I can't steel myself to listen to Ben Shapiro and his whiny rat-a-tat voice on The New Yorker podcast, hosted by Broadway legend Hal Linden.* If only there was an AI summation somewhere I could tap that would supply the salient "high points," if any. *[needs fact checking--ed.]

It appears that the Matt Taibbi-Walter Kirn podcast breakup or trial separation wasn't mutual and amicable. Basically, Kirn got blindsided by Taibbi and was left with a bitter taste in his mouth, one that no amount of oral rinse can swish away. Another beautiful bromance, kaput.

The only ass America is kicking is its own. www.city-journal.org/article/ben-...

"Thank-you-very-much" (Elvis Presley voice)

I can't locate the Bauer interview on YouTube so perhaps Daum pulled it.

Maybe I'm jaded or naive* but I actually expected HEATED RIVALRY to be a lot hottier considering how much everybody was carrying on about it. *neither

"Woody Allen is mentioned 7000 times in the Epstein files. Is that, like, a lot?" (George Costanza voice)

BBC radio thinks a photo of Prince Andrew with an unknown woman is more newsworthy than revelations of tens of thousands of pounds from Epstein to the then deputy prime minister’s partner, seriously?

Lord Peter Mandelson was sent money directly from disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein as early as 2003, according to new files released by US government The files record three payments in 2003/4 from Epstein’s JPMorgan accounts of $25,000 each, all mentioning Mandelson www.ft.com/content/1728...

Won't somebody think of the poor billionaires whose bottled water isn't always perfectly chilled? www.city-journal.org/article/inhe...

City-Journal both-sidesing Minneapolis is an admission of retreat and defeat from the moth-ridden MAGA punditocracy. Also it's tricky pulling a both-sides argument when one side is in imperial trooper paramilitary gear and the other's in flannel & down coats. www.city-journal.org/article/minn...

Kirn’s Rockefeller book is one of the worst I’ve ever read. It offends me. ‘I fell for Tom Ripley. I’m also a lapsed religious zealot with no real beliefs, up to & including a strange attachment to barely post-adolescent women. How could I have fallen for such a con? We’ll never know!’

Walter “I Really Thought He Was a Rockefeller!” Kirn.

I'm not one of those 'Cancel My Subscription' guys but Megyn Kelly's latest hate spew about Alex Pretti may be the Final Straw. If she wants to star in a remake of Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS that's her prerogative, but SiriusXM's platforming her is beyond the pale.

I once kicked somebody out of the castle for being disparaging about Kylie Minogue, but I feel I was well within my rights, though Harper's declined to accept my account of the incident. Which is why I refused to sign that pompous Harper's Letter about cancel culture (also I wasn't asked).

Recall that Thomas Chatterton Williams once chucked somebody out of his chateau for badmouthing Bari Weiss.

William 'the Conqueror' Stancil >>> Walter 'Weasel Words' Kirn.

Season three of SHETLAND confirms that Calder and Tosh are the two worst detectives on TV, spending more time driving around and tepidly interviewing witnesses than cracking through the evidence. The rope, Watson, the rope is the key to this case, while they make their rounds like social workers.

After half-apathetically watching several recent YouTube videos, I have come to the irreversible conclusion that ‘body language experts’ are all bullshit artists. Especially when they’re analyzing celebrities at red carpet events, where nobody looks/feels natural and comfortable in their skin.

this is legitimately an insane thing to think when looking at your child

John Podhoretz claimed today on the Commentary Magazine podcast (the Mickey Mouse Club for leftover neocons) that Bari Weiss was being subjected to "psychotic abuse," which somehow tied into the controversy over a pronoun scene in LANDMAN, his mind once again working in mysterious ways.

Ana Kasparian is a hard one to figure. I mean, we already have a Megyn Kelly.

In case you missed it, understandably distracted by the ensuing chaos, here be my review of Patti Smith's latest memoir. newleftreview.org/sidecar/post...

The Jack Daniels sign in the mockup of the CBS anchor floor is a signifier. Jack Daniels & co have been slammed hard by Canadian boycotts of American whiskeys, etc...this is Bari Weiss's (or some ding-a=ling underling's) brain-o idea to help rally American boozers to support the home team.

The truth is that prestige journalism is lousy with Bari Weisses, up and down the line. defector.com/bari-weiss-i...

