-
Search
-
Sign Up
-
More About John
FAVORITE MOVIES FAVORITE ALBUMS FAVORITE BOOKS SPEECHES -
My Columns
-
My Videos
-
Published Articles
Category Archives: Columns
Exclusive: Congressional Ethics Probe Adds to Michele Bachmann’s Political Woes – The Daily Beast
The Hindenburg. The Titanic. Michele Bachmann. Eighteen months ago, the Minnesota House member was considered an unlikely but undeniable Republican rising star, winning the Iowa straw poll that unofficially begins the primary season. Today, she is embroiled in a litany … Continue reading
Did Rick Santorum Win the Iowa Caucuses, Not Mitt Romney? – The Daily Beast
Incorrect precinct numbers from one Iowa town, and a 20-vote misallocation to Mitt Romney, casts his eight-vote victory in question—along with his claim to be the only candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire. Did Rick Santorum win the … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Featured Columns
Tagged 2012 Elections, Elections, The Daily Beast
Leave a comment
Fulton Fish Mart’s Poets And Ghosts – NY Sun
“Every now and then, seeking to rid my mind of thoughts of death and doom, I get up early and go down to Fulton Fish Market,” wrote Joseph Mitchell at the opening of his story “Up in the Old Hotel.” … Continue reading
What Independent Voters Want – The Wall Street Journal
Independent voters, once a political afterthought, are now the largest and fastest-growing segment of the American electorate. This shift led to the nomination of two candidates who ran against the polarizing establishments of their own parties, while preaching the need … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Featured Columns
Tagged Independent Nation, Independent Voters, The Wall Street Journal
Leave a comment
How Corporate Citizens Can Stop Fake News and Hate News—and Help Save Quality Journalism in the Process
We vote for president every four years, but we vote with our wallets and eyeballs every day. Bill O’Reilly’s sudden fall from cable news supremacy happened because over 60 advertisers—under digital grassroots pressure—decided that they couldn’t be seen supporting him … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Columns
Leave a comment
Soundtrack to Economic Anxiety – Politico
In a fall defined by market chaos, the long road of the campaign has ended up in uncharted economic territory — amid voters’ competing emotions of anxiety, aspiration and anger. After the spring primaries’ reversals of fortune and the hot … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Columns
Leave a comment
What Macron Can Teach America: It’s Time for Center-Left and Center-Right to Unite
In a time of Trump and deepening populist polarization in both parties, the idea of a radical centrist revolution seems as unlikely as it does quaint. But in 15 months, Emmanuel Macron has created a powerful counter-narrative in a time … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Columns
Leave a comment
Ode to the Independent Bookstore – The Daily Beast
In September, the final Borders stores closed, adding to the funeral pyre of big-box stores content providers that went before them, like Tower Records? or Virgin Megastores. Some people believe it is only a matter of time until all bookstores … Continue reading
The Absurd Impeachment Feedback Loop – The Daily Beast
Impeachment is the final fantasy for obsessive hyper-partisans. But some Democrats are exploiting the craziness as a fundraising call to arms. Silly season has started—and both parties are trying to fund-raise off the fringe. One-third of Americans now say that … Continue reading
Border Kids Crisis—Impotent Congress – The Daily Beast
The alleged urgency of the problem is inspiring no action on Capitol Hill. But the failure to deal with the influx of Central American children isn’t inevitable—it’s driven by fear. Cynicism passes for wisdom in Washington. And despite the urgent … Continue reading
The GOP’s Crump Cancer
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are two faces of the same phenomenon—the rise of conservative populism with a mean streak—empowered by the GOP’s purge of the center-right. When asked to assess the presidential prospects of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Columns
Leave a comment
Donald Trump’s ‘American Carnage’ Inaugural
It started to rain right as President Donald J. Trump started speaking. And with the rain came the darkest inaugural address Americans have ever heard from a new president. Inaugural addresses usually are written with an eye toward the sweep … Continue reading
Sue City – City Journal
New York City spends more money on lawsuits than the next five largest American cities—Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, and Philadelphia—combined. The city’s $568 million outlay in fiscal year 2008 was more than double what it spent 15 years ago … Continue reading
Tea Party Cannibalizes Cantor – The Daily Beast
The Republican majority leader fanned the flames of the Tea Party movement, hoping it would help him to take over from John Boehner. Last night he got burned. Winston Churchill once said “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile—hoping … Continue reading
Hatriot Politics Created the Las Vegas Killers – The Daily Beast
Jerad and Amanda Miller, the Wingnuts whose killing spree left two policemen, a civilian, and themselves dead, were inspired by fright-wing radio hosts and militia movement groups. The obsessively anti-government Hatriot movement moved from cultivating conspiracy theories to real killing … Continue reading
Hate—and Hitler—in the Heartland – The Daily Beast
The man accused of shooting three at Jewish centers in Kansas has a long résumé as a neo-Nazi and KKK grand wizard who once created a points system for murder. The sole suspect in a shooting that left three dead … Continue reading
Michael Hastings, R.I.P. – The Daily Beast
There will be a lot of these heartsick tributes to Michael Hastings, who died on Tuesday in Los Angeles at the unforgivably young age of 33. He was one of the great journalists of our generation, possessing spark and insight … Continue reading
Posted in Featured Columns
Leave a comment
Obama has Given Up Seeking a Solution to America’s Financial Woes
Without a bang or a whimper, all hopes of striking a so-called “Grand Bargain” to put America’s public finances on a sustainable track died a quiet death this week. And because cynicism passes for wisdom in Washington, the passing was … Continue reading
American Way: What We Didn’t Learn After Newtown – The Telegraph
Here’s the thing about shock. It fades. Certainly not for the families of the 20 children who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School one year ago. But for the rest of us, who recoiled in horror at the … Continue reading
Posted in Columns
Leave a comment
The Fines – NY Sun
We swore that we would never forget. And for those still counting, today marks four and a half years and three days since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Yesterday will be remembered as a minor milestone in our city’s … Continue reading