Oppenheimer and the “whitewashing” of the Japanese in World War II

In truth, the Japanese were the aggressors, responsible for millions of deaths and uncounted war crimes.  They aspired to be the very colonialist, imperial power that progressives claim to loathe, but the ironclad rules of intersectionality make them the victim when the United States is involved. Earlier this month, the Oscar winning film Oppenheimer premiered… Continue reading Oppenheimer and the “whitewashing” of the Japanese in World War II

Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and why the world must be peopled

We cannot know the wellspring of the emotion we call love, neither where it comes or where it goes, but we should embrace it, lest the entire species should falter.  Such is the weight of our dalliances, which are about a lot more than nothing – as is the play itself. Much Ado About nothing… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing and why the world must be peopled

Springsteen’s “Rockaway the Days” is a lost classic, culled from a few other songs, but with a unique structure that stands on its own

The seemingly omniscient narrator of the main verses is interrupted by a first-person speaker who sings something almost entirely different, setting up both a duality and a contrast that persists throughout the song until the very end, where it is either resolved with Billy as the speaker or someone else.  Bruce Springsteen recorded the incredibly… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Rockaway the Days” is a lost classic, culled from a few other songs, but with a unique structure that stands on its own

Shakespeare’s Macbeth, As You Like It, and all the world’s a stage

If brevity is the soul of wit, Macbeth’s might be the superior statement of the futility of our existence, an entire philosophy contained in a few simple lines, but the overall meaning couldn’t be more different.  It’s as if each speech is itself a prism, and the meaning reflected is based on the direction of… Continue reading Shakespeare’s Macbeth, As You Like It, and all the world’s a stage

Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Rest” and the dramatic decline in divorce rates

Barely half as many couples are getting divorced and more couples are getting married than in recent years. Some experts attribute the trend to being intentional about your mate and choosing companionship rather than romance. Perhaps Springsteen put it best in “Tougher Than the Rest,” or even Shakespeare hundreds of years earlier in Romeo and… Continue reading Springsteen’s “Tougher Than the Rest” and the dramatic decline in divorce rates

The Oscars are an embarrassment for an industry that prides itself on creativity and showmanship

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that a show about movies should offer what you haven’t seen before, leaving you with a little of the magic in your own home, rather than scratching your head wondering what they pay these people so much more money for in the first place. Hollywood is supposed… Continue reading The Oscars are an embarrassment for an industry that prides itself on creativity and showmanship

Shakespeare and the end of humanity as we know it

It’s difficult to overstate the radical rewiring of humanity and our role in the world that occurred in Shakespeare’s era, fundamentally altering the nature of our relationship with ourselves, others, and reality itself.  A rewriting that might be breaking down today... The late, great literary critic and legendary scholar Harold Bloom once claimed that William… Continue reading Shakespeare and the end of humanity as we know it

Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, and the wisemen are all fools

Most people likely wouldn’t connect these two bands for obvious reasons, but on two songs, eight years apart, we get the sense the world is rapidly falling apart because those who are supposed to be the wise ones are revealed to be only fools.  In 2007, Bruce Springsteen released his fifteenth studio album, Magic, which… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen, Duran Duran, and the wisemen are all fools

Trump and the truth about his supporters

It’s certainly not because we’re brainwashed. It’s because we like what we see after decades of establishment failure and outright lies about immigration, economics, international relations, and American life. It’s yet another common refrain in media circles:  President Trump’s supporters are brainwashed in some fashion, beholden only to what he tells them, and unable to… Continue reading Trump and the truth about his supporters

Oppenheimer and the FBI’s long history of both spying and lying to destroy political dissidents

Oppenheimer broke laws, was not investigated for any crime or formally charged with one, and yet he was subject to every type of surveillance imaginable at the time. The output of this effort ran to thousands of pages and the contents were frequently used to issue false statements as part of coordinated smear campaign implicitly… Continue reading Oppenheimer and the FBI’s long history of both spying and lying to destroy political dissidents