Last week, a federal judge told us what we already knew. Namely, that police in Ferguson, Missouri, violated the rights of protesters demonstrating against the shooting death of Michael Brown. U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry struck down an ad hoc rule under which cops had said people could not stand still while peacefully protesting. Some […]

Our topic du jour: the latest stunning milestone in the march toward gay equality. No, the other stunning milestone. We will get around to what the Supreme Court did (more accurately, declined to do) in a moment. But first: Have you seen the new Cheerios commercial? It broke out online a few days ago, a […]

Let us give Sean Groubert every benefit of the doubt. Let us assume he is a good person. Let us assume he is kind to children, well liked by neighbors. And by all means, let’s assume he has a black friend. For good measure, let’s assume he has two. Now, with those assumptions in force, […]

This is a tale of two countries. The first country was built on a radical new promise of human equality and a guarantee of the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That country made it possible for even those born in the humblest and most meager circumstances to climb to the pinnacle […]

A U.N. initiative called HeForShe hopes to encourage male involvement in the fight for women’s rights. Men should join the cause. With apologies to the United States Marines, Emma Watson is looking for a few good men. That was the upshot of a speech Watson, the Harry Potter actress (and United Nations Women Goodwill Ambassador) […]

My mother was a child abuser. I was, too. In fact, growing up, pretty much every parent I knew abused their kids. Or so many of Adrian Peterson’s critics would have you believe. Peterson, a star of the Minnesota Vikings, was arrested recently for child abuse after hitting his 4-year-old son with a switch. A […]

“I think they’re going too far with Ray Rice.” So said a civil servant I know only in passing, making small talk the other day. No, it is not the majority opinion, but neither is the guy alone. Last week, USA Today quoted women fans who pointedly support Rice, the NFL star dropped by the […]

Apologies for the blunt language, but can we please cut the crap? Meaning: can we stop pretending we know something now that we didn’t before about what Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice did to his then-fiancee in the elevator of that Atlantic City casino? Can we stop pretending new information has come to light? […]

OK, so about the hacking of certain actresses’ computer files and the posting of nude photos found therein: Can we be frank? There is, within every healthy, heterosexual man, something which, upon viewing an attractive woman clad scantily or not at all, stands a little straighter, smiles a little brighter, and breathes a quiet “Yowza” […]