Author Archives: jsl915@aol.com

In his memoir,  Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy, he rcounts how during his first run for Congress he was counseled to stick to the center, whatever that is.  His response? “It is not my ambition to be in … Continue reading →

In Air Mail, Sam Kashner describes the way that corporate publishing is now circling the wagons around the thorny question of just exactly who really wrote J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. More than ever, “Success has many fathers [and, of course, … Continue reading →

Why is Speaker Mike Johnson so intimately involved in his childrens’ sex lives? Is J.D. Vance really gay, the way he thought he was, and is that why he hates LGBTQ so much? Why does Trump’s Project 2025 want to … Continue reading →

J.D. Vance’s new attack lines on Kamala Harris echo so precisely Karl Rove’s attack lines on Obama?

Nepo fail baby Jesse couldn’t hold down a job, until his wealthy and well-connected mother called in her markers and got him a position at Fox–not that that’s a real job. The rest is one more sordid tale of greed … Continue reading →

“The fact that he’s second-rate is an asset. Our audiences are second rate.” Actually that’s a line spoken by an an executive at a proto-Fox TV network in 1971’s The Love Machine, based on Jacqueline Susann’s novel. But it comports exactly with … Continue reading →

I shuddered as I watched Trump during his presidency enthusiastically endorse every horribly provocative and repressive policy of Netanyahu’s. Even someone as stupid as Trump had to know that there would be a terrible retaliation to come. And Trump’s pal … Continue reading →

Exactly what type of message do we think Jeff Bezos is ending by hiring Murdoch hack Will Lewis to run the Washington Post, then allowing Lewis to humiliate and berate the reportorial staff, then continuing to support Lewis even after … Continue reading →

At Off Message, Brian Beutler writes that “the public can’t be well informed if journalists apply different standards to different politicians arbitrarily—or, worse, out of fear that certain politicians will seek retribution for adversarial coverage. . .If campaign journalists have … Continue reading →