FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2024 Bharara pretended to answer: Should Donald J. Trump be frog-marched to prison, presumably after losing his expected appeal of last week's guilty verdicts? This morning, the New York Times offers several letters on the subject. At long last, we'll admit it: We … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2024 Complexification is us: As the end of the week approaches, we return to a basic question: Did anyone ever explain the legal theory under which Donald J. Trump was charged with 34 felonies? More precisely: Did anyone ever explain that legal theory—in effect, … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2024 Blue voters, puzzled by Reds: On this important historical day, we start with a brief review of a short-term political aftermath. Our question: Has Candidate Trump been hurt in the polls in the wake of last week's guilty verdicts? Kevin Drum says that maybe … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024 C-bombs light the way to a dusty political death: Back on May 22, the New York Times ran a front-page report about the teaching of Algebra 1 in middle school—or in some cases, about the decision not to teach Algebra 1. Today, the report appears online bene … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024 Where can you go to find out? Late last Thursday afternoon, former president Donald J. Trump was found guilty, in a Manhattan courtroom, on 34 felony counts. As we noted yesterday afternoon, some Trump critics reacted to the guilty verdicts with a type of … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024 Clarity, not so much: Caitlan Clark v. Chennedy Carter? The entirety of Blue America v. Mrs. [C-Bomb] Alito? The astounding statement—from a major Blue American pundit!—that Justice Alito needs to learn how "to control his wife?" Ignoring Donald J. Trump's f … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024 ...from all those guilty verdicts? We awoke today to a Brave New World—perhaps to a type of New Morning. The verdicts were gone from the Times front page. In their place, President Biden has a new border plan. We had already read this post. In the post, Kevi … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2024 Norm Eisen says he feels strongly: Now that he's been convicted of 34 (Class E) felonies, should former president Donald J. Trump be frog-marched off to jail? Norman Eisen says he feels strongly about the question. This morning, his guest essay in the New Yor … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JUNE 3, 2024 Aftermaths can be a [-----]: "The world is too much with us," William Wordsworth famously said, in a poem of the same name. Here's the way the poem starts: The World Is Too Much With Us The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we la … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, JUNE 2, 2024 And that's just what the Times has now said: "In wildness is the preservation of the world." Our Middlesex neighbor, sacred Thoreau, made that statement in Walking, an essay first published in 1851. (It's sometimes said that his intended meaning has been misu … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JUNE 1, 2024 The backwash will be forever: On this morning's Washington Journal, C-Span asked its viewers to respond to this question: Does the Trump conviction impact the way you plan to vote in November? For the record, the verdicts won't affect the way we plan to vot … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2024 Red and Blue—and you: As a general matter, thought leaders in Red America have offered one set of reactions to yesterday's verdicts. As a general matter, thought leaders in Blue America have said vastly different things. This morning, we've noted the very occ … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024 Can anyone here play explain this game? Can anyone explain the nature of the 34 felonies with which Donald J. Trump stands charged? Let us start by saying this—we all understand the nature of the cultural and political offense with which he has repeatedly b … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 30, 2024 Complexification is us: With what set of 34 criminal offenses does Donald J. Trump stand charged? (For the record, they're felonies, every one!) We've been asking the question for some time now. All in all, it hasn't been easy to answer. Yesterday morning, … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2024 Ken Burns visits Deadline: As we sit and type, the jury has started to deliberate. As a bit of an overview, we can tell you this: As part of his (hour-long) jury instruction, Judge Merchan apparently accepted the part of the prosecution's legal theory whic … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 2024 Drum says he's confused: All in all, we're most interested in what we saw Nicolle Wallace say—in what we saw her say about the speech by Ken Burns. Still and all, we've never been happier! As of this morning, it isn't just us: Kevin Drum has now said that … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2024 What deep disorder looks like: Personally, we don't think that Donald J. Trump did anything wrong with respect to Stormy Daniels. With respect to a totally different matter, New York magazine's Margaret Hartmann reminds us of how deeply disordered this disor … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 28, 2024 Also, "There's only one way you can vote:" We were perhaps a bit surprised by something we heard this morning. Tomorrow, Judge Merchan will give his legal instruction to the jury in New York City. "It is expected to take about an hour," we heard Mika Brzezin … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MAY 26, 2024 Except for the fact that they aren't: As usual, the headline was highly dramatic. Indeed, so was the opening paragraph! We refer to the recent piece by Errol Louis for New York Magazine, which made the same old (bungled) claim about the New York City Public S … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MAY 25, 2024 Perhaps not the world's worst idea: In this morning's New York Times, we find a fascinating portrait of Justice Sotomayor—more specifically, of the way she grew up. Her father died when she was nine. In her portrait for the Times, Abbie VonSickle takes it f … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2024 We'll try again early next week: Sadly, we've been thinking, in the past few days, of something the later Wittgenstein said. Don't ask yourself what he was talking about when he made the statement in question! The later Wittgenstein had a very hard time expla … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 24, 2024 Kevin Drum sees The Third Man: In all honesty, we aren't envious—but we probably should be! Last Saturday, on his now-concluded trip to Vienna, Kevin Drum "caught a screening" of The Third Man "at the Burg Kino," where it shows several times a week. He report … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2024 Now for the rest of the story: Should you be concerned about that second flag—the flag which flew above Justice Alito's seaside home in New Jersey? That second flag said, "Appeal to Heaven." It featured a very large tree. Our analysts were calling it "Palo … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 23, 2024 ...on the offense with which Trump stands charged: We've found ourselves thinking about Mr. T as we've continued to read about Donald J. Trump's Gotham trial. "I pity the fool," Mr. T once said. In fact, he