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
SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 2022Where does knowledge come from? This morning, we spent the 7 o'clock hour watching the heartbreaking C-Span program, Washington Journal.This morning, viewers were asked whether they believe that current extreme weather is linked to climate change. Last Su … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2022How about Donald J. Trump? Last week, over at Slate, veteran journalist Fred Kaplan returned to a high-profile theme.Kaplan returned to the topic of Hillary Clinton's emails. More precisely, he returned to the question of how much top-secret material Hillar … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2022...C-Span viewers responded: We were called away from our campus this morning. For that reason, we're a bit disoriented, and we'll therefore be forced to be brief.That said:Last Sunday morning, C-Span's Washington Journal began accepting phone calls from … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2022Lawrence hears confession: How many "boxes of top secret material" can be found on the head of a pin?For the record, Lawrence was educated by the almost Jesuits before moving on to Harvard. Last evening, on The Last Word, he didn't specify the number of … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2022Who will fact-check the fact-checkers? In a recent column, George Will started out by battering Josh Hawley around.He did so in the course of praising a new book—a book in which Chris Stirewalt, late of Fox News, offers a critique of our country's "broken … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 2022Hillary's emails return: Don Lemon had been out of the country. On Monday night, he was back.Lemon was BACK under the Big Top which houses our "national discourse." That said, the travels of the CNN star had given him a unique perspective on recent high-pr … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2022A vast nation, coming undone: The new arrival on the front has choked off all other conversation.The conversation about this arrival sketches the shape of a very large nation in serious disarray.The conceptual chaos is general! On CNN's State of the Union, … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGIUST 12, 2022As the excitement builds: The question for the day is this:Will Donald J. Trump allow the materials to be released by the magistrate judge? As of last night, he was suggesting that that would be his wish.Or will he allow himself to be overruled by his supe … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGUST 12, 2022What Milbank is talking about: Last evening, Brian Kilmeade arrived on the front during the 8 P.M. hour.Kilmeade was serving as guest host on Tucker Carlson Tonight. When the latest (possible) bombshell hit, he was speaking with Lara Trump.The possible bomb … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 11, 2022Garland pours it on: “They even broke into my safe!” a disappointed Donald J. Trump wrote.The former president was describing the strong-arm tactics of the FBI in Monday's search of Mar-a-Lago (Middle Frisian, Damaged lagoon), his sumptuous Florida home.T … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022"How did it get so far?" Dana Milbank is certainly right in one of his book's key points:The current lunacy of our American discourse didn't start with Donald J. Trump. Having said that, let's also say this:In his new book, Milbank isn't trying to trace … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022She's 88 years old: We've just returned from several hours off campus. We find that we've been thinking about a conversation we saw on CNN last nightLaura Coates and Areva Martin conducted the conversation. They want Carolyn Bryant Donham sent to prison, … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2022Some folks disappear: It's much as sacred Chekhov once correctly reported:"The appearance on the front of a new arrival...became the topic of general conversation."In Chekhov's account, the new arrival was "a lady with a lapdog." Here and now, in our own … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022Elsewhere, anthropology rules: Reactions to yesterday's events at Mar-a-Lago represent a sprawling anthropology lesson. The lesson involves what happens to people—the things we people will say and do—when our nations divide into tribes.As of today, our trib … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9, 2022Dana Milbank remembers: This past Sunday, the Washington Post offered an essay which was adapted from—what else?—a new book.The essay was written by Dana Milbank. At one point, he correctly said this:MILBANK (8/7/22): It is crucial to understand that Donald … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022Bonfire(s) of the inanities: Give the death of the late Chadwick Boseman, should Marvel Studios cast someone else in the role of T'Challa, the king of Wakanda?This morning, on its opinion page, the New York Times was helping up think that one through. Meanwh … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 8, 2022Bonfire(s) of the inanities: This morning, we had to chuckle.It was 6:07 A.M. Eastern. Mika was listing the basic provisions of the bill the Senate has now passed in one of its lunatic all-nighter sessions.She cited the provision which would "invest more tha … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, AUGUST 6, 2022A place where our team's always right: We've really come to loathe the way she runs The 11th Hour.Last night, Stephanie Ruhle introduced her opening four-person pundit panel, saying, as she always does, that the pundits would help us "get smarter." In her … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGUST 5, 2022Amusing Ourselves During Trump: We were surprised when we learned who the director was.We had put the film on pause because we wanted to check. Its representations had become so odd—and, in one instance, so unkind—that we wondered who had been at the helm o … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022Price of gas, come on down: Is it possible that Democrats could end up holding the House?As usual, everything's possible! That said, Tuesday's pro-abortion rights vote in Kansas has the blue world wishin' and hopin'. Also this:On last evening's Last Word, … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 4, 2022"It really happened that way:" Steven Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film, The Post, appeared in December 2017. When the well-received film hit the multiplex, major critics accurately said that it was built around a treatment of two major societal issues.Most … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022We don't all know what happened: In our view, Kevin Drum's extensive work on the effects of exposure to lead is just about the most interesting work the Internet has ever produced.