RIP Maya Angelou
The news that Maya Angelou has died at the age of 86 reminds me of how deeply impressed I was when I read her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings when it first came out in 1969. Those … Continue reading →
Category Archives: People of interest
The irony of the Weather Underground
Reading David Horowitz’s 1989 book Destructive Generation—and particularly the chapter entitled “Doing It,” about the Weathermen who morphed into the Weather Underground (notably Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, as well as several fellow travelers)—I am struck by the irony of … Continue reading →
1956: Robert Frost, commencement speaker
All this news about commencement speakers being scared away or disinvited or staying the course despite adversity or giving students a tongue-lashing makes me want to return to a commencement address from an earlier time. That time was 1956, nearly … Continue reading →
Trey Gowdy: “You were supposed to provide oversight”
This video of Trey Gowdy speaking to the press on Benghazi demonstrates a few things simultaneously. The first is why Gowdy was a very successful prosecutor. The second is that the manner in which the Obama administration has handled the … Continue reading →
Will anyone be left standing at the Brandeis commencement?
They’re dropping like flies. First, Hirsi Ali’s invitation to receive an honorary degree was withdrawn. Now, Jill Abramson has voluntarily pulled out: The Justice student newspaper reports that Abramson told the university’s president she won’t be present Sunday to get … Continue reading →
We need more candidates…
…like Cory Gardner of Colorado, who appears to have the ability to appeal to both wings of the Republican Party, as well as to possible crossover voters.
Continue reading →NY Times vs. Jill Abranson, and the Sulzberger family
I confess I’m more fascinated than I should be (and perhaps than you are) by the evolving story of the firing of Jill Abramson by the NY Times. It has a little bit of everything: the hypocrisy of a newspaper … Continue reading →
The NY Times’ war on women
Or rather, on this woman: New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson was abruptly fired from the paper Wednesday, sources familiar with the news informed POLITICO. Managing editor Dean Baquet will take over as executive editor, effective immediately… “I choose … Continue reading →
Newarks’ new mayor and the Newark old guard: what’s in a name?
This NY Times article is about the contest by which Newark, New Jersey elected its new mayor, Councilman Ras Baraka, who according to the Times is “the fiery scion of a militant poet.” The contest—between two black Democrats—was both expensive … Continue reading →
Karl Popper, changer
The Austrian philosopher of science Karl Popper, who emigrated to New Zealand in the late 1930s (when he was in his late 30s) and then to London, had flirted with Communism in his youth. Actually, he more than flirted with … Continue reading →
Was Snowden’s action a foreign operation?
I’m not usually a conspiracist, but I vote “yes” on this one by Edward Jay Epstein: Edward Snowden’s massive misappropriations of classified documents from the inner sanctum of U.S. intelligence is mainly presented by the media as a whistleblowing story. … Continue reading →
Tina Brown strikes a blow for the integrity of real journalists versus Matt Drudge
Or something like that: The Monica Lewinsky confessional in Vanity Fair brings back a torrent of unfond memories of the appalling cast of tabloid gargoyles who drove the scandal. Remember them? Treacherous thatched-roof-haired drag-queen Linda Tripp, with those dress-for-success shoulder … Continue reading →