First blood

Good news, I suppose. The Food and Drug Association will modify its restrictions barring gay men from donating blood. Screening questions asked of prospective blood donors will still recommend the deferral of individuals who report having a new sexual partner and have engaged in anal sex in the past three months, as well as of

Joseph R. Biden vs minority rule

The Speech was fine. His COVID cough brought a charming poignancy. But we’re not the target audience — it’s made for replay in independent markets. Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or FDR himself couldn’t convince Republicans in 2022 they’re sick motherfuckers who should die. And Dems in blue districts fighting for reelection

Caught between waves

When Miami’s oldest independent bookstore lifted its mask mandate last week, I realized most county residents had decided they needed a glimpse of what life in February 2020 even if it meant seeing chins, cheeks, lips, and, my god, facial hair best hidden from a cruel world. I’ll defy the consensus: “we” haven’t decreed COVID

The failure of the Biden administration’s COVID policy

Readers know Joseph Robinette Biden was my first choice for Democratic nominee like Alicia Keys was for guardian of R&B and soul, but I faked an orgasm when voting for him and had a genuine one when he easily beat the Caudillo-in-Pampers.

Dems in disarray, part MCMXII

I took this screenshot last Saturday before it disappeared — a “moment’s monument,” to quote Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who knew about masochism and hurling himself into graves but not the potency of the Washington political press. As for the news itself, well, I wanted the infrastructure and social spending bills passed together. Progressives are pessimistic,

‘I think the frustration is at an all-time high’

As casual readers deal with Joe Biden’s dropping poll numbers, steal yourselves with more stories like this:

GOP: ‘We still believe in freedom from tyrants’

To leave the mephitic COVID-filled air of Miami-Dade County for the crisp air and highly vaccinated population of Chicago was like stepping out of a smoky bar into a spring morning.

The DC press as Mouths of Sauron

Watching Joe Biden’s address to the American public on Monday and the subsequent reaction, I realized that Two Americas encompassed every aspect of political life. The president, approval rating hit notwithstanding, had a suspicion about who would rend their garments about the withdrawal of military forces from Afghanistan. Paul Campos summarizes. I omitted the first point:

So here we are

Fourteen months ago I started writing a series of posts detailing what, to misquote Reader’s Digest, life was like in this Florida under COVID restrictions.

Worry about 2022 (and 2024)

Seven months after elections whose mail-in and in-person components worked with a precision expected of the *World’s Greatest Representative Democracy, the supplicants and toadies clambering at the feet of the former president work like Santa’s elves in state legislatures to ensure that the Democratic Party’s victories in 2020 are short-lived. Corey Robin defines conservative tradition

‘We got beat on this one’

Pobrecitos: None of the attack lines seemed to resonate with voters, who began receiving stimulus checks as early as last weekend and appear overwhelmingly supportive of the law. A CBS-YouGov survey released on Sunday showed 71 percent of adults believe the American Rescue Plan will benefit the middle class more than wealthy Americans. The bill’s

The buncombe of ‘bipartisanship’

For certain bluebloods in the Beltway commentariat, a government should be as coherent, organized, and commonsensical as a Sunday column. Hence the appeal of bipartisanship. W.H. Auden, as we say, had their number. “A society which was really like a good poem, embodying the aesthetic virtues of beauty, order, economy and subordination of detail to