SUNDAY, JULY 7, 2024 Having noticed, he asked: To his credit, Victor Blackwell did his job—performed his role within our failing "democracy." Victor Blackwell had noticed something. Having noticed, he asked! Blackwell serves as host of CNN's early morning weekend program, First o … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 6, 2024 How did we get to this place? For starters, a frank admission: We don't know which of these plans is more likely to produce a win in November: Plan A: President Biden is nominated as the candidate again Plan B: President Biden steps aside. Someone else beco … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024 The things we the people aren't told: In his new column for the Washington Post, David Ignatius reviews some of the history of presidential health evets in the 20th century. He starts with Woodrow Wilson: IGNATIUS (7/5/24): Past presidents have struggled with … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024 What New York's correspondent has said: When we awoke this morning, C-Span 2 was re-airing this broadcast from a twelve-part series last year: OCTOBER 9, 2023 Books That Shaped America Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass In part four of Books that Sha … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 4, 2024 Blue America's wager: The Iliad describes one small slice of a fictional war between two civilizations. The dueling forces are sharply distinct. In his introduction to the 1990 Fagles translation, Professor Knox lays it out: The background of the rage of Ac … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024 Also, The Madness of [Our Own] King George: What might a medical assessment look like—a medical assessment concerning last Thursday's debate? We're referring to a medical assessment of President Biden—and of Candidate Trump as well. Last week, a few days b … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 2024 Madman, beloved hold forth: Yesterday, President Biden offered an account of what happened last Thursday night. For ourselves, we don't know what happened that night! But according to a front-page report in today's New York Times, here's what the president … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024 But also, Stormy Daniels Tonight: Friend, are you possibly being "gaslit" about what happened last week? Are you being handed explanation which don't quite seem to make sense? We're speaking about President Biden's performance at last Thursday's debate. Do y … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2024 Who sent the president out there? Will history show that a Russian strongman engaged in a type of wager? If so, historians—to the extent that such people still exist—may call it "Putin's wager." Such people will declare that Vladimir Putin, the Russian stron … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 1, 2024 The Weekend of the Hunter: We've never cared for the 1955 feature film, The Night of the Hunter. No one liked it—then everyone did. Here is the overview from the usual suspect: The Night of the Hunter The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American film noir thril … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 1, 2024 A boon for Putin's wager: Long ago and far away, Blaise Pascal, for better or worse, authored a famous wager. Who the heck was Blaise Pascal? And what exactly was his "wager"—his gamble, his thesis, his bet? We've never been hugely impressed with the gentlema … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 2024 Will Cain gets it (somewhat) right: In you watched Thursday night's event, you saw the two worst debate performances in presidential history. A consensus seems to have formed concerning President Biden's side of the ledger. By general agreement, his worst … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2024 We note one important distinction: Let's repeat something we said in this morning's report. If you watched last evening's event, you saw the two worst debate performances in modern political history. That said, there was a difference between the two performa … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 28, 2024 A sacred alliance must die: We tried to tell you what you'd be seeing if you watched last evening's event. You'd be watching an "imitation of life," we said. We mentioned that problem all week. Along the way, we may have edited our own words at times. At one … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 Gail and Bret's hopes and fears: Will something of consequence happen tonight? We still can't answer that question. In their weekly Conversation for the New York Times, Gail Collins and Bret Stepehens discuss their hopes and their fears. We're going to let … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 The Times sells the latest cheap fake: Will something of consequence happen tonight? We can't answer your question! But as a matter of basic anthropology, the New York Times has already provided the day's key object lesson. We refer to the famous newspaper … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2024 ...as we watched this imitation of life: We thought of sacred Nietzsche last night as we watched the Gutfeld! program. We're not saying we should have had such thoughts. We're just reporting the fact that we did. Last night, the termagant plowed some fami … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 2024 ...if you read the New York Times: Kevin Drum is more sanguine about tomorrow's debate than we are. (Important note to the New York Times. The debate is scheduled for tomorrow night. It won't take place "next week.") Kevin has a prediction about tomorrow' … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2024 We can't say his statement is wrong: Last Friday evening, former governor Andrew Cuomo guested with Bill Maher. on Bill's HBO show, Real Time. During the program's Overtime segment, they discussed the recent New York City criminal trial of former president … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 25, 2024 This is your nation on Fox: For what it's worth, we disagree with the bulk of critical opinion concerning the film in question. The film in question is Do the Right Thing. It appeared in 1989. As a general matter, the film was widely praised by the critics. … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2024 Reading scores, Grade 8: Last Saturday, Kevin Drum surprised us with a post about California's public school students. More specifically: How well did California's eighth graders perform on the most recent NAEP reading test? Compared to their peers from othe … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 24, 2024 Our latest imitation: We've never known why Imitation of Life was called Imitation of Life. On the most literal level, the well-regarded 1959 film carried that name for an obvious reason. It was a remake of a well-regarded 1934 film of the exact same name. T … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024 Our nation's ongoing dysfunction: Friday evening, at 10 o'clock, the termagant started fast. It had been very hot in New York. For that reason, he opened his program with a bit of topical humor: GUTFELD (6/21/24): The heat wave continues in the East. It's so … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JUNE 22, 2024 The death of a 12-year-old girl: If there were some such thing as very bad people, these would be very bad people. Starting in today's 6 o'clock hour, they got busy proselytizing viewers