The Buzz: Please define “lodestar” and use it in a sentence
Published 1:30 am Saturday, September 8, 2018
By Jon Bauer
Herald staff
We know what you’re thinking, but it’s not us. The New York Times wouldn’t hire us for a paper route.
On to the week that wasn’t:
Opinion piece de “resistance”: In an anonymous opinion piece in Wednesday’s New York Times, the writer, identified as a senior official within the Trump administration, wrote that he (or she) and others were part of a “resistance” effort that was working to “preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses until he is out of office.”
Um, OK. May we ask which Trump policies has this effort thwarted? Because unless you’re talking about keeping the president from pouring ketchup over his steak or installing lane bumpers on the basement bowling alley, we’re not seeing much evidence of being saved from “misguided impulses.”
Those slipped right past us: The commentary includes this caveat: “Don’t get me wrong. There are bright spots that the near-ceaseless negative coverage of the administration fails to capture,” including deregulation and “historic tax reform.”
You forgot the bright spot of Trump’s migrant child detention policy and the fact that nearly 500 kids are still separated from their parents, but then we’re guessing you had to cut a few lines to get your commentary under the Times’ 750-word limit.
“Lodestar” gazing: By Thursday, some two-dozen senior administration officials were lining up to deny any connection to the New York Times op-ed, including Vice President Mike Pence. Some speculated a link between the writer, who used the word “lodestar” in the piece and Pence, who has used the word in some speeches.
In order to discover the writer’s identity, Trump is investigating all possibilities and has confiscated all Word-of-the-Day calendars in the White House.
Nixon probably wishes that, too: On Tuesday, the Washington Post released excerpts from Bob Woodward’s new book, “Fear,” which portrays a “nervous breakdown” by the Trump presidency, describing anger and paranoia by the president and the machinations by Trump’s advisers to attempt to rein in his impulses and prevent disasters.
Woodward, who broke the Watergate scandal with Post partner Carl Bernstein, later said he kicked himself for not saving “All the President’s Men,” for the Trump book’s title.
Here come de judge: Despite three days of raucous Senate hearings and continued protests over concealed documents, it looked nearly certain that Democrats would not be able to block the confirmation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Democrats on Friday made a last-ditch effort and were poring over past opinions to see how often Kavanaugh used the word “lodestar.”
Is this an open-book quiz? After weeks of requests by special counsel Robert Mueller that President Trump agree to be interviewed, Mueller has relented and will allow Trump to submit his responses in writing to questions as to whether the Trump campaign conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Trump may still regret it. In return for the concession, Mueller has made it clear that spelling, grammar, punctuation and penmanship will count toward his grade and avoiding an indictment.
Alex Jones, wordsmith: Twitter on Thursday permanently banned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his “Infowars” show for repeated violations of the social network’s policy against abusive behavior, including taunting a CNN reporter with insults that said the reporter was “smiling like a possum that crawled out of the rear end of a dead cow. … You look like a possum that got caught doing some really nasty stuff.”
OK. I think we can now say with complete certainty that Alex Jones is not the New York Times op-ed author.
Jon Bauer: jbauer@heraldnet.com.
