Time magazine offers a list of the 25 most powerful women of the last century. There’s always something a bit tiresome and arbitrary about such lists, especially if they spotlight some group such as “women” or “blacks,” but even if … Continue reading →
We all know what members of the Secret Service do: they protect the President and First Family from attack. But we don’t often think about the details of what that actually involves. Here’s a very matter-of-fact narrative from Clint Hill, … Continue reading →
They are united in blaming him, that is. Hubris, meet nemesis. Greater minds than Obama’s have been stumped by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Continue reading →I’d read a bit about the TV show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” before. But I’d never watched it. Last night I was doing some idle channel surfing, and I happened across the program. The impression I got from it of Palin … Continue reading →
[NOTE: This is a partial repeat of a previous post.] Here are some of writer John Updike’s reflection on the JFK assassination, originally published at the time in the “Notes and Comments” segment of The New Yorker, and featured again … Continue reading →
It’s the 47th anniversary of the JFK assassination. The death of Kennedy marked an abrupt and hugely traumatic transition for all of my generation from innocence to experience. It’s hard to convey to younger people how surprising and shocking it … Continue reading →
Peggy Noonan points out that in the next few months, Republican candidates will need to be deciding whether they’ll make a run for the presidency in 2012. Whom would I like to see take a stab at it? Chris Christie, … Continue reading →
…or this, which prevents one.
Continue reading →The New York accent seems to be on its way out. Not only is it less common than it used to be, but scads of New Yorkers are hiring speech therapists to rid themselves of theirs, which are seen as … Continue reading →
…but remain hopelessly mired in cluelessness: If Democrats keep losing the message war, they worry, they will be wiped out in 2012. “There was a lot of passion in that room,” one senator said. “The reason is because the public … Continue reading →
Marriage as an institution seems to be fading, and people know it. But that doesn’t mean they don’t still want it for themselves. A recent Time/Pew poll found that “although 44% of Americans under 30 believe marriage is heading for … Continue reading →
President Obama has had a bad couple of weeks. And Attorney General Holder isn’t far behind, with yesterday’s verdict in the Ghailani trial exposing the stupidity of their approach to the trials of Guantanamo detainees, emphasizing the civilian justice system. … Continue reading →