Category: Politics

  • By Selwyn Duke “Neither a borrower nor a lender be,” wrote William Shakespeare in Hamlet. If the U.S. government had taken this age-old advice, we perhaps wouldn’t be in a dire financial situation epitomized by a shocking statistic: In June, 76 percent of all personal income tax revenue was needed to pay interest on our…

  • By Selwyn Duke When then-18-year-old South African runner Caster Semenya was dusting female competition in races and arousing suspicion about “her” sexual status almost a generation ago, I made a prediction: Medical tests would determine that Semenya had internal testes. Sure enough, this was the case, examination results showed upon coming to light. Furthermore, Semenya…

  • By Selwyn Duke "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable,” noted President John F. Kennedy in 1962. This could occur to a person pondering the anti-balkanization riots currently roiling the United Kingdom. Then again, the British not long ago had a chance to effect peaceful “revolution” via the ballot box —…

  • By Selwyn Duke “The Land the Law Forgot,” is what liberal legal scholar Jonathan Turley called New York in June. Oh, it’s not that it doesn’t have laws; it’s got so many, in fact, that studies found it to be our country’s least free state. It’s that N.Y.’s supposed law enforcers are ideological enforcers, using and going beyond the Empire…

  • By Selwyn Duke “‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’” — Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass As humans, who cannot communicate telepathically, we as a rule will use our common language with its widely agreed-upon…

  • By Selwyn Duke If you believe that, as a writer puts it today, “failure is the plan,” a new report won’t surprise you. It warns that the type of violence witnessed in South Africa and Mexico — and that has reached our shores — is poised to get far worse. After all, our federal and many…

  • By Selwyn Duke When hearing about a powerful person who wouldn’t let underlings look him in the eye, you might think of Egyptian pharaohs, Chinese emperors, or any ancient potentate claiming god status. You probably wouldn’t associate such imperiousness with a 2024 presidential candidate, but, says a lifelong Democrat and ex-office holder, this is precisely…

  • By Selwyn Duke “Fish and guests start to stink in three days,” goes the old epigram — but not if French Olympic organizers bent on surrendering to summer heat have their way. That is, since they wouldn’t provide the athletes they’re hosting air conditioning, citing greentopian priorities, the competitors may stink after one night’s fitful…

  • By Selwyn Duke We discussed our movement toward nuclear war over Ukraine. 

  • By Selwyn Duke As if cuing ominous music, we hear incessant warnings today about “Christian nationalism” and “fundamentalism.” We’re supposed to fear these forces and, in particular, their alleged inroads into education. In fact, as the Los Angeles Times writes this week, this phenomenon threatens to “destroy” our schools and transform us “from a democracy to a…