I suppose my abiding interest in the game of basketball was reignited last year while watching the superlative play of Steph Curry of the Golden State Warriors. He led the Warriors to their first NBA title in many decades and was universally recognized as the MVP. This year, despite a nagging leg injury, Curry is once again the hottest name in basketball and is currently … [Read more...]
Shakespeare, Beethoven head my personal Pantheon
The following is a Valhalla of great people in history who interested and fascinated me: • Shakespeare, best playwright and poet of all time. • Beethoven, the greatest, most profound composer ever. • Thomas Paine, blaster of organized religion in “The Age of Reason” and revolutionist in three countries, America, Britain and France. • Voltaire, battler of religious … [Read more...]
Elect Bernie Sanders president for good of nation
Among the welter of Republican candidates and the few Democrats running for president, Bernie Sanders is far and away the best. Senator Sanders, Vermont Democrat, socialist and presidential candidate, recently declared that immigrants should be welcomed and assimilated, not stigmatized and criminalized, as some Republicans insist on. Sanders would protect young immigrants … [Read more...]
Scalia calls gay-marriage ruling end of democracy
Justice Antonin Scalia is an unbelievably retrograde thinker. He constantly dissents angrily in cases dealing with gay rights. Consider two cases: • In Lawrence v. Texas, the Supreme Court invalidated a Texas statute banning homosexual relations (2003): “Today’s opinion is the product of a court that has signed on to the homosexual agenda,” Scalia wrote. “It eliminates … [Read more...]
Three wonderful stories are must-reads at Christmas
Journalism students at the University of Nevada, Reno, used to find me forbidding and intimidating. It’s as if I were one of those newspaper city editors of yesteryear: crusty, brusque and mean. One such city editor was Charles Chapin of the New York Evening World in the late 19th century. He boasted that he had fired 108 reporters, including the son of the great Joseph … [Read more...]
Islamic State slaughters under guise of religion
Not Islamic and not a state but a murderous death cult. Heading on a cartoon in The Guardian of Britain showing a hooded, grinning skeleton of an IS killer carrying a rifle and sword. Terrorism abroad and in America has some pundits, politicians and presidential candidates calling for war. But war is not the answer to the Islamic State (IS). As Nation magazine said … [Read more...]
U.S. wields Kissinger’s diplomacy by air power
The United States still practices the evil spawned by Henry Kissinger: endless wars and imperialistic diplomacy by air power. Greg Grandin, author of “Kissinger’s Shadow,” tells the theme of his book in a news analysis for TomDispatch. Kissinger was national security adviser and secretary of state under President Richard Nixon. “Within days of Nixon’s inauguration in … [Read more...]
Police officers don’t belong in nation’s schools
It’s long past the time when police officers are removed from schools. They do more harm than good. “Abundant research shows that having cops in schools does nothing to reduce crime,” Nation magazine reported. “Instead, police create an atmosphere of fear and intimidation resulting in the criminalization of young people of color.” The New York Times estimated that more … [Read more...]