CBS News believes that gumball machines are an integral fixture of American life and we will be installing one behind the anchor desk, a symbol of our commitment to you, the catatonic viewer.

Yes, he's dying, but he's not dying fast enough. Pick up the pace. Signed, the Crypt-Keeper

"Even as we think about 2028 contenders, I can tell you: If you were afraid to congratulate Zohran, you are not going to be the Democratic nominee for the presidency in 2028." www.lemonde.fr/en/m-le-mag/...

I wish John Updike hadn't been so promiscuous with the use of the c-word in his correspondence. It makes extended quotation and numerous citations somewhat dicey.

I just hopped on Substack and literally every account they recommended as a follow was right wing. No, I do NOT want to follow Victor Davis Hanson, Douglas Murray, Meghan Daum, and assorted Free Press refuse.

I haven't seen MARTY SUPREME yet and I'm already exhausted by the whole thing.

The Spectator World's "Christmas Special" (cover illo of Epstein as Ghost of Christmas Past) arrives & the rogue's gallery of contributors include Garrison Keillor, Michael Wolff, Ann Coulter, David Mamet, & the ever-sparkling Ben Shapiro, assuring us "Not everything is wrong with America."

In this special edition of Things That Matter, we will hover like a barbershop quartet around the sickbed of Jordan Peterson and debate his legacy. Sponsored by BankofAmerica.

A schmoozer of satanic gifts, Jeffrey Epstein certainly knew how to flatter the flabby egos of our self-anointed cognitive elites. David Brooks is the latest prize booby to be revealed.

We all grieve in different ways but I am mildly taken aback to see John Podhoretz, whose prominent father died yesterday, taking part in Mark Halperin's yammering, inane horse-race live stream about the 2028 election, currently being viewed by (Rm Brown squint) 871 viewers.

What mystifies me about the Suzie Wiles blab-all is the timing. Why now? Usually you wait until late in a prez term—when you’re eyeing the exit ramp toward speaking fees, plotting your insider memoir—before shanking your clueless, psycho colleagues. If this is a ‘hit job,’ it’s self-inflicted.

"What in Gods Holy Name Is This?" Rm Brown takes a magical mystery tour into the wacky world of NY Times YouTube. Featuring Erika Kirk, Ben Shapiro, and that loony bird Palantir guy with the flyaway hair. www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK7k...

I'm surprised they didn't slide Coleman Hughes or Glenn Loury in there just for the optics.

Tom Verlaine at CBGB, 1978. Recently I bought a book from the carts outside the Strand, where he stopped almost every day. (He had so many books they’re still being sold.) As I paid his song Kingdom Come came on my headphones 🤔

The Christmas season doesn't officially begin until Kylie breaks out the sparkles and snowflakes and this be-ith that day. www.youtube.com/watch?v=3B5Z...

"Can Erika Kirk help mend a divided America?" asks CBS in all insincerity. I mean, have you listened to this woman being interviewed? Pausing to gaze unto the heavens, Kirk can barely complete a sentence much less unite divided factions. As for Bari Weiss: behold our new Barbara Wah-wah.

Whatever one thinks of Candace Owens, the potency of her chaos magic is not to be denied. She has fissured the alt-right into pissy factions.

Can We Stop Talking About Olivia Nuzzi... charliesykes.substack.com/p/can-we-sto...

The canonization of Charlie Kirk is a futile mission--he's already faded as a Christ martyr--and Bari Weiss assembling a town hall in his memory is more evidence of how bubbled up and tone deaf she is. The right wanted civil war after Kirk's death & can't take nah for an answer.

Paul Dano was terrific in Escape at Dannemora and held his own with Benicio del Toro, no small task, so maybe Tarantino ought to button it up a bit.

Among other things one can glean from Bari Weiss hosting a town hall starring Erika Kirk is that the term "town hall" has become utterly meaningless, a media catch-all. If Weiss wants to go nova, she should have Candace Owens make a surprise appearance at the top of a ramp flanked by fiery torches.

Funny how Tim Miller is in sharp focus while Olivia Nuzzi is lemony aglow as if shot through a Doris Day filter.

Ryan Lizza, the rat fink's rat fink.

"We have opened the creaking Gates of Hell to bring you this awesome lineup..."

The worst annual event in American journalism. I refuse to click on this