Ever wondered why the never-endingTrump show seems simultaneously like a reality show remake and sequel? According to Chris Gavaler, the self styled Patron Saint of Superheroes (https://thepatronsaintofsuperheroes.wordpress.com/) , it’s because our view of reality itself has been shaped by all those “sequels, remakes, retcons and rejects” endlessly spewing out of…
Given the situation in Gaza, some might interpret a new book entitled Judaism Is About Love (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374192440/judaismisaboutlove) to be either satirical or slightly chutzpahdik. But its author, Rabbi Shai Held (https://www.hadar.org/about/people/rabbi-shai-held) , President & Dean of New York City’s Hadar Institute, is all too serious in his argument that the…
Last week’s KEEN ON America interview featured a conversation (https://keenon.substack.com/p/episode-2057-r-derek-black-on-his?initial_medium=video) with R. Derek Black, the son of a KKK Grand Wizard, whose all-too-American life has been defined by radical personal reinvention and second chances. In contrast, Ali Velshi, host of MSNBC's "The Last Word", not only chose to come to…
What is the most American town in the USA? Las Vegas comes to mind, of course. And Memphis, with its uniquely American church of Graceland. Or one of Springsteen’s forgotten beach towns in New Jersey. Imagine rolling Vegas and Memphis and one of those sad NJ boardwalk places into a…
I’m just back from five glorious days in Syracuse, the ancient Mediterranean city in the south western corner of Sicily. And to extend my trip, at least virtually, I spoke to the young Irish novelist, Ferdia Lennon (https://www.ferdialennon.com/about) , author of the very unusual and much acclaimed Glorious Exploits (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250893697/gloriousexploits)…
Apple’s Crush (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntjkwIXWtrc) advertisement for their new range of iPads got so crushed by its critics that Apple apologized and announced the commercial wouldn’t go on tv. But according to Keith Teare, author of the That Was The Week (https://www.thatwastheweek.com/) tech newsletter, the massive reaction to this ad reflects a…
Timothy Morton, who teaches English at Rice, has become a bit of a rock star interpreter of our hellishly hot planetary times. And his eclectic work has even gotten the stamp of approval of real rock stars - like Laurie Anderson & Björk as well as the Big Lebowski himself,…
How seriously should we take the white nationalist threat in the United States? Very seriously, at least according to R. Derek Black, a young man who knows a thing or two about the US white nationalist movement. The son of a Grand Wizard of the KKK and a close family…
Marx’s 19th century remark that history repeats itself twice, first as tragedy and then as farce, helps us makes sense of the seemingly surreal politics of the contemporary Republican Party. As Kyle Paoletta notes in his insightful Harpers essay “The Race For Second Place”, (https://harpers.org/archive/2024/05/the-race-for-second-place-kyle-paoletta-republican-primaries-donald-trump-nikki-haley-ron-desantis/) the 2024 Republican primaries have…
Pete Townsend said it best. “Hope I die before I get old” he wrote in The Who’s anthemic 1965 hit, “My Generation”. But what Townsend really meant in a lyric that best captured the rebellious Boomer spirit of the Sixties, he later acknowledged (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Generation) , was “hope I die before…
