…hitting all the global high spots. Well, not all of them. He may just skip North Korea. Wikileaks (who else?) reports that he has touched down in Russia. And as an excuse for allowing Snowden to leave, Hong Kong says … Continue reading →
Oh, I was a strange, strange child. And not the least of my strangenesses was that I loved the stories of Philip K. Dick. That was odd in several ways. First of all, it was odd because I was a … Continue reading →
Let me get one thing completely cleared up at the outset of this post: the NSA data-collection story is important. Vitally important. The program exists, and we need to know more about how it works, and whether it is (or … Continue reading →
…about this: [Glenn Greenwald] also wrote he had been “working with” Snowden since February… That’s part of a lengthy article about a feud between Greenwald and WaPo writer Barton Gellman about who spoke to Snowden when and about what. I’m … Continue reading →
…and no whistleblower either. I can’t say I’ve agreed a whole lot with Jeffrey Toobin (or anything political in the New Yorker) in recent years. But for the most part I agree with Toobin about Snowden. In fact, what Toobin … Continue reading →
Not surprisingly, Daniel Ellsberg thinks Edward Snowden’s a great hero. I’ve written at length about Ellsberg before: a historical look here, and especially this one about his more recent activities (including, interestingly enough, a group he formed a few years … Continue reading →
I’d heard about some of Obama’s half-siblings, but not much about this guy Mark Okoth Obama Ndesandjo, who really does resemble Obama physically and even vocally, although his affect is different. Even his body language and movement is somewhat similar … Continue reading →
For various reasons not worth going into I was researching the life of colorful British logician A. J. Ayer (1910-1989) and came across this rather odd anecdote, which I pass on to you without further comment: [Ayer] taught or lectured … Continue reading →
…is a graduate of Harvard Law School. Has one black parent and one white one. Is from Illinois, and worked for a Chicago law firm. Sound like someone you know? No, it’s not Obama. Here are more clues: can sing … Continue reading →
Jean Stapleton, best known for playing the role of the lovable Edith Bunker on “All in the Family,” has died at 90. She and Carroll O’Connor as Archie made the show. Stapleton managed to walk a fine line that conveyed … Continue reading →
Here’s a little gem I came across the other day. First, though, if you’re not familiar with Thomas Sowell, please hie yourself to YouTube, do a search for his name, and start watching. You’ll find scads of clips of Sowell … Continue reading →
So, was it Gore Vidal who coined the bon mot: “It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail”? Yesterday there was a discussion of that burning question on this thread, and I became curious. It just didn’t quite sound … Continue reading →