Column

This week, tape emerged from Memphis, Tennessee of five black police officers engaging in the beating of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man. Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving according to the officers; they ordered him to get on the ground and to give them his hands; he did not comply and instead began to run. When the officers caught up with him, they pummeled him, complete with…

No adjective is sufficient to describe the reaction one gets from watching five Memphis police officers beat 29-year-old Tyre Nichols to within an inch of his life. He later died of his injuries in a local hospital. “Inhumane” and “senseless” are as close as it comes. While Nichols was accused of “reckless driving,” it was an insufficient charge to cause such a violent reaction by the five…

WASHINGTON — The song, now almost an anthem I believe, begins thus: “Are you a boy, or are you a girl? “With your long blond hair you look like a girl. “Yeah, you look like a girl. “You may be a boy (Hey) you look like a girl.” Etc., etc. The song was composed by Geoffrey Morris and performed by the aptly named group The Barbarians. Their heyday was the late 1960s. Time has now forgotten…

In the wake of the “Twitter Files,” let’s revisit former President Barack Obama’s warning last April about the spread of misinformation: “You just have to flood a country’s public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe.”

Have you heard? The world is about to end! 60 Minutes recently featured Paul Ehrlich, author of the bestseller, “The Population Bomb.” “Humanity is not sustainable,” he said. Why would 60 Minutes interview Ehrlich? For years, Ehrlich said, “We are very close to a famine” and, “In the next 15 years, the end will come.” He’s been wrong again and again.

“I’m gonna live forever, baby, remember my name” – (from “Fame”) The death at age 54 of Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis, got me thinking again about the two-edged sword that is fame. Poems, books, even movies have addressed fame, how some people even lust after it and how it seems to ruin more lives than it helps. Once you have attained fame you can never live as normal people…

WASHINGTON — Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba of Uganda has announced to the world via his Twitter account that he is offering Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, a dowry of 100 cows if she will marry him. Kainerugaba is the 48-year-old son of Uganda’s prime minister, and his Twitter account is taken very seriously, especially in Uganda. In other news, our president, Joe Biden, heard from his…

This week, the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee released a report calling on the city to pay every black resident $5 million and absolve all of their outstanding personal debt. Their rationale was broad -- as it had to be, since California was founded as a free state: “While neither San Francisco, nor California, formally adopted the institution of chattel slavery…

SYDNEY – Last July, the U.S. chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Mark Milley, visited Jakarta where he said China’s military has become significantly more aggressive and dangerous over the past five years. While the U.S. has seemed fixated on China’s growing verbal threats and military maneuvers around Taiwan, Milley and others, including some in Australia, are concerned that China’s…

WASHINGTON -- I am engaged in reading a very fine book by my colleague, Paul Kengor. It was written six years ago, so do not feel bad if you missed it. You still have time. It is called “A Pope and a President.” It covers the lives of John Paul II and Ronald Reagan, and, as its coverage is chronological, I just read its treatment of the assassination of President John Kennedy. This will be the…

Behind the refusal of the House Republican Party’s so-called freedom caucus to vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is the caucus’s skepticism that he will actually “rein in government spending.” I’ve never quite understood why all Republicans do not belong to the Freedom Caucus. If the Republican Party supports low taxes, light regulations and strong national security, why is a Freedom…

It’s now been three years since COVID hit. At the start of the pandemic, “experts” shouted: “Stay home!” “Close schools!” “Wash your hands!” “Disinfect countertops!” Clearly, disinfecting countertops and washing hands made no difference. What about closing schools and lockdowns? The media trashed Gov. Ron DeSantis when he lifted Florida’s lockdown. “Acting irresponsibly!” roared MSNBC’s Dr.…

After months of ignoring the problem and demonstrably false claims by his Homeland Security secretary that the southern border is “secure,” President Biden is finally visiting the area this week as part of a trip to Mexico. Last week, the administration announced it would immediately begin turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who illegally cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Why are laws…

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI died at the age of 95, nearly a decade after stepping down as head of the Catholic Church. His life was marked by adherence to a belief in an eternal truth above all. As he stated in a 2008 meeting with Catholic educators at the Catholic University of America, “Truth means more than knowledge: knowing the truth leads us to discover the good... (W)e observe, with…