Politics
I am become Barbie, destroyer of worlds
by David Benjamin “I wanted to do something anarchic and wild and funny and cathartic.” —Greta Gerwig, director, Barbie MADISON, Wis.—You’ve probably heard the joke about Phil the promoter who barges into the office of a showbiz talent scout and says, “Sol, have I got a dynamite act for you! This girl, she’s not…
Read MoreMad as hell and still taking it
by David Benjamin ““ … Trump has energized a segment of America whose values and traditions are mocked as bigoted, backward or too religious. The world is hurtling past them at breakneck speed. Their belief that Trump is their last, best hope to avoid being left in the dust is partly disturbing, partly endearing and…
Read MoreBienfang goes to college
by David Benjamin “Meritocratic systems, with objective grading scales, are critical to that belief [that “blacks can achieve in every avenue of American life without the meddling of university administrators”]. Such scales have always been a great equalizer—offering a metric for achievement that bigotry could not alter.” —Justice Clarence Thomas MADISON, Wis.—When I dropped…
Read MoreThe little boy who wanted all the suckers
by David Benjamin “If you’re playing a poker game and you look around the table and can’t tell who the sucker is, it’s you.” —Paul Newman FORT PIERCE, Fla. (November, 2023)—When the trial of ex-president Donald Trump took a strange twist here last month, eventually triggering a lengthy delay in the proceedings, one commentator…
Read MoreThe counterculture’s B side
by David Benjamin “… Every town must have a place where phony hippies meet/ Psychedelic dungeons popping up on every street …” —The Mothers of Invention MADISON, Wis.— The counterculture is back, but in a mirror image, everything in reverse. It’s been with us since 2015 but we’ve barely noticed, because of its dizzying…
Read MoreOh, yeah? Who says?
by David Benjamin “”The Roman Pontiff, head of the college of bishops, enjoys this infallibility in virtue of his office, when, as supreme pastor and teacher of all the faithful—who confirms his brethren in the faith he proclaims by a definitive act a doctrine pertaining to faith or morals.” —Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph…
Read MoreThe great Texas fart fuss
by David Benjamin “Several of the books in question in Llano County have L.G.B.T.Q. themes or characters, or addressed racial inequality, but they also include goofy children’s titles, such as a series of picture books about flatulence.” —N.Y.Times, 13 April PARIS—Sometimes, I think Congress decided to annex Texas to the USA for the sake…
Read MoreThe campus Communist
by David Benjamin “If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to say what people do not want to hear.” — George Orwell MADISON, Wis.—Although I can’t track down the quotation, I recall somehow that Lillian Hellman once said something to the effect that feminism is the art of winning small battles…
Read MoreMassacre news: One-size-fits-all
by David Benjamin “Lord, when babies die at a church school, it is time for us to move beyond thoughts and prayers.” — Senate Chaplain Barry Black PARIS—Twenty-four years ago, in the innocent early days of America’s mass-shooting craze, I realized that atrocities like Devin Kelley’s church slaughter in Sutherland Springs, Stephen Paddocks’ turkey…
Read MoreEpitaphs for thirty-odd presidents
by David Benjamin “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.” — Bill Clinton MADISON, Wis.—Listening to the news the other night, I heard an oft-repeated phrase that seemed to encapsulate what an ex-president had said and done, what he meant to America and how he’ll be remembered. Ideally, this handful of words…
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