If you think the news from the Middle East couldn’t get any worse, well, wait ten minutes. This once inconceivable sequence of horrifying events seems destined to rumble on until, well, until it stops. I am generally a fan of finger pointing, but this constant barrage of disasters is, naturally, spawning an orgy of outrage…
Author: Alan Vanneman
There are two kinds of Republicans: True Trumpers and Cowards. Megan McArdle is not a True Trumper
I have, before—many times before—ridiculed dear Megan’s frequent efforts to find something—anything—to criticize about the Democratic Party rather than deal with the elephant-sized pile of dung in the room that is the current day Republican Party. In her latest “just trying to be helpful” effort—Democrats should have helped McCarthy hold his job — for their…
Played Twice—“Played Twice”
It doesn’t get any more meta than this. Dan Wood, piano, Nick Malcolm, trumpet, George Crowley, sax, Olie Brice, bass, and Simon Roth, drums. Recorded at the Servant Jazz Quarters in 2014. Posted by Dan Rhodes
The Coalition of the Swilling
Here are two questions that few today can answer, to wit: “During the Vietnam War, what could you buy in a Filipino PX that you couldn’t buy in an American PX?” “Johnnie Walker Black Label and Chivas Regal.” “What else could you buy in a Filipino PX?” “Nothing.” After Lyndon Johnson sent American ground troops…
OMG! I’m turning into Larry Summers! But not all the time!
The truth can be ugly, can’t it? Here are, courtesy of frequent good guy yet employed by the American Enterprise Institute James Pethokoukis, a number of cogent (I think) charts to illustrate a recent cogent (I think) talk by Larry at the Peterson Institute for International Economics titled “What Should the 2023 Washington Consensus Be?”,…
Chasin’ the Bird, Chasin’ Donna Lee: Cultural appropriation—It’s a good thing!
What do Charlie Parker and Theodore Dreiser have in common? Well, damned little, you might say, seeing has how the creator of bebop and the master of early twentieth century American naturalist fiction never met, but there is a connection, however tenuous. In 1947, Parker went into a recording session, joined with Miles Davis on…
The “Tragedy” of Mitt Romney
A double tragedy, in fact, for poor old Mitt was born with both no shame and no balls! A typical Republican, in other words! I was, in fact, quite willing to let poor Mitt go gentle into that good night until pretty near incessant praise for the guy started to get me down, most particularly…
Yeah, I flunked Econ 101! What’s your point?
As a matter of fact, I I didn’t flunk Econ 101, because I never took it! So what? To quote Mel Brooks, I’m an old man and I’ve got a right to talk. And, to quote another old man, Richard Nixon, “I am not an intellectual, but I do read books!” Well, I do and…
More disinformation from the NYTimes? You betcha! Good Information from the Washington Post? Strange, Yet True!
Yep, yep, yep. It’s Washington Post 1, New York Times 0 on the Vanneman-o-meter, which measures, of course, “TRUTH”! The matter at hand is Missouri v. Biden, a recent decision by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partially affirming—with the emphasis on “partially”—a wide-ranging (as in “loud mouthed” and, well, “Trumpy”) lower court’s preliminary…
Disinformation, Krugman style
Okay, I hate to call out Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman on what is, perhaps, not a huge deal, but we have the right to expect “more” from a Nobel dude like Paul, and I’m afraid Paul’s “error” here is more than a foot fault. In the course of a rap on the irresponsible…