By now you probably know that Obama has committed another huge boo-boo: he has managed to outrage the Poles by referring to a Nazi death camp in Poland as a “Polish death camp.” The occasion was some scripted remarks during … Continue reading →
It’s easy to concentrate on the election here and miss what’s happening in Europe, such as, for example, Sarkozy’s threatened ousting in the impending French election by socialist challenger Hollande. It’s all about the economy, stupid: With the highest joblessness … Continue reading →
Research indicates that some people seem to naturally have more empathy than others, and onlookers can tell the difference by watching them listen to people relating tales about sad events in their lives. That would explain a lot, but perhaps … Continue reading →
In response to some speculation in the comments section of this post, here are a few facts about how the sexual abuse of children usually works, especially when the perp (like Sandusky) is a serial abuser of unrelated children: (1) … Continue reading →
Zombie illustrates that an anti-Semitic cartoon has been pressed into service in the San Francisco fight to ban circumcision. It was only a matter of time. And, lest you think this is some sort of fake, the San Francisco Chronicle … Continue reading →
Arthur Koestler had his flaws, including a long devotion to Socialism. But, like his good friend Orwell (who shared that trait), he was a fierce opponent of Communism Soviet-style, having almost been burned in its fierce annihilative furnace early on. … Continue reading →
Commenter David Foster has written a two-part book review of historian and author Sebastian Haffner’s Defying Hitler (part I is here, part II here). I would say “read the whole thing.” But I’ll amend that a bit and say instead, … Continue reading →
Joran van der Sloot, the man who almost certainly killed Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005, has confessed to murdering another young woman in Peru. Thus, justice of a sort will finally come—unfortunately, too late to save his latest victim, … Continue reading →
Last night I watched “Blind Spot,” a filmed interview with Traudl Junge, who was Hitler’s secretary during his last year and final days. It’s a remarkable document, although a very simple one: Ms. Junge, aged eighty or so at the … Continue reading →
[Every now and then I may post an excerpt from Milton Mayer’s They Thought They Were Free. The book, first published in 1955, is an exploration of Germans’ attitudes in the period leading up to WWII and including the war … Continue reading →
I’m reading the fascinating book They thought they were free: the Germans 1933-1945 by Milton Mayer (it’s also one of my book recommendations on the right sidebar). The author was an American journalist and educator who lived for a time … Continue reading →
By now you have probably read the remarkable story of Jaycee Lee Dugard, a twenty-nine-year-old woman who was kidnapped eighteen years ago by a couple named Phillip and Nancy Garrido. Jaycee was eleven at the time, and has been held … Continue reading →