We’ve focused for so long on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we tend to forget that the worst U.S. war crimes of our time — of mine anyway — were committed in Vietnam. Here’s a well-told reminder from several years ago: Vietnam: American Holocaust Read the comment, below, and click the link it […]

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Surely you’ve read the news that Gadhafi is being sought for war crimes. You may recall that America’s BananaRepublican gangsters never committed any war crimes — not in Iraq and not in Afghanistan. Unlike Gadhafi, our very own gang of culprits is above reproach. Postscript: May 21 — Let this be a reminder: Stupidity, Arrogance, […]

FRISKO © by Norman O. Mustill No comment required … but I don’t think Tony Bennett’s nostalgia quite applies. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Isn’t editorializing in a news story supposed to be out of bounds at The New York Times? Here’s the third graf of Bin Laden’s Secret Life in a Diminished World, which (with a headline describing his Shrunken World) dominates the print edition of today’s front page: Videos seized from Bin Laden’s compound and released by […]

It’s no more than a coincidence. Osama Bin Laden was killed on this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. But it’s worth noting, given that the man was motivated by one thing above all else: his hatred of Jews. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Two young women, both in their mid-20s, both amateur musicians: I came across Amanda Dillard through a friend who pointed out her YouTube video. Leyla McCalla caught my attention not long ago in New Orleans. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

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Here’s the headline: William S Burroughs on trial for corrupting Turkish morality. And here’s the lede: The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into a book written by internationally renowned author William S. Burroughs. It was translated and published by Sel Publishing House in January. The court referred to a report written by the […]

Why, in a 2,160-word article, Classified Files Offer New Insights Into Detainees, which dominates the front page of today’s New York Times print edition, is the key source of the revelations buried so deep that the reader has to guess at it? Wikileaks, without which there would be no story, is not acknowledged until the […]

The Riss diner was on 8th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets in Manhattan. It’s no longer there. In its place is a Murray’s Bagels shop. Much less interesting. This photo illustrated the front cover of Philip Corner’s The Identical Lunch, in 1973. Click to enlarge I published the book, which Graham Macintosh designed and […]

Keith Seward, in a remarkable piece of detective work, susses out the mystery behind an enigmatic literary figure. I quote from his intro: In the summer of 1959, with Olympia Press about to publish the first edition of Naked Lunch in Paris, William Burroughs was raving about the work of another writer. Jack Kerouac, Allen […]

Obama’s speech, “laying out his plan to reduce the deficit,” seemed to make a lot of liberals happy, or happier than they thought they’d be. Rachel Maddow, for example, praised the speech “for defining Democratic values, defending social programs, and confronting Republicans.” The plan even had Paul Krugman in sort of a swoon: Substance: Much […]

The Guardian reports that top U.S. legal scholars are outraged by Bradley Manning’s treatment. They call it “torture” and, “in a stinging rebuke” to Barack Obama that is nothing if not personal, they question “whether his conduct as commander in chief meets fundamental standards of decency.” Glenn Greenwald’s column today tipped me to the report. […]

Lizzie Ratner, one of the editors of THE GOLDSTONE REPORT: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict, sends this response to the Goldstone bombshell, as I termed it: I think your read is by and large right: The judge’s retreat from the Goldstone Report’s findings was far more modest than his critics’ […]

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