: Some poor, phoneless fool is probably sitting next to a waterfall somewhere totally unaware of how …
: Holiday indulgence: Re-re-reading The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. 📚
: Exhausted. Two-and-a-half hours of concertizing (chorus) this afternoon. But: no rehearsals until …
: Finished Lori Branch, Rituals of Spontaneity. 📚There were moments of delight and hours of hard (from …
: Fr. Stephen Freeman, Living with a Calendar
: There is nothing that I may decently hope for that I cannot reach by patience as well as by anxiety. …
: Purdue 83, Maryland 78. A great game, closer that you’d think from the score, hard-played, …
: Puritan Phobia The Puritans quickly developed a phobia about liturgical forms, going so far as to resist “rote” …
: Today’s useless news from AP: How cat and dog owners vote in 2024: AP VoteCast | AP News
: Gotcha! Stanford Review: EXCLUSIVE: The Review Interviews President Levin Stanford Review: What is the most …
: Reading Lori Branch, Rituals of Spontaneity. 📚 The long introduction is very promising. The …
: I have three lists of Maxims or such that I review regularly. This one, which I think was embedded …
: A tip for financial peace of mind A few years ago, I systematically identified all my charitable donees, put them in a spreadsheet and …
: Yes, this. Or maybe I should say, “NO! I’m not going to respond to these any …
: Kevin D. Williamson, The Aristocrats: handle only with asbestos gloves!
: Oh, man! Giving Tuesday! The mailbox is filling up with email from everyone I’ve given so much …
: I hadn’t seen/heard anybody else say it, so I will. I suspect that Joe Biden was thinking …
: I’m glad I still have a gift article because this is really good: Opinion | The Inverted …
: Acid test passed: our son’s mother-in-law Larissa is extremely allergic to cats. We’ve …
: All the other trees have dropped their leaves, so this burning bush really stands out .
: I laughed out loud, paused the podcast, and wrote down Rituals of Spontaneity, which I’ve now …
: I just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep when up pops Androids Dreaming of Electric …
: Ross Douthat, Three Theories of the Trump Cabinet (unlocked). Douthat seldom disappoints me, and …
: New useful vocabulary word: Broligarchy. (H/T Brooke Harrington, in the Atlantic)
: New phrase encountered: charismatic megafauna. I figured it out from context, but confirmed with …
: Just when you think surveillance capital has us all pegged, here comes an email offering a spanish …
: Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Attorney General Pick: Trump Transition Live Updates - The New York Times
: Too many articles recently saved to Instapaper. I think I’ll start by deleting the reviews of …
: David Brooks, How Ivy League Admissions Broke America is excellent (and long), but I kept thinking …
: One of my heroines has died: Diane Coleman, Fierce Foe of the Right-to-Die Movement, Dies at 71 - …
: Feeling attuned to the world is possible only when we relax our compulsion to control it. Matthew …
: Another substack post made public by its author, but by no means on the same theme as Ted …
: A bold claim, pursued subtly I’ve been reading Fr. Stephen De Young’s book St. Paul the Pharisee, which I hoped would focus on …
: I found Ted Gioia’s latest very thought-provoking: 15 Observations on the New Phase in …
: The write-in votes in my County have been tabulated. The top two? 83: Jill Stein, the Green Party …
: A personal pilgrimage Today is the 27th anniversary of my formal entry into the Orthodox Christian Faith. Unlike my …
: David Brooks looks at many of the ways the pre-election expectations (of how groups would vote) were …
: Gaetz as Attorney General will do petty, flamboyant, stupid things in clumsy ways. Some of those …
: Pardon Trump’s Critics Now President Biden has a moral obligation to do what he can for patriotic …
: Depressing thought for the day: Trump … is winning culturally in shaping America’s manners and …
: Reading a recent Ted Gioia post, it occurred to me that we are swimming against the stream trying to …
: Lafayette Symphony Orchestra has a new, black, artistic director/conductor. His inaugural concert, …
: Reading Fr. Stephen De Young, St. Paul the Pharisee. 📚I only recently learned that it existed, and …
: Finished Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible 📚
: It somehow feels appropriate to end this week with the news that a bunch of monkeys escaped from an …
: I have theories on why more people voted against Harris than voted against Trump, but there’s …
: Responding to a question someone raised somewhere within the last 36 hours: The Dispatch will be …
: My guilty secret: I visited my moribund X.com account Monday. I found all kinds of crap in my feed. …
: Can anyone top this? – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: It may be worth pondering that that despite Trump’s constant stream of lies, confabulations …
: One of my least endearing traits is to hector people about something they haven’t figured out …
: This is hard-core counter-cultural: Who Says You Can’t Live Off the Grid in Manhattan? (unlocked)
: Portal-to-portal voting, arriving right as the polls opened, took more than an hour. No apathy …
: With apologies to the pollsters who can’t say who’s winning (outside a margin of error), …
: David Post: Two Sentences I Never Thought I’d Write
: An interesting effort to quantify the odds that America loses its democracy. The end of US …
: Looking for something else, I came across this: ‘The body is mine and the soul is mine’ says the machine. ‘I am at the dark source where the good is …
: Bret Stephens hits back-to-back homeruns.
: Finished Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. 📚 Was this a difficult, …
: Oh glorious day! I managed to skip over maybe 90% of the electioneering in this morning’s news …
: “These little things remind me of you.” I guess I can take my deceased brother off my …
: Reading Mark Noll, America’s God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln. Or if I already said …
: Alienated from both parties, but formerly Republican, I was challenged by David Brooks, Confessions …
: I’m still skeptical about whether AI is worth the energy demands, but I’m pretty sure …
: Bret Stephens, Harris Needs a Closing Argument. Here’s One. is very appealing. With Harris I’m …
: That does it! No more customer satisfaction surveys! They’re intrusive. If you’re not …
: This one won't need The Repair Shop The Repair Shop from Great Britain is one of my favorite TV shows, but I have often thought the …
: It’s really happening. Some sensible churches are fleeing the “Evangelical” …
: I love my family, but I’m an introvert and all the wonderful family time (at our home, …
: SpaceX wizardry 17. SpaceX pulled off a feat of technical wizardry on Sunday, not only flying a 233-foot rocket …
: Miles Smith, Perdition. Potent. Now: off to the Funeral Home.
: The Meaning of Existence Everything except language knows the meaning of existence. Trees, planets, rivers, time know nothing …
: Tomorrow, we will bury my youngest brother, who died Tuesday. So it has been a busy and stressful …
: If one A.I. voice agent tries to scam another, is anyone’s time being wasted? Evan Ratliff
: From the Department of I'm Getting Too Old for This: I sing in a serious semi-professional chorus. Rehearsals end at my desired bedtime, but serious …
: Bias is having a rooting interest in a dispute. Propaganda is allowing your rooting interest to …
: For the third cycle in a row, the Democrats have been freed up to run a mostly substanceless …
: Sunday, 10/6/24 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: These seem to be serious people having a serious disagreement, not just swapping bullshit and …
: Wednesday, 10/2/24 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I cannot recall a hurricane wreaking such devastation so far inland. The wondrous Earth site (H/T …
: The Senator Warning Democrats of a Crisis Unfolding Beneath Their Noses helped me understand why …
: I rise to defend my smart phone against the partisans of flip phones and Light Phones. On my smart phone, I can: Listen to podcasts, about which I’m quite selective. Send and …
: It’s surprising how little live TV there is to watch on Autumn Sunday afternoons in the USA if …
: The Orwellian Evolution of Banned Books Week
: “This hasn’t happened in 40 years,” he said, referring to Walter Mondale, the Democrats’ 1984 …
: 54% of respondents in a Harris/Axios survey agreed with the statement, “I’ve disengaged …
: Apropos of some discussion going on among @ayjay @JohnBrady @ablerism @tinyroofnail , this …
: It is easier to make a saint out of a libertine than out of a prig. George Santayana via Economist …
: Ten days ago, my “Aspie” younger brother got his gmail account (which I set up for him …
: From my dog-owing son to our cat-owning home
: During “Banned Book Week” (an advertising campaign disguised as a public service), be it …
: I think I’m fairly sophisticated on matters of the Christian traditions in the USA, but I had …
: Tuesday, 9/24/24 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Romain Luleu and Thomas Leleu, Virtuosi. Quite an album. Trumpet and Tuba. That is all, but …
: Maybe outlawing deepfakes in politics isn’t so easy after all: Kamala Harris, Satire, and …
: I clipped this ten months ago and it has worn well. David Brooks, Love in Harsh Times and Other …
: Charlevoix, Michigan September 20. They call these “mushroom houses,” and the city …
: Finished William T. Cavanaugh, The Uses of Idolatry. 📚 Glad I read it, though half the book seemed …
: Wait! What?! How can I have viewed art dated AD 7000!?
: The Great Serengeti Land Grab. All I can say is “If I had a rocket launcher ….”
: Pro tip: If you don’t provide the rubber mat with suction cups, leaving this sign in the tub …
: You may read Ross Douthat, What Undecided Voters Might Be Thinking, which makes the case against …
: Our terrible wonderful experience Traveling north yesterday for nine days of vacation, we hit some road debris on I-65 near …
: ABC should really report an in-kind contribution to the Harris campaign. Trump, too. National …
: This Chatbot Pulls People Away From Conspiracy Theories - The New York Times. Very interesting. This …
: At the risk of exhibiting my shallowness, Just the Debate – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: After Joe Biden and Kamala Harris left the stage Tuesday night, Trumpworld was complaining about …
: Recommended: The End of Democracy Has Already Begun - The Atlantic. It began no later than …
: Paul Kingsnorth on The illusion of a pagan West via UnHerd: What we are seeing with the likes of …
: Thursday, 9/5/24 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Not a big surprise: I don’t believe we have the luxury of writing in candidates’ names, …
: I haunt obscure corners of Bandcamp and YouTube the way criminals seek out dark corridors and …
: More excerpts from William T. Cavanaugh, The Uses of Idolatry Secularization, in other words, is not merely the waxing of the secular and the waning of the …
: When James Carville is on a podcast with Andrew Sullivan, I’m going to find the time to …
: Chatting with brothers about Brian Lamb’s retirement, I’m reminded that our local high …
: Pregnancy Resource Center Sues Massachusetts Officials Over Opposition Campaign Churches Challenge …
: Local boy made good: My fair city’s Brian Lamb retires from CSPAN, which he founded in his …
: Ewwww! Something’s Poisoning America’s Farms. Scientists Fear ‘Forever’ Chemicals. - The New York …
: Bill Buckley used to tell about a New York City liberal who was incredulous at the 1968 Presidential …
: If you’re not opposed in principle to paying for “content,” Ted Gioia’s …
: Ted Gioia, My Alternative Tech Canon: 26 Mind-Expanding Books
: Cunning mail from a local car dealer says they’re having trouble keeping a stock of good used …
: If he persuades me, I’ll have to rearrange my mental furniture.
: I wonder how much Nick Saban was paid for this ad?
: Reading William T. Cavanaugh, The Uses of Idolatry. 📚 His The Myth of Religious Violence was one of …
: Finished reading Jack Matlock, Autopsy on an Empire, the U.S. Ambassador’s close-up view of …
: Thought for the day. Not an aphorism, though I love them, but a full thought to be thought about.
: The convention’s overall impression was summed up by a relative who, watching on the second night, …
: An example of how not to read the Bible: The Trump-campaign spokesperson Caroline Sunshine said on …
: We made a grievous mistake when we washed her “fleecy bed.” Now she won’t use it.
: The unreliability of the press: David Brooks has a column on How Tom Wolfe Turned Sociology Into …
: How (and How Not) to Read the Bible I am very, very enthusiastic about How (and How Not) to Read the Bible, a podcast (transcript …
: I know I still need to internalize this better, and I suspect that many others do as well. Why else …
: All Bennett brothers gathered in our hometown this weekend, motivated largely by concern for the …
: This is an Ethiopian. This is a marathon course. Any questions?
: Hardest thing about reducing political intake is how much I like reading Kevin D. Williamson and …
: Squatter, Esq., offers to sell harriswalz.com Jeremy Green Eche—a Brooklyn trademark lawyer who purchased the website www.harriswalz.com all the …
: New Olympic favorite: woman high-jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh. She’s Ukrainian, really really …
: Shouldn’t we just let natural selection take its course? From my bank when I logged on this morning: ⚠️ 𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘂𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 …
: Just for a sense of perspective.
: Yes. This: Google Wins the Gold Medal for Worst Olympic Ad - The Atlantic
: I’m not alone! I’m not alone! ‘Impactful’ Leaves This Wordsmith Reeling - WSJ
: All favorite Olympic events now scheduled to be recorded (i.e., added to my library) by YouTube TV.
: I fear that not many on MB will remember the First Family Album, volumes I & II. I can still …
: I feel pretty good about abandoning Facebook and Twitter some years ago. But there’s something …
: Ouch! Wired’s Disastrous Piece About J.D. Vance’s Venmo Friends Demonstrates How Badly We Need Good …
: The curse has been fulfilled: we live in “interesting times.”
: Andrew Sullivan on the “smooth, well-crafted, confidence-boosting, feel-good …
: Counter-idolatry, wherein I, the Tipsy Teetotaler, attempt a contrary spin on America’s …
: Are political parties subject to antitrust laws? If not, I’d like them to collude to eliminate …
: Surly, you're a heck of a butterfly 2016, a liberal reader of Rod Dreher’s blog, “Surly,” excitedly gifted Rod a …
: Niche humor: Amazon announces Orthodox Prime Day
: Do we have ears to hear this?
: The late Fr. Thomas Hopko wrote 55 Maxims for the Christian Life. One at which I utterly fail again …
: It’s likely that I’ll never have anything worthwhile to say about attempted …
: Trump shot, ear grazed, at Pennsylvania rally. Network talking heads predictably said everything …
: Ross Douthat has a typically thoughtful column, suggesting that the revealed preference of the …
: Reading Jack F. Matlock, Autopsy on an Empire. 📚I waited until I was far enough into this doorstop …
: Well, Guénon was fun! Here’s one that challenges my conceit that I can be a disinterested …
: Rather than befoul MB with a lot of political negativity, I post it elsewhere. Four new items today. …
: Finished Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. 📚 Much more rewarding that whatever-the-heck …
: I watched this afternoon’s WNBA game because of Caitlyn Clark, and was well-rewarded (she got …
: Reading Seamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf. 📚
: The cure for loneliness is solitude. (Marianne Moore) Sounds profound. Definitely poetic.
: If you are uneasy about IVF, as am I, you may benefit from reading this brief against it on …
: July already! Sheesh! – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: SCOTUS just handed down the Presidential immunity case.
: I’m really happy that Simone Biles is back, apparently over “The Yips” (or is it …
: Last month, I shared Ross Douthat’s long interview with J.D. Vance. July 1, the Times published a …
: Trying to watch some MLB. The gambling ads really tick me off. Does nobody like the game for the …
: I see these surveys about trust, and note that nobody, supposedly, trusts the New York Times. But …
: Boy! Today’s a revelation of how much I suffer FOMO! If I’m going to read all the debate …
: 3 French 19-year-olds were picked within the first 6 NBA draft picks. 2 Kentucky players, 2 …
: One of my shared articles from NYT: The Ground Is Shifting Under Biden and Trump - The New York …
: I couldn’t remember why we’d stopped watching The Midsommer Murders on BritBox, so we …
: Reading HRH Prince Charles, Harmony. 📚
: Finished reading Kierkegaard, The Present Age. 📚
: It’s a Supreme Court “hand-down day,” starting at 10 am. They’re usually …
: The things said most confidently by advanced persons to crowded audiences are generally those quite …
: Said actress Tallulah Bankhead, “There have only been two authentic geniuses in the world, William …
: I feel kind of sorry for young whippersnappers who never had the joy of watching Willie Mays play …
: I thought Computers Can’t Do Math was going to talk about abstract mathematics of the sort …
: It has been nearly 30 years since I sold a house.Judging from my son’s new listing, …
: Oh. Wordpress no longer stores my images. They’re now on blob, and I don’t know how to …
: Joshua 23:14b: Ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of …
: I laughed out loud, then giggled uncontrollably, when I heard R.S. Gwynn’s Shakespearean …
: Finished Les Murray, New Selected Poems. 📚
: So much music … Just discovered (with the help of Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker) Rickie Lee …
: In our consumption, we are consumed. L.M. Sacasas, What You Get Is the World
: Reading John Strickland, The Age of Nihilism: Christendom from the Great War to the Culture Wars, …
: The Dispatch The Dispatch seems to have a slogan I hadn’t seen before: Home for fact-based reporting and …
: Making a virtue of necessity – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I hadn’t intended to opine about the Trump conviction, but now I’m adding an asterisk: I …
: Guilty on all 34 counts, FWIW. The Talking Heads are now trying to come up, extemporaneously, with …
: I would not have predicted that National Rifle Association of America v. Vullo would be unanimous in …
: Trying to go back to “No “S” diet plan — no snacks, sweets, seconds. Missing the …
: Finished Paul Gutacker, The Old Faith in a New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past. …
: The occasional post from Matthew Loftus is among the reasons I keep reading the young Calvinist …
: It seems to me that this may be of interest to some here: Post or New Mainline Protestantism? - …
: Georgia on my mind – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Hard advice: “Speak in time, but out of the moment: rid your speech (and mind) of fashion, fad …
: Reading Paul Gutacker, The Old Faith in a New Nation: American Protestants and the Christian Past. …
: Finished Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinkers Creek. 📚 I’ve never read anything else of hers. …
: I haven’t paid much attention to the Presidential polls. What, if anything, they reveal is …
: A distractible autodidact, I’ve been distracted and not posting much here. So now let’s …
: I logged onto Xitter for the first time in many months. It took almost no time at all to confirm …
: Few people want to be saints nowadays, but everybody is trying to lose weight. René Girard, via Ted …
: Nice problem we've got here My priest is on a brief vacation, so I agreed to stay and lock up after coffee hour and a Parish …
: Stupid opinions on why a Trump conviction will be reversed - rogerwmbennett
: Of all passions the passion for the Inner [Circle] is most skillful in making a man who is not yet a …
: Reading an interesting transcript that interests me in a book. Pastor/Scholar types: Do any of you …
: Word-of-the-day: Vice-signaling. Surely I’ve heard it before, but Michelle Goldberg brought it back …
: Wow. Why Creatives Will Win by Thinking Small - by Ted Gioia
: Sang the last-ever concert of the Lafayette Chamber Singers yesterday afternoon. (I’m not in …
: I’m no longer a paying subscriber to Rod Dreher, but When Is It Time To Schism? was good and …
: Best cartoon I’ve seen in a while.
: I was pleased that Nikki Haley was still on the Republican primary ballot in Indiana. I’m not …
: Reading Annie Dillard, _Pilgrim at Tinker Creek._📚Where has she been all my life?
: Started and, as befits a short story, finished Ursula LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas. …
: Finished Nancy French, Ghosted. 📚If you’re curious how a couple of Kentucky-Tennessee kids …
: Holy Friday, Great and Holy Saturday, Pascha — I always sort of lose track of everything but Church. …
: It’s Great and Holy Friday in the Orthodox Church. This haunting Antiphon accompanies a …
: Why are they saying this where they’re saying it? National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke has a question for the pro-Palestinian student protesters …
: Reading Nancy French, Ghosted. 📚
: Finished Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises. 📚
: Charlie Sykes, The choice Republicans face is too good for me to just pull excerpts. I didn’t …
: “Diversity” NPR has the whitest audience of any mainstream media company at 75 percent, …
: Pardon me: Your patience is wearing thin!? Maybe she mistook me for someone who cares about the …
: Reading Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises. 📚Waiting for something to happen other than expats getting …
: Finished A Canticle for Leibowitz. 📚 This is the second time I’ve read it. If I’m lucky, …
: My 48-year-old son is back at his High School, accompanying the show choir in Kirby Shaw’s …
: Thoughtful US Christians of the sort that frequent MB should appreciate Carl Trueman’s The …
: Chris Arnade, US is better than Europe!. Some food for thought for a Europhile like me.
: If you are an American with an Economist subscription, don’t miss this.
: I guess I’m weird: I was not so transfixed by OJ’s Ford Bronco ride or his trial that I …
: Purdue seems to have brought its A-game
: The unexpected totality phenomenon: buzzards making a beeline for their nests.
: Looks like clear skies for the totality. Fingers crossed. #EclipseMania
: Reading A Canticle for Liebowitz. It has been a few decades since I read it, and it may feel …
: Finished reading A Fever in the Heartland 📚about the 1920s KKK in Indiana. Plus ça change ….
: Purdue 63, NC State 50. Purdue plays for the national championship Monday, for the first time in 55 …
: Questions (USA context) I hadn’t thought to ask: With the Lemon Test Dead, Can The …
: This is a bit polemical, but it seems to me to be a fair and understanding-promoting presentation: …
: Today’s Poem: Brancusi’s Golden Bird. Mina Loy’s poem with Sally Thomas’ commentary is a …
: Touted as the largest economic development project in Indiana’s history, South Korean semiconductor …
: Formerly friendly, I’m now a little leery of Leonard Leo.
: We need to take responsibility for our mistakes, but we can’t take responsibility for the war. This …
: It is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should …
: Currently reading Timothy Egan, A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over …
: Wife’s out of town so I had a chance to watch a movie of my choosing. I watched Amistad (never …
: One does not hate one’s way into the kingdom of God. If our hearts are so cold that we fail to …
: Purdue is in the final four! They “won ugly,” shooting only 3-for-15 3-pointers …
: I’m really gonna miss James Carville if he dies before I do. (Save this for later if …
: From the Writer’s Almanac, something that gave me a giggle: It’s the birthday of the …
: Word-of-the-Day: Schadenfreude Judge evicting Mike Lindell’s MyPillow from Minnesota warehouse
: Being in politics is like being a football coach. You have to be smart enough to understand the …
: The apotheosis of GOP’s Southernification
: Midweek dump (3/28/24) – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Overnight, some 48-year-old guy-influencer that I’d never heard of until this morning has all …
: Occasionally, I spend a morning listening to Supreme Court oral arguments because I’m …
: I had forgotten about the website McMansion Hell. Here’s one real gem from there: we’ve …
: Thoroughly enjoyed Purdue vs. Utah State yesterday. 106-67, with a Purdue box score so well-balance …
: Oof! Looks like I never even visited MB yesterday except to forward my Sunday “big …
: Sunday of Orthodoxy – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Twelve Reasons to Support the American Solidarity Party “Twelve Reasons to Support the American Solidarity Party.” Dwight Longenecker lists some of his …
: I was worried that 3-seed Illinois was letting 14-seed Morehead State hang on too close, so I tuned …
: My periodic review of good writing I’ve saved surfaced this gem from David Brooks, which I may …
: I once cheered abolition of two things that I now kinda miss:: Military draft. I suspect that the …
: I review this regularly and it seems worth sharing again: Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
: It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year. Former Vice …
: Highly recommended: Damon Linker, Exploring the Sources of Biden’s Struggles (likely paywall).
: Finished reading Jessica Hooten Wilson, Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search for …
: Hagia Sophia Classical Academy has been a major claimant on my time and resources over the last 8 …
: Improbably, I’m reading Jessica Hooten Wilson, Walker Percy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and the Search …
: Coming back from an 8 point halftime deficit on the road at #12 Illinois, #2 Purdue wins by 6, …
: I think I may have achieved flashes of insight here. March 5, 2024 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: O, Be still my beating heart! This changes everything, doesn’t it? Taylor Swift and Emily …
: [I]t was a perfectly defensible position to hold that Trump should be disqualified. What was …
: Today’s Doonesbury cartoon knocked the ball out of the park.
: I was afraid this would be another Banksy type graffiti artist. I really dislike grafitti. Not at …
: Finished Martin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium. 📚 …
: An idea for a drinking game, if you don’t want to live to see the next president: take a drink any …
: Piers Morgan did a long interview with John Mearsheimer. Bad news: So deep is my antipathy to Morgan …
: My friend Terry Cowan (Friend? Sure. I narrowly missed meeting him IRL once), a history teacher and …
: On proper love of country – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Reading Martin Gurri, The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium. 📚
: Finished reading Allan C. Carlson, Third Ways: How Bulgarian Greens, Swedish Housewives, and …
: Bless, O Lord, all these prayerful ascetics, who cense the slumbering world with their life like …
: Venting We do things differently in the Hoosier State. Near Whitestown, 3 children were buried in the …
: Lest I forget that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a nasty piece of work, there’s …
: Any social medium where a guy with the handle “Turd Flinging Monkey” is an influencer …
: How should we live? First, live as though in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has been inaugurated into …
: “It’s a funny thing to take 40 days each year to remember that we will die.” Lent as …
: Gotta love the headline: There’s a Tucker Born Every Minute - The Dispatch.
: Is SCOTUS going to announce the decision of the “Section 3 disqualification case” at 10 …
: Reading Allan C. Carlson, Third Ways: How Bulgarian Greens, Swedish Housewives, and Beer-Swilling …
: Finished Arthur Koestler, Darkness at Noon. 📚
: Buckingham Palace has not yet divulged what kind of cancer King Charles has, but I’m thinking that …
: Reading Arthus Koestler, Darkness at Noon. 📚
: This is looking more like prophecy, less like mere venting.
