Talking iPINIONS

LeBron makes most stage moms  look chill   But pressure will get his  son killed Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  8 min 7 sec

Colleges ending legacy admissions Is like governments ending tax loopholes The rich will still game the system Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  10 min 10 sec

Forget Churchill Zelensky is a wannabe Napoleon who thinks NATO leaders are generals executing his orders Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  13 min 30 sec  

We are independent. But it seems we just don't know how to quit the British. And I find that very vexing … indeed. NOTE:  This episode was originally published 7/10/2021 Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   8 min 22 sec

Except that you didn't have to be  a psychologist to know  that Putin's strongman stunts  were overcompensating for  his congenital insecurities    Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  21 min 06 sec  

Except that, for Trump, getting indicted is like winning the political lottery. Note:  This episode was recorded June 15, 2023   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  11 min 20 sec    

We appreciate the apology and the holiday.  But what about the reparations? Note:  this episode was originally posted in June, 2022   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  17 min 30 sec  

If you climb to the roof of the world, but you don't post it on social media, does that make you anti-social? Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com   Length:  8 min 35 sec      

Don't be dumb Anti-wokeism is code for White supremacy   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  9 min 33 sec

Racists now think they can indemnify their racism by fronting it with a Black face like that of Clarence Thomas   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  13 min 16 sec

To honor British monarchy I'm reprising this commentary On American democracy Both are now doomed By hypocrisy    Note:  The episode was originally published on November 7, 2020   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:  19 min 53 sec

It's unfair for biological men to compete againstbiological womeneven if those biological menidentify as women Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   9 min 40 sec

Money motivated its lies losing it is how how Fox News dies   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   9 min 55 sec

To mark Easter, spare yourself the macabre rituals and just watch 'The Passion of the Christ'   NOTE:  This recording was originally posted on April 2, 2021. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   9 min 49 sec

Biden says the battle of our time is between autocracies and democracies But it is really between Republicans and Democrats Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 16 min 20 sec

In one year Sergey Lavrov has gone  from dean of the diplomatic core  to the face of a Russian eyesore Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 15 min 36 sec

Talk about The Oscars is usually all about the win, loss, or snub But thanks to Grant and Bassett this one's all about the sulk Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 12 min 20 sec

George W Bush Katrina defined his presidency PETFAR will determine his legacy Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 7 min 40 sec

Harry and Meghan are going through a really rough patch. South Park has made them an international laughing stock by lampooning their royal hypocrisy and predicting the end of their fairy-tale marriage. And Charles has served an eviction notice that they must vacate their royal-funded Windsor cottage, Frogmore, before his Coronation. Of course, Harry and Meghan have been willfully pissing all over the British monarchy and betraying the trust of all members of the royal family. So evicting them is a no-brainer. But Charles is just inviting more pissing and betraying if he evicts Andrew too. Because Andrew might feel he has no choice but to publish his own tell-all. And if Charles thinks Harry's Spare is damaging, Andrew's is bound to be doubly so… That said, too little is being made of Harry saying he “always felt different to my family.” Because I am cynical enough to think this is his passive-aggressive way of reacting to Charles evicting him from his home; that is, by disowning Charles as his father. After all, Harry knows this will fuel long-standing speculation that his mother's lover James Hewitt is his biological father…   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 10 min 40 sec

Biden and Putin delivered dueling speeches to mark this fateful anniversary. Except that what they said had far more to do with political posturing for domestic audiences in the US and Russia, respectively, than with the war still raging in Ukraine. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 16 min 09 sec

Given the way Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is genuflecting to  White-supremacist MAGA trolls like Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican Party can fairly be described by the idiom “Lunatics have taken over the asylum.” Only this explains putatively sane Republican minorities like Nikki Haley and Tim Scott sounding more racist than Greene these days. This, in their craven and cynical attempt to challenge MAGA leader Donald J. Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 13 min 45 sec

For hundreds of years, Europeans explored, plundered, and colonized Africa. But decolonization offered the opportunity for Africans to reclaim not only their sovereignty but their right to self-determination. To say they have squandered it would be an understatement. But only that explains Pope Francis traveling there to save Africans from themselves. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 14 min 20 sec

White Australians are finally beginning to reckon with the historical fact that their ancestors did not discover Indigenous peoples. This, just as White Americans have been reckoning with the historical fact that theirs did not discover Indigenous peoples either. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 10 min 49 sec

He will never admit it. But I am convinced Tom Brady will spend the rest of his life ruing the day he decided to betray his wife and children to play football … for a 23rd season. This episode explains why. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 12 min 18 sec

