Muhammed Ali’s death is the sort of news that will be covered in the media for weeks, with tributes and reminiscences. He styled himself “The Greatest,” and boxing aficionados say that he certainly was one of the greatest, or maybe … Continue reading →
Commenter “Sharon W” reminded me of this Churchill quote, and so I thought I’d remind you: Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never””in nothing, great or small, large or petty””never give in, except to convictions of honour … Continue reading →
Practically everybody knows about Pavlov’s dogs. But do many people know about their master, Pavlov himself? The other day I started to wonder—apropos of just about nothing—why dogs? And was Pavlov mean to his dogs, or were they treated well? … Continue reading →
[Hat tip: commenter “Alan F.”] Thomas Sowell is probably the conservative writer I respect the most. I discovered him during my political change process, and his clarity of thought and economy of expression helped to give me a philosophical framework … Continue reading →
The Bronté« family were all geniuses, probably including brother Branwell who dissipated himself with coke and booze. Why genius ran so rampant in the family has been the subject of countless books, one of which I’m currently reading: Charlotte Bronté«: … Continue reading →
Famous Russian dissident Vladimir Bukovsky is in big trouble. It isn’t the first time. But what’s going on now is very disturbing, both in human terms and for what it says about the current Russian government (much of which we … Continue reading →
I do believe that Chopin just might be my favorite composer. I fixed on him when I was still a very young child, because he was the most-played composer to accompany my ballet classes. I didn’t even know his name … 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 →
On Thursday I wrote a very brief post linking to an article about Obama’s advisor Ben Rhodes and his influence on Obama’s foreign policy, particularly the Iran deal. The Rhodes article was so disturbing it’s been the talk of the … Continue reading →
I’ve written in praise of Allan Bloom’s book The Closing of the American Mind several times before, but here I go again. It was published in 1987, which is now very close to 30 years ago. And yet its relevance … Continue reading →
…but since everyone’s chattering about John Boehner’s description of Ted Cruz vs. Donald Trump, I thought I’d opine. First, the quotes: When it comes to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, even a few months’ time out of Congress has done little … Continue reading →
Let’s go to something timeless: classical music. Although “timing” has a lot to do with it. To wit, pianist Glenn Gould and the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach. For a while during the mid-80s Gould was a fascination of … Continue reading →