FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2024 True Belief marches on: The news report appeared online on July 20, in the New York Times. It provides the germ of an anthropology lesson, but also a lesson in logic. For starters, the news report ran beneath this dual headline: The Voting Machine Conspiracy … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 26, 2024 The tools do this every night: Who in the world is Chael Sonnen? Below, we'll start to answer your question, possibly for the second time. First though, riddle us this: Who the heck was José Ortega y Gasset? Also, what did he say in his most famous book, The … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2024 They've left the bombs in Trump's hands: In the case of President Biden, it was fairly easy for the press corps to identify the apparent problem. It looked like a type of problem which everyone had seen before, if only in classic films like Driving Miss Da … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 25, 2024 "IDIOT," he instantly said: It was Monday evening, July 22. The Termagant sat on a Fox News Channel set, presiding over a gathering of Usefuls. The show was broadcast at 10 o'clock Eastern. If normal procedures had been followed, the program had begun to t … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024 Applebaum listens to Trump: Anne Applebaum gives voice to the germ of a highly valid point in a recent essay for The Atlantic. Her essay appears beneath the headlines shown below. The headlines do a decent job of stating her basic thesis: Suddenly Trump L … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024 There's something bad wrong with this: There's nothing wrong with being 23. Almost everyone knows that. There is something wrong with our failing American culture. Frequently, the elements of this cosmic dysfunction are almost wholly ignored. And so it wa … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024 Some reasons to harbor some doubts: Can Kamala Haris win this election? She'll be running against the craziest person ever nominated for the job. But here's what the New York Times' Bret Stephens tells Gail Collins today as part of their weekly Conversation … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 23, 2024 ...except on the Gutfeld! program: "I still believe in a place called Hope," Candidate Bill Clinton said. In one sense, the candidate was referring to his small hometown in southwestern Arkansas. In a larger sense, he was sketching a stance with respect to … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 22, 2024 TV giant doesn't: A commenter to Kevin Drum's most recent post makes a sagacious remark. Just for the record, Drum's headline says this: Kamala Harris will poll as well as Biden by next week For ourselves, we hope she'll be polling better than President Bide … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 22, 2024 How to pronounce her first name: As of Saturday morning, two famous fictional persons headlined the White House campaign. The Democrats were going to nominate Lear. The Republicans had already nominated Agamemnon, lord of men. In the Iliad, Agamemnon is the … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, JULY 21, 2024 As has President Biden: We had come to think more poorly of President Biden over the course of the past year. The reasons can be listed at some later date. For today, his announcement that he will be stepping aside took us all the way back to our junior year … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 20, 2024 ...and climate change is a hoax: This past Tuesday, USA Today filed a report about a relatively minor apparent effect of ongoing climate change. For the record, the report assumes the truth of a fairly obvious fact. It assumes the fact that climate change … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2024 The New York Times reports: Yesterday afternoon, we wrote about the part of Usha Vance's convention speech in which she referred to her husband's "childhood traumas." For us, the unusual reference triggered recollections of her husband's best-selling book, H … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 19, 2024 The Fox friends get passed over: Last night, Donald J. Trump finally confirmed the widespread report: "I had God on my side," he confessed in the early moments of his convention speech. By the norms of American political speech, that revelation can almost be … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2024 Also, what's in a word? Last night, Usha Vance introduced her husband, J. D. Vance, at the Republican National Convention. We were struck by one part of her short introduction. More specifically, we were struck her inclusion of one particular word: USHA VA … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2024 Duly recorded, for history: Long ago and far away, an Olympian intervened to save the life of one of her favorites. The god in question was Athena, daughter of Zeus. As we noted yesterday, she intervened to save the life of Paris, the feckless Trojan princ … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2024 But also, the New York Times on Vance: We just scrolled through the front page of the New York Times web site. With respect to climate issues, these four headlines appeared: We Mapped Heat in 3 U.S. Cities. Some Sidewalks Were Over 130 Degrees. Ukraine’s … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2024 