O mores O tempores, eh, motherfucker? What a list, what a list, what a list. Oy vey, oy vey, oy vey. First and worst is elegantly bearded Harvard prick in chief Jack Goldsmith, whose motto is “not as bad as John Yoo”, which may or not be true, because John stabs you in the chest…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”: Actually, it’s pretty dumb
Two thirds of the way through Oppenheimer, I asked myself “Why did Christopher Nolan make this picture?” Because, except for a few cheesy nits, which I will most assuredly pick later, what we have gotten, about two hours in, is essentially a pseudo documentary, a laboriously accurate, $100 million reconstruction of the events leading up…
David Brooks confesses his sins; just not the right ones
Frequent breast beater and all-around intellectual marshmallow David Brooks has touched off a real foofaraw, if not an outright hullabaloo, around the internet with his recent post for the New York Times, What if We’re the Bad Guys Here?, arguing that the rule of “us”, that horde of Ivy League educated sissy britches who hold…
Liz Draper—“Played Twice”
Liz on bass and Tasha Baron on the piano. Posted by Liz
Yo, America! Donald Trump’s epistemology isn’t Wittgensteinian! It’s Schopenhauerian!
The world is everything that is the case? No way, Johann, says El Donaldo. The world is my will! There is a great deal of debate these days about Donald Trump’s “state of mind” during the events both leading up and occurring on January 6, 2021—and, what the hell, a few occurring in the aftermath:…
Megan McArdle, keepin’ it cool
On August 1, 2023, former President Donald Trump was formally charged in federal court with four felonies, as a result of his efforts to defy the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and remain in office after January 20, 2021. On August 3, 2023 Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle ran her weekly column, this one…
Noah Smith is an idiot! But not all the time!
No, Noah, the “Noahopinion” guy, is not always an idiot. Take, for example, this recent post, If this is a bad economy, please tell me what a good economy would look like, expressing a bit of amazement at how well things have worked out under Uncle Joe’s genially geriatric hand. In fact, Noah says he…
Get your misinformation here! Get your red hot misinformation here! Courtesy of the New York Times!
How many times am I going to write this story? Well, damfino, but if the Times won’t quit, neither will I. The latest provocation from the Gray Lady of West 35th St. or wherever the fuck the Times hangs its hat these days is David Quammen’s The Ongoing Mystery of Covid’s Origin. Here’s how Dave…
Pablo Held—“Played Twice”
Pablo Held, piano; Kristina Shamgunova, sax; Christian Ramond, bass; Fabian Arends, drums. Recorded 2021. Posted by Pablo Held
Shorter Roberts Supreme Court: Let’s Make A Deal!
Originalist sin, anyone? The Volokh Conspiracy’s David Post has the scoop: Case or Controversy Requirement? What Case or Controversy Requirement?. As Dave points out, in a post that is, I would say, “thorough”, two of the many “big” decisions handed down by the Supreme Court in its recently concluded “summer session”—Moore v. Harper, shooting down…