Goddamn right they are. Uncle Paul tells it like it is, unlike the many times I’ve bitched or sneered at him (though mixed in, to be sure, with occasional gestures of praise). As Paul points out, all the supposedly “responsible” businessfolk, in favor of “sound” principles, have no problem with a single house of Congress,…
Search Results for: Tea Party
Peter Watson’s The German Genius: Ist es deutsch? Ja, allzu deutsch.
Peter Watson’s massive (996 pages) study, The German Genius, is one of the most confounding books I’ve ever read, “impressive” for most of its great length, often “brilliant” in its discussion of 20th century Germany, but then lurching downhill drastically in places, descending to the level of Nazi apologetics at its worst—plus one whopping mathematical…
Q: Why did neoliberalism replace social democracy? A. Because social democracy failed. Next question!
“No, I Do Not Think the Microprocessor Doomed Social Democracy”, a substackin’ Brad DeLong exclaims, linking to a “very nice” (Brad says) piece by Arthur Goldhammer in Democracy, Chip Shots, a review of Chris Miller’s Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology and quoting an extensive chunk of it, edited by Brad,…
Banning TikTok pushes buttons right and left.
Why ban TikTok? Because China! Because Internet! Banning TikTok may or may not be the answer to a maiden’s prayer, but for many Democrats and Republicans, it is a much needed balm for all their wounds, or so they are so foolish to believe. Democrats and Republicans are unhappy because neither can command the support…
Yo, New York Times! Want to know who started the War in Iraq? Look in the goddamn mirror!
20 Years On, a Question Lingers About Iraq: Why Did the U.S. Invade?, rumbles “Interpreter” (that’s what they call him) Max Fisher, subjecting us to a shitload of obscurantist chin-stroking before reaching an all too convenient non-answer/confession of ignorance, topping off this banal exercise in disingenuosity with this laughable quote as a closer: “I will…
Yo, “conservatives”! Haven’t you heard? You’re totally f*cked!
Yes, it’s schadenfreude time around the Literature ‘R Us corral once more, and, yes, it is morally lazy in the extreme to snicker at the other side’s weaknesses without considering one’s own, but life is short, after all, and we’ll soon be in the clay, so before we submit to the clammy embrace of viscous…
Hypocrisy is the homage that Ross Douthat pays to virtue
If, as increasingly appears to be the case, Donald Trump’s wild career will end, not with a bang but a whimper, then, sighs NYT opinionist Ross Douthat, more in sorrow than in anger, there will not be any accountability for Trump’s soft enablers within the Republican Party. There was a certain political accountability when the…
Shorter Josh Barro: If I shut my eyes very tightly, Donald Trump will go away
You know, he’s got a point there! If you shut your eyes very tightly, Donald Trump will go away! And so will everything else! Like Josh, I wish that Joe Biden were more than minimally competent. I wish he didn’t sound like a 79-year-old man (I’m 77) who’s tired of all your back talk and…
Shorter Megan McArdle: “Yes, I am a lying hypocrite. Why do you ask?”
Alan Vanneman non-fave rave Megan McArdle has had a revelation: “It’s time for Republicans to save themselves”. According to Ms. Mc By mid-February 2016, it was clear that some kind of collective Republican action would be needed to keep Donald Trump from winning the nomination. Instead, everyone stood around hoping that someone else would do…
Burning the Bonfire: Vanneman does Salamon does De Palma does Wolfe
(Editor’s Note: In 1987, Tom Wolfe published a novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities. In 1990, Brian De Palma directed the film version. In 1991, Julie Salamon published The Devil’s Candy, her chronicle of the making of the film. In 2022, I read her book and wrote this article.) The Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom…