It was beyond horrific: Lungs collapsing under the weight of their own resistance. Vibrant and alive by morning. Dead by night. The influenza pandemic of 1918 did something else ever etched into the minds of those who cared for the dying. In many cases it turned white people…
DetailsAccentuate the positive. Donald Trump had peaceful protesters gassed, had them flash-banged and chased by mounted park rangers, to clear his path for a two-bit photo-op. But at least he didn’t take a golf cart. He didn’t have his coterie of sycophants lay palm fronds before him. He didn’t…
DetailsTo certain fanatics who call themselves “pro-life,” the means always justify the end. The end of a woman’s right to choose, that is. Those means include specious “informed consent” laws to promote myth and misinformation. Those means include surreptitious and illegal efforts to entrap women’s clinic workers…
DetailsIf you want Baby Trump to go full diaper rash, mention an alternative to risking one’s life at the polls. Rash was the word when Trump threatened Michigan and Nevada with losing federal funds when they took steps to make it possible for more people to vote safely…
DetailsWe are warriors, says Donald Trump. You, me — enlistees in a war against a killer. In waging it, however, apparently most of us have been doing the wrong thing. We thought we did right by social-distancing, covering faces when out, and otherwise just staying home. Wrong. …
Details“Kill all the lawyers.” Misusers of the line from Shakespeare’s “Henry VI” see a put-down of the legal profession in it. Nah. It is a tribute. It comes from a rogue who wants chaos and lawlessness. Listen closely and you’ll hear it in the “Liberate!” mobs. They’re…
DetailsIn the news where I live, a young man was arrested after sending two baggies of cocaine through a drive-up bank vacuum tube. For safe-keeping? My wife and I shook our heads, laughed, and agreed on this: “It’s refreshing to hear of bizarre behavior by someone…
DetailsHeckuva job, Brian-ie. Not many know Brian Harrison. At 37, he is a might callow to known by anyone, much less to be the person heading up the nation’s coronavirus response. Surely, a person of such rank must be a certifiable genius, stable, and steeped in matters…
DetailsSome musical selections were overwrought. Some were unintelligible. But when ABC, NBC and CBS joined together Saturday night in “One World Together at Home” to salute health-care workers and the World Health Organization, it was impossible to not be stirred. From the physician who sleeps in his garage to not…
Details“Just bring me Cuomo,” my wife orders the television. With the rest of us, she despairs at the televised clichés — one more “grim milestone,” one more “word from the White House” which translates mostly to self-serving words. She suggests Anthony Fauci should…
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