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There is some March Madness, after all

)”Nine out of 10 schools are cheating. The other one is in last place.” — Jerry Tarkanian WASHINGTON — When Tark the Shark was basketball coach at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, 1973-1992, his win-loss record was 509-105, he took the Runnin’ Rebels to the NCAA’s Final Four four times and won the national championship in 1990. His refreshing refusal to obfuscate tells us that UNLV was not a 10th place school. Those words ascribed to Tarkanian introduce HBO’s “The Scheme,” which airs Tuesday evening, when fans would have been anticipating the Final Four, if the ...

When words really matter

WASHINGTON — Not since 9/11 has the importance of eloquence been so apparent. For the past several days, Americans have heard two public officials’ very different ways of speaking and learned why fluency and persuasion are so critical in times of crisis. This is true not only of content but also of bearing: How do the words and poses chosen by our leaders inform morale as we hunker down in our homes? On one screen Monday, President Trump spoke at length about himself (and at times about COVID-19. More than once, he wandered off script, at one point talking about how many billions ...

Reopening formula is needed

This week, President Donald Trump began openly considering at what point the American government ought to take steps to reopen the American economy. He explained: “Our country wasn’t built to be shut down. America will again and soon be open for business,” suggesting that the timeline will be weeks instead of months. “If it were up to the doctors,” Trump said, “they’d say, ‘Let’s shut down the entire world.’ This could create a much bigger problem than the problem that you started with.” Later, Trump optimistically proclaimed that he “would love to have the ...

Chutzpah: ADL wants a fed bailout

When I think of “essential” workers in America, the smear merchants of the Anti-Defamation League are at the bottom of the barrel. For decades, they’ve demonized conservatives and Christians as agents of “hate” and treated our very existence as incitements to violence. The ADL’s manufactured outrage machine has broadened its target list to anyone remotely critical of Israel for any reason, President Donald Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, “America First” college students, innocuous hand gestures, cartoon frogs and anyone who dares to think or write that ...

China’s brutality leads us to this

WASHINGTON — Want to know why the U.S. economy is in free fall? Why restaurants and bars are closing, putting millions out of work, and why the airline industry is facing possible bankruptcy? Why schools across the nation are shutting down, leaving students to fall behind and parents without safe places to send their children everyday? Why the stock market is plummeting, wiping out the retirement and college savings of millions of Americans? Why the elderly are isolated in nursing homes and tens of millions who don’t have the option of teleworking have no idea how they will pay their ...

Price gouging vs. supply and demand

“We don’t have any...!” Fill in the blank. People are stocking up on things, fearing that we will be stuck in our homes, under quarantine, without essential supplies. Some hoard toilet paper. A popular internet video features someone driving up to what appears to be a drug dealer but is really someone selling toilet paper. When it became hard to find hand sanitizer in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state would produce its own, made by prison labor. Yet in-demand items like masks and hand sanitizer can still be found. It’s just that we have to pay an inflated ...