Society

Cockburn was sad to learn that W. James Antle III, the highly esteemed editor of the American Conservative (TAC), has parted ways with the magazine after little more than a year at the helm. Antle is a terrifically gifted journalist and a dexterous thinker who has contributed many fine pieces to The Spectator in his time.TAC is one of the best magazines in the world — Cockburn does not make such compliments lightly — and Antle has steered the publication to new heights. It has in recent years flourished into a hugely influential voice on the American right: its influence on Trumpism is unmistakable.Cockburn, busybody that he is, has asked around to find out what caused Antle’s sudden departure, but TAC staff are being impressively tight-lipped.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews was notably absent from his network’s primary election coverage this weekend after a one-two punch of an uncomfortable interview and a sexual misconduct allegation before ultimately 'retiring' from the network Monday night. But everyone is missing the real reason the Hardball host was pulled off the air.'After a conversation with MSNBC, I decided tonight will be my last Hardball, so let me tell you why,' Matthews told viewers during his opening monologue Monday. 'The younger generation is out there ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, in the media, in fighting for the causes ..compliments on a women's appearance that some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK, were never OK. Not then and certainly not today.

Sen. Bernie Sanders is the Democratic frontrunner, and boy, MSNBC is not happy.As the Nevada caucus results rolled in Saturday, commentators on the network, visibly annoyed, compared a Sanders victory to France being invaded by Nazi Germany, warned of his supporters using 'dark arts', said that it might be better for moderate Democrats if Trump won instead of Sanders, and called Sanders voters a 'squeaky, angry minority'.Chris Matthews, who was responsible for the off-color World War Two analogy (and is now facing calls to step down over it), also recently panicked on air about being executed in Central Park by 'Castro and the Reds' when discussing why Sanders calls himself a socialist.

Attorney and former media darling Michael Avenatti was convicted on two charges of extortion against Nike last Friday. His fate caused a deathly silence among some of the anti-Trump, cable news anchors who not so long ago were venerating him as a president-in-waiting. Former GOP ad men who were once flirting with running Avenatti for president were no longer returning phone calls. Avenatti was left abandoned in handcuffs, his invite to this year’s Sag Harbor Soirée lost in the mail. Alas, he’s no longer the holy spirit or the savior of the republic. Just a couple of days later, the establishment media — particularly CNN — had found their mea culpa on Avenatti; his months-long stardom was, of course, the fault of President Donald Trump.

There is nothing writers love to write about more than writers. We are an extraordinarily self-important breed. Find a group of plumbers, office workers or electricians and they will talk about anything except their line of work. When writers come together, though, the subject of conversation is invariably their peers and themselves. But I can hardly talk. Here I am, coming to you today not just to write about writers and writing but to write about a writer writing about writers and writing. (Did you make it through that sentence OK? I'm sorry for inflicting it on you. Have a drink or something. You deserve one.) What have we done to deserve this kind of self-absorption? Writing, at its best, adds a little truth and a little beauty to the world.

Conservative radio host and longtime political commentator Rush Limbaugh announced on his program Monday that he has advanced lung cancer and will be taking time off to receive treatment.Shortly after Limbaugh revealed his diagnosis, prominent leftists rushed to Twitter to celebrate the fact that someone they opposed politically may soon meet an untimely — and likely painful — demise.Former CNN host Reza Aslan, whose show Believer was canceled by CNN after he called the president a 'piece of shit' on Twitter, did a shoddy job of downplaying his joy at the Limbaugh news.‘Ask yourself this simple question: is the world a better place or a worse place with Rush Limbaugh in it?’ Aslan tweeted Monday evening.

After the helicopter crash that killed basketball star Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others, there has been a rash of speculation on social media that helicopters are inherently unsafe to fly. Perhaps the most extreme example is British businessman, Lord Alan Sugar, an experienced pilot, who says he will no longer fly in helicopters because they defy physics. He should know better. After a number of high-profile accidents, it might seem that helicopters have a poor safety record. In 2018, five people died when a helicopter giving a sightseeing tour of New York City crashed into the Hudson river. In the past two years there have been other deaths in Hawaii, the Grand Canyon and Manhattan.

