All news emanating from North Korea is automatically assigned an asterisk and/or question mark, but I’ll report this for what it’s worth: sort-of-trusted Korean sources have told Reuters that “North Korea will shift to collective [military] rule from a strongman … Continue reading →
The winter solstice comes late tonight and I, for one, am cheering. It may not be a holiday exactly, but winter holidays cluster around it for a very good reason: the beginning of the end of the dark days. Who … Continue reading →
The WSJ wonders how it is that “GOP leaders have somehow managed the remarkable feat of being blamed for opposing a one-year extension of a tax holiday that they are surely going to pass.” I’ll help them out. (1) Never … Continue reading →
Yesterday I was on the telephone with my credit card company, waiting to discuss a bill, and I coughed. Once. Softly. Immediately the electronic voice on the other end said, “Sorry, but I don’t understand that response.”
Continue reading →“Esplanade” is a work by modern dance choreographer Paul Taylor that highlights the difference between modern dance and ballet. Ballet dancers are sometimes drawn to Taylor’s more graceful pieces such as “Esplanade,” because at first glance seems it seems as … Continue reading →
Hey, if you expect me to know what’s going to happen in that bizarre and shrouded country, you’re weirder than the North Koreans: But I will join in the speculation as to whether the above emotion is real or not … Continue reading →
Wow. Just wow.
Continue reading →Robert J. Samuelson says yes. Paul Krugman says no. I say we’ll be arguing about this stuff for the next 100 years at least.
Continue reading →After Christopher Hitchens’ death I went back and re-read a couple of his old essays, including this one on women and humor (or their lack thereof). It’s written in his trademark style: witty, self-assured, and breezy; the musings of a … Continue reading →
Now comes the news that North Korea’s Kim Jong Il (age variously reported as 69 or 70) has died. It’s been rumored for several years that he’d been gravely ill with a stroke and then pancreatic cancer, but his official … Continue reading →
A brave man, dead at 75 after a long, fruitful, and eventful life that had many twistings and turnings, Havel went from prison as a dissident to a long tenure as president during a time of transition from the Communism … Continue reading →
[NOTE: Bumped up from yesterday.] There’s still plenty of time left to order from Amazon via the handy neo-neocon widgets on the right sidebar. I’m a big procrastinator, so I know. And there’s even time to sign up for 2 … Continue reading →