Pretend college awards made-up degree to sham university founder (WASHINGTON—FNN) For the first time in United States history, the Electoral College’s 538 electors convened by teleconference from their respective states Monday and agreed by a vote of 270-268 to award…
Longer Reads
The Trumpire
Merging Donald Trump’s surname with the word “empire” presents an irresistible neologism, given his carefully cultivated status as our era’s most overweening plutocrat. A Google search finds the term showing up online more than 5,000 times, its use dating back…
Authoritarian Power: LePage Missed 1776 Lesson
Gov. Paul LePage, R-Maine, who longs for “authoritarian power,” is a striking example of our need to improve public education in history and civics. “Sometimes, I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump…
9/11 @15: Scars and Healing
9/11 changed everything, everyone said. Fifteen years later, we have some perspective to consider the truth of that statement. Physically, there is no doubt about the permanence of 9/11, even amid great change. What seemed for years a gaping, unhealable…
Photography: From Grainy to Ingrained
In recognition of World Photo Day, I am posting images of the first photograph and the earliest known photograph of people. We can thank two Frenchmen for these photos, and for their contributions to the development of photography. (Raise a…
If Thomas Jefferson had Twitter…
On this Independence Day, I salute editors—those unseen gatekeepers who make writing better and whose absence highlights the risks of too much independence. Freedom. Liberty. Rugged individualism. They are in our national DNA and inseparable from American culture. But like…
Gorilla Shooting Provokes Birdbrained Response
One week after Cincinnati Zoo officials fatally shot a gorilla to protect a child, one aspect of the public outcry proves many humans are birdbrained. That’s actually unfair to birds. Many are quite intelligent. A study two years ago found…
Peeing, Privacy and Politics
Since politicians have made bathrooms a trending topic, I have a confession: I’ve been urinating in public all my life. Or at least it feels that way. For those of us with penises (and birth certificates to prove it), exposing…
Dear Web: Shut the F*ck Up!
Pardon the headline. In the spirit of our profane presidential campaigns, I see no need to sanitize my disdain for web video ads that take control of my screen and speakers. You know the drill. You click on a website,…
If Elected, Trump Pledges to Put Assets in Blonde Trust
At the sixth GOP debate, Donald Trump offered this brilliant safeguard to avoid Oval Office conflicts of interest: Let his children run his business empire. Ever since Trump announced his candidacy, I’ve been waiting for a debate moderator to ask…