FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022We're disinclined to indict: In his new column for the New York Times, Jamelle Bouie is talking about this past week's goblins.Headline included, this is the way he starts:This Is What Happens When Republicans Tear Off Their MasksEven by the degraded stand … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2022Tucker and Trump (and Kari Lake), oh my: For those of us in the blue tribal camp, this headline in today's New York Times is asking the relevant question:Why Aren’t the Democrats Trouncing These GuysFor us, that's the current relevant question. That said, … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2022Alberta breaks nation's heart: How will next week's elections turn out?We have no idea! On TV shows, the children are busy with polls this week. If they'd simply wait one additional week, they could start to find out who won.Along the way, one fact does … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2022"We're looking at ghosts and empties:" This past Monday night, ghosts and goblins were reliably spotted in many American neighborhoods.Last night, we even thought we spotted some goblins right there on cable TV!To be honest, we also found ourselves think … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2022...even on a day off: We lost a large chunk of time this morning. For that reason, it's almost like we're going to take the day off.That said, your incomparable DAILY HOWLER just keeps banging out those results!Yesterday, we asked the world's most obvio … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022Online Post drops Pelosi: In print editions, it's on the front page of today's Washington Post, appearing beneath these headlines:Suspect charged in attack on Paul PelosiMan said he wanted to break speaker’s knees, according to court filingIt was right th … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022The question we haven't seen asked: Briefly, we were elated.At New York Magazine, Prater and Danner were apparently offering updates under this promising headline:Pelosi Attacker Allegedly Planned to Kidnap and Torture Speaker: UpdatesAs we scrolled down … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2022Here's what the goblins have said: The ghosts and goblins were out in force last night. That said, for several days, they had been active on Twitter. By Sunday afternoon, the Washington Post was reporting what the goblins had been saying. As reported by I … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022Adults, pretty much not: The journalistic rule is clear. We know the rule from this sub-headline in today's New York Times:Helping Teens Struggling With Mental Health IssuesThat headline tops a set of thoughtful letters concerning teenagers' mental health … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2022But quite a few goblins are Us: Unfortunately, the anthropology lesson continues! Let's start with some billionaires—that is, with some billionaire humans.Elon Musk seems to be a person of zero discernment. As seen in this CNN report, he proved that for th … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2022The limits of human discernment: We listened this morning to the first hour of C-Span's Washington Journal.Mimi Geerges took phone calls from C-Span viewers concerning the violent attack on Paul Pelosi. At 7:44 A.M., a caller on the Republican line offer … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2022Each Friday, or so it seems: Maybe it's a scheduled thing we just don't know about. Our Internet service seems to go out many Fridays at 2 P.M.It comes back on as 5 P.M. nears. People, we're just sayin'!Added insight: Admit it! Whenever your Internet servi … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2022Our blue tribe's route to the fall: Many voters in Ohio will adopt a different view.That said, we pray that J. D. Vance doesn't win Ohio's Senate seat. In our view, Vance is a horror show, and we're impressed with the political intelligence of his opponent … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2022Monica Hesse explains: Today, we get the chance to speak well of Monica Hesse—though only up to a point.In print editions of today's Washington Post, Hesse's new column is easy to find. It was right there in its usual spot, on the front page of Style.In … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2022A portrait of the fall: Monday evening's Senate debate continues to be debated.We refer to the Pennsylvania Senate debate between Candidates Fetterman and Oz. In this morning's print editions, the New York Times offers three separate reports:Fetterman’s … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2022What Oz is said to have said: It's stunning to see how truly pathetic our blue tribe leadership is.Consider the way they're paraphrasing Candidate Oz today. More specifically, consider what Candidate Oz is now said to have said.We refer, of course, to w … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2022Intimations of the fall: For the record, we don't know how next month's elections are going to turn out.Atop the front page of today's print editions, it seems that the New York Times does! Online, the dual headlines on the report say this:Democrats, on … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2022Haberman has no idea: Over the weekend, we watched Jonathan Alter conduct an hour-long interview with the New York Times' Maggie Haberman.Haberman was discussing her new book, Confidence Man. The interview, which took place last week, aired on C-Span's Bo … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2022Professor Johnson errs: A few days back, we mentioned the fact that we'd been watching a new Frontline program, Michael Flynn's Holy War.At several junctures, the journalism on display is perhaps a wee bit odd. But strangest of all is the conduct of Flynn … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2022Manifestations of Babel: Donald J. Trump, the former president, was launching a manifestation.Last Saturday night, he was speaking at a Save America rally in Robstown, Texas. Before long, he was discussing "the January 6th committee of unselect political t … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2022Our fascinated remains: At some point, we're going to stop. That said, we remain fascinated by what we regard as the rolling dumbnification of the (online) Washington Post.This morning, at the top of the online paper's front page, seven reports were grante … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2022Some of it aimed at Us: Long ago and far away, the artist still known as Bob Dylan switched sides in the ongoing, painful culture war known as "the generation gap."Back in 1963, Dylan had issued this warning to the nation's mothers and fathers: "Your son … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2022One part of the problem is Us: Sadly, we live in interesting times. Human history is repeating itself pretty much wherever you look. Consider the latest attempts to explain the likely outcome of our congressional elections this year.At present, almost ever … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2022Alex Wagner flunks: Two years ago, more than 158 million people voted in our nation's presidential election.A smaller, though very large number of people will vote in this year's House elections. Very few of those people have a detailed understanding of … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2022What the freshman said: Long ago and far away, we saw something unfortunate happen.We were a freshman at a famous upper-class college (Harvard). The incident involved some dumb behavior by a fellow freshman—someone we didn't know, not even by name.In fa … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2022...for the low price of $500: Today, at the start of Morning Joe, we had a Groundhog Day moment.The gang had finished a brief discussion of last evening's sports event. At that point, Mika broke in, saying something a great deal like this:But we start w … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022The problem with blue tribe semantics: In yesterday afternoon's post, we discussed Margaret Sullivan's childish theory of what was once wrong with our mainstream journalism.According to Sullivan, our journalists weren't using the term "lie" often enough! … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2022...helps script a mad, mad world: Within our fallen "political discourse," it's basically Nothing But Storyline Now. Our warring tribes run on the fuel of Storyline, on competing tribal narratives.For a small example, consider the headline which appears t … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2022Anthropology hurts: Yesterday, in its Sunday Magazine, the Washington Post published an essay by Margaret Sullivan. Sullivan was The Post’s media columnist from 2016 until late August. For the record, she played a role in Campaign 2000 which has left us so … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2022Narrators offer us narrative: Last Friday night, Alicia Menendez served as guest host for Stephanie Ruhle on the MSNBC program, The 11th Hour.For our money, Menendez is a straighter shooter that some of MSNBC's regular hosts. That said, the program's openi … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2022Look magazine re-emerges: It's always instructive to watch the decline of the online Washington Post.As we type on this Sunday morning, the online paper's front page features these three news reports. They're given full banner display at the top of the onl … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2022But also, what David Brooks said: For our money, yesterday morning's New York Times offered two clear-eyed looks at the lay of the land.We start with Peter Baker's essay concerning the political state of play regarding Donald J. Trump. The January 6 comm … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2022...we didn't know how to function: We're still attempting to recover from the experience of watching yesterday's presentation by the January 6 committee.Personally, we'd track the lunacy to the coverage of the Clinton campaign in early 1992. For the record … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022In search of a fuller discussion: We had several reactions to today's presentation by the January 6 committee.We were struck, as we've been in the past, by the limitations of this format, in which all members of the committee share a single point of view … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022We offer some other key terms: Long ago and extremely far away, Mr. McGuire had one word for 20-year-old Benjamin Braddock.Benjamin seemed to be clinically depressed, or something possibly like it. Mr. McGuire was a friend of Benjamin's parents.At an une … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022Charles Blow takes the (Florida) Fifth: We had planned to discuss an intriguing aspect of congressional districting this week. We refer to the use of gerrymandering, or something exactly like it, to increase the number of congressional representatives w … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022Megan McArdle wonders: Long ago and far away, David French offered some good sound advice.Actually, it happened on September 30, in this essay for The Atlantic.Trust but verify, French basically said. Intriguingly, he was prescribing the way we blue tri … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2022Should Jemele Hill feel "insulted?" Should Jemele Hill feel insulted by the fact that Herschel Walker is running for the Senate in Georgia—and that he may actually win?There are no obvious rules for such things. Hill reported her reaction in a recent essa … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2022Concerning Charles Blow's column: Last week, we struggled with various aspects of this column by Charles Blow.(Headline: Ron DeSantis's Race Problem.)Initially, we'd been struck by several aspects of the column. We'd been struck by the way Blow was calling … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2022Hill is transfixed by the Other: In our view, David French offered some good, sound advice in a recent essay for The Atlantic.As he started, French pounded away at Tucker Carlson's recent "remarkable claim"—his "remarkable claim" that it was the United Sta … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2022Redistricting and race: Doggone it! Our Internet Service Provider has been struggling of late. For that reason, we have no real fish today.As we waited today to see our service restored, we continued to struggle with Charles Blow's recent column about Ron … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2022Our search through the online Post: In print editions, the news report sits atop the New York Times' front page. Its headline is all-caps:PRESIDENT ISSUES A BROAD PARDON OVER MARIJUANAIn print editions of the Washington Post, the following headline is banne … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2022Complexity isn't us: It's important to restate a basic fact about Charles Blow's recent column.In that recent column, Charles Blow wasn't calling Ron DeSantis a racist. We know that because Blow specifically stated that fact, right at the end of the column. … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2022Blackistone starts to hit: Who holds the MLB home run record? In this morning's Washington Post, Kevin Blackistone—he's very bright—gets involved in debating this basically pointless point. Judge-bashing headline included, his column starts like this:The … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2022Charles Blow, tangled in words: Much as Horton once heard a Hoo, Charles Blow had spotted an Other.Inevitably, this Other had a racism problem, or something very much like it. The Other in question was Ron DeSantis. Blow ended his column as shown:BLOW (9/ … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022Tuscaloosa and Mobile, good-bye: In this morning's report, we discussed an important case which is now before the Supreme Court.The case concerns an important question about the structure of congressional districts. The question at issue is this: Should … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2022At the Post, do editors care? Should state legislatures "take race into account" in creating congressional districts?Is it legal to "take race into account?" Is it required by law? If it is required by law, is it a good idea? Also, if some such action is … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022...if they watch Tucker Carlson Tonight? What sorts of things are people told if they watch Tucker Carlson Tonight?Last night, they were told that Secretary of State Tony Blinken has acknowledged a shocking fact. According to Carlson's opening monologue, B … | Continue reading