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Tag Archives: The Daily Beast
The Westboro Defectors Speak: Phelps Granddaughters Embrace Tolerance – The Daily Beast
On Thursday afternoon Megan and Grace Phelps-Roper visited the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. They’d been inside only a few minutes when they saw a photo of their family. There, as part of the permanent exhibit, was an image … Continue reading
The Best Columns of the Year – The Daily Beast
I’m a fan of the American art form once known as the newspaper column. That’s why I co-edited two Deadline Artists anthologies with my friends Errol Louis and Jesse Angelo—to honor and archive the best of the past. But the … Continue reading
Remembering 9/11: John Avlon
Before he became a senior columnist for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, John Avlon was a speechwriter for New York Mayor Rudoph Giuliani. He was with Giuliani on the day of the attack. Avlon talks about the difficulty and importance … Continue reading
Why We Stand With Charlie Hebdo – And You Should Too – The Daily Beast
The massacre of cartoonists at the French magazine Charlie Hebdo is a crystallizing moment. The shock brings clarity—a reminder that evil exists and free speech, no matter who might it offend, is a bedrock value of liberal democracy. An attack … Continue reading
How The Daily Beast Will Stand Up to President Donald Trump
We will be the loyal opposition. We will not deny his legitimacy. But we will oppose his worst policies and hold him to account. In 1960, after John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Richard Nixon, staunch Hollywood conservative John Wayne declared, … Continue reading
Jim Harrison Can Make You a Better Animal – The Daily Beast
Arguably America’s greatest living author—and certainly our earthiest—lives half the year in Livingston, Montana. It’s a town grounded in the early 20th-century West, with neon signs on brick buildings and mountains in the background, all crowned by a former train … Continue reading
Posted in Columns, Featured Columns
Tagged Book and Movie Reviews, Music, The Daily Beast
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Moe Tucker Interview: Velvet Underground Drummer Embraces Tea Party
A few weeks ago, the British music press freaked out when they found a clip of one ‘Maureen Tucker’ being interviewed at a Tea Party rally in Georgia. Could this be the same Moe Tucker who played drums alongside Lou … Continue reading
What George Washington Knew About Vladimir Putin’s Political Hack – The Daily Beast
The Founding Fathers reflected on how foreign influences try to erode republican government. We should, too. The idea that a foreign power might try to impact an American election sounds like a chapter ripped from a dystopian novel. It’s not. … Continue reading
Vaclav Havel’s Heroic Politics of Truth and Responsibility – The Daily Beast
It is a small irony of history that playwright, prisoner, and Czech president Vaclav Havel died on the same day as North Korean dictator Kim Jung-il. But the world that Havel helped shape had reduced Kim Jung-il to a strange … Continue reading
Jimmy Breslin, the Greatest Deadline Artist – The Daily Beast
The great ones don’t age. You can pick up almost any Jimmy Breslin column from his prime and it reads clean. The punches land with precision. He’s fearless. Funny as hell. And he can break your heart. Line up your … Continue reading
Ed Brooke: The Senate’s Civil Rights Pioneer and Prophet of a Post-Racial America – The Daily Beast
Ed Brooke was a man ahead of his time—a pioneer of the civil rights movement and a prophet of a post-racial America that is still beyond us. And like all prophets, he was under-appreciated by his country, his community, and … Continue reading
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
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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
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
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