The Weekly Screed

Izzy Glick, Nativity impresario

By David Benjamin | 12/10/2014 | Comments Off on Izzy Glick, Nativity impresario

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#702) Izzy Glick, Nativity impresario by David Benjamin BETHLEHEM, 0 A.D. — Contrary to popular legend, the desk clerk at the inn — whose name was Nahim — was sympathetic to the bedraggled couple who arrived from Nazareth and asked for a room. After giving them the bad…

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Christmas through a glass, darkly

By David Benjamin | 12/01/2014 | Comments Off on Christmas through a glass, darkly

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#701) Christmas through a glass, darkly by David Benjamin On a recent visit to New York, I got together with a lifelong friend, Pat Keeffe, who was in the first graduating class (‘65) at LaFollette High. Earlier this year, Pat and his family had mourned the too-soon loss…

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Diary of a wetback skip tracer

By David Benjamin | 11/25/2014 | Comments Off on Diary of a wetback skip tracer

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#700) Diary of a wetback skip tracer by David Benjamin “ICE deported almost 393,000 people from the U.S. in 2010. At $12,500 per person the cost to remove them was almost $5 billion.” — Associated Press This is the city. Los Angeles. I work here. I’m a dick.…

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With friends like these…

By David Benjamin | 11/17/2014 | Comments Off on With friends like these…

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#699) With friends like these… by David Benjamin “… the Islamic State, or ISIS, is homegrown; its aim is not to strike far away, but to spread and impose its vision of Islamic society right here and right now…” — Thomas L. Friedman in Dubai MADISON, Wis. —…

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What’s in it for me?

By David Benjamin | 11/06/2014 | Comments Off on What’s in it for me?

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#698) What’s in it for me? by David Benjamin “This is not the time to lay out an agenda.” — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell MADISON, Wis. — Every election year, the New York Times sends reporters out to some depressed working-class community in flyover country — Ypsilanti,…

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The first thing we do, let’s kill all the spies

By David Benjamin | 10/30/2014 | Comments Off on The first thing we do, let’s kill all the spies

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#697) The first thing we do, let’s kill all the spies by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Americans tend to learn most of what we know about our “intelligence” establishment by watching TV. For example, I consumed a whole season of “Homeland” and discovered that your typical CIA…

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Apocalypse now… and tomorrow… and the day after that

By David Benjamin | 10/22/2014 | Comments Off on Apocalypse now… and tomorrow… and the day after that

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#696) Apocalypse now… and tomorrow… and the day after that by David Benjamin “Good morning, ladies and germs! It’s Monday, and I’m Fred Fiermonger, alongside my co-host Abigail Angst, and this is ‘Good Grief, America,’ your daily wake-up-and-smell-the-napalm call here on the Anecdotal News Network. As you all…

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A political scene we'd like to see

By David Benjamin | 10/15/2014 | Comments Off on A political scene we'd like to see

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#695) A political scene we’d like to see by David Benjamin (A proposed script — without talking points — for Mary Burke, Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate, at Friday night’s second debate.) “Good evening, everyone. I’m Mary Burke. So what, right? “Most of you don’t know me from a hole…

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"Ick!"

By David Benjamin | 10/08/2014 | Comments Off on "Ick!"

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#694) “Ick!” by David Benjamin “This is judicial activism at its worst. The Constitution entrusts state legislatures, elected by the People, to define marriage consistent with the values and mores of their citizens. Unelected judges should not be imposing their policy preferences to subvert the considered judgments of…

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To a lot of athletes dying young

By David Benjamin | 10/01/2014 | Comments Off on To a lot of athletes dying young

, footballTUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014 The Weekly Screed (#693) To a lot of athletes dying young by David Benjamin MADISON, Wis. — Just about every year in Japan, the tabloid press reports the death of a young man, in his late teens or early twenties, in a sumo stable somewhere in Tokyo. The story typically…

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