The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Fear and Loathing: Journalism in the Age of Trump Derangement Syndrome

“In the context of journalism, here, we are dealing with a new kind of ‘lead’ — the Symbiotic Trapezoid Quote. The Columbia Journalism Review will never sanction it; at least not until the current editor dies of brain syphilis, and probably not even then. “What? “Do we have a libel suit on our hands? “Probably not, […]

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: Wombat Hospitalized, Could Use Your Help

  CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE! The first time I met Wombat — in 2010, as I recall — I was struck by the enormous size of the man. It’s like meeting an NFL lineman in real life. You see them on TV and know they are unusually large human beings, but actually being in their […]

At the Edge of the Abyss

  When you are a professional trafficker in politically incorrect thoughts — which is about the best description of my trade I can come up with — a certain amount of caution is necessary to the craft. It’s a tightrope act, and you’re walking a wire suspended high above a dark abyss. Having seen a […]

Please Help My Brother Kirby: Strange and Savage Tales of ‘Backroads’ McCain

Kirby as a senior at Douglas County (Ga.) High School, 1975. My older brother Kirby is a legend to those who know him. Did I ever mention, for example, that he once dated Miss Teen Georgia? Kirby was working at Six Flags Over Georgia, operating one of the trams that conveyed guests from the parking […]

Fear and Loathing in a Highgate Mansion: Johnny Depp Is Decadent and Depraved

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in 2003 (left) and as a loser in 2018 (right). If you haven’t read Rolling Stone‘s 10,000-word profile of Johnny Depp, I can summarize it briefly: He’s wrecked. He’s ruined. The Pirates of the Caribbean star has utterly destroyed his career and reputation, and is rapidly approaching financial ruin. […]

NY Times Reporter and Senate Staffer Caught in Sex-for-Leaks Scandal

Ali Watkins worked for Politico before joining the New York Times. The former security director for the Senate Intelligence Committee has been arrested after lying to the FBI about illegally leaking classified information to a young reporter he dated for three years. The arrest exposed James A. Wolfe as the source of multiple leaks of […]

The ‘Controversial’ Kevin Williamson

  If you want to know what excellent journalism looks like, go read “The White Ghetto,” Kevin D. Williamson’s 2014 travelogue of Appalachia: There used to be two movie theaters here — a regular cinema and a drive-in. Both are long gone. The nearest Walmart is nearly an hour away. There’s no bookstore, the nearest […]

Ivy League Butt Sex and Journalism

  When I worked at The Washington Times, our editor was Wes Pruden, son of a Southern Baptist minister, who believed that a newspaper should be sufficiently wholesome to be read by the entire family. There were certain words you simply did not use in The Times, and references to sexual behavior had to be […]

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