The world has always been infested with opinions but in the past 15 years, everyone has a platform for their views. Or a hundred seventy-five million platforms. Whereas opinions used to come in handy mainly for cocktail parties, we now need our views fully weaponized for a walk on the...

At 7:10 a.m., evidence dotted three feet of a stone stoop. West to East were two nut-infested energy bars in their wrappers, five mini-Dove Bar dark chocolates (one half-eaten) a nearly polished-off bag of plain M&Ms and $9.50 in quarters huddled in a clump.

The quarters were what would...

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the 19 murders allegedly committed by James "Whitey" Bulger is that he performed the killings himself. For many Americans and a handful of Swedes, this self-reliant brand of homicide harkens back to a simpler, more disgusting time.

Now, according to someone in...

Let me get this straight: A snake escaped the Bronx Zoo and bit Spiderman who was attending the 800th preview performance of a play about Mormons?

Something doesn't sound right. When I lived in the city, only Peter Parker attended the theater and even then...

Oh forget it....

"The details of that summer day in 1987 remind New Yorkers of what a different place the city was then. Murders were trending toward a historic high, with street crime ingrained as a fact of life." ~ New York Times, January 25, 2011.

Somewhere in the soup of DirectTV's...

Foreboding was all over Los Angeles last week. Monday through Friday -- on the 101, Will Rogers Beach, Beverly Boulevard, Rustic Canyon -- signs and omens popped up everywhere, all pointing to one wildly eventful five days.

I don't think it ruins this story to let...

Believe me, I'm under no false illusions. Luring LeBron James away from the NBA and signing him up for my Monday night game at the Santa Monica YWCA, is going to be tough. Artie "Clank" Gotbaum retired due to chronic White Man's Disease, so yes, we have room under the...

Each fall, some kids ask me for college recommendation letters. This is, more or less, this year's edition.

Dear Dean of Admissions,
It is with pleasure I write to you on behalf of ____ ____. Although your university is her safety school, I assume she would eventually adjust and...

First, drinking. Then talking on the phone. Then text messaging. You'd think the government would cut back on its probes into highway accident-causing activities, but ... no dice.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Board is now set to release a study claiming that undergoing reconstructive knee...

In 1967, football jerseys were a teen fad in New York City High Schools. The world was decades away from maniacal sports marketing so the jerseys were bloodless: no team logo, no team colors, no superstar stranger's name along the upper back. Just white jerseys with striped shoulders and a...

Between elections, bailouts and octuplets, short shrift has been paid to another highly deserving national travesty: A recent survey found that ninety percent of our high schoolers confessed to cheating on exams. This data can only make adults shake their heads and wonder: What kind of kid talks to...

As their euphoria over the November election levels off, American Jews -- nearly 90 percent of whom voted Barack Obama -- are slowly coming around to one major question: "How did a black guy get in the White House before a Jew?"

Many leaders of the Jewish...

A few notes:

Note 1: On Thursday's Larry King episode, Ben Stein took a stab at graciousness but -- damn it -- came up just shy. He started out okay, complimenting the efficiency of the Obama campaign. But sadly, that wee moment of sanity goosed his fight-or-flight adrenals, kayoed...

In his New York Times column today, David Brooks raved about the performance of Sarah Palin in last night's debate. Curious thing: Mr. Brooks was a talking head on PBS before and after the debate. Assume his head talked in a New York studio since his column had no dateline....

It's impossible to prioritize the disasters of an average American's life right now but one thing we have going for us is self-esteem. Oh, we are flush with us. We've become our own role models. We emulate ourselves. We look up to ourselves. We are so taken by us,...

MONDAY

TV coverage of that evening's convention coverage begins at 4 AM. Sleep til 7:30, take Izzy to dog park in Pacific Palisades. Wear Ipod to avoid hearing any conversation about convention. Stop at Starbuck's, forget Ipod. Hear woman wonder why Bristol has to have baby and marry Levi....

The Democratic Convention has been thrilling and inspiring. Michelle, Caroline, Hillary, Teddy, Bill, Kerry, Joe... all sublime. And yet, it's been so galling to be constantly reminded that Nancy Pelosi is higher in the line of succession for the presidency than I am.

No, no, no, I'm not kidding...

Almost two weeks passed with no federal probes into sports. What, we asked, was Congress up to? After all, it was that sharp left turn into sports that made the hill a hotspot again:

ESPN cameras elbowing C-SPAN as congressional aides learned the split-finger fastball; Henry Waxman...

At this very moment, Iowa's full of candidates talking about overhauling the health care mess while I want to haul off on an entire hospital. I don't know about you, but that's seriously ironic in my head. But then, according to the literature, after the death of a parent, it's...

In the '60s, the media pushed the country against the Vietnam War. The Tet Offensive bled onto living room TV sets, Walter Cronkite came out against the war, citizens were outraged and convinced.

The same with Watergate: Central and somewhat trusted media outlets pushed and probed and...