Bouquets & Brickbats
Bouquet
On June 12, 2026, Elon Musk officially launched Space X on NASDAQ in a stock offering that raised $75 billion for the company and made him — on paper, at least — the world’s first trillionaire. Condemnations of Musk’s inter-planetary wealth were not long in coming. “No human being should ever be allowed to have a trillion dollars,” proclaimed Mother Jones, eliding the question of who should be empowered to decide how much money Elon Musk (or anyone else) should be allowed to have. The New York Times, The Guardian, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, Congressman Ro Khanna, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and various other worthies all eagerly piled on. Elon Musk has too much …
American Glossary
Rent Control — Free for me, but not for thee.
Spencer Pratt — Old punchline. New punchline is that the 3rd-place socialist candidate wins the general election.
Democratic Socialism — Not for long.
Iran — I ran so far away.
Peptides — Medication that works?
Obesity — A lifestyle choice.
Hating Jews — All winners do this.
Qatar — A Middle Eastern country that spends billions buying the White House, Congress, and American universities — and no one cares.
Madonna — Scary Grandma wants to have sex with you.
Hollywood — Broke.
Critics Corner
Belle and Sebastian, 30th Anniversary of If You’re Feeling Sinister
Four years ago I saw my first Belle and Sebastian show. It was a surprise from my mom, who knew I wasn’t happy on our 110-degree summer vacation in Austin, Texas. The band had been an obsession of mine for a while, ever since my dad put in a CD with the words “Belle + Seb” written in sharpie into our old-school car stereo. The mix included familiar tracks like “Piazza, New York Catcher,” “Me and The Major,” and “Seeing Other People.” It also had more esoteric picks such as “The Loneliness Of A Middle Distance Runner” off the band’s compilation album Push Barman to Open Old Wounds. I must have been 10 or 11 hearing these songs for the first time. Another song, “Fox in the Snow” became a household anthem that my little brother …