A key feature of the genocidal war Russia is waging in Ukraine is the United States announcing one installment after another of hundreds of millions (and sometimes billions) in military aid to Ukraine. But that's the problem. Because everyone in Ukraine, military personnel and civilian alike, will tell you they could have won this war months ago if the United States had provided the amount and kind of aid Ukraine began requesting from day one. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 10 min 56 sec

Granted, the belief that famous people die in threes was always a silly superstition. On the other hand, you'd be forgiven the belief that they are dying in droves lately. Our interconnected world certainly makes it seem that way. This because, thanks to social media, we experience the deaths even of famous people we never met as if they were personal friends. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 13 min 59 sec

May the comfort and joy of just being with loved ones have far greater meaning than any gift you could possibly bring to them... Note: This episode was originally published on December 23, 2021. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 6 min 17 sec

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 5 min 14 sec

What does it profit a man, if he gains political power, but his country loses its soul..? Alas, for men like Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump, their profit is worth the country's loss. Netanyahu began his "reign" by giving former President Jimmy Carter just cause to admonish him about turning Israel into an apartheid state. He now seems hellbent on vindicating Carter's admonition. Which clearly makes him condemning Trump for anything more hypocritical than righteous. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 15 min 47 sec

Given the way Western media are covering the protests raging across China, you'd be forgiven for thinking they portend revolutionary change. But they are just sound and fury signifying … relatively little. This episode explains why. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 19 min 42 sec

I know, you're never supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth. But some of the most celebrated recipients of the world's most prestigious award should have done just that. On the other hand, some of the people most deserving of this award never received it. Note: This episode was originally recorded on November 20, 2021. I plan to republish it annually in homage to Chinua Achebe, one of my favorite novelists. Listen and you'll understand why. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 25 min 20 sec

It turns out reports of the death of American democracy were greatly exaggerated. Because voters not only rejected Republican calls for a Trumpian autocracy, but defied jack-booted MAGA thugs who tried to intimidate them against voting to do so. Most affirming and reassuring in this respect, of course, was all the threats of election violence and chaos turning out to be much ado about nothing, and Donald Trump himself ending up the biggest loser. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 19 min 27 sec 

Search Veterans Day and the top results will be all about holiday shopping deals. But Congress intended this day to honor those who served in the Armed Forces, especially the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice. This episode is a forlorn reminder of that original intent. NOTE:  This episode was originally published 11/10/2021 Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length: 6 min 36 sec 

What could go wrong? Well, nothing portends Twitter's fate quite like Elon blaming “activists” for a potentially bankrupting drop in advertising revenue. I mean, how rich is that. Evidently this "free speech absolutist" is just learning the truth and consequences of free speech. Having others put an albatross around his neck would've been challenging enough. But this twit has effectively tied an anvil around his own neck, jumped into the deep end of the social media pool, and is sinking fast… Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   23 min  02 sec

Football replaced baseball as America's favorite sport long ago. But, try as the Dallas Cowboy have, they have yet to replace the New York Yankees as the team Americans most love to hate. The way their season played out this year explains why. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   10 min  55 sec

I've been in the vanguard of those hailing the transformative power of women in politics. I refer you in this regard to blog posts like “Women Make Better Politicians Than Men” October 14, 2010, and podcast episodes like “Men Should Be Barred from Politics,” December 27, 2020. Nothing vindicates this proposition quite like the women leading the protests to overthrow Iran's repressive regime. But boy, what price transformation? Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   12 min  20 sec

Tribalism has Republicans and Democrats turning America into a first-world banana republic. This is why the smartest and fastest way for any minority group to exercise political influence is to ensure that as many of its members as possible vote as one. Miami Cubans, as a subgroup of the Latino minority, have been doing this to near perfection since the early 1970s – invariably casting their lot with the Republican tribe. So it does not bode well for traditionally Democratic but notoriously apathetic Blacks that Latinos across the country, most notably in California, are beginning to follow suit… Note: Because a surprising number of you have asked, I always record my episodes on Thursdays to give my production team (aka Katherine) enough time to edit and publish on Saturdays. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   10 min  56 sec

People around the world have celebrated Christopher Columbus for centuries as the seafaring explorer who discovered America. In doing so, they blithely ignored the Vikings who preceded him, to say nothing of the Native Indians who greeted him. This episode is my modest contribution to the cognitive dissonance afoot that should correct the historical record … in due course. Note:  This episode originally aired on October 10, 2021. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   7 min  40 sec

