From the Nadezhda Mandelstam chapter of Clive James’ excellent Cultural Amnesia [in the following excerpts I have Americanized the British spelling): The main difference [between the Gulag and Hitler’s Reich] was that in Nazi Europe the victims knew…who they were, … Continue reading →
…do something about this? It seems a lot more imminent than global warming. Plus, it’s supposedly a relatively simple and not-too-expensive fix.
Continue reading →Bob Shrum is going for his ninth presidential campaign loss. The first eight were in his capacity as Democratic political consultant. The ninth will be as unofficial advisor to the GOP in 2016. This long-term partisan and dedicated Democrat is … Continue reading →
Nothing much happens to me when I get hungry except that I get hungry. But some people are different: they get angry and pick fights. Indeed. I know that quite well because I’ve been closely and even at times intimately … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a repost from Easters past. But it still works for me.] Happy Easter to all my celebratory Christian readers, and to all those who just enjoy the holiday as well! One year when my son was little, … Continue reading →
There is only one jelly bean worth eating at Easter or any other time of year. No, not those weirdly flavored “gourmet” Jelly Bellys (I consider the term “gourmet jelly bean” to be an oxymoron). The traditionalist in me abhors … Continue reading →
No one should wear this dress. It’s just not possible to compete with it: Perhaps the only proper use of the dress would be as camouflage in a scene like this:
Continue reading →Here are some cautionary tales about the strength and possible danger of legal marijuana edibles, whether they be sold as medical marijuana or in states like Colorado which choose to legalize general marijuana sales: Last year, the poison center run … Continue reading →
Obama says the debate is over and Republicans need to reach the grief stage of acceptance, but Jeffrey H. Anderson begs to differ: In short, [Obamacare is] bad because it raises health costs, undermines liberty, costs jobs, and seeks to … Continue reading →
This New Yorker article by Jelani Cobb manages to discuss the failure of desegregation laws in the US without acknowledging some of the underlying reasons behind it: And so, sixty years after Brown, it is clear that the notion of … Continue reading →
What a guy: President Barack Obama used his Thursday press conference to diagnose Republicans as fear-mongering, spiteful, obstinate, petulant and obstructive… Obama coupled his passive-voice diatribe with his more-in-sorrow-than-anger promise that he “would much prefer a constructive conversation with the … Continue reading →
So now they’re saying that airline meals taste as bad as they do because at high altitudes people’s tastebuds go numb: No matter what it is””fish, chicken, even pasta””every meal served in the air seems to taste undeniably worse than … Continue reading →