I’ve already frequently bemoaned the fact that so many U.S. conservatives are deciding that Donald Trump is, you know, our Wacky Uncle Donald, who doesn’t mean half the stuff he says (that is to say, half of what he says is a lie), and he does get cranky at times, but his bark is worse…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Explaining the Trump “Boom”
Ross Douthat and Tyler Cowen have a question for Trump-loathers like me: If Trump is so bad, why is there no evidence that (as Tyler puts it) “America’s intellectual and media mandarins have been busy liquidating their long positions and buying puts over the past two months”? Okay, I guess I don’t really qualify as…
Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster: Will lie for money
Donald Trump’s new pick for national security advisor is Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster. McMaster has received deserved praise for his study of the Vietnam War, Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam, accusing the joint chiefs of lacking the nerve to tell their civilian…
Bob Woodward a total tool, New York Times says. But not in so many words.
The New York Times has some sort of “feature” called “The Interpreter”, described as “a column by Max Fisher and Amanda Taub exploring the ideas and context behind major world events.” Today’s edition is dubbed “As Leaks Multiply, Fears of a ‘Deep State’ in America”: “A wave of leaks from government officials has hobbled the…
Pseudo New Yorker
“This is a public desert, pal! You hot rodders make me sick!” “Do I look like I’ve seen a white whale?” “I do see the absurdity of it all. But I fail to see the humor in that absurdity.” “Trust me. It’s much harder.” “Okay, I know when I’ve been hustled. You can have your…
Give this man a cigar. And a beard.
Donald Trump just spent 80 minutes telling the press that he’s rubber and they’re glue, Politico reports. Surely, the Donald is just getting warmed up. Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez, Mussolini—all the greats—they spoke for hours. But just give the man time. I mean, talking is the one thing he’s good at. Afterwords Meanwhile, back in…
Universe proves Einstein right, again! Not!
“Universe proves Einstein right, again!” is a headline editors love to write. “We”—or at least “they”—love to think of old Doc Einstein, with his lamb-like innocence and basset-hound eyes, floating somewhere up in the etherium and looking down on us all and, somehow, looking out for us all. When it comes to relativity, or gravity,…
Right Turn? No, Correct Turn!
There was a time when I wrote so many columns making fun of WashPost Likudist from Hell Jennie Rubin that I stopped. Jennie was so over the top1 that it didn’t seem fair, or relevant, to make fun of her. Well, that was then. The non “I want to die for Israel and I’m going…
Out like Flynn
How wrong was it for anonymous “Intelligence Community” folks to fink on poor Michael Flynn, who just wanted to chat with his good buddy Russian Ambassador Sergei Kislyak about, you know, stuff, without everyone and his sister in law making a big deal about it? Or leaking transcripts of those conversations to the Washington Post?…
VSOP II—“Well You Needn’t”
VSOP II, aka Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, on trumpet, sax, piano, bass, and drums, respectively, aka 3/5 of the early/mid-sixties Miles Davis Quintet, circa 1983. Posted by leatherlips