Posts by David Benjamin
Led astray by Suessian melody
by David Benjamin “Out of the corner of his eye Gatsby saw that the blocks of the sidewalks really formed a ladder and mounted to a secret place above the trees—he could climb to it, if he climbed alone, and once there he could suck on the pap of life, gulp down the incomparable milk…
Read MoreShe doesn’t know Irv is Jewish
by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis.—The Achilles heel of the polling industry was exposed, once again, in a recent revelation that British young people are not, after all, flocking to the churches, chapels, synagogues and mosques of England. The kids are, in fact, just as agnostic, atheist and apostate as ever they’ve been. The press erroneously…
Read MoreBring your kids to Paris …
by David Benjamin “Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner PARIS—It’s a typical café restaurant in the Latin Quarter, whose breakfast fare largely consists—unless challenged—of coffee brewed in a magnificent,…
Read MoreThe Big Distraction from You-Know-What
by David Benjamin “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab ’em by the pussy.” —Trump PARIS—Luckily, I was on my way here when Donald Trump’s weekend excursion to Iran broke out. My good fortune amounted to the limited load of available news coverage, analysis and commentary through…
Read MoreRemembering, forgetting and how we learn
by David Benjamin “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” —Confucius PARIS—There has long existed a sort of nihilist cottage industry, lucrative for its philosophers and divines, that professes contempt for, well, professors. Every few years, someone writes a book claiming that he learned nothing in school…
Read More“Sixty thousand Jews every day go up in smoke”
by David Benjamin “In December, the conservative Manhattan Institute found that … a majority of Republican men under 50 think that the Holocaust either didn’t happen or was exaggerated.”—Michelle Goldberg, New York Times, 12 March PARIS—For a couple of hours in 1961, the Holocaust came to Tomah, Wisconsin. Until then, my entire knowledge of Jews…
Read MoreA public service message
by David Benjamin “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.” —Proverbs 17:28 PARIS.—Lately in airport lounges, I’m feeling a little snakebit, or—more accurately—phone-battered. On my way here, in the “Admiral’s Club,” I found a comfortable chair, with a nearby table and only one neighbor. I had…
Read MoreThe Epicurean giant
by David Benjamin “We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.” — Epicurus MADISON, Wis.—Based on a whim and a need for frequent flyer miles, Hotlips booked us recently on a trip to Santa Fe. I was somewhat dubious of our destination, a town that…
Read MoreThe Big Factory
by David Benjamin “American manufacturers have cut more than 80,000 jobs in the past year.” — Ben Casselman and Ana Swanson, “In 2025, Trade Deficit in Goods Reached Record High,” New York Times, 19 Feb. MADISON, Wis.—Whenever I head east toward Chicago on I-90, I pass a familiar, almost nostalgic landmark, the now mothballed Chrysler…
Read MoreBeltway Barbie and the Botox cougars
by David Benjamin “Another day, another round of pedophiles, violent thugs, and human traffickers removed from American communities. Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, ICE is targeting and removing the WORST OF THE WORST criminal illegal aliens terrorizing American families.” ―Tricia McLaughlin MADISON, Wis.—Despite a decorous embargo by the establishment media, you might have noticed…
Read More