Comparison: Trump seems to have his own set of deflector shields: his cabinet secretaries and other top officials, whom he uses to absorb some of the blowback from his most contentious policies. . . . When the shields are at reasonable strength, they can keep taking fire, and the ship of state continues flying. But when the shields are battered and begin to malfunction, the entire enterprise is exposed. And right now, a lot of Trump’s shields seem to be faltering at once. Car

Comparison: . . . picture the campaign playlist as a kind of retail theft. Not the glamorous kind, not the ‘Ocean’s Eleven‘ kind, just the plain kind where someone strolls out with something small because they assume no one is going to stop them. That is how political campaigns sometimes treat music, like it is a communal resource, a public utility, a mood-setting spray bottle you can mist over the crowd. You want triumph, you want swagger, you want nostalgia, and you want th

Comparison: Civics lesson to the government: Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the henhouse. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer.  . . . With a judicial finger in the constitutional dike, It is so ORDERED. On January 31, 2026, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery of the Western District of Texas ordered the immediate release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his

Comparison: Creators are the coal shovelers who have allowed YouTube to move so far so fast, except the railroads used to pay their boilermen a wage. Creators work for free . . . Time magazine writer Belinda Luscombe reaches in her comparison to 19th Century rail life to describe the importance of video creators to YouTube's wild success story of late. YouTube creators--especially the exceptionally successful ones--may not notice the unrewarded sweat. Time for a whistle-stop

Comparison: There was always that slight sense of the anaconda in the chandelier if you got things wrong. BBC writer Greg McKevitt capturing the essence of Margaret Thatcher's approach to controlling decisions and meetings took us to the aquatic tropics for his comparison. If you appreciated the snake metaphor, you'd probably also like references elsewhere in the article concerning dead sheep, badger baiting, crocodiles, and backseat drivers (not to mention variegated cricket

Comparison: . . . the ‘sensitive points’ of the peace plan will be discussed ‘directly with President Trump,’ which is the geopolitical equivalent of saying, ‘I will now consult the fox on how best to secure the henhouse.’ Mary Geddry uses a venerable western comparison with roots in both Roman and Greek culture to help point out the nearly impossible situation in which Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds himself in trying to negotiate with both Republican Donald Trump and Vladimir Put

Comparison: Russians had a saying that today would apply to more than a few other countries: “It’s easier to turn an aquarium into fish soup than to turn fish soup into an aquarium.” Thomas Friedman, working hard to describe the utterly complex and difficult historical and human culture moment in which we find ourselves, borrows a Russian saying to capture the essence of worldwide human experience of tech, policy, governance, and related matters. Context: In 2011, the histori

Comparison: He's the imitation crab of kings right now; the ‘I can't believe it’s not king.’ Jon Stewart, after comparing the Republican President's policies and record against the Declaration of Independence, decides that Trump while not a full-on “KING“ is what he calls “undeniably king adjacent.“ Context: [Jon Stewart on checking the Declaration of Independence to see if it allows any insight about whether Donald J. Trump is behaving as a king-like leader:] Admittedly, it'

Comparison: They were the carrots in the third-grade play. Michael Lewis, he of Moneyball and The Big Short , needed a succinct way to peg non-attention-seeking, government public servants; he found it at a local elementary school. Context: [Concerning Government Agency Public Servants:] Even their nominations [for a largely unknown honor for exceptional public service work called the Sammies] feel modest. Never I did this, but we did this. Never look at me, but look at this

Comparison: It is, as one [Howard] Lutnick adviser told me, ‘a junk drawer for everything under the sun, from red snapper to wind to ships to artificial intelligence—you name it.‘ Writer Antonia Hitchens captures a honest, humble, homely comparison that attempts to evoke the range of different responsibilities held by government agencies within the Department of Commerce. Is your kitchen junk drawer this complex? Context: The Department of Commerce, an agency with fifty thous

Comparison: Three weeks into the season? Get too close to the smoke billowing out of the preseason hype machine, and you might get pelted...

Comparison: [A job seeker, or a company trying to figure out hiring in face of AI advances, it's ] ‘. . . driving through fog. If it's...

Comparison: [postgame press conferences . . . ] are typically about as fascinating as watching a turtle slowly nibble on a strawberry. I...

Comparison: He [Speaker Mike Johnson] is both a punching bag and a psychiatrist for House Republicans who face the choice of either...

Comparisons: MAHA was supposed to be a revolution. Instead, it’s a scented candle flickering inside a meth lab. RFK, Jr. is '. . ....

Comparison: Social media is after that show. Then you have to ride home in the cab with them while they talk about how bad you were. Jon...

Comparison: . . . she pulled the pin and handed Donald Trump the grenade. Lisa Murkowski saw the fire, saved her backyard, and let the...

Comparison: Sherlock Holmes wasn’t talking to politicians, but he could’ve been. Holmes said this: ‘I consider that a man's brain...

Comparison: You cite Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, then proceed to argue that offering targeted support to historically marginalized...

Comparison: . . . or do we try to build back some flimsy little bridge? Sometimes when we are alone, thoughts come swarming into our...