He’s still got it, Mario Cuomo. Remember him?
Remember The Speech? The one he called “A Tale of Two Cities.” The one he gave at the doomed 1984 Democratic convention in San Francisco, in the midst of the Reagan revolution and the rebirth of the religion of wealth.
You don’t have to depend on nostalgia—you Read More
I think I may have missed something important in my initial take on the assault and attempted kidnapping of Elie Wiesel by a Holocaust denier. Are you familiar with this Feb. 1 incident? Don’t be surprised if you missed it; for some reason, this emblematic outrage has been largely ignored by the media.
Perhaps the Read More
I just got off the phone with a legendary spy. Well, let me amend that: a legendary counterspy. Legendary at least to those who have followed the twists and turns of one of the great unresolved spy mysteries of the past century, one of the secret pivots in the clandestine history of the Cold War: Read More
It’s a struggle between American Puritanism and American flamboyance.
I’m talking about the argument over N.F.L. touchdown dances and other outcroppings of fun in this sport that takes itself so seriously.
As the Super Bowl approaches, the sports prudes are at it again. Consider the deep distress with which an otherwise intelligent local sports Read More
I’m beginning to feel that Norman Mailer might have made a strategic mistake in recent interviews plugging his new book on writing, The Spooky Art. A strategic mistake in conspicuously low-balling his life’s work, his achievements as opposed to his once-grand expectations of himself.
He told The Times, for instance, “I may last or I Read More
Did you realize that, according to the BBC, CSI: Miami—the one starring David Caruso—is the world’s most popular TV series? It features on more Top 10 ratings lists in more countries than any other show. This seems to me a phenomenon worth investigating. Especially since I’ve recently fallen under the spell of the show through Read More
There’s a fascinating new war going on in the culture between self-proclaimed “scientific atheists” and theists. Militant atheists who believe that God is a “delusion,” as Richard Dawkins would have it, and believers who adhere to the idea of a just and loving deity.
The atheists are on the offensive, one might say, with Daniel Read More
Holocaust denial is a particularly insidious evil. It was almost painful to read The Times’ earnest struggle to report on the Iranian Holocaust-deniers’ conference in anticipation of its opening on Dec. 11. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of the media reports on this conference of “scholars” whose distinguished keynote speaker is Read More
Holocaust denial is a particularly insidious evil. It was almost painful to read The Times’ earnest struggle to report on the Iranian Holocaust-deniers’ conference in anticipation of its opening on Dec. 11. It will be fascinating to see how the rest of the media reports on this conference of “scholars” whose distinguished keynote speaker is Read More
Explaining Kramer: being an intensive exegesis of the media theories of Michael Richards’ racist outburst.
I know. You haven’t read enough about the subject, but reaction has been all over the map, and perhaps there’s a value in examining the contours of the map. Beginning with …
Theory No. 1 (my sentimental favorite): Blame Seinfeld, Read More
