The Big Orange: Number 7 with a bullet

The Big Orange: Number 7 with a bullet By David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — A new index is effectively making more coherent the wave of repressive and reactionary “populism” that has emerged in the last decade on every continent. Compiled by the International Council on Political and Ideological Measurement (ICPIM), based in Bern, Switzerland, this…

Read More

No tomatoes for you. You either. Or anybody!

No tomatoes for you. You either. Or anybody! By David Benjamin “Philip answered him, ‘It would take more than half a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each one to have a bite!” — John 6:7 PARIS — Taken literally, capitalism is the most ruthless and horrifying economic system ever conceived. Lately however, as…

Read More

Make America Gangland Again

Make America Gangland Again By David Benjamin “To me being a gangster was better than being president of the United States.” — Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) in Goodfellas (1990) PARIS — It’s a photo that’s been sticking in my memory — Donald Trump toddling along meekly beside North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, blessing the…

Read More

Peggy Sue Got Sabotaged

Peggy Sue Got Sabotaged By David Benjamin “Well, Mr. Snelgrove, I happen to know that in the future I will not have the slightest use for algebra, and I speak from experience.” — Kathleen Turner, in Peggy Sue Got Married (1986) PARIS — Having long ago shut down our link to French broadcast, we use…

Read More