Privacy Hysteria

First, a follow up to last week's column: Despite being presented with (singular) evidence to the contrary, I clung weakly to my belief that few Professional Conservatives"„¢ were poseurs "€œwho were only in it for the money."€ For one thing, I wondered, how could anyone convincingly pull ...

Ann Coulter

The Hunt for the Right Wing Snipe

"€œI was never a true believer, but the money was good."€ When I started writing about politics and hanging around with conservatives, I started hearing leftists say the weirdest crap. Stuff that stank of desperation, like some dough-bellied comb-over"€™d dude trawling a mail order bride ...

Noam Chomsky

“Authentic Sensibilities”

Everyone's just gonna have to take my word for this: I started writing this column before Gavin McInnes put out this (delightful) video. No, something purely coincidental prompted me this week: An excerpt from a new book by Andrew Hartman, called A War for the Soul of America: A History of the ...

Battle of Wounded Egos

"€œBlazing Saddles could never get made today."€ We all know how virulent political correctness has become. In fact, to cite another tedious cliché, it's been "€œgoing mad"€ (exclamation point optional unless you"€™re a Daily Mail commenter) since, by my count, around 1993. But ...

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Günter Grass:Truth and Lies

Right after I hit "€œsend"€ on my second last column "€“ the one about being short "€“ I kicked myself (as best I could with these damn stubby legs) for forgetting to mention The Tin Drum, whose anti-hero, Oskar, is the Marjorie Morningstar of midgets. Then right after that, Günter ...

Into the Remainder Bins

In journalism, "€œtrend pieces"€ are like the weather: Everyone complains about them "€“ and there"€™ll be a new one around any minute. (One probably written by some low-level reporter who was just moaning about how hacky the damn things are.) You know the sort of article I mean, even if ...

America’s Last Remaining Manufacturing Industry

I hate the real phone, so despite my lifetime membership in the Cult of Mac, I"€™ve never wanted one in my damn pocket or purse. Sadly, circumstances forced me to finally buy an iPhone last week, and I was much more excited about picking out the case than getting the phone itself. I finally ...

The Gayest Gay Sweater of All

The stink of bullshittery clinging to the so-called "€œgay sweater"€ first enters the nostrils upon reading that it traces its origins back to "€œa lighthearted conversation"€ at an Ottawa workplace. For one thing, there's a local bylaw dating back to the Dewar era forbidding ...

Annoying Encumbrances

Yesterday a young man asked me to recommend a must-read book, the one that meant the most to me. My answer to that question hasn"€™t changed since it was published in 1988: Solitude by Anthony Storr. I"€™ve never before or since experienced the pleasantly uncanny sensation that a book had been ...

Gary Glitter

How “€œGary”€ Lost Its Glitter

Muggeridge's Law, indeed. The Punch editor (and all around crusty old fart) observed late-ish in the 20th century that modern life's absurdities rendered the satirist's role redundant. But too many self-appointed satirists out there apparently never got that memo (or should that be pink slip?) ...