In”All of Us Yahoos” (NYRB, March 26) Dan Sperrin devotes about 5,000 words to the subject of satire. In “Modern English Usage,” H.W. Fowler describes it more succinctly in a little chart that distinguishes “humour, wit, satire, sarcasm, invective, irony, cynicism and the sardonic.”

Coming upon Fowler’s psychologically insightful matrix was a great relief, because I sometimes got told I was “sarcastic” when I knew that I wasn’t. Fowler hipped me: my thing was invective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Noam Chomsky’s relationship with Epstein was encouraged by his wife Valeria Noam trusted her but his grown kids were concerned about Valeria’s spending. Carol Chomsky, the mother of his children, had died in 2008. He married Valeria in 2014 and moved to Brazil.

• AI scammers want samples of your voice so that they can fabricate audio messages supposedly sent by you. This I learned from a tech-savvy woman who heard me answer a phone call and say, “I have nothing to do with Comcast! I quit Comcast when I moved from Alameda! I returned my equipment to your office in Oakland!”

Next day I told a woman who called, “I think you’ve got the wrong number.”  Slow learner.

• I didn’t realize how important the reader is when you’re listening to a book. The woman who reads My Antonia on Audible ruins it. She’s chirpy –a tone antithetical to Cather’s straightforward storytelling. She even gets the name wrong, pronouncing it Antonee’a, as if it was about an Italian. It’s Anton’ya (her family has arrived in Nebraska from Bohemia). Cather tells the story through the voice of a man and it works.

•  About Iran:  Nobody is suggesting that the United Nations step in like a referee when two fighters are in a clench. Implementing truces is not the UN’s thing. The UN has been rendered useless.

• In 2018, GW Pharmaceuticals got FDA approval for Epidiolex as a treatment for two rare types of epilepsy: Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and Dravet syndrome. Approval of Epidiolex to treat Tuberous Sclerosis Complex, was granted in 2000. Because Epidiolex is effective in reducing focal and drop seizures of all kinds, sensible doctors write prescriptions for “off-label” use of Epidiolex by patients whose seizures haven’t responded to pharmaceuticals.

Blue Cross Network of Michigan (a “nonprofit” HMO), resists paying for Epidiolex as a treatment for epilepsy. BCN was challenged by the parents of a girl diagnosed with generalized idiopathic epilepsy and epilepsy syndrome. Michigan’s department of insurance and financial services summarizes the case thus:

The Petitioner is a girl who has generalized idiopathic epilepsy and epileptic syndrome… The Petitioner has tried and failed ethosuximide, Lamictal, Keppra, amantadine, methsuximide, and zonisamide. Due to their resistant epilepsy, the Petitioner’s physician recommended the off-label use of the prescription drug Epidiolex (cannabidiol) and asked BCN to authorize an exception for off-label use of the drug.

BCN denied the request on the basis that the drug is not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Petitioner’s diagnosis.

The Petitioner appealed BCN’s decision…BCN issued a final adverse determination dated October 8, 2025, affirming its coverage denial. The Petitioner now seeks the Director’s review of that determination.

Glad to report that the Director directed Blue Cross of Michigan to provide the medicine the  child needs.

• Yesterday’s Papers

That photo of Valerie Brunel kicking the rim… When I was a senior in high school, I was invited to a “pot party” by a friend who went to Music & Art high school. Erica Mann was there (the mother of Molly Jong-Fast), but that’s not the item… The scene was: a living room in a brownstone, illuminated only by a dim red light, which supposedly signified “pot party.” Because I didn’t know how to inhale, the few puffs I took did nothing for me. The great high jumper John Thomas was there. He was favored to win the gold medal at the upcoming Olympics, but he lost to Brumel. I saw this as evidence that marijuana was debilitating.

A reader foresaw that we will soon be bombarded by supporters of the Lesser Evil: “I decided to skip the rally last weekend when I saw it was being promoted by Hillary on social. We’re on Fourth Street right now and I have not seen one sign with Israel on it. I wonder if these people even know what they’re protesting against. I’m pretty sure most of these people will be shaming lefties to vote for shitty Dems in upcoming elections. Those days are over.”

It’s happening already. Solnit

“Add to the daily deluge of irritants, people who respond to routine inquiries by gushing, ‘That’s a great question.’ And the legacy papers who run whole articles titled, ‘What you need to know…’

The head of the DNC said “Look,” five times in a brief interview. Not emphatically, just as a filler of space.  When Willie Brown was mayor he never said the word “every.” He said “Each and every.”

.If only… WHAT DATE The NYT had a