: One of my favorite weekly podcasts decided to do “Our Superbowls, Ourselves” today. Even …
: The low quality of callers-in to CSPN Radio, in the run-up to this morning’s SCOTUS arguments, …
: A rarity: I expect to listen to an audio stream of the SCOTUS arguments in Trump v. Colorado this …
: If you’ve been smitten by Aaron Renn’s positive world, neutral world, negative world …
: Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven ‘Milton was right,’ said my Teacher. ‘The choice of every lost soul can be expressed in the words …
: Reading the late Tom Howard’s Chance or the Dance. 📚Jarringly, the Foreword to this edition …
: I’m now officially not reading Septology any more. Not to say I finished it, mind you. 📚 I …
: Matthew B. Crawford, Why the meritocracy is not viewed as a legitimate ruling class. This one merits …
: I’m now officially reading Septology by Jon Fosse. 📚Probably won’t start tonight, …
: Finished Rediscovering the Goodness of Creation: A Manual for Recovering Gnostics 📚
: The founders of Poems Ancient and Modern are Joseph Bottum, a writer living in the Black Hills of …
: Despite my schadenfreude, I was troubled by the $83.3 million libel verdict against you-know-who. …
: Well this is a first: the Readwise engine appears to be down. I can’t see my daily highlights …
: I recall how, decades ago, I was having trouble figuring out what this “hyperlink” thing …
: I had never even heard of Fred Chappell, Admired but Unsung Writer of the South until his obituary. …
: “He who marries the spirit of the age is soon left a widower,” the Anglican Ralph Inge remarked …. …
: After reading about all the caffeine in energy drinks and Panera’s “Charged …
: Jack of All Trades - by Steve Robinson. I thought of @patrickrhone when I read this.
: I don’t always share my “big (WordPress) blog,” but I’m fairly pleased with …
: Finished Christian Wiman, Zero at the Bone. 📚
: I just re-read Abigail Shrier’s Three New Year’s Resolutions for Americans. Glad I did. …
: I feel affirmed. Most of the Amicus briefs in Trump v. Anderson (the Colorado case kicking DJT off …
: Very much enjoying the podcast documentary series The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God. It was …
: Do you know, my child … I’ll be posting this as part of my Sunday WordPress blog, but I don’t always link to it …
: Are there counterparts on the Left? Encountered today in what passes for a conservative magazine today: “Adolescents with very …
: If you act with integrity but do so quietly, if you make a difficult choice and let it stay …
: Very glad I forewent the Eighth Day Symposium in Wichita this weekend, from which I would be trying …
: Reading a New York Times Opinion panel on the DeSantis-Haley debate, I’m struck by how …
: Alice Parker has died. If the name is vaguely familiar, it might be because you sang in a choir.
: I’m trying to avoid politics. I’m trying to keep up on the legal news. Those two …
: Screwtape Considers the Culture Wars
: So, how bad was Claudine Gay’s plagiarism? (Spoiler: It actually wasn’t a very big deal, …
: “Attention is a limited resource, so pay attention to where you pay attention.” I …
: _Nate Silver, when asked, “Gun to your head, who is going to win: Trump or Biden?”_ : Shoot me. …
: Open anonymous letter fail [S]eventeen anonymous Biden campaign staffers have penned an open letter calling on Biden to call …
: My first free NYT link of the new month: Maureen Flavin Sweeney, Whose Weather Report Delayed D-Day, …
: Looking for a news hook? Duke’s latest report in 2021 (.pdf here) showed evangelicals to be …
: This is turning out to be an awfully good year to be a fan of Purdue Men’s basketball.
: Recommended for your consideration: Religion Clause Blog by Prof. Howard Friedman. Maybe …
: Looking at Television listings for this New Year’s Day, I realize that I have completely lost …
: Reading multiple books, 📚 a rarity: The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne Christian Wiman, Zero at …
: Our apparatniks will continue making the usual squalid mess called History: all we can pray for is …
: One of the blessings of quitting most social media is that I had never heard of Temu before this …
: Universities are to Republicans what guns are to Democrats. The Rise of the Sectarian University. …
: I’m an obituary fan (too lazy for biographies?). From the New York Times: In 2023, a Host of …
: Maine has now joined Colorado in excluding Donald Trump from ballots. I’m chewing on this: …
: Frank Bruni, The Best Sentences of 2023
: I used to say that an adult movie was one where they kiss and then the lights go out (because the …
: Use ‘em or lose ‘em: shareable links to New York Times items. This time, it’s an …
: Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity Today is born of the Virgin Him Who holdeth all creation in the hollow of His hand. He Whose essence …
: I envy the English. Something (genetic?) produces children who sing superbly and with their mouths …
: Not your usual Christmas meditation I had anticipated in the middle of this misery to offer some hope this Christmas eve, but I may have …
: At the end of a tumultuous week, Ross Douthat gamely plays the unintuitive game of Why It’s …
: Now reading Home, by Marilynne Robinson. 📚So many wonderful books, so much distraction, so little …
: Upon first hearing Erick Whitacre’s The Sacred Veil yesterday afternoon.
: I need to reconcile myself to the reality of divided Christianity.
: Maybe I’ve missed others making the same point, but I hope authorities heed John …
: Of Wednesday’s debate: Their approach occupies the region of the Venn diagram where moral surrender …
: A staunch and longtime supporter of religious freedom, I nevertheless have trouble seeing …
: Sunday, 12/3/23 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: The 2023 Fall version of Great British Baking Show (a guilty pleasure in my home) was unusually …
: Rod Dreher withdrew his ill-advised support of some rightwing grifting and found that some NETTRs …
: If I’m going to watch a basketball game that starts at 9 pm, I’d appreciate it if #1 …
: I respected Henry Kissinger, who died on Wednesday at the age of 100, but I neither revered nor …
: On a lighter note, a profile of the actress (Stephanie Courtney - thanks for asking) who has dined …
: Chuck Schumer has a Sister Souljah moment.
: A thought-provoking piece by Brad East (H/T @rcrackley ) linked another piece which says Catholicism …
: Obsidian as a possible primary Markdown editor is growing on me. I like the way it conceals the …
: Reading The Poetical Works of Thomas Traherne. 📚
: Finished Marilynne Robinson, Gilead. 📚I look forward to the other three in the series, but not …
: Freddie deBoer has a pretty good crap detector. This time, it’s Effective Altruism. …
: It occurs to me, reading Jessica Grose, that I have completely lost track of all the multiplying …
: I know there are a lot of techies around MB, and I have a question for y’all. Why is it that, …
: It would be ironic if, as suggested by how many Wendell Berry fans there are around MB, this eminent …
: From the Founder of Patagonia, The High Stakes of Low Quality
: Black Friday – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Reading Marilynne Robinson, Gilead. 📚 I reached my 75th birthday recently, having never read one of …
: I confess to knowing little (not nothing) about Taylor Swift, but here one of my contemporaries pays …
: Three died 60 years ago today: JFK, Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis. I miss Lewis most; I’d have …
: My only real sportsball passion: Purdue men’s basketball. Last night they eked out a 4-point …
: “A tongue-and-cheek poll by OnlineCasinos.com listed Hoosiers as the least likely to survive …
: My (reluctant) renewal of The New Atlantis has been vindicated: Resistance in the Arts — The New …
: Put not your trust in fact-checkers. They are useless or worse than useless against propaganda.
: I have joined @JohnBrady in making Kagi my search engine. I was very well pleased with my 100 free …
: Oh, dear! I hope not! To quote investor Balaji Srinivasan, “The future is TikTok Democrats vs. …
: Reminder to self: If you can’t do anything about it, you probably don’t need to read …
: I suppose that when Ayaan Hirsi Ali sought asylum from Sudan, decades ago, she had even worse than …
: News I never would have noted had I not been looking for the URL on a Buzzfeed clipping from years …
: Magnificent, scatalogical rant: Silicon Valley’s worldview is not just an ideology; it’s a …
: The Christian Conversion of Ayaan Hirsi Ali
: Others post what they’re grateful for, so I’ll follow suit just once, and at a fleshly …
: How to beautify a brutalist building. James Howard Kunstler mocks “green band-aids” on …
: Readwise gems I began several years ago using Readwise to capture my book highlights and then feed me ten of my …
: One of the best things you’re likely to read today: David Brooks, Love in Harsh Times and …
: I have a smile on my face. Your mileage may vary, though I hope not.
: Modernity is a Dirty Diaper is not typical of the Front Porch Republic I’ve read since its …
: Big, collaborative choral concert competently performed. Unusually large audience grateful. The …
: Back from Greece (Mt. Athos, Meteora, Thessaloniki), but buried and out-of-sync with what my watch …
: I’m going to be disappearing for nine or more days starting tomorrow noonish (US Eastern Time) …
: Events in the middle east have emboldened people to show their cards. Some of those cards have been …
: Remember the “Card-Carrying Member” (typically of the Communist Party or ACLU) epithet? …
: I have so very many excellent books already bought and queued (though I shuffle the queue …
: “Correct spelling automatically” and “inline predictive text” are two Sonoma …
: The last three paragraphs of Peter Wehner’s The Revolution Devours Kevin McCarthy melt the …
: Finished Andrew Wilson, Remaking the World. 📚 I found parts 1 and 2 satisfying and even great fun at …
: Your Guide to the New Right, the current Ezra Klein podcast (guest-hosted by David French) is very, …
: The Ninth Commandment is dead. People think nothing of spouting completely crazy stuff as gospel …
: My update to Sonoma went fine, though I needed one extra re-boot before Obsidian would properly run.
: Belated acknowledgment that I’m reading Andrew Wilson, Remaking the World. 📚 WEIRD may …
: I gotta say that YouTube TV, with Premier League games recorded and available for replay, has given …
: I’ll believe that AI is “intelligent” when it can answer serious questions about contentious topics …
: anyone who has spent years restoring an old car has failed to hear the words of the apostle who …
: Finished Mark Valentine, The Fig Garden 📚
: I rented an e-bike Friday to ride on the safe TART Trails around Traverse City, Michigan. My balance …
: I’m something of a catastrophist, but have taken heart that “the end of the world as we …
: Is it okay not to know enough about Russell Brand to form an opinion about whatever it is that …
: Lake Michigan from the Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive Thursday morning.
: A key program has been giving me problems, and the seller kind of gave me the cold shoulder. (I …
: Unusually excited by a book on order: Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West. …
: Buried at the end of Fr. Stephen Freeman’s blogpost The Violence of Modernity is a list of ten …
: Having just registered a (very personal to me) differing opinion than @miraz on Extraordinary …
: The Fifth Circuit was right to rule it was illegal for the federal government to coerce social media …
: Learning a little Rosetta Stone Greek for an upcoming trip. I love that the Greek word for newspaper …
: I just cleared out my booklist, purging everything about politics except for The Art of Not Being …
: I’ve known for a long time that I need more silence in my life. I managed that fairly well …
: There’s something wrong with me (or is it “right with me”?). There’s something wrong with me (or is it “right with me”?). I waded into Kevin D. Williamson’s High …
: Politico asked the 2024 presidential candidates to make a list of 20 songs that “stir their soul” …
: Yes, as a matter of fact, I would mind.
: My near neighbor, Purdue University, now has both the World’s Largest Drum and its smallest, …
: I followed The Free Press from day one, occasionally disinterested in a story, frequently …
: Finished Black Lamb and Grey Falcon at long last. 📚
: War by other means In a conversation with a young friend, I was told that politics is the only way to get anything …
: Wouldja look at those wind patterns off the Atlantic Coast!
: Sunday, September 1, 1963, my Dad and I piled my stuff into his 1959 Buick and headed for West …
: Utterly Stumping Google Maps I stumped Google Maps yesterday. It knew the address of the hospital I was visiting and that there …
: John Grove, Conservative Wisdom or New-Right Dreams? - Public Discourse was the first article in a …
: The fascinating obituaries may be worth a large fraction of the New York Times digital subscription …
: Court Rejects Lawsuit by Sorority Members Against Sorority for Admitting Transgender Member. If you …
: Well, I made it about 15 minutes into the GOP debates before shutting it off as unbearable.
: General Carrera Lake, Chile, via Prufrock
: I had no idea that chess routinely holds separate men’s and women’s competitions, and that the women …
: To the PCA, EPC, ACNA and similar types here, I recommend Jake Meador’s The American Church in …
: Living in the future I watched a very shallow show where the protaganists take junky cars, fix them up and resell them. …
: I don’t often recommend poetry, but Famous, by Naomi Shihab Nye, caught my ear in a podcast …
: Now that I’ve found how easy it is to retrofit a fairly recent non-smart TV with a Roku stick, …
: A fundamental reality of human existence is that vice often leaves virtue with few good options. …
: O Frabjous day! Birkenstock has recently introduced a classic burgundy (oxblood, cordovan) clog in …
: Gotta say this brought a smile to my face: a group of women over age 40 doing double-dutch jump rope …
: I learned today that my internet-with-cable-tv provider really wants me to drop cable and get my TV …
: Mental health break: The Salmon are running at Brooks Falls, but this is still my favorite Salmon …
: Sometimes I lose track of things. Like when I dropped paid Pandora for Apple Music, I lost my …
: Apropos of something-or-other in the news, just because there’s a political witch hunt …
: I decided this morning not to venture an opinion about the Georgia indictment of our former …
: I wonder if I should skip all commentary on the latest Trump indictment for at least 24 hours. After …
: Under the misimpression that England and Australia were playing in the Women’s World Cup after …
: Prof. Michael McConnell, Responding About the Fourteenth Amendment, “Insurrection,” and …
: A forgotten chapter in educational history: Let Them Be Born in Wonder - Comment Magazine. It was …
: Well, I prefer a shredder, but this is better than nothing, and at a nice enough price point.
: Probably too niche, but here’s an interesting glimpse into (theory of?) how Russia views …
: Steven Calabresi presumably knows that he’s starting a conversation, not playing a lay-down …
: I was scandalized by this poll graphic … … until I realized that anyone who answered at all (i.e., …
: In January 2022, Vox declared that “trauma” had become “the word of the decade,” noting that there …
: A lesson from a thick traveler Thick travel has made me realise how much chaos we have here in the US, at a spiritual level, …
: In 36 years of practicing law, I built up quite a digital “rolodex” which now syncs …
: According to a study by researchers from Yale University, the excess death rate among Republican …
: Monday, 8/7/23 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: New York Post: Zoom Tells Employees to Return to Office for Work
: Pitcher debuts with Cincinnati Reds. First two pitches are solo home runs. Ouch!
: “That Swedish goalie is fantastic,” said the guy who’s slipping in a little soccer …
: Just re-subscribed to Idagio. My musical tastes are wide, but my default any more is classical, and …
: I can always count on Garrison Keillor to brighten my Tuesdays and Fridays with gentle good humor …
: Scienter In criminal law, “scienter” involves knowledge and intention. Premeditated murder is more serious …
: A blast from the past: I’m finding that Kronos Quartet’s earlier albums are pretty easy …
: Benchmark of sorts: 12-year-old granddaughter booked herself and her mom for manicures and pedicures …
: Thanks for the candor, guys: McCarthyism 2.0 Through a new McCarthyism, we will enforce the …
: A retired lawyer who’s anti-Trump, I can’t help but be interested in stuff like How Can …
: Looking for a little tech advice. I plan to drop DayOne, but want to get my existing content into …
: As of this morning, I’ve seen red, gray and black squirrels scarfing up dropped sunflower …
: My first encounter with poet Geoffrey Hill. Wow. Just wow. (I won’t pretend to be well-enough versed …
: And now for something completely — well, very substantially — different. SunRay Kelley, Master …
: The No. 1 reason American churchgoers skip a worship service is bad weather. The No. 2 reason is …
: Stripping humanity from homo sapiens If out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made, then if a thing is made …
: 7/28/1880: San Francisco prohibits operation of laundires in wood buildings, “without having …
: I deeply offended my dental hygienist yesterday. If I don’t start lightening my …
: Listening to it again this afternoon, I once more conclude that if I could pick the music playing as …
: I’m going to admit it: René Girard leaves me cold. I don’t even know if I can explain …
: I have a brother “on the spectrum” and with some mental illness as well, just barely …
: I kinda cringe when someone calls the Reagan Administration “two generations ago.” I was …
: Okay, so who else remembers listening to the (now late) Dick Bionidi, on WLS or otherwise? Good …
: I tend to declinist narratives of the West. Mercifully, it occurred to me to subscribe to …
: Started a new-to-us BritBox mystery series. It seems like it’s not worth continuing if …
: Musical challenge I’ve created a personal Apple Music playlist (don’t judge me) with a menagerie, mostly French: …
: How can a poem say so much in so (relatively) few words? Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
: Two 26-member grand jury panels were chosen in Atlanta on Tuesday, one of which is likely to decide …
: Reading St. John Chrysostom on the sin of schism is very, very sobering.
: Mark Andreesen, giving the Panglossian version of AI, lost me early on at the patently bullshitty …
: The Crunchy-Con Manifesto I first discovered Rod Dreher in his book Crunchy Cons, but I had forgotten its wonderful …
: Chris Arnade has convinced me: if I ever go to Tokyo, I will not try to go native. Walking across …
: A Canadian court ruled last month that texting someone a 👍 emoji can, in certain circumstances, be …
: Currently reading Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. 📚Whole lotta book there.
: It doesn’t happen often that I am bowled over by a contemporary poem from a poet I’ve …
: My nominee for Best App Nobody Seems to Have Heard Of: Cogi. I always use it when I’m …
: Color-blind? Across-the-board? Are you really sure that’s what you want?
: Finished 25.1 Hedgehog Review, By Theory Possessed. 📚This is a magazine that always feels like a …
: Second student loan forgiveness challenge: Missouri has standing, and the HEROES act doesn’t …
: A unanimous decision in one of two challenges to student loan forgiveness: challengers lack …
: The wedding website designer in Colorado, who wanted not to design for same-sex weddings, won in the …
: Started and finished The Machine Stops. 📚 A flawed parable, but I’m glad I read it.
: Excited to read this: Beauty Makes a Comeback. You see, I’ve got this 15-year-old grandson, …
: Theme, restatement, and variation – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: We have a Nuthatch who so repeatedly attacks the windows of our sunroom that we’ve named him …
: I think we’re finally getting a real snootful of Canadian forest fire fallout. Worst air …
: SCOTUS has decided Moore v. Harper, the North Carolina “independent state legislature” …
: Unlikely to read this outside a law blog, but I find it interesting still: Sixth Circuit Upholds …
: David Sosa has some important thoughts. And so does David Sosa. As well as David Sosa. Also, David …
: Rediscovering Turtle Island String Quartet on a streaming service that need not be named. Call it …
: Shoutout to @JohnBrady for his persistent reminders that one can blog directly from Hey mail. Still, …
: Could I have been dogmatically wrong about him? (political)
: \ Yesterday … \ …Today, nestled between foundation plantings and sunroom
: Finished The Aenead. 📚 Very readable translation.
: I’ve always liked the story with the punchline “What the hell is water?” But I …
: Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is …
: I’m rather fond of the ACNA, and not a Latin Catholic, so don’t take this recommendation …
: Finished Before Religion: A History of a Modern Concept 📚 The idea of religion as a sphere of life …
: I used Apple’s native Notes app to scan text this morning for the first time. It won’t …
: Each of us is Adam …each of us is of Christ ..Just as corruption and death come down from …
: I read the Wall Street Journal opinion page for thoughtful counterpoint to most major media, but it …
: Reading Robert Hayden, Collected Poems 📚
: I find Juicy Ecumenism an odd title for what one fine group blog has become. I don’t read …
: Pat Robertson, Seer of Virginia Beach captures some of what the New York Times obituary completely …
: Getting offended by something on the internet is like choosing to to step in dog crap instead of …
: Finished R.S. Thomas, Collected Later Poems 📚 A delight spread over more than a year, I reckon. …
: Shiny Happy People For my many sins I did penance by watching Amazon Prime’s Shiny Happy People. I don’t …
: Anyone else here remember the band Koinonia? Stumbled onto them after a decade or more, and …
: Jack Daniels wins big in challenge to spoofing “Bad Spaniels” dog toy. Legally correct, I grudgingly …
: Trivia question: Is anyone else getting daily calls from a “Crystal Allen” about records …
: If Cornel West gets the People’s Party nomination, all bets are off (in my personal voting …
: Pat Robertson’s dead. Trump’s indicted (on Federal charges more credible than the New …
: Old-style blasphemy involved desecrating God because it was God who was sacred. Today’s blasphemy …
: I’m glad that I’ve always hated golf. It makes hating golf today easier. Nick Catoggio on the …
: “One person’s punk rock is another person’s singing ‘Om’ or playing harp,” he told The Santa Cruz …
: I enjoy the gentle humor of Garrison Keillor, now 80: A bad play lets you see you have a good life
: I don’t know why it took me so long to realize that Prufrock is worth having in my life again …
: Moonset on my way into a very early service today.
: The loss of Christendom gives us a joyous opportunity to reclaim the freedom to proclaim the gospel …
: Watch out, world (or at least B1G): 7 foot 4 inch National Player of the Year Zach Edey pulled out …
: Occasional strong posts like Why I’m religious, and not spiritual are why I follow Fr. Silouan …
: Leisurely morning in the sunroom, streaming to my Amazon Alexa via bluetooth for the first time in …
: Okay, here's my life and travels as bullet list Countries Lived in: USA Visited: Canada Mexico Portugal Spain Switzerland France Germany Austria …
: Quandary: I think I’ve figured out that I read too much politics because the writers I know to …
: Freddie has a *very* unpopular opinion Freddie has a very unpopular opinion: that more mentally ill people need to be committed, …
: A cautionary tale: A Lawyer’s Filing “Is Replete with Citations to Non-Existent …
: I cannot help but sense a glimmer of hope when I find a young man as sensible as Jake Meador.
: I impetuously decided to start today with email, MB, and RSS feeds rather than online Wall Street …
: The Onion via my son (who isn’t quite in his hometown): Unambitious Loser With Happy, …
: Two favorite safety devices BitDefender Box protects my entire home network, including IOT devices. …
: Not, I think, as thought-provoking for many of us as yesterday’s Mollie Worthen piece on kids …
: I finally bought The Bible and the Holy Fathers for Orthodox at a little parish bookstore. It helped …
: Fascinating: Molly Worthen, What College Students Need Is a Taste of the Monk’s Life
: God does not work on the principle of debt.
: Molly Worthen’s Tim Keller’s Critique of Liberal Secularism (likely Atlantic paywall) does the …
: Legal news can be amazing sometimes: Deputy Has Qualified Immunity In Suit Claiming His Failure to …
: With the etiology now explained (Happy 20th Birthday to the Streisand Effect), I may add …
: Wild and crazy day: I bought no fewer than two classic poems: 📚 Lord Byron’s Don Juan Seamus …
: DeSantis says: Look at all these great policies I’ve enacted! Trump says: I’ll kick the shit out of …
: Housekeeping time! I note that most of my paid Substack subscriptions are set to expire, and I just …
: it is because … political discourses … are so detached from the prospect of actual violence that …
: Middleborough school district is going to get slaughtered in this case. Prof. Friedman excerpts the …
: Finished William T. Cavanaugh, Migrations of the Holy. 📚
: Recommended: Firearms Classes Taught Me, and America, a Very Dangerous Lesson
: Yes, I just discovered the quote category and tag today. Following a few new people as a result.
: This snippet has stuck with me now for a couple of weeks: We are offended only by those who are …
: I have no idea why a fine, 350-year-old Protestant hymn came to mind last week, but here it is, …
: I realized at dusk under the flight path of the rooks that this weight on me was perhaps not words …
: It’s not my favorite article of the past week, but it’s my favorite title: Is Donald …
: Fallible sign of an old blogger: double-spacing after a period. For the youngsters here: my …
: Islam means submission to God; Israel means “one who struggles with God.” Seems like a fruitful …
: Two pundits on the “Town Hall” – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I may not be a good judge of poetry for all I know, but I’ve been savoring R.S. Thomas, …
: Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our …
: I thought that voice was familiar: Sir Bryn Terfel, singing in Welsh.
: All remain standing. Samuel Strachan, Child of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal, addresses The King …
: Someone here probably is where I got Artificial General Intelligence and the bird brains of Silicon …
: BREAKING: Feds tell Catholic hospital to blow out sanctuary candle or face penalties - Becket
: The press is in a feeding frenzy about supposed unethical behavior of Federal Judges, and especially …
: [I]t is hard to avoid the sense that today’s “tech” is more often a tax on the real economy, …
: AI and coding I essentially know nothing about coding, but others here do: Samsung Electronics told staff not to …
: Tired of most of American socio-political writing, I was very pleased to stumble upon The European …
: Reading The Aeneid (Robert Fagles translation) 📚 My delight that it’s available on Kindle …
: You are what you love Finished James K. A. Smith, You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit 📚This will be a …
: A brief, rueful political chuckle: The thought of a Trump-Biden rematch is soul-deadening and …
: Has anyone had a good experience on commercial domestic flights lately? My son and his wife were …
: Is this the epitome, the ne plus ultra, of Far Side cartoons?
: Finished Jon Ward, Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation. 📚 Mixed …
: Wow! Apparently, Tucker Carlson is no longer with Fox News! (No hot takes here; just bare facts.)
: Reading Jon Ward, Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation. 📚 How wildly …
: Finished Uncle Tom’s Cabin, for the first time ever at age 74. 📚
: The torment of love I also maintain that those who are punished in Gehenna, are scourged by the scourge of love. Nay, …
: What the wrath of God looks like I have no plans to post a lot of religious content this week, but it’s Holy Week in Eastern …
: If you are someone who wish Trump would go away (I make no assumptions, nor acknowledge my stance), …
: Wendell Berry’s MANIFESTO: THE MAD FARMER LIBERATION FRONT merits periodic review.
: Website fatigue. Second time today on hold with a commercial website (first bank, now brokerage) …
: Fact of the day: 56%, the proportion of Americans that believe a degree is no longer worth the time …
: Since nobody I care about is left in the men’s tournament, I have shifted loyalty to …
: Wow! Matthew B. Crawford doesn’t post often on his Substack, but Anatomy of the Consensus-Borg …
: I don’t know if Mailchimp URLs are suitable for sharing, but I thought this essay on epigraphs …
: All horsepower corrupts. (Patrick Leigh Fermor) Walking “is how the body measures itself against the …
: "We're Babylon" I don’t feel “patriotic” if patriotism means expressing confidence in the country as it is today. …
: Low-ish carb Leftover Breakfast (Lenten) Leftover chopped kale/riced cauliflower mix. ½ …
: Finished Arthur Machen, The Secret Glory. 📚
: Weird. How’d I forgot to look at MB for more that 55 hours?! In other news, having a favorable …
: Really, Economist?! Trump “can let Mr Cohen try to enforce the agreement with Ms Clifford, …
: I continue to marvel at how civilized a social medium can be. Good work, micro.blog!