How did you find out about the death of one of sport’s greatest legends? For me, it was while I was cooking dinner and idly scrolling through my phone, waiting for the oven to heat up. I saw a screenshot of a TMZ Instagram story posted to Twitter. 'KOBE BRYANT DEAD IN HELICOPTER CRASH', it blared. I did what anyone else does in this day and age and sent it down my groupchat. I had no idea whether it was true, whether it was a malicious prank, or hack, or anything else. I just wanted to be the one to share it first. As news spread across social media and screenshots turned into shots from the scene in Calabasas, the only certainty seemed to be that no one knew what was going on.

Celebrity is a remarkably enduring and powerful form of prestige. Who can imagine a world without it? Celebrities begin as people, become brands, then expand into empires. We have celebrity restaurateurs who become celebrity chefs and celebrity chefs who become restaurateurs. We have celebrity spin doctors and celebrity CIA analysts. We have celebrity comedians and celebrity revolutionaries; they’re often interviewed by celebrity journalists. We have celebrity architects, celebrity tycoons and celebrity statesmen. We have celebrity children of celebrities; celebrity ballerinas; celebrity vegans; celebrity plumbers; celebrity murderers. For decades celebrity told society stories about itself, some ennobling, some disgraceful.

It’s good to be the queen, but it’s hard to be a prince. It’s getting harder still for Meghan and Harry, two ex-Royal Highnesses in search of a day job as of Saturday. They thought they could cash out, but now they’re being cast out. It’s going to be a hard Megxit. This can’t be what Meghan and Harry imagined would happen when they surprised the world — and surprised the British royal family too — by announcing that they were ‘stepping back’ from their royal duties in order to step into branding opportunities abroad.

A revolution is under way that will fundamentally change the way humans relate to their cars, so that the vehicle more closely resembles the living room with all the stress of driving removed and all the possibilities of distracting entertainment.Cars will soon become an extension of movie theater, concert venue and 3D videogame as the full potential of 5G communication is unleashed, along with a business imperative of advertisers wishing to monetize the opportunity of drivers being a captive audience for hours at a time.A taste of the future was glimpsed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

I was a young tech journalist in the years when Facebook and Twitter were growing fast. In retrospect, one of the biggest oversights made by the tech press (myself very much included) was that for the most part, we’d cover one product launch after another with little attention to the security or privacy implications. When a data breach or privacy scandal came along, we’d cover that, and all too often then let the story drop. But now a decade-plus later, our lack of media attention to security in social media seems glaring.Part of this was structural.

Here we go again. Just when it seemed that the rancor might abate and wounds might start to heal, along comes another express train of controversy to divide Britain. Brexit has been replaced by Megxit (as the tabloids are calling it) following the bombshell announcement by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that they want to ‘step back’ as senior members of the royal family while continuing to have their cakes and eat them — or, rather, ‘work to become financially independent.’ Suddenly, those who strive tirelessly to rid Britain of its monarchy altogether have been galvanized. So man those ramparts! Re-arm! Let the venom flow once more! Some on the left are even calling for a referendum on the matter.

It’s the showbiz showdown of the century. In the red, white and blue corner, the heavyweight champion of bare-knuckle monarchy, Her 93-year-old Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, still undefeated despite all the sucker punches from her children, her grandchildren and the Russian Revolution. In the other red, white and blue corner, the gutsy lightweight king of the silver screen, 91-year-old Mickey Mouse, trained from beyond the grave by Walt Disney.It’s the Monarchy versus the Mouse, the Old World against the New. The prize is the monetizing of Harry and Meghan.

You win, America.First you broke away from us, but, frankly, we could live with that. Colony or no colony, Britain remained the world’s strongest power and we were happy to let you explore the barren landscapes of your nation while we got on with exploring the rest of the globe.Slowly but surely, though, you began to overtake us. Even the Great Depression could not halt your progress and after you came to our aid in World War Two, and our empire collapsed around our ears, we were forced to acknowledge that you had surpassed us economically and militarily.But we still had culture right?