Tag Archives: Media

Textualism is not Strict Constructionism is not Originalism

As President Donald Trump prepares to appoint a second Supreme Court justice, the national dialogue has been saturated with gossip over what judicial philosophy the next nominee might bring to the bench. For legal nerds, SCOTUS nominations are what the World Cup is to soccer fans: the one time everyone else cares about your passion. […]

The TVPRA: Standing at the Watchtower of Human Freedom

If the TVPRA can bring together Democrats, Republicans, Catholic Bishops, immigrant support groups, and President Donald Trump, that is truly something worth celebrating. And for a bill to create such desperately needed unification over so fundamental a cause, how fitting it should bear the name of a man who dedicated his life to agitating the American conscience: Frederick Douglass.

Crying Havoc

Continuing the long tradition of hackneyed attempts to “make Shakespeare relevant,” Shakespeare in the Park this summer chose to stage its production of Julius Caesar with an eye towards current events. The conqueror of Gaul was therefore rendered with ginger hair and a red tie worn long enough to conceal ones manhood. Considering the probable […]

The Way of the Gun

“The mountains are high, and the Emperor is far away.” In the opening paragraphs of To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout ponders the meaning of her brother’s broken arm. “It began with Andrew Jackson,” she decides: “if General Jackson hadn’t run the Creeks up the creek, Simon Finch would never have paddled up the Alabama,” and […]

Imagine A Boot Stamping On A Human Face, Occasionally

George Orwell once pointed out that fascism, in contemporary usage, no longer held any meaning beyond “thing I do not like.” He published that essay in 1944. Matters have not improved much since. To clarify for the record: Fascism was a European movement of the 1920s and 1930s, particularly in Italy, in part in Spain. […]

“…But I Play One On TV.”

There’s an old cliché about the television star who becomes so deluded in his role he begins to believe he possesses the talents of his character in real life, and so the TV doctor attempts to stop a heart attack, the TV cop intervenes to stop a robbery, the TV lawyer advises friends on their […]