Author Archives: stephenkmacksd

Almost Marx … Here is the version of Mr. Douthat’s commentary on Biden’s ‘State of The Union’ address featured on the NYT front page: The actual column framing: Like Joe Biden, Mr. Douthat is a political hack/opportunist, whose latest political iteration is … Continue reading →

A writer for Politico, Clair Berlinsky of ‘The Cosmopolitan Globalist’, that resembles a ill-conceived blog, rather than a ‘Newspaper’ opines on: Her twitter page features evocatively gauzy ‘glamor shots’ of its author: Ms. Belinsky writes as if she were a Eurocrat on a Public … Continue reading →

Political Cynic contemplates @RColvile moral/political… After last week’s cri de coeur : Paying £250,000 a year for a child in care means nothing if we don’t show them love  Robert Colvile  Sunday January 29 2023, 12.01am GMT, The Sunday Times  … Continue reading →

_______________________________________________________________________________ It’s hard to be patient with Timothy Garton-Ash. Old Socialist makes his way through his ‘The future of liberalism’ stephenkmacksd.com/ Dec 17, 2020 The first two paragraphs on Mr. Garton-Ash’s essay are … Writers have interpreted the failings of … Continue reading →

Almost Marx … The Reader isn’t quite prepared, for Adam Tooze, in his Financial Times streamlined iteration. Those New Statesman essays, have been miniaturized for those busy Capitalist Technos? Those majestic paragraphs are … Call it a collection of ideas, … Continue reading →

Philosophical Apprentice comments. Mr. Stephens is like his fellow Neo-Cons: David Frum, Bill Kristol and David Brooks. They have an appetite for War, yet have no actual experience, of what being a soldier is like, not to speak of a … Continue reading →

Old Socialist comments. The title of this polemic should be: ‘The Economist Shames Goldman Sachs , yet : Leaders | Goldman sags Headline: The humbling of Goldman Sachs Sub-headline: The struggle to reinvent a firm trapped by its own mythology https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/01/26/the-humbling-of-goldman-sachs Compare this … Continue reading →

Almost Marx surveys this broad historical landscape, and its cast of characters. It is unusual for this news magazine to grant credit to one of its ‘writers’. The Reader might begin her exploration of the career of the Economist’s writer Arkady Ostrovsky: … Continue reading →

Philosophical Apprentice comments. In his history of ‘Hegel’s Century’ Prof. Jon Stewart explores the role of Heine: Chapter 3 – Heine, Alienation, and Political Revolution: from Part II – The First Generation. A summery provided by Cambridge: Summary Chapter 3 is dedicated to Hegel’s student, … Continue reading →

Political Observer offer an unapologetic reductivist strategy, to ‘parse’ this essay? I will quote the the first sentences of each paragraph, as examples of the ‘Shavit Methodology’ The Reader can read these paragraphs in full: The Prologue: Benjamin Netanyahu is … Continue reading →