: Just discovered, though two parts are almost a year old: ‘Spiritual but not Religious’ Revisited: …
: Finished reading Bulgakov, The Master & Margarita. 📚
: My college basketball viewing season just ended. FDU beat Purdue.
: East Palestine Several teams of researchers at Purdue testing water samples taken in East Palestine, Ohio, reported …
: For the first time ever, I set aside my annual vehicle registration papers and forgot to send them …
: Don’t forget to spring forward for Gaslight Savings Time.
: It’s good to see that the Purdue Men’s team is still capable of a blow-out.
: Currently reading Bulgakov, The Master & Margarita. 📚
: Damon Linker: Ron DeSantis Is Not a Fascist Tens of millions of our fellow citizens don’t like where they think our country is headed, and …
: I think this is the first time I’ve unsubscribed from a podcast that’s really excellent. …
: Ted Gioia offers his Crazy Plan to Save the Newspaper Business
: I must be growing up: I just saw a third rail and declined to grab it.
: Harry Potter orders a black coffee Alex Wicker is used to odd looks from baristas when he stops by his local coffee shop. His order is …
: This is why I read David French, uninspired though he be much of the time. To understand the Fox …
: “No, I can’t believe this. No. My ancestors did not come here on the Mayflower,” - Angela Davis, on …
: I have no idea what this means, but on Friday Peggy Noonan and David French both published admiring …
: Getting the *question* right Fr Alexander [Schmemann] pointed to the adverse results of that confusion: In my opinion, the …
: There must be an alarmist news feed, because my local TV station’s noon news always clocks in …
: Do not trust AI, Defense Department edition. (Trigger warning: do not read if subject to giggling.)
: Do not trust Chat GPT, Supreme Court edition.
: Weather notes: Weatherman notes that snow evaporated today rather than melting, so dry is the cold …
: A poem by Jorie Graham, Then the Rain. H/T Nellie Bowles.
: Consensus Winner of Most Embarrassing Op-Ed Ever: If He Loses, Trump Will Concede Gracefully, (Mick …
: After a 25-year hiatus, I am reading once again about Science and the Christian Faith. What drew me …
: I ought to just sit here placing calls threatening to cancel subscriptions this snowy afternoon to …
: Heaven help me! I read the first dozen or so responses to an ESPN personality’s implausibly …
: I generally enjoy anything J Budziszewski writes. Were They Snowflakes, or Situationalists? was no …
: Evidence that I don’t stay in internet silos: Added to the Catholic entities who think …
: If you smile at me I will understand, because that is something everybody everywhere does in the …
: Have you been suspicious of the Manichean coverage (what little there has been) of Russian political …
: Currently reading The Age of Paradise: Christendom from Pentecost to the First Millennium (book 1 of …
: MIDHIR’S INVITATION TO THE FAR LAND MIDHIR’S INVITATION TO THE FAR LAND Irish, author, unknown, ninth century Fair woman, will you go …
: Do my eyes deceive me, or is this a painting of Saint Supice’s environs long ago?
: Fascinating. Technology to prove that a photo hasn’t been altered — photos of war crimes, for …
: Just a reminder: if you’re paying a lot for smart phone service, call up the provider and …
: A gambling foe, I’ve sometimes thought (Kyrie elieison!) it would be fun to buy a ticket for …
: When I see stories about how Indiana’s conservatism makes it hard to recruit and retain tech …
: Whoever it was here who recommended the British mystery series Unforgotten to me, thank you, thank …
: Within this longer blog post is a priceless bullet-list on “how to live.” I review it regularly.
: Honeybee vaccine America approved the world’s first vaccine for honeybees to protect them from American foulbrood, a …
: Did the 20th Century produce any more baffling human being than Simone Weil? Costică Brădăţan, …
: Shared without comment: New Years Day? Bah! Humbug! | http://undergroundthomist.com.
: Today I revisited the difference between Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxy rooted in the Council of …
: Ian Tyson, half of the duo Ian & Sylvia, has died, and there’s a generation gap in my …
: Prof. Rebecca Scofield is reportedly a nice and pleasant person, whereas Ashley Guillard, a Tik-Tok …
: Freddie deBoer, If You Hate Billionaires, Stop Fixating on “Undeserving” Billionaires is …
: Winter Storm Elliot disrupted all of my parish’s planned services for Friday and Saturday, but …
: An astonishing story about the obsessions of my former party: How Many Republicans Died Because GOP …
: Winter storm with -11 F temperatures. Services cancelled for the days leading to the Feast. I think …
: Incomplete renunciation (a poem by Marilyn Nelson) INCOMPLETE RENUNCIATION Please let me have A 10-room house adjacent to campus; 6 bedrooms, 2 …
: When I saw that Ross Douthat had written on The Americanization of Religion (shareable link — no …
: 7’4” Zach Edey has the flu, so I’m getting a refresher on how good the rest of the …
: You can’t make this stuff up. Not the Onion.
: Half my Kingdom for a universal filter so I never again have to see a story treating …
: No England or Wales fans arrested at World Cup for first time The head of the UK Football Policing …
: Jordan unveils $100 million master plan for the second millennium of Jesus’ baptism. I have …
: I'd call this exciting news: Scientists in America reportedly achieved a “net energy gain” from nuclear fusion. Fusion reactions, …
: Well, it appears that Substack has eliminated the option of opening items in your browser directly …
: I don’t know much about book-binding, but it appears to me that my small Psalter’s cover lettering …
: How many times do Republican- and Trump-appointed federal judges have to totally smack down Team …
: Judging from Michigan’s utter domination of Purdue on the Boilermakers’ first …
: British music critic Tim Jonze took part in National Novel Writing Month, cranking out 50,000 words. …
: Binny’s Beverage Depot single-malt Scotch. Just for fun, I sorted by price, high-to-low. …
: For all you pen-and-longhand fans: On the Gift of Longhand (via Arts & Letters Daily)
: I got my middle-aged son’s Christmas wish list, topped by a couple of Ahmad Jamal CD sets, one …
: Reading Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. 📚Some very appalling stuff. Is Weiner a …
: Oh, no! How could I have forgotten that Purdue was playing Duke yesterday in the PKI? Beating …
: Not limited to religious fundamentalisms, but to any ideology prone to say “Error has no …
: When I realized that I actually am a bit tribal I guess I’m not as un-tribal as I thought. That some of the usual suspects are attacking David …
: I’m no TV critic, but my wife and I have really enjoyed Shetland on BritBox (other British …
: Ees OUTRAGE!!! Qatar bans sale of beer at World Cup stadiums in about-face
: I’m already worn out with stories on SBF, FTX, EA, ESG and the whole solar system of which SBF …
: Ronald Reagan’s natural affability was heightened by Peggy Noonan’s speechwriting. Bush …
: A lovely discovery from my days in Jordan late last month: Barazek Cookies. Mostly sesame and …
: I rarely tout technology here, but I’m a bit paranoid about bad actors on the internet. …
: Just for the record, I’m not on micro.blog to get tips on setting up Mastadon.
: I decided Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies, starting with a long dissection of Plato, …
: Today, I am moderately reassured that the bozos and grifters the refashioned GOP nominated around …
: I had a choice this afternoon: Iowa at Purdue Division I football on FS1. Metropolitan Opera …
: Sheer delight: Yassine Meskhout, I Fought The PayPal And I Won
: New minor annoyance noted: Email that arrives pre-flagged, so my “flagged mail” folder …
: If you want to walk where Jesus (and the Apostles, and the Church Fathers, and the Desert Monastics) walked ... My overall “secular” impression of my past two weeks in the Holy Land: if you really …
: Liturgy in Jerusalem at the Tomb of the Theotokos, a cavern many steps underground.
: Sitting in the Tel Aviv airport, waiting for the tour organizer to arrive.
: The existence of release notes on v1.0 of Obsidian implies that it’s no longer Beta, right?
: Unexpected and more than a bit infuriating: Leah Libresco Sargeant, How Reversible are LARCs?.
: Five proposals worthy of consideration: National Constitution Center Project Offers Constitutional …
: Books to challenge your perspective: Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind Brad S. Gregory, The Unintended Reformation William T. …
: Woohoo! Found a tasty breakfast, with toast, that didn’t spike my serum glucose! (Continuous Glucose …
: How should we live? Every ten days, my computer pops up a reminder to read one of three lists of maxims on the Christian …
: I always enjoy Atlantic’s photo collections: Can @cliffordbeshers guess what this is without …
: Start of an adventure: I’m beginning continuous glucose monitoring mostly on the likelihood …
: Purdue’s coaches said they were better than their record. They were right. Purdue 20, Minnesota 10. …
: I highly recommend this Outliers, Revisited episode of Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History …
: Your government at work. Not written in inflammatory style, it’s intrinsically inflammatory.
: Seldom has a Democrat made me as happy as Letitia James made me on today.
: Terrific long interview conversation: Following Christ in the Machine Age: A Conversation with Paul …
: Kevin D. Williamson of National Review has defected to The Dispatch. In celebration, The Dispatch is …
: I follow J Budziszewski’s RSS feed, but I’m going to need to re-read this rich posting: …
: I decided to revisit my Twitter account, unfollowing most political stuff, adding legal …
: It took me less than 13 minutes to decide that The Rings of Power wasn’t worth any more of my …
: O God of spirits and of all flesh, Who have trampled down death and overthrown the Devil, and given …
: Jake Meador, Calvinist ringleader of the confusingly-titled Mere Orthodoxy, has some sharp …
: Legal nerdery and more: permanent consequences for a January 6 insurrectionist. A Section Three …
: Yes, there really is a federal court rule requiring “simple, concise, and direct” …
: Wow! Everton vs. Liverpool is a pretty amazing match today.
: Regular cannabis use now outpaces cigarette smoking in the U.S., according to a new Gallup poll. Of …
: A very interesting guy lives a few miles away, across the Wabash River. His name is Mitch Daniels …
: When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Viktor …
: Legal nerdery: How is the Plaintiff going to re-plead his case now? With his first complaint, now …
: I went several decades without even owning a pair of blue jeans. Since Covid hit, 14-15 months after …
: Metropolitan Kallistos (Ware) reposes in the Lord. If you’ve read any of the Philokalia in …
: [S]ubordinating truth to politics is a game which tyrants and bullies always win. Jonathan Rauch, …
: Unusually good KAL cartoon this week in the Economist:
: Once again, enticed by alternate browser enthusiasts (Vivaldi this time), I have fired up a browser …
: Why do I never remember “Dvōrák, Humoresque” when that comes up on a playlist?
: Were I a Republican, I’d consider recent primaries a really mixed bag. On the one hand, at …
: An Angry Activist Becomes a Peacemaker by Phoebe Farag Mikhail @JMaxB, in case you didn’t see …
: I’m not generally given to wretched excess, but when I get into a six-episode Shetland on …
: For a “big data” company that’s supposed to know me better than I know myself, …
: First-world problems I kind of enjoyed last week’s southeast Alaska Cruise, so I started looking for cruiselines …
: Highly recommended: Dana Gioia, Christianity and Poetry and a sort of companion podcast. Thesis: …
: Alaska Cruise excerpts St. Michael Cathedral, Sitka The Occasion of the Trip I tend to forget that …
: Preliminary cruise debriefing Alaska cruise concluded. My wife and I agree: The fawning of the mostly-darker-skinned staff made …
: I brought my collapsible cane along on the cruise just in case I re-injured a vulnerable left knee. …
: I’m on my first cruise starting tomorrow, and if I’m sensible, I’ll be drinking in …
: R.I.P William Jon Gray William Jon Gray, undoubtedly the best Choral Conductor I ever sang under, has died at his home in …
: I jokingly asked my wife to go back to work. It’s not the money. It’s that her …
: Finished Wendell Berry, Jaybe Crow. 📚Why did I wait so long?
: I just watched a Spring 2021 Zoom panel that had been on my list. Once it got under way, …
: You have to be educated into cant; it is a kind of stupidity that surpasses the capacity of unaided …
: Monday, 7/11/22 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Memento mori: One of my boarding school junior year roommates died of a heart attack last night. …
: A lot of wisdom here — hard wisdom, wisdom our culture mocks: Fr. Stephen Freeman, The Goal of a …
: Outside-the-Box: Make Birth Free - The Atlantic
: I have doubled to ten the number of Readwise highlights I review daily. Man, I’ve sure read a …
: Happy (a poem, by, like, a poet) Happy as something unimportant and free as a thing unimportant. As something no one prizes and which …
: Does anyone know why Substack (I don’t recall whether others have done so) suddenly had a …
: News I hope you can’t use: Roy Moore Loses Libel Suit Against Sacha Baron Cohen in Second …
: Cleaning my bookshelves, I’m reminded how I lost my last remaining desire to learn Russian, …
: Well, that was easy. Or was it hard? I resolved to reconsider my basic digital New York Times …
: Sober and fundamentally patriotic assessment of the USA on this Independence Day: Tom McTague, …
: Went to a new bookstore yesterday and found a lot of fine old hardbound books. Roughly 10 shelf-foot …
: I’ve read so many cringeworthy obituaries that I decided I should write my own (no, I have no …
: Whoa! USC and UCLA are leaving the Pac-12 and joining B1G (a/k/a Big Ten)! I think my college …
: Currently (finally!) reading Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations. It’s …
: How pathetic am I? Sitting here with my iPad as a second monitor so I can keep up with the SCOTUS …
: The plural of anecdote is not data, but Trump’s pressure on the Department of Justice is the …
: B1G (f/k/a Big 10) had two players in the top 5 of the NBA draft. So when are we going to bring home …
: SCOTUS strikes down New York’s gun-licensing law, it appears, in the last opinion handed down …
: Kennedy v. Bremerton School District Y’all may have noticed that I care a lot about religious freedom. I’m also near 100% on …
: Pro tip: when tagging “Nietzsche,” you really don’t need a first name. Orville …
: If you have access to the New York Times and detest our immediate past POTUS (as do I), do yourself …
: If people have always said it, it is probably true; it is the distilled wisdom of the ages. If …
: N.S. Lyons: when he/she is good, he/she is very, very good. (A long read.)
: This reached me through the grapevine. It’s an almost-verbatim version of insurrection …
: The air conditioner just stopped. That cannot last long. 94/109 temperature/heat index.
: Excerpt Locked in a cycle of Slack callouts and healing retreats, left-wing groups — from …
: A Psalm for anxiety over “cancel culture” and “soft tyranny.”
: Persuasion Wars – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I had an RSS feed that gave me 32 Far Side cartoon re-runs each week. It appears recently to have …
: Be it noted that pro-life pregnancy centers are being vandalized and even firebombed with minimal …
: 87 degrees Farenheit, 102 degree heat index. Hooboy, we’re in for it!
: Purdue President Mitch Daniels' Maverick Exit Purdue University president Mitch Daniels is retiring at the end of the year. Consistent with his …
: I read too much news about the January 6 Committee prime-time “hearings” (they’re …
: Absolutely true and worth remembering: “There’s often more bias in which stories are …
: Blast from the distant past: When I told my dad I read Playboy for the articles, he said “You …
: Understated The problem is a reflection of a badly broken political culture and it won’t be easily fixed. But, …
: My reaction to the concept of “spatial audio” whenever I first heard of it was a yawn. …
: I have found my limit to my Apple enthusiasm: 30 minutes of WWDC.
: I’m kind of a compulsive clipper of internet miscellany, and I’m increasingly finding …
: Sunday, 6/5/22 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Very smart blogger David Lat has an open letter to the current Supreme Court clerks — the guilty and …
: I got my first Apple Watch for our 50th Anniversary a week ago. So far, the most interesting …
: At last, CNN acknowledges that some news doesn’t deserve the adjective “breaking.”
: One of the surest signs that I’ve detached emotionally from the GOP (I detached …
: When you get invited to something in the future, ask yourself, Would I do this tomorrow? Life Hacks …
: Amusing: Justin Trudeau Runs for Congress
: Finished reading A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. 📚
: Enduring wisdom If I gave in to the Inquisitors, I should at least know what creed to profess. But even if I yelled …
: Hauerwas hits another bulls-eye Both the fundamentalist and the higher critic assume that it is possible to understand the biblical …
: Lafayette, IN still has one chef-owned place for a very special celebratory dinner: Bistro 501. I …
: As long as the topic’s on the table: “This demonic murder lottery of schoolchildren” – Tipsy …
: Matthew Continetti (which consonants get doubled, @JMaxB?) has thought a lot about conservatism, and …
: “Active-shooter” incidents have increased by nearly 97% since 2017, according to new data from the …
: Matthew Crawford is always worth reading: Covid was liberalism’s endgame - UnHerd
: A bright spot in my day. John Podhoretz, in his eulogy for his mother, Midge Decter, calls Godel …
: "Thou-shalt-not" lists [A]s helpful as “thou-shalt-not” lists can be, they are limited. They can make us feel not as though …
: When I got Hey.com for email, I appreciated that I could assign email senders to “The …
: Isn’t the Right’s critique of David French’s and Tim Keller’s kind of …
: I couldn’t do this again if I tried: accidentally slid a thin coaster off my den desk, …
: Mind-calisthenics du jour: Justin E. H. Smith, Permanent Pandemic. H/T @ayjay
: There’s no way this tops @jean ’s experience, but this afternoon’s first, …
: An expatriate blogger, living in Russia, recommended a YouTube on the what bad things will happen if …
: From Bari Weiss’s Honestly podcast, The Yale Law Professor Who Is Anti-Roe, But Pro-Choice. …
: We sure went from “wind chill” to “heat index” in a hurry in my neck of the …
: A Substack for people who are bad at math?
: Ben Johnson has a bee in his bonnet: Quit Saying the Court Decided a Case
: Feeling almost disoriented this morning. I sang my last concert of the Spring cycle (Chamber Choir, …
: Well, do tell! Federal Statute Bans Picketing Judges’ Residences “With The Intent of …
: Pedantery warning: It is not accurate to say that “Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, …
: Compelled to write – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Best Substack recommended by another Substack in a long time: Flat Caps and Fatalism
: I’m not even going to read that leaked opinion. Roe, Twitter and more – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Bloodlust and other diversions – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Yascha Mounk, America Won’t Ever Be Majority Minority could be a good conversation topic.
: Yesterday was Pascha (Easter) in the Orthodox Church. This Georgian Chant from a Church in …
: Long interested in religious liberty issues, I usually have a strong sense of how a major case will …
: About 9 hours late – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Much enjoying The Constitution of Knowledge so far.
: I’ve been consciously reducing my consumption of news and commentary. It pleases me that this …
: Peggy Noonan, America’s Most Tumultuous Holy Week. If you read it, read it to the end, which …
: Much deserved praise is going around for Jonathan Haidt’s Why the Past 10 Years of American …
: Here’s one way to spend 2 hours and 40 minutes during Lent. But who’s counting?
: There are many things proverbially dubbed the “last refuge of scoundrels.” This morning, …
: Just realized I never hear sonic booms any more. They were regular in my youth. It’s not as if …
: Viktor Orbán won because he’s popular in Hungary?! That’s a pretty bold admission from …
: My priorities are definitely changing. I just unsubscribed from a general Atlantic RSS feed, added …
: Only those who decline to scramble up the career ladder are interesting as human beings. Nothing is …
: Number 19 includes probably the best hot-air balloon design I’ve ever seen.
: Metaphysics and more – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: “0.0001 led to you, my love.”
: Every year the N.C.A.A. tournament draws us in and then spits us back out, and every year we come …
: I’m been reading about the development of Russian conservative political theory when — shazam! …
: Fr. Stephen bends my mind again: The World as Grand Opera
: The Overlooked Stone Carvers of Escolásticas - The New York Times. This is work I cannot imagine …
: Putin’s War in Ukraine Is Forcing Russian Dissidents to Flee Sophie Pinkham, Putin’s War in Ukraine Is Forcing Russian Dissidents to Flee (paywall) That title is …
: Illustration for Confronting Russia shows the tension between free trade and freedom in the March 19 …
: Veteran Religion Beat reporter Richard Ostling does an outstanding, objective job in Beyond the …
: The chilling return of shibboleths - by Ed West is news I hope you can’t use (I could find no …
: Like a moth to the flame, I read more of this stuff than I want to. But this seemed unusual and …
: If I were picking NCAA Men’s basketball brackets, I think I’d go for “pick upsets …
: It occurred to me over dinner today — with my son, his Russian immigrant wife, and my bilingual …
: If you have access to the New York Times, you can get lost for a while in A Poem (and a Painting) …
: If you haven’t begun any Lenten reading (or if you have, for that matter), I recommend Prayers …
: I finally did something about Ukraine yesterday. It involved money, through a trusted charity …
: Apple Announcements I’m starting to detect the pattern in Apple announcements: Truly astonishing leaps in speed …
: Newsfasting – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Must. Proofread. Voice recognition. “Won over to” became “1/ two”.
: Just started watching a 1972 episode of Firing Line, with William F. Buckley interviewing Eudora …
: An Anniversary – Tipsy Teetotaler ن, wherein (if you follow the link) you’ll even find why I …
: Reading Paul Robinson, Russian Conservatism. This shot up my priority list just a few hours short of …
: Patrick Deneen has a “very meta” discussion of the current war, occasioned by one of his …
: Mark your calendar because this is almost certainly the first time I’ve said anything good …
: Last year around this time, I was struggling with a scary degree of balance problems. I thought …
: This isn't about us Too good not to share Comments like [the examples] above seem so transparently self-promotional …
: That the sun was peeking in early in Matins signal impending Spring. I’d have taken better …
: There actually are things going on in the world closer than Ukraine, yet not quite personal. …
: Culture Wars, Hot War – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I found What the Heck is a Christian Nationalist?, an episode of the Good Faith podcast, so …
: Why Joshua Gibbs won't let his daughter keep a *secret* diary Secret diaries encourage the worst and darkest sorts of thoughts a person has. Secret diaries are …
: I thought the March First Things was uncommonly boring — except for Matthew Rose, The Imagined …
: Dear Credit Card issuers: I don’t care about your special low APR because I don’t let …
: The 1960s was an era of big thoughts. And yet, amazingly, each of these thoughts could fit on a …
: My favorite feature of smart phones is the ability to send unknown callers straight to voicemail. I …
: According to mass communications theorists Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, the mass media is no …
: Photos: Superb Owl Sunday VI - The Atlantic That’s not a typo.
: David French has a particularly illuminating blog post on the incubation of radical Right …
: Sundries, 2/12/22 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Well, this certainly is a vivid analogy: Matt Taibbi, Justin Trudeau’s Ceauşescu Moment.
: The Satanic Temple, which stands for “rebellion against arbitrary tyrannies,” is hosting …
: Crowdsourcing: I don’t know how this scam might work, assuming it’s a scam, but does …
: Maybe a repeat: The loss of Christendom gives us a joyous opportunity to reclaim the freedom to …
: Ben Rhodes at the Atlantic said only the Democrats still believe in democracy. “Not so fast, …
: As of Friday the 4th, Russia’s “imminent” invasion of Ukraine had been downgraded …
: My son came across a même that Yoko Ono is threatening to put her music on Spotify unless Joe Rogan …
: Has there ever been a more amusing sport, with the exception of Calvinball, than curling? (In the …
: Potpourri 2/3/22 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Finished Dante’s Inferno (Anthony Esolen translation), except for some interesting-looking …
: The metaverse makes you clumsy.
: As I drove last night from Church (where I sang a Liturgy unmasked — as was everyone else) to a …
: Reading David McCullough, The Greater Journey concurrently with Inferno. 📚 When I tire of hell, I …
: I’ll bet 5 cents, at 20-to-one odds, that Bengals beat the Chiefs.
: They're here because we're there A bit dated, perhaps: Under Koranic law, jihad in the defense of Islam is the individual duty of …
: The ark is not an instrument of flood management …. Fr. Stephen Freeman, Riding the Tsunami
: The Purdue men have some amazing statistics, but the one mentioned tonight that got my attention was …
: Data Point: It has been roughly 80 days since we first were told that Russian invasion of Ukraine …
: The irony is that we all—secular or religious people alike—make our biggest life-shaping decisions …
: Finished reading Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. 📚H/T to The Great Books podcast for turning me onto …
: Reading Dante’s Inferno (Anthony Esolen translation). 📚 Started on someone else’s …
: Ascetic, yes, but erotic, too There are websites for “weld porn,” and the mere fact that this is so should be of urgent interest …
: Kari Jenson Gold muses under the somewhat-misleading rubric Jesus the Carpenter. Anyone who liked …
: Discovering your true preferences requires maximizing the number of choices you face: precisely the …
: …we are social and biographical beings, not digital cameras or recorders. Matthew Crawford, …
: We have an adversarial legal system because there are often two plausible sides to a case. Did the …
: Wordplay, 1/14/22 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Neglected television: Home, on Apple TV. A sort of documentary series about unique, thoughtful homes …
: I am rarely in any place in particular I can take a virtual tour of the Forbidden City in Beijing, or of the deepest underwater caverns, …
: What I learned today: Yes, epigenetics is (almost by definition) real, and no, it is not resurrected …
: We can know more than we can tell. Michael Polanyi Hard words for an imagination formed in our era.
