A few posts back, I groused (loudly) over Justice Clarence Thomas’ majority opinion in FTB v. Hyatt, overturning a previous Supreme Court decision, Nevada v. Hall regarding the immunity of states from suit in other states’ courts. In rejecting Hall, the Court found that the Constitution not only grants states an inherent immunity to suits…
Author: Alan Vanneman
Harvard University, proving that no matter how rich you are, you can still be a coward
Over at Bloomberg Opinion, Stephen L. Carter has a crushingly accurate piece, “Harvard’s Shameful History Repeats Itself”, recounting how Harvard, which once let itself be bullied by Joe McCarthy, now lets itself be bullied by enraged feminists and other pc types, dismissing husband and wife Harvard Law professors Ronald Sullivan and Stephanie Robinson as deans…
Bud Powell—“Round Midnight”
One thing I definitely lack is perfect pitch, but Bud’s piano sounds seriously out of tune in this clip, which I am nonetheless including for its historical significance. This is “obviously” a French film director’s “homage” to both Bud and Thelonious—the whole mise-en-scène reeks of France in the fifties (which is not a bad reek…
The CIA lies well—and David Ignatius is glad to help!
Mole hunt! Mole hunt! That’s the cry over at the CIA, and it’s exciting! See, here’s the deal. Back in the day, it seems that the Chinese were picking off our “key informants” (aka, “spies”), and no one knew how or why. Thanks, however, to bungled “tradecraft” on the part of the Chinese, the good…
Justice Thomas, casting shade—on the Constitution!
If you want to get a laugh out of a constitutional “originalist” like Supreme Court Justice Clarence “if it ain’t there it ain’t there” Thomas, use the word “penumbra” in a sentence. Yes, it is inside, but it’s funny, to Clarence and his Federalist pals, thanks to Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, who, writing in…
Dirty Chinese try to prevent the U.S. from spying on them
Jerry Chun Shing Lee, a former case officer with the CIA, pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide intelligence information to the Chinese government. He did not admit to actually providing information. You can read about the case in this story from the New York Times by Julien E. Barnes. According to Barnes, Lee’s case “highlighted…
Gregory Mankiw, dean of conservative economists. He got it only half wrong.
After the fortunate demise of President Trump’s nomination of Republican hustler Stephen Moore for a position on the Federal Reserve, Paul Krugman remarked “Aside from Harvard’s Greg Mankiw, not one prominent Republican economist stepped up to oppose Moore.”1 And indeed “Greg”, as I guess his friends like to call him, gave the news of Steve’s…
Veronique de Rugy and the howler of the week
Libertarian gal/scholar Veronique de Rugy starts off her latest column in the New York Times with the understatement of the year (and I have been keeping track): “Fools like me who believed that President Trump would “drain the swamp” in Washington have been enduring one disappointment after another.” I believe the phrase you’re looking for…
Ella Fitzgerald — “Round Midnight”
Ella does Monk; dated video, timeless vocal. In 1961, London, with Oscar Peterson, piano, Ray Brown, bass, and Ed Thigpen, drums. Posted by guachifluchi Need more Monk? Of course you do, Go to Mostly Monk
Shorter Trump “Doctrine”: Ain’t nobody here but us Caucasians
Fareed Zakaria, attempting to suss out a Trump foreign policy “doctrine” other than the obvious “Don’t Fuck with US”, comes up with a reality as predictable as it is unappetizing—it’s all about the racism. Fareed sees no point in attempting to dissect the “thought” of President Trump himself, aka “Mr. Malaprop”, passing him up in…