Joan Swirsky is a New York-based journalist and author. Her website is www.joanswirsky.com and she may be reached at joanswirsky@gmail.com.
When I was studying to become a nurse in the late 1960s, I learned that the most important value in patient care, for both nurses and doctors, was safety. Not curing, which is hoped for but often impossible, and not even empathy, although a high priority. That is because the patient who falls out of […]
Many years ago, my daughter Karen saw the movie “Grease” 20 times! By the fifth time, she could recite every line, even every lyric from every song. So, I ask myself, what is both wrong and wrong-headed with all the… seasoned foreign correspondents, journalists worldwide, military experts, think-tank personnel, social-media know-it-alls, so-called influencers, actual diplomats, […]
No matter how bizarre or puzzling or impossibly complex crime scenes seemed to be, the detective Sherlock Holmes, accompanied by his friend Dr. John Watson — both fictional characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the late 1800s — never failed to solve them. Using keen observation — actually noting teeny, tiny, sometimes microscopic […]
Back in 2011, many years before June 16, 2015, when Donald J. Trump took that infamous escalator ride to announce his intention to run as a Republican for President of the United States, I wrote an article entitled Trump Is Already Running the Country. This was because, even then––and more so now––he was able to […]
No one really knows what triggers obsessions. Tucker Carlson’s obsession with Jews and Israel is no exception. When I was about 12 or 13, I had a friend who was fun to be with. When we were in my house or hers, we’d talk endlessly about our schoolmates, our teachers, her mother’s illness, and boys, boys, […]
In the 1960s, the Russian KGB and Yasir Arafat literally invented the entire concept––or should I say fiction––of a “Palestinian people,” you know, those perpetual “victims” who have received billions —more likely trillions — in “aid” from the world’s bleeding hearts, but after over 50 years, have become famous for a few things only: Relentless […]
Plus, what they will teach us about those who are still with us. When I was growing up in New Haven, Conn., my parents subscribed not only to our local newspaper — The New Haven Register, still extant — but also to The New York Times and the now defunct (since 1966) New York Herald […]
It’s a combination of forces. Let’s examine them. Did you ever go to Yankee Stadium? I’ve been there dozens of times and have always felt thrilled and celebratory when they’ve won, especially in the years when Mariano Rivera was closing and Jorge Posada was catching. I even wore my Posada jersey when I knew he would be […]
In my meandering imagination, I was a liberal, yearning to join the anti-ICE peaceful protest in Minneapolis… In my meandering imagination, I was a liberal, yearning to join the anti-ICE peaceful protest in Minneapolis and trying to figure out how I would let our government know how strenuously I object to their policy of deporting […]
The Renée Goods of the world need a reality check. Here’s a challenge. Ask your neighbor, ask your best friend, ask the guy standing next to you at the deli counter, ask as many relatives as possible, ask any real estate agent in the world this question: What is the number-one thing all people in the […]
“Maybe he had a stroke,” a nurse friend told me as she theorized about Tucker Carlson’s seemingly bizarre transformation from a rock-ribbed conservative commentator to a flaming anti-Semite whose hatred of both Jews and Israel found him interviewing––and nodding in delirious agreement with—fervid Hitler and Stalin admirer Nick Fuentes, among many other rabid racists. Another […]
A long time ago, in 2006, my son Seth wrote an article ––Why I left the Left–– for RealClearPolitics.com. When President George W. Bush’s “brain” Karl Rove read it, OMG he invited Seth to lunch at the White House! That was many years after I personally left the Left, but I couldn’t think of a more apt title for this article. […]
Several years ago, my husband Steve and I were watching TV as an American politician of Hispanic descent responded to a challenging question by an antagonistic reporter. The politician gave such an eloquent and informed answer, sprinkling his response with historical facts, literary allusions, and even dashes of humor, that when he completed his answer, […]
I stopped counting the massive numbers of articles — both before and after the election of November 4, 2025 — that predicted the complete devolution/collapse/implosion of New York City, a huge exodus of both Jews and Christians, as well as businesses and the Wall Street financial district to friendlier climes in what was anticipated to […]
Going back 250 years, the enemies of America thought long and hard about how to destroy the fledgling experiment of a democratic republic that our Founding Fathers had envisioned. It was and continues to be clear to them that America’s strength is a function of three phenomena: A fervent belief in the God Who makes miracles […]