Hört auf, Krieg zu spielen! Ab dieser Ausgabe schreibt sie bei uns regelmäßig. Wir freuen uns, die Schauspielerin Iris Boss als neue Kolumnistin begrüßen zu können. Ihre bisherigen CulturMag-Beiträge hier. Auf meinen täglichen Spaziergängen durch Berlin fühle ich mich immer mehr an unsere Cuba-Reise vor drei Jahren erinnert. Daran ist nicht die wachsende Lebensfreude auf den Straßen, beziehungsweise den Balkonen schuld (die peinlichen Versuche, diese von Videos aus Italien zu kopieren, wurden ja zum Glück weitestgehend eingestellt). Auch kann ich kein erhöhtes Aufkommen von Oldtimern auf Berliner Straßen beobachten, undRead More

Lord Trump Almighty Gladdening the Heart of Lucifer  ‘Ego te absolvo’ by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2018 – Thomas Adcock   NEW YORK CITY, near America Scheduled to open in October in more than a thousand “select” American cinemas is a motion picture entitled “The Trump Prophecy,” produced by Liberty University of Virginia, a bottom-tier institute of evangelical Christian instruction. The university is hustling advance ticket sales via online movie trailers meant for the mesmerizing pleasure of stalwarts in a religio-political cult whose lord and savior is said to haveRead More

Trump-Drunk ‘End Times’ for ‘Pipsqueak Putin’ Bigots, boobs & bible bullies—Aus! Weg mit Dir! by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2018 – Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America Sadly for the United States and beyond, a degenerate fraudster, mendacious vulgarian, misogynistic swine, and all-round scrofulous lout occupies the White House—from whence he reigns as the racist godhead of a fascistic religio-political cult. The reasons for this plague of the moment are murky, debatable, and pathetic. Among them: Hillary Clinton’s stunningly inept presidential campaign of 2016; a cyber-attack of Russian disinformationRead More

Looking at Lester There are several, often conflicted, ways of looking at Lester Young, the American tenor player who was born, one of six children, in Woodville, Mississippi, in 1909, and who died, a crumpled, sick man, in March 1959. One comes from the poet, William Matthews, in an interview with Dave Johnson, originally published in the  High Plains Literary Review in 1995. Young was the Donald Barthelme of saxophone storytellers. The work is elliptical, funny, smart, blithe surfaced, and endlessly sad. Another, quite opposite, comes from another tenor saxophonist,Read More

Woke The Never Again Generation ‘We are not afraid … we will not be silenced … our voices are loud’  by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2018 – Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America Young and golden is the moment when ordinary people achieve a coalescence of causes based in righteous anger, when we realize a combined power that might shape a better future, when we cease to abide belligerent  ignorance and curable injustice. When we act, e pluribus unum, to redeem a wounded national honor. When we feel weRead More

NEW YORK CITY, near America Like chronic boils on a fat man’s neck, Donald J. Trump shall not fade to obscurity. So long as there is a market for freak shows anywhere on Earth, he will remain in the public eye. Yet we need him gone from the White House, at least, and soon. Thus, we Americans are forging an alternative path to relief from this carbuncle of a man: Day by day, we bury Mr. Trump a little further in the ash heap of irrelevance. Resistance to the politicalRead More

Autumn in America, and comes now a bumper crop of bullet-ridden corpses and exposés of child rape and long-ignored lechery—accompanied by sanctimonious sympathy, a mountain of mendacity, and a horde of hypocrisy. Consider: Bang-bang and ho-hum. Machine gun massacres in October and the first part of November, in Nevada and Texas, yielded a body count of eighty-five. The carnage inspired the usual gang of cheap Washington politicians to offer “thoughts and prayers” to families mourning the loss of victims gone to Heaven (or Hell)—in lieu of common sense legislative actionRead More

NEW YORK CITY, near America Her name is Darla. The soiled clothes on her back are all she owns. She sleeps on the sidewalk outside a Manhattan bank, keeping her distance from a church up the street where the feeling is mutual. Somewhere in Florida, her two small children live with their grandmother. This is all she tells anyone of her personal circumstances. When she feels safe enough to lie on her side, a risky angle for homeless women, Darla’s shirt rides up at the waist, revealing something fleshy andRead More

Jörg Fauser, der Geschäftsmann Gerade wieder war Buchmesse in Frankfurt, wo nicht nur über Bücher, sondern jenseits der Mikrofone auch über Geld geredet wird. Für unseren Kolumnisten Frank Göhre – ein Übersicht seiner CrimeMag-Beträge hier – ein Anlaß, dem 1944 in Bad Schwalbach/Taunus geborenen Fauser ein wenig ins Portemonaie zu schauen. Schriftsteller-Realitäten. „Heute weiß ich natürlich, dass es nicht genügt, so gut und so aufrichtig zu schreiben, wie man unter Anspannung aller Kräfte vermag, man muss, will man davon leben, das Geschriebene auch verkaufen.“ Für eine Anthologie-Seite gab es maximal einen Zwanziger, für einenRead More

