President Obama is channeling President Nixon with his justification for deploying Special Forces to help combat ISIS. Of course, Nixon justified deploying the FBI and other intelligence agencies to illegally wiretap, entrap, and otherwise undermine anti-Vietnam protesters as follows: Well, when the president does it that means that it is not illegal. (“Nixon-Frost Interview,” New… Read more.
Archives for 2015
Tyshawn Lee: Excuse Me, Which Black Lives Matter?
Michael Brown was a Black 18-year-old who a White police officer, Darren Wilson, shot in Ferguson last year, when he resisted arrest after allegedly perpetrating a strong-arm robbery. This killing triggered outrage that is still reverberating. Tyshawn Lee was a Black 9-year-old who a Black gang member shot in Chicago this week, when he was just playing… Read more.
The ‘False Reality’ of Social Media. Duh
A selfie is not just about adoring one’s own reflection like Narcissus; it’s also about taking a picture of that reflection to publish for all the world to see. But am I the only one who rues the cognitive dissonance that has turned self-obsessed showoffs from laughingstocks into standard-bearers of what is now not only… Read more.
Australia Bans Queen’s Honours. Other Former Colonies Should Too.
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 The knights and dames are titles that are really anachronistic; they’re out of date; they’re not appropriate in 2015 in Australia.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.
Hail, Simone! New Queen of Gymnastics
The Kansas City Royals defeated the New York Mets 7-2 in New York on Sunday, thereby clinching the 2015 World Series in a veritable rout, four games to one. This, you might think, is the sporting event most worthy of comment. And you’d be right if, instead of the Royals, the Cubs were crowned World… Read more.
UPDATE: Black Students Protest in Support of White Officer…
Here is a surprising twist in the developing story of the White student resource officer who lost his job after forcibly removing a Black female student from her classroom at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina earlier this week: The local NBC affiliate WIS reported that hundreds of students participated in Friday’s walkout at… Read more.
Happy Halloween (Hope you don’t mind the Christmas Carols…)
Millions in South Sudan Eating Leaves and Grass … Like Cows
For important context on this grazing tragedy, here is an excerpt from “South Sudan Descending into the Heart of Darkness,” December 30, 2013. _________________ I joined the chorus of those heralding the birth of South Sudan as a new nation in Africa – fathered not by colonial masters but by Africans themselves. But I felt constrained to… Read more.
White Male Cop ‘Brutalized’ Black Female Student? I Beg To Differ.
No doubt you’ve seen the latest video clip chronicling seemingly irreconcilable conflicts between White cops and Black folks. In the clip that went viral online on Monday, Student Resource Officer Ben Fields is seen violently flinging a female student out of her desk, dragging her to the front of the classroom, and forcefully restraining her… Read more.
Obese Passengers Should Pay Extra…
According to the World Health Organization, we are experiencing a “global obesity epidemic”. The following points from its January 2015 fact sheet bear this out: Worldwide obesity has more than doubled since 1980. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese. It is… Read more.