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As for the idea that a respected newspaper would publish easily detectable mis-information - I am shocked, shocked! :)

I guess you have me there, but since the Times is conservative, surely they would know that if they faked it they would be exposed. Besides, I am an acquaintance of Archibald, and I do not think he is a flake. But I am a straightforward type, and find stories like the one about a certain former blonde freeper stupefyingly ununderstandable, so what do I know?

I don't think the Times faked the story - or knowingly perpetrated a hoax. I think their ideological bias made them vulnerable. That's the difference between a respected newspaper and a rag.

After all, that story is big news (we don't yet live in a world where it's not). Why hasn't it appeared in other, respected newspapers? Obviously, someone has not done their homework. Unfortunately, it could be that the Times is right and the others wrong.

Our current situation makes me feel as I did when I read Orwell and Kafka, or viewed the paintings of Bosch. So maybe times like these are more common than we've thought. Maybe it's just that we - Americans - have had little experience with them. What do you think?