Death by a Thousand Cuts

There have been many concerned citizens over the years who have warned of the death of Western Civilization.  They uniformly believe that unfettered immigration from Third World countries would be the means to our end. Is this ‘the-sky-is-falling’ panic just...

The Media’s Protection Racket

On November 17th, filmmaker Martin Scorsese will be 81.  His soulmate Francis Coppola is already 84.  I’m sure the media have obits prepared on both these octogenarian goombahs.  We can only wait to see what accolades they will pile on, and how many...

The Gates of Hell

Did you know that the entrance to the Underworld, according to poets Virgil and Dante, is on the Bay of Naples?  It’s called Campi Flegrei (“The Burning Fields”) an underwater basin (“caldera”) of collapsed volcanoes—about 40 of them—that are still active.  Vesuvius...

IN THE EYE OF THE BEE-HOLDER

For those of us sometimes accused of being “oversensitive” vis-à-vis world media coverage of Italy or Italian culture, check out this recent buzz of headlines from the BBC alone:  “Italian PM Splits From Partner After Lewd Remarks”;...

Gaslighting:  The Final Insult

Have you ever wondered where the staying power of mafia movies comes from?  Just about any day of the week you can find an old mafia movie on cable or streaming. They never seem to go out of vogue.  Every year, new versions are being filmed or planned. ...