The severe embarrassment on the “Left” by the Obama Administration’s disastrous rollout of the Affordable Care Act has taken a variety of forms, from the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” approach advocated by Joan Walsh at Salon, aka “The first rule about the Affordable Care Act is ‘Don’t talk about Affordable Care Act’; “The second rule…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Dave Weigel now officially Chris Christie’s bitch
Over at Slate, Dave Weigel devotes about ten column inches to letting Chris Christie tell us how much black folks love him, followed by about three column feet about how Big Chris is going to stomp, stomp, stomp his hapless Democratic opponent into the ground. Which is surely, surely, surely true. But then Dave ends…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Presumably, it’s attached to something bigger than the house. Otherwise, it would make no sense. “I told you they were your kind of people.” “I don’t know why they don’t get rid of that. We haven’t had a theft since the Johnsons back in 2008.” “Too pre-war to live, I’d say.” “Well,…
Saudi Arabia and Israel: A marriage made in heaven?
When will the lion lie down with the lamb? Well, not any time soon. When will Israel lie down with Saudi Arabia? Well, right about now, judging from “warnings” emerging from neo-con windbags gods like Charles “Krautman” Krauthammer, who says that the failure of President Obama to intervene in Syria, plus his obvious desire to…
Paul Ryan’s total phonus-balonus budget (which doesn’t even exist!)
I should probably stop using so many parentheses and exclamation points in my heads, but when they fit they fit, you know what I mean? Actually, the fact that there isn’t going to be any grand budget deal growing out of the Tea Party’s “shut it down” fiasco is becoming so obvious that I scarcely…
Detroit Denial: A Democratic Disease (but not entirely!)
Remember when we were told that the average retired city worker in Detroit was receiving a pension of no more than $19,000 a year? Well, it turns out that was only sort of accurate. In fact, when there was extra money in the pension system, it was paid out in the form of “bonuses to…
Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra: “Let’s Call This”
Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra perform “Let’s Call This,” composed by Thelonious Monk, arranged by Jason Lindner, at Symphony Space at “Andy and Jerry’s: A Tribute to the Gonzalez Brothers” on October 15, 2011. Special guests: Andy & Jerry Gonzalez.
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Don’t sweat it. He has the shtick, but we have the stick.” “No, it’s Jerry Steinbrenner. A lot of people make that mistake.” “His fast ball isn’t much, but his knuckler is a bear.” “Make him cover first. He’s way slow off the rubber.” “The thing you have to know about this…
Anne Applebaum, oddly ubiquitous
Anne Applebaum is a distinguished journalist and scholar who has written about the horrors of the Soviet Gulag and the oppressive Communist rule in Eastern Europe following World War II. She is married to Radosław Sikorski, currently Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. So why is she writing about Iran? My guess is, synergy. In a…
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown: “We See”
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown, tenor saxophone; Steven Feifke, piano; Raviv Markovitz, bass; Jimmy Macbride, drums. Posted by Chad Lefkowitz-Brown