James Taranto (born 1966) is a Manhattan-based columnist for The Wall Street Journal and editor of its online editorial page, OpinionJournal.com. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Manhattan Island, in New York Harbor, is much the largest part of the Borough of Manhattan, one of the Five Boroughs which form the City of New York OpinionJournalcom was a Website featuring content from the The Wall Street Journal editorial pages He is best known for his daily online column, entitled Best of the Web Today, in which he links to and comments on news stories and Web sites submitted by readers.
Most of Taranto's commentary is politically oriented and conservative/neoliberal in perspective. Conservatism is a term used to describe political philosophies that favour Tradition, where tradition refers to various religious cultural or nationally defined Originally coined by its critics and opponents " neoliberalism " is a label referring to the recent reemergence of Economic liberalism or Classical liberalism He lambastes various public figures and organizations, from John Kerry, often described as "the haughty, French-looking Massachusetts Democrat, who by the way served in Vietnam," to Reuters, for which he uses headlines with excessive use of quotes in mockery of the service's overuse of scare quotes. } John Forbes Kerry (born December 11 1943 is an American Politician who is currently serving his fourth term as the junior United States Senator The Commonwealth of Massachusetts ( is a state located in the New England region of the northeastern United States. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam Conflict, occurred in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia This article is primarily about Reuters prior to its 2008 merger with Thomson Scare quotes is a general term for Quotation marks used for purposes other than to identify a direct quotation
Taranto comments occasionally on topics of special interest to him such as the Roe effect (which proposes that parents who support abortion rights will have fewer children, causing support for abortion rights and politically liberal causes to decline among young people) in his column and also wrote an article[1] about it. The Roe effect is a Hypothesis about the long-term effect of Abortion on the political balance of the United States, which suggests that since supporters An
Best of the Web Today features a number of recurrent in jokes and self-referential word plays that are not readily apparent to novice readers. One of Taranto's pet peeves is the metric system of measurements, "an outmoded collection of weights and measures based on pagan superstitions about the power of the number 10. The metric system is a decimalised system of measurement. It exists in several variations with different choices of base units, though the choice of base units does "
Best of the Web Today also includes non-political items which are concerned with journalism nationwide. Often-seen titles are "You Don't Say", "This Just In", or "Stop the Presses", followed by a common-sense headline such as "Shedding a Few Pounds Beneficial for Obese" (June 1, 2004) or "Sperm May Play Role in Growth of Embryo" (May 13, 2004). Events 193 - Roman Emperor Didius Julianus is Assassinated 987 - Hugh Capet is elected "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Events 1497 - Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " Another commonly used title is "What Would We Do Without Experts?", followed by headlines such as "Experts Remind Staying Warm Important After Cold Contributes to 5 Deaths" (January 7, 2004). Events 1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. 1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " "World's Smallest Violin" is his lead-in for stories about whiners undeserving of sympathy. A more recent recurring feature is "Bottom Stories of the Day", rounding up supposedly unimportant or unsurprising news items, such as "No E. Coli Reported in Tompkins County" (December 8, 2006). Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar.
Taranto exposes what he sees as overly harsh punishment of minor drug- or weapon-related offenses in schools under the title "Zero-Tolerance Watch". He corrects his previous mistakes under the title "Homer Nods". Homeric nod (sometimes heard as 'Even Homer nods' is a Proverbial phrase for a continuity error. Taranto used to publish a section called "Good News Watch" to counteract what he viewed as liberal media bias in covering the 2003 Iraq war and the subsequent U.S.-led occupation of Iraq. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, from March 20 to May 1 2003 was spearheaded by the United States, backed by British forces and smaller contingents from Australia Iraq War|2007 in Iraq|2008 in IraqThe post-invasion period in Iraq
Other recurring features include "Homelessness Rediscovery Watch" and references to Generalissimo Francisco Franco (in turn an obvious reference to the catch phrase from Saturday Night Live). Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco y Bahamonde (born December 4, 1892 in Ferrol, died November 20, 1975 in Madrid "Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead" is a Catch phrase that originated in 1975 during the first season of Saturday Night Live Saturday Night Live ( SNL) is a weekly late-night 90-minute American Sketch comedy / Variety show based in New York City
A newer feature is "Man (or Woman) Without a Party," taking note of the tendency by many news organizations to avoid mentioning the party affiliation of Democratic politicians caught in embarrassing or corrupt circumstances, while Republican officials usually are so identified. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party.
He also appears occasionally on Journal Editorial Report in the role of "funny man. The Journal Editorial Report is a weekly American interview and panel discussion TV program on Fox News Channel, hosted by Paul Gigot, editorial page editor "
Taranto attended California State University, Northridge but "never bothered to graduate". California State University Northridge (also known as CSUN, Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the San Fernando Valley, within the city limits [2]
Excerpts
The subheading on each item in Best of the Web Today are hyperlinked to whatever Taranto is commenting on. In computing a hyperlink is a Reference or Navigation element in a Document to another Section of the same document or to another For example:
- Contre le Stéréotype
- A New York Times report suggests maybe the French aren't cheese-eating surrender monkeys after all:
- A Paris court today sentenced a Frenchman with ties to a suspect in the Madrid train bombings to four years in prison for helping Islamic terrorists in Europe. " Cheese-eating surrender monkeys ", sometimes shortened to " surrender monkeys " is a phrase referring to the French that gained notoriety in the Paris (ˈpærɨs in English; in French) is the Capital of France and the country's largest city
- The man, David Courtallier, was convicted of conspiring with criminals engaged in a terrorist enterprise and was not implicated in the Madrid bombings, which killed 191 people on March 11. Madrid (pronounced in English in Spanish and colloquially in Spain) is the Capital and largest city of Spain. Events 1425 BC - Thutmose III, Pharaoh of Egypt, dies (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty But Mr. Courtallier, a cheese vendor from France's Savoy region who converted to Islam in 1997, had been in contact with Jamal Zougam, one of the first suspects arrested in the Madrid attacks. For the two French départements of the region of Savoy see Savoie and Haute-Savoie Savoy ( French Jamal Zougam (born 1973 in Morocco) was one of six men implicated in the 11 March 2004 Madrid Train Bombings.
- That they have arrested him in spite of his vocation is all the more impressive.
- A New York Times report suggests maybe the French aren't cheese-eating surrender monkeys after all:
One of his signature styles is an alternate headline for a news item, followed by the actual headline. Examples:
- Parry! Thrust!
- "Raiders Safeties to Play Duel Roles"--headline, San Francisco Chronicle, June 12
- ‘This Is a Fashion Disaster!’
- "Frank Critical of Bush on Suits"--headline, Washington Post, June 14
References
External links
- James Taranto's own homepage
- Taranto's Best of the Web Today column
- The OpinionJournal home page
- James Taranto's biography at OpinionJournal. The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H Events 1381 - Peasants' Revolt: in England, rebels arrive at Blackheath. com
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