Hey, Literature R Us is nothing if not gender appropriate. In case you hadn’t heard, new Sec of Ed Betsy DeVos just couldn’t help making a White House meeting with the presidents of HistorIcally Black Colleges and Universities all about her by “explaining” that these institutions, created in response to southern racism, were all about…
Honest John Boehner, A “Good Republican”—that is to say, a coward and a fraud
John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015, engaged in one of the prerogatives of those who have relinquished power—speaking the truth. Among other things, Boehner claimed that all that Republican talk about repealing and replacing ObamaCare is just talk: “They’ll fix Obamacare, and I shouldn’t have called it repeal and…
Omigod! That wasn’t a bowling ball bouncing down stairs! It was Noel Kahn’s head!
Yes, Noel is the latest in the cast of Pretty Little Liars to buy the farm. In the first season Noel threw a girl downstairs and now in the seventh someone threw him downstairs, or at least “a piece of him”, as Horatio might say. I started watching PLL after my girlfriend started watching it,…
Pseudo New Yorker
“Okay, babe! Last man on earth, looking right at you!” “Hell, yeah, I’m satisfied. Are you satisfied?” “Some day, Helen, you’re going to go too far with this telekinesis thing.” “So I suppose Mother won’t be coming for a visit after all.” “All this fuss over a little blonde. Really, Helen, you surprise me.” “Must…
Nikki Ekstein, not always knowledgeable
Nikki Ekstein writes features for Bloomberg, including this one on the Waldorf Astoria hotel, letting us in on a number of secrets, including the fact that there is a secret, presidents only train station under the hotel. “There’s no way to detect it from above ground, but right below the Waldorf is a little-known extension…
Arlene McDaniel—“Well, You Needn’t”
Is Donald Trump as bad as the National Review says he is? Probably!
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…
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…