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Specialist Grundle and the insatiable appetite

A while back, I told you about Specialist Grundle, the annoying soldier who deployed with us to Farah Province, Afghanistan, in 2004. He was furious about not having been promoted and compensated by claiming superior soldier ability and quoting useless weapons statistics. I was disgracefully overweight when I began my tour, but the extreme desert […]

The end of cosmopolitan Europe: Review of ‘The Last Days of Budapest’ by Adam LeBor

On a visit to Budapest in the 1930s, an unimpressed H.L. Mencken remarked that the former imperial capital had the feeling of “an empty ballroom.” Having been shorn of half its territory after World War I, Budapest’s grandeur was an awkward fit for a country of 8 million people caught between the rising totalitarian powers […]

The vacation binary

I emailed a young colleague a few days ago to ask about an upcoming project. We were supposed to have a meeting to discuss it this week, but I hadn’t received any confirmation.  It’s a delicate email to write. On the one hand, I’d like to get the project going as soon as possible. On […]

Can superhero films have weight without going grimdark?: Review of ‘Superman’ and ‘Fantastic Four: First Steps’

Charmed as his life might be (stable and remunerative employment at a daily city newspaper!),  it’s easy to feel sorry for Superman. Having been around for now the better part of a century, the blue unitard-wearing hero’s name has become almost metonymic with an idealized, impossible conception of “goodness” (see: everything from the ponderous 2010 […]

Stand by your man

Trend pieces rarely identify something brand new because there is nothing new in the lives of men and women. Likewise, when the New York Times explains the latest cultural developments to its readers, the features often tell them more about the cultural milieux of highly educated, white, feminist, 30- to 40-something-year-old, city-dwelling women — that is, […]

Trump’s Senate closer: Republican freshman emerges as key White House ally

Sen. Eric Schmitt was one of the first senators to support President Donald Trump during his reelection campaign and now acts as a de facto bridge between the White House and Senate.

Federal court rejects challenge to Oklahoma law banning gender transition treatment for minors

A federal appeals court upheld an Oklahoma law prohibiting gender transition treatment for minors, relying on a Supreme Court decision on a similar law in Tennessee.

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan floats possible run for office after switching to Democratic Party

Former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said he is considering a run for higher office as a Democrat after announcing he was leaving the Republican Party.

Trump calls former Georgia Lt. Gov. ‘total loser’ for swapping from Republican to Democrat: ‘Good riddance’

President Trump criticized Geoff Duncan, expelled Republican and former Lt. Gov. of Georgia, after the once GOP leader announced he is joining the Democratic Party.

Thomas Chatterton Williams’s 2020 hindsight

Is Thomas Chatterton Williams’s new book, Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse, about wokeness, or is it the story of 2020? Yes. Is it a memoir, or is it advancing and building an argument? It’s both. Is it a treatise against “anti-racism,” or a general rebuttal of mad, […]

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