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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof recently penned a column titled "A Letter to My Conservative Friends," with the subheading "Hold us accountable, but please do the same for the charlatans who deceive you, use you and cheat you." Kristof doesn't name any conservative friends, so we can't be sure he has any. It's fascinating to insist he holds the cheating, manipulative "charlatans" on the conservative side accountable; this sounds like a fine idea. But Kristof isn't writing from a position of strength. A Nexis database search reveals Kristof has never written anything critical in his two decades of columns...

A team of experts from the World Health Organization investigating the origins of the pandemic visited a research center in Wuhan, China, on Wednesday that has been a focus of several unfounded theories about the coronavirus. The W.H.O. scientists met with staff members at the center, the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which houses a state-of-the-art laboratory known for its research on coronaviruses. The institute came under scrutiny last year as the Trump administration promoted the unsubstantiated theory that the virus might have leaked from a government-run laboratory in China. But many senior American officials have said in private that evidence...

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The House Armed Services Committee's top Republican is calling on White House press secretary Jen Psaki to “immediately apologize” for her response to a Space Force question in Tuesday’s briefing. “It’s concerning to see the Biden administration’s press secretary blatantly diminish an entire branch of our military as the punchline of a joke, which I’m sure China would find funny,” said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.). **SNIP** At Tuesday's briefing, Psaki was asked if Biden had made any decisions on the future of the Space Force, which was established by Congress in December 2019 with support from the Trump administration. “Wow....

The right to vote is one of the most sacred rights that we as citizens can exercise. We select the individuals who will lead us and the policies we will live under in our daily lives. Yet the system is broken. Growing up as a black teen during the 1960s, I knew of the tremendous sacrifices and the dangers that my friends and relatives endured to secure the right to vote for black people. So before I go any further, let me be clear: I have zero interest in disenfranchising or suppressing the vote of any portion of the population....

People hate America's big disparities in wealth. It's a reason why, among young people, socialism is as popular as capitalism. The Democratic Socialists of America want a country based on "freedom, equality and solidarity." That sure sounds good. But does socialism bring that? My new video debunks several myths about socialism. One reason for socialism's continued appeal is linguist Noam Chomsky. For generations, his work has taught students that capitalism is "a grotesque catastrophe." I assumed the fall of the Soviet Union would put an end to such misinformation. It did -- for about a month. But since then, the...

The syllabus is such a basic document that most of us tend not to think much about what goes into making one. What are its necessary ingredients? A listing of the required study and reading materials, obviously. Dates of important milestones, like term papers and exams, as well. Lecture schedules, weekly assignments, and a rubric on how the assignments and exams factor into overall grades. Oh, and an acknowledgment—mandated by the institution—that your campus was built on land stolen from Indigenous peoples, and that your being there contributes to an ongoing intergenerational trauma. Wait, what? That particular hypothetical isn’t a...

Tuesday was a really bad day for Jen Psaki. – The least qualified press secretary in history continued to flail about in her job yesterday, at one point making a despicably demeaning remark about the U.S. Space Force, for which she was later forced to issue a tweet of apology. Psaki also found herself in a bit of hot water on Tuesday when an LGBT website called “getoutspoken.com” found and published a snarky tweet she wrote last August that implies Sen. Lindsey Graham is a closeted homosexual.

Oh, my, what a shocker this is. – You won’t ever believe this, y’all: Lindsey Graham supports Liz Cheney! Why, who could have ever seen this one coming? Sen. Graham has always been a shameless sellout, but this dancing over what he believes is the political corpse of Donald Trump while it’s still warm really sets a new low for this disciple of John McCain. Graham’s always been the worst example of the follower culture in Washington, DC, a guy whose nature abhors the personal exercise of leadership and always feels the need to latch onto some father or mother...

There were roughly 25,000 National Guard members in Washington, D.C., for the inauguration of President Joe Biden. It has been normal practice to have some National Guard in town for inaugurations, but 25,000 was far more than any number from the past. Of course, nerves were raw after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, but there is little doubt that mobilizing 25,000 troops was an overreaction. Now, 5,000 are still in the nation's capital. The inauguration was nearly two weeks ago. It went off without incident. There is no need for troops in the city. And yet, touring the...

Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has announced a series of a measures to increase security for lawmakers in the wake of the assault on the Capitol building while calling for the creation of a commission to conduct a large-scale investigation into the "terrorist mob attack on Jan. 6." The California Democrat told her colleagues in a letter Tuesday night that they need to "establish a 9/11-type commission" to probe and report the causes and security failures that made it possible for a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump to breach the building, sending...

A priest and a rabbi were sitting next to each other on an airplane. After a bit, the priest turned to the rabbi and asked: "Is it still a requirement of your faith that you not eat pork?” The rabbi responded: "Yes, that is still one of our beliefs.” The priest then asked: "Have you ever eaten pork?” To which the rabbi replied: "Yes, on one occasion I did succumb to the temptation and tasted a ham sandwich.” The priest nodded in understanding and went on with his reading. A while later, the rabbi spoke up and asked the priest,...

CHICAGO - As federal officials grapple with how to confront the national security threat from domestic extremists after the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol, civil rights groups and communities of color are watching warily for any moves to expand law enforcement power or authority. They say their communities have felt the brunt of security scrutiny over the last two decades and fear new tools meant to target right-wing extremism or white nationalists risk harming Muslims, Black Americans and other groups, even if unintentionally. Their position underscores the complexity of the national debate surrounding how to balance First Amendment expression...

The 2020 NFL season has certainly been a special one for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. With their brand-new quarterback (some guy named Tom Brady) leading the way, the Bucs made the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, won their first postseason game in 18 seasons, and are now set to be the first team in NFL history to host a Super Bowl in their home stadium. However, the Buccaneers’ rebirth is nothing compared to the rebirth that Robert DuBoise is currently experiencing. Now, the name Robert DuBoise probably doesn’t sound too familiar to most people. And why would...

President Biden likes to talk about “healing” and “unity,” but he also keeps pledging to prioritize the supposed interests of certain favored minority groups. When is he going to realize that his goals of racial unification and racial favoritism are at cross-purposes? Last week Mr. Biden signed an executive order on “racial equity.” He said that George Floyd’s death last summer “marked a turning point in this country’s attitude toward racial justice” and is “forcing us to confront systemic racism and white supremacy.” He added that “this nation and this government need to change their whole approach to the issue...

(Reuters) - House Republican lawmakers are seeking this week to oust U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, from her committee assignments as Democrats push for similar action against Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Fox News reported on Tuesday. A proposed amendment calls for Omar to be removed from her committee assignments "in light of conduct she has exhibited," Fox News said. In the amendment, Republicans argue that she has made anti-Semitic comments that are grounds for dismissal, the report added.

Social media users have been sharing posts claiming that machines from Dominion Voting Systems were used in the 2020 Myanmar general election, implying that they were linked to the allegations of election fraud made by the country’s army when it seized power in a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. Dominion Voting Systems confirmed the claim is untrue, and Myanmar’s election was carried out with paper ballots counted by hand, not electronically, making this link illogical. **SNIP** In Myanmar, leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior figures from the ruling party were detained in an early morning raid on...

Nurse Tabitha Nazir Gill, 30, reportedly attacked by mob at hospital she works at She challenged a coworker for breaking rules and accepting money from patient Muslim coworker then accused her of blasphemy and angry mob attacked her Pakistan has strict blasphemy laws which carry a death penalty A Christian nurse was reportedly tied up and tortured by a mob at a Pakistani hospital after a Muslim colleague falsely accused her of blasphemy. Tabitha Nazir Gill, 30, was attacked and beaten by staff at the Sobhraj Maternity Hospital in Karachi where she has worked for nine years, Rabwah reports....

After four years in the Trump administration, Vanessa Ambrosini was looking forward to three months of parental leave when she and her husband welcomed a baby a week before Christmas. The Commerce Department’s human resources office had given her approval for it. But then she was surprised to find out the benefit was no longer available because of the change in administration. “I got completely screwed,” she said in an interview. “There were no caveats in that language saying anything about if the administration turns, you get nothing and of course, that happened and so I got nothing.” Ambrosini is...

China has been warning since the coup that sanctions or international pressure would only make things worse in Myanmar. Beijing has long played a role of protecting the country from international scrutiny. It sees the country as economically important and is one of Myanmar's closest allies. Alongside Russia, it has repeatedly protected Myanmar from criticism at the UN over the military crackdown on the Muslim minority Rohingya population.