My previous essays reviewed two Progressive visions of manliness. Michael Mann’s HBO series Tokyo Vice reduces contemporary Japan to racism, sexism, and homophobia. Michael Bay’s Ambulance relatedly gives us a contemporary America where ethnic minorities, strong, independent women, and gay protagonists vanquish an evil white man. Continue Reading...
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May 18, 2022
Racelessness is the future of justice
What if the answer to racial tensions in America lay in the removal of race as a necessary identifier of any human person? This question frames a new theory put forward by Sheena Mason, assistant professor of African American literature at SUNY Oneonta, in Oneonta, N.Y. Continue Reading...
May 17, 2022
A federal case has been made of a brief post-game prayer
To my great embarrassment, I must admit that prior to going to law school I enjoyed the quasi-scripted drama of Judge Judy. The litigants’ outrageous circumstances and colorful personalities distract viewers into believing that the legal issues are complex. Continue Reading...
May 17, 2022
Jimmy Lai receives Catholic University honorary degree while imprisoned
The Catholic University of America has honored Jimmy Lai, media mogul and pro-democracy advocate from Hong Kong, with an honorary degree while he is jailed for alleged violations of the National Security Law. Continue Reading...
May 17, 2022
Former Apple Daily executive given immunity to testify against Jimmy Lai
A former associate of Jimmy Lai’s will testify against him in exchange for his freedom, according to Hong Kong Free Press.
Lai, a 74-year-old Hong Kong media mogul who owned Next Media and the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, faces two counts of conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign countries or external elements, one count of collusion with foreign forces, and one count of conspiracy to print, publish, sell, offer for sale, distribute, display, and/or reproduce seditious publications. Continue Reading...
May 13, 2022
Cardinal Joseph Zen arrested in Hong Kong for support of pro-democracy protests released on bail
Following his arrest and hours of questioning, Cardinal Joseph Zen—one of the leading Catholic prelates in Hong Kong—was released on bail after being accused of “collusion with foreign forces.”
As a staunch supporter of democracy in Hong Kong and mainland China, Zen has long spoken out against authoritarianism and the persecution of Catholics under Chinese president Xi Jinping. Continue Reading...
May 12, 2022
Michael Bay’s Ambulance is DOA
Film critics recently have been trying to encourage their audiences to return to theaters—cinema, after all, is a lot more impressive on a big screen and in the company of people who share our emotions. Continue Reading...
May 11, 2022
The Sowell of black America
“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” —Augustine
Thomas Sowell is a towering figure in the liberty movement, certainly the most (in)famous “black conservative” of the 20th century. Continue Reading...
May 10, 2022
The Founders’ Constitution and its discontents
The term “constitutional law” is in large part a misnomer. This is rarely discussed within the guild of the legal profession and heretical in the increasingly woke precincts of the legal academy, where the field of “constitutional theory” is a cottage industry. Continue Reading...
May 05, 2022
HBO’s Tokyo Vice thinks Japan is really just the worst of America
One of the most stylish of American directors, Michael Mann, who made Heat and The Insider (earning three Oscar nominations), is now producing the HBO series Tokyo Vice and has directed its disappointing first episode. Continue Reading...