Author Archives: stephenkmacksd

Political Cynic comments on this once valued publication. Not much here, but the news that Mailer was buried in his boxing gear. I recall reading a paperback of Mailer’s ‘An American Dream’ that I purchased at a liquor store on … Continue reading →

Political Observer comments. Headline: Isolated, out of touch, but clinging on: how Russians see Putin Sub-headline: A year on from the disastrous invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin could be just one crisis away from collapse https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/how-perceptions-putin-evolved-one-year-russia-ukraine-war-b79xh0xgr The reader might wonder … Continue reading →

Political Observer checks Mr. Brooks’ sources Mr. Brookes begins here: “The coronavirus caused by far the biggest disruption in the history of American education,” Meira Levinson and Daniel Markovits wrote in The Atlantic last year. Things have not reverted back to normal … Continue reading →

Political Observer comments, and quotes from McGeorge Bundy’s 1952 review of ‘God and Man at Yale’. Some ‘highlights’ from the utterly unimpressive @RichLowry essay, on the equally unimpressive Nikki Haley: Headline: Opinion | The Real Reason Nikki Haley May Struggle … Continue reading →

Almost Marx confronts a New York Times Public Intellectual! The opening paragraphs of Mr. Friedman’s ‘almost defence’ of Netanyahu is awash in carefully laundered gush: If you want to understand the economic riskiness and moral fraudulence of Prime Minister Benjamin … Continue reading →

The Reader has to be unsurprised by The Times celebratory, even ecstatic ‘reportage’ regarding the expulsion of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party. Starmer has always been Tony Blair’s political catamite. Starmer offers no real threat to Blair, whom Mrs. … Continue reading →

Almost Marx follows the incense, and kowtowing… What does ‘woke’ mean? Think of the hysterics who inveigh against this- what it means is no longer a concern, but it is that elusive ‘substance’ , a political non-sequitur …that fires the … Continue reading →

Almost Marx reads @Peter_Conradi on Brigitte Macron Headline: Brigitte Macron ‘advises president on understanding the French Less than a year into his second term President Macron cuts an increasingly isolated figure: his ratings are poor, the team that helped him … Continue reading →

Political Observer. Here are the opening paragraphs of Mr. Friedman’s Feb 12, 2023 column: I woke up on Saturday morning, read the news from Israel that at least 50,000 Israelis had just demonstrated once more against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s … Continue reading →

Old Socialist resorts to minimalism! I’ll not waste much time on Neo-Con Ghoul Bret Stephens selective compassion: the last two paragraphs are enough melodrama, in which he plays the Lead Role. Even in the age of Ukraine and other disasters, … Continue reading →