Remember how the Taliban ran US forces out of their country last year? Well, imagine the ridicule if Biden had held a treaty-signing ceremony at the White House in Washington to annex regions of Afghanistan as the world was watching that humiliation unfold. Because that's the ridiculous nature of what Putin did in Moscow on Friday with his ceremonial annexation of regions of Ukraine. Meanwhile, as impossible as it might seem, Putin found a way to turn American fugitive Edward Snowden into an even bigger useful idiot. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   19 min 

My affection for the queen was always tempered by my contempt for the Monarchy. As the “reprobate” son of a preacher man, however, I am all too mindful that this smacks of the Evangelical canard: hate the sin, not the sinner. But I think you'll find the explanation I offer for my inconsistency makes far more sense than the one Christians offer for theirs ever could. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   18 min 20 sec 

Everyone expected the competition between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss to become the next British prime minister to be pioneering. But it turned out to be pioneering in ways no one expected. Meanwhile, nothing has betrayed the British hallowed sense of tradition quite like the ruling Conservative Party forcing Britons to abide four different prime ministers over the past six years. So perhaps it's perversely fitting that the latest one began her premiership this week by marking the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who embodied that tradition… Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   16 min 

There seems little doubt that Charlene is proving more than Prince Albert bargained for. The millions she cost him after she became the most famous runaway bride in history was bad enough. But she topped that by forcing him to pay many millions more by becoming his runaway wife. No doubt Charles thinks Diana was a difficult wife. But Albert would say she was a tamed shrew compared with what Charlene is putting him through… Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   16 min 05 sec

My blog is replete with commentaries attesting to my belief that women make better leaders than men. They range from “Cracking the Political Glass Ceiling: First Woman to Become President in South America,” December 12, 2005, to “International Women's Day: ‘Men Should Be Barred from Politics', March 8, 2019. But nothing vindicates my contention quite like the way America's most powerful man, President Joe Biden, and woman, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, reacted to Chinese President Xi Jinping threatening war if Pelosi visited Taiwan. Because, while Biden cowered, Pelosi showed real profile in courage. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   15 min 03 sec

No, that's not a typo. Ayman al-Zawahiri was the leader of al-Qaeda, not ISIS But you'd be forgiven for wondering why killing him is even worthy of mention, let alone this episode. After all, every time there's breaking news these days of a terrorist attack anywhere, it's invariably the terrorizing deed not of al-Qaeda, but of its demon spawn, ISIS. What's more, former President Trump effectively declared America's war on terror over years ago after he killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. I duly rebutted and mocked his boast in “ISIS Caliph al-Baghdadi Is Dead. Beware the Next Matryoshka Terrorist Leader…,” October 27, 2019. But I hope you'll forgive this admittedly perverse analogy. Because, just as there's no denying the indelible impression a first major crush leaves, there's no denying that which a first major terrorist attack does. Zawahiri figured prominently in the latter on 9/11; and he haunted  America's consciousness ever since… Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   17 min 03 sec

It is self-evident that nuns physically abusing school kids the way priests sexually abuse altar boys means none of them can believe God exists. Because they know no God would allow them to abuse innocent children in his name the way it seems they've always done. Even so, I commend Pope Francis for the humility inherent in making pilgrimages of penances to beg forgiveness for the systemic sins Catholics have committed. This, especially wearing the institutional shame of the whole world knowing that something is very rotten in the Catholic Church. And, as the proverbial fisher of men, this pope knows better than anyone that this rot is from the head down Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   15 min 20 sec

President Biden may not know it. But everyone in Washington thinks he's a lame duck. So it behooves him to do something dramatic to disabuse them of that thought. As any crisis often does, the war in Ukraine offers him an opportunity to do so in historic fashion. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   13 min 20 sec

Much is being made about how the Republican Party has become little more than a political cult dedicated to Donald J. Trump. But the Supreme Court is rivaling that party in this respect.  And fears abound that it will take another civil war to save America from their dystopian devices.   Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   22 min 19 sec

We are independent. But it seems we just don't know how to quit the British. And I find that very vexing … indeed. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   8 min 22 sec

The European decolonization of Africa ended over 50 years ago. Yet nothing betrays Africa as still the white man's burden quite like African leaders bemoaning about a war now raging in Europe preventing them from feeding their people in Africa. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   17 min 50 sec

We appreciate the apology and the holiday. But what about those reparations…? Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   17 min 30 sec

Trump gave me cause to make this pithy observation in a blog post on December 22, 2020: "None of Trump's children (think Ivanka) or children-in-law (think Jared) can have any real love or respect for him.' Ivanka vindicated my observation with her testimony this week before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. And Trump vindicated it when he reacted to her testimony by throwing her under the bus, which really should have surprised nobody, least of all Ivanka. Contact: ipinionsj@gmail.com Length:   19 min 46 sec