“It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp should strike such terror to his enemies.”
“Henry VI, Part 1”

“Let me lick thy shoe,” says sycophantic Caliban.

“A distracted and most wretched being, worse than the worst.”
“Timon of Athens”

“In most uneven and distracted manner. His actions show much like to madness.”
“Measure for Measure”

“Every day I ask myself the same question: How can this be happening in America? How can people like these be in charge of our country?” wrote Phillip Roth in 2004 in “The Plot Against America.”

The Fool to Grassley:
“Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”

Trump’s base, the militantly incurious and the poorly educated who turn a blind eye to his indecency and criminality and whom he so proudly endorses, doesn’t care about history and culture.

A Decisive Moment for Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Public opinion is turning on the President’s policies, but it might not be enough to keep the country from entering a much darker phase.

“This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, to excuse the current of thy cruelty.”
“The Merchant of Venice”

How Much Is Trump Profiting Off the Presidency? A comprehensive estimate of how much Trump and his family are making, from hotel mega-deals to crypto schemes, has been elusive—until now.

“Like the digital clock counting the national debt, the meter on the Trump family’s Presidential profits ticks ever faster.”

Can Democrats Fight Back Against Trump’s Redistricting Scheme? Fleeing lawmakers in Texas are unlikely to stop Republicans from redrawing the state’s congressional maps, but their effort has offered a rallying cry—and a reminder of the Democratic Party’s weakness...

“Twenty-five Republicans from the state currently serve in the U.S. House, compared with 12 Democrats. Their overwhelming advantage—itself the result of years of gerrymandering—led many Republicans to privately question [Trump’s] demands.”

“They’re standing and they’re screaming at them, an inch away from their face, and then they start spitting in their face. And I said, ‘You tell them, you spit and we hit,’ and they can hit real hard,” said Trump.
Is Trump describing the behavior of the insurrectionists toward the Capitol police?

“Service is no heritage,” says the Clown in Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well.” And Heritage is no service.

Bring back the public editor! (No, I don't want the job.) Plus: Readers come through with examples of bad headlines; and a bit of welcome inspiration.

“A diligent public editor can do essential things that social media can’t. Take reader complaints seriously, ask pointed questions of the powers-that-be, get answers every time, and publish the investigation/analysis/conclusions in the same place that the original journalism was published.”

“Verification in reverse means taking facts that have been nailed down and introducing doubt about them. With this doubt comes friction, controversy, commotion, emotion, backlash, accusation, disgust, momentum. And with the energy released by these reactions you can power your political movement.”

“Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious,” wrote Orwell.

“Friendlier Data”
Alas, this is not a parody of The New York Times.

More cheerleaders and stenographers. They are like trade magazine reporters: happy to be there and to convey the positive P.R. message their handlers want told while being careful not to write or ask anything confrontational that might upset the trade’s leaders, backers, and advertisers.

As Trump tries to distract us from his own malfeasance and treachery,
“How shall we stretch our eye when capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd and digested, appear before us?”
“Henry V”

The Bard to Trump:
“But tell me why you proceeded not against these feats so crimeful and so capital in nature.”
“Hamlet”

“With all his crimes broad blown”
“Hamlet”

“These faults are easy, quickly answered: But mightier crimes are laid unto your charge, whereof you cannot easily purge yourself.”
“Henry VI, Part 2”

The Bard to Bolton:
“I wonder that you will still be talking... Nobody marks you.”
“Much Ado About Nothing”
#ShakespeareSunday

Why is Bolton saying hello when we have told him good riddance?

Mar-a-Iago

“Contempt will kill the speaker’s heart, and quite divorce his memory from his part.”
“Love’s Labour’s Lost”
#ShakespeareSunday

“Ourselves and children have lost, or do not learn for want of time, the sciences that should become our country.”
“Henry V”
#ShakespeareSunday

The Bard to RFK Jr.:
“I am put to know that your own science exceeds, in that, the lists of all advice.”
“Measure for Measure”
#ShakespeareSunday

“Plate sin with gold and the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks.”
“King Lear”
#ShakespeareSunday

Maybe George Bush should address the nation, as he did after 9/11, on this attack from within.