What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
Some things are so stupid only an intellectual could believe them.—George Orwell (apocryphal) Sovereignty is irrelevant.—Intellectual The new think pieces are here, the new think pieces are here! American professor: The Danish yes is part of a new world orderSolveig Gram Jensen, Berlingske.dk, Jun 2 Yesterday, as expected, Denmark voted overwhelmingly (roughly 2:1) to drop…
The headline of this post is, as best as I can tell from the information available, a succinct and yet comprehensive taxonomy of our ruling class. This was brought home to me today by an article on DR’s website. The EU’s Mission in the Mediterranean hasn’t stopped a single human smugglerTine Toft, DR.dk, May 31…
The EU wants to punish Russia for invading Ukraine by blocking all imports of Russian oil into the union. Toward that end it developed a sixth package of economic sanctions against Russia, and this package includes what would amount to an official oil embargo: a European ban on the import of Russian oil. Hungary has…
On Wednesday we Danes will be voting on a referendum to answer the following question, which I’ll provide in the original Danish first: Stemmer du ja eller nej til, at Danmark kan deltage i det europæiske samarbejde om sikkerhed og forsvar ved at afskaffe EU-forsvarsforbeholdet? In English: Do you vote yes or no to Denmark…
On May 19, at East Kentwood High School in Michigan, two people were shot in the school parking lot while a graduation ceremony was taking place in the school football stadium. On May 17, a 7-year-old was “grazed” by a bullet when a gun in another kid’s backpack accidentally discharged. On May 12, in Houston,…
There was record turnout in Georgia’s primary elections yesterday. Record. Turnout. The New York Post goes easy on the left, headlining their story “Georgia sees record early voter turnout despite Dems’ carping over new election law.” Carping? Carping? Here’s a Fox News montage of leftists “carping” about the law while it was still a bill….
You may think my headline is interpretive: that I’m paraphrasing what I perceive to be the subtext of an article in DR. Unfortunately, however, my headline is actually just a loose translation of DR’s own: The temperature in Southern Europe is breaking records – and it’s your faultSilas Bay Nielsen, DR.dk, May 23 (“Temperaturen i Sydeuropa slår…
The richest person in the world is always going to be the person in whom the most people are interested, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the richest person in the world is always going to be the most interesting person in the world. But Elon Musk certainly is. Flamboyant, eccentric, iconoclastic, mischievous, and a master…
An opinion piece in Berlingske asks an interesting question: Should there be room for “well-coiffed hatred and cheeky fascism” at the Popular Assembly?Esben Vest Billingsøe (Opinion), Berlingske.dk, May 20 What I’m translating as the “Popular Assembly” could also be translated as the “People’s Meeting.” It’s an annual summer event (held in the 24th week of…
Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday Night. To nobody’s surprise, they racked up the most points of any country in the history of the competition. To my own surprise, however, the Danish media have been very transparent about the fact that the Ukrainian song wasn’t very good and that this was obviously a…
Politico sends one of its intrepid explorers to the very edge of civilization, where he meets two even more intrepid explorers who have in fact pressed beyond the edge and into the darkness beyond—whence they have returned (alive!) to tell their tales of wonderment from the world of the political right. One wonderment in particular…
Here’s something that showed up on the DR website a couple of days ago: Bill on abortion access voted down in US SenateReuters/Ritzau, DR.dk, May 12 That’s a very crisp and succinct headline in English. The actual Danish headline speaks of “fri abort,” which I translated here as “abortion access.” I’ve often translated it in…
Reflecting on his 1912 defeat as a third party presidential candidate, Teddy Roosevelt lamented that “the average American in his party affiliations is largely influenced by a feeling quite as unreasoning as that which makes the average fan depressed or exultant over the victory of a professional baseball team.” That’s from TR: The Last Romantic,…
According to CNN, Joe Biden is “sharpening his mid-term message.” At the White House on Wednesday, Ole Puddinhead delivered a speech that “reflected Biden’s preparations for intense midterm campaigning built around hammering Republicans.” You know, the way “unity” candidates often do. With his approval rating as bad as the low 30s in some polls and…
There’s obviously been big news out of America since my last post, but believe it or not I’m not going to write about JD Vance having won the Repubican primary for the Ohio Senate. Instead I feel obliged to write about the other little story that broke Tuesday night: the leak of the Supreme Court’s…
