Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

Rabid Robed Revanchism

Posted on July 7, 2022 by JMN

BROKEN NEWS: CONSTITUTION HELD CONTRARY TO CONTRACEPTION The collective of putative originalists of the Chambered Bastion holds supreme and solely licit the celebration of procreative congress in the conventional way, minus obstruction of semen, at sanctioned intervals, between gender-pairs held … Continue reading →

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‘Little Fat, Lazy, Old Woman’

Posted on July 5, 2022 by JMN

I have a cartoon figure on each shoulder; one whispers “you aren’t” in my ear and the other whispers “you’re not” in my ear. I don’t know which is the devil. If you aren’t swayed by this contrived tease, you’re … Continue reading →

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The F-Word Is Spawning

Posted on July 1, 2022 by JMN

When words turn flammable we call them “f-words.” They’re too hot to utter. F***. — The granddaddy of f-words. All f-words trace their ancestry to this one. It’s unsafe for print and held flammable by stare decisis until Alito. In … Continue reading →

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Hacer de Tripas Corazón

Posted on June 30, 2022 by JMN

Facts don’t speak for themselves. They’re spoke by the folks that make ‘em up. (Marjorie Lauren Zayphod-Beeblebroxx, “When Your Gut Talks to Ya,” Podex Press, 2022) “Marjorie Lauren” is a made-up person (cap doff to Douglas Adams). Don’t take her … Continue reading →

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Lone Star Statecraft in Action

Posted on June 28, 2022 by JMN

The scaffolding that supports the letter of the edifice of the law erected for the citizenry by the solons of the state of the land of the brave in which we live is the prepositional phrase. In May, 2022, Texans … Continue reading →

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Is There an Exception Rule for ‘a Anti-abortion’?

Posted on June 28, 2022 by JMN

The pro-life movement is inevitably bound to some kind of conservatism, insofar as a anti-abortion ethic is hard to separate from a conservative ethic around sex, monogamy and marriage. [The bolding is mine. —JMN] (Ross Douthat, “The End of Roe … Continue reading →

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‘It’s This Old, Fatal Love for the Landscape’

Posted on June 25, 2022 by JMN

The quotation in my title is from nature writer Robert Macfarlane. His book The Old Ways featured British war artist Eric Ravilious, killed in a plane crash in 1942. In the book, Macfarlane “points to the way the artist would … Continue reading →

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A Lash of Good Tongue

Posted on June 20, 2022 by JMN

“To sit fast badly is better than to be thrown easily.” (Wright, A Grammar of the Arabic Language, p. 124) [sū’(u)-l-istimāk(i) ẖair(un) min ḥusn(i)-ṣ-ṣirƸaẗ(i)] Wright cites the phrase to illustrate the formation of the [ism(u)-n-nūƸ(i)], noun of kind, aka nomina … Continue reading →

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‘To Translate Is to Look into a Mirror…’

Posted on June 18, 2022 by JMN

Benjamin Moser reviews Jhumpa Lahiri’s book “Translating Myself and Others.” The book deals with her decision at age 45 to begin writing in Italian, which for her was an entirely learned language. “Art is not — should not — be … Continue reading →

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The American Week

Posted on June 14, 2022 by JMN

Monday: A law is born in the House of RepresentativesTuesday: The law dies in the SenateWednesday: A mass shooting occursThursday: The scene is taped off and sealedFriday: Thoughts and prayersWEEKEND! Monday: A law is born in the House… etc. (c) … Continue reading →

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