(Also, see his cover report for Mother Jones on this topic. For an overview … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 2022Funnymen gone wild: In fairness to Steven Spielberg, major critics agreed:The Post, his Oscar-nominated 2017 film, was highly entertaining.In the paper which gave the film its name, Ann Hornaday described The Post as "a fleet, stirring, thoroughly enterta … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 2022(Wise-Cracking) Kid With the Stand: In fairness, there's no such thing as a perfect way to tell an important story.That said, there are ways of telling important stories which don't seem to make much sense. Consider the intern who rushes off to New York in … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 2022The Girl with the Lemonade Stand: Long ago and far away, Erich Auerbach wrote a highly-regarded book, Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature.Mimesis is still in print. For unknown reasons, our junior year in high school literature class … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 30, 2022All the way back to I, Claudius: Last Monday night, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. We pretty much wish he hadn't. That said, one exchange between the two men helps us consider the bogus nature of much of our … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2022"Recession" joins the list: We're going to make a painful admission:We've never quite understood the familiar term, McGuffin (or MacGuffin)!In the highly literate circles we frequent, the term is most commonly used in connection with films by Alfred Hitchcock … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 29, 2022No specialists need apply: The January 6 committee has completed its first round of presentations.Quite a few questions remain. Yesterday, we cited several unresolved questions. One of those questions was this:Did Donald J. Trump engage in preplanning for the … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022When did The Crazy appear?: American life has been wracked by assertion of The Crazy, and belief in The Crazy, over the past few years.That said, it didn't start with Pizzagate! This phenomenon was already well underway when Gary Aldrich's book hit the best … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 28, 2022A dangerous tribal regime: The January 6 committee finished its first round of presentations last week.At that point, a long string of major questions remained.One week later, it now seems that Donald J. Trump may be in the sites of the Justice Department. … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2022Marc Thiessen's explanation: Marc Thiessen is a conservative columnist for the Washington Post.To his credit, he doesn't seem to believe that Donald J. Trump won the last election. He says this in his latest column, though not in so many words.That said, m … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 2022Wine-Banks seems to make a mistake: Uh-oh! Last night, in the last segment of the Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell delivered some (potentially) discouraging words concerning the Secret Service.Last week, when the speculatin' was good, Lawrence posed a formal … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022Hillary, Illing and Klein: Over at the New York Times, Ezra Klein has conducted a long interview with Sean Illing of Vox.Needless to say, the interview is tied to Illing's new book. The book concerns media culture. At one point, Illing tells Klein this:ILLIN … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 26, 2022In our view, that question remains: Should Donald J. Trump be charged with federal crimes? Subjected to prosecution?As we noted yesterday, Charles Blow says he should be charged with such crimes. We can't say that Blow is wrong—but we also can't say that he' … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022Our own possible plans: We're inclined to agree with the sentiments expressed in Max Boot's latest column.We've been expressing such sentiments for a long time. We're tired of hearing ourselves do it.Boot is offering gloomy thoughts about this nation's future … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 25, 2022Blow seeks prosecution: Charles Blow says that former president Donald J. Trump must be prosecuted—must be charged with a crime.He advances this view in a new opinion column for the New York Times. His column appears beneath this headline:We Can’t Afford Not … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 23, 2022...and anthropological learnings: With apologies, we lost a lot of time yesterday morning. Indeed, we weren't able to apply ourselves to our award-winning mission until shortly after noon.Still and all, we knew, after watching Morning Joe, what inquiring pu … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 22, 2022Joyce Vance pricks a balloon: It's fairly obvious that Michael Beschloss shares Identity Blue.There's nothing automatically wrong with that; we're part of the blue tribe too! That said, Michael Beschloss, a good decent person, was caught last night on MSNBC s … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022Cable star, heal thyself: Lawrence O'Donnell is very upset about those missing Secret Service text messages. Lawrence has been ranting for several months about an array of topics. He's done this in several major situations where it would seem he can't possi … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2022Our staff disagrees with Drum: We're so old that we can remember when Roxane Gay's recent guest essay seemed like a powerful tool for explaining the decline of our failed nation (such as that nation was).Gay's essay appeared in Sunday's New York Times. In t … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2022...about those Secret Service texts? According to our contemporaneous notes, the yelling began at 6:21 A.M.Joe Scarborough had already been ranting for a while, taking his "analysis" well beyond what he actually knew. But at or around 6:21, the yelling be … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2022Roxane Gay knows why: Brittney Griner is a major star in the WNBA.Or possibly, and horribly, she used to be such a star. On this very day, Griner is being held in a Russian prison—and she may be facing years in a Russian penal colony, unless some way can b … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2022The Post's gorilla dust: Did the Secret Service lose / purge / delete text messages which would be relevant to the January 6 committee's probe of the Capitol riot?This was the day we were supposed to find out. We've just read the Washington Post's first repo … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 19, 2022...calls sacred Nietzche to mind: Roxane Gay is a good decent person—so why did she write what she did?On Sunday, she wrote a guest essay in the New York Times about the deeply unfortunate plight of basketball star Brittney Griner. Just so you can picture he … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 18, 2022Secret Service steals Pence: We wish we could show you what Jonathan Lemire said about Mike Pence and the Secret Service.The sidekick said it this very morning, during Morning Joe's first half hour. The program's producers didn't post the videotape, so let's … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 18, 2022Roxane Gay's pseudo-concern: Brittney Griner is an American professional basketball player.For the past four months, Griner has been under arrest in Russia. (She plays in the Russian professional league during the WNBA's off-season.) She has pleaded guilty to … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 16, 2022On cable, Litman didn't: Has the Secret Service done something wrong?As we noted yesterday, we have no idea.An Inspector General has made one set of factual claims. On Thursday evening, the Secret Service responded with a contradictory set of assertions.Jus … | Continue reading