It’s true! Leon “the North Koreans are coming!” Panetta and the entire AIPAC nation must be having heart attacks at this news. I’ll let Jodi Rudoren at the NYT handle the first one: “The Israeli military chief [the chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Force, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz*] described the Iranian government as…
Justice Scalia: Don’t worry, I’m still an asshole
Yes, in case you were worrying, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin “Nino” Scalia is still an asshole. In the Court’s recent oral argument on Arizona’s xenophobic legislation mandating police harassment of foreign-looking folks, reported by Damon Root for Reason, Nino showed himself to be heartily xenophobic, with precisely zero patience with “people who have no…
Barack Obama: Failing to appease the unappeasable
Poor Barack Obama! No matter how hard he tries to make Wall Street and the CIA love him, they won’t. Brad DeLong asks why the Wall Street big shots are crying and then answers his own question: What is there about 50% real increases in equity values over less than 3 ½ years that is…
Dick to Mitt: “Pick ME!”
Mitt Romney shouldn’t play politics with his choice for vice president, says ex-Veep Dick Cheney, according to a recent article in Politico. Picking a woman or an Hispanic simply for political reasons would be bad, in the opinion of the non-woman, non-Hispanic Cheney. Cheney, who, after his latest operation, has no physical heart at all,…
Joe Pass—“Sweethearts on Parade”
Back in the fifties, the rise of rock ‘n roll was taking a lot of the fun out of jazz, causing Norman Granz to sell his entire Verve catalog, one of the richest in jazz, and move to Europe. A very rich man, he used his money to attract a lot of big names, including…
Leon Panetta: Less than inch from being a douchebag
U.S. troops film themselves urinating on corpses in Afghanistan. U.S. and allied troops burn copies of the Koran. A U.S. soldier goes berserk and murders 16 innocent Afghans. U.S. troops pose for photographs holding severed hands and legs. U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, we learn, has been flying home every weekend, to visit his…
Pseudo-New Yorker
Legal humor here. “He’s pretty playful, so watch your ass.” “LOVIN’ the Mojitos, Jerry. I mean, these are bitchin’!” “He doesn’t look herbivorous.” “So this is why you insisted on building an outdoor pool in Loch Ness.” “Who did your caulking job, Jerry?” “Yeah, I thought having a pool would be heaven, but after six…
For Günter Grass, who, while attempting to shoulder the burden of history, falls frequently though not continuously on his broad German arsch
Back in high school—waaaay back in high school—I read Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum. Eighty-five percent of it surely went over my head, but the remaining 15 percent impressed me. A few years later, I essayed The Dog Years. I missed about 95 percent of that one, so I never made it to the end….
Günter Grass—What Must Be Said
Why do I stay silent, conceal for too long What clearly is and has been Practiced in war games, at the end of which we as survivors Are at best footnotes. It is the alleged right to first strike That could annihilate the Iranian people– Enslaved by a loud-mouth And guided to organized jubilation– Because…
Not “allow,” Peggy; “demand”
Over at the Wall Street Journal (subscription only), Peggy Noonan, wrapping up the 2012 Republican presidential primaries, complains that Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum, et al. “are allowing the GOP to be painted as the war party.” They aren’t “allowing” it to happen, Peggy. They’re demanding it. But thanks for putting in a plug…