In Shelby Steele’s Shame: How America’s Past Sins Have Polarized Our Country, he writes: …[A]ll these victim-focused identities are premised on a belief in the characterological evil of American and the entire Western world. This broad assumption is the idea … Continue reading →
Why are we still talking about Cruz’s speech last night and the reaction to it? It crystallizes some of the themes that have been building and building this entire campaign season, as well as the frustrations. Trump is a candidate … Continue reading →
The British poet (1795-1821) wrote: Do you not see how necessary a world of pains and troubles is to school an intelligence and make it a soul? By the way, I highly recommend the film “Bright Star,” about Keats’ romance … Continue reading →
People on the right who refuse to vote for Donald Trump are commonly met with the response that they must then bear some responsibility for electing Hillary Clinton, and that as they watch her presidency unfold they will have to … Continue reading →
The always-fascinating Richard Fernandez offers some quotes from anti-Nazi Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I want to call attention to: “Against stupidity we are defenseless,” [Bonhoeffer] wrote, because imbeciles never feel a qualm. Against the stupid “neither protests nor the use of … Continue reading →
Pathological and/or compulsive lying is not the same as ordinary lying. Ordinary lying is strategic and episodic, and the person doing it usually realizes he/she is lying. There is a reason for the lying, a reason an objective observer can … Continue reading →
I don’t usually write about my dreams, but last night I had one that was so vivid I feel the need to do so. And no, it wasn’t about politics. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve either dreamed less or remembered … Continue reading →
…the universe is full of black holes. Probably. Maybe. Supermassive black holes with masses of more than 10bn suns have previously been found at the heart of large galaxies located in dense clusters in the universe. But this is the … Continue reading →
Here’s a very early poem by Robert Frost: “The Tuft of Flowers.” And by “very early” I mean very; Frost was probably about 22 when he wrote it (1896 or 1897). You can tell it’s early if you know anything … Continue reading →
I’m what you might call a mid-level blogger. I’ve been doing this for eleven years, and I’ve reached a certain level of readership that’s more than I ever thought it would be when I began but less than I later … Continue reading →
For many years, the question of whether the Iraq War was an error or not was discussed on this blog very regularly, and a lively discussion it was. There is no question that people on the right differed and still … Continue reading →
…An aged man is but a paltry thing, A tattered coat upon a stick, unless Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing For every tatter in its mortal dress… O sages standing in God’s holy fire As in … Continue reading →