What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
Danish media have run a lot of stories about the new “technocratic” government’s plans to drop the national May holiday of “Great Prayer Day” in order to raise some revenue for defense. (For example here, here, and here.) As the name suggests, Great Prayer Day is an old Christian holiday that the decreasingly observant Danes…
The rise of the new Moderates (Moderaterne) party in Danish politics is a phenomenon worthy of examination by the citizens of every western republic currently experiencing high polarization—which is probably everywhere. As a public service to all self-governing citizens of the western world, I’ve managed to wrangle an interview with the man behind the movement:…
I’ve been struggling to understand the verious stupidities and absurdities of the world for a while now, but two two stories about immigration—one American, one Danish—have finally opened my eyes: we’re living in a Kurt Vonnegut novel. For the kids in the back row: I’m not saying Kurt Vonnegut is god, or even a god,…
NOTE: The following is my own transcription of a recording of Joe Biden’s address to the nation on the “Soul of the Nation,” scheduled for delivery this evening from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Do not ask how I came into possession of that recording hours before the event. My fellow Armenians. During the campaign I…
Politico sends one of its intrepid explorers to the very edge of civilization, where he meets two even more intrepid explorers who have in fact pressed beyond the edge and into the darkness beyond—whence they have returned (alive!) to tell their tales of wonderment from the world of the political right. One wonderment in particular…
Tivoli Gardens, one of the jewels of Copenhagen, opened earlier this month: it’s renowned as possibly one of the best places on earth. One of Tivoli’s long-running features is Fredagsrock (“Friday Rock”), a series of Friday evening rock concerts on their open-air main stage through the spring and summer. The concert on April 15 was…
Every now and then I still encounter someone who thinks the Dread Tyrant Trump told people to drink or inject themselves with bleach. That’s a mere annoyance: if people still believe that ridiculousness at this point, I’m obviously not going to be able to talk or write them out of it. But from time to…
“The man is king. The man is supreme.” “Women belong in the bedroom and the kitchen, in that order.” Those quotes are from U.S. tennis legend Bobby Riggs, who thought very little of women’s tennis until Billie Jean King mopped the court with him (6–4, 6–3, 6–3) in a celebrated match on a September afternoon…
The circus is coming back to town! Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s retirement was officially announced yesterday and Joe Biden took the opportunity to announce that by the end of February he’d appoint a black woman to replace Breyer. That’s how identity politics works. And if the president of the United States is willing to…
An article published on Bloomberg this past Saturday was widely ridiculed—but for all the wrong reasons. Entitled For Americans Shocked by Inflation, Argentines Have Some Advice, the article offers a few tips for Americans coping with inflation from Argentines for whom it’s become a way of life. Number one on the list: “Spend your paycheck…
It’s the first day of December, and we woke in darkness to a snow that’s still very lightly falling. Intermittently. It’s also already dark again. So maybe it’s not snowing anymore. I worked from home today so was able to sip my coffee while watching Youngest make her maiden attack on her Advent calendars at…
The Nordsjælland Police issued an important bulletin Saturday evening: In English: “We’re currently receiving a lot of similar reports about a group of 11 people and change having dealt a beating to a group of the same size. The crime scene was reportedly a big grass lawn, and the victims were reportedly Welsh.” Quickly followed…
Today is Sankt Hans Aften in Denmark: St. John’s Eve. The holiday is a celebration of John the Baptist’s birth, which the Gospel dates six months prior to Jesus’s: thus St. John’s Day is six months before Christmas. (More or less: changing calendars over the years have resulted in the slight offset.) Skt. Hans Aften…
SPOILER ALERT: If you’ve never seen Grease, there are spoilers galore ahead, so I recommend you run along on your merry way and come back after you’ve seen it. None of this will make sense if you haven’t, anyway. TRIGGER ALERT: This piece uses words and defends ideas that people who are wounded by words…
