What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
Let’s play the game by the same set of rules being used by Joe Biden. Any tactic he’s allowed to use, we’re allowed to use. Whatever heights of hyperbole he soars to, we’ll fly right alongside him. Whatever depths of mud and slime he’s willing plumb, we’ll wallow in it. You’ve been warned. Joe Biden…
Back in May of 2021, I wrote a post (“Spies without Masters“) about the revelation that Danish intelligence services had been cooperating with America’s National Security Administration (NSA) by allowing it to tap into internet trunk lines on Danish soil. Europe was shocked, shocked to learn of this. The peoples of Europe were so shocked,…
My core political beliefs can’t be stated any more succinctly than they’re stated in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That…
In an article that’s supposed to be about Joe Biden’s address to the nation on January 6, DR proves once again that there’s no Democratic Party talking point they’re unwilling to pass on to the Danish public as a matter of established fact. Correspondent: Biden’s speech was the first direct accusation from “the top” against…
Ladies and gentleman, the balanced Danish media: Do you remember the pictures? A year ago wild and angry Trump supporters stormed the American capitolAngelica Schou-Petersen, DR.dk, Jan 6 One year after the attack on America’s democracy: what’s happened since the storming of the capitol?Lillian Gjerulf Kretz, DR.dk, Jan 6 Trump’s people have put a large-scale…
Writing about temptation, C.S. Lewis observed that “you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.” Lewis was debunking the stupid but popular notion that good people don’t know…
Statens Serum Institut (SSI) works under the authority of the Danish Ministry of Health. Their primary function is, in their own words, “to ensure preparedness against infectious diseases and biological threats as well as control of congenital disorders.” Their importance and visibility have obviously been elevated in Denmark since the start of 2020. As I…
According to DR, Statens Serum Institut (SSI) has promised “more precise numbers” for corona admissions after the New Year. The added precision will come in the form of a distinction between inpatient admissions of patients due to corona and admissions of patients with corona. “More precise,” in this case, appears to mean “correct.” SSI is…
There’ve been a lot of international headlines the past couple of days about the British Home Secretary’s having put forward a bill to punish Britons expressing racism online toward soccer players by depriving offenders of the right to attend matches in person for up to ten years. For example: British minister tightens grip: Online hatred…
I’ve talked about the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect before (here, for example), but allow me to restate Michael Crichton’s elegant observation so we all have it top of mind: The Gell-Mann Amnesia effect describes the phenomenon of reading an article about a subject you know quite well and realizing it’s got everything wrong—then continuing to read…
This is my nineteenth Christmas in Denmark, so the Danish Christmas traditions no longer trouble, discomfit, or surprise me. They’re the traditions my own children have grown up with; I’ve not only metabolized Danish Christmas internally, but helped advance it forward to a new generation. And yet it was never my intention to raise my…
I had intended to write something loose and light today. Something a little goofy, maybe, or reflective. I hadn’t really made up my mind. At the same time, I’ve been meaning to get into the wild and hysterical over-reaction to the Omicron variant of the Wuhan virus. (Heather MacDonald digs into that pretty thoroughly in…
The headline of Kalinka Aaman Agger’s Monday piece in Berlingske has the sound of a horror movie tagline: After the election it was the scenario they feared. Now it’s happened. Yes, it’s happened. In a world gone mad, a vote that Democrats hoped would go 50-50 appears fated to go 51-49 against them. Democracy is…
Soldierly Language DR followed up on yesterday’s widely-run wire story about Swedish conscripts being sent home to recover from “rough treatment” with a little more depth later in the day. It doesn’t really add to or change the original story, or affect my initial reaction, but there was a bit more detail in one respect:…
There was a story in Berlingske Tidende yesterday about something I’d caught in the English language press a week or two ago: the Scottish Ballet’s plans to “help drive anti-racism” by introducing changes to their annual production of The Nutcracker. The headline on the Berlingske story by Amalie Haun is “Famous Christmas classic being remade:…
I’m a citizen of a European country, I’ve lived in Europe for the past 19 years, my two teenaged daughters have lived their entire lives in Europe, and three of my four grandparents were American-born children of European parents. But I don’t feel European. I don’t imagine anyone does, because I don’t imagine anyone can….
