Yes, Republicans do. Suppose the Democrats had nominated a competent candidate—not necessarily a “dream” candidate à la Barack Obama—but one who, you know, hadn’t lied her 69-year-old ass off about pretty much everything under the sun while operating a multi-million-dollar shakedown racket cum non-profit cum political machine. Just suppose. Then the Democrats wouldn’t be beating…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Fronkensteen, Frankenstein—what’s in a name? Everything!
Why, in Young Frankenstein, the best film Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks ever made, does Frederick Frankenstein make such a point of, first, pronouncing his name “incorrectly”, and then correctly? Because Wilder and Brooks were both Jews. It’s not unusual for Jews, growing up in, well, not-Semitic if not anti-Semitic societies like the U.S., to…
David Ignatius and the Triumph of the Will
David Ignatius seems to be my whipping boy de jour or de month, or de whatever. Dave’s latest offense comes in a column nominally devoted to the disquiet with which Australians view Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, “Australians are mortified by Trump’s rise”. Well, seeing as I am American, my mortification far exceeds any Australian’s, but…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here “Call me Ishmael, motherfucker!” “First dibs, my ass! This is my ocean, short stuff!” “I’m holding you personally responsible for global warming, beachboy!” “I just hope you didn’t eat all the cocoanuts.” “Don’t sweat it. The tide comes in real quick in these latitudes.” “If you didn’t keep building these damn things,…
Eli Lake, from 20/80 to 80/20, pretty much
Back in the day—July 10, 2014, to be precise—I whaled on Bloomberg’s Eli Lake for pulling together a lot of ass-covering/blame-shifting “if only the president had listened to me” quotes from former members of the Obama Administration to explain why the government of former Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki failed to prevent the rise of…
Min Xiao-Fen—“Misterioso” and “Ask Me Now”
https://youtu.be/TlkXTUL7VVU “Best” interpretations? Maybe not, but girl1 can work that ax. Performed at Brooklyn Public Library on March 3, 2013. Posted by Don Mount I say “girl” because it seems “girl” is the new “bitch”, and I want to keep up with the times. ↩︎
The wrong way to do minority outreach? To do it in the National Review!
Mona Charon has a nice piece–“Not the way to do minority outreach”–gently chiding Donald Trump for making a speech ostensibly intended to persuade blacks to vote for him by giving a speech before a virtually all-white audience in West Bend, Wisconsin, a virtually all-white suburb of Milwaukee, 40 percent black and the scene of rioting…
Shorter Trump
“I am so fucking sorry for all those dumb schmucks I pissed on on the way to the top. Really I am. Not! No, kidding! Really, I am sorry. Am I? Sure I am. Really. Are we done? Okay, can someone get me a broad? Like, immediately?
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here “Yes, dear. I know Seth Curry couldn’t carry your jock. Now give it a rest.” “Of course he looks like a midget. Compared to you, everyone is a midget.” “No, I don’t think the first network honcho who programs ‘Giraffe Week’ will be sitting on a gold mine.” “Face it, honey. Knobby…
David Ignatius thinks you’re an idiot
Perhaps I should say, David Ignatius hopes and prays you’re an idiot. This is the way Dave begins his latest column, “America is no longer guaranteed military victory. These weapons could change that.” “The fight against the Islamic State may get the headlines. But it’s the military threats from Russia and China that most worry…