Blog 3 Columns

What’s Behind the Explosion of Pet Costumes?0
- Culture
- October 31, 2019
I did a double take reading a headline on The Conversation the other day. It appears that pets plus Halloween makes for a lucrative enterprise: Americans are expected to spend US $8.8 billion on candy, costumes and decorations this year – or $86 for every person who plans to celebrate. That includes a half a
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Three Political Reasons the House Passed an Unnecessary Impeachment Resolution 0
- Politics
- October 31, 2019
For something with such important consequences, the Constitution is surprisingly vague when it comes to impeachment. Most of the language in the Constitution lays out what happens once Congress decides to impeach. But there is no particular process that the House must follow in the lead-up to an impeachment vote. The House of Representatives votes
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First Look at Latest National Test Scores: Is It Cultural?0
- Culture
- October 31, 2019
The latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – the “Nation’s Report Card” – scores are out, and they aren’t encouraging. But how discouraged should we be? The main NAEP tracks national, state, and selected local scores back to the early 1990s, though there have been some changes that have affected comparability among years, and not all states have participated
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Copycatting Melania Trump 0
- Culture
- October 31, 2019
Recently, my friend John and I were discussing intelligence and the media. “Find any picture of reporters with that woman,” John said, “And you’ll see she’s the smartest person in the room.” “That woman” was Melania Trump. I only knew a little about Melania Trump, so I thought I’d do some digging. She speaks six
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C.S. Lewis Predicted Our Doom 1
- Culture
- October 31, 2019
Whose dystopia are we living in today? With Donald Trump as president and the world seemingly ablaze, answering that question can sometimes feel like gambling on a horse race. So bet big on George Orwell, as China’s terrifying social credit system makes his Nineteen Eighty-Four freshly relevant. Though the odds are still good on Aldous Huxley, whose Brave
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What the Death of ISIS Means for Us 0
- Culture
- October 30, 2019
On October 26th, Abu Bakhr Al-Baghdadi, leader of ISIS was killed. President Trump later reported that Al-Baghdadi’s successor has also been “terminated.” President Trump gave a press address Sunday morning confirming Al-Baghdadi’s death, and his killing himself and three of his children. Strangely, the Washington Post decided to change its headline from “Islamic State’s ‘terrorist-in-chief’ dies” to
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Judge Allows Nick Sandmann’s Libel Lawsuit Against Washington Post to Advance 0
- Culture
- October 30, 2019
A federal judge reversed his ruling Monday and announced that the family of Kentucky teenager Nick Sandmann may sue The Washington Post for libel over its coverage of the teenager. Sandmann’s family sued the Post in February, writing that the publication allegedly “target and bullied” the teenager after an incident involving a Native American activist
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Father Brown and the Nature of Logic 0
- Culture
- October 30, 2019
Society seems to be rejecting logic, embracing a feelings-based approach to politics and other subjects instead. Experts and data are no longer valued and emotions rule the day, causing how one feels about a situation to hold more weight than actual reality. This is problematic on a number of fronts. For one, the abandonment of
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Famed Forensic Pathologist: Evidence Points to Homicide Rather Than Suicide in Epstein Case 0
- Culture
- October 30, 2019
A renowned forensic pathologist said Wednesday that the evidence in the case of disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein strongly suggests that he was strangled to death. Back in August, a New York medical examiner officially ruled Epstein’s death in a Manhattan jail cell a suicide by hanging. Dr. Michael Baden, an 85-year-old
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What’s Behind the Explosion of Pet Costumes?0