: Pssst! Omicron spreads through shared Wordle scores! Pass it on! (H/T Damon Linker)
: Ironic: Coffee never did it, but I now find that one nice adult nightcap is likely to have me …
: Very interesting: New data published by New York’s Department of Health show that … 43 percent of …
: Busy month coming It’s going to be a busy month. Our daughter-in-law in a few days is flying with her mother to …
: Has Western society become the most thoroughly atheist in history? [Augusto] Del Noce’s real genius was his prophetic insight into the rise of Western irreligion. He …
: Bari Weiss invited her Substack readers to tell a bit about themselves in comments. So far, about …
: Read it, re-read it, tagged it in Obsidian. The Opposite of War Is Not Peace: Healing Trauma in the …
: On a more positive note, my rather musical fair city has a quiet little “Children’s …
: Motley Fool update: went from “let’s give this a one-month trial; it’s only …
: I hadn’t paid much attention to the venues where sportsball is played, except for things like …
: Black eye for the Google and class action rackets Google Street View provides panoramic street-level pictures from across the world, which it obtained …
: Malcolm Guite embeds a lovely New Years song, in folk style. Happy New Year, y’all.
: I shouldn’t watch pre-game shows. ESPN almost has me persuaded that the Alabama team has some …
: I signed up for a month of Motley Fool. I’m very glad I didn’t sign up for a full year. …
: I nominate for Best of 2021 … Substack.
: Random thoughts from catching what precedes the noon TV news: If “a cynic is a man who knows …
: Our son gave us a “Christmaversarry” present of a whole-family, 7-day Alaska Inner …
: [W]ealth means more headaches; we may need to work harder at mitigating the complications arising …
: Long day ahead. Church services this morning, brief family dinner with grandchildren and their other …
: Bet you’ve never seen a funeral procession like this before.
: Two choristers tested positive between Monday’s Lessons and Carols rehearsal and …
: Sometimes, inefficiency is a good thing. Although the parties’ briefs, the record on appeal, our caselaw, and even IDEA itself contain an …
: What I hadn’t noticed: the Jussie Smollett convictions is likely to be overturned for double …
: New Article in NYUJLL: Is the President an “Officer of the United States” for Purposes of Section 3 …
: Many things impress me about my new M1 MacBook Air, but the speed at Time Machine backups may be the …
: It was very nice having Purdue ranked #1 for a few days. That won’t happen again this week.
: Reading The Great Divorce again. 📚 About 26 years ago, the coin dropped: I could be one of those who …
: Your legal lesson for the day: Plumber Finds $600,000 Buried In Bathroom Wall At Lakewood Church
: I’ve adored W.H. Auden’t For the Time Being for a decade or more, making its reading a …
: An excuse arose to get a new Mac (grandson’s computer is on its last legs; my old one …
: In high school, I went from 1st Chair Trumpet to 3rd Chair Trumpet in four years, but boy, did we …
: Walmart pulls children’s toy that sings about doing cocaine | CTV News If there’s a …
: Wisdom from the Vietnam era: For the Student Strikers By Richard Wilbur Go talk with those who are rumored to be unlike you, And …
: Advertisement that made me cry: young, then old, couple dancing to “I Only Have Eyes for …
: If you have access to the New York Times, I recommend the obituary on Justus Rosenberg. We’re …
: A sick society must think much about politics A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion; to …
: A TV ad just reminded me of how weird I am: I’ve never been to DisneyLand or DisneyWorld, and …
: First time watching Purdue Women’s Volleyball this season. Very enjoyable. This is not …
: My wife watches TV while baking. Her show was interrupted with the Rittenhouse verdict. I watched …
: President Joe Biden may be pardoning Peanut Butter and Jelly later today, but those turkeys know …
: I haven’t heard much commentary on the long deliberations in the Rittenhouse trial. I expected …
: Highly recommended: Matthew Crawford, How science has been corrupted. H/T @ayjay I have no axe to …
: Doesn’t look like the Spoilermakers showed up this week. Ohio State 35, Purdue 7. *Early in …
: Metrics, algorithms and more – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Algorithm failure Readwise suggests something it thinks I might like to read at the end of each day’s review of …
: I will, just this once, reluctantly Give J. Edgar Hoover His Due on Civil Liberties.
: Jaron Lanier on the Wild West of the metaverse and why Facebook should be paying you.. Lanier is …
: Orthodox Christians in America, and not just the “Orthodox Church in America,” lost a …
: Gleanings, 11/9/21 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I’m going to need a new Obsidian folder captioned something like “Just Because …
: Rite of passage: my 14-year-old grandson continued flogging his trail bicycle after both brakes …
: Well, Purdue football hasn’t been consistent, but knocking off another ranked (undefeated, I …
: Is the Apple Watch Hermes edition a clever ploy to make one feel virtuous for buying a different …
: Envelope Legend: WARNING: If you’re politically conservative, this direct mail package will …
: My favorite mentally ill, card-carrying Marxist Substacker again speaks wisdom: There Are No Refs — …
: Christian Parents Challenge Virginia Ban On Religious Discrimination In Hiring Babysitter. The ban …
: Sending everyone to college hasn’t given everyone a college education. That can’t be …
: 18% of Americans in general … agree that “patriots might have to resort to violence in order to save …
: Telling moments in Supreme Court advocacy Consider this crucial question posed by Justice Kavanaugh to Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone: …
: National governments are widely assumed to be responsible for and capable of providing those things …
: Which Genie Will the Supreme Court Let Out of the Bottle?. I kind of hate Texas for setting up this …
: To say we had for Halloween an 8-point buck at the bird feeder this morning would be a bit …
: The Slow Road to Heaven - Why the Spiritual Life Doesn’t “Work”
: I try not to keep a scorecard of grudges, but against one public figure I admire, I hold two: Purdue …
: Wife picked this up on Pinterest: Anne Frank, Martin Luther King, Jr. and American TV journalist …
: Truth Social Violated Mastodon’s License; Trump’s Entire Platform Might Now Be DOA I …
: I’ve begun sort of following the Green Bay Packers, and I’m noticing a theme: the NFL is …
: With so many people voluntarily (and bafflingly) unemployed, I’m not hearing much talk about …
: If you can read Nicholas Kristof’s farewell column (he’s leaving the Times to run for …
: Fun fact: the “rocket docket” SCOTUS briefing and argument on the Federal lawsuit …
: Memestocks + SPACs + NFTs = Trump Social I’m struck this morning by signs of utter economic delusion. An image of the word …
: Good news via CBS and David French.
: NFTs, Cybercurrency, hoarding. What’s not to like? Anthony M. Barr, The Disaster Girl Guide to …
: Mostly political – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: So, spam callers have caught on to things like “silence unknown caller,” and are somehow getting …
: Apple Music is acquiring Primephonic and the latter is off the web (as a separate streaming service) …
: I gotta admit, I kinda wish I had an excuse to buy a new MacBook Pro. I don’t. I just hope …
: I’ve certainly had a lot of opportunities over the last five years to think my favorite maxim: …
: Can anything good come from Berkeley? Darned right. Here (To End Police Violence, Get Rid of the …
: From The Department of Meaningless Statistics Because We Can Generate Them Readily Enough With …
: Why do sophisticated corporations do such stupid things? Now there’s actually something I …
: Indiana Statehouse reflected.
: Are we going to be subjected to a month of stories on each day’s unearthing of still more …
: The Dialectical Imagination and the Sacramental Imagination I thought about how the entire orientation of the modern world towards matter works against us …
: Well, maybe I don’t understand how flooding works. Far above the Wabash, I thought we were …
: Texas A&M beat Alabama!? Cool!
: Started reading my first Ivan Illich: Deschooling Society. 📚 Mind duly blown.
: These days, when a pundit writes about politics, instead of simply stating his opinion he feels …
: Eugene Volokh, “Following Blackface Incident, Professor Bright Sheng Takes Step Back from Teaching …
: C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man. Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture.
: “If you say something I don’t like, that’s defamation. If you accuse me of …
: Ozymandias 2: A Poem For Ozy Media - The Atlantic
: I didn’t check MB from 4:34pm yesterday until this morning. It has come to my attention, from …
: A 1944 US Espionage Guide to Disrupting Organizations - by Ted Gioia - The Honest Broker
: Sunday Potpourri, 10/3/21 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Interesting observation on … oh, heck, you can figure it out: It is striking that there is no … …
: Even if you are living where your forefathers have lived for generations, you can bet that the …
: I listened to an oldish Mac Power Users podcast (583) on Obsidian, where there was much talk about …
: Never blogged anything like “And now for something totally different” before. Hope I …
: Genetically engineered spiritual nourishment The very premise for relying on the mass and crass forms of Christianity that flourish in the United …
: Just discovered that iCloud+ also (along with Fastmail) has “Hide My Email” forwarding …
: Advice sought: caveats for a gullible new smartphone user I have a youngest brother who’s “on the spectrum” and has been conned repeatedly. …
: 23 years ago to the minute, my Dad had his first (and sufficient) heart attack, 1 day post-op (for …
: Marveling at the thought (published in an actual book, with covers and stuff), “the divorce …
: [x] Burial Plots [x] Funerals planned and prepaid [x] Headstone acquired. Good times.
: Self-discovery: somehow, the way I’ve lived the last few decades seems to have made me too …
: If you like the Great British Baking Show, do not miss the opening music for season 9 episode 1.
: Starting to get on-point book recommendations from Amazon, but not (so far as I can recall) because …
: Lite fare – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: The short version is that fewer than 50% of Evangelicals attend Church at least weekly. The longer …
: Well, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar now has a Substack — on sports, politics and pop culture.
: If English Departments were shut down and their students given jobs driving cabs and given the …
: The Dispatch currently has a 30-day free trial going on. I’ve subscribed almost from the …
: Almost as miraculous as mRNA vaccines? We shall see, with experiments forthcoming.
: Reasons not to invest in crypto: Invest is a euphemism. “Speculate” is more like it. …
: Seven Days on the Roads of France, June 1940 Finished Seven Days on the Roads of France, June 1940 by Vladimir Lossky. 📚 Selected highlights: …
: I had forgotten, if ever I knew, that this world includes things called “MG Magnette ZB …
: It takes a special kind of gall for Dominos to make me pass a Captcha to unsubscribe from daily+ …
: I thought about not writing about today’s anniversary … because it seems … banal. … I think the …
: Well this is new. We’re watching a documentary on John James Audubon, and when the live birds …
: The perfect fictitious charity benefit, for “Rich People Who Wish To Help Poor People Without …
: It is a signal characteristic of “hermeneutic philosophy” to say we can no longer believe in …
: A close and long-time friend was deathly and painfully ill. Finally they figured out Lyme disease. …
: Reading Seven Days on the Roads of France, June 1940 by Vladimir Lossky. 📚 Having fled to Paris from …
: One of my Mac’s endearing eccentricities is randomly switching into French, particularly on …
: I love classical education and classical educators.
: Taking a break between nonfiction books to savor various poets. 📚 For some reason, I cannot get into …
: Between the Woods and the Water 📚 I had meant to live like a tramp or a pilgrim or a wandering scholar, sleeping in ditches and ricks …
: The moral horse and the doctrinal cart – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: They know the words "insurrection" and "coup" It’s OK that our babies may not have learned all their times tables. They learned resilience. They …
: I was a young fan of Bill Buckley’s polysyllabic erudition, and cheered when Buckley …
: Where's my political home? David French was at the top of his game as a socio-legal pundit Sunday. It’s hard to know what …
: I have seen the village, and it don’t want it raising my child. Spotted by my wife on …
: My wife sometimes reads me things she sees on Pinterest, like “By replacing your morning …
: TV recommendation: Amazon Prime’s The Gardener, on Frank Cabot’s extraordinary Les …
: Scotland, a cradle of the Enlightenment, abolished the crime of blasphemy in March. At the same …
: Disenthralling again – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Deep in the heart of Texas – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Classical music streaming service Primephonic apparently is being acquired by Apple and integrated …
: My hopes for Did Music Create Human Rights? were minimal and vastly exceeded. (By the way: Though …
: Godspeed, Professor Volokh. Trying to Intervene to Unseal Filings in Rep. Devin Nunes’s Libel Suit …
: Someone finally hit the outer limits of the federal Freedom of Information Act: Government …
: A name I haven’t thought of in a long time: Curtis Sliwa Has 16 Cats and Is Running a …
: Re-reading Kyriacos C. Markides, The Mountain of Silence. 📚 After The Evangelicals: The Struggle to …
: Follies of my youth: It is mortifying to think that I was concurrently vilifying Catholics for …
: Finished Frances Fitzgerald, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. 📚Spoiler: The heirs of …
: Reminder to self (you may eavesdrop if you wish): Keep those electronic gadgets as long as possible. …
: Why CAPTCHA Pictures Are So Unbearably Depressing | by Clive Thompson | Aug, 2021 | OneZero
: I’m far from bullish on the U.S., but two more positive takes on Afghanistan might just be …
: Is theology a science? Is the Bible a storehouse of facts from which theology synthesizes systematic …
: I hadn’t thought of it this way, but Apple’s new measures to battle child pornography …
: Reading Frances Fitzgerald, The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America. 📚I find, to my …
: Fascinating article in the Economist today on open-source intelligence
: I think it was 2005 when Ross Douthat first said “If you dislike the religious right, wait …
: I have a browser plug-in to download web pages in markdown, with key metadata in a header. Whoever …
: I have finally internalized the lesson that the press is too biased to merit reliance. All of them. …
: A classical school teacher talks with his 12-year-old daughter about rich cosmopolitans.
: Watched Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life. 🎥 I’m becoming part of his fan club.
: Basic Writings of Nietzsche status report. On the one hand, if I force myself to finish I can say …
: A long podcast that I enjoyed very much (and I probably should listen to the first 40 minutes again, …
: Heaven help me! At age 72, I’ve never deliberately (only coincidentially, second-hand) read …
: Finished Wendell Berry’s Nathan Coulter. 📚
: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill from Christianity Today has been riveting thus far. But dare the …
: Chattering class gotta chatter. This story on “D.I.Y. Christianity” reads as if it was …
: Finished Patrick Leigh Fermor, Between the Woods and the Water. 📚 Classic.
: Not everything needs to be instrumental — especially when the “good” instrumentally …
: Reading Patrick Leigh Fermor, Between the Woods and the Water: On Foot to Constantinople: From the …
: There’s a self-referential culture war over who started the culture wars. I never should have …
: I’m in the very early stages of planning a solo trip (my wife resists foreign travel) to Paris in …
: Finished, after 29 days, Iaia McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary 📚 Highly, highly recommended …
: I think the Heinekan ad playing during Euro 2020 (the one with That’s Life as the soundtrack) …
: Just about the only thing I find cool about billionaires racing each other to “space” is …
: Vignettes The loss of Christendom gives us a joyous opportunity to reclaim the freedom to proclaim the gospel …
: Murder & mayhem suddenly dominating my local TV news. May I remember that when I’m tempted to …
: ‘The President’s Daughter,’ by BIll Clinton and James Patterson book review - The …
: What (some) American Orthodox are doing for the 4th of July – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Dear Sam’s Club: Please re-stock Morningstar Farms Chipotle Black Bean Burgers. If I want …
: The Aristocracy of the Competent Buddhism, I’ve found, is how to live in Hell without becoming a devil. The competent man who guards …
: Swiss goalie is definitely earning his pay.
: With no apparent sense of irony, c|net Apple Report today has articles in this sequence: How to …
: One of my worst LP decisions ever was famous Opera singers trying to cover jazz standards. Times …
: I need periodic reminders that I’m a human, not a hyper-rational machine. My feelings about …
: I had sooner play cards against a man who was quite sceptical about ethics, but bred to believe that …
: Once every seven years or so, we suffer the calamity of July 4 falling on a Sunday, whereupon tens …
: The “mechanistic” or non-teleological picture of the natural world that purportedly made modern …
: I opposed DJT from the beginning. His Presidency ended more-or-less predictably (an extreme …
: I thought I was just buying a nice hat that cost too much. I find I’ve enrolled in the Sacred …
: Right call, right reason (but punts the issue, really) – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: I don’t think I’ll bother with Tolkien Society Summer Seminar 2021 – The Tolkien Society.
: Lighten your day: Texas Governor Signs Executive Order Donating City Of Austin To California | The …
: Paideia – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: George Packer, The Four Americas is a very broad-brush look at America’s current divisions, …
: Peggy Noonan, What Drives Conspiracism struck me as good and timely. This is her blog version, with …
: Prime satire: The Lab-Leak Theory Is Unbearably Racist.
: I am astonished repeatedly when esteemed institutions that should know better do ham-handed stuff. …
: Indiana University: vaccination is mandatory for Fall 2021. (Resentment, lawsuits.) Purdue …
: Dilbert is entirely too good today.
: Dogma and tradition are … like the universal knowledge among athletes of what it takes to become …
: happy as gods and equally in control Paul Kingsnorth’s recent (January) conversion to Orthodox Christianity, from a non-Christian …
: I love it when I stumble onto good news.
: Finished Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. I’ve been interested in her …
: My favorite part of Matins may be what I call martyr word-play. Example: On this day the holy …
: Today is the tenth anniversary of the end of the world. (In a quieter corner of Christendom, we …
: Dr. Russel Moore is leaving the Ethics and Public Policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. A …
: 65 Maxims for Life On the 15th of each month, a reminder pops up to read my maxims (they actually come from two …
: Quotable, wherefore quoted I’ve been using Readwise to store and remind me of my book (and some other) highlights. Out of …
: RESOLVED: This is a great blog installment. DISCLOSURE: I’m unequivocally in support of free speech. …
: I haven’t been willing to invest the time to gain pop-culture literacy, but the way @Ayjay …
: Learning helplessness: I have always been quite good at parallel parking. But now I have my first …
: One of two choirs I sing in, Lafayette Master Chorale, is announcing on Thursday our return and our …
: Bari Weiss lends her Substack to a Bitcoin debate. Balaji S. Srinivasan says Bitcoin Is …
: I recently started listening to Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast. When …
: Apparently today is National Eat What You Want Day, the “one day a year of eating with no regrets.” …
: I notice an awful lot of orphans in Obsidian, and when I re-read them, I find nothing to connect …
: A local grade school principal challenged her students to collect 1000 cereal boxes in a week, …
: Happy Monday to everyone except Medina Spirit, this year’s Kentucky Derby winner (for now) who, it …
: Doyle has 43,000 Twitter followers, a fan base 20 times smaller than that of the Sarcastic Mars …
: In the past few days, my wife has gotten official-looking certificates congratulating her on her …
: Environmentalism, the Tower of Babel and the Disintegration of Culture | with Paul Kingsnorth. A …
: I just finished watching Julie & Julia on Netflix. 🍿 I watch very few movies. I’d watch more if …
: I understand that language evolves. I reluctantly admit that usage (eventually) makes proper. …
: Sunday was the 10th Anniversary of SEAL Team 6 killing Osama bin Laden. Politico has a terrific, …
: I’m not sure EWTN sees what I see in this swag:
: I just bought Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals in full expectation of finding much of …
: Finished The Overstory. Ingenious winding of characters. 📚
: Tonight, Orthodox Christians keep midnight vigil for Christus Victor. Knocking Down the Gates of …
: Today He who hung the earth upon the waters is hung on the tree … Today He who hung the earth upon …
: Miscellany, 4/23/21 – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: If evangelicals can come to the realization that the United States is the more superior the less it …
: We in the West invented this thing called ‘modernity’, and then we took it out into the world, …
: Pathos, Ethos, Logos – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: We’re not destroying the environment simply because our cars spew carbon; we’re destroying the …
: This morning, I’m feeling churlish about news media. One story after another has made me feel …
: Despite an apparent 5.6 percent decline in suicides over the past year, additional preliminary data …
: What a normal human being looks like – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Fragmentary oppositions – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: In the West, revulsion toward killing and dying in the name of one’s religion is one of the …
: A fan of classical education, my favorite line in How To Not Raise Egotists | Circe Institute is “My …
: Boycott boycotts When I was growing up, there was a slogan on the left: “The personal is the political.” Everything …
: Postlapsarian Kindergarten Songs – S I L O U A N
: Unbelievable. The NRCC, an entity of my former party (I left it Inauguration Day 2005) …
: An old favorite S’il n’y a pas de solution, il n’y a pas de problème.
: I could not have asked for a better rendering of the National Anthem at NCAAM finals than one by 5 …
: Huzzah! The United States District Court is not a wholly owned subsidiary of either TRT or Facebook …
: I take no solace that some of the “Nones” sorta-kinda believe in something-or-other but don’t …
: On Easter, when Orthodox Pascha follows Western Easter by at least a week, I most feel the distance …
: When the world is Upside down Follow the fool For solid ground. Dirt Poor Robins, No Land Beyond, …
: Excellent: Yuval Levin: How religious institutions can regain public trust - Deseret News
: Rebuttable presumption: any blockbuster story about the so-called Judaeo-Christianity Tradition …
: Contrary to many people’s expectations, preliminary CDC data showed that the number of suicides in …
: Concepts create idols. Only wonder comprehends anything. St. Gregory of Nyssa
: I don’t know, to me being a badass bitch doesn’t seem fun. It seems alienating and tiresome. Also …
: I can’t say that I, age 72 with an orientation toward Classical and Jazz, really expected …
: Sigh! They’re locking down France again and the rest of Europe isn’t looking too good, either. …
: I’ll venture a well-educated guess that I’m not the only one here commemorating Christ’s …
: How could it possibly be healthy for the entire media industry to be captured by any single niche …
: RIP Hugh Newell Jacobsen, after whose strangely traditional and familiar “modernist” residential …
: Am I the only one who thinks abusive and threatening Tweets toward losing athletes (f’rinstace) …
: Whence the odd interjection “of a” in phrases like “not that big of a deal”? Suddenly, it seems to …
: Apropos of nothing particular in the news, those who said “If you don’t like the Religious …
: Matt Taibbi asks: Without Trump, Is A “Depression In Television” Coming? Trump saved the …
: The really big money comes in through the capital campaigns. The really big money comes in through the capital campaigns. These are fundraising events dedicated …
: There is a tonic in the things men do not wish to hear, it’s been said. But not much money. Stephen …
: Forgiving when you just can't forgive I want to offer two thoughts on the forgiveness of enemies. Both have been of use to me. The first …
: There is absolutely no need to appear more frequently [than weekly, fortnightly or monthly] in …
: For what it’s worth, I probably have bought my last book, ever, from Amazon, in any format. …
: Doublethinkers Best thing I read today. This is just a taste: It was easy enough to remind myself and them who was …
: Something is in the air when FAIR and the Academic Freedom Alliance go public within three days. I …
: Spicy Basil Fried Rice with Beef. Not what I expected for my last meat before Pascha/Easter, but …
: I’ve had some fun thinking hard and sytematically with Obsidian the last few days. But this fine …
: So many people here use Obsidian that I’ve looked at it repeatedly, bewildered each time. Finally, …
: This could get interesting: Is There a Civil Rights Remedy for Toxic Wokeness? - The French Press
: Martinet pronouns (and much more) – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Really good: Are We Still Thinking? - The Map is Mostly Water. I don’t remember who put me …
: “All right, wise guy. If our disorder can’t be cured by politics, what’s your big idea?” I haven’t …
: CPAC (a big annual gathering of “conservatives”) isn’t what it used to be. Then …
: Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet Who Nurtured the Beats, Dies at 101 (Paywall - New York Times)
: I have seen men, proud of their ability to lie, and exciting laughter by their clowning and joking, …
: Just added a Hey.com email account this afternoon. It’s now my preferred domain for its huge …
: They say I’d enjoy SuperBowl better if I had “skin in the game” (i.e., used one of the betting …
: Polanyi on Knowledge – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Boy, did I ever enjoy reading Paul Kingsnorth, In the Black Chamber today. Written around 2014, it …
: Covidtide has led to a new family ritual of watching 60-90 minutes of Netflix (or other streams) …
: Many sour notes and flat landings, but the Babylon Bee gave me a chuckle with this one that even …
: Why don’t I think of gentle mockery more often? It’s so much more effective a response …
: Currently reading: The Crisis of the Modern World (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) by René Guénon 📚
: Pack dynamics: Son’s family adopted a standard poodle puppy 9 days ago. Ran into puppy’s …
: Currently reading: Commentary on the Apocalypse by Andrew of Caesaria, translated by Eugenia …
: Finished: Power of Gentleness: Meditations on the Risk of Living by Dufourmantelle, Anne 📚 @JMaxB : …
: I heard that anti-inflammatories may diminish the Covid vaccine’s efficacy, so I stopped my …
: No, this is not unprecedented, but one must go back 600 years, to Avignon: The Antipope of …
: Sorting and filing old notes, I got a reminder why I wish former California A.G. Xavier Becerra …
: Writing to the Left: I saw politics as a fight between left and right. I don’t see it that way …
: The tomb of Ignatius Here I am not that Cleon celebrated in Alexandria (where it is hard to astonish them) for my …
: What It’s Like Growing up in a Family That Never Lies - The Atlantic. Whether from my family …
: How to deal with two conservative problems – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: If you, like I, have been wondering what we can do about QAnon, I’d recommend David Hines, How …
: Someone here wrote “So *that*’s what it feels like to exhale.” Yes, that it is. But I have not fully …
: Currently reading: Power of Gentleness: Meditations on the Risk of Living by Dufourmantelle, Anne 📚
: FWIW, I’m pretty unhappy with Nord VPN. It crashes, it fails to connect, it leaves me unprotected in …
: Conservative wisdom from a pundit to my left. In a nutshell, don’t get your hopes up so high …
: I notice the press and commentariat trying to elide MAGA into QAnon. I’ll bet most MAGA Trump …
: The podcast formerly known as “All the President’s Lawyers” was at least …
: [T]here is something in man that hungers for the exaltation of his own will, that thirsts after his …
: Eyes and clicks On the one hand: One of our favorite (non-TMD) morning newsletters the past several years has been …
: I was unaware of Why Intellectual Conservatism Died (Michael Lind, 1995), and I probably would have …
: I always get a “Daily Dose” of Far Side cartoons. I don’t think the timing of this one was …
: Well worth reading: 14 Reasons that Democracy Survived - Persuasion
: Standing advice: The people you think of as your enemies aren’t as wicked as you believe them to be.
