Larry Elder

“Houston, you’ve got a problem.” In the competition to award a new NFL franchise, the National Football Association pits Houston against Los Angeles. For its part, Houston pledges a $500 million “entrance fee,” plus hundreds of millions...

Crystallization. Nineteenth century French writer Stendhal used the word “crystallization” to describe how we ignore flaws, imperfections, ambiguities, and inconsistencies in people we love. If you take a tree twig, said Stendhal, shove it in a mound of...

Another bigot. More screaming headlines about a racially bigoted serial killer. Subtext? That America remains an intractable, racist hellhole. What nonsense. White supremacist Benjamin Nathaniel Smith shot himself during a high- speed chase. Authorities suspect him of...

Last week, I attended a memorial service for a 19-year-old girl shot in what appears to be a random, gang-related attack. The world may watch and fret over Columbine, but what I just described happens far, far more often. As the Democrats and the Republicans debate...

It’s become a mantra. America is “desensitized.” Violent movies, music and videos make Americans impervious to the pain and grief of others. Please. Can we hit the pause button on this “America the desensitized” stuff? In ordering a...

Call him the “Teflon director.” For nothing Spike Lee says, no matter how outrageous, seems to hurt him. Recently, Lee offered his post-Columbine “solution” to violence in America. The Academy Award-nominated director said that the National...

OK, so it wasn’t the Lincoln/Douglas debates. But it serves as a window into the mindset of the anti-gun “advocates.” On May 19, Tom Selleck appeared on the “Rosie O’Donnell Show” to plug an upcoming movie. What happened looked like...

“Almost all criminal defendants are, in fact, guilty.” — Alan Dershowitz, “The Best Defense,” 1982. Assume, for a moment, that Dershowitz got it right — that most of the guys the cops legitimately hook and book, the ones the DA...

In perhaps the biggest outrage since the Holyfield/Lewis draw, a Michigan jury ordered the producers of the “Jenny Jones” show to pay $25 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. Three days after appearing on the show, a guest shot and killed another guest....

Marlon Brando, on the “Larry King Live” show, once used several racial and ethnic epithets. When a local news outlet rebroadcast this controversial excerpt, it muted Brando when he used the word “nigger.” His lips moved, but the viewer heard no...

Before the horrific shooting at the Littleton, Colo., high school, the media sat around like the Maytag repairman on Prozac. Monica’s gone, impeachment and trial over with, the Jon-Benet Ramsey mystery dormant. Oh, sure, there’s the occasional O.J....

“Bimbo Eruptions.” That’s what Republication strategist Mary Matalin, during the 1992 presidential campaign, called allegations of extramarital affairs against candidate Bill Clinton. But, unfortunately for the president, Juanita Broaddrick is...

Former Alabama Governor and segregationist George Wallace on a postage stamp? You laugh. The post office’s criteria for honoring individuals, however, provides little guidance. The stamps should “feature American or American-related subjects” and...

“Larry, How do you feel about Tyisha Miller?” asked the radio critic during our interview. “Who?” I said. Wrong answer. “What do you mean, who?” she said. “Everyone’s talking about it.” “Well,” I said,...

It was vintage Alan Dershowitz, the attorney and race card player extraordinaire. Appearing as an anti-impeachment panelist before the House Judiciary Committee, Dershowitz accused Georgia conservative Republican Rep. Bob Barr of “racism,”...

Four hundred “Legal Scholars” warned of “dangerous precedents” should Congress vote to impeach President Clinton. University of Texas law professor Douglas Laycock said, “There’s nothing official about his misconduct.”...

A coalition of 15 Feminist and civil rights groups recently descended on Capitol Hill. The issue? Why, the protection of our beleaguered president, of course. Leave him alone! Stop the impeachment process! Bill Clinton’s been good for women! Patricia Ireland,...

“Guilty or not, we love you, O.J.” The sign — held by a black woman outside of the O.J. Simpson criminal courtroom — still chills. During a ceremony honoring Martin Luther King, a black speaker told a scandal-weary President Clinton that blacks...

Fresh from his recent attack on Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown carpet-bombed yet another loathsome public figure — Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. At a meeting before the Association of Black Sociologists, Hizzoner...

“You Black People are all alike.” After allegedly making that remark, former child actor Gary Coleman (“Different Strokes”) stands accused of repeatedly striking an autograph seeker. Coleman, a 30-year-old black man, now a security guard,...