It was supposed to be the “Grand Central Station of the West.” And in 2010, every big-name Democrat in northern California was at the groundbreaking of the Transbay Transit Center in downtown San Francisco. Then-Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were there, as was then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and of course, then-mayor Gavin Newsom. “I […]
More than 6 million people live in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, but only about 700,000 live in the actual District of Columbia. The rest live in the suburbs, Maryland, and Northern Virginia. Thanks to a federal government that spends $6 trillion per year — more than one-fifth of the entire economy — these suburbs […]
“What does one think of when reading the words Italian American?” I asked a friend. Was she going to say tomato sauce (gravy) or delicious food? How about fictional characters, Michael Corleone or Tony Soprano? Does the phrase “fuhgeddaboudit” suddenly pop into your head? Or maybe the “Che vuoi?” (pinched fingers) hand gesture? All are […]
Peter Hujar’s place in American photography was summed up aptly, and not a little harshly, deep within the biography of another photographer. Hujar’s career, Patricia Morrisroe wrote in Mapplethorpe, was “a shadow version” of her subject’s. “The two men might be compared,” she goes on, “to … Mozart and Salieri.” So let’s compare. Both men […]
The Empire Strikes Back famously features a string of Imperial officers being summarily executed by Darth Vader as their horrified successors look on with concern. The lesson? Sometimes, one climbs the ladder only to fall from a greater height. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), the man who has succeeded Mitch McConnell as the Republicans’ […]
The new year is off like a rocket. 2025 has dawned with more optimism than we’ve known for years. Inhaling that hopeful air, I asked my Army team leader and good friend, retired Army Master Sgt. Mike Preston, about his goals in the new year. “I don’t do New Year’s resolutions,” the party pooper said. […]
Los Angeles is burning again. Some combination of dry hillside, wind, and an as-yet unidentified spark has set the neighborhood of Pacific Palisades on fire. This happens from time to time, and people who don’t live in Los Angeles always ask the same question: Earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires? Why do you people live there? There’s no […]
As the Biden administration finishes its last days, one unfortunate truth revealed during the term was the magnitude of government censorship, particularly on the internet. The matter first came to light during the COVID pandemic, in which Big Tech suppressed viewpoints on social media platforms that they considered incorrect. Later, the “Twitter Files” would provide […]