: Strange and stressful times. Many people I hoped in as leaders have gone off the rails, and today I …
: Most beer ads today are either offensive or unintelligible to me. So I’m kind of glad Bud Lite …
: Shame Culture and lesser things – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Ben Sasse has pretty well lived up to expectation, and he really grasps the nettle in The GOP Must …
: We raise sons who are not weaned at age twenty-five, yet for some reason we have contempt for the …
: Listening to Alrich, Jenkins & Rorem: Mallet Concertos, featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie. I …
: Winston Smith did not spend his days on BigBrother.com complaining that BigBrother.com had stripped …
: Insurrection and impeachment, yesterday’s All the President’s Lawyers podcast, is an …
: As of yesterday afternoon, Donald Trump is now the only cast member of Home Alone 2: Lost in New …
: An anniversary and a testimonial is my meditation on “life verses,” which were an …
: Vaccination now available for 70+ in Indiana. With two vaccination sites in the county, I almost …
: What do you call it when rightwingnuts do something horrible and then pretend it was leftwingnuts …
: One of our very best religion reporters, Julia Duin, covering some roiling charismatic backwaters: …
: If you’ve been mucking around in QAnon (I’d be surprised if anyone I follow follows …
: I am grateful for Jay Nordlinger. He made me feel less alone today.
: The Republican Attorneys General Association’s policy arm, the Rule of Law Defense Fund, authorized …
: Ohio State has no answer to DeVonta Smith. I can use the extra sleep more than I can use the second …
: Jake Meador’s After Evangelicalism will surely resonate with a lot of Christians ‘round here.
: The Saints/Bears game is metaphysically closer than 21-3. I am a Saints fan, but the Bears have …
: Optimism is a con man; Hope endures “Optimism is a confidence-man, got up in the garb of hope. Pay him no mind. Some ages are more …
: A Jewish publication blames Wednesday’s riot on post-Christian pagans. Christian David French blames …
: Worth a read (even though you must register): The Return of Paganism and the Desecration of …
: About Wednesday again, but curated fairly carefully I’ve been thinking a lot about the storming of the U.S. Capital on Wednesday. Most of my …
: How to make a birthday unforgettable Preface: My main computer with my blogging software, MarsEdit, is out of commission temporarily, so …
: Please don’t ask why there have been so few arrests. If they so much as identify them, Trump can …
: I have fallen off the wagon. I’m watching CNN, knowing it is shamelessly partisan (because … …
: I wish the press would stop talking about Congress being prevented from discharging its “sacred” …
: The late 1990s, my wife’s car bore a bumper sticker saying “My Disgust With the Current …
: Currently reading: The invention of nature by Andrea Wulf 📚
: I guess Congressman Chip Roy was technically engaged in a reductio ad absurdum, but it seems wrong …
: Get to know the pernicious variant of propaganda we’re currently experiencing: “conspiracy …
: Asbury defended episcopacy by … [f]ollowing Wesley’s lead, … linking [his authority] directly to the …
: By the 1840s one analyst of American Protestantism concluded, after surveying fifty-three American …
: “You can refute Hegel,” said W. B. Yeats, “but not … the Song of Sixpence.” Nathan O. Hatch, The …
: It has been a long time since I devoured a book as I devoured The Democratization of American …
: How many times will these bozos from my former party cite public doubts about the election — doubts …
: If it was just a matter of who has the cooler helmets, this Rose Bowl would be in the bag for Notre …
: Finished: A Concise History of the Arabs [Mar 27, 2014] McHugo, John by Mchugo; starting The …
: I had stopped following the Bee, but someone else flagged a good one: 2020 Rated Worst Year Ever, …
: Boston Dynamics made a video: Our whole crew got together to celebrate the start of what we hope …
: I’m probably going to have to settle for watching a young Purdue men’s basketball team develop …
: Seen and loved at the recent Jericho March: I really must read Nathan Hatch, The Democratization of …
: As did Gollum, Trump practiced evil and self-absorption for decades. I don’t think he could …
: Seeing this reminds me that my Unsubscribe request to the Trump forces apparently has been honored.
: A Poem by Marie Howe: What the Living Do - The Atlantic. Published in 1994, I somehow missed it …
: Learning to be human A friend of mine is a well-known economist at a leading American university. He’s also the …
: It is hard to be a man or woman for others in culture that is dominated by us versus them. Emma …
: Titans at Green Bay with snow. This is the way God intended late-season football to be played. The …
: From the Diary of Anne Frank All college students are being asked to sign an official statement to the effect that they …
: How bad has 2020 been? I’ve resorted to watching sportsball again - and enjoying it, even when it’s …
: The invisible God painted his own portrait on the canvas of the incarnation. Father Patrick Henry …
: Cooling my jets waiting to sing the 11:15 Matins of Nativity followed with a Midnight Liturgy. …
: My former party Republicans were deluding themselves if they thought they could avoid this fight …
: Goldberg the Idealist versus Gladwell the Reichian – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Following up on my last reply.
: Let Us Know. If you could bury your own preferred provision into a 5,000+ page piece of legislation …
: Discovered by my wife on Pinterest: If you boil a funnybone it makes a laughingstock. That’s …
: Do not cry, my child Do you know, my child, why the clouds are closed when the fields are thirsty for rain, and why they …
: I don’t care what astronomers say: Winter Solstice is December 21 forever in my mind. Daylight …
: Beginning: A Concise History of the Arabs by John McHugo 📚
: Working within the system or sedition? As I have said before, filing in courts and raising objections in Congress is operating within the …
: WSJ has a story today about an emblematic church (in my former tradition) where people have so …
: Read Andrei Dîrlāu, The Book of Things Unknown, soon to be published by St. Nicholas Press, …
: Our local newscast ended the noon news today with Lafayette Master Chorale’s virtual recording …
: The 16 Best Albums of 2020 - The Atlantic contains zero albums that speak to me, though Maps of the …
: News that made me smile — guiltily. Trump Can’t Live Full-Time at Mar-A-Lago Because of 1993 …
: The Lafayette Master Chorale (including me) did a virtual recording for the season. One pretty much …
: It is peculiar that many of the same right-wing critics who say we shouldn’t trust Bill Gates …
: A columnist I trust tells a story on Michelle Obama. I highlighted it — but then realized that I did …
: My wife has been making Christmas cookies. No problem. I’ve barely touched them (the …
: Things I miss from the 60s Among the things I miss from the 60s are “smoke-filled rooms”: As with many if not most of our …
: Whichever side you’re on, this may help you understand the other side (which is something I …
: As I downloaded The rise and fall of the Oxford School of fantasy literature, a pop-up asked for …
: The kerfuffle over Jill Biden’s use of the honorific “Dr.” Confirms that the news …
: An impulse to test the consequences of the “stolen election” narrative seized me. Trumpist …
: The Indiana University men’s basketball team looks fantastic in highlight reels. Live against …
: Currently reading: For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio (W.H. Auden: Critical Editions) by …
: Optimism says that everything can only get better. But that’s not realistic. Hope, on the other …
: Justices throw out Texas lawsuit that sought to block election outcome Supreme Court Unanimously …
: Most (but not all) of the signator[y attorneys general and congressmen] know the case has no chance. …
: My evening synthesis of a disturbing day: Republican Treachery – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: Indiana’s soon-to-be-ex-Attorney General has joined in Texas’ jackassery. I guess I should be …
: I’ve been tempted to make a bumper sticker that says “Biden Won. Get Over It.” But I fear it …
: ‘The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self,’ with Dr. Carl R. Trueman: the self got psychologized, …
: Through a Looking Glass Darkly | Comment Magazine. I’m very impressed by the author, Jessica Hooten …
: I live in a magnet county surrounded by the three worst counties in our second-worst state for new …
: Currently reading: Love in the ruins by Walker Percy 📚 It has been four or five decades, I think, …
: A banquet of tasty morsels – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: In honor of the centennial of Dave Brubeck’s birth, 12/6/1920, I recommend Chris Brubeck’s …
: Chief Justice Roberts Was Right About One Thing: There are no “Trump Judges”. I’m proud for my …
: In Screwtape Went Down to Georgia, Jonah Goldberg has written something of our juncture that will be …
: Why conspiracy theories can be right-wing, but are never conservative. You aren’t a conservative if you believe in conspiracy theories. … [T]he incompatibility of …
: The Director of an ecumenical Christian charity of my fond acquaintance for some five years explains …
: When history hands you a McCarthy [I]t is her “Declaration of Conscience” speech for which [Margaret Chase Smith] is best remembered. …
: Currently reading: The Alteration by Kingsley Amis. 📚 I thought I’d read something lite. From …
: “Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusement. To whom do we complain, and when, and in …
: Followup on Primephonic streaming classical music: The longer I live with it, the better I like it — …
: “The clock,” [Lewis] Mumford has concluded, “is a piece of power machinery whose ‘product’ is …
: I was unaware that some Protestant scholars are starting to un-learn the errors of Luther and Calvin …
: If you’re not running away with your hair on fire from anything election-related, Sara Isgur, …
: A little thing to note and be grateful for: the newfangled toilet seats with sticky feet to grip the …
: I’ve been waiting for restoration of James Howard Kunstler to his right political mind. I’m …
: Prediction 1: SCOTUS will not accept further frivolous appeals from Team Trump re: Pennsylvania. …
: The loss of Christendom gives us a joyous opportunity to reclaim the freedom to proclaim the gospel …
: Beginning Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. 📚 It’s not entirely unrelated to The Rise and …
: [W]hat today is called the left fights less and less in terms of class warfare, and more and more in …
: “Is the statement ‘The Twin Towers fell down on 9/11 because of gravity’ true or false?” The Rise …
: Finished The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl R. Trueman. 📚 Subtitle “Cultural …
: A shout-out to the nice “German Baptist” (Amish lite) men around here with their Ford Trucks and …
: Entirely un-political, Peggy Noonan’s column this week is lovely and most apt for Thanksgiving Day, …
: I dropped of my MacBook Air at FedEx roughly 27 hours ago for shipment to a Memphis facility. It got …
: The Justice Department unsealed an indictment yesterday against 15 individuals connected to the …
: Advisory Opinions and All The President’s Lawyers both ran unscheduled podcasts today just …
: My wonderful MacBook Air lasted about nine months before the butterfly keyboard started failing. I …
: Dark Humor courtesy of the Gang that Couldn't Steal Straight Trump’s lawyers—who described themselves as an “elite strike force” on Thursday—have fallen into …
: The Trump Administration will go down in history as, among other things, an Administration from …
: the CIA’s “most endangered employee for much of the past year” was the whistleblower who helped …
: Many readers outside of California will not have heard of Governor Gavin Newsom. But if you need to …
: Wendell Berry on "intentional communities" When an interviewer in 1973 asked him about the widespread emergence of “intentional …
: The neighborhood is more truly cosmopolitan than the superficial cosmopolitanism of the like-minded. …
: As of Tuesday night, the Trump campaign and its allies were—by Democratic election lawyer Marc …
: Not a good omen: Biden Transition Team Member’s Op-Ed on “Why America Needs a Hate Speech Law” – …
: Portugal (whose national anthem I can still sing 52 years after rote memorization) versus Croatia: …
: Obama is actually nicer to his enemies than Trump is to his friends. (Jeffrey Goldberg’s …
: Damon Linker plays it straight in not exonerating Democrats of undermining trust in Democracy. …
: A week ago, I couldn’t identify my favorite spy movie. Tonite, the wife of my youth and I …
: If you’re not familiar with Lawrence Brownlee, consider the (new?) Erato CD, Amici e Rivali with …
: Do your pork chops socially distance? [T]he Danish mink episode is just one more proof that factory …
: It comes a shock to me how delightful is much of the music of Maurice Ravel, and a kind of …
: I just learned of a Mac OS development that I find quite offensive. I’m not taking a vow never …
: Many theories on why Trump is resisting concession. Occam’s razor: He is retiring campaign …
: Another choice quote from The Myth of Religious Violence More Myth of Religious Violence: Transhistorical definitions of religion enforce the normativity of …
: The confessing church, like the conversionist church, also calls people to conversion, but it …
: This strikes me as Knowhere News’ first disappointing call on newsworthiness.
: Where to spend your civil liberties dollars Someone observed that the ACLU stopped taking several constitutional rights seriously after it …
: Worthy birthday reading There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had …
: I mentioned the other day that my favorite “spy podcast” was Intelligence Matters. Lo …
: Audacious Plaintiff gets aptly smacked down. If you want privacy, folks, you don’t go to …
: If you love music, but tend to forget its power, watch this, one of the most bittersweet things …
: We break every spirit of mockery right now. What matters is not what man says, but what God says. …
: Solzhenitsyn's retrospective on his Harvard address What surprised me was not that the newspapers attacked me from every angle (after all, I had taken a …
: You don’t want to mess with the people who make the widgets that undergird the financial system …. …
: I hate war (I was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam era), but I love war stories, …
: Another curated collection – Tipsy Teetotaler ن
: DJIA up over 1000 points today?! Spin your narratives starting now.
: Curing a serious omission in my past reading: Alexandr Solzhenitsyn: Harvard Commencement Address (A …
: Russian Icons, Fundamentalist Idolatry Police A great cry went up from Orthodox throats across the globe earlier this year when the Turkish …
: As I’ve been saying to my Trumpy friends throughout the Trump era, think about your answer to the …
: It has been nearly 16 years since I considered myself a Republican. Nevertheless, I’ve probably …
: Bookend. Sanity. Bookend. I could add to these C.S. Lewis, who wrote of modern news as, basically, …
: Fr. Stephen Freeman, The Gospel of Progress - and the New Jerusalem refuses to instrumentalize the …
: Not making this up: A public university administrator has declined to condemn vandalism of a …
: Yeah. That just about says it all.
: Damon Linker, The left just got crushed, is some pretty sharp punditry.
: This may be heresy, but I’m rather enjoying my mostly-lurking Twitter account this afternoon, …
: Last night, all I wanted was the vote and plausible state-by-state calls. This morning, I want …
: Not sure why AP itself doesn’t have its election data formatted as nicely as my local paper …
: I will not watch cable news tonite because it’s stultifying. I wish I knew where I could get …
: New Atheist Sam Harris and I shared a problem: how can Trump attract the votes of nearly half the …
: Sometimes I write too much for what seems like the ethos of MB. Today was one of those times. (H/T …
: Here’s a rhetorical* question for the “everyone should vote” set: should I remind …
: Currently reading: The Aviator by Vodolazkin, Eugene 📚
: Meet newly-minted insta-Saint Simone Barretto Silva She is not what came to mind when I heard of …
: What destroyed Family in the modern world It cannot be too often repeated that what destroyed Family in the modern world was Capitalism. No …
: Appalling knowledge There is nothing ineffable about Trump’s barbarianism. “Appalling” isn’t the same thing. The …
: Ineffable Knowledge When I speak of ineffable knowledge, this should be taken literally and not as a designation of …
: There will be no shortage of hindsight prophets. Here’s foresight: The combination of …
: November 3-4, 2020 David French recalls election night 2016: At 12:06 a.m., he took Iowa, and then at 1:35 a.m. he …
: On tearing down Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which …
: I love KAL’s cartoon this week
: Why should The Strand survive? I loathe Amazon as much as the next person who relies on it. But on recent visits to The Strand I …
: Theology at critical remove The problem with Theology done at a critical remove is that we can become untethered from love of …
: … at least 66 million Americans have already cast their ballots for next week’s election, a historic …
: A fine irony: after spending ~150 years proving that Roman Catholics are good liberal democratic …
: I believe we are far advanced down and past the destruction of the republic … [but] maybe Frodo and …
: I EarlyVoted today. Deep down inside, I must still be into adolescent fads, wanting to be like the …
: I was leaning toward Supreme Court Term Limits (18-year term, one justice out every two years) until …
: It may well be that our loss of faith is the cause of the nation’s decline, but I refuse to …
: Intriguing quote to chew on about Trump’s state of mind one week out.
: I don’t see stuff by ACNA Priest Tish Harrison Warren more than a few times per year, but …
: Read this if only for the chyrons.
: Another pet peeve: Podcasts and such that carefully spell out the URL for some website, like …
: Secularism in disguise Maybe European secularism is simply more honest in the idioms it employs. It has abandoned the …
: I’m watching Spotllight on Netflix. I sometimes forget how well-done a movie can be.
: The six (and counting) rules of court-packing The first rule of Court packing is you do not talk about Court packing. The second rule of Court …
: Finished: Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber 📚 I think I’d better take a second look at his prior book, …
: Venting about a pet peeve “Two new peer-reviewed studies are showing a sharp drop in mortality among hospitalized COVID-19 …
: Via a podcast Bible class, I’m internalizing that, understandably, nobody expected Messiah to …
: I can’t plan any European travel. This is, I think, the quintessential “first world problem,” …
: Don't discount subterranean realities I believe we are far advanced down and past the destruction of the republic. Only in very limited …
: Tom Howard, RIP Tom Howard has died at 85. He was the Evangelical author of Christ the Tiger when I first heard of …
: Datapoint: The KIPP charter schools recently eliminated the phrase “work hard” from its famous …
: This seems like a very 2020 cartoon: “What could possibly go wrong” say decades. …
: Decompressing from my last book, which was quite serious, I’m currently reading: Bullshit Jobs …
: We're So Vain ( we probably think this "British" story's about us) Imagine a political party that stood for election on a platform of Pissing Everyone Off. The …
: Cui bono? If you’re debating substance, you’ve already lost. … So, if you read a book or blog post, or listen …
: Should finish The Rape Of Man And Nature: An Enquiry Into The Origins And Consequences Of Modern …
: Currently reading Philip Sherrard, The Rape of Man and Nature: An Enquiry into the Origins and …
: I can’t think of many movies where the hero defies calls to go his own way and instead saves the …
: Another worthy article is D.C. Schindler, Social Media Is Hate Speech: A Platonic Reflection on …
: One of the best things I’ve read this week was Mary Harrington, Our Humanity Depends on the …
: Sooner or later in life everyone discovers that perfect happiness is unrealizable, but there are few …
: I just received a two-week-old Economist in the mail. I don’t think I’ll be trusting the mail for …
: By Season 2, Episode 1 of Last Tango in Halifax, I feel variously contemptuous toward most of the …
: Worst president of our lifetime? [A]s we arrive at what seems likely to be the end of his presidency, it’s worth noting what …
: I think this came from my first adult visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 15-20 years ago. …
: Finally a yard sign I’m proud to display (for whatever difference it will make).
: The Milky Way over St Michaels Mount from Astronomy Picture of the Day (via Prufrock)
: The old world has run its course. You cannot polish things up a little bit and pretend that …
: Why does my country’s government always seem to give the back of the hand to Christians of the Near …
: Spin failure The president highlighted a supporter saying his return to the campaign trail would make him an …
: Very quiet family Sunday. Bon mot: Short of institutional suicide, there is little that Google can …
: I get a lot of junk mail, but American Energy Alliance today retched out to me with Carbon Tax …
: Distaff and I watched the first episode of Last Tango in Halifax last night and loved it. I’d …
: Is "religion" coherent? Some readers may find this mind-bending. I know I still do. I’ve learned my lessons too well, …
: Pro tip from a Cantor: Groomsmen should spit their gum out before the service. Failing that, swallow …
: Watching a CBS News Special Report as I wait for local news at 6 PM. It is as irritating as the 24 x …
: How old am I? I’m old enough to remember Al Gore’s boorish debate stunt, and …
: It’s a very neurotic, creepy, controlling way to spend one’s time, worrying about who others are …
: Judging from morning-after coverage, I chose wisely by reading a good book instead of watching the …
: If not debate bingo, how about a debate drinking game? America makes history tonight, as the first ever televised debate between a terminal narcissist and …
: No, both sides are not being hypocritical on Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation, Merrick …
: Having found out that another aging, irascible blogger besides me thinks Trump’s tax returns …
: With the heart of a poet St. Gregory of Nyssa asserts, “Only wonder understands anything.” The …
: I think Trump has internalized and updated an old maxim: when you owe the bank $421,000, it owns …
: Second thoughts about *Wired* I wasn’t all that impressed with what Wired has become, as revealed when I took them up on a …
: It appears that there finally exists a secure, transparent, auditable, and reliable voting system. A …
: I just discovered Freeform Notes in Readwise, because I had a bunch of notes from @ayjay’s latest …
: Who really cares which charismatic renewal group Margaret Atwood superficially noticed in the course …
: I read First Things since its inception. As a consequence, I get many pieces of mail (increasingly …
: Vignette too good not to share: What I Learned From Amy Coney Barrett | Laura Wolk | First Things
: Bald Eagles and Canadian Geese For many of us who have grown up in small towns, we are drawn to the allure of the big city. We …
: They have erected a level of hell and call it paradise Desires, in our modern parlance, were known by the ancients as the “passions.” Interestingly, the …
: You are too obvious, O Lord Exceedingly sad is the blindness of the sons of men, who do not see the power and glory of the Lord. …
: Wherein my prophecy is vindicated I used to say that I thought I’d live to see Africa evangelizing the United States. I was …
: In the genus of “things you can’t unsee once seen”: While CNN called Biden a “devout …
: There are many things in the law that are rageworthy. Lori Laughlin’s cushy prison is not one …
: Annals of Kitsch: A candle for sale featuring Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a saint. Photo via Etsy.
: Harvardifiable Consider two types of knowledge. The first type is not exactly “knowledge”; its ambiguous character …
: Supreme Court Realism I propose to defend and explore three claims in this Essay. First, there is very little actual “law” …
: Reading commentary on the death of RBG, I’m reminded that I liked her, despite general …
: Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died.
: It’s a bit weird to confess to something like a crime and expect only nice things to happen to …
: This week, I watched videos of people literally burning Harry Potter books, like latter-day Nazis, …
: At some point, unless you’re willing to kill and be killed, you need to live and let live. David …
: Be careful what you say insincerely. Someone just might take it seriously.
: Problem-solver Dan Coats, longtime Republican senator from Indiana and former Director of National Intelligence in …
: The lens of a people made of wood I think it’s fair to say that if the Western world has an ilbal [sacred text], it is science … …
: Taken literally, the ne plus ultra of oxymoronic book titles: Uncollected Poems. Is “collected” a …
: It’s good to get reminders of how Democrats (as well as Republicans, which is obvious) have …
: We have our own Gavrilo Princip in the person of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, …
: News you can use: If you’ve been loafing around all Covidtide in open-toe Birkenstocks, be …
: I could have had the new @ayjay book on Tuesday, but I chastely waited on a special order at my …
: “Look! A squirrel!” Me browsing the web on Saturday with my wife out of town.
: If I ever buy a car for sheer fun … But there is more bad news. In the future, cars won’t only be automatics; it appears they’ll …
: And the premise of the question is … Should We Really Expect Democrats to Promote Democracy Better Than Trump? - The Dispatch …
: Today’s Gospel reading was the Gadarene demoniac told by Mark. It reminded me of the …
: Success! I managed to introduce my narrowly-educated trainer to September Song when she asked …
: I remember that my high-school biology text dealt with the human body by listing its constituent …
: Disney World? Fuggedaboutit. 2838 E. Douglas in Wichita is the real happiest place on earth!
: Jonathan Adler, Repairing the Rule of Law: A Post-Trump Agenda is interesting if only as a reminder …
: After reading a very thoughtful and positive review, I’ve reversed course and pre-ordered Rod …
: He may not be the equal of J.S. Bach, but Jean-Phillipe Rameau is a delight. I’m not equipped …
: Comic (?) relief: Share This Post with Your QAnon Conspiracy Theorist Facebook Friends and Family …
: Scandalizing a client When I was still practicing law, a fundamentalist client (nice guy, not a caricature) came across …
: Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire. Gustav Mahler
: Well, do tell: my fair county (estimated 2019 population 195,732) has a very noticeable Covid spike …
: I probably could share David French three Sundays out of four, but his thoughts on Kyle Rittenhouse …
: Wherein I finally give Trump a pass on something I heard a liberal commentator opining that Democrat mayors of places like Portland and Kenosha are …
: What the Church is for Philip Sherrard has further noted that Christianity is uniquely ill-suited to function as a …
: I don’t want to obsess too much about the nice, minimalist watches at Slow watches, but am I the …
: There are a suspicious number of “last acceptable” bigotries, biases and prejudices. …
: A famously clean stand-up comic let loose a potty-mouth Twitter stream against Trump, and the Wall …
: [T]he Baconian project wreaks havoc in three different ways: lashing out with violence against …
: Strife, that great misery-maker, watched in delight. Alone of the gods she was there among them as …
: Recommended: Peter Viereck: American Conservatism’s Road Not Traveled | Front Porch Republic
: There are no secular solutions to anything – for, in truth, nothing is truly secular. We are …
: "How are you doing?" My experience made me wish we still lived in the era of Victorian mourning clothing, so that …
: I place Tesla stock somewhere between Tulip Bulb Mania and government-condoned scam.
: Kyrie Because we cannot be clever and honest and are inventors of things more intricate than the …
: It appears (see 270ToWin, Politico, and RealClear Politics) that I can vote for the American …
: The nice, thoughtful, Protestant lads at the Mere Fidelity podcast are chastened by the failure of …
: Jaron Lanier is an amazing mensch This is wise: The pandemic had only complicated his relationship with his peers, he said. Many …
: The Scriptures appointed for the Indiction (Church New Year) seem somehow especially timely and …
: Someone I’ve never heard of at National Review is writing about the supposed viciousness of …
: President Trump read a boring speech badly last night. The long recitation was punctuated by odd …
: A hopeful sign in a polarized country: a news source whose mission is to be unbiased.
: You feel like home. Poet/lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, describing a distinct feeling as he …
: New prayer, of my own devising, triggered by the news: Lover of man, forgive and heal my …
: Hold your horses there, cowboy!. Grabbing your guns and joining other cosplayers to “protect …
: “What keeps you up at night?” is the new “How are things?” (Paraphrasing …
: Thick-tongued inebriate notions Berry is fairly adept at remaining unaffiliated. He is as successful at eluding the card-carrying …
: So quickly this morning the outrages mounted.
