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What is the Republican Party?
Tom Nichols, a prominent "Never Trumper," and author of The Death of Expertise, has written an op-ed for The Atlantic to explain why he's leaving the Republican Party. It's hard to take Mr. Expert seriously when he uses the "GOP" as the subject of a sentence, as an entity with...
Why Daylight Saving Time makes sense (most places)
It is the first day of DST in the United States and everyone is groggy and cranky and wondering why we bother with changing the clocks twice a year. There are the usual calls to go to DST and stay there forever, or stay with standard time forever. The last...
Australia Day and the black-armband view of history
Two Augusts ago I was in the stands at Brisbane's Exhibition Grounds waiting for the evening performance at the "Ekka" -- Queensland's state fair -- to begin. The crowd stood at attention as a cowgirl on horseback rode around the arena waving a huge Australian flag. The band played and...
Battle of Beersheba: 100 years
I'll get back to the charter amendment proposals in a couple of days, but we have some historical commemorations that deserve our attention. There's the big one -- the semimillenial celebration of Luther's 95 Theses and the commencement of the Protestant Reformation -- but 100 years ago today there...
Australia: Cricket
NOTE: The fifth day of the third test match between Australia and Pakistan began at 5:30 pm Tulsa time, Friday, January 6, 2017. You can listen online (free with registration) or watch the ball-by-ball description (no registration required) here. Australia finished its second and final innings late yesterday with a...
Explaining the American election on Australian radio
A series of encounters led to an opportunity to appear on 612 ABC Brisbane (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's locally focused station) to talk about the aftermath of the U. S. presidential election. In late October, I was walking in the Spring Hill neighborhood north of the Brisbane CBD, looking for...
Oklahoma SQ 779: Boren sales tax for schools and colleges
Oklahoma State Question 779, an initiative petition promoted by University of Oklahoma President (and former Oklahoma governor and senator) David Boren, would amend the Oklahoma Constitution, establishing a permanent 1 cent on the dollar sales tax (a permanent increase in the state sales tax rate from 4.5 cents per dollar...
Australian rules football
The Tulsa Buffaloes Australian Rules Football team will play Des Moines this Saturday, September 10, 2016, at 2 p.m. at Veterans Park, 21st & Boulder Ave. The word "football" in Australia can have five different meanings, each of which corresponds to a different professionally-played sport: 1. Gridiron football -- what...
Australian election 2016
I recently returned from a business trip to Brisbane, Australia, my first visit south of the equator, and, for the second time in two years, an overseas visit coincided with a general election. Radio, TV, and newspapers were dominated by coverage of the election, but billboard ads and yard...
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