Ethnocracy By Christopher G. Moore For a definition of ethnocracy Wikipedia provides: „An ethnocracy is a type of political structure in which the state apparatus is appropriated by a dominant ethnic group (or groups) to further its interests, power and resources. Ethnocratic regimes typically display a combination of ‚thin‘ democratic facade covering a more profound ethnic structure, in which ethnicity (or race, or Religion) – and not citizenship – is the key to securing power and resources. An ethnocratic society facilitates the ethnicization of the state by the dominant group,Read More

As a member of the American journalistic fraternity, Donald J. Trump labels me a “damned dishonest” purveyor of “fake news,” in league with “crooked bad people” who clearly despise the United States. Be duly warned! As Dorothy and Scarecrow intoned whilst traipsing through a scary forest in the Land of Oz, “Lions and tigers and bears, oh my…!” Last month in Arizona, during a rip-roaring rally of his fascistic flock, the president of the United States elaborated on his dim view of the likes of myself: “I really think theyRead More

Wo Hyänen, Schweine und Geier furchtlos herumstolzieren  von Frank Göhre Wir nähern uns einem Land in der Karibik, das 1492 von Christoph Kolumbus entdeckt und unter der Herrschaft der Spanier von Sklaven aus Afrika urbar gemacht wurde. Ein Land, dessen westliches Drittel dann den Franzosen überlassen wurde. Ein Land, in dem 1791 Schwarze und Mulatten in blutigen Aufständen über ihre Kolonialherren siegten und die Unabhängigkeit erklärten. Für die Anerkennung der Republik aber forderte Frankreich 150 Millionen Francs. Das ist die unmittelbare Fortsetzung einer Geschichte der Ausbeutung und Unterdrückung, der KorruptionRead More

I shall not now dwell upon the daily caboodle of news involving an orange-faced hoodlum with a soft spot for swastikas—he who presides over an imploding White House. Were there simple justice in America—a nation where uniformed nazis and kluxers armed with semiautomatic assault rifles and side arms are now free to march through the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia—this despicable man would be in prison, along with his flock of fools and felons. We hope for their imminent departure from the nation’s capital, preferably in manacles, and a time thatRead More

Don’t Ask! The War on American Media Reporters risk beatings by Trump’s violent minions by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2017 – Thomas Adcock NEW YORK CITY, near America Earlier this month, a thug with buzzcut hair by the name of Greg Gianforte walked into a courtroom in the state of Montana and pled guilty to charges of beating up a newspaper reporter during a political rally. In the days between the crime at question and his courtroom appearance, voters in Montana elected Mr. Gianforte to the United States House ofRead More

  My favourite relative recent crime novels Hmm, a friend remarked after perusing my recent listing of the 50 books I’d most enjoyed reading since the turn of the century, not a lot of crime fiction here – for a crime writer, especially. To which I might have replied, that in itself might be reason enough. And besides, if you stretch the definition a little there are five. No, wait, six. But here, to set things right, or achieve some sort of balance, at least, is the list of my favourite relative recent crime novels,Read More

Film, Verbrechen und andere Mittel – Max Annas über „Verräter“ von Karl Ritter. Ein nationalsozialistischer Kriminalfilm. Es gibt Verbrechen und eine Reihe ausgebuffter Verbrecher, die sie begehen. Es gibt Polizei, deren Aufgeregtheit zwar stets gezeigt, aber deren Arbeit nicht wirklich transparent wird im Sinne von: Wie kriegen die eigentlich ihre Investigation zusammen? Und es gibt natürlich Opfer. Das ist, wir schreiben das Jahr 1936, das deutsche Volk. Die Verräter aus dem Titel sind Spione, die an Flugzeugtechnik interessiert sind, aber auch an Informationen über Infrastruktur. Ihre genaue Motivation wird nichtRead More

SEBASTIAN GORKA, high-level White House assistant to Donald Trump, wore his Hungarian “bocskai” to the January 20 presidential inauguration balls in Washington. The braided black tunic  is popular with modern-day acolytes of Miklós Horthy, the nazi collaborationist leader whose Budapest regime saw the murders of 600,000 Jews. A medal pinned to Mr. Gorka’s tunic (close-up at right) indicates his affection for the “Order of Vitéz,” a chivalric fraternity begun by Horthy in 1920, popular once again with members of Hungary’s ultra-right political movement—the Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom. At the January balls,Read More

John Harvey on starting a new novel with Frank Elder “Now it is necessary to get to the grindstone again.” Ernest Hemingway, 1938 “So there is this pressure now, on every sentence, not just to say what it has to say, but to justify its claim upon our time.” Renata Adler: Pitch Dark Two quotations which were very much in mind at the end a week in which I began writing a new book for the first time since I set out on the road to Darkness, Darkness back in 2013. Not another CharlieRead More

iPod Shuffle, January 2017 by John Harvey. So, these tracks are the ones that bounced up into the headphones, accompanying me on my Heathside stroll …   Girl From the North Country : Bob Dylan & Johnny Cash Time After Time : Miles Davis Kathy’s Song : Paul Simon Line Up: Lennie Tristano Standing at the Crossroads : Johnny Shines Carolina Shout: James P. Johnson Four Bothers : Anita O’Day My Creole Belle : Mississippi John Hurt When Will I See You Again : Billy Bragg Winter Lady : LeonardRead More

