What the Danish and European media misunderstand (and misrepresent) about America, and vice versa. And other stuff.
There’s an old Danish maxim that “necessity teaches naked women to sew.” (Nød lærer nøgen kvinde at spinde). It’s actually to spin, not sew, but teaching naked women to spin is weirdly ambiguous in English—it might just as easily be a reference to pole-dancing classes. A figurative translation is better: necessity is the mother of…
Mikkel Danielsen tried to explain John Fetterman to Danes in yesterday’s Berlingske. The Democrats’ big hope is a middle-aged man in a hoodie and shorts.Worries are now growing about his conditionMikkel Danielsen, Berlingske.dk, Sept 13 Middle-aged men in hoodies and shorts are something I sometimes encounter Sunday afternoons at the dump. You can probably also…
There’s a particularly soft spot in my already squishy heart for well-reasoned, finely-worded arguments in defense of ridiculous propositions—especially when there’s actually a subversive point concealed within the nonsense. Swift’s “Modest Proposal” is the most obvious example: in suggesting that the starving Irish begin eating their own children, Swift let his readers laugh their way…
I’ve been struggling to understand the verious stupidities and absurdities of the world for a while now, but two two stories about immigration—one American, one Danish—have finally opened my eyes: we’re living in a Kurt Vonnegut novel. For the kids in the back row: I’m not saying Kurt Vonnegut is god, or even a god,…
Not long ago I wrote that the Democratic Party was driven by the twin-engines of hatred and utopianism. The reaction to Queen Elizabeth’s death suggests, however, that at least one loud chunk of the Democratic base is a single-engine affair, and it’s not utopianism that’s driving them. When I say the activist American left, I…
Energy prices are skyrocketing in Europe and the natives are getting restless. The situation absolutely requires that a really stupid and futile gesture be done on somebody’s part—and you know what that means: The EU summit will fight skyrocketing energy prices: “Russia’s manipulating our energy markets”Per Bang Thomas, DR.dk, 7 Sept Is it boring and…
The lights have literally begun to go out in Europe, even in little Denmark. Several municipalities are considering saving electricity by dimming street lightsRitzau, Berlingske.dk, Sept 6 Energy prices have skyrocketed, and this has caused several municipalities in the capital area to discuss whether street lighting should be dimmed or switched off during the night…
It was reported in Denmark today—this morning—that natural gas prices had gone up 30%. It would be pretty painful if the price of natural gas went up that much every year! Except this wasn’t a year-on-year increase. It wasn’t even a monthly increase. It was an overnight increase. From TV2 News: Large price jump for…
There’s big piece in Berlingske today on the changed tone of Danish politics. Something has gone seriously wrong in Danish politics. Now concerned experts are sending a warning to ChristiansborgTobias Reinwald & Thomas Søgaard Røhde, Berlingske.dk, Sept 4 Only a fraction of this blog’s readers are Danish, so I’m not going to get all deep…
Back in 1992 the communications director of Bill Clinton’s presidential campaign, James Carville, set up a sign in the campaign’s Little Rock headquarters to keep everyone on message. Among the three bullet points was one that has since become a political cliché in America: “It’s the economy, stupid.” It says something about the American political…
I just want to lay down a marker: my advance transcript, posted hours before the transcript was even released yesterday, nailed it. Here’s the real transcript from the New York Times. Compare and contrast—and marvel at my powers of precognition. Which I had thought was just satire. I never would have imagined Biden’s handlers would…
NOTE: The following is my own transcription of a recording of Joe Biden’s address to the nation on the “Soul of the Nation,” scheduled for delivery this evening from Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Do not ask how I came into possession of that recording hours before the event. My fellow Armenians. During the campaign I…
AUDIO NOTE: I haven’t given up on the audio experiment, but the home office is still in disarray due to the renovations that are underway. Audio should resume at some point next week. Berlingske’s “Business Overview” this morning—a round-up of the business news the paper’s business editors consider most newsworthy—includes an item entitled “Denmark, Sweden…
Let’s start with a some textual analysis. Here’s the text: What we’re seeing now is the beginning or the death knell of an extreme MAGA philosophy. It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy that underpins the—I’m going to say something, it’s like semi-fascism. Those words were spoken by Joe Biden at a fundraiser in…
Denmark’s running out of biofuel pellets just in time for winter. Sounding the alarm and warning the minister: Over 100,000 Danes are at risk of freezing this winterNiels Pedersen, Berlingske.dk, August 26 Hundreds of thousands of Danes are struggling with sky-high energy prices at the moment. But for some of them the price increases may…
Back on August 9th I wrote about the raid on Mar-A-Lago. The words “banana republic” don’t appear in the post, but I did make a cute banana republic flag for the featured image: When you have armed federal investigators swarm the private home of an ex-president who happens to be one of your loudest and…
Language Note: Colorful language ahead. If you don’t care for that kind of thing, move along. Joe Biden is shopping for votes again: this time he’s offering a $10,000 bribe. President Biden is expected to announce a plan Wednesday to cancel thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt for borrowers who make less than…
Remember when hating Russia and Russians was the hot new thing? Vladimir Putin had just invaded Ukraine (“basically, that’s wrong,” the American Vice-President helpfully explained) and we therefore had to chuck not just Russian gas and Russian oligarchs, but also Russian literature, Russian music, and Russian people. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Pushkin, Bulkagov, Tchaikowsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky—out…
