Donald Trump not a nice person, Megan McArdle discovers Well, he isn’t. As Megan explains, following the announcement by Texas Republican Representative Will Hurd, the sole black Republican in the House, that he is retiring: All of which [Hurd’s intelligence, honesty, and decency] makes Hurd’s impending departure the perfect symbol of what has happened to…
The Corcoran Street McDonalds: From urban to urbane
Damn straight Mickey D’s gone uptown, at its once seriously downtown 17th & Corcoran location two blocks from my place. The renovation’s complete and those flowers in those pots are real, man! Once you’re inside, you can order and pay for your meal electronically and then have a seat while they bring it to you!…
Daniel Drezner and the Darkening Detritus of Doom
A few months ago, WashPost columnist Daniel Drezner blossomed forth with a series of articles on the future lying before us whose tone was so gloomy that I may start wishing I won’t live long enough to see it. His biggest “big picture” picture appeared in Reason last April, titled “Will Today’s Global Trade Wars…
Donald Trump not a good guy, Paul Ryan discovers
“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time. We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions.” Thus former House Speaker Paul Ryan on Donald Trump, in…
The four-star general with a two-star mind
Okay, that headline is more euphonious than accurate, not to say meaningful, so here’s the gist of what I’m trying to say: Politico has a story up by Eliana Johnson claiming that Donald Trump held off bombing Iran on the basis of comments on Fox News by retired four star Jack Keane, to wit: “Our…
Ponnuru doubles to left
Or right. Or center. Whatever. Supply your own metaphor. While others seem too polite to speak, my sometime pal Ramesh lays the wood to Judy Shelton, one of President Trump’s two new picks for the Federal Reserve, to wit: “Trump’s choice for the Fed Board is now disavowing some of her terrible economic ideas. It’s…
Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie—“Round Midnight”
More Diz, actually playing this time, with Thelonious himself, and the rest of the "Giants of Jazz," including Sonny Stitt, sax, Kai Winding, trombone, Al McKibbon, bass, and Art Blakey, drums. The Giants were not happy campers, because only a few years before, they’d all been headliners, and now they were a nostalgia act. Remarkably,…
Jay Nordlinger, conservative with a conscience
It seems like every day—because it is every day—that Donald Trump will say something so gross and offensive that one wants to say—and should say—“if a Democratic president had said that, the conservative media would have exploded in outrage and disbelief, following which they would have immediately demanded impeachment.” Of course, no one wants to…
Sarah Vaughn, Milt Jackson—“Round Midnight”
Not too shabby! Also Dizzy Gillespie on trumpet (but largely MC), James Moody, sax, Al Haig, piano, Ray Brown, bass, and Kenny Clarke, drums. Also not shabby! From 1976. Posted by SOGLIDER
Questions that should not be asked, much less answered: What was the deal with “guest stars” on Murder, She Wrote?
Murder, She Wrote, the (very) long-running 80s-90s TV series featuring Angela Lansbury as the intrepid J. B. Fletcher, is today widely known as the “insomniac’s delight”, not because it’s always available on reruns—though it is—but because it puts you to sleep. Who needs Nytol when you’ve got J. B. Fletcher on the case? Yet, even…