UPDATE: The New York Magazine, pointing to the same story in the Christian Science Monitor we linked to yesterday, says that the Egyptian Corpse-Sex Law probably is not real: We say probably because even the doubters have been unable to provide conclusive evidence yet. But they — the Christian Science Monitor’s Dan Murphy and readers of Andrew Sullivan’s blog, for example — point out that the...

Why has the issue of how America’s presidential candidates treat members of the dog kingdom suddenly taken on such prominence? For France’s Le Figaro, columnist Thomas Vampouille offers a view from across the Atlantic of what Europeans have dubbed ‘Dog-Gate.’ For Le Figaro, Thomas Vampouille starts out this way: The duel for the White House between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama has...

Yet another example of how partisans have to turn everything they can into something personal with those with whom they disagree. And. Oh. Let’s clear something up right now. It isn’t just “the left” that finds this kind of reaction something that undermines someone’s credibility, it’s many independent voters. I’ve met a lot of people in my coast to coast car trip since...

Is it fair to say that Iraq’s ‘Green Zone’ politicians, having come to power thanks to American military force, are now using Washington as a scapegoat for their own failure to get the nation back on its feet? According to columnist Abd al-Zahra al-Rukaby of Kuwait’s Al Qabas, Iraqi politicians are nothing but cowardly ‘sheep’ unable to make decisions without American help. For...

LET’S MAKE U.S. ELECTIONS INTO EBAY AUCTIONS It is a complete waste of time and brain power to propose, discuss, advocate or pursue any public policy changes that will not meet with the approval of the nation’s 1% oligarchy. History shows that the current powers-that-be prefer complete inaction in the public sphere so that the corrupt crony cartels can work their endless crimes against 99% of humanity...

WASHINGTON — It turns out that there is at least one question on which Mitt Romney is not a flip-flopper: He has a utopian view of what an unfettered, lightly taxed market economy can achieve. He would never put it this way, of course, but his approach looks forward by looking backward to the late 19th century, when government let market forces rip and a conservative Supreme Court swept aside as...

FCC Political Ad Vote Comes Down to the Wire by Michael Winship With the Federal Communications Commission scheduled to vote this Friday on TV stations posting political advertising data on-line, we know pretty much for certain the final tally will be 2-1. What we don’t know is on which side of the issue Democratic FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn will fall. She’s the swing vote and reportedly under enormous...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to appear on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

UPDATE: While Rick Santorum still refuses to officially endorse Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich has finally done the right thing — in addition to suspending his foolhardy campaign. Mr. Gingrich plans to officially endorse Mr. Romney’s candidacy after suspending his own efforts next week. Newt Gingrich called Mitt Romney today (Wednesday) and told him that he would suspend his presidential campaign next week...

Obama ignores North Carolina’s anti-gay amendment:

A final, final update for tonight — and it has to be on the “unstoppable” Newt Gingrich. AJC.com reports: Newt Gingrich said he was rethinking his bid for the presidency after another series of disappointing primary showings Tuesday night, but he stopped short of dropping out. Gingrich, the former U.S. House Speaker from Georgia, maintained that he was committed to bringing conservative ideas to the...

Is there some logic to the fact that as the date for America’s withdrawal draws nigh, the number of atrocities and scandals involving U.S. troops seem to be increasing? For Germany’s ‘Die Zeit’, columnist Ulrich Ladurner writes that the ‘demon of war’ is enjoying his final Afghan feast, and that if any further gross mishaps are committed by American forces, the departure...

Are we only now beginning to see the consequences of America’s invasion and ultimate withdrawal from Iraq? For France’s Le Monde, columnist Christophe Ayad writes that the Shiite-Sunni civil war set in motion by the U.S. invasion is not only worsening in Iraq, it now threatens to engulf neighboring countries like Syria, Lebanon, Bahrain and Yemen – with the Iranians and Saudis pouring fuel...

It has been very difficult to wade back into the many endlessly repetitive and totally dysfunctional national discourses that dominate the 24/7 info-entertainment news cycle in the U.S. I’ve been preoccupied with personal and family matters for the past month. My TMV postings have greatly diminished from my extensive 2009, 2010 and even early 2011 outputs. In 2012 it’s been no more than a trickle and...

About a week ago I wrote about the recent phenomenon that highly skilled, highly educated first and second generation Indian-Americans, Chinese-Americans and others are returning to their native countries. They are the young sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters, of Indian, Chinese, Russian, Brazilian immigrants — some born here in the United States, some having immigrated as young children. They...

Fox News’ Steve Doocy has finally corrected a quote he used from President Barack Obama or, rather, the embellishment of a quote. Or was it an innocent mistake? As someone who was a fulltime journalist, does blogging and writes a weekly column I full know how easy it is to mistakenly paraphrase someone (I even just submitted for my weekly column a piece where I offer a satirical Mitt Romney standup routine...

UPDATE II: It is not clear from subsequent reports on the Blackhawk helicopter crash last Thursday in Helmand province, Afghanistan, whether the four crew members killed were medics or crew in a helicopter flying along a medevac helicopter on a mission to pick up Afghan policemen wounded in a bombing. Regardless, the helicopter was a “fallen angel” in aviation parlance and the four crewmembers were all...

I have made it a point not to get involved in the back-and-forth over the February 26 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in Sanford, Fla. I have done so because, just as the author of what might have been one of the more objective pieces written on this tragedy, I also “[a]m not sure what happened the night [Zimmerman] confronted Trayvon Martin,...

I recently appeared on Celia Farber’s Radio Free Science talk show, regarding the corruption of Wikipedia: Boy I say “um” a lot. I’m losing my public speaking mojo. But in any case, I think we discuss some important issues regarding what is probably the world’s most widely-read and used reference resource.

Has America’s Spirit Airlines overstepped the bounds of propriety by producing an advertisement in which a man appearing to be a U.S. Secret Service agent surrounded by bikini-clad beauties suggests air travel to Cartegena, Colombia? According to this news item from Colombia’s El Tiempo, the government of Colombia regards this as inappropriate subliminal advertising, and has told Spirit to pull...