It’s no secret that half the thinking done by the Republican Party is done by ringers, “designated hitters,”* a band of Asian-American and Jewish outsiders who have nothing in common with the white, Protestant or Catholic masses whom they serve. What’s even more fascinating is that most, though not all of these ringers are double…
Bill Keller may have made a glaring mistake in his latest NYT column? No, Bill Keller told a big fat lie in his latest NYT column
Felix Salmon’s “Countparties,” which should be “Counterparties,” executes a ludicrous euphemism in linking to the Wash Post’s Greg Sergent’s nice takedown of former NYT executive editor Bill Keller’s smoke-blowing complaint that the sequester is all President Obama’s fault. Felix inexplicably titles the link “Bill Keller may have made a glaring mistake in his latest NYT…
The Avram Fefer Trio— “Friday the Thirteenth”
Featuring Avram Fefer, sax, Igal Foni, drums, and Michael Bisio, bass. Posted by Ludlow Lowdown
O mores O tempores, Lit Crit division
Over at the New Republic, Christopher Benfry has a nice piece on T. S. Eliot, containing the following passage: Religion provided a refuge from domestic disorder. “Born & bred in the very heart of Boston Unitarianism,” as he put it, Eliot had recently experienced a spiritual awakening—friends witnessed him falling to his knees before Michelangelo’s…
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Yeah, when I think of the salary schedule for the women’s NBA, I want to puke. Where is gender equality when you need it?” “They were magic beans, but not, you know, that magic. They barely got me to Weehawken.” “As human pyramids go, Henderson, it was not too shabby. And now…
Republican Reform, Douthat Style
It’s no secret that the Republican Party is going through an agonizing reappraisal of its policies. Well, the Elephant can stop worrying now, because Ross Douthat has it all figured out. Let’s start with domestic reform. What needs to be done? Ramesh Ponnuru, echoing though not quoting President Obama, says we have a healthcare spending…
Nothing about Bob Woodward in this issue!
Darkle this!
I join with Andrew Sullivan in ridiculing William Kristol’s o’erwrought take on the tragedy of Chuck Hagel’s appointment as secretary of defense. Quoth* Bill The plain is darkling. The world grows more dangerous. Yet we heedlessly slash our military preparedness. Iran hastens toward a nuclear weapon, which would pose an existential threat to Israel and…
Sequesterfuck
I don’t have much to say about the sequester, but I did have a joke, and I wanted to use it. I guess I could say I predicted this—see “Republicans who want to break something”—because I did. The Republican Party is approaching nihilism these days. They don’t believe in anything, but they do hate President…
Monk’s Tet: “Gallop’s Gallop”
https://youtu.be/xvK77RZu1ck One of Monk’s more obscure, and obscurely titled, tunes. Performed by “Monk’s Tet,” featuring Alexandre Weppe, piano; Licia Bourgeais-Boon, flute; Isaline Boutet, violin; Arlo Lardé, basse; and Agnès Bellec handling “le batterie.” Posted by Jean-Marie Bellec.