In the wake of the terror attacks in Paris that killed 130 and wounded hundreds more, there is little doubt that the U.S., France, the UK and other American allies will step up their strikes on Daesh targets in Syria and Iraq. Beyond that, the questions about what the coalition should--and shouldn't do--to combat ISIS […]

In the wake of the slaughter in Paris, the 2016 Republican White House hopeful and their conservative allies have done a stellar job whipping up hysteria about the terrorist threat from ISIS. But when it comes to domestic terrorism from right-wing extremists, that dangerous amalgam of anti-government, anti-abortion and anti-tax radicals whose body count has […]

In the wake of Jeb Bush's disastrous debate performance this week, press and pundits have pronounced his campaign dead. Headlines declaring "Jeb died on that stage" and "Yeah, Jeb is probably toast" and "Jeb's chances for president, RIP" shared the same diagnosis. Jenna Lee of Fox News suggesed to him that his collapse on CNBC […]

Former neurosurgeon-turned-2016 GOP White House hopeful Ben Carson raised some eyebrows last week with his declaration that gun control enabled the rise of Adolf Hitler and the annihilation of European Jewry in the Holocaust. But no one who has followed "the biggest fan of Nazi metaphors in politics" should have been surprised by Carson's grotesque […]

Millions of Americans--Catholic and non-Catholic alike (myself included)--are eagerly awaiting next week's visit to the United States by Pope Francis. There's no mystery as to why. In word and in deed, the humble yet audacious Pontiff has reawakened Americans to the Church's teachings on social justice. But his challenge that "the excluded are still waiting" […]

For weeks, the battle over marriage equality in the United States has focused on Rowan County, Kentucky. There, elected county clerk Kim Davis has been jailed on federal contempt of court charges for refusing to issue marriage licenses in the wake of the Supreme Court's Obergefell ruling. GOP presidential candidates including Mike Huckabee and Ted […]

Of all of the Republicans' manufactured controversies during the Obama presidency, one less-remembered episode may be the most telling of all. Unable to prevent three-fifths of the Senate from voting to confirm Elena Kagan as the newest Supreme Court Justice, Republican in May 2010 denounced Obama's nominee for declaring that the Founding Fathers' three-fifths of […]

The top-grossing movie in America this past weekend was Straight Outta Compton, the story of the rise of the hip-hop legends N.W.A. With its $57 million opening box office take, morning show appearances and (supposed) fans like Florida Senator Marco Rubio, the film's success illustrates the mainstream acceptance of rap culture once viewed by some […]

In the course of American and world history, slavery and the Holocaust are sui generis cataclysms. Any comparisons--especially casual ones--to the Nazi genocide of European Jewry and the bondage and oppression of African-Americans necessarily diminish these unique and unparalleled horrors. To seriously equate the ordinary to the almost unimaginable is a special kind of blasphemy […]