From heresy to conventional wisdom? Excellent New York Times series of articles on crisis of democracy leads with my quote: “Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.” Headline for the lead NYT essay by Serge Schmemann: “Are the Wolves Devouring Democracy?” Hard-nosed realism on […]
Tag Archives | New York Times
Seymour Hersh and the Decline of Knockdown Journalism
The American Conservative Seymour Hersh and the Disappearing Iconoclast He won a Pulitzer for My Lai and cracked Abu Ghraib wide open. But this reporter is still a lonely breed. By James Bovard • August 17, 2018 Journalist Seymour Hersh in 2009. Credit: Institute for Policy Studies/Flickr Seymour Hersh, Reporter: A Memoir, Sy Hersh. Knopf, June […]
40 Years of Pummeling the Postal Service
[the full text of many of the articles mentioned here are posted here] Mises Institute, July 27, 2018 40 Years of Pummeling the Postal Service by James Bovard Today is the 40th anniversary of the publication of my first attack on the Postal Service. “Time to Stamp Out the Postal Monopoly” was the lead article […]
FFF: Pro-War Media Deserve Criticism, Not Sainthood
Future of Freedom Foundation The Pro-War Media Deserve Criticism, Not Sainthood by James Bovard June 20, 2018 The media nowadays are busy congratulating themselves for their vigorous criticism of Donald Trump. To exploit that surge of sanctimony, Hollywood producer Steven Spielberg rushed out The Post, a movie depicting an epic press battle with the Nixon […]
Happy 350th Birthday, Jonathan Swift!
Today is the 350th anniversary of the greatest English satirist, Jonathan Swift. Folks who only know Gulliver’s Travel have missed a goldmine of glorious prose and devastating wit. If you haven’t read “A Modest Proposal” since school days, trust me – it is even better when not read under duress. His “Argument Against Abolishing Christianity” is […]
1979 New York Times Satire on the All-Volunteer Congress
Twenty-seven years ago (or as they say in West Virginia, “years and years and years ago”), the New York Times printed my satire on the failure of the All-Volunteer Congress. This article was written at a time when criticism of the All-Volunteer military was at its height. Nixon had abolished conscription in 1973 and many […]
R R Schoettker
The US congress ceased fulfilling its constitution