David Brooks is hoping that Donald Trump will gently implode, leaving VP Mike Pence, the 21st Century Gerry Ford, in charge. Well, I’d have to take Mike over il Donald, without much enthusiasm, but I don’t think we’ll be that “lucky”. Trump self-corrects when he has to, as he did during the campaign. This isn’t…
Author: Alan Vanneman
The enemy within—within the White House
Paul Krugman nailed it: “When the Fire Comes”. So did the Washington Post: “Trump paints a picture of a dystopian America that doesn’t exist”. President Trump is cranking up the volume in the anticipation of the next terrorist attack, or the next police shooting1, in order to announce that chaos reigns, that the gloves are…
Yo, New York Times! Torture is not a “mistake”. It’s a crime and a sin against the human spirit!
The New York Times—along with many others—took righteous umbrage when President Trump, asked why he insisted on cozying up to a “killer” like Vladimir Putin, responded by saying “What, you think our country’s so innocent?” The Times earnestly, though, one must say, rather innocently, acknowledged our own lack of innocence: “There’s no doubt that the…
David Ignatius, last seen stroking a source
Remember Michael T. Flynn, the less than model lieutenant general who chanted “Lock her up!” while denouncing Hillary Clinton at the Republican convention, who wrote a crack-brained book with crack-brained author Michael Leeden1 in which he declared that “I’m totally convinced that, without a proper sense of urgency, we will be eventually defeated, dominated, and…
Ross Douthat, shocked to see Democrats doing to Republicans what Republicans did to Democrats
Ross Douthat, waxing witty, as is his wont, professes to be amused by “the most predictable of spectacles: a liberal holy war against Betsy DeVos, just confirmed as the new secretary of education by Mike Pence’s tiebreaking vote.” What’s the fuss, asks Ross: “the bulk of DeVos’s school-choice work places her only somewhat to the…
Tom Nichols is looking for work! And the Washington Post is helping him!
Tom Nichols, in case you don’t know him, is a professor at the Naval War College and the Harvard Extension School and the author of The Death of Expertise. Last year, Tom fired off a snappy little piece in The Federalist titled “I’ll Take Hillary Clinton Over Donald Trump. As Tom tells it, that was…
Freddie Hubbard & Johnny Griffin—“Well, You Needn’t”
Fuzzy picture, great jazz. According to online comments, Billy Higgins is the drummer, and Harry Pickens is on piano. No information for the bassman. Blue Note Jazz Festival, 1986. Posted by cminor7add9th.
George Will would rather write about the Black Death than Donald Trump
Well, you can hardly blame the man, can you? The Donald’s current reign of t/error is a lot less palatable than the centuries-old horror that reduced Europe’s population by a solid 25% back in the fourteenth century. But after you get past Georgie’s first paragraph, his current think piece becomes less a history lesson than…
Nazi Holocaust did not target Jews, Trump explains
Okay, two weeks of Trump and I’m a week behind on the outrages. Well, get used to it, because it won’t get any better. Last week, when Donald Trump was proving to the world that he hates foreigners, he was also proving to the world that he thinks Jews talk too much. It’s always about…
Pseudo New Yorker
“Relax! He’s more afraid of us than we are of him.” “Yo, big boy! Super models comin’ through!” “He’s good bad, but he’s not evil.” “Excuse me! Are you Scylla or Charybdis?” “We must be near Coney Island.” “If this is America, what’s with the Roman hands and Russian fingers?” “Okay, an Abe Lincoln he…