The New Republic

Glenn Beck lays l'affaire grenouille to rest: READ MORE >>

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An ancillary irony of Chuck Norris's newfound enthusiasm for flag desecration is the way that tea--until now, widely associated with snobby Anglophiles and yoga-happy lefties--has abruptly become symbolic of a particular strain of conservative machismo. Just wait: By spring, Norris will be staining his flags with grande non-fat lattes. READ MORE >>

It is always striking the way both parties' ideological priorities shift depending on whether they are in or out of power, but rarely more so than in the right's abrupt embrace of dissent--until recently widely considered a misdemeanor form of treason--as the highest of civic virtues. Still, I was rather stunned to see conservative celeb Chuck Norris openly advocating flag desecration in print: READ MORE >>

If Glenn Beck were a regular reader of Jim Fallows, he'd be well aware of the "if you put a frog in boiling water" fallacy. But he's not, evidently, and this is the sorry result. I imagine a strongly worded letter from PETA is in the offing. Worse, from Beck's perspective, he's just metaphorically informed his viewers that their populist rebellions are about to, well, expire:   READ MORE >>

Is maybe-Senate-hopeful Carly Fiorina's website the sorriest in recent political history? I mean, she's not even in the race yet and already she's alienated the night-owl and cat-owner votes. And while we're on the subject, shouldn't that be Carlyfiorinia Dreamin'? READ MORE >>

New York magazine's Sam Anderson gathers a club to read Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol so that you (and I) don't have to: But who would be its members? READ MORE >>

For any who were not adequately shaken by David Grann's masterful article "Trial by Fire," about a man put to death by the state of Texas for a crime he almost certainly did not commit, Ta-Nehisi Coates points to a Salon article by Alan Berlow that simply beggars belief: READ MORE >>

Agence France-Presse reports, unsurprisingly, that Sarah Palin's speech to the CLSA Investors' Forum in Hong Kong met with divided opinion. As AFP notes, "Some of those who attended praised her forthright views on government social and economic intervention and others walked out early in disgust." READ MORE >>

Newt Gingrich, who in 2007 called bilingual education "the language of living in the ghetto" and in 1995 argued that bilingualism poses "long-term dangers to the fabric of our nation," has now launched a bilingual website, The Americano, to attract Hispanic voters to the GOP. Here's betting he won't be penning any articles about Sonia Sotomayor's "racism" for the site. READ MORE >>