Not her husband, as originally believed.  (more…)

Awkward family photos. (more…)

In Britain. (more…)

Is not merit-based. (more…)

Google defends itself for posting links to racist and anti-Semitic sites. (more…)

I spent the day profitably, reading Borges. It struck me that the story “Unworthy” is of a piece with the David Mamet picture “Homicide.” Borges’ Santiago Fischbein, Argentine bookstore proprietor and former street tough, tracks to Mamet’s detective Bobby Gold.

Both are recommended.

From The Onion, of course.

Does not seem to be a priority to this administration.

This kind of thing is self-punishing. Which, notwithstanding my profound policy differences with B.O., is not a happy thought. He needs to serve out his term so those who voted for him can learn their lesson, good and hard.

here are the bullet points of why I love Thanksgiving:

• It’s not commercialized because there are no gifts. Kay Jewelers has not yet figured out how to pimp-out American womenfolk for Thanksgiving (“every drumstick begins with second-base” never caught on as a slogan).

• It’s America’s only nationalist holiday. The Fourth of July, President’s Day, and even Veterans’ and Memorial Day are celebrations of the nation-state created by the American founding. In short, our other holidays are about patriotism, not nationalism. Thanksgiving meanwhile celebrates a pre-constitutional relationship with the Almighty. I wouldn’t quite say it’s a pre-modern or blood-and-soil holiday, but it is about Providence and the great gift being here, in this place, is. A little mystic nationalism is a good and healthy thing because it provides the emotional sinew that helps us hold onto our patriotism. This country is great and good for many reasons. But one reason for its greatness, too often forgotten, is that it is ours.

• It’s all about family, formal and informal. The Thanksgiving table is one of the few times every year where you can define your own little nation-state, your own little Hobbit warren, in your own little Shire. I’m not saying that we lose our concern for our fellow man, but we are reminded that life’s joys come not from abstract people, but real ones.

• Left-over turkey sandwiches are as pure a distillation of awesomeness as man has ever conspired to produce.

Would that be a metafail?

Screwtape proposes a toast

Stephen Green:

If there really was a Party Of No, I would so join.

Sign me up too.

Peruvian-style.

Pretty much captures my feelings about it: (more…)

Surtax on income over $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for married couples. (more…)