A few years ago, I wrote an extended piece bearing the title The Republicans: WTF Happened to this Party?. Recently, in response to a couple of engaging (relatively) meas culpas—Matthew Continetti’s The Right The Hundred Year War for American Conservatism and Tim Miller’s Why We Did It—I began preparing an update. I originally planned to…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Fred Hersch and Julian Lage—“Monk’s Dream”
No video, but an interesting take. Posted by Fred Hersch – Topic
Who won the Cold War? Why, Jimmy Carter, of course!
At least, that’s the way Chris Miller tells it in Chip War The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, his best-selling but not always convincing story of the computer chip and how it “changed the world”. It seems that in 1977, Silicon Valley entrepreneur William Perry was brought in to serve as undersecretary of…
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown—“Monk’s Dream”
With Victor Gould: piano, Jonathan Michel: bass, and Darrian Douglas: drums. Posted by Chad Lefkowitz-Brown
Shorter Bill Barr: Yes, I am a complete tool. Surprised?
Well, I am, for one, not. In fact, there never was a doubt in my mind that William Barr was a super shit, a super shit—to muddy the metaphor—of the very first water, a sentiment I have expressed any number of times, in exuberantly fecal prose. If there ever were any doubt in anyone’s mind—and…
Is Ross Douthat smarter than Joe Biden? Probably.
I have, in the past, beat on poor Ross Douthat so lustily that the poor man recently moved to have me declared a public nuisance. But now I feel compelled to admit that, despite the appalling mendacity of his pseudo “Never Trumper” posturing/apologetics, Ross can still serve an occasional winner, and he did so with…
Benny Green—“Monk’s Dream”
Recorded in 2011 at KPLU Seattle’s studio. Posted by KNKX Public Radio
Meet the New Anti-Semitism, Same as the Old Anti-Semitism. Or is it worse?
Peter Beinart has a characteristically excellent post in Jewish Currents, Antisemitic Zionists Aren’t a Contradiction in Terms, explaining why, both historically and today, many anti-Semites around the world praise and admire Israel—because they want their countries to be as ethnically “pure” as they imagine Israel to be, and because they wish “their” Jews would get…
The Gratitude Trio—“Monk’s Dream”
Dawn Clement, piano, Chuck Deardorf, bass, and Matt Wilson, drums. Posted by KNKX Public Radio
Can Nancy Drew crack this case? I’ll bet you $23.80 she can!
If you’re half as desperate for “escape” as I am, you’ll welcome the opportunity to take a 4-hour B-movie bath, courtesy of YouTube, in Nancy Drew, Detective (shown above), Nancy Drew, Reporter, Nancy Drew, Trouble-Shooter, and Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, a sometimes delightful and often at least satisfying mini-series of sorts cranked out…