A Slate magazine column, The Explainer, is a must read for me. It typically explains issues in the news or suggested by the news, such as these recent entries: What do Iraqis find so insulting about shoes and feet? Can you be a gay Mormon? Reading through the archive of questions answered this year is […]
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The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush in Baghdad was hailed as a hero today across the Middle East. In Baghdad, where the incident happened, protesters filled the streets and demanded his release from custody. When I first watched the video, I marveled at Bush’s sharp reflexes and calm under […]
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I doubt I’ll ever see anything as wondrous as tonight’s opening ceremonies at the Olympics. Never has a story been told so vividly on such a sweeping scale. Perhaps only an authoritarian government could pull it off. And yes, the story glosses over a shameful past and present. But to conceive and execute it so […]
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Choose your most admired U.S. president. Imagine him saying this: Goodbye from the world’s biggest polluter. Now imagine him grinning widely and punching the air. And saying it while leaving a meeting of world leaders who had gathered in Japan to discuss combating climate change. According to a British newspaper, those present, including Gordon Brown […]
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Fox News calls the Obamas’ playful fist bump a “terrorist†handshake. An on-air guest says half-jokingly that Barack Obama needs to be assassinated. Fox refers to Michelle Obama as a “baby mama†(euphemism for unwed black mother). Now this on the fair and balanced network: digitally altered photos of two New York Times reporters to […]
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Touchy, touchy some people are, especially zealots on the way-out-there religious right. The American Family Association’s news web site has a filter that automatically changes words it doesn’t like. So an Associated Press story from Eugene, Oregon, about track star Tyson Gay was “corrected.” The headline: “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.” The […]
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Sometimes the best insight and analysis of the day’s news comes from anonymous “readers” who, like me, devour our favorite blogs with unbridled fervor. Here’s a nod to just such a person, who takes on President Bush and John McCain for their attacks today on Barack Obama for his willingness to talk to Iran’s president. […]
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