What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
One of the burning issues in Denmark right now is the fate of seven particular women and their nineteen children. The issue is hot because it’s one of those rare questions that isn’t easily dispensed with a political slogan or hashtag: the debate crosses party lines. It crosses theological lines. It crosses philosophical lines. It…
I sincerely hope the story will soon be updated and retitled, but as of 11:00 this morning of Saturday, April 3, DR.dk is running with this: Betjent død efter angreb foran Kongressen i USA: Gerningsmand skudt af politiet, Oliver Batchelor, DR.dk, April 2 I normally translate Danish headlines into English directly, but wanted to keep…
This is not an ordinary blog post. It’s a reference post: one that I will post once, reference frequently, and update periodically. The stats are presented without commentary of any kind; my own observations can be found at the bottom. U.S. Population, 2019Source: The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, via Kaiser Family Foundation Americans (2019)…
“Imagine,” Louise Brodthagen Jensen asks, “standing in line for many hours to vote. You’d obviously put a pretty high premium on volunteers coming with food and drink so that you can last until you get your fingers on a ballot.” Imagine! “But in the U.S. state of Georgia, handing out free food and drinks to…
Last night Joe Biden finally had an opportunity to showcase his vision to America and the world. It was the longest an incoming president had gone without a press conference in a hundred years. Anticipation was high. Expectations were low. Danish media haven’t made a very big deal out of it. Lashed out at China…
Exactly two months ago today, I wrote about Yale forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee (“She Blinded Me with Science“), a neurotic obsessive whose neurotic obsession was given a stamp of scientific approval by a fairly fawning article in Scientific American. She had diagnosed Donald Trump as psychotic, and everyone who voted for him as suffering…
While the U.S. correspondents for most of the establishment European media have been covering the crisis on America’s southern border, to the extent that many of them run the risk of committing actual journalism, DR’s own ace correspondent Steffen Kretz has bigger fish to fry: BigTech headed for a reckoning: A couple of “likes” drew…
Back in January I wrote about the Boomerang Principle: “What you do to your adversaries today, they will do to you tomorrow.” (I even offered an alternative phrasing: “The most important teacher of your adversary is you.”) A newly released Campus Reform video helps to illustrate just how damaging the consequences of the Boomerang Principle can…
Astronomical spring began today in the northern hemisphere. I’m glad for that, because Danish “traditional” spring began on the first of March and did absolutely nothing. Winter refused to vacate the premises. As I noted in a post last fall, “It’s not the indifference to astronomical science [by the ‘traditional’ Danish seasons] that bothers me,…
There’s a fascinating article in today’s Berlingske: Analysis: If Biden really wants to insult Putin, he should call him “toothless,” Emil Rottbøll, Berlingske.dk, March 19 Rottbøll is Berlingske’s Russian correspondent, and the article examines the stupid kerfuffle of words between the Russian and American leaders that culminated in Putin’s having just yesterday challenged Biden to…
In accordance with his campaign promises and the will of the American public, Donald Trump attempted during his time in office to shore up the nation’s southern border to reduce and discourage illegal immigration. I mention the support of the American people because you’d never know it from the media, but there is (and always…
Denmark’s Health Minister Magnus Heunicke has some splainin’ to do… but I’m not holding my breath for his ‘splanation. As I mentioned in a post last week, the Minister pushed the Folketing’s Epidemic Committee to approve his call for mandatory virus testing of the residents of Vollsmose, an immigrant-majority community beleaguered by a spike in…
There’s an awful lot of “woke” in the news these days. So much that it’s hard to keep up. For example, I learned while browsing the Danish news Saturday morning that established European translators had been blocked from translating Amanda Gorman’s poem “The Hill We Climb,” which she read at Joe Biden’s inauguration. Shakespeare translator…
We’re fifty-two days into the Biden Administration, and the American and Danish establishment media are still in thrall to The Man Who Isn’t There—but some cracks are beginning to show. CNN’s Brian Stelter, for example, noted nine days ago: There are many ways to measure an American president’s accessibility. One way is by counting press…
A year ago today, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen got on television and shut Denmark down. After a long and wearying preamble expressing all the dangers represented by the Wuhan virus, and the importance of all of working together to protect ourselves and each other, she said: It is therefore the authorities’ recommendation that we close…
My favorite bar in Copenhagen is Toga Vinstue. That’s not a paid product placement. (No one in their right mind would pay me to promote their product or service on this blog, nor would anyone in their right mind call me an “influencer.” More’s the pity.) No, I mention Toga Vinstue because it was the…
I was happy to see Health Minister Magnus Heunicke’s wild overreach was rejected yesterday: Heunicke Voted Down: Majority Blocks Mandatory Testing in Vollsmose, Mathilde Bugge & Nicolas S. Nielsen, DR.dk, March 8 For those of you not in Denmark: there’s been a dramatic increase in Wuhan virus cases in Vollsmose, an immigrant-majority community in Odense…
For most of my life, my contribution to any discussion of royalty was short and simple: Off with their heads. I’ve mellowed with age and am now willing to acknowledge that a royal family can serve a valuable social function as long as it has no real political power. I heartily and sincerely support the…
A quick survey of recent American headlines invites a lot of perfectly reasonable questions to which Americans ought reasonably to expect clear answers. That’s not to say there might not be perfectly reasonable answers, only that they’re not being offered voluntarily and the establishment media show no interest in pursuing the questions. Because they strike…
