The New York Times announced today that it will institute a dread paywall beginning on March 28, a decision greeted with apoplexy in some necks of the blogospheric woods, especially readers who apparently have nothing better to do with the time they spend away from their computers than suck face with smart phones. Being an old phart who grew up with the Sunday Times and went on to a four-decade career in newspapers,...

Recently, Bill Keller of the New York Times and Arianna Huffington of The Huffington Post have been engaged in a squabbling match over whose empire is more respectable. This is where I use the word ironic to explain what is evident to the passive spectator. As each side fact checks the validity of their assertions, the tenor of their dialogue contradicts them. While perusing their carefully worded remarks,...

In eighth grade I fell in love with two Stephanies. Which really isn’t saying much, since in the early eighties 1 out of every 5 girls was named Stephanie. A week before the school dance, word reached me that both Stephanies had indicated to close friends that they might possible want to “go with” me. This was confirmed by further intel from other gossip ambassadors. For the first and last time of...

The Daily Mail has some great pictures of Hitler’s mistress/wife Eva Braun. This is my favorite: I like it more for the photography than the subject -it’s a really nice photo or perhaps it’s because I have a lot of pleasant memories of Konigssee from the years I lived in Munich.  Go check out the rest for a window into the past.

It sounded like a Cinderella story come true. A high school basketball team with a 19-0 record going into the final game of the season. They were behind but manage to make it into overtime and at the last second of overtime their star player hits a winning shot. The gym erupts in celebration. But this celebration was cut short as the player, 16 year old Wes Leonard, suddenly collapsed to the floor with cardiac...

Al Weisel, widely known in the blogosphere as Jon Swift, was the best satirist this side of . . . well, Jonathan Swift. Sadly and unexpectedly, Al left this mortal coil one year ago today. Only the good die young, as they say, and he was a mere 46. Al was a tireless supporter of small blogs like mine — Kiko’s House — and I was honored innumerable times to have him link to my posts, usually...

This article by Alberto Goncalves of Diario de Noticias has created an uproar in Portugal since it was printed on Saturday. When you read it you’ll understand why. Focusing his attention on the sexual assault against U.S. reporter Lara Logan by a joyous mob of 200 in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, Goncalves goes into excruciating detail about why he and people like him have trouble trusting Muslims and...

It’s Friday evening, the end of a long week and in some ambiences it’s happy hour time: half price beer, half-price something stronger. Since I am writing this, I’ll forsake my beer for now. Quite a sacrifice, since—as you may have noticed if you read my posts—I love beer. As I love Dutch beer, especially Heineken and Amstel Light, one might deduce that I acquired the taste while living in...

Yes, that’s exactly what the British celebrity woman Jemima Khan, former wife of the world’s legendary cricketer Imran Khan, has to say. All governments lie at some time or the other. But when the web of lies becomes untenable and threaten world peace and financial security, then the alarm bells are set off. Jemima Khan in this video (http://bit.ly/dTDFaV) states: “Corruption, war crimes and...

Is the violence in the streets of Cairo destined to worsen? Rafiq Khoury of Yemen’s Al-Wahdawi warns that – whatever the outcome – there is little doubt that those protesting against Hosni Mubarak are about to confront a far more harsh reaction than they have until now. Explaining why Egypt is no Tunisia, for Al-Wahdawi, Rafiq Khoury writes in part: No noise is louder than the sound of change...

In this age when Internet has extensively intruded our public and private space, a literary event last evening held at the Alliance Française, New Delhi, marked a wonderful start to a new forum “Written Word, Etc.” A packed auditorium comprising young students as well as elderly folks, were in for a memorable treat. They listened with rapt attention the celebrated Indian author Vikram Seth in...

This satirical music video lampoons Ohio Governor John Kasich’s inability to find even one qualified non-white person for his cabinet (of 23 spots, 22 are filled, 17 to men, 5 to women). As Politico (“Ohio Gov: I don’t need your people”) and especially the Ohio blog, Plunderbund have noted, Governor Kasich has even gone as far as to say, in a room filled with the members of the Ohio...