has said it quite a few times: Mr. T Mr. T (born L … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2024 Termagant challenged by lamb: Bill Maher is currently appearing on every TV show in the nation. It's part of the promotion for his new, award-winning book, What This Comedian Said Will Shock You. When we say he's appearing on every show, we do mean every s … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 2024 Times reporters attempt to explain: Could Donald. J. Trump be a convicted felon by the end of next week? Yes, he plainly could be! In her new column for the New York Times, Michelle Goldberg suggests that many voters may be unaware of that fairly obvious f … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2024 Also, though, there's this: In his latest analysis for New York magazine, Ed Kilgore offers this gloomy thought: "All in all, the path to a second Biden term is dangerously narrow." In Kilgore's view, Biden is so far behind in three Sun Belt states—Georgia, … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2024 On page one, Protess and Bromwich: With what specific criminal offense does the famous defendant stand charged? For example, is he charged with shooting someone, right out on the street? You're asking a very good question! Before we're done today, we'll note … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024 On balance, we disagree with Michelle Goldberg's reactions: Who the heck is Nellie Bowles? The foremost authority thumbnails: Nellie Bowles Nellie Bowles is an American journalist. She is noted for covering the technology world of Silicon Valley. She has writ … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024 Our primitive national discourse: Abraham Lincoln put it best. For the record, he was quoting the New Testament when he did. We aren't Bible believers ourselves. But just to be specific, he was quoting Matthews 18:7: The Almighty has His own purposes. Woe unt … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024 Minnesota's new flag to follow: Yesterday, President Biden journeyed to the National Museum of African American History and Culture to offer an address. He was commemorating a major event. Early on, his offered the passage shown below. For the full transcri … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MAY 18, 2024 It was trafficking in unknowns: What actually happened to Stormy Daniels back in 2006? We can't exactly answer that question. Beyond that, we can't say that voters should have been encouraged to explore the answer to that question in the fall of 2016. Start … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024 She (almost) gets it right: Elizabeth Spiers is "a contributing Opinion writer" at the New York Times. She's 47 years of age, which sounds like a good age to be. We could do without the snark lodged in the headline which sits atop her new column. That said, t … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 17, 2024 This is the way she proceeded: On one occasion, in 2006, did future candidate Donald J. Trump engage in sexual intercourse with director Stormy Daniels? Daniels says the gentleman did. The gentleman says he didn't. That said: As has been explained a million t … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024 MSNBC only: In recent months, we've often suggested that big news orgs like the New York Times should report on what is happening in the realm of "cable news." This morning, the Times has published such a report—above the fold on the front page of its print … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2024 But what in the world does that mean? Is it true, what Stephanie Clifford said, speaking in a chilly Gotham courtroom—testifying under oath? In an early part of her testimony, she said that she preferred to be referred to as Stormy Daniels. In news reports … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024 How well do they deal with ideas? This week, we've been talking about the basic capability, or lack of same, within our upper-end press corps. We've also talked about their interest, or lack of same, when it comes to dealing with ideas. Do they really pref … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 15, 2024 It's part of a very long story: At the start of Monday's report, we cited the gloomy numbers which have emerged from the latest administration of the New York Times/Siena College poll. This morning, during the 6 o'clock hour, Joe Scarborough trashed the me … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2024 It started with Candidate Hart: Way back in 1987, excitement was building about former senator Gary Hart (D-Colorado) and his "new ideas," or about whatever remained of those new ideas from Hart's 1984 presidential campaign. According to the leading authorit … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2024 Chunk of time to be lost: We're losing a chunk of time today. We won't be posting until this afternoon. | Continue reading
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2024 Our American cousin: On Saturday night, he didn't start raising his voice until 8:07 p.m. Or at least, that's the way we'd score it. We're speaking of The Man Who Screams, the Fox News Channel's Mark Levin. He didn't raise his voice until then—but at 8 p.m., … | Continue reading
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2024 The world's most basic distinction: As we type, the numbers from the swing states may be going from bad to worse. In this gloomy, brand-new report, the New York Times / Axios survey has Candidate Trump ahead of Candidate Biden is five of six such states. In f … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, MAY 12, 2024 More numbers from the Times: How many students got arrested for participating in the seizure of Columbia's Hamilton Hall? This past Monday, we offered this instructive report on that very topic. That said: This past Thursday, the New York Times published a ne … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, MAY 11, 2024 Explains why Daniels did it: If you watch Red America's "cable news" channel, the god can do no wrong. For the record, the god in question is former president Donald J. Trump. The program in question airs at 5 p.m.—and yes, that helps explain why the progra … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 2024 What triggered Achaean rage? "Man [sic] is the rational animal," he's widely said to have said. We're referring to Aristotle, no last name required, an intellectual giant of the age of Classical Greece—an intellectual giant who also offered the view that all … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2024 Paraphrase can be powerful too: The propaganda came early and often on this morning's Fox & Friends TV program. Our "cable news" is built on a system in which no one disagrees or pushes back or questions anything anyone else has said. As a result, Ainsley Ea … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, MAY 9, 2024 Reasoning like an Achaean: Truth be told, it didn't take much to snap the Achaeans back into line. We return to the late Bronze Age—to the (presumably fictional) Achaean siege of Troy. In Book Nine of the western world's first poem of war, Agamemnon lord of … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2024 Blue America's faux journalism: Last night, a key word was largely given the night off on Blue America's "cable news" channel. The key word is "allegedly." At issue was the testimony by Stormy Daniels, very little of which can be confirmed for its accuracy. … | Continue reading