A Republican fantasy came true on Wednesday—they got to tell Hillary Clinton to her face that she’s a jerk. That’s the sum and substance of the long-sought Senate hearing into the murders of four Americans in Benghazi Libya, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. Republicans might have asked her if the murders had made her rethink…
Republicans whine, Vanneman laughs
It’s true: politics is a spectator sport, but a spectator sport with a difference. Even when the home team is screwing up, you can still laugh at the opposition. Never was that old adage, which I just made up, more true than today. I am emphatically not a fan of President Obama, and his second…
Obama, Murderer Of Children, Now Seeks To Be Their Savior
I don’t particularly fault President Obama’s response to the terrible murders at Newtown. I’m sure he felt that the country demanded that he “do something,” and certainly his party did. And I guess I don’t find it too unforgivable that he had children present at the press conference introducing his package of reforms, none of…
NYT finds new supply of terrorists in North Africa, thank God
Were you as worried as I was that the U.S. would run out of terrorists to kill? If so, Michael R. Gordon and the New York Times have some good news for you: The bloody resolution of the hostage crisis in Algeria has brought into focus the broader challenges the United States and its allies…
“Functional,” Hommage à Thelonious Monk par Sébastien Troendlé
“Functional,” Hommage à Thelonious Monk. Extrait solo du concert avec La Petite Boîte, dans le cadre du Festival de Sables d’Or les Pins le 8 août 2010 organisé par l’association À l’Est des Dunes. Supposedly, Monk said “I sound like James P. Johnson,” after recording a solo version of this tune. Sébastien shows he can…
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “Why the page boy and glasses? Because they kill, little man.” “Without you I’m nothing? The way I see it, you’re the problem and I’m the solution.” “What part of ‘Stop staring at my ass’ don’t you understand?” “Yeah? Well, I can out stand you, and out stare you too.” “I’m taking…
Who’s worse, Leon Panetta or the New York Times?
Okay, not the whole New York Times. I mean, their food criticism is pretty bitchin’, and their coverage of the fashion scene is consistently awesome, but when it comes to world events, they’re not so hot. A case in point is a recent “article” attributed to Thom Shanker and David E. Sanger bearing the head…
Republicans who want to break something
These days, all the Republican talking heads are talking the same thing: refusing to approve an increase in the debt limit would be a disaster for the GOP. The Wall Street Journal, the National Review, Newt Gingrich, they all agree: now is not the time, guys, now is not the time. Let thre Prez win…
Max Weber, astute in theory if not in practice
Like a lot of people these days, I’ve been dipping into Max Weber’s dated but fascinating study, Ancient Judaism.* Weber argues that much of the bloody warfare described in the Bible was imaginary, created in times of peace by prophets hungry for a glorious past and dismayed by a prosaic present characterized by the tedious…
The Atlantic, making the New Yorker look good, almost
The Atlantic magazine is in hot water for publishing “Sponsor Content” (aka “native advertising”) in the form of a fake article touting the “religion” of Scientology as the greatest thing since sliced bread. Perhaps even more embarrassing for the 150-year-old mag, the Scientology folks evidently conspired to fill the comments section with gee-whiz remarks along…