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It’s a shame how tragedy ignites the public’s attention span. But “If it bleeds, it leads” works for a reason, so we might as well accept it. The terrible and unfortunate murder of 32-year-old Californian Kate Steinle by illegal immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez has brought the issue of “sanctuary cities” up in the news. The death of Ms. Steinle was, if anything, an unnecessary murder. She was killed by a serial felon who had been deported from the U.S. five times. The city where the brutal death occurred, San Francisco, has a long-standing “sanctuary” policy that limits how much city … Continue reading →

Disappointingly, when discussing free speech and its value to society, I have become accustomed to some variant of the inevitable rejoinder: “Hate speech is not free speech.” This maxim has been repeated in discussions about everything from the protest against portrayal of the prophet Muhammad to the controversy surrounding the Confederate battle flag. It has been parroted by nationally syndicated news personalities under the guise of constitutional truth. I have seen it painted without irony on the free speech wall of my own college. Just as with free speech, there is a distinction to be drawn between hate speech in … Continue reading →

When someone’s coughing and spluttering on public transport, it’s easy to wish you had hopped in the car. But the likelihood is your vehicle is festering with its own germs and dangerous bacteria, including staphylococcus and E.coli. More than half of car owners have dropped food onto the seats, foot wells or into nooks and crannies, a third have spilt a drink and a tenth used under the seats as a rubbish bin. Three fifths of motorists still eat at the wheel despite nearly one in ten cars having had someone been sick in it or a pet having a … Continue reading →

A recent Car Pro Show caller was interested in a very specific pre-owned car. He wanted a seven to eight year-old Porsche 911 convertible with a manual transmission. Although the gentleman was calling from Chicago, and there is a chance he could find the right car in his area, there is a better chance he could find a car like this in another part of the country. Used convertibles are often found in sunny climates like Florida or California. So the question is, how difficult is it to buy a car way out of your area, and what needs to be done … Continue reading →

It’s probably fair to say that Nigel Richards isn’t your average Scrabble player. On Monday, the three-time English-language World Scrabble Champion from New Zealand won the equivalent French-language title … despite not speaking a word of French. Mr Richards, 48, reportedly memorised an entire French Scrabble dictionary in nine weeks before the tournament, which took place in Louvain, Belgium. His achievement was immediately recognised by the French-speaking audience, who stood to offer rapturous applause after he defeated a rival from Gabon 2-0 in the final. In comparison to Mr Richards’s feat, the rest of us mere mortals probably settle our … Continue reading →

MEMORANDUM FOR: The President FROM: Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) SUBJECT: Releasing an Intelligence Report on Shoot-Down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 It has been a year since the shoot-down of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, resulting in the death of 298 passengers and crew. The initial response by the U.S. government supported the contention that the likely perpetrators were anti-government forces in southeastern Ukraine (the customary media misnomer for them is “separatists”), and that they were possibly aided directly by Moscow. On July 29, 2014, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) suggested that the United States Government report publicly what intelligence … Continue reading →

Yesterday afternoon I heard a black civic leader in Columbia, South Carolina being interviewed about the just completed removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from the statehouse grounds. The lady from FOX who did the interview wanted to know about the satisfaction experienced by the black leader in light of the events that had just unfolded. Her interviewee expressed his elation and mentioned the “unbelievable joy” that overwhelmed the black crowd that gathered to see the hated flag come down. “We all hugged each other,” he explained. “We would no longer have to look at it.” This negative reaction to … Continue reading →

The first recorded serial killers date back to the Roman Empire when a group of matrons were said to have poisoned men using a deadly ring. Today, thanks to modern technology, psychologists and criminologists have defined and identified what makes a person commit such cold-blooded murders again and again . Working with Dr Elizabeth Yardley, Director of the Centre for Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University, Real Crime magazine has highlighted five key characteristics of serial killers… 1: A POWER JUNKIE ‘Serial killers typically have a real affinity with power, even when they’ve been caught and know the game is … Continue reading →

The stereotype of the drunk genius is doggedly persistent: Think of Ernest Hemingway, who claimed to “write drunk, edit sober,” or you yourself, having a well-deserved glass of wine at happy hour after dealing all day with what sometimes feels like a world full of … not-so-bright people, to put it kindly. This connection has driven scientists to study the question: Are smarter people heavier drinkers? Here are five tipsy facts about drinking and intelligence—and what they add up to. (Spoiler alert: confusion.) 1. SMART WOMEN DRINK MORE, BUT NOT MORE THAN MEN OVERALL. College educated women in a UK … Continue reading →

Early this year, the University of California’s president, Janet Napolitano, asked all deans and department chairs in the university’s ten campuses to undergo training in overcoming their “implicit biases” toward women and minorities. The department heads also needed training, according to the UC president, in how to avoid committing microaggressions, those acts of alleged racism that are invisible to the naked eye. A more insulting and mindless exercise would be hard to imagine. But Napolitano’s seminar possesses a larger significance: it demolishes any remaining hope that college administrators possess a firmer grip on reality than the narcissistic students over whom … Continue reading →

As the L.A. Times reported on July 18, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is currently developing a program to strip the Second Amendment Rights of over four million Americans currently receiving SSA benefits through a “representative payee.”  Not only would this amount to the largest gun grab in American history, but according to the published report, would take place without any due process protections for recipients, amounting to a nullification of Second Amendment rights for millions of Americans who don’t pose a threat to themselves or anyone else. This new program appears to have been instigated by the SSA in … Continue reading →

(ANTIMEDIA) An article discussing the overdue earthquake dubbed the “Really Big One” has been circulating at warp speed—scaring the begeezus out of the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, the fear hype this time is not a case of trumped-up click bait. If you’re worried about the devastating earthquake that could come at any time called “The Big One,” you certainly have legitimate concerns. But as Kathryn Schulz made abundantly clear in her lengthy article in The New Yorker, you should be downright terrified of “The Very Big One.” This exponentially stronger quake will also trigger a massive tsunami—a combination that will literally render … Continue reading →

[Earlier today, CNN carried the national headline: “John McCain: Donald Trump owes POW families an apology” As a consequence, I’m republishing Pulitzer Prize winner Sydney Schanberg’s stunning expose on that topic, which I had originally run as a cover story at The American Conservative a few years ago. I also encourage readers to consider my own introduction to that long article, which appeared at the same time. Individual Americans should decide for themselves which of our public figures owes an apology to the POW families.—Ron Unz, 7/20/15] * * * * * * * * * * * Eighteen months … Continue reading →

It’s not a job, it’s an adventure, orwearing your own clothes is the new camo By CJ Hinke Excerpted from Free Radicals: War Resisters in Prison by CJ Hinke, forthcoming from Trine-Day in 2016. There are as many reasons to desert military service as there are deserters. All countries’ militaries like to snatch young men when they are uneducated, inexperienced, and unemployed. It takes a soldier far greater courage to throw down his weapon than to kill a stranger. There are deserters in every country that has an armed forces. Armies demand blind obedience and human beings crave liberty. Why … Continue reading →

It seems to sneak up on us every year. Suddenly we look up and for many, it’s summer and the thermometer is hitting triple digits. For some people, depending on locale, that first 100 degree day is the start of a string of hot summer days that lasts for months, for others, August brings the hottest temps. Either way, this is is a tough time of year for your car, but there are things you can do to help your car get through the summer season. Check Air Conditioner Have your air conditioning system checked, many repair shops do this … Continue reading →