As I sat with my wife on the stone bench in front of my childhood home in the village of Aawu (鴉湖村), an elderly lady walked by us and without pausing asked if I was the boy from that house who left nearly fifty years ago. She finally stopped fifteen metres away below the arch ...
As one of the last decisions the Supreme Court handed down in this year's term, they upheld the concept of "birthright citizenship" enshrined within the Fourteenth Amendment. Barely. The stunning thing wasn't the ruling, which was expected. The truly stunning thing is that the decision was...
If anyone needed any further proof that everything that Donald Trump touches turns to schlock (or worse), this week's opening of the Great American State Fair certainly provided some. The initial idea wasn't too bad a concept -- have all 50 states send an exhibit to the National Mall, and it...
It's that time of year again. "SCOTUS season" has begun. The end of June is traditionally when the weightiest Supreme Court decisions are handed down, as the high court ends its judicial year and begins a summer break that will last for months. The weightiest of the decisions still yet to be...
As I sat with my wife on the stone bench in front of my childhood home in the village of 𝐴𝑎𝑤𝑢 (鸦湖 = “Crow Lake”), an elderly lady walked by us and without pausing asked if I was the boy from that house who left nearly fifty years ago. She finally stopped 15 metres away ...
Is Donald Trump about to become a lame duck? Well, that's probably optimistic, but the possibility that people will shortly begin using the term about him does actually exist, and tonight's Republican primary election returns in Indiana will give some sort of indication as to the likeliness of it...
Last week, Donald Trump threatened to wipe out "a whole civilization" which has been around for thousands of years. This week, he not only picked a fight with the Pope, but for good measure also posted a picture of himself depicted as Jesus Christ. That Nobel Peace Prize should be a cinch for...
The ongoing partial government shutdown is about to break the record for the longest government shutdown in history. It affects only the Department of Homeland Security, which has limited the shutdown's visibility to the average American (in comparison to previous wider-scale shutdowns), but that...
A Postcard for the 200 Million Weary Souls The Ghost at the Gate In 1903, a man named Wolf-Leyb Glosser arrived at Ellis Island. He was a refugee fleeing state-sponsored violence in the Russian Empire. Today, his great-grandson, Stephen Miller, is the architect of a system that would have...
I’m socked to see Dublin unraveling before my eyes. The streets I’ve walked so many times are now scarred by riots. The November 2023 chaos to the July 2024 inferno in Coolock, weren't just adolescent skirmishes or outbursts—they’re a deafening alarm that Ireland’s immigration system is...
I’m watching Ireland change, and it’s hard to stay optimistic. Once a land of emigrants, we’re now swamped with newcomers—149,200 immigrants arrived in the year to April 2024, driving net migration to 79,300, the highest since 2007. The post Ireland’s Immigration Crisis: A Nation Overwhelmed...
In 1980, at the tender age of seven, my life took an unexpected turn. I was uprooted from my quaint Polish neighbourhood and planted firmly into the vast, sun-baked landscape of Australia. The transition was sudden, thrilling, and terrifying, like a rollercoaster ride you're too young to fully...