Let’s see: Torture crimes officially, permanently shielded. Photo by Norman O. Mustill. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Or should I say, welcome back to the BananaRepublic — land of the red, white & blue, and home of the brave. Al Capp must be smiling. And by the way, don’t take the subhead on that article at face value. That’s the WSJ putting an editorial slant on the news story. Here, in the […]

Supervert has just redesigned his Fleursdumal.org Web site, which was first launched in 2004 and is “the definitive online edition” of Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du mal (Flowers of Evil). The elegant new design is simple, and it works quickly. The site also has lots of levels, so you can dive deep. Its scholarship and […]

“The attempt to criminalize WikiLeaks is clearly a leading prong in the Obama administration’s truly odious and dangerous war on whistleblowers.”— Glenn Greenwald (See: WikiLeaks Grand Jury investigation widens.) Postscript: Don’t forget to watch Greenwald’s 30-minute speech on media propaganda. It’s in three parts on YouTube. Here’s the beginning (you can skip the introductory speaker’s […]

This video was recorded on April 29, 2011 at the Society of Illustrators in New York City, where the exhibition ran from March 23 to April 30. Curated by Monte Beauchamp, editor of “The Life and Times of R. Crumb,” the show was a retrospective that presented key pieces culled from the underground art collection […]

We’ve focused for so long on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that we tend to forget that the worst U.S. war crimes of our time — of mine anyway — were committed in Vietnam. Here’s a well-told reminder from several years ago: Vietnam: American Holocaust Read the comment, below, and click the link it […]

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Surely you’ve read the news that Gadhafi is being sought for war crimes. You may recall that America’s BananaRepublican gangsters never committed any war crimes — not in Iraq and not in Afghanistan. Unlike Gadhafi, our very own gang of culprits is above reproach. Postscript: May 21 — Let this be a reminder: Stupidity, Arrogance, […]

FRISKO © by Norman O. Mustill No comment required … but I don’t think Tony Bennett’s nostalgia quite applies. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Isn’t editorializing in a news story supposed to be out of bounds at The New York Times? Here’s the third graf of Bin Laden’s Secret Life in a Diminished World, which (with a headline describing his Shrunken World) dominates the print edition of today’s front page: Videos seized from Bin Laden’s compound and released by […]

It’s no more than a coincidence. Osama Bin Laden was killed on this year’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. But it’s worth noting, given that the man was motivated by one thing above all else: his hatred of Jews. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

Two young women, both in their mid-20s, both amateur musicians: I came across Amanda Dillard through a friend who pointed out her YouTube video. Leyla McCalla caught my attention not long ago in New Orleans. EmailFacebookTwitterReddit

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Here’s the headline: William S Burroughs on trial for corrupting Turkish morality. And here’s the lede: The Istanbul Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation into a book written by internationally renowned author William S. Burroughs. It was translated and published by Sel Publishing House in January. The court referred to a report written by the […]

Why, in a 2,160-word article, Classified Files Offer New Insights Into Detainees, which dominates the front page of today’s New York Times print edition, is the key source of the revelations buried so deep that the reader has to guess at it? Wikileaks, without which there would be no story, is not acknowledged until the […]

The Riss diner was on 8th Avenue between 22nd and 23rd Streets in Manhattan. It’s no longer there. In its place is a Murray’s Bagels shop. Much less interesting. This photo illustrated the front cover of Philip Corner’s The Identical Lunch, in 1973. Click to enlarge I published the book, which Graham Macintosh designed and […]