TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022Maddow / Blow / gerrymanders: As best we can tell, something like 28 percent of respondents reported that they disagree with the following statement:“White Americans today are not responsible for discrimination against Black people in the past.” Those resp … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2022Guggenheim "Karen" exposed: When is anger justified—perfectly sensible, even? When is anger something different? When might it showcase a possible human imperfection within our own blue tribe?For people interested in such questions, we'll recommend Helen Le … | Continue reading
MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2022Clarity loses again: Dear friends, how about it? What was the correct answer to the question that survey posed?Do you agree with the following statement? What would the correct answer be?“White Americans today are not responsible for discrimination against … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2022As found online, today's Washington Post: We sit here typing at 9:15 A.M. on this Sunday morning. Proceeding from the top of the page, here are the top eight news reports presented on the front page of the (online) Washington Post:U.S., U.K. say Russia’s re … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2022But what were they talking about? As we noted in Thursday's report, Jennifer Rubin was, as always, advancing preferred Storyline.She was defining and denouncing the Others. The Others are racists, her preferred tribal messaging said.Happy days were here a … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2022Services resume tomorrow: Doggone it!We lost a chunk of time today. Our services resume tomorrow.For extra credit, this: A front-page report in today's New York Times starts exactly like this:CLOSSON (9/30/22): New York City’s selective middle schools ca … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022Aaron Judge on clear: Aaron Judge, now 30 years old, hit his 61st homer last night.He was adopted at two days of age. He was adopted by Wayne and Patty Judge, a pair of teachers in California who aren't his exact same "race."He learned that he'd been a … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022Job One is defining The Others: We recently had occasion to visit a large medical facility.We entered a very large parking garage, so filled with cars at 8 A.M. that we had to snake up, up, up. From there, we proceeded to a truly overwhelming edifice—a … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022The silence of blue tribe lambs: We're losing a chunk of time today. And that's a shame, because the editors at Slate are giving us the chance to "get smarter" by reading these new reports from two of our tribal "dear friends:"EMILY MCCOMBS / SEPT 28, … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2022The Dumbnification, it burns: We lost a chunk of time this morning. We thought we'd show you what the Washington Post looked like when we returned to our sprawling campus at roughly 10:45 A.M.We refer to the online Washington Post. At the top of the sit … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022Statistical misdirection: Lamar Jackson is off to a good start this year. He's off to a good start both running and passing the ball, but also in terms of trying to earn too much money.Yesterday, how good was his running? With one minute left in the game … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2022But also, reflexive disdain: The front page of today's Washington Post seems like the front page of a traditional American newspaper.Six reports are featured on that front page. A person could argue that the topic selection may tilt a bit in the blue tri … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2022As spooned in the New York Times: Almost surely, Alec Wilkinson, age 70, is a thoroughly good, decent person. According to the leading authority on his life, Wilkinson "has been on the staff of The New Yorker since 1980." According to The Philadelphia In … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2022Concerning the Ken Burns film: It occurred to us, just yesterday, that we didn't know much about Ron DeSantis, given his increasingly prominent role in American politics.We checked the leading authority on his life. When we did, we were surprised by so … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022Paul Simon lives alone: Long ago and far away, Meredith Willson called his shot.Willson was author of The Music Man, a smash hit Broadway musical and then, in 1962, an Oscar-nominated film. The Music Man told the story of Professor Harold Hill, an itiner … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2022Cable keeps serving us porridge: We wish, wish, wish we could focus today on the work of Saul Kripke, whose death, at age 81, is reported in the New York Times.In the Times' obituary, Sam Roberts describes Kripke as "a pioneering logician whose revolut … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2022"Ghost flights" occasion a cheer: "Back out of all this now too much for us?"That's the way Robert Frost began his puzzling poem, Directive. For what it's worth, the poem appeared in 1946!Frost might have been speaking about the world of public discou … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2022Bexar County Jail: Did Ron DeSantis break the law when he engineered those flights to Martha's Vineyard?We don't have the slightest idea. Jonathan Chait says he probably did:CHAIT (9/20/22): The Ron DeSantis approach to governance is to feed a steady fl … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2022...the chaos of our procedures: As we noted yesterday, we're forced to say that John from New York didn't have it totally right.More specifically, he didn't have it totally right concerning the way the New York Times—and even, perhaps, the Washington Po … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022Where tribal identity comes from: We don't know anything about Lord of the Rings, or about Tolkien himself, or about Tolkien's world.(As we used to enjoy telling Blaine and Patton, we were busy stopping a war when The Brady Bunch was on. So too with thos … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2022What happens when others arrive: Thank God, it was Monday! (A hat tip goes to Bill Maher.) At 6 A.M., the analysts checked the possibilities on our cable system's program listings. At the local ABC station, the program listing said this:Channel 12 (ABC): … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2022Tabloid piffle is them: On occasion in the past, we've mentioned the way the online version of the Washington Post seemed to be devolving into a type of tabloidism.Today, the Post announces that its long-running Sunday Outlook section will no longer be p … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2022Tucker Carlson reacts: When Venezuelans arrived at the Vineyard, it set Tucker Carlson off. By 8:03 on Thursday night, the disordered star was offering this as part of his opening monologue:CARLSON (9/15/22): Barack Obama is a part-time resident of Mar … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2022What Joe Biden might have said: Is it possible that Donald J. Trump could get elected again?As we've noted several times, everything is possible! Could Trumpism prevail in the absence of Trump, through the success of a different candidate? That possibili … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2022The question we would have asked: We see where Mary Trump has been interviewed for Slate's Amicus podcast.The interview was conducted by Dahlia Lithwick. Only part of the interview has been published. The headline on it says this:Mary Trump on How Her … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2022The Others are all just alike: During the 2016 White House race, Candidate Hillary Clinton made an unfortunate statement. Her unfortunate statement became quite famous. The statement proceeded like this:CLINTON (9/9/16): You know, to just be grossly ge … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022Does this say something bad about Us? Can it possibly be true, this gloomy thing Kevin Drum said?Drum was reacting a column by Pamela Paul in Monday's New York Times. Quoting the published views of debate champion Bo Seo, Paul made some rather fuzzy s … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2022Drum says the same thing about Us: Over the course of the past ten years, Pamela Paul served as the editor of The New York Times Book Review.She's now a regular opinion columnist. Yesterday, she offered a somewhat fuzzy column touching on an important t … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2022Our own blue tribe's misleaders: At present, the Republican Party contains a wide array of aggressive Misleaders.It also contains The Misled.The rank and file have repeatedly been told, by Donald J. Trump, that the last election was stolen. He has produc … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2022Charles Blow, disappointed: Who was Joe Biden talking about in his blood-red, September 1 speech? Former president Donald J. Trump was the one person Biden named. Aside from Trump, who were "the extreme MAGA Republicans" who, according to President Bid … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2022Biden disappoints Blow: Why did people vote for Donald J. Trump?We have no idea. That said, back in November 2020, 74 million people did. You'd have to ask them why they voted that way—and they wouldn't all say the same thing.In our view, Donald J. Trump … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2022But also, one fleeting disclaimer: It started on Thursday, August 25. On that date, President Biden introduced his current, ongoing rhetorical campaign against "Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans." President Biden named one person that day; he name … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022Key thoughts on the "banning of books:" As a minor bit of background, let's think about what parents constantly do.Also, what aunts and uncles constantly do. Also, family friends.Parents constantly think about the books they give their children. (Also, … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2022The strains of a very old tune: In this morning's New York Times, Bret Stephens says he's writing "as someone who has long thought that [Donald J.] Trump represents a unique threat to democracy."We agree with that assessment, and we'd raise Stephens a … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022Times board member's complaint: We liberals!We simply love the banning of books. Rather, we love to assail the banning of books, especially at times like these.We're behind on time today. so we'll leave it right there for now. That said:By clicking this … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2022The misleaders and the misled: Joe Biden began to deliver the message on Thursday, August 25.That said, what exactly was the message? The messaging was extremely tough—but who was he talking about?He spoke at a public event in Maryland. Here's part of wh … | Continue reading
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2022The president's four-letter word: Over the weekend, we watched Joe Biden's speech.He delivered the speech last Thursday night at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Two Marines, in dress uniform, stood on blood-red display behind him.We thought that displa … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022The Misleaders and the Misled: Why would former president Donald J. Trump have done the things he did?Assuming he did so knowingly, why would he have taken those top-secret documents to Mar-a-Lago in the first place? Also, egregiously, this:Following repe … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2022Where does the number 2 live? Professor Goldstein encountered a collection of words—a collection which made "the mind crash."What collection of words could possess such power? As we noted yesterday, the collection of words was this:"This very sentence is … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2022Top scholars, strange explanations: "Love is strange," Mickey & Sylvia said.(To hear them say it, click here.)At the highest academic levels, explanations can be very strange. We think of Rebecca Goldstein's 2005 book about Kurt Gödel, the Austrian "log … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 31, 2022Our discussion resumes tomorrow: Last week, a trip off-campus let us revisit a life-long favorite topic.We revisited a favorite question. We pondered the various ways explanation can go (badly) wrong, even at the very highest academic levels.During our t … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 30, 2022Wittgenstein ignored: Explanations, or attempts at same, can go sideways fast.This remains true at the very top of the academic pile. Consider an early passage in Brian Greene's 2004 book, The Fabric of the Cosmos: Space, Time and the Texture of Reality.(I … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2022Counting those (top-secret) documents: Joe Biden has cancelled some college debt. In this fairly recent report, two Forbes reporters described a related phenomenon:MCGURRAN AND HAHN (3/28/22): In 1980, the price to attend a four-year college full-time was $ … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 29, 2022Can anyone explain it? We start today with a question:Even at this rather late date—at this particular point in time—how widespread is Albert Einstein's name recognition?That is to say, how many people could recognize Einstein's name? How many people could … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27, 2022"Muddled thinking" / "linguistic illusion:" Yes, we took Brian Greene's book along on the week's three-day trip (see yesterday's report). We've long been fascinated by this early, highly instructive passage:GREENE (pages 24-25): It is perhaps surprising t … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2022Short trip with a lifelong friend: Even after all these years, we still score it as a bizarrely flawed, and therefore as a fascinating, paragraph.The paragraph comes from Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest fo … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2022But surely, no fish today: We're going out to clear the pasture spring—or, at the very least, to visit friends in the Hudson Valley.We don't expect to post again until Friday morning. But we can make this statement with certainty:We'll have no fish today.I … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 2022Alex Wagner in Florida: The statement came in the first few minutes of Wednesday night's cable news program:WAGNER (8/17/22): Tonight, Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig joins us live.And then, we'll be going down to Florida, wher … | Continue reading