Constraining Obama
[BUMPED UP] I’ve got a new article up at PJ, entitled “Constraining Obama.” It’s about Obama (natch), the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and natural rights vs. legal rights.
Continue reading →Category Archives: History
RIP Rabbi Herschel Schacter
[NOTE: The following article actually appeared in the NY Times. But since the Times is behind a firewall, I’m linking instead to this copy of the piece. Note also that it is about Rabbi Herschel Schacter, whose last name has … Continue reading →
The press has won
Back in the earlier half of the 20th century right through my childhood years and up to the Vietnam War and the cultural explosion we call the Sixties, the press (with some more liberal pockets) was predominantly—at least compared to … Continue reading →
Looking back: the long reach of time
My mother’s very first memory was of being frightened by booming noises—guns? cannon? fireworks?—while being held aloft above a crowd to view a New York harbor filled with ships. She wept and her parents comforted her. The year was 1918, … Continue reading →
Joan Rivers’ Heidi Klum joke: not so very funny, not so very knowledgeable
In the Heidi Klum thread, commenter “JuliB” asks: Any comment on the uproar over Joan Rivers saying that the last time a German looked so hot, they were pushing Jews into the oven? Well, yes. When I read the Joan … Continue reading →
“People considered ketchup spicy”…
…back in the 1950s, according to food writer Ruth Clark, a specialist in the food of that era. Well, I must say that I don’t remember that, although I do recall that ketchup was considered to be an almost universal … Continue reading →
If you call someone a Marxist you’re a McCarthyite…
…and of course that’s much worse than a Marxist. Even if the “Marxist” charge is true. Excellent post by Ace. if you note that Marxists are indeed Marxists it’s supposedly a sort of Hate Crime up with which we must … Continue reading →
What about those Roaring 20s?
James Lileks offers his take on the 1920s. As usual with Lileks, it’s both interesting and fun. It’s always kind of strange to imagine what is was like to live in a decade we’ve heard about but weren’t around for. … Continue reading →
The press: insight gained from going over to the dark side
Earlier today I praised Fox’s Kirsten Powers for her hard-hitting comments about Kroft’s fawning Obama/Clinton interview on “60 Minutes.” But I want to point out something even more important that she’s said today. Remember that Powers is a liberal, which … Continue reading →
Yes, Obama said “peace in our time”…
…but it’s not such a big deal, although my saying that may surprise you. First of all, let me state that I have disagreed, and continue to disagree, in the strongest possible terms with Obama’s actual foreign policy, which can … Continue reading →
Is there progress in art?
[NOTE: There was a great deal of interesting back and forth in the comments section here about how art has developed over the centuries, and what our greater ability to create lifelike representational art means. That’s what sparked this post.] … Continue reading →
Teaching American history has come down to this: race, class, gender
I’m old enough to remember the beginning of the push for courses that catered to special interest groups. Women’s Studies. Black Studies. Those were the big two at the beginning, and now no doubt there are many more. At the … Continue reading →