WashPost reporters Josh Dawsey and Ashley Parker fill us in on what future historians will undoubtedly refer to as “the Revolt of the Bitches”—the painfully reluctant decision of Vice President Mike Pence not to fulfill President Trump’s demand that his Veep piss all over the U.S. Constitution and unilaterally declare Donald Trump effectively President for…
Author: Alan Vanneman
The Billiard Ball Causality of Francis Fukuyama, Together With Other Considerations
I have recently finished reading Francis Fukuyama’s excellent book, Identity The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, published back in 2018, trying to explain why the world isn’t behaving the way Francis and I think it ought, and not doing a bad job of it at all. I’ve written round and about Dr….
William Barr, very late but apparently wise
Okay, William Barr, perhaps my least favorite attorney, has suddenly surprised me, via a cryptic “statement” to the Associated Press, that the AP, in its story, quotes in fragments—fragments that are, nonetheless quite welcome to the ear. Says the AP Former Attorney General William Barr says President Donald Trump’s conduct as a violent mob of…
The Republican Party Has Its Reward
After kissing Donald Trump’s ass for more than four years, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell finally noticed his mouth was getting dirty. Said McConnell, shortly before all Hell broke loose: We’re debating a step that has never been taken in American history, whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election. I’ve served…
Andrew McCarthy is shocked, shocked to discover that Donald Trump hath no bottom
Writing more in sorrow than in anger, “The Risky Wager of Betting on Trump”, the National Review’s Andy McCarthy has had it up to here—okay, maybe not all the way up to “here”, but almost all the way—with Donald Trump: Since the election, we’ve had two months of a president publicly insisting the election was…
U.S. Bombing Raids: American War Crimes or Commie Propaganda? Or both?
George Blake, a British spy for the Soviet Union whose information apparently led to the deaths of many operatives for British and American espionage agencies, is dead at 98. Blake, who was employed by the British as a spy, was turned by the Soviets after being captured during the Korean War. But, according to his…
Linda Greenhouse, a few bricks shy of the truth
It never hurts to have a friend in the White House, does it? In what amounts to a love letter to Joe Biden, New York Times Supreme Court gal Linda Greenhouse tells us how the steel entered Joe Biden’s soul during the confirmation hearings for Judge—and not to be Justice—Robert Bork. Up until that time,…
Eugene Volokh, brilliant and noble champion of the First Amendment or just another brick in the wall?
Both, actually. At the age of 10, in 1978, Mr. Volokh took the Math “Aptitude” SAT and scored 780 out of 800. He graduated from UCLA at 15, later graduated from UCLA Law, and now teaches there, and also runs the estimable, largely libertarian “Volokh Conspiracy” website. Here is what someone who is quite reasonably…
Eric Ineke JazzXpress—“Rhythm-a-ning”
Live at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam during Eric Ineke’s 70th birthday concert on April 1, 2017. Featuring Rein de Graaff – piano, Tineke Postma – alto sax, Sjoerd Dijkhuizen – tenor sax, Simon Rigter – tenor sax, Gidon Nunes Vaz – trumpet, Marius Beets – bass, and Eric Ineke – drums. Posted by Eric Ineke-…
Some “conservatives” are whistling past the graveyard of American democracy; others are busy swinging a shovel
I like to keep track of what the “responsible right”, as I like to call them, is up to, a task that I perform by rounding up the usual suspects—Ross Douthat, Jay Nordlinger, Kevin Williamson, Ramesh Ponnuru, David French, and Jonah Goldberg, among others—finding most of them at either the National Review or the American…