Recently something reminded me of a book I had first read back in the 1980s, one I would recommend to everyone. It’s called Hasidic Tales of the Holocaust, and it’s quite different from most Holocaust literature: An important work of … Continue reading →
The Soviets were known for their revisionary history, a situation Orwell fictionalized in Nineteen Eighty-Four and immortalized in the quote with which I’ve titled this post. But it goes on in post-Soviet Russia today, as this ruling indicates: Russia’s Supreme … Continue reading →
The facts listed are mostly about lack of hygiene, and those really are pretty disgusting. I already knew about numbers five and two. Re number five, I remember when I was a teenager and went to Europe with a large … Continue reading →
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 →
Most people today have some idea who the Ayatollah Khomeini was: the scowling guy with the beard who created and/or exploited the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and brought Islamic theocracy to Iran. But I’m not at all sure how much … Continue reading →
There are a lot of myths that people accept as true about historical events. Some of these myths are relatively minor, such as the one I’m going to write about today. Some of these myths concern events/facts about which we’ve … Continue reading →
Politico has an article describing the effect the candidacy of Zachary Taylor had on the Whig Party in 1848. Hint: not good, not good at all. Many have called Donald Trump’s unexpected takeover of a major political party unprecedented; but … Continue reading →
Commmenter “Tom G” writes: …[N]on-Jewish “German life in Nazi Germany” before and thru the war was a heck of lot better than “Russian life in the USSR”. Knowing what I know now, if I had to choose how to live … Continue reading →
…are of course completely incompatible. That would seem to be quite obvious, wouldn’t it? And yet so many people cannot see it. Or perhaps they see it, and make their choice between the two. Not to mention the fact that … Continue reading →
I’ve long known the basics of the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. You probably do, too. But except for the history buffs among you, some of the details may have escaped you, as they had escaped me. Right … Continue reading →
Some people eat potatoes on a daily basis. They feel that a meal without a potato is like a day without sunshine I’m not one of them, although I like potatoes and eat them about once a week. I especially … Continue reading →
Commenter “Nick” wrote: …[R]emember, the reason that the parties got rid of the back rooms was Nixon. The Republicans chose him for the ticket five times. Unlikable and corrupt. The system had to be scrapped after that. After I read … Continue reading →