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Four-letter words are no substitute for thought, onscreen or in politics

Swearing was once rare, reserved to convey the utmost shock, pain or rage, or the deepest disappointment, disgust or disbelief. The audiences at "Gone with the Wind" in 1939 were scandalized and titillated when Scarlett O'Hara asked Rhett Butler what would become of her if he left, and Rhett, played by Clark Gable, replied, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." At the signing of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Vice President Joe Biden told President Barack Obama, "This is a big f---ing deal." The then-veep at least had the discretion to whisper the obscenity, but his words were ...

An impressive young adult on a bike

While driving last week I saw a young adult riding a bicycle. He was probably in his late teens or early twenties. He was on the side of a busy road that didn’t have much of a paved shoulder but did have a considerable gravel section. I don’t know him or his story, but when I saw him, I ...

Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology

In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers. "Yeah," the president responded, "there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me." That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan's ...

Diversity, equity, and confabulation

If The Onion or Babylon Bee or another satirical publication wanted to spoof the absurdity of DEI -- the ideology of "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion" -- they couldn't have invented a character as unbelievable as Jason Arday. But Arday is very real: Born in 1985, in 2023 he became at 37 the youngest black man ever to hold a professorship at Cambridge University. Naturally, he had to overcome great adversity to do so -- indeed, superhumanly great adversity. Arday, the son of Ghanaian immigrants to London, is not only black; he's autistic and was nonverbal until the age of 11, ...

The stink of Musk

Elon Musk will be spending $100 million to $120 million in at least eight states to help elect Republicans in November, according to The New York Times. Musk's spending is set to begin next month, targeting Senate races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, and Ohio, and potentially North Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. Musk will also spend in House races in states including California, Wisconsin, and Washington. The money won't be spent only on TV advertising. Musk's "America PAC" is lining up firms that focus on knocking on voters' doors. Fake grassroots. But Musk's money shouldn't ...

Five lessons learned from the Fauci fiasco

COVID-19 was a traumatic experience for our families, small businesses, schools and country. Understandably, people don't like thinking or talking about it. But we must. We now know, thanks to Sen. Rand Paul's doggedness and Anthony Fauci's supreme arrogance that he freely expresses in his diary, almost every decision made by the medical industrial complex was exactly the wrong thing to do. Fauci has blown himself up, and almost overnight he has gone from hero to antihero. Politicians and the media didn't take note of the fact that Fauci had a track record of hysterical and erroneous ...