My head probably should be the other way around,1 because I’m bouncing off a piece by the living Ronald, “Howard Zinn: Fake Historian”, over at Law & Liberty, whatever and wherever that is, taking down poor old Howard, who died back in 2010. Radosh is, in turn, bouncing his piece off a new book by…
Search Results for: edward gibbon
The Code of the Woosters
The 23 episodes of “Jeeves and Wooster”, a British TV series starring Stephen Fry as Jeeves and a young Hugh Laurie as Bertie Wooster that ran from 1990 to 1993, are now available via YouTube. If you don’t know who Jeeves and Bertie are, you probably won’t enjoy the series. If you do know, you’re…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Alan Vanneman regrets to admit that he has nothing intelligent or informed to say about the ISIS crisis. Instead, he will write about nail salons.
You read Sarah Maslin Nir’s two-part exposé of New York nail salons the New York Times. You read the “How I got the story” interview with Nir in the Times. You read the rebuttal by nail salon owner and former New York Times reporter Richard Bernstein. You read the NYT rebuttal to Bernstein’s rebuttal. And…
Why did the Roman Empire fall? The horse!
A few months ago, I ran a seven-part collection of near-random ruminations on Edward Gibbon’s monumental The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, not quite a book report, since I only read about two thirds of Gibbon’s work. Gibbon is famous/infamous for summing up his account of the D&F with the sentence “I have…
Baltimore cops: Where is the outrage?
On May 1, Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby filed charges against six Baltimore police officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray, who died of spinal injuries incurred in the course of his arrest and transport in a police van. The Washington Post offers a primer on the Gray case here. Following the indictments…
Yeah, I flunked Econ 101! What’s your point?
As a matter of fact, I I didn’t flunk Econ 101, because I never took it! So what? To quote Mel Brooks, I’m an old man and I’ve got a right to talk. And, to quote another old man, Richard Nixon, “I am not an intellectual, but I do read books!” Well, I do and…
Stout Stories: “A Social Call” and “Truffles To Die For”
A Social Call “I’m afraid that would be impossible.” “I agree entirely. And it’s been my experience that when things are impossible, they don’t happen. Which means that we should just forget about this.” She laughed. “But that would be impossible as well.” “I assure you it wouldn’t, Ms. Harris—nor, in fact, is it. If…
A Social Call
(Another short story in the manner of Rex Stout, featuring Nero Wolfe.) “I’m afraid that would be impossible.” “I agree entirely. And it’s been my experience that when things are impossible, they don’t happen. Which means that we should just forget about this.” She laughed. “But that would be impossible as well.” “I assure you…
God’s in his heaven, all’s right with the world: Magnum, P.I. is back on the air!
Okay, that’s a little too cheerful, isn’t it? Well, when God gives you lemons, pour yourself a double shot of Tequila, I always say. It’s sure as hell better than lemonade. No, the return of Magnum, P.I. to television won’t compensate for much of anything, but the “good news” is that’s significantly less irritating than…
Daniel Drezner, harrumphing audibly, but not (alas!) intelligibly
Okay, whole lotta’ unpackin’ goin’ on here, whole lotta’ unpackin’ goin’ on. A couple of weeks ago, WashPost guy Dan Drezner, whom I (sometimes) like, uncorked a whole lotta nonsense due to the death of Princeton professor of international affairs Robert Gilpin, writing in praise of Gilpin in a column bearing the pungent subhead “It’s…