Uncategorized

As Far As ‘Good Deaths’ Go, This One Ranks Near the Top

Skydiving can be deadly. Just look at Dorothy Hoffner of Chicago, who died recently after tandem jumping in Ottawa, Ill. Sure, she was 104 years old — probably the oldest person to ever skydive — and the jump went perfectly, and she didn’t die until passing away peacefully in her sleep at home several days later, but still. We can’t rule out a connection. I mean, wouldn’t it just be the perfect way to go? Up until the very end of your long conga line of days, to still be breaking records, challenging yourself, getting accolades for and acknowledgement of your ...

Woman Arrested After Trying To Get Close To Donald Trump At Trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A woman was arrested Wednesday after she stood up at Donald Trump’s New York civil fraud trial and walked toward the front of the courtroom where the former president was sitting. The woman, later identified as a court employee, retreated after a court officer told her to return to her seat. A short time later, officers escorted the woman out of the Manhattan courtroom and arrested her. She was charged with contempt of court for disrupting a court proceeding, state court spokesperson Lucian Chalfen said. “None of the parties were ever in any danger,” Chalfen ...

Stephen Rubin, ‘Da Vinci Code’ Publisher, Dies

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Rubin, a longtime publishing executive with an eye for bestsellers and a passion for music and public life who helped launched the career of John Grisham, among others, and released such blockbusters as “The Da Vinci Code” and “Fire and Fury,” has died. He was 81. Rubin died Friday at a hospital in Manhattan after “a brief and sudden illness,” according to his nephew, David Rotter. Book publishing is hard to imagine without the raspy-voiced Rubin, a powerful and colorful presence for decades. Rubin’s many notable projects included the ...

The World Is Being Surrounded by the Gathering Storm

Russia has been attacking Ukraine for 20 months now. Iran, through its terrorism partner Hamas, attacked Israel. China has been threatening to attack Taiwan. The world is beginning to look a lot like the 1930s, when Japan attacked and overran much of China, and Nazi Germany and its then-ally the Soviet Union attacked and overran Poland and the Baltic States. Former President George W. Bush has been ridiculed for describing an “Axis of Evil.” But at this point, the axis of Russia, Iran and China seems to be acting in greater unison than the axis of Germany and Japan acted during ...

Superpower That Can’t Arm Itself

No matter how much we’d like to believe in the inevitably of human progress and the spread of enlightened norms, we’ve learned the past couple of years that we still need artillery shells — lots of artillery shells. The Hamas terror attack, together with the ongoing Ukraine war and the looming Chinese threat to Taiwan, is putting a spotlight on the pitiful state of our capacity to manufacture the weapons necessary to the defense of our allies and ourselves. According to a CNN report, an Israel ground invasion of Gaza would “create a new and entirely unexpected demand for ...

Robbing Children of the Future

LOS ANGELES — The second-largest school district in the country is suffering from academic afflictions of its own making. While test scores show a continuing decline at the high school level in math proficiency (21 percent) and reading (51 percent), is the district making improvement in these subjects a top priority? Apparently not. Instead they are emphasizing a week-long celebration of “National Coming Out Day.” The “curriculum” is intended to teach children about identity and intersectionality. LA schools are increasingly passing students who don’t even meet ...