Speaking in Japan at the Hiroshima memorial, dedicated to the victims to the first use of atomic weaponry in world history, President Obama called for a “moral revolution” that would ultimately lead to the elimination of such weapons. According to a report filed in the New York Times by Gardiner Harris, the President said “We…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Hillary Clinton, so hard to luv
If you’ve been reading the latest on Hillary’s email account, and if you think she’s the only thing standing between us and President Donald Trump, you’re probably sighing as hard as I am. Being a Clinton supporter, however reluctant, means being stuck in an abusive relationship. How can anyone so heedless of anyone but herself…
Charles Murray, cutting to the chase
I have never written about Charles Murray without the most overt of sneers.1 Well, that has to change, because Charles, writing in the National Review, has just nailed the best right-wing take-down of Donald Trump I’ve ever read, “Why ‘Hillary is even worse’ doesn’t cut it”. Sample quotes: “In my view, Donald Trump is unfit…
The “Blob” lives! At the New York Times!
As I understand it, all the cool kids at the White House (whose number, according to Ben Rhodes, is limited to President Obama and, well, Ben Rhodes) like to call the blinkered, myopic terminally self-righteous American foreign policy establishment “the Blob.” That said, if you’re up for some seriously blinkered self-righteous myopia, you ought to…
Wheaton College Jazz Ensemble—“Pitter Panther Patter”
https://youtu.be/G3nL5wzpZd4 Gunnar Kuehl, bass and Nick Muzik, piano, perform this joint composition of Duke Ellington and bassist Jimmy Blanton, who, though he died at age 23, created the modern jazz bass. Ellington recorded several duets with Blanton, including this one and “Plucked Again”, shortly before Blanton’s death from tuberculosis. Blanton was near exact contemporary of…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Size matters to me. Perhaps you have similar tastes.” “I am, obviously, not one for half-way measures.” “I don’t like to come in second in anything.” “I can’t say I won’t break your heart, but I will keep you dry.” “It never rains on this parade.” “Stormy…
Please God, Crush Bernie Sanders. Like you know, a pancake. This time, a really, really flat pancake.
I’ve made this plea before, but, obviously, God wasn’t listening. Or, if God was, Bernie wasn’t. Bernie Sanders has no reason to listen to anyone. In 2012, the best election of his life, Bernie polled almost 300,000 votes. In 2016, he’s polled well over 9 million, which in political terms gives him the right to…
Ben Sasse, B.A., M.A., M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.
Yeah, you read that right. Ben Sasse, junior senator from Nebraska, has more degrees than a compass: a BA from Harvard (government), an MA from St. John’s (liberal studies), and an MA, MPhil1, and a Ph.D. from Yale (all in philosophy). Yet he talks just like me and you. Most of the time. Ben has…
Pseudo New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Grackles taste like shit, that’s why.” “That’s taking lazy to a new level.” “He’s got balls. You just can’t see them.” “It’s a mating ritual for morons, that’s what it is.” “Birds who play games with featherless bipeds end up featherless too.” “If old Furface could see…
The Koch Boys: Getting Wiser, Or Getting Richer?
Over at the National Review, Tim Alberta and Eliana Johnson have a nice, “inside” piece “In Koch World ‘Realignment’, Less National Politics”, basically claiming that Charlie and Dave have decided to cut back on their political spending, feeling that, even with a Republican Senate, they just aren’t getting much bang for their buck. This may…