: What they cannot reach [O]nce you say you are ashamed, reading the page they hold out to you, then such light as you have …
: Nothing a mob does is clean Demo by Les Murray No. Not from me. Never. Not a step in your march. not a vowel in your unison, …
: Gerald Seib, How Trump Has Changed the Republicans versus Michael Barone, The Normalcy of Trump’s …
: I had hoped that newpolity.com would introduce me to some serious Integralist thought, but The …
: Resident Aliens One of our former parishes was next door to the synagogue. One day over coffee, the rabbi remarked, …
: By man death has gained its power over men; by the Word made Man death has been destroyed and life …
: Primephonic has been exceeding expectations. It’s a classical music streaming service. …
: Conspiracy-fodder If you were going to create in a lab a crisis that would test Trump’s weaknesses the most … …
: [T]he U.S.P.S. is currently the world’s largest baby trapped at the bottom of the world’s largest …
: “A fornicator I always was, but a heretic I never was,” went the legendary last words of the …
: Thoughts while fleeing Paris Revolutionaries are always in the wrong, since, in their juvenile fervor for everything new, in …
: The Prospect Of Normalcy What frustrates me is the extent to which 2020, a true trainwreck of a year, has sapped my idealism. …
: Recommended: The end of secularism is nigh - UnHerd. I thought the Atlantic’s article on the topic …
: [O]n June 22nd, the president suspended the arrival of new au pairs … Wealthier families … have …
: Nobody wants to be on Team Lesser Evil. You want to feel like you’re on Team Good. (David …
: The trouble with Evangelicals is that too often we’ve been wise as doves and innocent as serpents. …
: Are we really going to waste time listening to theme and variations on whether Kamala Harris is …
: Yet another unanswerable survey: Do you think voting by mail is more or less likely to be accurate …
: Hearing a professional wordsmith use the phrase “sufficiently enough” twice within 30 seconds makes …
: Shrewd election slate analysis A little bit of racism has a whole lot of stink on it — enough to rub off on everybody around you, …
: Age 71, I watched Casablanca last night for the first time. Apart from its excellence and …
: Maybe I’ll remember the weather category “Derecho” after Monday’s impressive show.
: I looked again at OmniFocus. Overkill. I looked at Todoist. Still overkill. I guess I’m a …
: Gospel of John Outline Dr. Jeannie Constantinou Chapter 1 - Prologue - Testimony of John - Calling of the first disciples …
: Poking around classical Primephonic, I came across “Copland Essentials” and am reminded what a …
: Shibboleths & Substance Set aside the pretty girl in Daisy Maes with zipper partly down and tummy exposed. Set aside the …
: We put so much emphasis on the redemption narrative that we are too willing to excuse sinful …
: Eugene Volokh, “Dance Like Nobody’s Watching. Tweet Like It’s Going to Be Read Aloud at Your Trial” …
: At long last, I watched The Lives of Others. 📽 I’m fine with dark films and literature. This …
: Nothing in Tocqueville so far has sounded less prescient that his description of the poor …
: Iowans speak parables; New York Times hears, but does not hear Evangelicals did not support Mr. Trump in spite of who he is. They supported him because of who he …
: A worthy, mind-expanding read: B. Duncan Moench, A Producerist Manifesto (Tablet Magazine). I …
: Seppuku is a good, rather poetic word. If I were as full of self-loathing as the Editors of Poetry …
: This kind of thing generally cheapens the idea of anti-racism. Universities are rather sad and …
: Of course, Kurt Anderson has a book to (pre-)sell, but I Was a Useful Idiot for Capitalism still was …
: I had outpatient surgery this week and the intake clerk described my wife as my “spoux”. …
: Currently reading *Democracy in America.” 📚 Coming up, Iliad, Odyssey and Aeneid. I’m not that …
: Be careful what you wish for, hot-head conservatives. (The Great (De)Commission: How Defunding …
: The darkest moments of the modern world have come as a result of various plans to “improve” things … …
: Who said philosophy isn’t practical?
: Re-reifying race [S]ome people on the left have decided we haven’t talked enough about race, that we need to carve …
: On an almost infinitely lighter note, Budweiser Zero is an attack on American values
: Signs and wonders Wouldn’t this be a shock? Typically, the African-American vote strongly favours a Democratic …
: Ken Myers on musical emotivism Having survived a type of coronary event that has a 4% survival rate, I asked some hard questions …
: The most important technological tool in whatever device our listeners use is a pause button. The …
: I’m afraid Matt Taibbi’s review of Thomas Frank’s The People, No: A Brief History of Anti-Populism …
: One theme that keeps popping up in my thoughts as I watch the world, for most of my adult life, is …
: Robocalls to home phone gave me fits. Forward home phone to iPhone. Settings>Phone>Silence …
: “The job of a political reporter is to be a fight promoter.” Attributed to David Broder by Jonah …
: Apologies due, apologies withheld Joe Biden accused Trump of trying to delay the election. He should know better.. Henry Olsen, …
: A voice of consistent sanity, Peggy Noonan is back Peggy Noonan is back, presumably from some Covidworthy 5-week vacation, and that’s not surprisingly …
: Indirectly, I learned yesterday that cancel culture isn’t entirely new or uniquely Western. …
: Remembering Charles Evers Fulsome as it was, however, and seemingly exhaustive, the obituary failed to note a singular and …
: If the protests in Portland qualify as “largely peaceful,” I’d call the Federal …
: This minute, 55 years since a memorable motorcycle collision.
: “What are the duties required in the ninth commandment?” | War Correspondence ن
: Psssst! The Washington Football Team should be re-named the Red Tails! Pass it on!
: Presumption It is an interesting question just how it came to pass that an idea— justice—that has received the …
: Interesting. How do you comply with incoherent requirements? David Bernstein, The Government Should …
: Mason Gaffney, Who Argued for Taxing Only Land, Dies at 96 - The New York Times. The Georgists are …
: A blow to my Parish: our iconographer (who had finished cupola, apse, altar, and Nativity and …
: Albert Mohler undertakes in First Things to explain why he is a Baptist: because it’s …
: Nevertheless, she persisted Why I’m leery of “Hate Crime” laws, Chapter n: Last month, Libby Schaaf, the …
: As a rule, editors and writers at major sports publications rarely make spiritual judgements about …
: Very fairly treated [T]he president is still the man that he has spent his entire life becoming: a character out of C.S. …
: Receiving two mathematics doctoral candidates into the church today, one by baptism and one by …
: [T]he very idea that the fate of our republic depends on each American election is more dangerous to …
: News about severity is more interesting to me than mere numbers. Where the Virus Is Sending People …
: Some of what I gathered today: “This is a democracy, not a dictatorship,” Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, a Democrat, said on Twitter. “We …
: Curling is the perfect analogy for political campaigns. Sarah Isgur, Do Campaigns Matter? (The …
: A "Kairos Year"? Many are characterizing 2020 as a kairos year, the forces of a global pandemic and a long-simmering …
: Part of yesterday's harvest (long and varied) Andrew Sullivan has been disinvited from writing for New York Magazine. From his remarkably sanguine …
: What happens when a JuCo Politics professor covers “Islamic Terrorism”? Atheists beware: a new …
: One good thing has come out of the past three-and-a-half years, I sense and hope: center-left and …
: There is an old joke in the semiconductor business that the number of people predicting the death of …
: Headline of today’s CNET Apple Report: Are buying refurbished AirPods Pro worth it? …
: Agree or not with the gist, the writing is stylish: Because of his incontinent use of it, the …
: Study is a prayer to the truth. (Chris Perrin, Classical Christian Press, quoting A.G. …
: Recommended. Bret Weinstein’s Dark Horse podcast
: Via the Ezra Klein podcast (“Free spech, safety, and ‘the letter’”), there are three spheres in the …
: Seems especially timely: [L]earn to love your enemies. God did not place them in the world for us …
: From our friend @ayjay, currently on a sort of sabbatical but not idle: The emotional intelligence …
: Enjoy the Stars in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year Shortlist
: Rules for Young Writers Rule One: Speak your mind at your own peril. Rule Two: Never risk commissioning a story that goes …
: Ross Douthat, 10 Theses About Cancel Culture (New York Times)
: America Today A friend of mine describes America today like this (and he’s talking about right wingers as well as …
: The DC NFL team has announced that it is abandoning the name “Redskins.” Among the …
: For my Anglican friends here, The Search for Anglican Identity.
: What a gracious and tailored response! Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson uploaded several anti-Semitic posts to Instagram …
: I have supported two public-interest law firms One winsomely updates me occasionally on its cases. …
: Finished War & Remembrance. 📚 Magnificent.
: Thanks, I needed that [T]he other message from this [Supreme Court term] is, I think, to religious conservatives: Please …
: Yes: Churchill was a racist. But, as the joke goes, wait till they find out about the guy he was at …
: Primephonic. A twist on a mature idea, but to a niche market. I’m a plausible candidate. Free …
: I hear behind me. Slow wave on the back deck. I want joy I do not know I have been living. I want …
: Well, at least there's that. And it's important. Far more important than the raw number of COVID-19 cases, of course, is the number of people who …
: Signs of the times: Scrabble Will Ban Racial and Ethnic Slurs From Tournaments and Game Rules (The …
: Terry Mattingly, who covers media religion coverage (no, that’s not a typo), is not amused at …
: Deconstruct your vote During a time of social upheaval, one of the most disturbing aspects of our lives is the turmoil …
: 200-Proof Liberals: FAQ’s. These are my kind of “liberals.”
: Is there something wrong with me that I don’t want to read about Jeffrey Epstein’s …
: The wrong lesson to take from today’s Barr v. Am. Ass’n of Political Consultants …
: I haven’t been able to shake this, which seems potentially to save a lot of time and …
: I have found readily-available ways to read the Wall Street Journal and New York Times online with …
: For some reason, I don’t care to read 1984 again. Brave New World has long felt more …
: A stranger stranger Peck met patients who didn’t fit a standard diagnosis but had certain recurring traits. These …
: This comes close to articulating what I’ve sensed: Frankly, the Trump era has made booking a …
: Don’t miss Andrew Sullivan, The New Newspeak, the second part of his July 3 Intelligencer column.
: What happens when you pardon and valorize a war criminal?
: I have minimal idea whether this is true, but if true, it’s big: many Female-to-Male trans …
: Can this vital coalition endure? The most important near-term question in American politics, obviously, is whether the anti-Trump …
: Hope our elected officials can chuckle with self-recognition at this, in a year or so if not now. (I …
: Heather Mac Donald: Go in peace. There’s no problem and you’re not responsible for it. …
: Hook for Mac. Day by day, week by week, this helps me more and more. Yeah, I’m retired, but …
: The Soul and The Body on The Beach
: … The white-robed wizards of Silicon Valley now ply the black arts of algorithmic witchcraft for …
: I rarely agree with SCOTUS liberals when the court’s not unanimous, but “the Montana …
: beware however of overweening pride examine your fool’s face in the mirror repeat: I was called—was …
: Every Republican leader and figure could condemn this movement in tones that would make Sohrab …
: Violence that is deemed secular, on the other hand, is often necessary and sometimes praiseworthy, …
: Reading War & Remembrance. 📚
: Writers often compare the beauty of the pagan myths with the brutality of the biblical story. This …
: Nothing to see here. Move along now. Extending beyond the basic requirements of the Decalogue, the Bible is full of if/then propositions …
: The best response to unfairness and intolerance is for reasonable people to be brave. David French
: He hasn’t been equal to the crises. He never makes anything better. And everyone kind of knows. The …
: Autonomous vehicles are, to paraphrase Jane Austin’s Ms. Bennet, much more rational but much …
: Somehow this feels like a parable.
: Terrific OpEd by two serious thinkers in response to the Bostock Title VII decision last week, …
: Turns out I don’t have “a lot of unread books.” I have a big “antilibrary.” Here via here.
: This is how the law convolutedly works through legal ramifications of technological change. (My son …
: I confess my confirmation bias on the original: An FBI investigation found that the “noose” …
: Everybody knows Yeats’ Second Coming, which always seems to fit. Too few know Vonnegut’s …
: Reading The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman …
: The Activist and the Do-Nothing Congress I’m glad David French put in writing his remarks from Monday’s Advisory Opinions …
: Why did I book a truth-teller? Eric Metaxas had English conservative journalist Peter Hitchens on the show to condemn England’s …
: I’ve got butterfly-keyboarditis really bad (and the MacBook Air isn’t very old). With a …
: It is surely more serious, or at least much more dangerous, for man to deny original sin than to …
: Three weeks ago, The Violence of Modernity. Today an echo from neuroscience, The Soft …
: Major pet peeve: confounding “scatology,” “obscenity,” and …
: Finished Jacques Barzun, From Dawn to Decadence. 📚 I won’t hit my original 52-books-this-year …
: He went cold turkey for months, but he just had to have a hit, and he’s getting it today in Tulsa.
: The American Soviet Mentality None of those who joined the chorus of condemnation, naturally, had read the novel—it would not be …
: Once … stories of hard leftists becoming staunch conservatives were common … These days the most …
: The gang at the dispatch podcast is brilliant. They correctly identified today’s top North …
: This decision hands LGBT activists the coercive machinery of civil rights law. R. R. Reno, A …
: “[I]f we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any. Donald Trump quote in The …
: I’ve been trying to figure out what to say about today’s Bostock decision, but all I have so …
: [Denver Riggleman] betrayed the very Republican Party Platform he swore to uphold. Accusation of …
: Single-minded to a fault I don’t agree with Cotton’s view. I know of nobody at The Times who agrees with it. The Wall Street …
: A black man was shot dead in Atlanta for public intoxication. Okay: public intoxication followed by …
: This might be funny if it were in The Onion.
: If you have access to the Wall Street Journal, don’t miss Arnold the Grammarian. A sweet …
: Most of my news sources are conservative, so David French, The Wokening vs. the Trumpening came as a …
: Damon Linker on the woke revolution in American newsrooms [T]he woke revolution in American newsrooms is … disheartening … because it’s yet another sign of …
: “Speaks out” is journalese for “officiously mouths off in way we approve.”
: There are no randomised controlled trials showing that parachutes save lives when you jump out of a …
: Covidtide update: U.S. passes 2 million total cases while my moderate-size county adds zero new …
: 3rd-Generation lawyer Jason Bennett advances to “semifinals” for an upcoming Indiana …
: "Systemic racism" may not mean what you think Of particular concern to some on the right is the term “systemic racism,” often wrongly interpreted …
: There can be consequences to being a chest-thumping jerk (at least if you’re not the …
: Trump enters a performative Executive Order about CDA section 230 that does nothing besides letting …
: Randall Kennedy disclaims theoretical privilege to utter the N-word for pedagogical purposes, but …
: Aging amateur techie, scratching head, asks: POTUS Tweets “… appearing to scan police …
: I am enjoying life more, stressing less, by conscious quashing of news and commentary obsession. …
: If it’s consciously dishonest, it’s not conservative, because maintaining trust and truth is …
: The bottom-line is this: [Martin Luther] King spoke truth to power. [Robert] Jeffress bows to it. …
: Flawed heroes need not apply If all our heroes must be perfect, we’ll have no heroes. No, make that one hero (but …
: In 2014 the government took more money from citizens [in civil forfeitures] than burglars stole from …
: Michelle Goldberg, Tear Gas Is an Abortifacient. Why Won’t the Anti-Abortion Movement Oppose It? …
: How could Hollywood accept Woody Allen for so long? Allen makes an astute point in this otherwise scabrous and unnecessary part of the book: For …
: A second great coinage encountered today. Attention muggers: people that insist that everyone focus …
: If you are wearing knee pads to Church today, you just might be Orthodox.
: The June 5 The Weeds podcast from Vox (which I highly recommend) has me thinking about our need to …
: Doomscrolling is a fantastic coinage (and hashtag) for the computer screen era. (H/T Doomscrolling: …
: Suspicious asymmetries [W]hat if this apparatus were revealed to be not very serious about safety, the very ideal that …
: Reading the signs Every morning we squinted into the rising sun as Garrison Keillor told us about the advent of the …
: No need to tell me I don’t live up to this. I may have to foreswear all political news and …
: I’ve been averting my eyes from quite a few of Rod Dreher’s columns since George Floyd, …
: Gerson does some semiotics: Trump is our cut-rate Constantine … “In this sign,” Trump seems to be …
: If a conservative idea falls in the woods, but there isn’t a libertarian dollar to fund it, does it …
: Liberty University’s Director of Diversity Retention Has Resigned | the way of improvement leads …
: A moral and cognitive benchmark If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary …
: Big political news: James Mattis denounces Trump
: If we can learn the lesson that assembling a $10 toaster from a just-in-time supply chain spanning …
: The Promise (and Peril) of Using the Military to Stop American Riots - The French Press. From his …
: An atheist speaks for me here Whatever Christianity is, it is not worship of the God-shaped hole. Whatever Judaism is, it is not …
: Black Liberty University graduates rebuke Falwell fils and the school under his …
: Not about George Floyd: Every problem is greeted only with the question of how it might be fixed, …
: Prickly Presidents are the same wherever you go Authorities in Tanzania charged a comedian, Idris Sultan, after a video on social media showed him …
: 2020 started off like 1974 [an impeachment crisis], quickly became 1918 [a pandemic], turned into …
: MTF trans athletes in Connecticut So, ADF found a receptive ear within the Trump administration, on MTF transgender athletes: The …
: Quandary time: If you ordinarily would not watch a snuff film, does the “newsworthiness” …
: Donald Trump Is the Ultimate Karen: He calls the cops on those who challenge him, even if there’s no …
: I’m on my second episode of The Weeds podcast from Vox. Very impressed: podcasters who are not …
: Why President Trump’s Order on Social Media Could Harm Him - The New York Times. Did the Times …
: Sad to say, but some people, in conscious bad faith or reflexive racism, will make “The Real …
: Ravi Zacharias, who practiced a form of Christian theology called apologetics, … Obituary photo …
: [L]ong twitter threads, even if they are direct in their way, are such a mockery of literary form. …
: G.K. Chesterton … once wrote, “When a man concludes that any stick is good enough to beat his foe …
: I had mentioned on Facebook, but not here, that I have a public Pinboard which I am trying to use to …
: … and to heck with his collateral damage—like the widower, for instance He is signaling to the country that what really matters to him is that Joe Scarborough has been mean …
: Were I the judge, I’d add “You can dismiss the case and maintain your secrecy or you can continue in …
: Russiagate. Obamagate. “We should never attribute to malice that which can be explained by …
: “Overtly racial undertones” is an oxymoron, isn’t it?
: In taking a wife, choose only the one you would choose as a friend if she were a man. Joubert, via …
: This challenges “my priors” about a certain elected official. I prefer my priors. A principality is …
: No way on earth The thought occurs, why theories of government at all? The forms and devices vary greatly with times …
: Becoming the people you warned against The gift of the Enlightenment, of modernity, was to place objective reality, truth, at the center of …
: Around my Father’s house are many mottes and many baileys. (If you, like me a few weeks ago, …
: A genuinely interesting reflection on pastor John MacArthur’s on-again-off-again plans to …
: I have heard that this pain can be converted, as it were, by accepting “the fundamental impermanence …
: Was Michael Flynn railroaded? Eli Lake’s The Railroading of Michael Flynn (Commentary Magazine) persuades me that Michael …
: I rediscovered Sojourners, inclined to like it. I found it disappointing overall. When Jim Wallis …
: Religion Clause: Texas Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Break-Away Episcopal Diocese. Unusual facts, …
: Of course, Andrew Sullivan (With Trump, the Pathology Is the Point) is terrific today, but what …
: RIP: Fewer TV news story about a reduction in traffic accidents during lockdown. Reporters, police, …
: John Fea’s blog is good. His item in Sojourners is better.
: What’s really behind Republicans wanting a swift reopening? What’s really behind Republicans wanting a swift reopening? … Gary Abernathy asks in the Washington …
: Abstraction can undermine sound thought Many conservatives who had deep reservations about the way stay-in-place orders have damaged our …
: Adam Geller, Ex-Green Beret nabbed in exec’s escape has lived on the edge. I think it’s …
: Things I’ve not been obsessing over: Whether Ronan Farrow is our greatest living investigative …
: Iranian Revolution’s 3 Organizing principles: Death to America Death to Israel Veils on women …
: Is there any coffee you just won’t touch? I never drink decaf. Decaf was invented by Satan …. A …
: It’s good to skim. When Robert and his son decided that Fox News had gotten too soft, too …
: Help wanted: Ballast Job description: When the ship of state lists to port, throw your weight to …
: Giving out of raw fear [O]ne of my chief problems with our partisan moment is that people are constantly, relentlessly, and …
: The trend is popular in particular among young people who grew up in Baptist or non-denominational …
: I know that David Crosby is, in many ways, less than an exemplary person. But his music (including …
: Rusty Reno repents, or at least relents, in approximately proper tone and brevity.
: Disillusioned - War Correspondence ن
: Mike Pompeo, under investigation for misuse of government assets, persuades Trump to fire the …
: You learn something every day (if you’re lucky or really attentive), even when you’re …
: “Turn off, tune out, drop in.” Mitch Daniels 2020 Commencement Address Purdue University. …
: Neil Armstong's lame moon jokes Purdue celebrated its own landmark this year, our 150th anniversary. Since it coincided with the …
: I presume that every Editorial Board editorial is groupthink expressed with no discernible style. …
: Doing what feels good, what’s convenient, what’s easy — that’s how little kids think. Unfortunately, …
: On March 16th the South African Reserve Bank issued a statement denying that it had sent collectors …
: News sources: I don’t trust any of them, so I feel as if I must read all of them. Heckuva …
: I fell into the news and commentary trap again today. So much to say, it seemed to fit my WordPress …
: Having established the principle that each department must “pull its weight” …
: Performative: I threw my June/July First Things in the trash, unopened. Substantive #1: I already …
: Three new unnamed articles on race from the Immanent Frame. I’ve named them: How the social …
: “I found out with both Bush and Clinton, their childhood heroes were Willie Mays,” Shea said. “Bush …
: You know you’re getting old when conservative media lard their commentary with cultural …
: If trees were gods, horticulturalists would be "ministers" I’m a proponent of strong and broad protections of religious liberty, and I put a fair number …
: Ethical reporting There’s a provision in the New York Times ethics guidelines that limits what a news-side reporter …
: I hate to be pedantic, but the frequent failures of experts does not prove that we would be better …
: Many white lies being told in this pandemic. Of course masks are worn to protect the wearer. And …
: Branding Weirdness There’s a swagger to [Tara Isabella] Burton’s prose, no surprise to those who wisely read her …
: Oddity du jour: Indiana’s Attorney General will be suspended from law practice (for groping …
: There comes a time in every book … There comes a time in every book I work on when I can’t tell if it’s good, bad, or what: it’s just …
: I’ve been singing in Church for maybe 65 years and in choirs for 56 years. Lockdown is hard, …
: Disabused of what French secularism implies Reading Rod Dreher’s fuller account of his interview by Tara Isabella Burton, I was reminded …
: Theodore Roepke, I Knew a Woman Little Richard, The Girl Can’t Help It Compare and contrast.
: Back before he crashed and burned (from bipolar disorder, as I recall), Freddie de Boer wrote a …
: The church on the edge of Ergun, in Inner Mongolia … Atop it are golden crossbeams, the lowest …
: Rod Dreher on "Christian values." The phrase “Christian values” has been worn as smooth as an old penny by overuse, especially in the …
: David French demolishes the cockamamy theory that the white guys who shot Ahmaud Arbery were doing a …
: Bret Stephens and Roger Cohen today gave me fresh reasons for continuing my New York Times …
: Today was basically lost. Got up, saw that DOJ was dropping charges against Michael Flynn, head …
: “Conspiracy theories are needed when you’re socialized to question every authority but …
: An elegant statement of one side of today’s raging debate: Only after that December 2017 plea …
: What hath Bestsy wrought? The Department of Eduction has issued its final Title IX Regulations, running 2022 pages. I had to …
: Thinking Christianly About Ahmaud Arbery, Travis and Gregory McMichael lynched him.
: Given the candidates, 2020 could yield an almost exclusively attack-based campaign. When it’s over, …
: Okay, this is 55 minutes long. But if you realize that there’s a crisis in “higher …
: Should we call this era the “Pandeltacon”, as in “this changes everything”? …
: Interesting interactive map. It’s astonishing how effective California and Oregon have been.
: The world we've created Another Wednesday, another midweek G-File (🔒). In it, Jonah examines the argument feminist writer …
: Despite Amazon Prime streaming, I’ll keep paid Pandora if only for my “Celtic …
: Datapoint: The GOP currently holds a 53-47 advantage in the upper chamber of Congress, but has to …
: Barack Obama will headline a televised prime-time commencement address for the Class of 2020. We …
: I highly recommend Liberalism, the American Right, and the Place of Love in Politics. But be …
: I hadn’t thought of Trumpworld as a headless state, but it fits.
: Most memorable hotel ever (stayed there several days in the Fall of 2018). Even the (curated) …
: Rod Dreher channels the late poet Les Murray on mobs (with a comment that reminds me why MLK, …
: Not merely coronavirus, Russia now has an epidemic of doctors falling out of windows!!! (Lookin’ at …
: Every scientific truth is (famously — it’s a boast of science) subject to revision, yet we are …
: Itching Ears redux Each day, I visit my local Gannett paper, the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, New York Times, …
: 25 years ago (5/7/95), Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller scored 8 points in 8.9 seconds at Madison …
: A Pulitzer in Commentary for an introduction to a massive historical fraud. A Pulitzer in history …
: Protestant Work Ethic unmasked In England …, with the abolition of Roman Catholicism, a new way of life began to unfold. There were …
: Coronavirus silver lining: live broadcast of SCOTUS arguments.
