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By Gregory Taggart, January 5, 2016 8:29 pm

Words fail.

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By Gregory Taggart, August 8, 2015 8:42 pm

I’m a fan of Florin and disappointed that she wasn’t on the main stage in the first Republican debate. Nevertheless, she made the best of her opportunity as part of the “warmup” debate.

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By Gregory Taggart, December 31, 2014 8:59 am

Here are 10 reasons why.

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By Gregory Taggart, February 5, 2014 3:30 pm

Glenn Greenwald changed his profile photo on Twitter recently:

I immediately recognized the pose because I use the following photo on my Twitter profile:

Now, I use the photo because I admire Orwell. He was a truth teller. I hope I’m one. And Glenn Greenwald? Does he admire Orwell, or does he think he’s a modern-day Orwell? Or maybe Daniel Patrick Moynihan:

Speaking of Greenwald, here’s a pretty evenhanded take on the guy by Tom Rogan of National Review.

Hmmm. Maybe Greenwald’s thinks he’s this guy:

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By Gregory Taggart, March 28, 2012 9:57 am

So the Dodgers sold for $2 billion today. That great price was certainly related to this (from MLB).

Here Gibson talks about that night.

And here’s one way around MLB, which maintains a pretty tight grip on TV rights.

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By Gregory Taggart, March 17, 2012 4:53 pm

I’ve been largely offline the last few days because of family obligations in Cody. Thus, I’ve spent less, much less, time on the Internet generally and on Facebook and Twitter specifically. Not all bad, that.

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By Gregory Taggart, March 16, 2012 11:19 pm

Watched Tintin tonight.

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By Gregory Taggart, March 14, 2012 9:02 am

For the longest time, the person dressed as the Dark Knight has been a mystery:

Wonder no more:

Fighting Until Florida
Speaking to supporters in Birmingham, Alabama, Gingrich vowed to remain in the campaign, saying he would fight all the way to the party’s national convention in Tampa, Florida.

Still, with victories in only South Carolina (PCSTSC) and Georgia, the former Georgia congressman and U.S. House speaker now faces a struggle for his political survival.

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By Gregory Taggart, April 24, 2011 3:22 pm

Christ at Emmaus

One of them recoils
One buries his head in the Lord’s broad lap.

What would you do
if, mid-meal, light suddenly broke
from a body rather like your own

and a stranger suddenly became
in very flesh the friend you mourned?

You would be shocked, no doubt — horror,
amazement, joy, dismay competing,
no words available for the occasion.

You might embrace him, weeping, or grasp instead at some shred
of rationality while your pupils
contracted and your heart beat in your throat.

It might be harder than you think
to give up three days’ mourning,
memories already being edited and arranged.

The story had seemed complete.
Having a tale to tell, you might already
have found a way to tell it whole,
rich with mystery, rounded and
resonant with meaning.

You might have been ready
to go back home, tired of all that wandering,
ready to sit at the lakeside and take up
the nets again, writing a little, keeping
your counsel, sharing a parable now and then
with those who had seen him once,
who remembered the picnic on the hillside —
all that bread and fish.

You would have had to give up yet again
what you thought you had a right to claim.
Turns out he meant it — the promise
you’d already begun to turn to metaphor.

Here in dazzling flesh, leaning back
to let himself be seen, he leaves them no choice
but to lay aside sweet sorrow and cancel all their plans
for the aftermath.

from Drawn to the Light: Poems on Rembrandt’s Religious Paintings by Marilyn Chandler McEntyre.

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By Gregory Taggart, March 31, 2011 11:51 pm

The governor of the state of Rio de Janeiro (where the Cidade Maravilhosa is located) is in the U.S. Today he spoke at the United States Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. where, according to the Jornal do Brasil, he spoke of the huge amount of investment his state is attracting, claiming that more than $111 billion will be invested in the state of Rio over the next three years, some he says is more investment money per “square kilometer” than in any place in the world.

Sounds pretty good, right?

Well, then there’s that story at Reuters:

Indeed, scenes like this are supposed to become a thing of the past here. Brazil plans more than $1 trillion in construction projects this decade to bring its woeful airports, roads and other infrastructure up to date — an ambitious building boom that will prepare the country to host the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics, provide a bonanza of opportunities for foreign investors, and secure Brazil’s place among the world’s most dynamic emerging economies.

That’s the dream, anyway.

In reality, expectations are coming unraveled — fast. Brazil’s grand infrastructure plans now seem likely to fall well short of President Dilma Rousseff’s ambitions, according to a Reuters investigation of major building projects and interviews with nearly two dozen senior political leaders, investors, government watchdog groups and others.

I’m a big fan of Brazil in general and Rio in particular. I hope the Governor is right, but that Reuter’s story is disturbing.