BBC: The Boring Bastards’ Club

Like the colossal bore it has now become, Britain’s once-great national broadcaster, the BBC, seems to spend most of the time these days reporting endlessly upon nothing but ...

New Pugs Club Member?

Our cleaning lady in France brings her dog with her. The dog has been a great solace to her during a difficult stage in her life. She bought her from a breeder who used her as a ...

Thin Man

In director Christopher Nolan’s campaign to save moviegoing from technological and social obsolescence, his latest ploy is his most clever yet: to lure grown-ups with ...

Theresienstadt-1909-Rathaus - Schule

The Curse of the Checkersuckers

Yes, another parable! You guys liked the burning balcony one so much, I’m doin’ it again. In Paul Schrader’s 1978 film Blue Collar, there’s a scene in which Richard Pryor ...

PC Gaming: The Quest to Queer Super Mario

Is Super Mario gay? The simple answer is “no,” although that distinctly camp mustache-and-dungarees combo does make him look rather like a lost member of the Village ...

For Goodness’ Sake

Some years ago, in Australia, I appeared on a platform with a prominent intellectual, many times more famous than I. We were asked what it took to be good. The famous ...

In a Barbie World

One of the most fervently held dogmas of the 1969 wave of feminism was that the only reason boys and girls liked different toys was due to sexist socialization. I was young in the ...

Much of the Hot Air Is Coming From Washington

Baby, it's hot outside. Right on cue, a New York Times headline links this surge in temperatures to "climate change." Temperatures have climbed to well over 100 F in Las Vegas, ...

Web of Sin

Earlier this month, Elon Musk set up a new tech company, xAI, in order to “worry about a Terminator future” being accidentally facilitated by the ever-increasing powers of ...

Hive Mentality

It is said that there is a world shortage of bees, but it has not so far affected our house in France, where most summers, when we return, we find a swarm that has constructed a ...

Smears for Money

The Southern Poverty Law Center just released a report claiming there are 1,225 hate and anti-government groups in America. These groups cause "fear and pain (in) Black, brown, ...

The Victim Sweepstakes

Signed a third of a century ago by George H.W. Bush, the landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act remains an illuminating example of the curious ways in which politics and ...

Covid’s Original Sins

At the request of those who think the Covid origin lab leak theory is “settled,” here’s the response you asked for. All studies/articles mentioned are linked. If this topic ...

Statue of Churchill, Parliament Square, London

Why So Churlish About Churchill?

The recent news that the website of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London contained a derogatory description of Sir Winston Churchill, whose state funeral the building had held ...

Memorial Hall, Harvard University

Balderdash U d/b/a Harvard University

If Harvard were renamed Balderdash U, it might be forgiven for what at least two of its spokesmen wrote following the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that Harvard’s affirmative ...

Why AI?

Today I received a most kind, unsolicited offer on the internet to “amplify my potential” with, or by, ChatGPT. At my age, however, I think it’s a little late in the day to ...


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