: With Donald Trump, it’s hard to rank the outrages, but allowing his campaign committee to sue …
: Efficient versus resilient (or "antifragile") Our predominant mode of thinking over the last century, afflicting cities and suburbs alike, favors …
: Status: Mind Blown. I totally bought the “intuitive” scenario Chuck Marohn describes in his first …
: Wife got very excited seeing a pair of Orioles at our feeders. Then we both got bummed not seeing …
: WSJ is fulminating almost daily over how the FBI nailed Michael Flynn. Are they faking it, or are …
: A pandemic day spent with Jenny. Worries? I can’t think of any. The coffee is strong, We all get …
: Three Great Untruths [W]e are unintentionally teaching a generation of students three ”great untruths.” They are: The …
: The gentle lowing of golden calves 2 Chronicles 7:14 is “the John 3:16 of the American civil religion. … 2 Chronicles 7:14 isn’t …
: Two friendly Christian political adversaries discuss politics in front of anabaptists. Two less …
: [I]f I were the world’s greatest computer hacker, I’d inject some code into stories like this that …
: I turned in last night thinking my brain was shutting down as I tried in vain to read a poem with …
: Kind of stark, but it seems timely: I must confess that every time I hear anyone speaking about …
: I look at this guy, and don’t see Jesus, or St. Paul in chains, or Polycarp, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer, …
: Of his theological colleagues in the late 1960s, the young Joseph Ratzinger observed: “They changed …
: This gentle dig still makes me smile two days later: I agree with Solomon that knowledge tends to …
: In a “Discover” romp this morning, I saw several people talking about coffee. FWIW, though I can …
: [I]n a striking empirical regularity, deliberation tends to move groups, and the individuals who …
: Equality is not equity, Chapter N Succinct summary of how generally I’ve been starting to think: Consider a thought experiment …
: Began reading 📚 Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence. Man, that’s tiny print, long …
: “And he’s going to get re-elected.” “And he’s going to get re-elected.” Not a day goes by without several friends — Republicans as well …
: When the Gods wish to punish us, they make us believe our own advertising. Daniel J. Boorstin via …
: So much music, so little time! The older I get, the more I like Celtic-flavored songs like Cathy Ryan’s And Here’s to …
: Commoditizing Blake Our elusive fellow micro.blog-ger Ayjay has a new essay up at Harpers (Everything is Illuminated) …
: Sycophancy in politics [Cornel] West: If you’re feeling a no, but don’t have the courage to say the no, then you’re a …
: Datapoint: usually, it’s a bad sign when radical protestors are masked. Now it’s bad …
: Indeed, you can’t make this stuff up.
: Useful phrase du jour: iniquity signalling. Earth Day revisited : Essays in Idleness
: I laughed, Piebald, because you were wondering, as I was, about this law which Maleldil has made for …
: Timeless, ever-timely | War Correspondence ن
: The Wall Street Journal, New Data Suggest the Coronavirus Isn’t as Deadly as We Thought. This …
: Orthodox Christian for going on 23 years, I’ve probably thought more about this than any other …
: President Trump announced the United States is placing a hold on funding for the World Health …
: Who says you can’t turn back the clock? I needed to file a 990-N for a small nonprofit. I …
: Hook: A surprisingly useful utility for Mac, at least for knowledge workers (or OCD retirees …
: "Gotcha!" #fail Washington Post interrupts it regularly-scheduled good religion coverage to bring us this …
: The signature hymn of the early days of Orthodox Holy Week The signature hymn of the early part of Orthodox Holy Week Behold, the Bridegroom comes at …
: Cyrus Habib had a good chance of becoming Governor of Washington before age 40, with higher offices …
: Wall Street Journal story headline: Your Favorite Celebrity Will See You Now If I cannot think of …
: What will we learn, where will we turn? “You did not come back from hell with empty hands,” said André Malraux to Whittaker Chambers after …
: Dodgy Journalism in time of plague It’s baffling how some crackpots can make beaucoups bucks by crackpottery (e.g., Alex Jones) …
: Bought a new Psalter I hadn’t heard about. The translation is modern without being obnoxious …
: “The true mortality rate is difficult to calculate due to incomplete testing regimens” a daily …
: My wife was skeptical of my quick mental calculation that roughly 1 in 700 Americans has been …
: Serious Social Disease Here’s the problem with all these false dichotomies: At bottom, they come from, and reinforce, …
: If you’re tired of cookie-cutter critiques of Adrian Vermeule’s performatively …
: Terry Mattingly wins the internet for his headline today: Angry preachers fight ‘shelter in …
: Factless faith [A] faith that will not account for half of the facts or even more is actually, in essence, a kind …
: Image, a journal of “Art, Faith, Mystery,” is dropping its paywall for two months. Get acquainted.
: Well put: Amazon is getting an opportunity to steer us all into a model that will benefit it … …
: It had not occurred to me that Adrian Vermeule might not be trolling us all, but might be gleefully …
: Ideological violence There were certain fleeting moments in the late twentieth century in which one could almost think …
: [I]n past times people did not go to church to be made happy; they went to have their misery …
: Illusions of clarity and autonomy from my “big blog.”
: “I Saw a Man Fly! I Am Sure I Did!” How refreshing to read about something other than Coronavirus …
: A better country The command to honour your father and your mother serves as a divine memento mori. It necessitates …
: Stockholm Syndrome virus Gavin Newsom and Andrew Cuomo both have caught the Stockholm Symdrome virus: Trump isn’t just …
: Pandemic Temps Leaders to Seize Sweeping Powers, says the New York Times headline. It’s …
: It’s amazing how informative a Coronavirus updating can be when the CEO is willing to introduce …
: Very interesting comparison of Russian (really, Orthodox) Bibles and English (really, Protestant) …
: Could there be something godly in this? My principal, practical hope from the present viral medical crisis — a light affliction as these …
: Eight confirmed cases in my county, seven at home, one in hospital. The one in hospital died today — …
: Moral Reasoning in a Pandemic Some will protest that there won’t be hundreds of thousands of deaths, and anyone who says so is a …
: When the Catholic editor of the leading conservative Christian magazine allows the fanatically …
: We have multiple things to worry about every day, but Anthony Fauci has been worrying about …
: When all else fails, serve Typica for Annunciation at home.
: I’m not sure I can bear to renew First Things after Reno’s latest screed.
: Everyone seems to have a theory on how coronavirus totally destroys the political party or movement …
: Succinct: The human race has been playing epidemiological Russian roulette all along. It has taken …
: Praise for medicine and physicians from scripture that (sigh!) not all of you have in your Bibles.
: I must remember when people say stupid and skeptical things about the pandemic (still in early …
: I have a reminder that pops up at 7:15 daily to check my calendar. Under social distancing, …
: I’m so far beyond adolescence that it had not even crossed my mind that the coronavirus takes a …
: A favorite, especially on St. Patrick’s Day.
: My Goddaughter, an amateur poet, got me The complete poems of Cavafy for Christmas. I just got to …
: I sow a man and reap surprise … From Sally Thomas, The Hermit As Work of Art, in Local Culture, Vol …
: To know what to know is all he asks of the trees as they stand unleaving …. From Sally Thomas, …
: Personal bugaboos Number N of a no-doubt continuing series. “Often times.” As opposed to “often …
: I finally watched Terence Malick’s A Hidden Life last night on Amazon Prime. (Had to buy it; …
: Aha! So coronavirus deaths are the result of us not being organic vegetarians, drinking from the …
: Hubris and Nemesis have come out of exile and put in a few appearances.
: A Prayer in Time of Viral Outbreak
: I’ve been drinking from a firehose of reporting and punditry. I think it’s time to stop …
: Our model citizen is a sophisticate who before puberty understands how to produce a baby, but at the …
: Personal bugaboo: when a National Security personage says “nucular” instead of “nuclear.”
: Schopenhauer’s Law of Entropy: If you put a spoonful of wine in a barrel full of sewage, you …
: Here, honey. We need a girl’s byline on this story: It’s Still Not Because She’s a Woman By …
: The truth, the whole truth [B]efore he said any more, [Rieux] wanted to know if the journalist would be allowed to tell the …
: Finished Stanley Kurtz, The Lost History of Western Civilization. 📚 Meh. Repetitious treatment of an …
: Finished Camus, The Plague. 📚
: Unusually Orwellian. Prosecutors are using rap lyrics as evidence of crime. Guess what skin-tone the …
: Miracle: Coronavirus Passes Over Houses With Chick-Fil-A Sauce Smeared On Door Posts. Facebook …
: Innumeracy or deceptive editing? 500 million dollars, divided by 327 million Americans, makes $1 million per American, with enough …
: New vocabulary du jour: curvatus in se.
: Bloomberg can’t buy a primary win in even one state with a half-billion-dollar media blitz. …
: Religious texts say that societies face destruction when they forget God. The coronavirus, like the …
: Useful coinage du jour: performative impartiality.
: Often when re-subscribing to a blog or podcast, I puzzle over why I ever unsubscribed. I think the …
: Where do you find hope? Last question: Where do you find hope? In the palpable desire of many people, right and left, …
: David Von Drehle on Putin's cyberwar David Von Drehle, Vladimir Putin’s virus. There are some inevitable half-truths (Von Drehle …
: I generally steer clear of politics here, but from what I’ve been reading about Bernie …
: Freeman Dyson, realist Dr. Dyson did not begrudge Feynman, Schwinger and Tomonaga the Nobel they received in 1965. “I think …
: Someone might care that I write regularly also at two other places: WordPress, where I’ve …
: Forgiveness – The Hardest Love of All [O]ur experience of those who are truly enemies is that we do not want to forgive them. We do not …
: When talking heads tell us why the market is up or down on a given day, I consider it a Just-So …
: Finished The Innocence of Father Brown. 📚 Next up is a The Lost History of Western Civilization, …
: Diversity is a bore The elements of a diversity drama are bare and simple. In the beginning was the man, the white man, …
: When the hanged man was taken down from the gallows his eyes were still unbroken. The executioner …
: As a Purdue fan, I was not experiencing a very exciting game against Michigan, so I shut it off a …
: I am experiencing a very exciting game’s end in Kansas vs. Baylor as I await Purdue vs. …
: Great photo from the Atlantic (Photos of the Week #14)
: Bong happy ‘Parasite’ succeeded despite the disparity it showed (Headline on an AP story) Somehow, …
: Reading The Complete Poems of Cavafy, probably interspered with other reading as I usually do with …
: Flesh and Devil, but no World So long as worship of the Emperor as a God was required by law of all citizens, to become a …
: One of the pleasures of retirement is trying new things with fewer time constraints. Metropolitan …
: Reading Chesterton’s The Innocence of Father Brown, to take a break from heavier stuff. 📚
: Finished Alexander Schmemann, For the Life of the World This one deserves regular re-reading. 📚
: The self-loathing Mr. Buttigieg “I grew up gay in Indiana,” the even-keeled Mr. Buttigieg says in a stock line when asked about the …
: Aphorism roundup Tradition is not the cult of ashes, it is the transmission of fire. (Attributed to Gustav Mahler) …
: More on secularism and worship [W]hatever the degree of his secularism or even atheism, man remains essentially a “worshiping …
: If Trump really wanted Andrew McCabe to be prosecuted, he proved his own worst enemy, because his …
: What is “secularism”? Secularism, I submit, is above all a negation of worship. I stress:—not of God’s existence, not of …
: Pray in response to your worries – do not let them fester And what you worry about is almost always …
: Name withheld If the world’s wealthiest and and most powerful collection of Christians are supine before their …
: I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered a word more useless than demisexual — unless the …
: "One of the greatest fake movies I ever saw" In his recent Times essay, Professor Goldsmith said that Mr. O’Brien had given him a rather blunt …
: Goldberg, Goldsmith - solid gold I could blow the whole day reading very interesting stuff I’ve encountered already this …
: Progressive moderation We need not be “loyal to the earth” like the atheist Zarathustra, but we would do well to expect our …
: Purdue at Indiana, 2pm. Porgy and Bess now (Metropolitan Opera HD - not live, alas, because live was …
: You can’t run a Whole Foods campaign in a Campbell Soup nation. Brian Williams, MSNBC, during …
: Dostoyevsky, O’Connor and René Girard's mimesis The choice to submit to divine or demonic activity does not present itself only once, nor is it …
: Finished Jessica Hooten Wilson, Giving the Devil His Due: Demonic Authority in the Fiction of …
: I received my Team Todd Young 2020 for Senate membership card in the mail today, the day after he …
: I was uneasy with David Bentley Hart’s recent provocation. I didn’t know the half of it.
: Remember when President Obama awarded a Medal of Honor to Louis Farrakhan during SOTU? Me neither. …
: Hannah Arendt's pre-totalitarian signs Here is a short list of Arendt’s pre-totalitarian signs that we see very strongly in our society: …
: If the Kansas City Chiefs are granted a White House visit, will they have to investigate the Bidens? …
: It will be hard to top Damon Linker, Trump just won the Iowa Democratic caucuses, as an instant …
: After three failed attempts, I guess I’ve got to put “learn how to post photos on …
: Peter Serkin, 1947-2020 Yet, though he was proud of his heritage, Mr. Serkin found it a burden. Like many who came of age in …
: 10 minute to Brexit. Nigel Farage’s final speech at the European parliament and the school-marmish …
: If you die before you die, then you won’t have to die when you die.
: One really should read, if possible, Robert P. George’s fond remembrance of Roger Scruton, by …
: [W]hat still escapes most of us who “opt out” of Facebook and the like: making a loud declaration of …
: Unintended consequence, Iraq edition In Iraq, there are now around 202,000 Christians, down from 1.5 million before 2003.” Notably, this …
: Trump didn’t do the thing he’s accused of doing, but if he did it was fine, and in fact …
: … there, near checkout, saw a freezer case with the sign, “Artisan Ice Cubes,” a bold new step in …
: With today’s arrivals, my reckoning says I have 208 unread books. At one per week, if I buy no …
: I am getting very tired of the prejudices I see, masquerading as sophistication, among members of …
: Liturgy, mimesis, humus I went to a symposium over the weekend, the intimidating theme of which was For I Am Holy: The …
: This sort of thing pops up at the Eighth Day Symposium. Thanks be to God.
: What I’m doing today and tomorrow.
: I just became a fan of Tim Tebow despite my general skepticism about celebrity fandom.
: That community can be more real in a megacity than in smaller towns really is a paradox. (First …
: It’s like a second Christmas! Two books I forgot I’d pre-ordered were delivered on the 21st!
: I’d prefer having three wise men show up at my door with gold, frankincense and myrrh whenever I …
: We’re lending money we don’t have to kids who aren’t going to be able to pay it back to educate them …
: There is only one hatred: the hatred of recognition. Freddie, Elizabeth Wurtzel, 1967-2020
: As I try to trim down my digital consumption, too many printed helps focus on productivity rather …
: The New York Times, rather belatedly, has published an obituary for Roger Scruton.
: A wonderful pedagogical pledge.
: “We need more clicks” is the prayer of a demon. Michael Martin, Transfiguration, page …
: A wonderful essay, fittingly summarizing some highlights of a consequential life in the words of its …
: If Justin Amash runs for President as a Libertarian, I’m 99% certain I’ll vote for him — …
: I have added a new DevonThink tag — “I quit” — to signify my despair over polarization …
: Sir Roger Scruton still died Sunday, last time I checked. New York Times still hasn’t noticed, …
: Regarding A Hidden Life Malick’s film … is not widely accessible to a post-Christian audience — …
: Sir Roger Scruton died yesterday, but you wouldn’t know it from today’s New York Times.
: One year ago today, I finished Michael Martin’s Transfiguration. My notes said it was a …
: [W]e have become unable to rouse ourselves to take public problems seriously unless we can persuade …
: The great spiritual conflict of our age is The Struggle Against the Normal Life. One of the …
: This is deliciously recursive. A politician who sues for libel for being called a “fool” …
: After a stressful few hours on the complications of simplifying things, I get a reward from the …
: I just read a reply that was too intriguing not to follow into the conversation. The conversation …
: The most unwittingly pernicious of all modern errors. The anti-sacramentalism (and non-sacramentalism) of some Christian groups is among the most …
: Septet pour la fin de la présidence Title adapted, with apologies to Olivier Messiaen. 1 Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty …
: I think Netflix will “stick” now that I’m retired. I watched The King’s Speech (2010) earlier …
: May the new year be better than you know it’s going to be! Polish Toast, via George Weigel
: To my pleasant surprise, I just completed book 39 for 2019, and it was another highlight: Charles L. …
: Do any journalists work harder than the Atlantic’s Emma Green? Two new articles yesterday with …
: Religionized politics bodes to kill us
: My total book reading for 2019 will be 38. Highlights: The Winds of War The Gurus, the Young Man, …
: Entering the Mystery of Christmas … Because the kind of knowledge that is saving knowledge both causes and requires an inner …
: Noticed that the Federal Robocall legislation is advancing. But I eliminated robocall problems on …
: Belated: At the Nativity of our Lord, God and Savior in the flesh, buried under the sentimentality …
: Excerpt from my annual Christmas reading (Mary) My flesh in terror and fire Rejoices that the Word Who utters the world out of nothing, As a …
: Can great Hercules keep his Extraordinary promse To reinvigorate the Empire? Utterly lost, he cannot …
: David Warren pens a politically incorrect but heartwarming tribute to “Darlings.”
: Adult coloring books I don’t see that the variety of books has especially diminished since …
: Worse than persecution and plagues? [T]he challenge of living with popular culture may well be as serious for modern Christians as …
: [T]he short history of the modern world is the story of a civilization that staggers from one crisis …
: Daily prayer: Lord, if only I was in control, I would mess things up so much differently than You’re …
: Veneration (of icons and the whole of creation) [Y]ou will not see anything face-to-face unless and until you venerate it. Veneration is a word that …
: I’d have enjoyed history classes more had the texts been written this well.
: We humans are odd birds. Odd, because if rocks are dropped on our heads, we can expect them to make …
: I detest gambling so much that I’m missing the E.D. ads, supplanted by sports gambling sites and …
: Is Young Goodman Brown the definitive parable for this quadrennium?
: Listening to a podcast interview of Wilfred McClay about Land of Hope, I decided I should buy it. …
: Podcast recommendation: Intelligence Matters from CBS New Radio. There are actual adults in the …
: A nice little app, Paste, has developed an annoying habit of asking me to rate it every single time …
: I’m glad I kept (re-)reading after several times thinking “I remembered something better than this …
: I’ve decided at my late stage in life to go to NYC specifically to see my first on- or …
: In John’s final moments on earth, his family played a song by the Beatles to send him off with one …
: One retirement goal was to focus on weight loss, but I hit a plateau at about 20 pounds, far short …
: It’s in heavy play on one of my personal Pandora channels, but I’m glad it is: Neil …
: David Leonhart’s New York Times column on tax rate disparities has a mesmerizing interactive …
: It’s sobering to put in an LED bulb recognizing its pretty good odds of outliving me. #MementoMori
: This should be the epigram on a sober Commentary.
: On the fifteenth day of the month of Kislev in the year 145, King Antiochus set up The Awful Horror …
: I needed a break from surveillance capitalism.
: Becoming human When I became Orthodox, I often said of the idea of “theosis,” “divinization” or (as St. Peter …
: I have very recently discovered Tara Isabella Burton as a prolific writer, increasingly on religious …
: The plot thickens a.co “The government’s need to evade constitutional oversight, argues legal scholar Jon …
: The era of robocalls led me to change my call handling: I ignore unknown callers, voicemail …
: I’m not a fan of generic “religion,” but error travels faster than truth, so I’m going to …
: Begins with “A is for aisle” …
: The New York Times has a notable Overlooked No More “series of obituaries about remarkable …
: Ayjay on the transformation of "evangelical" [W]e now have a peculiar situation in which people who don’t know what the term evangelical …
: Looking for some hopeful reading as the nation sometimes seems to be flying apart? Try James Fallows …
: Listening to my current favorite personal Pandora station, I kept hearing Crosby, Stills, Nash and …
: Nice twist. The “inevitable” here is total loss of privacy.
: Conveniently sanitized via the passive voice.
: Paradoxical choice to bind oneself.
: The death of Cokie Roberts is of much more import to me than any of the recent Rock-n-Roller deaths. …
: Annual reading of a vital classic.
: You can’t have moral authority unless you’re willing to be unpopular. The word jeremiad …
: I know campus is the focus, but I’ve been seeing a lot of non-students riding Pace Bike Shares …
: Advantage Becket - War Correspondence ن
: What’s distinct is the sameness, the sensation of repetition, the feeling of forward momentum giving …
: Secularized education ‘It would be oversimplistic to say that education stands in relation to humanism as …
: I hope that whatever Apple plans to replace iTunes is way, way faster at synchronizing with an …
: Ponder this: In Wisconsin v. Yoder, if the legislature had carved out for the Amish the same …
: Greg Peters had me at his title, The Monkhood of All Believers: The Monastic Foundation of Christian …
: “Amateur”, from French amateur “lover of” … (Wikipedia) One nice thing about …
: Do not look directly at Apple Card. Do not speak to Apple Card. Do not denigrate Apple Card in Its …
: The virtue least able to stand alone
: Receiving a tradition is a matter of a living relationship with what has gone before and recognizing …
: Joe Biden delivered a speech I belatedly viewed and enjoyed very, very much — to my surprise. It …
: May Ben Howe’s tribe increase.
: Headlines that disuaded me from bothering: Let’s Stop Pretending Christianity Is Even “Christian” Anymore. The vast majority of Christians …
: Splendid! I found a word I’ve been needing: myrmidon. I have tended to conflate that with …
: Conclusive disproof of corporate media bias In sum: a $10 million per year anchor for a Comcast …
: I heard that Joe Rogan had a good podcast with Tulsi Gabbard, my favorite antiwar, …
: Well when events change, I change my mind. What do you do? Paul Samuelson ‘When someone persuades …
: Again, news of rather random violence (i.e., against people who don’t insist on living life in …
: If Christianity is the one, true religion, is it that much of a stretch to believe that there is …
: Notes from Brother to a Dragonfly Brother to a Dragonfly was written by Will Campbell, a good-ole-boy Southern Lefty who became kind …
: Is it just me, or does anyone else find it weird to refer to Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide as …
: You’ll find no saner assessment of the shootings nine days ago than The prognosis. Now if we …
: Professional ethics too often are procedural safe harbors substituting for real moral reflection. …
: Good for what? Whenever the Guardians of the existing order claim that someone or something is unfit or unsuitable …
: Listening to a McCoy Tyner cover of it, I’m reminded that She’s Leaving Home is my …
: Jeffrey Epstein is dead. We’ll need another scapegoat now.
: Finished 📚 Dignity by Chris Arnade. Still reading The Making of a Poem by Strand & Boland (sort …
: “We, unlike the Europeans, have people in our big, empty churches.” Wish I’d …
: Where have you been all my life, Atlantic? What great writers! What range of opinion!
: My favorite time in the sunroom: morning light almost blinding in the peripheral vision of my right …
: Make a stand now, gentle reader! It is time that we staged a Revolt Against Glibness.
: Reading 📚 The Making of a Poem by Strand & Boland, plus Dignity by Chris Arnade. Both …
: Thanks to @ayjay’s mentioning it again, I looked and decided I’ve been neglecting Pinboard and …
: I visited the 13th Century this afternoon. I think it was France, but that may be anachronistic, as …
: An Open Letter to Josh Harris. This is unapologetically Orthodox Christian. I would expect a …
: Why free speech? I’m really enjoying So To Speak, a free speech podcast from F.I.R.E.. I listened to one today …
: Finished reading Sherry Turkle, Alone Together . 📚 If you’re going to read it, skim, note the …
: My goddaughter, a poet (among other things) shared this poetry blog with me. It was the only place …
: Working on learning to write something more ambitious than Haiku. (These are just three new …
: Visiting my grave. Salutary exercise: Memento mori.
: If I have not mentioned it lately, I owe a debt of gratitude to whoever it was here who put me onto …
: Loud bigoted drunk. Raging about immigrants. I just can’t even.
: Seasons turn quickly. They say it was always so. Why was I not told?
: “Alexa, How Do We Subvert Big Tech’s Orwellian Internet-of-Things Surveillance?”
: The progressive is by definition “on the side of history,” a cause so irreproachably good that pious …
: Whack-A-Mole Chase religious ideas out one door and they inevitably come in another — because the human mind …
: I thought this Ross Douthat column was so interesting that I blogged an introduction and some …
: V-E Day Starts a Slow, Confused Unwinding of American War Industry Wall Street Journal, May 8, …
: Finished reading Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture.📚 I suspect most throughtful contemporaries …
: Some DeSomethings and Van der Others at my wife’s Reformed Church were wearing orange this …
: Currently reading Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture.📚 I wish I hadn’t waited so long. …
: I can’t lose this afternoon. I love France, too, so I’m just looking forward to some …
: Hi & Bye Just stopping back by to say “hi” and (more or less) “bye.” This is a lovely platform, but I …
: Today, packing, pre-emptive personal grooming (trim the beard good and short), attend Board Meeting …
: This time is that time Orthodox Christians complete their Lenten Fast this weekend and enter the days of Holy Week. Very …
: I can’t help but notice that although almost nobody is talking about the Mueller Report, …
: I’ll predict Virginia by 23-22. 🏀 Yes, I’m expecting a defensive battle. (Caveat: I …
: “Loser!” is the taunt of the modern world (a word spawned in the pit of hell). … Become a Christian …
: Yay! God willing, I’m going to the Republic of Georgia next month! (There was a potential …
: Purdue’s Men lost a heart-breaker to Virginia Saturday night - so close. We’ll miss Ryan …
: Found: The Perfect FPR Presidential Candidate! Bodyguardz flavored screen protectors This has gone …
: I commend to my friends Jesse Singal’s newsletter, two-thirds of which will be …
: I should have known that Frank Bruni would not write the dull restaurant review his title (The Best …
: Apple News I came to Apple for design and quality, and I’m staying because at Apple, I am not the …
: Beginning a modern Lent Our modern self-understanding sees people primarily as individual centers of choice and decision. A …
: Synkatavasis, anyone? The United Methodist travails, when I get my anger at the progressives under control, evokes what I …
: Purdue 99, Tennessee 92. Purdue led by as much as 18, but when they went into overtime at 82 each, I …
: C.S. Lewis has no discernible Sell-By Date
: Joanna Stn wins the internet for Thursday with Appl Still Hasn’t Fixd Its MacBook Kyboad Problm …
: This article fascinated (and appalled me) when I first read it: How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made …
: Q: How many pieces of real estate did Microsoft Co-Founder Paul Allen leave when he died at age 65? …
: Skyscrapers and the March equinox. (H/T Micah Mattix at Prufrock)
: Am I too angry for this? I am not an angry man. I have sometimes, when driving, spoken sharply to other drivers about their …
: Apple announced four new or upgraded services yesterday. Only one of the four interests me, but it …
: One of my favorite memories of last Fall’s Israel trip, from the Grotto of the Annunciation in …
: St. Photius of Constantinople on the Annunciation, which we ecclesial Christians observe today …
: How curious that the Lord of the Universe might exist, yet not be important enough to think about.
