OK, Karl Lagerfeld was not a Nazi, but he was born in Germany sometime between 1933 and 1935. What was it like living in Nazi Germany under Hitler as a boy? Was his dad a Nazi? A soldier? Was his home bombed? Invaded by Soviet troops? And what about the gay thing? Apparently, he had…
Author: Alan Vanneman
New York City to Amazon: Drop Dead
In a better universe than ours—there must be one—the provincial New York politicians and union leaders who cut off not their own noses but that of the city’s poor, and (to thoroughly manhandle the metaphor) not to spite their faces but to protect their power, would be punished—very indirectly—by a slow decline in the Great…
How to lie with statistics, Jennifer Rubin edition
Anyone who has read all my posts on Washpost opinion gal Jennifer Rubin would probably tell me to shut the fuck up. But this one’s different, because I agree with Jennie yet dispute her tactics. Jennie’s post of contention, “Graham sums up how stupid the GOP has become”, is an extended poke at South Carolina…
“Blue Monk”
The man himself, in Scandinavia in 1966, with Charlie Rouse on sax, Larry Gales on bass, and Ben Riley on drums. Posted (with misleading information) by Solo musica. I recently published a long (or longish) take on Monk here. For tons o’ Monk (and who could ask for anything more?), try Mostly Monk.
At least they didn’t call him “bwana”*
Faute de mieux—or, really, faute de anything—I recently “found myself” watching the latest iteration of MacGyver, bailing after the first five minutes, though, back in the day, I bailed on “MacGyver I”, so beloved by Marge Simpson’s chain-smoking spinster sisters, even more quickly, in three minutes, when Big Mac made a bomb out of a…
I Am Jill’s Hyman
This is my latest novel, describing the travails and travels of one Hyman Bookbinder, who tires of his life as an all but dissertation Ph.D. candidate in linguistics and decides to join “Alabama Reads”, the brainchild of “legendary” linguist Lester Gomez. Hyman convinces his wife Rachel, already possessing a doctorate, that life in the South…
“Democrats need to beware their looney left,” says confirmed looney Max Boot
“As I’ve traveled around, speaking about my book on how extremists hijacked the Republican Party,” says WashPost pundit Max Boot. “I have been hearing from Democrats who are worried that the same thing is happening to their party. They have good cause for concern.” Well, that’s true, and much—but certainly not all—of what Max has…
Come on, Washington Post. Stop kissing Donald Trump’s ass.
It’s not often that I criticize the WashPost for, well, kissing Donald Trump’s ass, but today is “not often”. The Post has an editorial up, “Come on, lawmakers. Not another shutdown.” Yo, Post! Don’t you mean “Come on, Donald Trump. Not another shutdown.” It was Donald Trump who imposed the most recent shutdown, as a…
Ralph Northam: Virginia woke, or Virginia covering ass?
Poor Ralph Northam! Well, the “embattled” VA guv has put down the shoe polish and eschewed the moon walk, but he’s still having trouble with the indentured servant thing. See, Virginians of his generation (he was born in 1959) know that slavery was a bad thing, but the strategy appears to have been, not to…
Who’s dumber, Trump or the “Intelligence Community”?
I won’t keep you in suspense. IT’S TRUMP! The bad news—or, I guess, the worse news—is, it’s a close contest. And the worst news—for now—is that it’s not just funny dumb but, all too likely, disastrous dumb. Because the real objective for both sides—though they’re choosing different routes—is a new Cold War, with ever-tightening tensions,…