Posts by David Benjamin
Bye bye, DEI
by David Benjamin “The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter, “It isn’t just one of your holiday games…” —T.S. Eliot MADISON, Wis.—If there’s any silver lining in America’s descent toward strongman despotism, it’s the left wing’s opportunity to undertake a linguistic reset, to heed Thoreau’s advice: “Simplify, simplify.” The people who uneasily call ourselves…
Read MoreHeartbreak: The author’s best friend
by David Benjamin “It is strange how often a heart must be broken “Before the years can make it wise.” ― Sara Teasdale MADISON, Wis.—Before I was out of high school, I had twice suffered a broken heart. In the summer of ’66, a girl named Linda broke my heart so gently that it barely……
Read MoreThe hydrogen of hyperbole
by David Benjamin “… Justice Merchan made clear that even if the sentencing were to go forward, he would not recommend any kind of prison sentence or home confinement.” —Maggie Haberman, NY Times, 5 Jan. ‘25 MADISON, Wis.—The inhabitants of “Earth One”—immune to the fantasy world of “X,” Fox News, Truth Social, OAN, InfoWars and…
Read MoreFrom codex to multiplex
by David Benjamin “Under those blue pajamas was a shape to set a man nuts … ” —James M. Cain, Double Indemnity MADISON, Wis.—Recently, as I watched the opening credits of the 1944 classic, Double Indemnity, I suddenly whispered, “Wow!” The writers listed for the movie—based on James M. Cain’s darkly compelling novel—were Raymond Chandler…
Read MoreI hate it when the bad guy gets caught
by David Benjamin “He is the Napoleon of crime, Watson. He is the organizer of half that is evil and nearly all that is undetected … He is a genius, a philosopher, an abstract thinker. He has a brain of the first order.” Sherlock Holmes MADISON, Wis.—What I said up there isn’t strictly true. In……
Read MoreDeconstruction redux
by David Benjamin “Strange things have happened of late and are still happening. Some of these tend to dim the lustre of the American name, and chill the hopes once entertained for the cause of American liberty. He is a wiser man than I am, who can tell how low the moral sentiment of this…
Read MoreThe Law of Diminishing Informative Returns
by David Benjamin “These [AI] methods only work in areas where things are empirically true, like math and science. The humanities and the arts, moral and philosophical problems are much more difficult.” — Dylan Patel, chief analyst, SemiAnalysis, MADISON, Wis.—For most of my career, I’ve been a slave to technology. This bondage began in earnest…
Read MoreYou want to be free? How much you got?
by David Benjamin “… The president-elect has 96.2 million followers on X, while Mr. Musk has 207.9 million. (Mr. Musk is also far richer than Mr. Trump. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is worth $458 billion, while the president-elect is worth a mere $6.61 billion.)…” — NY Times, 19 Dec. MADISON, Wis.—Once, one…
Read MoreThe editorial hole
by David Benjamin “How to write: butt in chair. Start each day anywhere. Let yourself do it badly. Just take one passage at a time. Get butt back in chair.” Anne Lamott MADISON, Wis.—Since the mid-1970s, I’ve spent my life deep in the editorial hole with no way out and no serious effort to escape.……
Read MoreWhere’s Santa?
by David Benjamin We gotta send Santa Claus back to the Rescue Mission. Christmas don’t make it no more. Don’t you know that murder and destruction Scream the toys in every store… — Frank Zappa Ralphie was too old to believe in Santa Claus but zero hour was approaching and he couldn’t afford to risk…
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