   —Pinterest ‘I Love the Poorly Educated’ — D. Trump FANTASIES of Donald Trump voters: Barack Obama is a Kenya-born homosexual who, along with the she-devil Hillary Clinton, founded ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria); liberals are at “war” with Christmas; abortion is homicide; poor people are lazy; climate change is a hoax; Sharia is taking over the American criminal justice system; Muslims, including American citizens and refugee children, are probably terrorists and must be registered with the police; sonograms prove that fetuses can masturbate; God sends hurricanes andRead More

  Heil dem amerikanischen Faschistenführer! PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump: fascist sociopath, vulgarian, sexual predator, liar, racist, vindictive boor, misogynist, narcissist, anti-Semite, know-nothing lackwit, immigrant basher, Islamophobe, deadbeat, Holocaust denier, climate change denier, TV loudmouth, huckster, hypocrite, bankruptcy court habitué, xenophobe, accused fraudster (in seventy-five pending lawsuits), purveyor of Chinese sweatshop schmata, faux billionaire, tax dodger, failed hotelier, failed casino magnate, gun fanatic, admirer of Russian and North Korean autocrats. Dark Days in the U.S.A. ‘White America Has Lost Its Mind’ The Resistible Rise of Donald Trump by Thomas Adcock Copyright ©Read More

See you later Der Beitrag unseres USA-Korrespondenten Thomas Adcock, der den ganzen US-Wahlkampf mit vielen großen Essays begleitet hat, verzögert sich ein wenig. Bitte schauen Sie wieder herein. Oder lesen Sie seine prophetischen Texte noch einmal nach. Our US-columnist Thomas „Tom“ Adcock is still busy on his latest essay. Please visit us again later, or have a look at his eerily prophetic essays over the last months. It was February 15, 2016, when he wrote: WHOOPEE the Ice Queen,’ also known as Sarah Palin, favors a Manhattan billionaire-bigot-blowhard for president—Read More

Ein Sonntagabend: Sie hat gesagt, er hat gesagt, und einen herzlichen Dank an uns alle. Mein Leben mit Allah – Warum radikalisieren sich immer mehr junge Menschen? Die Moderatorin blickt mit hoch erhobenen Kopf (sprich: selbstbewusst) in die Kamera: Guten Abend, meine Damen und Herren, willkommen zu unserer Sendung. Auch wir haben gemeinsam den ‚Tatort‘ gesehen  –  der kein klassischer „Tatort“ war, eher ein Thesenfilm, aber gut, warum nicht? Aufgrund eines SZ-Artikels von der knallhart auf Quote getrimmten NDR-Redaktion Fernsehfilm an die Dienstleister Buch & Regie in Auftrag gegeben, heißes Thema,Read More

Gelesen. Gehört. Gesehen (11) Es sind die Jahre, in denen die Söhne ihre Väter fragen, wo sie im Krieg gewesen sind und was sie getan haben: „Warst du dort ein anderer als zu Hause? Hast du nie deine Familie an die Wand gestellt, nie deinen Sohn getroffen, wenn du abgedrückt hast?“ Das fragt der eine (Philipp Luidl) und bekommt keine Antwort. Und ein anderer prügelt auf seinen Vater ein, weil er mit dem Blick auf ihn die „Veranlagung zu Grausamkeit und Heimtücke“ in sich selbst erkennt (John Fante). Es sind die Jahre, in dem einem die großenRead More

       —Facebook November Surprise Justice Delayed, but Not Denied Make the Graybar Hotel great again by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2016 — Thomas Adcock WASHINGTON, D.C. Should current opinion polling hold steady clear to Election Day, five weeks hence, the loathsome Donald J. Trump will fail in his bid for presidency of the United States; the bullyboy misogynist will suffer ironic defeat at the hands of a girl—Hillary Clinton. And if the fair and righteous impulse to kick a creep when he’s down, the lying bigot, schlockmeister, andRead More

SHORT-FINGERED VULGARIAN Donald J. Trump (at left) plots a post-election American media empire according to the two-fisted gospel of Germany’s Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda during the Third Reich, 1933-1945. Goebbels Envy Donald Does the ‘Long Con’ Set the dial for ‘alt-right’ Trump TV   by Thomas Adcock Copyright © 2016 – Thomas Adcock WASHINGTON, D.C. Fellow citizens of the world, brace your selves for filth heretofore unseen in the moveable feast of political pornography that is Donald J. Trump’s quest for presidency of the United States—an effort he andRead More