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The Weekly Screed
MONDAY, AUGUST 24, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#733) Internet zombies by David Benjamin “Yea, thou [sic] I walk through the valley of the shadow of death/ 95,000 Americans killed by illegal aliens since 9-11.” — Americans for Legal Immigration PAC MADISON, Wis. — Good old Homer has cut me off. This is a shame, because…
Read More...THURSDAY, AUGUST 13, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#732) Land of the aggrieved, home of the whiny by David Benjamin “I am the most fabulous whiner. I do whine, because I want to win.” — Donald Trump MADISON, Wis. — Excuse me for a moment while I compare Donald Trump, red-state narcissist, to the Rev. Martin…
Read More...WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#731) Stop playing defense, Zorba. Play the Game(s) your way! by David Benjamin TO: Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister, Hellenic Republic Dear Prime Minister Tsipras: Please accept my belated congratulations on your triumph last month in the Greek-bailout plebiscite. Although this was, in many respects, a Pyrrhic victory, it…
Read More...FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#730) “Good fences?” by David Benjamin “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…” — Robert Frost MADISON, Wis. — The only fence I ever loved was here in Madison, erected around an immense construction site for what became the Elvehjem Art Center. Known modestly as the University…
Read More...TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#728) Sour grapes by David Benjamin “Never hurts to give us a crack at something… but we’re not going to publish a book narrated by a dog who ‘discourses on human/dog relations and canine theology while debating dog ethics with a poodle named Cupcake.’ That’s just not us…”…
Read More...TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#727) When Oliver Stone mishandled Michael Caine by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — In my newspaper days as editor of a Massachusetts weekly, the Mansfield News, I probably had too much fun. There was, for example, a summer day in 1981 when I needed to fill space in…
Read More...TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#726) The prebuttal imperative of the “liberal media” by David Benjamin PARIS — I thought I’d coined the word “prebuttal” until today when, in the New York Times, I found Paul Vallely using it in an op-ed piece about Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical, Laudato Sii. Vallely was citing…
Read More...MONDAY, JUNE 22, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#725) Know thy caliber, know thyself by David Benjamin PARIS — In the wake of the vicious killings at the Emanuel AME Church, Americans can take some solace in the embrace of psychology — by the National Rifle Association and the Caucasian Caucus of the Republican Party —…
Read More...MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#724) Bistro nights by David Benjamin PARIS — A while ago, I sent a New York editor to one of my favorite Paris bistros, a rustic meat-and-blettes eatery called Chez René. I warned her that the head waiter, Michel, would be scary. Sure enough, Michel intimidated Katie and…
Read More...MONDAY, JUNE 2, 2015 The Weekly Screed (#722) The ancient tarts of rue St. Denis and the Marcel Proust of tennis elbow by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — One of my favorite Paris expeditions starts in the heart of the city and heads due north on rue St. Denis. This venerable street isn’t one of…
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