In a previous post, I mused about the incessant swearing in the premier episode in the new HBO comedy Veep and wondered how normal it was. The comments from people familiar with that world suggested that it was quite common for people in high levels of government to swear all the time. [Read more…]
One of the most pernicious developments in modern journalism is the number of newspaper reports that feature anonymous sources. Anonymity is allowable and understandable for whistleblowers who risk retaliation for exposing wrongdoing or for victims of crimes or are otherwise in danger but now it is routinely given to high officials who are merely seeking to advance an agenda or are fighting internal turf wars and do not want their fingerprints over it. [Read more…]
The piling up of anger at the TSA continues and more people with access to media are being hit. The Atlantic columnist Jeffrey Goldberg describes a crotch issue involving his elderly mother-in-law and Henry Kissinger got the ‘full Monty’ pat down, even though he was in a wheelchair. [Read more…]
The New York Times has a horrible story about sexual abuse of children in the Orthodox Jewish communities. Rather than bringing the perpetrators to justice, the members of the community turn against the accusers. It is depressingly similar to the way that the Catholic church responded to sexual abuse allegations against its leaders. [Read more…]
As expected, both sides on the same sex marriage issue are treading warily and hopefully after president Obama’s statement that he personally supports it. His supporters are hoping that this statement, although minimal in scope and somewhat belated in timing, will still be sufficient to energize those who have been disillusioned by Obama’s failure to deliver on so many other issues and will lead to full-fledged equality soon. [Read more…]
Jon Stewart on The Daily Show had a fascinating interview with the late president’s biographer. Johnson was a complex man, good on civil rights, terrible when it came to Vietnam.
(This clip appeared on May 10, 2012. To get suggestions on how to view clips of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report outside the US, please see this earlier post.)
Recently I have noticed that in my social circle (consisting of almost all president Obama supporters), the conversation frequently turns to Michelle Obama. Praising her for her intelligence, looks, grace, poise, and sense of humor seems to be the one thing that people can agree upon and thus avoid the more disagreeable topic of how disappointing her husband has been. [Read more…]
A woman speaks at a city council meeting in the town of Lincoln, Nebraska at a public hearing on a proposed LGBT equality protection ordinance. Her words provide a remarkable example of non sequiturs strung together to simulate an argument what is in reality just Bible-based homophobia. [Read more…]