Category Archives: Commentary

Opinion or analysis concerning whatever’s on my mind.

Mindreading the Meritocracy

Posted on July 20, 2020 by JMN

Of the opinion writers I read regularly in the NYTimes, the one who uses the term “meritocracy” most by far, and with pronounced ambivalence, is Ross Douthat — himself a confessed meritocrat (Hamden Hall Country Day School, magna cum laude … Continue reading →

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‘The Degeneracy of War’

Posted on July 19, 2020 by JMN

I’m fond of the colorful, map-like painting by the Austrian Hundertwasser. Also, of the sun figure that recurs in his work. “These artists have something in common: They all turned against the ideals of the Third Reich… I’m doing a … Continue reading →

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How It Gets Ugly

Posted on July 15, 2020 by JMN

Half a thousand academics want Steven Pinker dropped from the list of “distinguished fellows” of the Linguistic Society of America for allegedly minimizing racial and sexist injustices. Because this is a fight involving linguists, it features some expected elements: intense … Continue reading →

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A Conservative with Elite Style

Posted on July 12, 2020 by JMN

But there was one small difficulty: This hawk was no Truman or Reagan, but rather a reality-television mountebank whose real attitude toward China policy was, basically, whatever gets me re-elected works. Who has heard recently, or ever, the word “mountebank”? … Continue reading →

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Handshake

Posted on July 7, 2020 by JMN

This photo captures a moment when a ritual handshake marked a pause in our Civil War. The Virginia Monument… marks the departure point of Pickett’s Charge, an ill-fated assault launched 157 years ago on July 3 on the final afternoon … Continue reading →

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Vectors

Posted on June 30, 2020 by JMN

On Sunday, [Texas governor] Abbott said that as many as 5,000 people a day were being diagnosed with the virus… … Vice-president [Pence] also urged Texans to wear masks “wherever it’s indicated”, saying “we know from experience, it will slow … Continue reading →

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Texas, Florida, Arizona, England

Posted on June 28, 2020 by JMN

“We’re on a knife edge, it’s very precarious the situation, particularly in England at the moment, and I would anticipate we would see an increase in new cases over the coming weeks.” (Sir Jeremy Farrar of SAGE) The warning comes … Continue reading →

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The Islamic Influence on Dylan’s Hair

Posted on June 27, 2020 by JMN

Milton Glaser is dead at 91. His life and work are exhilarating. For the Dylan poster, a promotional piece included in the 1967 album “Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits,” he created a simple outline of the singer’s head, based on a … Continue reading →

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Manifestoid 2 of 2

Posted on June 26, 2020 by JMN

Black lives matter. I’m a lay reader of Poetry, the magazine founded in 1912 by Harriet Monroe. I’m reading backward through my current 102 issues. “I — the telltale animal — rest my throat / against the snare of you, … Continue reading →

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Manifestoid 1 of 2

Posted on June 25, 2020 by JMN

A correspondent writes: Watched the lunchtime news, it veers between positivity and warnings that leaves the head spinning and the heart pumping. In that last sentence, should it be ‘leave’ or ‘leaves’. I had ‘leaves’ because it is the veering … Continue reading →

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