When I first heard Kriston Capps complain about the new “contextual dictionary” on the New York Times‘ website, I thought he was overreacting. Until I tried to read an article on the New York Times‘ website. Now I’m ready to join his Bring Back Free Clicking Campaign. The new “feature” truly is beyond obnoxious: If […]

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Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer has been sentenced to four years in prison for “insulting” Islam (three years) and Hosni Mubarak (one year). Keep an eye on FreeKareem.Org to see how you can help.

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Well, every other blogger on earth—and probably whatever extraterrestrials may be on Livejournal as well—has already weighed in on the Amanda Marcotte/John Edwards bruhaha, so I figured I might as well sit this one out. Then I had some sort of nightmare last night, in which—the details are a little fuzzy—I was somehow working as […]

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There’s a protest scheduled for this afternoon in support of imprisoned Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer: Egyptian blogger Kareem Amer’s trial is scheduled for this Thursday. An informal group of New York City residents are joining together in solidarity for a peaceful protest of the government of Egypt’s treatment of Kareem, and to plead for all […]

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Via Laure, the New York Observer profiles the Manhattan blog scene. My first thought: “Oh, how funny. This sounds, mutatis mutandis, pretty much like my circle of friends. Just substitute DCist for Gothamist, Townhouse or Black Cat for The Magician, and so on.” My second thought: “Wait, this sounds like everyone’s circle of friends. Why […]

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I can’t say I’m shocked to discover The Washington Times, via its Insight magazine, would peddle a story about Barack Obama’s childhood attendance at a madrassa—a story that the most cursory scrutiny revealed to be complete bullshit. But I was a little taken aback by the magazine’s online response to its many critics on this […]

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In theory, at least. Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Cobert will mix it up, each hosting appearing on the other’s show, on the 18th.

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Iraqi police officer Jamil Hussein, a source for multiple AP stories whose accuracy has come under fire, is now confirmed to be, in fact, an Iraqi police officer, despite several weeks of charges from the hawkish blogosphere that he was some sort of fictional character, as his name was absent from both Iraqi and U.S. […]

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So, on the theory that one of the surest ways to produce better writing is to read it closely, I’ve been on one of my periodic kicks of poring over some of the hoary classics of “literary nonfiction” or “new journalism” or “long form narrative reportage” or whatever the preferred term is this week. Largely […]

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That’s how the Daily Show host describes himself in response to Bill Kristol’s calling him an “Upper West Side liberal.” Note also that Stewart pushes the idea that neoconservatism exhibits the worst tendencies of utopian liberalism—a notion I’ll choose to believe, against all odds, he cribbed from me.

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