December 2011
40 posts
Evaluating The GOP Primary Field
From a liberal perspective, I think it’s clear that Ron Paul would be the best possible GOP nominee. It would put some useful pressure on Obama in terms of executive power, foreign policy, the drug war, etc. and give Bernanke & Company a powerful incentive to deliver monetary stimulus to ensure Obama’s re-election. Next up I’ll take Newt Gingrich who manages to be a comically...
Lesson of the Day
Taste the wine before you cook with it! If you braise veal shanks in incredibly astringent wine you got randomly sent by the Free To Choose Foundation, you end up with funny-tasting meat.
duh squared: Forgive the bleg →
duhsquared:
I’m just going to copy/paste this email from my wonderful roomate Greg. The work Bread for the City does is truly amazing and innovative. I’ve learned so much about DC and poverty and non profit models by living with Greg and learning about his organization, and the main thing I’ve learned is:…
For FY 2011, the Observer Media Group will post a... →
spiers:
Been dying to let that cat out of the bag for a while now.
NBA Preview
It’ll be Oklahoma City versus Miami in the Finals. The Knicks will probably make the playoffs but fundamentally be non-contenders, a fact that will be blamed on a lack of “shooters,” “depth,” and a “true point guard” but will in fact be caused by the fact that Carmelo & Amare aren’t actually very good. Chicago had better make sure to realize that...
The Political Scientist You Have To Read Is Hans...
I’m not really covering politics as such anymore, and I’m basically glad since if I were 50% of my output would consist of noting that everything happening in the GOP primary bears out the thesis of the book he co-authored a few years ago, The Party Decides. His brief paper on pundits and the civil rights realignment gives me faith that the policy writer’s life is worthwhile....
The War's End
Tom Friedman:
Iraq was always a war of choice. As I never bought the argument that Saddam had nukes that had to be taken out, the decision to go to war stemmed, for me, from a different choice: Could we collaborate with the people of Iraq to change the political trajectory of this pivotal state in the heart of the Arab world and help tilt it and the region onto a democratizing track? After 9/11,...
Trades That Won't Happen But Should
Howard/Nelson/Reddick for Rose/Noah/Hamilton/Bogans. Chicago, realistically, would never do this. But they absolutely should. The Bulls have, right now, the most valuable asset in the world — a young hugely overrated point guard.
Lazy Self-Indulgent Book Reviews: Dear Prudence! →
lazybookreviews:
….has a letter from a woman lamenting that her boyfriend, who she plans on marrying, is horribly allergic to her eight-year-old cat, and she feels she must therefore re-home said cat, who is developing behavioral issues from being left home alone while she spends the night at his place constantly.
Hungarian Democracy Crumbling (I think)
I’d be trying to form an opinion about this if I didn’t have a new, narrower brief where I stick to knowing what I’m talking about.
good traditions, bad traditions
chopbouie:
Krampus, the Santa “helper” who kidnaps and devours bad children, is an awesome holiday tradition:
By contrast, Zwarte Piet is the worst thing I’ve ever seen1:
Read this piece at Slate for more details on the Dutch Sambo. Also, remind me to never visit the Netherlands.
Not the worst thing, but close. ↩
Dutch Christmas is horrible. But this Jew’s take is that...
Create Your Own Spurious Correlation →
“As with so many things, Obama’s rhetoric suggests that he gets it. The results...”
– Mark Schmitt in the New Republic.
Cannellini vs Great Northern Beans
Are these things actually different or is the canned goods label-making industry just trying to gin up a pretext to increase label sales?
“If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the...”
– Lincoln’s second inaugural address.
Shock Of The New
This from Kurt Anderson is definitely the craziest thing I’ve read in a while:
Now try to spot the big, obvious, defining differences between 2012 and 1992. Movies and literature and music have never changed less over a 20-year period. Lady Gaga has replaced Madonna, Adele has replaced Mariah Carey—both distinctions without a real difference—and Jay-Z and Wilco are still Jay-Z and Wilco....
Ta-Nehisi Coates Interviews Eric Foner
It’s extremely interesting, of course. I really wonder why in this day and age it still isn’t standard operating procedure to publish full transcripts online of interviews that were conducted for the sake of a quote or two in the longform piece. There’s tons of waste out there.
Definitive Proof That "Hipster" Is Meaningless
In addition to politically focused, Washington, D.C. ranks as one of the top hipster cities around. And this year it seems like more students are adding “hipster” to their resumes, especially at Georgetown. As a top U.S. shopping destination, Georgetown kids build their hipster style at the vintage shops, thrift stores and cute boutiques just minutes from campus. But they aren’t your typical...
Apropos of Nothing
lazybookreviews:
I’ve been imagining a cutting political parody video in which Bella Swan gives birth to Tim Tebow.
Taylor Lautner is still welcome to imprint, naturally.
Who Are These Female Firefighters Taking Care Of... →
Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor and to commemorate, MSNBC posted a slew of photographs taken that day. What’s likely to become a new iconic photo is a shot of several women fighting at fire at the scene. And now, the world wants to know who they are. Hit the jump for the full image.
shhh, peaceful: Julian Barnes has a nice little... →
bradplumer:
Julian Barnes has a nice little riff on gift-giving in his short story “Gardners’ World”:
They had reached the stage, eight years into their relationship, when they had started giving each other useful presents, ones that confirmed their joint project in life rather than expressed their…
Josh Block is terrible →
The end of Israel →