“Joan Rivers, blunt and boisterous, got laughs by getting at truth”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, September 6, 2014 What would Joan Rivers have said about the Islamic State beheadings? You know the acerbic comedian would have weighed in fearlessly. And whatever she said wouldn’t have been remotely politically correct. Know any good terrorist jokes? Those…
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“Reclining seats cause for in-air warfare”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 31, 2014 Are you a recliner or a legroomer? In the zero-sum battle for flying comfort, everyone has to choose. Well, maybe not everyone. For five times the price, you can still purchase a precious few inches in first class. But for the rest of…
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“Seeing is believing, as shown in Eric Garner case”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 24, 2014 Seeing is believing—or so we’ve always been told. But that moldy old canard has never been half as true than it is right now. Thousands took to the streets of Staten Island yesterday to protest the death of Eric…
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“Fury in Ferguson built on missing information”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, August 17, 2014 Darren Wilson. Now that wasn’t so hard, was it? Police in Ferguson, Missouri, could have saved their community six long nights of grief if they’d only come out early and explained what they knew about the fatal shooting of unarmed teen…
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“U.S. attempts diplomacy in Israel-Palestine conflict”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 27, 2014 ‘A brief seven days of peace.” John Kerry was talking about a tiny cease-fire, the blink of an eye in the endless and gruesome conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, just long enough to pull out the wounded, send in fresh supplies, say…
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“Vladimir Putin’s empire-hungry push not looking so great”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 20, 2014 Suddenly, the Russian president is looking like Vladimir-the-Not-So-Great. Vladimir Putin has made no secret of his ambitions of empire, hoping to reverse the many humiliations his homeland has suffered since the collapse of the Soviet Union a quarter century ago.…
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“Paralysis on immigration crisis involving unaccompanied minors”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, July 13, 2014 Immigration reform is going nowhere in a hurry. The business incentive tax credit, the Export-Import Bank, what to do in Iraq, Ukraine, Syria, Gaza, pick an international hot spot — if it’s an issue in Washington, you can bet the grid…
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“Coulter fouls World Cup fandom with politics”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 29, 2014 Does everything have to become instantly partisan — everything? Forgive my naivete. I just hadn’t realized I was undermining American values by rooting for scrappy Team USA as it powered and lucked its way through the Group of Death and into the…
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“Bush-era war whoopers were wrong then, are wrong now”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 22, 2014 Is there any penalty anymore for being wrong? Not in politics. Not in the media. Otherwise, the cable news channels and newspaper op-ed pages wouldn’t be so crowded with unapologetic know-it-alls who turned out to know so little the…
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“Iraq War do-over? No, thank you”, Ellis Henican Column, Newsday, June 15, 2014 Quick show of hands: Who wants to send combat troops back into Iraq? Nobody? That’s right. Nobody at all. Not even former Vice President Dick Cheney or Arizona Sen. John McCain are demanding American boots on the ground — yet. No sane person…
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