JON STEWART’S VALEDICTORY ADDRESS
As transcribed by Dave Itzkoff of the Times, delivered on August 6, 2015::
RED TAPE
Buzz Aldrin’s Travel Voucher for his trip to the moon in 1969
THE HORROR
These are hardly the most terrible pictures that emerged from 9/11, not by a long shot. And yet for images that live at that messy nexus between culpability and helplessness, it’s hard to beat these images that were taken at the White House on that awful, awful day.
THE SUMMER OF TRUMP
Many people were surprised that Donald Trump shot to the top of the Republican presidential polls (in an NBC poll today, he has 19% percent, to Scott Walker‘s 15% and Jeb Bush‘s 14%), but that’s only because they allowed their own tastes to prevent them from getting an accurate view of this gargantuan personality. Trump …
THE LOST CAUSE, AT LONG LAST LOST
This morning, South Carolina finally removed the Confederate flag from the grounds of its statehouse. At long last, he rebel flag has finally fallen. Not everywhere, of course. But to see it go down here, in the cradle of rebellion, means one thing: it has lost its power to enthrall and intimidate. The cause is …
THAT WAS THE VERY LIBERAL WEEK THAT WAS
Sometimes it seems as though weeks go by without nary an event worth introducing into conversation. And then sometimes news–and not merely news, but huge historical events–come rolling in like thunder. One such period occurred during the last week in June. On Monday the 22nd, responding to the murder days before of nine people who …
DROWNED OUT DAY
On Saturday the 20th, after many years of longing, we went to the Clearwater Revival Festival in Croton Point Park. I was very excited that the advertised line-up promised a chain of performances by Angelique Kidjo (below left), Shelby Lynne (v. exciting!), Los Lobos (!), Neko Case (!) and David Crosby. Alas, it was not …