An ideal voice for ‘death with dignity’ movement
On Nov. 1, a 29-year-old woman named Brittany Maynard plans to end her own life. Diagnosed this year with stage four brain cancer, doctors told her that she would die...
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Is today’s feminism too trendy?
Like the cicada, which lies dormant for 13 or 17 years and then suddenly makes a cacophonous comeback, feminism is having a moment. It's announcing itself on magazine covers, dominating...
When Letterman was the king of edginess
In a final passing of the torch to a new generation of late-night talk show hosts, David Letterman announced last week that he would retire next year. As intelligent and...
Media judgment vanished in Flight MH370 coverage
Rush Limbaugh is right on this one. The reporting on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which disappeared March 8, has turned into a spectacle — not the good kind. It's all...
‘Princeton Mom’ Susan Patton’s advice for marrying well
Remember "the Princeton Mom," who made a pariah of herself last year when she exhorted marriage-minded college women not to graduate without securing future husbands along with their diplomas? She's...
Belgium’s humane stance on dying kids
It's an idea that, in the death-squeamish U.S., is probably too disturbing for the edgiest TV hospital drama, let alone real life and real legislation. Last week, the Belgian Parliament...
Stephen Glass, half full of new-media hypocrisy
More than 15 years after fabricating some 42 articles for the New Republic, Rolling Stone and other magazines, Stephen Glass was back in the news this week. On Monday, the...
Jahi McMath situation highlights confusion over brain deaths, comas and vegetative states
The case of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old Oakland, Calif., girl who was declared brain dead Dec. 12 following complications from tonsil and sinus surgery, hasn't ended yet. Insisting Jahi was...
Jahi McMath situation highlights confusion over brain deaths, comas and vegetative states
The case of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old Oakland, Calif., girl who was declared brain dead Dec. 12 following complications from tonsil and sinus surgery, hasn't ended yet. Insisting Jahi was...
This year’s zeitgeist-o-meter
End-of-year wrap-ups are as mandatory as piped-in Christmas music at the dentist's office. Therefore I would be remiss if I did not offer my list of notable phenomena of 2013,...