A small personal matter: Yesterday a surgeon removed my cancerous prostate in what he described as a clean excision with “nothing funky.” I expect to be released from the hospital sometime this afternoon to return home for a leisurely convalescence.

A loss chronicled.

He himself has said it ...

Yes, I am seventy-five today.

The far-right hates liberalism in part because liberalism empowered women socially, politically, and economically, and so made them less dependent on settling for a mediocre man to provide for them. So they want to destroy liberalism to return women to a state of powerlessness and dependence.

Why Trump might be reluctant to pardon Ghislaine Maxwell: Once she cannot be prosecuted for the crimes for which she was pardoned, the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination will not apply and she can be compelled to testify about them.

Preparing myself to ignore my sixtieth Super Bowl.

It’s just racism. There’s no immigration problem

worth noting that the second rich people stopped being afraid of mobs tearing them limb from limb, they stopped building libraries and opera houses and stuff and started ripping the copper wiring out of the walls of society instead

I worked for Sam Zell and for Tronc, but I have never seen a newspaper accomplish as much self-inflicted damage as The Washington Post over the past year.

Reading Cheever’s “Wapshot Chronicles” again after more than fifty years, and there is delight in every page.

These are the days in February that I mark.

You have crotchets but I have judgments.

I'm reading language boffin Ben Yagoda's "Gobsmacked!" about Brit speak in America that some people whinge over. But unless you're a numpty, you'll want to get hold of it straightaway and give it a go.

In The Baltimore Sun, Armstrong Williams calls Melania Trump “the most maligned and misunderstood first lady in modern history,” a timely reminder of why I canceled my subscription to The Sun a year ago.

Jeff Bezos should be a hero and donate the Washington Post to a charity. Bezos would get a big charitable deduction; the rest of us would get a newspaper dedicated to the public interest. This post from Steven Waldman is from a year ago but it's still a great idea. www.cjr.org/opinion/wald...

I believe another round of toddies is called for.

Come tomorrow, the Prius.

Feel free to share my scorn for Target.

Be advised, people, that there are bartenders out there who will put brine, unasked, in your martinis. Beware.

Off to church.

“I have asked the clergy of the diocese to make sure their affairs are in order and they have written their wills.,not the time for statements. It is time to put our bodies between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable”. Rob Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire

ACES: The Society for Editing Just posted: Balancing clarity and voice… Every editor knows the struggle. I commented: If the author has a voice that anyone wants to hear.

I know it’s a little warmer today than it has been, but it is still January, gray, and dreary, and I am an old man and I am retired and I am not going to go anywhere or do anything today, dammit. So there.

You're the writer; I'm the editor. Here's what you do.

Let me tell you what I can tell you.

I’ve had my fill of this year. See you tomorrow.

I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.

On Christmas Eve, we wish you well, wherever you are.

For Festivus, the current grievances: The deluge of AI-generated plagiarism and fabrication. The decline and collapse of corporate journalism. The dismantling of the Republic by people who are corrupt, ignorant, incompetent, craven, or some combination thereof. Comments?

I have brought the Festivus pole up from the basement so that in the morning it will be ready for the report of your grievances.

Passed over by Poynter (again!) for Media Personality of the Year.

this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.

I imagine a group chat in the Beyond in which James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding are exchanging texts that begin "Did you see what he said today?"

I don't usually get excited by lexicographers' and linguists' word-of-the-year announcements, but Merriam-Webster's today strikes a chord: "slop," “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”

Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human

I’ve ordered the 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and the 12th Merriam-Webster Collegiate. I will be 75 in two months, and I think they should see me out.

Who ya gonna trust?

“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas” Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.

At the holiday table.

I made the mashed potatoes this morning, with cream cheese, Parmesan, and more butter than you want to know about. Kathleen made corn pudding. The turkey is in the oven and I’ve taken down the smoke detectors. There will be crab cakes and Key lime pie and wine and cursing from the kitchen.

What the hell happened to the Republic that there is now a profession called “TikTok influencer”?

The flood of messages from retailers all day long leaves me thinking they are sounding a little desperate this year.

The problem Donald Trump has as pretender to the throne of America is that he leads a party full of scavengers who are all realizing it might be in their best interests not to pretend anymore.

I see that John Allen Paulos referred today to the Supreme Court as the supine court. Will there be T-shirts?

Will anyone else speak for Henry Mencken?

I can never hear or see something about the extreme right Proud Boys without remembering that "proud boy" is a term for a gelding that doesn't realize it's been neutered and keeps acting like a stallion. So do with that info what you will. *sips coffee*

These damn TV shows that resort to display texting to carry the narrative: I am no longer eight years old, sitting n the floor directly in front of the set.

Paging @johnemcintyre.bsky.social www.facebook.com/baltimoresun...

I see the “technically it’s ephebophelia” crowd is out today, so just a reminder that A) this is NOT a case where technically correct is the best kind of correct and B) the minute you say this, the gods dump you in the “irredeemable creeper” basket and wash their hands thoroughly after touching you.