HOLLYWOOD’S BLACK HANDS

On the occasion of singer Tony Bennett’s 96th birthday (August 3rd), it’s sobering to recall his famous comment after the premiere of 1972’s mobster epic, The Godfather. To wit: “It’s a terrible, terrible film, just pernicious. Despite...

Straight Talk

We are living in an age of euphemisms and doubletalk.  “Birthing person,” “lactating person,” “gender fluid,” “non-binary,” and “cisgender” are all artificial constructs to replace “male” and “female.” These word games have consequences.  A euphemism like...

ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME

It’s a familiar phrase: “Tutte le strade portano a Roma”: All roads lead to Rome. The phrase is literal: It refers to how the fabled Roman roads fanned out like spoke-wheels, encompassing the classical world. And it is also, of course, metaphorical:...

THE “HITS” JUST KEEP ON COMING

 Two down, two more to go (“Goodfellas,” 1990) One of my previous blogs was titled “The Unholy Three,” which mentioned the near-simultaneous passing of three Hollywood actors known for popularizing crude Italian gangster stereotypes: Paul...

Climate of Fear

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) has become the Benedict Arnold of the Democratic Party for his serial opposition to the utopian Left.  One Biden Administration bureaucrat just labeled Turkey’s President Erdogan “the Manchin of NATO” for impeding the memberships of Sweden...