“My dog ate my homework” has long been the default excuse for students who miss the mark with their school assignments. But high school students in New Zealand appear to have moved beyond this tired excuse, for instead of blaming the dog, they are turning their own ignorance into an excuse for victimhood. According to
READ MOREEmmanuel Macron, the newly elected French president, has no children; German chancellor Angela Merkel has no children. British prime minister, Theresa May has no children; Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni has no children; Holland’s prime minister, Mark Rutte, Sweden’s Stefan Löfven, Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel, and Scotland’s, first minster Nicola Sturgeon — all have no children. The
READ MOREThe New York Times released a 10-minute video last month entitled “How Capitalism Ruined China’s Health Care System.” The video attempts to blame capitalism for the many problems in China’s health care system. “Under Mao Zedong the Communist state provided free health care for all,” the narrator tells us. “Decades later China adopted a unique brand of capitalism
READ MORESmall, seemingly trivial events, can be impactful. Some years ago, we moved our household from one suburban community to another about 15 miles away. Soon after the move, I was rushing out the front door to put an envelope in the hands of the mail carrier. As I introduced myself, the mail carrier smiled and
READ MORESupreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor related one of her first exchanges with Justice Brett Kavanaugh following his bitter confirmation during a wide-ranging interview Saturday with CNN. In welcoming Kavanaugh, Sotomayor recounted a story about Justice Clarence Thomas’ arrival at the Supreme Court in 1991. “It was Justice Thomas who tells me that when he first came to
READ MOREWhen I was a boy in Boonville, North Carolina, population 600 in the early 1960s, my mom used to take us shopping a couple of times a year in nearby Winston-Salem. Once I asked her why we didn’t shop there more often. The stores offered far more variety, and Winston was less than forty-five minutes
READ MOREIn January I resolved to read Will and Ariel Durant’s magnum opus The Story Of Civilization before the end of the year. It is now early November, and I have finished Volume X of this series, Rousseau and Revolution, meaning I should fulfill my self-imposed obligation under deadline. The Durants devoted the last three of
READ MOREWinter is upon us. And with it comes the annual worsening of depressive symptoms. Sadly, in the United States, suicide continues to claim more lives than firearms, and suicide rates are increasing in nearly all states. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that death by suicide has increased by 30 per cent
READ MOREWhenever it is reported that women make less money than men, it is automatically assumed that this must be the result of discrimination. What is seldom mentioned is the factors that go into these statistics. Are they talking about women who work the same hours as men? Who have the same level of seniority? Do
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