Bernie II is starting to look a lot like Trump I, as the startled center starts to realize that there’s no there there any more. The bad news is, Bernie Sanders isn’t a Hillary Clinton/Barack Obama style conventional liberal reformer; he’s a true believer socialist who wants to smash capitalism and live in a righteous…
Shorter Mike Bloomberg: Yes, I am an arrogant, self-involved, racist, anti-Muslim, authoritarian billionaire! But I’m not as bad as Donald Trump!
The sad thing is, everything in that headline is true. I would take Mike over Trump, though by a damned small margin. Not only does Bloomberg have a record of obvious racism, blame-shifting with regard to the provenance of the Great Recession, authoritarian longings, and a frenzied Likudist/interventionist take on foreign affairs, as mayor he…
Aniol Torrents—“Round Midnight”
Electric bass: Aniol Torrents; Drums: Timothée Kamba Tobias; Piano/Keyboards: Biel Roca. Posted by Aniol Torrents Girbau
Brave Bill Barr: Speaking truth to power, or lying his ass off? We report, you decide
That should be “lying his big fat ass off,” but, well, it’s more euphonious without the adjective, so we’ll go with the short version, even though throwing around ad hominem sneers n’ snickers at public figures is kind of a tradition here at Literature R Us, particularly when it comes to fat, aging, wrinkled, rancid,…
Going Back In Time: The World War II Esquire Jazz Concerts
Back in January of 1944 and 1945 Esquire Magazine organized two serious all-star jazz concerts, featuring all the poll winners—people like Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, and Duke Ellington—all joining together, and, remarkably, for the most part playing together without the whole thing turning into all-star ego-fest. The concerts were…
Does the libertarian movement need a kick in the pants? Or is it just Nick Gillespie?
Sorry, Nick, but if you give Literature R Us an opening for a cheap shot, we’re going to take it. Nick incautiously let his guard down last month with a post in Reason, “The Libertarian Movement Needs a Kick in the Pants”, in itself a riposte, as it were, to Tyler Cowen’s thought-, if not…
Thomas Fraioli—“Round Midnight”
Shades? Check. Snakeskin hat? Check. Ax? Check. Thomas Fraioli is ready to rhumba. Posted by Tom. Need more Monk? Of course you do. Go to Mostly Monk
Yo, “Conservatives”! You had a 30-year preview of Donald Trump! It was called “The Rush Limbaugh Show”!
I have been following, with a curious compulsion, the comings and goings of anti-Trump conservatives, who frequently hold forth at newly formed sites like The Bulwark and The Dispatch. The recent announcement of Rush Limbaugh that he was suffering from lung cancer brought forth an affectionate reminiscence from James Swift, one of the leaders of…
Yes, Impeachment Was TOTALLY Worth It!
Damn straight it was. There will be some handwringing and pontificating—because, you know, pundits gotta pundit—but the fact is Trump’s actions were deserving impeachment and conviction many times over. The “good arguments on both sides” folks are just covering ass,1 and you know who you are, and you know where you’re going, which is not…
Thank you, Mitt Romney!
I am hereby “grudgingly impressed”—a lot!—by Senator Mitt’s suddenly bold stand to vote for President Trump’s removal from office. I wrote the “grudgingly impressed” line a couple of days ago when I didn’t really think that Mitt or pseudo-skeptic Susan Collins really had the nerve to pull the trigger on the big guy, but I…