At the height of Prohibition, columnist H.L. Mencken proclaimed, “There is not less drunkenness in the Republic, but more. There is not less crime, but more. There is not less insanity, but more.” He was right. Though single-issue politics had held sway over public policy with the 18th Amendment, the result had been…
The first day after the end of the NFL regular season has come to be called Black Monday — when many a team with a losing record generally fires its coach. This suits the urges of the owner who has promised a winner to the fans, though he didn’t produce players who can win. Blame the coach.…
They are so profuse as to encircle the globe, so lethal that even mutual enemies agree they must be monitored and limited. If you are thinking the “they” refers to firearms, you aren’t thinking the way some policymakers are. No, we speak of a threat that draws undivided attention: the matter of…
When I was 10 I had a yo-yo. It was blue with marbled streaks of silver. At school we weren’t supposed to have yo-yos. But what’s the point of a yo-yo if one can’t show it off? So I empathized with those who came to the Texas Capitol on New Year’s Day with fancy toys…