of Fox & Friends Weekend, a gruesome propaganda vehicle on the Fox Ne … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 21, 2024 The rage of the sick angry child: The latest implied threat was delivered, just last evening, on the Gutfeld! program. We refer to implied threats against Dr. Fauci. As we noted yesterday, a silly chimp name named Jesse Watters performed the first of these b … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2024 Also, Greg Gutfeld got something right: On Tuesday afternoon, four members of the cast of The Five were sure it wasn't them. As a matter of fact, they were adamant. The White House had begun to claim that Red American orgs were airing misleading videotape … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 2024 Helen meets Stormy Daniels: For the record, the current prophecy won't be tested if President Biden wins re-election. We refer to the prophecy widely advanced across the realm of Blue America—the prophecy according to which Donald J. Trump's return to the … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2024 Willie Mays, in the beginning, playing stickball with the kids: The MLB Network posted the video three years ago, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Buck O'Neil provided the recollection. It was video of the very young Willie Mays, way back in the very … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2024 And yes, you read that correctly: Is it possible that "our democracy" has already died? Is it possible that it has died in the manner of The Sixth Sense? In a way where it's dead and gone, but we are unable to notice? As a matter of basic theory, everyone … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 19, 2024 The Iliad meets The Sixth Sense: Once again, we're prepared to admit it: We awoke on Saturday thinking of a set of immortal lines. As of yesterday, we were regretting the fact that we did! But as we first admitted on Monday, the lines in question came fro … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2024 "Truth pirate" stymied by Roberts: As a general matter, we have an unfavorable view of Lauren Windsor and her surreptitious audiotapes. Windsor may be completely sincere in her self-celebrated role as a "relentless truth pirate." That said, our general view … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 18, 2024 How did it get this far? Will President Biden get re-elected this year? No one can say at this point. If he loses—is Donald J. Trump returns to the White House—what happens after that? Routinely, prophets here in Blue America say "our democracy" would be de … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2024 We may have to rethink that stance: For the record, Rachel Manteuffel isn't (exactly) a columnist at the Washington Post. Her (very occasional) opinion columns are few and quite far between. She is described the following way on what seems to be her official … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 17, 2024 Is history rhyming this year? It's one of western literature's first great scenes. It's part of a wider collection of scenes, involving an array of memorable characters. We refer to the scene, in the Iliad's Book Six, where "Hector of the flashing helmet" is … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 2024 Also, Wallace baffled: Have crime rates been dropping in this country? On our own, we can't say! Late yesterday, in this report, we presented a dueling pair of approaches to that significant question: We excerpted a detailed report by Kevin Drum about the … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2024 Two stories for two Americas: Is the crime rate going up as an ongoing part of our "American carnage?" If your neighbors and friends watch the Fox News Channel, that's what they're frequently told. Below, we'll link you to one example. For now, we'll recomme … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 2024 What if they never existed? As we watched Sunday's Washington Journal, a type of consensus took form. Amazing! Callers from our own Blue America agreed with callers from the Red America of our neighbors and friends! They agreed on this proposition about Nove … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2024 Where segregation takes us: Is it possible? In our tribal desperation, have we really reached the point where we're surreptitiously taping the spouses of those we oppose? Where we're surreptitiously taping their wives—then refusing to release the full audi … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2024 So said one C-Span caller: A type of consensus quickly emerged as we listened to Sunday's morning's first hour of Washington Journal. The first four callers quickly agreed. This year's presidential election is the most important election in history—or at l … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 Concerning that Gotham trial: For ourselves, we'd be inclined to say that the charges shouldn't have been brought. In our view, prosecutorial discretion was poorly exercised in the matter at hand: In our view, we should be more concerned when shakedown ar … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 12, 2024 The fourth cited Campaign 2000: The first three callers to Sunday's Washington Journal formed a type of consensus. All agreed on a basic point. This year's presidential campaign is the most important ever. In the past two daysIn the past two days, we've s … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2024 He does make one small error: Crime is way down, the DrumCat says. His headline makes an even larger claim—and it includes an error: Crime is way down everywhere In fact, crime is way up in one jurisdiction. As every viewer knows, violent crime is way, way … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2024 We can agree on the lack of consensus: We can't recall why we chose "Consensus" as our focus for the week. After all, if there's one thing on which we all can agree, we can agree on our lack of consensus! Then again, consider this: Last Saturday morning, C- … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2024 Consensus postponed: We won't be posting until later today. Consensus has been postponed. | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2024 Then describes Biden and Trump: Around here, it's a fairly depressing time to survey this nation's discourse. This morning, Mika Brzezinski did an unusual thing on Morning Joe. She said she had watched a segment on an unnamed Fox News program—presumably, ove … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 10, 2024 Large nations require consensus: Sunday morning, at 7 a.m., C-Span's Washington Journal posed a sensible question to its viewers. The question was especially sensible under current circumstances. For richer or poorer, for better or worse, the question, prese … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2024 People who aren't just like Us: Cindy Garza, a mother of four, lives in Starr County, Texas. In 2020, the county's population stood at just a bit over 65,000. According to the Census Bureau, the county's population was 97.7% Hispanic. That said, Candidate B … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2024 Fixed up with Conn Carroll: Is it possible that those guilty verdicts will somehow help Candidate Trump? We don't have the slightest idea. Nor is there any obvious way to find out. That said, we thought of Maureen Dowd's sister as we read the latest analysis … | Continue reading