Furney Times

June 8, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Asma All Smiles as Syria Burns

By William J. Furney Asma al-Assad, the first lady of Syria and previously known for her love of high-end shopping in London and other fashionable capitals of Europe, until the

June 2, 2019 Poetry

India Red-Earth

By William J. Furney Thick, sticky, iron clay Binds, on the beach, into farmers’ muck. This ancient, yogic, blazing land leaves an indelible stain, And the blithe interloper wonders if

May 18, 2019 Commentary

Will Boeing’s Patched-Up Crash-Plane Fly (and, after 346 Deaths, Why Hasn’t CEO Muilenburg Been Fired)?

By William J. Furney The most feared airplane in the world is not some dodgy model from Russia, China or other part of the world with a poor aviation safety

May 11, 2019 Reportage / Travel

Tales of Two Pakistanis in Towering Dubai

By William J. Furney In Dubai this week, I encountered two men from Pakistan, one named Muhammad and the other Mohammad, both of them upper-end taxi drivers in an otherwise

April 22, 2019 Reportage / Travel

If Cattle Can Walk in the Streets of India, Can I Run in Them?

A vibrant exploration of Goa, where running through the heat sparks insights into India’s culture, spirituality and personal growth.

April 11, 2019 Commentary

No Saving Grace for Assange the Messiah

By William J. Furney After seven long and isolated years holed up in a tiny embassy of a South American nation in central London, Julian Assange emerged into the daylight

April 6, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Stoning in the 21st Century

By William J. Furney Of all the forms of capital punishment, stoning is surely the most brutal and howlingly grotesque, and picturing in your mind how the long, bloody and

March 10, 2019 Commentary

Would Jesus Forgive the Catholic Church’s Sins?

By William J. Furney Can the ongoing abuses rocking the Catholic Church get any worse, is the centuries-old institution rotten and therefore toxic — and is there really any path

March 3, 2019 Commentary

Bad Sportsmanship Allowing Transwomen to Compete in Female Games

By William J. Furney When a man becomes a woman, does she lose her undeniable physical prowess? Will she suddenly not be so tall or broad or have so much

March 2, 2019 Reportage / Travel

In Berlin, in Search of Bacon

By William J. Furney At the National Art Gallery in Berlin, no one knew anything about Francis Bacon. Not the frazzled women on the ticket desk, nor the attendant they

February 20, 2019 Commentary / Reportage

The Great French Mutiny: Public Revulsion at the Radical ‘Gilets Jaunes’

By Michel Guilmault As I walked through my French town of Chambery one Saturday afternoon in late January to take part in a demonstration for an action on climate change,

February 16, 2019 Commentary

Let’s Talk About Toxic Femininity

By William J. Furney Western society has it in for men; there’s little doubt about it, and much of the seething vitriol is driven by male-hating female executives at media

February 2, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

A Great Turkey Disconnect

By William J. Furney You have to turn on laptops and tablets as you go through the twin layers of security at Istanbul’s jaded and soon-to-be redundant Ataturk Airport, to

January 19, 2019 Commentary / International Affairs

Britain’s Brexit Crisis: Let The People Decide (Again)

By William J. Furney Surely one of the overarching ironies in the long-running and sorry saga that is Brexit is that the prime minister who is attempting to deliver the