In the summer of 1978 I traveled to Europe. My first stop was London, a place I’d never visited before. I was surprised at some things I found there. One was that in July the weather was really nice—sunny and … Continue reading →
The news that Judge Richard Goldstone of South Africa has recanted on the issue of Israel and war crimes is stunning. He now absolves the country, in contrast to his accusations in the so-called Goldstone Report, issued in 2009. Not … Continue reading →
This statement by Politco’s Roger Simon may just be the finest encapsulation I’ve heard recently of what’s wrong with the media today. Talking to Howard Kurtz at CNN about the fact that the press has been critical lately of Obama’s … Continue reading →
No, not really; she’s the interview. And we all know everybody reads Playboy for the interviews. In Playboy Thomas repeats and defends her historically ignorant and deeply offensive charge that the Jews of Israel should go “home” to Poland and … Continue reading →
We’ve been hearing the word “disaster” in connection with the nuclear reactors in Japan, usually in the context of phrases such as, “Japanese teams work mightily to avoid looming disaster.” But what is the definition of a disaster these days? … Continue reading →
I’m not a scientist, but this article by William Tucker in the WSJ seems to make a great deal of sense and is worth quoting at length. The gist of it is that Fukushima Daiichi ain’t Chernobyl. Nor is it … Continue reading →
There’s the quake, and then there’s the aftermath. Sometimes, as in Japan today, the latter is worse than the former. Not that the former wasn’t really really bad. It was, and it lasted for over two minutes. I’ve been in … Continue reading →
We last heard of NPR’s Vivian Schiller (not to be confused with NPR’s Ron Schiller) in connection with the network’s Juan Williams firing. She survived that controversy. But in one of those hubris/nemesis moments, she’s been asked to leave by … Continue reading →
In a sort of tit-for-tat for the recent Governor Walker-Koch Brothers phone prank, NPR executive Ron Schiller was caught on tape saying some interesting things to people posing as Muslim donors but who were really in cahoots with James O’Keefe. … Continue reading →
I’ve written recently about a bunch of polls where Americans were asked what they think about the “right” to collective bargaining for public service union workers. Yesterday I wrote, “I’d also love to have seen a quiz accompanying the poll … Continue reading →
Isn’t it interesting how much hype was made about angry (and racist) Tea Partiers, and yet no evidence was ever found? And isn’t it interesting that, although there’s plenty of evidence of really viciously angry pro-union protesters in Wisconsin, it’s … Continue reading →
If you look at today’s memeorandum page, the top stories are all about the Times/CBS poll showing that most Americans strongly favor collective bargaining rights for public employees. Then there are critiques of those polls and their sampling methods, by … Continue reading →