The Conversation - Page 3

Over the weekend I finally got my chance to see the new Superman movie, “Man of Steel.” In the capable hands of producer Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight” trilogy) and director Zack Snyder (“Watchmen”), there is no question the franchise

Last week the White House announced that Obamacare itself could count as a hardship, meaning anyone with a cancelled plan could opt out of the individual mandate for 2014. Friday, CBS This Morning got some reaction from insurers, who were

Obama had a bad 2013 but Huff Post’s Sam Stein wants to know why. Among the answers he comes up with is the White House’s own arrogance. Stein reviews a series of reasons why 2013 broke bad for the President.

The Obama administration has extended the deadline for enrollment from Monday at midnight to Christmas Eve at midnight. There was no public announcement of the change. According to the Washington Post, which published the news Monday, CMS declined to comment

In response to America’s 2013 Loser of The YEAR: The Tampa Bay Times dubbed Senator Marco Rubio the political loser of the year and Governor Rick Scott the political winner — for the state of Florida.   According to the

Last week, I reflected on how strange it was for Barack Obama to delay signing up for ObamaCare, to the point where his refusal to do so had become impossible for the media to ignore.  The matter came up with

In Monday morning’s Cape Times, Songezo Mjongile, the provincial secretary of the African National Congress (ANC), took to the op-ed page to defend the Times‘ firing of editor Alide Dasnois. His article ran alongside that of a “Black Consciousness” professor,

While in South Africa, I’ve been enjoying Anton Harber’s excellent Diepsloot, an exploration of life in a teeming informal settlement north of Johannesburg that did not exist when Nelson Mandela was freed from prison but has since become one of

Press freedom has been a major issue in post-apartheid South Africa, especially since 2000, when President Thabo Mbeki and the ruling African National Congress (ANC) launched a campaign against the media, accusing it of racism. In fact, the media’s main

I’ve been saying since Friday that I thought someone at the A&E network was actively out to get the Robertson family and shut “Duck Dynasty” down.  Maybe it’s an internal power play at the network, a couple of executives enforcing

Fox News brings tragic word that Claire Davis, the 17-year-old Arapahoe High School student shot in the head at point-blank range by shotgun-wielding Karl Pierson, died on Saturday afternoon. “It is with heavy hearts that we share that at 4:29

This week the administration claims they have almost broken even on the number of people who gained vs. lost insurance, but they offered no way for anyone to check their math. That’s a problem because their claims don’t seem to

From LifeNews.com: Famed comedian Bob Newhart has canceled a headline show at a conference for Catholic business leaders after a homosexual activist group ran a campaign portraying the organizers as “anti-gay.” After learning of the 84-year-old comedian’s scheduled appearance at

A few days ago I wrote about the Twitter Bubble and the Culture of Outrage.  Barely 24 hours later, another Twitter controversy has erupted and possibly gotten one woman fired because of a tweet.  Ace of Spades has a good

Over at Townhall.com I do an interview feature called the De Pasquale’s Dozen that asks interviewees to take a break from politics and talk about their life and pop culture obsessions.  This week’s interview is with Zack Arnold, the editor

With Congressional approval running near all-time lows and Obama’s own numbers too low to help them, “Do you like your Senator, or Representative” may prove to be a resounding question in 2014. The clincher is tying that to Obama and

Based on statements the President made in his press conference today, Obamacare is on track to enroll about 12.5 percent of its final goal by January 1st. The President released new information on the progress of Obamacare enrollment Friday. In

George Will considers the concept of “executive discretion,” and President Obama’s abuse of it, arriving at the conclusion that our government has grown to the point that strict adherence to the rule of law is effectively impossible – a condition

In Friday’s press conference, which CNN itself described as a “rare” thing, President Obama took to the podium ready to take questions. Millions have lost their insurance, the Administration is scrambling only hours before the deadline to carve out even

CNN/ORC have released a new poll which finds President Obama still stuck at his lowest approval rating ever, 41 percent. Obama’s disapproval is also unchanged this month at 56 percent. Majorities of two important Obama constituencies–women (52-45) and young voters

Thursday Ezra Klein once again compared Obamacare’s unpopular rollout to Medicare part D. While it’s true that part D was unpopular and that Obamacare could one day surmount its image problems, Klein continues to gloss over the significant differences in

— No one needs me to pitch you on “Mary Poppins” the film.  After a half-century, Walt Disney’s box office busting Oscar winner is universally regarded as a cinematic masterpiece, and one of the finest films ever made. It is

Here’s a refresher of the amazing Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo ad in which he does a split between two moving trucks, accomplished with no special effects trickery: Fellow martial arts icon Chuck Norris responds with a Christmas greeting that

In response to Report: Even More Security Risks Discovered at Healthcare.gov: In addition to bad news about the website,  most of the uninsured think that getting health insurance will “hurt them financially” which is keeping people from even looking. According to

If the United States is a melting pot, South Africa is a potpie kos–a stew of different ingredients that never quite lose their distinctiveness, even while blending together in the same dish. For a variety of reasons–some good, some bad–South Africans

Documents and testimony show that healthcare.gov still has “serious security vulnerabilities” ABC News is reporting.   There have been “two high findings” of risk – the most serious level of concern – in testing over the past few weeks, the

There are many immediate, practical differences about South Africa that strike an American visitor. Driving on the left is one: the hard part is not so much staying on your side of the road as adjusting to the physical dimensions

In response to Conservatives in a Panic Over Pajamazilla? Not Exactly: Like most other people who have encountered this insanely stupid column, I had my biggest laugh when Serwer declared Pajama Boy the “emblem of an increasingly non-white electorate.”  You

Republican leaders in the Florida Legislature have admitted to deleting records pertaining to the 2012 congressional and legislative redistricting maps.  Attorneys for the Republican legislature insist that they did not know what the deleted records were, adding that there wasn’t

Does the twenty-something college kid in onesie pajamas strike terror into the hearts of conservatives? That’s the argument being made by several liberal writers today as part of a backlash against conservative mockery of the goofy OFA ad. Adam Serwer

President Obama is now hoping that the gay community will “come out” and sign up for the embattled Obamacare plan, as a new video pandering to “the boys” has just been released to help with enrollment.  Warning!! Refrain from eating

Lets… Take off our socks Stare off thoughtfully into the horizon Strum “Blowing In the Wind” And trash Ted Cruz #GetCruz  

Ronald Reagan told the story of a benefit stealing “welfare queen” back in 1976 to argue for smaller, leaner government. Liberals have complained about the generalization ever since. Paul Krugman called it a “bogus story” as recently as 2007. It

You have heard the term of someone “getting kick to the curb,” or getting “kicked out” of an place or event, and getting “kicked off the mountain,” right?  Have you ever heard about someone actually getting kicked off a mountain,

Over the last several months I’ve been checking out of the political chatter on Twitter more and more.  It seems like every day there is a daily outrage that dominates the Twitterverse.  A reporter said something stupid.  A President tweeted