FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2026He was delighting his heart: We've beaten the famous resource to death, but we promised we'd do it. We promised we'd show you what comes next, after these treasured lines from Professor Fagles' translation of the Iliad: BOOK NINEThe Embassy to Achilles[...] … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2026Group rage comes to the Senate: Just to be honest and fair, what happened last night supports the idea that news orgs should never involve "mental health" issues in their political coverage. Caroline Sunshine (actual name) was appearing on the 10 p.m. shou … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026The doldrums invade our camps: As a matter of fact, we did in fact take Hum 3 during the first semester of our junior year.We know that because we believe our transcript. It says that we received an A-minus in the class. It also says that we failed Kant—th … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2026The Wall Street Journal says no: Despite the fact that he didn't exist, Homer has been in the air of late. In our opinion, Keats may have overdone it a bit with respect to Chapman's translation: On First Looking into Chapman's Homer [...] Then felt I l … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2026The rage of Kennedy Junior: Dana Bash and Bobby Kennedy never got on the same track on Sunday morning's State of The Union. The first apparent misstatement arrived right away—and it came from Kennedy Junior:BASH (8/2/26): You have been placing nearly all … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2026The New York Times won't go there: As far as we know, there was no historical Homer. There wasn't even a Homer Price, he of the doughnut machine. (That Homer lived in a different time: "It [was] America laughing at itself with a broad and genial humanit … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026Endless approaches to fury: The latest bizarre MAGA meltdown, this time involving the reflecting pool? Reflections on the furious behavior of Secretary Kennedy on Sunday's State of The Union, complete with the kooky misstatements? Reflections on the pitifu … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2026Tommy Tuberville's rage: For better or worse—we'll guess for worse—the prevailing rage of the current era was directed at Dr. Fauci last week. It was directed at him in a Senate hearing. That said, in certain essential ways, the story of this tribal fury ha … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2026But also, those crazy claims: Yesterday, in a rare Sunday outing, we linked you to Mediaite's report about the sitting president's latest, rather unusual social media posts. We refer to last weekend's rather peculiar Truth Social posts. Because the posts se … | Continue reading
MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2026But also, the rage of Senator Paul: Now that's we've all seen the film adaptation of the Odyssey, let's go all the way back to the start.More specifically, let's return to the first few lines of the Iliad, the war poem which preceded the poem that's known as … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2026Even today, on a Sunday: Is something wrong with the person serving as the sitting president? We've decided to ask that question again. We base our question on Zachary Leeman's report for Mediaite. We've omitted one word from the headline, but the start of … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1, 2026Is he mentally ill? Is something wrong with President Trump? Once again, we started the current week with that same old question. On Monday night, Lawrence O'Donnell repeatedly called the president a madman. At one point, he referred to the president's "in … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2026A TDH movie review: We went to see The Odyssey this very afternoon. We lasted until midway through the Cyclops. We attended the 4 p.m. show at The Charles. We were airlifted back to our sprawling campus in time for the start of The Five! What went wrong on … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2026Why hasn't it ever been said? We Blues! Yesterday brought another worrying assessment concerning the race for the House. It comes from Larry Sabato, one of the last of the sane ones. In its newest assessment of the race for the House, Sabato's Center for Pol … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026That's what the Cook Report says: We Blues! Our tribunes keep stressing the president's approval numbers. Pleasingly, those numbers just keep getting worse. That said, the president isn't running for Congress this fall—and the Cook Political Report has j … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026Then later, the "cable news" kidz: Last evening, on The Last Word, Lawrence O'Donnell very much did get it right. He opened with the Fauci hearing, not with some bit of relative ephemera. He even said this, in passing, as he discussed the astonishing cond … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2026The Fox News Channel at work: Friend, do you know what Dr. Fauci is currently charged with—what he's charged with as he's transformed into a high-profile villain? Do you understand the charges? Do you believe the various people lodging the charges have a … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 29, 2026Correspondents "can't take a joke:" Judged by normal standards, the sitting president did have one good joke. In fact, it was a very good joke, and it got a very good laugh at last Friday night's dinner. Eighteen minutes into his endless remarks, this is … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026Baying hounds seek justice: At the Fox News Channel, the knives are out for Dr. Fauci. The knives are out again. The ghouls are running in the streets. On today's Outnumbered program, the increasingly arrogant Harris Faulkner can almost seem to be holding th … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2026Why haven't We Blues ever said it? Is something wrong with President Trump? Something that might be dangerous? As we noted yesterday, when we watched the hour-plus speech he delivered last Friday night, it seemed to us that no sane person could really disput … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026Megyn Kelly unchained: We haven't seen "The Odyssey" yet. We'll probably go next weekend. Many commentators have said that, for better or worse, the Christopher Nolan modernizes the ancient culture out of which the Iliad and the Odyssey emerged. In a new cri … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 27, 2026We Blues almost surely will: In fairness, his first remark, taken in context, was a bit self-deprecating. You could possibly call it good-natured.The comment was actually funny. To our ear, it got an honest laugh.The fellow had just been introduced by Weijia … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 25, 2026A politics of meaning: Did the president really speak for over an hour?Yes, he actually did! Beyond that, also this: We've told you, quite a few times, that (severe) mental illness is always a human tragedy. The same is true of serious cognitive decline, … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2026One-way interruption: Our guess turned out to be right.Yesterday afternoon, we told you this about that new SHOCK POLL:"We'll guess that viewers of The Five will not be told, later today, about that SHOCKING new poll, the one with the Dems plus-11."That was a … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2026What Yevtushenko said: Last Friday night, on the PBS NewsHour, David Brooks seemed to say that he wasn't concerned. One night before, the sitting president had made a self-ballyhooed national address. How had the speech been received? By the time the NewsHo … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2026Who's going to win in November? Today, we have the reading of polls—for example, of the new SHOCK POLL described below. The report comes from David Gilmour of Mediaite: SHOCK POLL: Democrats Open Up Stunning 11-Point Lead on Republicans on Generic Congres … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2026But also, the doomsday scenarios: Truly, it's been a "week that was." It has now been seven days since the sitting president, President Trump, delivered his televised national address—the televised address which wasn't televised by several networks and was … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026It's time for Kelly to go: What might a "politics of meaning" look like? What does the term even mean? Yesterday, we linked you to the speech in which first lady Hillary Clinton first employed that term. That said, the term had originated with someone el … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 2026Joe Rogan, one columnist says: Our nation is in a world of hurt. It's amazing to see how many people seem to be lingering in various forms of denial.As we noted yesterday, we thought David Brooks—a good, decent person—was lingering there, last Friday night … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2026On balance, it didn't go well: What the heck is a "politics of meaning?" If we agree that our struggling nation needs a politics of that type, what kind of politics would we be talking about?As anyone with eyes can see, our flailing nation badly needs a new … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2026The courts will protect us, he said: Why in the world did David Brooks say what he said last Friday? Brooks appeared with Jonathan Capehart for their usual Friday night spot on the PBS NewsHour. The night before, the sitting president had made a loudly ball … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 20, 2026George Harrison wrote a song: It occurred to us some time ago:If a person spent his entire life as a songwriter, and he only came up with "Here Comes the Sun," that would have been a case of fifty years just extremely well spent.("And if a person lived in obs … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 20, 2026The next night, Brooks reacted: Last Thursday night, the president delivered his major address about our scary elections. The next morning, Manohla Dargis described the speech in the New York Times. She even made it a CRITIC'S PICK. Here's part of what she … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 18, 2026Yevtushenko, Watters: You're right! There was no mention of the president's ballyhooed national address on yesterday's edition of The Five. Answering yesterday afternoon's question, the Fox News Channel's apparent disappearing of the president's speech co … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2026Fox & Friends disappears it: We still haven't watched the full speech. Last night was one of the rare occasions when the president's viewers were falling asleep before he did! That said: It isn't always what a cable news channel might say—it's what the cha … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2026We advise you to pity the child: "No people are uninteresting?" Would that include the 12-year-old child who is described in this passage from a new AP report?An immediate relative of David Brouillette who spoke on the condition that their name not be used … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2026...they turn to the evasions: We employ the moment to offer a gripe about the weekly Bruni/Stephens colloquy at the New York Times. This week's colloquy starts as shown. Our gripe concerns the rollicking, tongue-in-cheek, humorous back-and-forth style: Trum … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 16, 2026Can this possibly be what he meant? Friend, did Candidate Trump actually win the 2020 election? Did President Biden spend four years in the White House only because that 2020 presidential election was "rigged?" For the record, Candidate Trump was also Pres … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026But he didn't have legal status? Tomorrow, we expect to discuss the second person who recently lost his life. For today, we return to a bit of a technical question from this morning's report. It's a question about Johan Sebastian Guerrero, 25 years old, … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026What the neighbor said: "They were always so happy and so polite," their neighbor in Biddeford, Maine has now said. They were a husband and wife and a 3-year-old child. The New York Times is reporting the neighbor's recollection in this morning's news re … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2026President follows suit: With respect to calls to arms by the sitting president, it just was another day ending a Y. That said, we'd describe the Truth Social post in question as the fruit of normalization. When the sitting president floats suggestions like t … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2026Of whom, what did we know? "No people are uninteresting," Yevtushenko said (in translation). The poem in question starts off like this: People No people are uninteresting.Their fate is like the chronicle of planets.Nothing in them is not particular,and pl … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 13, 2026"...how much [we] can mean to each other?" Actually, no, we aren't "well read." But there's a line from My Antonia that seems to speak to us, loud and clear, at this dangerous, barely sane time. (This "barely sane" time? See the story the president told abou … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 13, 2026...Graham heaped praise on Joe Biden: "When a person dies, what has gone is not nothing..." That's the way we've always remembered the lines (in translation) from Yevtushenko—lines we came upon a very long time ago. That isn't the way the lines truly read, b … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 11, 2026The refusal to serve is general: "Back out of all this now too much for us?" As we've noted in the past, that's the opening line of Frost's difficult poem, Directive. We often think of that line in these extremely dark days. The poem—it's a difficult poem— … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 10, 2026Refuses to say their names: Can our form of government, can our nation, "long endure?" President Lincoln floated the question at Gettysburg. Today, we're involved in a great societal war which raises the question again. Will we be able to find our way "bac … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2026One co-host says yes: Is there any such thing as a demon?How are we supposed to know? When it comes to the existence of demons, we aren't the right people to ask.That said, some people do believe in demons (as is their perfect right), "and not in the metapho … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2026...when "the people" agree to form tribes? Of the people? By the people? Can a nation like that long endure? Speaking at Gettysburg, President Lincoln understood that some observers were skeptics. He closed his brief remarks that day by saying that those pre … | Continue reading