Comments
385
Commenting has been turned off for this post

Regarding President Biden‘s disputed condition I am surprised that no one has mentioned an objective nuclear imaging scan for Parkinsonism. It is called DaTscan and is an indication of loss of dopamine in the brain. Although most Parkinson’s can be diagnosed clinically, this scan would remove the criticisms from the objectivity of a neurology work up. The scan is readily available in most hospitals with a nuclear camera. The resulting images from the scan are clear and easily interpreted, although not only specific for Parkinson’s. It is simply an objective way to complete the diagnosis.

Expand full comment

Literally the only reason people are rising up against pedophilia in Lolita is in reaction to Rowling and her supposed anti-trans stance. This same tribe on a different day will rail against people who have a problem with pedophilia in the name of being against icky, discriminatory ageism.

Expand full comment

Food for though, a German friend of mine, who is a student of history, likens the Trump position to 1933, I am not saying what happened in Germany in 1933 can happen in America, but those of us who study history and see the correlations cannot help be concerned. Your comments are welcome.

Expand full comment

The Free Press is biased and as much as I have a left leaning centrist philosophy, the lack of choices is exactly what George Carlin has predicted. We have insanity vs. senility, and nothing in between. God help us.

Expand full comment

What is it about The Free Press that continuously brings to mind the phrase, Too little, too late?

In always attempting to split the political difference, this site misses the momentous change that’s taking place throughout the West: the rise and triumph of populism and the end of the centralized state.

By adopting a reassuring ‘plague on both your houses’ stance, I suppose Bari hopes to scoop up a silent majority of moderates. Instead I suspect this frustrates most readers.

The promise of populism holds out a new covenant for democracy and the American Dream, while Democrats offer nothing new beyond a broader and deeper Deep State, buttressed and praised by the corporate media and academia.

Sooner or later TFP may have to choose sides.

Expand full comment

An airbrushed Jill Biden on the cover of Vogue spouting "We will decide our future". What an arrogant piece of work she truly is. A perfect match for Joe, even if he doesn't recognize her all that often.

Expand full comment

Hmmm....I wonder if Biden were to dispatch the military to take out the Supreme Court, if that would be an "official act?"

Expand full comment

MAGA: HA-HA!!! Biden is old, dementia-riddled and needs to get out of the race!! Ha-ha!!!

** Andy Beshear & Gretchen Whitmer enter the chat***

MAGA: ...wait.. Not like that!!

Expand full comment

I think contemporary writers and intellectuals are wrong (and also dishonest) in deflecting criticism of Nabokov's book which even at the time I found somewhat dubious. If this is romanticism, which it is in a sense, this is the weak point of romanticism, its lack of moral compass because of essential narcissism. Nothing and no one matters except oneself. The romantic lover likes the sensation of being in love but repulses any idea that this should involve responsibility, and certainly does not not bother about the havoc he (or she) might cause. Casanova is a stirring figure in a way but he has zero sympathy for the women obliged to prostitute themselves to look after their offspring from one-night stands and at one point nearly had an affair with one if his own many daughters. I knew Casanova/Humbertian characters, of whom there were many around in the Sixties and Seventies and found them at once fascinating, entertaining -- and repulsive. Nabokov is a dubious figure and a good but certainly not great writer. It's basically surface glitter with no depth. He should have written a sequel giving Lolita's version of the affair, that would have been beyond his capacity.

Expand full comment

The J.K. Rowling vs. Kempner is classic. It is the age old story of class versus spectacle. You get to guess which is which.

Expand full comment

So Sebastian's comment didn't sway you?

Expand full comment

No, it is a standard that some have. They have the right to live by such a code. Morals are a very fluid concept and change based on time and/or place. So am not going to condemn someone for writing something that is at best morally dubious, if they do it in a fantastically wonderful way. Art does not recognize morals so much as it does the beauty in which something is done.

Ethics is actually more standardized through out history and the world, though for the most part less practiced.

Expand full comment

"Mika Brzezinski began Monday’s edition of Morning Joe with a fifteen-minute monologue about the brilliance of Joe Biden."

I wonder if she was wearing kneepads?

Expand full comment

While attempting to guzzle down a Milwaukee's Best tall boy. Shameless whores can do it all. It's the expertise of their profession and skill in execution that makes the most money.

Expand full comment

And Jenn has entered the building!

Expand full comment

These women! KJP, Harris etc. I just can't get over the fact that these women happily debase themselves for money, tv time and magazine covers. The spectacle is shameless.

Expand full comment

Thanks, Jen - I just blew some ice tea through my nose... :-)

Expand full comment

Cheers!

Expand full comment

TFP will be more important than ever in the near future.

Expand full comment

Whose future? What??

Expand full comment

I must continue to question myself on whether I like what you write because I agree with it or because it is an accurate representation of current affairs. In any case, I find it a breath of fresh air. Thanks.

Expand full comment

JK Rowling is a gem and a treasure. Anyone who throws trash on her should be flogged.

Expand full comment

Looking back to 2019, apparently some main stream journalism outlets questioned Biden's mental fitness. But as soon as Trump said “Joe’s a loser… a dummy… even slower than he used to be.” and “I think he’s the weakest mentally… I like running against people that are weak mentally.”

...the press immediately moved to defend Biden and minimize his cognitive struggles. I imagine that is working for Biden again. After an initial call for Biden to step down, now the mainstream outlets are back in the Biden camp. Trump only had to call out Biden's obvious impairment. Who knew the country's Ivy-educated journos were so easy to manipulate?

Expand full comment

Hell, it was Joe's primary opponents in 2020 (i.e., Democrats) who started the commentary on whether he was up to it. Julian Castro and Cory Booker for sure made debate comments about it. Castro even tried to publicly humiliate him with (paraphrased) "you just said something different two minutes ago--did you forget what you said two minutes ago?

No one seems to remember this.

Expand full comment

i'm coming to believe that preserving their confidential sources on the Hill requires mainstream journalists to simply toe the party messaging line. Most are inclined to see things from a leftward point of view anyway, so the pitch isn't hard to make. Want more inside baseball info? Don't rock the party boat.

But reporting really ran off the rails when it became taboo to report bad things about vulnerable Democrats on account of it might end democracy. The life's work and value created by the Katharine Grahams and Ben Bradlees of the world has been frittered away by journalists who believe they are missionaries sent to save the world, not just boring reporters.

Expand full comment

Uh, everybody.

Expand full comment

Trump.

Expand full comment

RFK and his hammer and chisel are actually under consideration when the most effective effort is a wrecking ball.

Expand full comment

A day or two after showing us what he was made of in the debate, Joe Biden said, “I know I will respect the limits of the presidential powers as I have for three-and-a-half years.”

It is possible he is so adled that he actually doesn't know how many times he has failed to respect any limit of his power. But I'm more inclined to believe he is evil on earth and acts accordingly.

Expand full comment

Yeah, trashing the SCOTUS on national TV while they sit there on camera sure does show respect.

Expand full comment

Biden's efforts to prosecute his likely opponent probably motivated the broad immunity just affirmed by SCOTUS. What was mostly obvious to all Americans had to be codified in an embarrassing slap in the face from the Judicial Branch. Maybe Biden thought he'd be immune to prosecution once out of office because he's a "sympathetic elderly man with a poor memory."

The decision, written by the Chief, actually contained a lecture for Associate Justice Sotomayer. Maybe law school didn't take as well for her as for Roberts.

Expand full comment