I’ve previously noted that Brad DeLong, an ardent neo-Keynesian operating out of Berkeley who puts out a terrific blog on all things economic, has a deplorable habit of censoring my comments when I say things Brad doesn’t want to hear. So I’m happy to say that Brad doesn’t censor everyone who criticizes him, an excellent…
Thomas Friedman, getting worser all the time
In his December 14 column, Thomas Friedman deplores China’s handling of the Nobel Committee’s decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, now serving 11 years in jail for the crime of free speech. Noting that China would not allow Liu to attend the ceremony (not that surprising, really) and even went to…
The New York Times, still not getting a handle on the “objective reporting” thing
Today’s NYT carries a story on a special deal cooked up by Goldman Sachs to toss some serious walking-around money to Mark Zuckerberg’s already legendary Facebook—about $500 million. According to the article by Andrew Ross Sorkin and Evelyn M. Rusli, “The new money will give Facebook more firepower to steal away valuable employees, develop new…
Toon Roos Quartet—“Straight No Chaser”
Dutch saxophonist Toon Roos leading a quartet. Supporting personnel (probably): Karel Boehlee, piano, Hein van de Geyn, bass, and Joost van Shaik, drums. Via MuseionMedia
Movies, Seen and Unseen
The Tourist—“Yes, we did spend the equivalent of the GNP of Austria on Angelina Jolie’s eye makeup. You gotta problem widdat?” The Tourist’s big plot twist totally fooled me (but not my girlfriend, to her vast amusement), proving that a film clever enough to fool me can still be lousy. The Black Swan—Cigarettes and Tattoos…
Confusing confusions: Daniel Larison’s “The confusion of the anti-START hawks”
Over at the American Conservative, which isn’t entirely Pat Buchanan being stupid, Daniel Larison struggles to understand Sarah Palin and the other opponents of the START treaty. Apparently, the Russians have been moving some tactical nuclear weapons around (maybe), and Sarah and her kind are claiming that this is a deal-breaker. Dan is puzzled by…
Suffer, Christians
I’m such a goddamn baby. That fucking Ross Douthat beats me like a fucking drum. It’s my own goddamn fault, and I fall for it every goddamn fucking time. I go to the fucking New York Times to read Paul Krugman like a good fucking liberal and what do I see? Douthat: A Tough Season…
U.S. bad guy identification technology no longer lighting Fred Kaplan’s fire in Afghanistan
Well, that was quick. It seems like it was only two months ago—on Oct. 21, to be precise—that Slate’s Fred Kaplan was raving about our abfab, state of the art Guided Multiple-Launch Rocket System (aka “the 70-kilometer sniper round”), our High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (a “a 15-ton wheeled vehicle carrying a computerized fire-control system…
But we were relying on it so heavily!
The U.S. missile defense system, Ronnie Reagan’s beloved Star Wars, has failed again, the second flopperoo in a row, and seventh out of fifteen tries, according to Reuters. “This is a tremendous setback for the testing of this complicated system,” said Riki Ellison, chairman and founder of the Virginia-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance and a…
TNR: Batting 111 and leading the league
A week or so back I made fun of the New Republic for running a slideshow on Obama Administration sleaze, when only one out of the nine sleazoids fingered, Peter Orszag, actually appeared to be exploiting his service in office for gross financial gain. Well, TNR may have overreacted, but at least they, you know,…