Archive for July 2026
A fan’s notes
by David Benjamin “Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of the hit-and-run.” — Branch Rickey MADISON, Wis.—The saturation coverage of the recent World Cup featured fans from all over the…
Read MoreHow to sell your soul
by David Benjamin “MEPHISTO: Hence sin and havoc and ruin—all you call evil, in sum—for me’s the element in which I swim.” — Goethe, Faust MADISON, Wis.—The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham this month set off a cliché storm in the punditocracy, with numerous references to Graham’s “Faustian bargain” for the royal favor of…
Read MoreDear Leader joins a traffic stop
by David Benjamin “We CANNOT give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective Crime Fighting tools, THE TRAFFIC STOP! Once we do, we are playing right into the criminal’s hands.” — Donald Trump The presidential helicopter rests in the village common, one of its wheels in a sandbox from which several terrified children had…
Read MoreThe Donald J. Trump Electric Kool-Aid Tangerine-Flake American-Flag-Blue World Cup
by David Benjamin “Overturn this!” — The Belgian soccer team MADISON, Wis.—The rumor isn’t true that Gianni Infantino has sent the World Cup trophy back to the shop to super-glue a gold bas-relief of Donald Trump’s scowl over the part of the globe where the Pacific Ocean used to be. Right now, this re-design is…
Read MoreRoad rage on the Information Superhighway
by David Benjamin “Men have become the tools of their tools.” — Henry David Thoreau MADISON, Wis.—One of the banks where Hotlips and I store our money communicates with its depositors only by app. I should note that I didn’t choose to patronize this bank—called CCF. I was shunted to it when a previous bank—HSBC—experienced…
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