It’s a long-standing tradition for outgoing presidents to issue pardons just before inviting their successors over to the White House for tea. For better or worse, President-elect Donald Trump has little regard for tradition, making it likely he won’t wait until early 2029 to forgive his supporters’ legal transgressions. Most experts believe Trump will come […]
One of the more likable qualities of the clunkily titled Cher: The Memoir, Part One is that its author appears to have taken great delight in writing it. Cher guides the reader through the first half of her inimitable life and career with chutzpah. She begins with her impoverished and often miserable childhood in California, […]
The Syrian Civil War reignited after four years of docility when a rebel coalition launched a surprise offensive against Syrian government positions outside of Aleppo. Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), recognized as a terrorist group by the United States, and allied militias launched the first major offensive after four years of relative quiet, routing Syrian government […]
The national average price for a gallon of regular gas decreased slightly on Thanksgiving, dropping to $3.065 from Wednesday’s price of $3.073, according to AAA. Thursday’s cost was essentially the same as a week ago, when a gallon of regular gas was $3.063. However, prices were less expensive than a month ago, when regular gas […]
Let it not be said that Conclave, the new film about the selection of a new pope from director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) and screenwriter Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), is dishonest. I found it fascinating, unsentimental, and exceptionally keen in its understanding of human nature. Nevertheless, there is, at […]
Politicians and their ghostwriters regularly churn out books in many different well-worn genres, including memoirs, policy manifestos, and novels. Still, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-NY) latest book, published in November by Grand Central Publishing after his party’s stinging losses in House, Senate, and White House elections, is a departure from what his predecessors would […]
The original Gladiator is Ridley Scott’s magnum opus and remains one of the best films since the turn of the century. The script, despite being written on the fly, had great lines. Everyone old enough to have watched the original remembers “Are you not entertained?” and “What we do in life echoes in eternity.” These […]
It’s been a grim near-month for Democrats since the election results poured in. President-elect Donald Trump won both the Electoral College and the popular vote, and Republicans are set to have full control of Congress for the next two years. Democrats will need multiple election cycles to repair their political brand, many pundits argue. But […]
A decade into its run, when most reality TV series have either died an ignoble death or are simply awaiting the axe of cancellation, Bravo’s Vanderpump Rules stumbled upon a late-career renaissance. When TMZ broke the news that the show’s leading lad, Tom Sandoval, was carrying on an affair with the best friend of his […]
The directive to “go West, young man” has been an American adage for almost 200 years. Many attribute it to the pre-Civil War-era New York newspaperman Horace Greeley, but it may be even older than that. The guidance gained legions of adherents after gold was discovered in Northern California in 1848. These four famous words […]
