“There is a simple way Republicans can show some mettle [and defy Trump]: if five senators — starting with Maine’s Susan Collins, who complains it’s unacceptable to impede Mueller but does little about it — say they won’t vote for anther federal judge until legislation is enacted guaranteeing the independence of the special counsel. The…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Thanks to Donald Trump, American combat troops now receiving gritty, invaluable training in “whatnot”
Sure, that Central American “caravan” is hundreds of miles from the U.S. border, and it doesn’t present the slightest sort of military threat to anyone, except the fevered imagination of our national headache, Donald Trump. So why deploy thousands of troops, at a cost of several hundred million dollars, against a non-existent threat? Good question,…
Can a half-assed, two-headed Democratic Party get its act together? A question to be asked
Yes, it is a little late in the game to be asking this question, or it would be if I had any expectation of being able to influence the answer. The day of the neolibs is done, but who and what will replace it? Hard to say. President Obama, by selecting Tim Geithner as Secretary…
Ray Brown Trio—“Blue Monk”
Ray Brown, bass, Benny Green, piano, Greg Hutchinson, drums. From 1997. Posted by Face 202. Neither the sound nor the picture is that great, but if you want to hear the greatest Monk bass solo ever, if not the greatest arco jazz bass solo ever, click below for Ray’s performance of “Round Midnight”, from the…
A Star Is Born: You know who I feel sorry for? I feel sorry for the guy who had to pretend he could be punched out by Lady Gaga
Yeah, at 5’1” and (apparently) 108 pounds, I doubt if the Gaga Girl packs much of a punch, but if you believe the latest reiteration of A Star Is Born, she can send a normal size guy reeling with just one blow.1 This is just one of the many questions raised by ASIB, including “Who…
Cuban Masters of Jazz—“Blue Monk”
Bobby Carcasses, Vocals; Jorge Reyes, Bass; Mary Paz, Congas. Havana, 2014. Posted by the Cuban Masters of Jazz
Cuban Masters of Jazz—“Blue Monk”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpZkiivaAJY Bobby Carcasses, Vocals; Jorge Reyes, Bass; Mary Paz, Congas. Havana, 2014. Posted by the Cuban Masters of Jazz
Justice Scalia: Underappreciated Fourth Amendment Defender. For Rich People.
When Old Man Scalia kicked the bucket, the Cato Institute’s Jonathan Blank honored him with a flattering post, “Justice Scalia: Underappreciated Fourth Amendment Defender”: “In addition to his many judicial bona fides, Justice Antonin Scalia was an underappreciated defender of the Fourth Amendment. With his typical thoroughness and deep textualism that reshaped American judging, the…
Max Boot’s The Corrosion of Conservatism: A major mea culpa just a few culpas shy of a load
Max Boot has written another “what happened to conservatism?” book, similar but superior to Charles How the Right Lost its Mind Sykes and Rick Everything Trump Touches Dies Wilson, because Boot, unlike both Sykes and Wilson, is willing to re-examine the historical record and discover, among other things, that, yes, the young William F. Buckley…
Magnum PI, not failing Racism 101, but not passing either.
Is it a sad commentary on my life that I have watched all five of this season’s episodes of the new Magnum, PI?1 Well, yes, it is, but that’s not what I want to talk about. What I want to talk about is the new series’ attempts to come to grips with racism, which as…