The Narthex

A group of fearless movie-makers is about to release Unplanned, a film based on Abby Johnson's story of going from being manager of a Planned Parenthood clinic to becoming a highly effective pro-life activist. You can bet that the entertainment industry is dead-set against this film. Check out these quotes…

When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 1830s, one of the things he found remarkable was the incredibly high rate of literacy among the citizenry.  But what was more remarkable to him was that, despite the high literacy rate, freedom of thought was practically non-existent.  He blamed this on…

My daughter’s coffee cup is big and brightly colored, with a charming picture of a girl on a bicycle holding a flower bouquet. What’s the message on the cup? It’s the heartening sentiment that “Life is a journey!” Hold on, now. Is there a question on the tip of your tongue?…

When I was a kid, coffee was served only to adults at our dinner table. Smoking was definitely a no-no, so we had to leave the dining room if a guest lit up a cigar. Even profanity was prohibited in our presence. The reason, of course, was that these would…

For some decades now my “home town” has been Guess Where, California. My plan is to keep it that way. These days, though, I’m singing the blues about the place. So why sing the blues, especially during the Christmas season? Because democracy is winding down. Now, it’s not dead yet.…

A lesbian couple in Texas has become the first such couple to give birth to a baby that they both carried.  Using a technique dubbed Reciprocal Effortless IVF, one of the women had several of her eggs fertilized while she acted as an incubator using a device called INVOCell.  After…

The headline caught my eye: “Banksy shreds a painting, and its value likely rises.” Even if you sampled the media fanfare, some background helps. Banksy is an unnamed but not unnoticed U.K. street artist. The painting, Girl with Balloon, first appeared in 2002 as a stencil on a London building.…

In the wake of Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony during Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate confirmation hearings, her supporters exhorted us to “Believe Women.” That phrase became a rallying cry against sexual assault generally and Kavanaugh specifically. What does it mean to “Believe Women”? In its most basic sense, it means that we…

Student protests have become routine, such that nobody takes them seriously anymore. So now, the adults are getting involved — as they did with last April’s walkouts for gun control — approving and supporting their charges’ acts of “defiance” — which really don’t defy anything if everybody is on board…

Pandemonium broke loose last Saturday night as the highly anticipated UFC 229 battle between Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov spilled out of the octagon and a virtual riot ensued.  This is not the first time something like this has happened, although when even Mike Tyson calls a “fight riot” crazy it…