swimming in quicksand. Reports are that, in the conflagration that ensued,… Read more.
A gunman who claims to have four bombs is holding up to 20 people hostage in complete darkness at a café in Sydney’s financial district… The siege began at 10am (local time) when [the lone wolf] – who was previously known to both Sydney police and media – entered the Lindt cafe in Martin Place carrying… Read more.
The world is reacting with shock (and some derision) today at the sight of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard being dragged to her motorcade by a scrum of bodyguards and riot police who were protecting her from jeering Aborigines. In fact, they whisked her through such a frantic, chaotic, and jostled path to safety that… Read more.
Australia is roughly the same size as the contiguous Unites States. But it has a population of only 22 million people; the US has 307 million. Therefore, you’d think Australia would be solicitous about attracting new immigrants to its shores. Yet nothing could be further from the truth. For the record, over 1 million people… Read more.
