Columns

Can Scooby-Doo really be 50 years old?

Do you long for the days when the only outbursts our delicate ears had to worry about were the Z word (“Zoinks!”) and the J word (“Jinkies!”)?

A dumb idea to buy Greenland?

President Trump stirred up a hornet’s nest recently as he proposed that the U.S. try to buy Greenland. Many political observers rolled their eyes. Buy another country? Has the Prez thrown out another wacky suggestion and is this really a good idea? Actually, yes.

Americans, unite: The Martians are coming!

An invasion from outer space might do America some good. And maybe one’s coming?

What the booing of Andrew Luck says about us

He was once hit hard enough to lacerate his kidney. He woke up the next day urinating blood. That’s neither a common experience nor an occupational hazard for most of us. It is if you play professional football.

Labor Day already?

Are you kidding? Labor Day? Already? How the hell did that happen? Didn’t we just scrape down the Weber for the first summer barbecue on Memorial Day? Wasn’t that like a week ago? No matter. The kids are back in school. Every team in the NFL has legitimate playoff hopes.

Social Security’s looming shortfall

“Sometimes I worry that if I ever can retire and do get Social Security payments, they’ll be a lot less than what I’ve been promised,” I said to my CPA, Louie the Number Cruncher. “There is some reason to worry, Tommy.

Real-time failure of democratic socialism

Harry Reid is starting to make sense. I was afraid this day would come. Perhaps it’s an indication of the Apocalypse or, at the very least, that multiple blows to the head, received during my less-than-stellar amateur athletic career, have finally caught up with me.

Put this column on your list

Here are my five favorite things about this sentence: (1) It grabs your attention, (2) It keeps you guessing, (3) It’s not overly wordy, (4) It’s something you might forward to friends, (5) It’s part of the list-making trend that just keeps growing.

Dying languages: Can they be saved?

“Took away our native tongue/And taught their English to our young…” — from “Indian Reservation,” by John D. Loudermilk. According to the United Nations, there are about 6,500 distinct languages (not just dialects) spoken throughout the world.

Unleashing entrepreneurs is good for all

Here’s some great news: The American entrepreneur is flourishing again. From 1980 until 2017, “the number of new startups formed each year … plummeted by half — from almost 15% of all business 35 years ago to barely 8%,” according to Forbes contributor David Pridham.