Moving towards Epiphany

by liberal japonicus As we crawl to the end of the year, maybe a word about epiphanies. I assume that it must be the same as Hemingway’s line about going bankrupt. Ephiphany, which is usually celebrated on the Sunday between Jan 2nd and Jan 8th, is from the Greek epiphaneia and means manifestation or revelation, … Read more

Weekend music thread #10 Maurice Ravel

by liberal japonicus Last week, I mentioned Daphnis et Chloé by Maurice Ravel, so down the rabbit hole we go. My favorite work by Ravel is Le Tombeau de Couperin, and I was able to find the album that was my first listen to this. Had I heard that earlier in my life, I might … Read more

More on the Wiles interview

by liberal japonicus I found this Graniaud piece by Sydney Blumenthal very interesting. As a senior advisor to Bill Clinton, he is familiar to the rhythms of how a presidential staff operates, but the paper is more a forensic examination of the Vanity Fair piece on Susan Wiles. Here are the final two paragraphs Wiles … Read more

Welcome to my world

by liberal japonicus This Cheryl Rofer post over at LGM suggests that this scene at Riga might be what we might hope for in a future where we have to sullenly co-exist with people who think that Trump shits gold turds I like to think that this piece illustrates some of what we might try … Read more

Weekend Music Thread music thread #09 In Russia, Christmas music sings you!

by liberal japonicus Being the weekend before Christmas, how about some tunes from the Soviet Army Choir? Here’s Jingle Bells, I love how they have Russlish lyrics. If you are playing Whamageddon, don’t click on this next one! Baba daba dop! Fun fact: At the beginning, the female weathercaster says something like “Oksana says don’t … Read more

The Wiles Interview

by liberal japonicus Part 1 and Part 2. Unfortunately, part 2 is behind a paywall, so if anyone has a gift link, send it on. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, … Read more

More on Alex Karp and Palantir

by liberal japonicus Earlier, I wrote about Alex Karp here. This NYT Daily talks with a reporter who has interviewed Karp multiple times over the past decade. In the thread about Truss going for the MAGA gravy train, we were talking about her Oxford degree qualification and hearing the reporter talk about Karp and his … Read more

Author, author?

by liberal japonicus It’s a small drop in the ocean of crap, but the deranged post about Rob Reiner’s death on Trump’s account on Truth Social has me wonder. This Axios piece will get you up to speed if you were blissfully unaware of this. I would observe that seeing pieces like this makes me … Read more