Tibetan religious leader in-exile “Karmapa” Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who is likely to replace the Dalai Lama as the world symbol of Tibetan Buddhism and icon of Tibetan aspirations, is now surrounded with a serious controversy. Police in India have raided his monastery near Dharamsala, and allegedly recovered foreign and Indian currency worth nearly Rs 70 million. Dorje, now 25, is the spiritual head...

Sargent Shriver, who died at age 95, was among those well-known Americans who pursued social causes with great enthusiasm. He highlighted the positive aspects of the American society. Unlike the present mindless “War on Terrorism”, Shriver ran the “War on Poverty” and founded, or was an early advocate of groups, including Peace Corps, “Special Olympics”, Head Start, VISTA,...

Whether or not a lack of gun control is behind the attack on U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and those that came to meet her at a Tucson supermarket, according to this op-ed by scholar Xu Lifan of China’s state-run Beijing Youth Daily, the shooting won’t do a thing to dent America’s penchant for guns or the rules that govern gun ownership. Rather, he suggests, Americans will conclude that...

If you haven’t already found reason enough to condemn Julian Assange, Farhad Manjoo offers up another: Here’s a fellow who’s been using computers since at least the mid-1980s, a guy whose globetrotting tech-wizardry has come to symbolize all that’s revolutionary about the digital age. Yet when he sits down to type, Julian Assange reverts to an antiquated habit that would not have been...

Recently on a TMV comment thread I was presented with this question: “Well, now that you have brought up the subject of reading legal opinions, Elijah, I have my opening to ask HOW, in your view as a legal professional, a layperson *should* read a legal opinion?” Because of the many discussions on legal topics, constitutional issues and political policy issues that touch on court decisions or are later...

How responsible is right-wing rhetoric for the assassination attempt against Democratic Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords? According to columnist Thomas Spang of Austria’s Salzburger Nachrichten, where to pin the blame couldn’t be clearer. For the Salzburger Nachrichten, Thomas Spang writes in part: For months, the political right has been turning up the heat in the United States. In this poisoned...

Has made it almost impossible for me to respond to what happened in Arizona yesterday to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and those at the site of the shooting that has left her critically wounded. I learned about the incident in a most ironic way: I had just finished a more-than-two-hour lunch meeting with a fellow female council member. As I walked to the restroom, I pulled out my Blackberry and began to thumb...

NEW UPDATE: There are now conflicting reports on whether or not she has passed away, obviously we hope that the earlier reports were wrong. UPDATE: CNN is now confirming that Congresswoman Giffords is dead. Fox and MSNBC are also confirming the death and reporting up to six other fatalities. I am sure this is one event where everyone agrees that our thoughts and prayers should be with the victims and their families. The...

Answering the question “Do you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be president?” with the “Well she was born in the US and is over 35!” trope is a lame excuse for not answering the real question people know is being asked. Rick Santorum is the latest trying this duck: “What does it mean to be qualified to be president? She is born in this country and she’s the right age. Those...

Mark Twain once defined a classic as a book people praise but don’t read. It seems that his truism is still quite accurate. In another of the sadly ironic PC events of the day there will be a new version of Tom Sawyer which will remove ‘offensive words’. The word nigger (my sincere apologies to those who are offended by the use of this word but it would be sort of hypocritical to condemn censorship...

Here’s a great round up of environmental news that most likely hasn’t been on your newspaper’s front page, at the top of the news hour, or discussed by Sunday TV talking heads. Via Cookie Jill skippy (skippy invented the word “blogtopia” and writes in lower case).

My friend Vlasta Molak informs me that the world’s oldest Jewish woman is Alice Herz-Sommer, who celebrated her 107th birthday recently on November 26, 2010. In my recent article I had mentioned that this honour goes to India’s Fori Nehru, 102. Thank you Vlasta. I had given the heading based on the information in The Week magazine. The author had stated: “While researching for this story,...

Pundits often say that they’d never run for office – invasion of privacy, they’ve done bad things, it’s so dirty, bla bla bla. So it takes some quantity of fearlessness, among other things, to even run. Having now served one year on the council of a small Ohio city outside of Cleveland – seriously? Stop making excuses – it’s the governing that most requires courage....