Last Saturday, "our lord and savior" did: It's an ancient, extremely human way of understanding the universe. In the western world's first poem of war, this understanding is given voice in the poem's first dozen lines: Rage—Goddess. sing the rage of Peleu … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2024 But also, the weekend friends: The apparent assassination attempt took place at roughly 6:12 p.m. Eastern. With two hours, Senator Vance had managed to figure it out! Everyone has always known that Vance is plenty smart. But, in this particular case, his cl … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2024 Our plan RE the weekend friends: Much like Rick in Casablanca, we'd been misinformed. Yesterday afternoon, we told you that today's high temperature in Baltimore was forecast to be 101 degrees. As of this morning, the forecast stands at 103! We regret the e … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 15, 2024 The plane crash on the South Lawn: As of 2 o'clock, Baltimore's predicted high temperature for today stood at 100 degrees. Tomorrow, the predicted high is 101. Something like two weeks back, the resident chimp at the Fox News Channel referred to climate chan … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 15, 2024 Friends don't let friends hear from Others: As it turned out, the assailant—the gunman, now deceased—was only twenty years old. As it turned out, he was a registered Republican. That said, it still isn't clear what his political views may have been, or wheth … | Continue reading
SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2024 No Bad Judgment Left Behind: Full disclosure! We watched two hours of Fox & Friends Weekend this morning. We watched the 6 o'clock and 7 o'clock hours. The three regular weekend "friends" were on hand, joined by two members of the weekday Fox & Friends cast. … | Continue reading
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2024 It brought us a moment of pleasure: Once in a while—it happens quite rarely—we're afforded a moment of pleasure. As the world of "our democracy" turns, it happens less and less often. This past Tuesday, almost wholly by accident, we were afforded one such … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024 Also, JFK: It's known as Lincoln's Farewell Address. We know it from the closing pages of Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years, Volume II. The president-elect was leaving for Washington. He spoke to neighbors and friends from the back of his train a … | Continue reading
FRIDAY, JULY 12, 2024 Then again, so did Candidate Trump: Did E.J. Dionne get it right when he offered the warning in question? He issued his warning four days before the fateful June 27 debate. This was the text of his warning: DIONNE (6/23/24): Because the “age issue” has been … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024 Here's what Chris Coons said: BREAKING! We ourselves had a "one-off" once! It happened somewhere around 1990. It was caused by a prescription drug error. We were taking steroids as a treatment for poison ivy, something we'd done a few years before. In this … | Continue reading
THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2024 Could this be the latest fail? Long ago and far away, Al Pacino made a famous statement. "This whole trial is out of order," the gentleman famously said. He was denouncing a fictional trial, one part of a fictional movie. The film's official title was some … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2024 This is your "public discourse:" With apologies, we're going to take you back, once again, to the current cutting edge of the societal garbage can. We refer, of course, to the Fox News Channel's nightly Gutfeld! program. Last night, the angriest little ch … | Continue reading
WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 2024 ...it was called Trump's latest LIE! A funny thing happened to America's discourse in the aftermath of the June 27 Biden-Trump ersatz "debate." We wouldn't call what happened a "fail." We would say it was fail-indicative—a hint of a failed public discours … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2024 Like you, we have no idea: We awoke this morning to videotape of the rubble—of the destruction—at Ukraine's largest children's hospital From 6 o'clock until 6:15, we then watched the rubble of the pseudo-discussion being conducted on Fox & Friends. We then s … | Continue reading
TUESDAY, JULY 9, 2024 Donald J. Trump made way, way more, CNN also said: As we noted yesterday, E. J. Dionne—to his credit—has copped to an "epic fail." His confession may have been a but puckish, but he confessed nonetheless. As we noted yesterday, the epic fail to which he copp … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 8, 2024 Was it a bit of a fail? What explains President Biden's performance at the June 27 debate? We still can't answer that question! Last Friday, the president spoke with George Stephanopoulos for twenty-two minutes about that very topic. In this morning's print e … | Continue reading
MONDAY, JULY 8, 2024 That said, have the fails been general? The Washington Post's E. J. Dionne has long been a good, decent person. In a column in today's paper, he cops to an "epic fail." That unflattering term belongs to Dionne himself. As we type, his column is listed as the … | Continue reading
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