I know, you’re never supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth. But some of the most celebrated recipients of the world’s most prestigious award should have done just that. On the other hand, some of the people most deserving of this award never received it.

Note: This episode was originally recorded on November 20, 2021. I plan to republish it annually in homage to Chinua Achebe, one of my favorite novelists. Listen and you’ll understand why.

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Length: 25 min 20 sec

It turns out reports of the death of American democracy were greatly exaggerated. Because voters not only rejected Republican calls for a Trumpian autocracy, but defied jack-booted MAGA thugs who tried to intimidate them against voting to do so.

Most affirming and reassuring in this respect, of course, was all the threats of election violence and chaos turning out to be much ado about nothing, and Donald Trump himself ending up the biggest loser.

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Length: 19 min 27 sec 

Search Veterans Day and the top results will be all about holiday shopping deals. But Congress intended this day to honor those who served in the Armed Forces, especially the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice. This episode is a forlorn reminder of that original intent.

NOTE:  This episode was originally published 11/10/2021

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Length: 6 min 36 sec 

What could go wrong?

Well, nothing portends Twitter’s fate quite like Elon blaming “activists” for a potentially bankrupting drop in advertising revenue. I mean, how rich is that. Evidently this "free speech absolutist" is just learning the truth and consequences of free speech.

Having others put an albatross around his neck would’ve been challenging enough. But this twit has effectively tied an anvil around his own neck, jumped into the deep end of the social media pool, and is sinking fast…

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Length:   23 min  02 sec

Football replaced baseball as America’s favorite sport long ago. But, try as the Dallas Cowboy have, they have yet to replace the New York Yankees as the team Americans most love to hate. The way their season played out this year explains why.

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Length:   10 min  55 sec

I’ve been in the vanguard of those hailing the transformative power of women in politics. I refer you in this regard to blog posts like “Women Make Better Politicians Than Men” October 14, 2010, and podcast episodes like “Men Should Be Barred from Politics,” December 27, 2020.

Nothing vindicates this proposition quite like the women leading the protests to overthrow Iran’s repressive regime. But boy, what price transformation?

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Length:   12 min  20 sec

Tribalism has Republicans and Democrats turning America into a first-world banana republic. This is why the smartest and fastest way for any minority group to exercise political influence is to ensure that as many of its members as possible vote as one.

Miami Cubans, as a subgroup of the Latino minority, have been doing this to near perfection since the early 1970s – invariably casting their lot with the Republican tribe. So it does not bode well for traditionally Democratic but notoriously apathetic Blacks that Latinos across the country, most notably in California, are beginning to follow suit…

Note: Because a surprising number of you have asked, I always record my episodes on Thursdays to give my production team (aka Katherine) enough time to edit and publish on Saturdays.

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Length:   10 min  56 sec

People around the world have celebrated Christopher Columbus for centuries as the seafaring explorer who discovered America. In doing so, they blithely ignored the Vikings who preceded him, to say nothing of the Native Indians who greeted him.

This episode is my modest contribution to the cognitive dissonance afoot that should correct the historical record … in due course.

Note:  This episode originally aired on October 10, 2021.

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Length:   7 min  40 sec

Remember how the Taliban ran US forces out of their country last year? Well, imagine the ridicule if Biden had held a treaty-signing ceremony at the White House in Washington to annex regions of Afghanistan as the world was watching that humiliation unfold. Because that’s the ridiculous nature of what Putin did in Moscow on Friday with his ceremonial annexation of regions of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, as impossible as it might seem, Putin found a way to turn American fugitive Edward Snowden into an even bigger useful idiot.

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Length:   19 min 

My affection for the queen was always tempered by my contempt for the Monarchy. As the “reprobate” son of a preacher man, however, I am all too mindful that this smacks of the Evangelical canard: hate the sin, not the sinner.

But I think you’ll find the explanation I offer for my inconsistency makes far more sense than the one Christians offer for theirs ever could.

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Length:   18 min 20 sec