: So I sez to myself “Self: Stop wasting time reading about the Electoral College. It …
: We need a Still Point, from which to depart. It cannot be hypothesized. It is too simple for that. …
: “The system is dysfunctional … No one man could possibly control everything.” Andrew Higgins, How …
: Purdue’s start against Villanova 🏀 is their best in about a month. Raining 3s. Offensive …
: I recommended this Peggy Noonan paywalled column last Friday. Now it’s on her blog. I still …
: I thought Minnesota would out-perform expectations, and they did upset Lousiville. 🏀 Unfortunately, …
: Bodhisattva, come to think of it, ranks right up there with Lyle Lovett’s You’re Not from Texas as …
: A rather small but illustrious group avers that there’s no conservative case left for Zombie …
: Humans inevitably come into conflict. Conflict inevitably resolves to hierarchy. Therefore hierarchy …
: Flashback: Warming up for a concert years ago, sitting arms-length from one of our soloists. Our …
: Purdue’s out, and I’ve developed a liking for Xavier Tillman, so to my surprise, I’m rooting …
: It took almost three weeks, but I finished Herman Wouk, The Winds of War 📚 Worth all thirty or so …
: A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench A lot to chew on there. In the …
: Sometimes, you don’t even need to read past the headline and sub-head: Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 …
: If you’re suffering from low blood pressure this morning and have a Wall Street Journal …
: I’ve suspected for a while that “Cultural Marxism” is basically a lazy epithet for …
: As a sort of coda to the college admissions scandal, this from the obituary of Birch Bayh, a very …
: Peggy Noonan has, hands down, the best column I’ve read in major media on the college …
: I’m going to stick my neck out and predict, once again, that the Christchurch Mosque shooter(s) will …
: Sometimes the daily readings seem particularly prophetic.
: There’s something really odd about the commentariat’s outrage over the college …
: Parenting today Is this the most deliciously revealing facet of the college admissions scandal?: the parenting book …
: Lessons from Cardinal Pell’s 6-year jail sentence If the appeal fails, [Cardinal Pell] must spend at least three years and eight months in prison …
: Anyone here use Nord VPN? Have you had problems with VPN servers dropping or going so slow your …
: The only time my Amazon Echo microphone is enabled is when I want to say “Alexa, stop” …
: Just ordered a new cassock from Nikita the Tailor, though it appears that he’s dialed his …
: Wesley Hill quoting Sam Wells, on Church controversies that boil down to “too much binding” versus …
: St. Andrew of Crete Loaded his Canon with Types Volleys of mercy.
: Orthodox begin Lent this evening with a service where everyone, one-by-one, asks and gives …
: Materialist Morality Some of the classical atheist philosophers, such as Camus and Nietzsche, struggled with how can we …
: Rod Dreher’s Laws, including a new one. Very observant and memorable.
: Neo-Maoists It’s tempting to satirically call-out Peggy Noonan for her characteristically sane March 8 …
: From Christopher Benson, a Litany of Penitence for Lent. I adapted for myself where my besetting …
: I appreciate the heck out of Camille Paglia (and her comrade in arms Jordan Peterson).
: A two-faith nation America changed from a largely single-faith culture to a two-faith nation — sacred and secular — and …
: The nightmare after crypto ‘Cryptocurrencies are scams and anybody who puts any money into one and …
: Flapjack Tuesday (Canada) The churches (Protestant and Catholic alike) emptied out when they ceased to expect much of people. …
: Staying abreast Ira Rifkin shares some wisdom on his way out the door at GetReligion: I’ve written for GR for …
: This is the most encouraging denial of certiorari in a religious freedom case I can ever recall …
: This Day in History: Pfc. Leonard M. Kravitz faces a banzai charge
: Not makin' it alone A blessed Lenten journey to one and all. In the Eastern Church, Lent in the full sense arrives in …
: Whenever there’s a particularly odious criminal defendant, the moral cretins come out to …
: Perspective: If Purdue had gone completely scoreless in the second half, Ohio State would have won …
: Holy smokes! Purdue 48, Ohio State 20 at half! 🏀 Purdue’s team play has never looked better. …
: Living in the deathworks Perhaps one of the most confusing aspects of this present age is the sheer speed with which …
: Am I the only one who has mixed feelings when (1) a crime is solved (or a hoax crime unmasked) …
: Wednesday night, Purdue’s 7’-3” Matt Haarms 🏀 scored 21 points, got 10 rebounds, blocked five …
: If you’re interested in basketball 🏀 and can get past the Wall Street Journal paywall, …
: How to get rid of a Lemon So what should the Court use to replace Lemon [v. Kurtzman]? At one point, Chief Justice Roberts …
: Reeling from contentious LGBT vote, some Methodists pledge to fight while others mull leaving That …
: 7’-3” Matt Haarms for Purdue 🏀 actually looked coordinated in last night’s 73-56 win over Illinois, …
: Reading Herman Wouk, The Winds of War 📚 I’m not sure I can bear this evening’s news, so …
: Raced through last 2/3 of Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless 📚
: The dumbest takes on Tuesday’s United Methodist Church decisions are those gasping that it …
: Why can’t bots check “I am not a robot” checkboxes?. I was thinking kindly of Google for this …
: The Musical Aphasia of Maurice Ravel (H/T Prufrock)
: Kneeling during the National Anthem at gladiatorial spectacles, is the equivalent of Havel’s …
: A favorite homilist loves to stand convention on its head. He ignores palpably negative connotations …
: Is Donald Trump a tragic hero? What makes such men and women both tragic and heroic is their knowledge that the natural expression …
: Began reading Vaclav Havel, The Power of the Powerless 📚
: Finished reading Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker 📚 I raced through the ending, apparently …
: As part of my self-improvement program, I’m watching Lacrosse for the first time. …
: [F]or a moment we all saw, I think, that the danger of pluralism is that it becomes factionalism, …
: Charles Barkley’s advice to Jussie Smollett: ‘If you’re going to break the law, do not write a …
: A daily potpourri of not-entirely-random news and commentary
: Just punishments Mr. Smollett deserves to be punished for his hoax to deter others. The media’s punishment will be …
: Oh, joy! I’ve been waiting for Peggy Noonan to blog what first appeared last Friday behind a …
: Mixed feelings: a beautiful hawk has decided that our well-patronized bird feeders are his happy …
: As I read, highlighted, and tagged Wesley Hill’s blog, I was surprised to learn that I’d …
: Karl Rove writes regularly for the Wall Street Journal. Sometimes, he’s right.
: Love Story had it wrong: it’s “buying your ink by the barrel” that means never …
: L’affaire Jussie Smollett is mostly about celebrities, politicians, media and other bien pensants …
: Just discovered that NordVPN has a pretty useful blog, recently focused on alternatives to …
: Michael Gerson turns acute depression into a sermon, and much more. Potpourri, 2/20/19
: I’m a pretty strong advocate of press freedom (I had a newspaper client for a while), as well …
: SCOTUS accepts Indiana Supreme Court’s challenge (“the United States Supreme Court has not …
: Bernie Sanders is running for President in 2020 on a platform opposing age discrimination.
: Apropos of the death of Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld, I’m reminded how very odd it is, and …
: I swore off Facebook today over its censorship of an image from the martyrdom of 21 Coptic …
: Clippings and Comments, 2/19/19
: There’s something touching and even uplifting about a widow of the Aurora, Illinois factory …
: This Day in History: Former Vice President Aaron Burr is arrested for treason. Quite good.
: I despair for the state of literacy today: America’s choice to embrace the blind rage of late-stage …
: I have thought this for a while but hadn’t uttered it yet: It’s surprising how many …
: I’ve just shared three snippets from the blog of Fr. Stephen Freeman, whose blogs are pretty …
: [Myth haters’] religion … is flat and empty. What modernity labels as “fact” is insufficient for …
: Finding the questions Many years ago, I had a mentor who said, “Don’t answer questions that people are not asking.” His …
: Thinking noises A sentiment that says, “I think human suffering is terrible,” is generally a sentiment that will …
: Clippings & Comments 2/17/19
: If your faith is strong, it doesn’t need a challenge. If your faith is weak, it cannot stand a …
: Ouch!. The screens are just the setup.
: Beholden to false truisms We’re beholden to many false truisms. One is that our coasts are diverse places representative of …
: Nice to see there’s a Jewish equivalent of the Babylon Bee.
: America long has been and still remains a nation of sentimental moralists. Unless this changes, our …
: Some of the political stuff I promised to move to WordPress are here.
: Nobody has mentioned it, but I’ve been overdoing controversial politics. I’ll try to do better …
: Prelude in C Sharp Minor, Op. 3, No. 2 just came on Pandora - again - and for the first time ever I …
: Breaking: U.S. Former Cardinal Is Defrocked After Sex-Abuse Conviction Decision makes Theodore …
: Of the 21 Coptic Martyr Saints If you subscribe to First Things, don’t miss Baptism of Blood in the March edition. If you …
: In praise of poetic Bible translation Poetry has fled from this modern Bible, frightened away by twentieth-century scholars who offer us a …
: In the next 30 years, the population of the African continent will more than double, from 1.2 …
: Great line: Nothing says emergency more than “I didn’t need to do this.” https://t.co/djCmOMqdnY — …
: Contemning your voters [L]ook at who Republican voters increasingly are. They are people who disproportionately serve in …
: A Court Case in Iowa Shows the Reality of Religious Discrimination in America (David French)
: Let’s build a wall, and make El Chapo pay for it. … That’s why I have reintroduced the Ensuring …
: A National Emergency Declaration, concurrent with signing the budget deal, signals that end of even …
: It not only comes as no surprise to me that More people around the world see U.S. power and …
: George Will on GND's significance The [Green New Deal] has no practical importance but much significance. First, it underscores the …
: Metaphor of the day: reality’s viscosity. Problem with the metaphor of the day: How can it be …
: Maybe the best thing Mitch McConnell ever did for editorial cartoonists was taking a pass on Lasix.
: Another "betrayal" by John Roberts? New York Times Contributing Opinion Writer Linda Greenhouse makes a plausible case for why Justice …
: It has taken years of agricultural policy to get us into this mess. Getting out of it is a question …
: California’s bullet train was (and is) the Green New Deal in miniature … At the time of its demise, …
: Freddie deBoer has some sharp comments on “controversies” that are mostly within the …
: We’ll see how long it takes to get an injunction against this new, likely unconstitutional, Los …
: The state of conservatism today is lousy National Review, hardly uncritical of Trump, is saying that he and the Republican Congress got a …
: What if …? Consider the following hypothetical exchange: Bezos representative: If you publish his illegally …
: Two small birds, in rapid succession, flew into the window in our family room. That’s what …
: What with reports of hackers attacking thermostats, refrigerators, and other IOT appliances, I was …
: Sheriff Says Use of Camera to Zoom in on Defense Attorney’s Notes Was “Inadvertent” [Insert your own …
: When it comes to viewing leaked sexual ephemera, the knowing is its own harm … The exclusivity, the …
: A classic sidebar to a non-story.
: Where Is Crown Prince Mohammed? Out of public view, he attempts to control Saudi society with a …
: I’m not as familiar with Ivan Illich as I should be, but I shall soon sample the Kindle …
: All Things Considered apparently is going to waste time on the Virginia blackface kerfuffle. If I …
: Some days I just wanna get down on my knees and thank God for the free speech aspect of the first …
: There’s no reason to worry about what journalists, activists and politicians are coming from a place …
: On “open communion” from the vantage point of ecclesial Christianity: Coming to my church and …
: Prosperity > GDP A properly broad definition of prosperity can seem intangible and unquantifiable, but that does not …
: Do language games moot natural law? A common objection to natural law, albeit in academic garb: Given the implications of …
: 🏀 Purdue vs. Nebraska: 1. Who are these Gold & Black imposters who actually get defensive …
: Began Oren Cass, The Once and Future Worker. So far, it looks really good (and it has gotten much …
: By stretching the boundaries of normal conversation, [trolls] shift the “Overton window” — widening …
: A fairly short (4:24) but pointed All Things Considered story Friday on the toxicity of blackface, …
: A bill was proposed in Hawaii to raise the legal smoking age to 100. After that Hawaiians would be …
: Hey! I’ve got a great idea! Let’s do the RICO on AMI, parent company of the National …
: Having learned that Virginia Governor Ralph Northram attends an integrated church with a black …
: Running the world on dark matter [T]he laws of physics override the bright ideas of politicians. America has been … promoting …
: … a day without Twitter is like a day without anthrax … Michael Gerson
: Obituaries After clipping the outstanding New York Times Obituary on Frank Robinson, I decided to inventory my …
: The Commonwealth of Virginia … prides itself on being the mother of presidents (eight so far) and a …
: [Trump] insisted on referring to the Democratic agenda as a “Democrat agenda” — the most tired of …
: The first woke primary season Of the multiple kerfuffles in Virginia Democrat officialdom: Democrats are about to embark on the …
: Even before reading the column, I got a big chuckle out of E.J. Dionne’s title: Trump …
: The Lord's Prayer from Old Saxon The Lord’s Prayer from Old Saxon Father of us, the sons of men, You are in the high heavenly …
: Perfecting each person Education is a very great good in itself and not a mere instrument of success. The end of education …
: The best thing I can say about the Ralph Northam kerfuffle is that a group of Catholic School boys …
: For those who rank the Second Amendment as one of their favorite things, I offer this as a new …
: Of late, I’ve found a term for my political temperament: “trimmer” (second listed …
: My Church is the best Church because it never interferes with a man’s politics or his religion. …
: Trafficking in academic indulgences [S]ome universities – and famous ones – are granting college credit to students passing these tests …
: Prerequisites to reading and writing The next time my colleague the chemist says his students cannot read and write, I shall say, “you …
: Bookends: Kevin D. Williamson sings the praises of big business (and scorns “Small Is …
: Finished 📚John Senior The Death of Christian Culture. It grew on me, after riling me up with …
: Oh the protestants hate the catholics and the catholics hate the protestants and the hindus hate the …
: George Yancey has now published What I don’t like about the left to complement his prior What …
: New Goat in Town. The feeding frenzy is set to 11 at the Washington Post. “Scoop of a …
: Accumulated clippings, 2/3/19
: [A]s world leaders pile in for Mr Maduro or against him, they are battling over an important idea …
: If we lived in a saner country … On Tuesday, I speculated in passing that if Tulsi Gabbard started getting traction in the Democrat …
: Modernity as crack eliminator Must every London gentrified street have a Starbucks, a Pret A Manger, a Caffè Nero, a Costa Coffee, …
: I hate, hate, hate it when right-leaning flaks try to match the progressive zanies for …
: Finished 📚 Thomas Merton’s Seven Storey Mountain. But I expect to chew on bits of it again …
: 🏀 Penn State has got to be the best 0-10 team in the Big 10. That sounds sarcastic, but they really …
: Once again, I find myself appreciating the courage of Tulsi Gabbard, which sparked a contemptible …
: I generally detest modern epithets ending in “phobe” or “phobia,” so let me …
: I try to avoid Chicken Little stuff, but I think Ontario’s sanity has met its Waterloo.
: I don’t care if the authors are George Will and Megan McArdle: it’s too damned early for …
: Too simple to understand [A]t great cost I bought the first volume of the Works of St. John of the Cross and sat … and turned …
: New research spearheaded by George Yancey indicates that media personnel are most likely to …
: Detoured from 📚John Senior The Death of Christian Culture to read 📚 Thomas Merton’s Seven …
: Order, continuity, authority Iranian political culture is deeply authoritarian, and, therefore, whatever political order follows …
: Left & Right The primary distinction I make, between Left and Right, could be put in this way. Going back to the …
: Europe, Political Parties. Some original content, not compilation.
: By the way: Stay safe, midwest friends. I was in Arizona during the blizzard of ‘78, but this is …
: Vintage: … Hundreds of poems have been written about standing on the beach and looking at the waves …
: “Puff Graham,” William Randolph Heast is reported to have said of Billy Graham. Things …
: If the New York Times isn’t planning to turn its “Overlooked No More” obituaries …
: It just beggars belief that the same liberals who fret about “micro-aggressions” for 20-somethings …
: Brett Kavanaugh vs. Covington Catholic One of the unexpected and very pleasant comments I heard over the weekend was on the excellent Left, …
: Very glad I’m filling a great gap in my post-college auto-didacticism by reading Thomas Merton’s …
: Scott Adams and Freddie DeBoer do a mind-meld. Is this the dawning of the Age of Aquarius?
: Three points against Impeachment [T]here are several difficulties with the current briefs for impeachment, which suffice for now to …
: A cynic knows the price of everything, the value of nothing. One of the best reasons to get rid of …
: The worst thing that had ever happened to me was this consummation of my sins in abominable coldness …
: English prep school religion I think St. Peter and the twelve Apostles would have been rather surprised at the concept that …
: Ephraim Radner and Hans Boersma as keynoters at Eighth Day Symposium. Pretty darn good.
: Short of sleep from disrupted travel; banquet for a group I like; overpriced drinks at cash bar; I …
: The people at NYT, WaPo, etc. who keep pearl-clutching about the “white male privilege” of the …
: In Wichita for the Eighth Day Symposium. O’Hare was seemingly fine, but regional jets scheduled to …
: It is said that Friedrich Nietzsche once hurled at God the challenge, “I too can make a man.” God …
: Distilling to a single image Were I to distill “the dynamics of the current moment into a single image,” focusing on negatives, …
: Ethics reminder to the New York Times One of my rules of thumb is that if Caitlin Flanagan wrote it, it’s probably worth reading: …
: Giving the devil his due, that has been a terrific run by Ohio State against Purdue. 🏀
: [I]n the same way that some presumably intelligent and decent people on the left have convinced …
: You can’t turn a bully into a flower child. But you can turn him into a knight … Affirm the knight. …
: It's just what sane people do Until he read David Brooks’ Tuesday column, Alan Jacobs had not heard about the kerfuffle on …
: Covington Catholic closed for death threats. The saga continues. Can’t we talk about someone …
: That there could be something called an “emotional support alligator” proves that …
: In a demographic intervention, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia now four times per year personally …
: An interesting bit of Supreme Court “signaling” today. The signal portends something I would …
: Neologism of the Year Neologism of the Year: Recursive mobbing The outcry of the mob on social media is just that: a mob. …
: The elephant in the Covington room A very good point: But for the sake of arguing let us assume that the boys did just what the …
: When SCOTUS reverses Roe: a prediction
: Revealing The Others' dark hearts [I]n the age of social media [polarization is] almost entirely about social type. It’s about finding …
: J. Edgar Hoover and MLK On the 18th of November, 1964, the FBI’s appallingly corrupt boss J. Edgar Hoover denounced Martin …
: At the risk of beating a dying horse … Then more videos surfaced on Sunday; videos that showed some appalling insults from the Black …
: Began 📚John Senior, The Death of Christian Culture (1978, with 2008 foreword and introduction).
: The icon on today’s bulletin was “The Chains of St, Peter.” I don’t think …
: Finished 📚Peter Nasmyth, Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry. It was hard to put down.
: History rhymes The president of the United States has so singular a combination of defects for the office of a …
: Un-compelling titles: I Put My Baby Daughter in Dinosaur Overalls. Am I an Anarchist?
: The Lost History of Liberalism In spite of her best efforts to make liberalism’s interest in public morality stand on its own two …
: My wife surmises that the birds, thick all morning, are now on lunch break.
: Fellow Miracles, Let Us Rejoice Together! The other pre-requisite for living sanely in an insane world is an attitude toward life, which I can …
: I’ve used Vanguard Funds quite a lot, for myself and as Trustee for my aging mother, but I had …
: Not for me to know the thoughts of man The instantaneous awareness of so much folly is not, I now think, healthy for the human mind. …
: The wave-form of Tower of Power’s 40th anniversary concert. Yeah. Pretty much non-stop funk.
: 2:13 of sheer, exuberant joy. 1:49:14 of sheer, exuberant joy. You are welcome.
: What makes an intense weirdo? Last week Deadspin ran six sentences and a picture under the headline “Philip Rivers Is An Intense …
: Everything is political. Everything. It never would have occurred to me that Karen Pence going to work teaching art to children in a …
: The West is now rudderless. To be rudderless puts you at the mercy of elements. The elemental forces …
: Portlandia has shifted to the north.
: A true patriot takes over DOJ We have been blessed by President Trump’s occasional discovery of quality people who love the …
: Political quarantines For a quarantine to work, you have to be willing to commit to it even when it has electoral costs. …
: I am guessing that many men … don’t want to be mistaken for being a toxically masculine Gillette …
: Wisdom requires us to ignore most provocations. David Warren, The Wisdom of Sheep
: Infidel! … Anyone who suggests … that America must come first, above all else, is not merely wrong he is …
: Intellectuals: purveyors of novelty Without culture and its attendant explanation through story and ritual, what is left instead is “the …
: Article 6 lives Having announced a Presidential run, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard puts some distance between herself and the …
: How time flies! I had no idea QB Drew Brees was turning 40 today. (H/T Wall Street Journal article …
: How not to be a cortisol factory Most of the things that get me upset fall into two categories: 1) minor indignities of daily life …
: Don’t worry about finding yourself. If you try to acquire the virtues, your self will take care of …
: Clippings and (a little) comment
: Modern Snakeoil salesmen We are always being told to replace something natural with some artificial pill or product that is …
: Should you say ‘please’ to an AI?. Not a bad question, but Michael Martin in Transfiguration asked …
: Church cancelled for weather. Didn’t want y’all to think I’d gone pagan posting on …
: I think we exceeded the 5” forecast.
: Began reading 📚Peter Nasmyth, Georgia: In the Mountains of Poetry, anticipating a trip 🗺there in …
: Finished Cicero, How to Grow Old. It was pretty short. 📚
: “The Muslims worship a different God” strikes me as a modern form of henotheism. Disambiguate, …
: Began reading Cicero, How to Grow Old. (It’s not as simple as “don’t die.”) …
: Finished Michael Martin, Transfigurations: Notes Toward a Radical Catholic Reimagination of …
: Lee Friedlander’s Intimate Portraits of His Wife, Through Sixty Years of Marriage. Recommended.
: … reasoned discourse has been tweeted out of existence … Andrew Sullivan. I missed him over his …
: A closed circle of mutual loathing We spend too much time on “he hit me first!” and too little asking why we care. Why would anyone be …
: The Washington Post asks what’s the last song you want to hear before you die? Maybe …
: How wonderful it is for the soul when—after so many struggles with lust, ambition, strife, …
: [T]he Dutch prosecutor is considering prosecuting Christians for signing a statement of their …
: [I]nsurrection and paramilitary operations are only 3 percent of what the Knights of Columbus do. …
: “Grievance studies” is an entirely bogus discipline and its “scholars” are …
: The Saudi government struck a blow for feminism, decreeing that women whose husbands divorce them …
: Governing by shutdown … harms the democratic spirit because it so vividly tells Americans—rubs their …
: Began reading Michael Martin, Transfigurations: Notes Toward a Radical Catholic Reimagination of …
: Holy Smokes! Tucker Carlson lit a fuse and Michael Brendan Dougherty just ignited!
: Head-scratcher of the day: In California, around $2.5 billion of legal cannabis was sold in 2018, …
: President Trump apparently imagines that declaring a national emergency to get his border wall built …
: Fixing Jesus Among the most useless pronouncements in our modern culture are the statements, “Jesus never said …
: Which is worse precedent? A President declaring a bogus national emergency to gesture at fulfilling …
: Life with Limits I awoke in the middle of the night to a strange thought. It did not seem to come out of a dream but …
: I won’t quote the title of this because someone might think it was just bashing Trump. It …
: Finished City of Thieves. 📚 Meh. Part Quest, part Buddy Movie (author is a screenwriter). Plot …
: Clippings and comment, 1/8/19
: As the effect moves well beyond the nation’s capital, craft brewers cannot get approval from the …
: A moral imperative to "do whatever it takes"? “If you don’t do it, you’re fighting with one hand tied behind your back,” said Mr. Osborne, a …
: Began reading City of Thieves, a brilliant “take a chance” Christmas present from my …
: The Russian Orthodox Church, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the largest and …
: Seduction is the unmentionable sin, the sin of which we dare not speak, lest doing so undermine our …
: In America, “nobody with a good car needs to be justified.“ Flannery O’Connor, quoted in Philip …
: Finished Philip Bess, Till we have built Jerusalem: architecture, urbanism and the sacred. 📚 Very …
: Very good Federalist Society profile My admittedly unscientific sample of a dozen Federalists’ personal stories — backed up by political …
: Being a geezer has its advantages. I’m not jumping on the Hemp Oil bandwagon because I …
: Hooray! I’m regaining an attention-span that allows me to read serious writing for an hour or two …
: Of the ordination of WomenPriests, TMatt at GetReligion has big issues with how the press reports …
: Senator-elect Mitt Romney is criticizing Trump openly and fairly. But remember that Romeny’s …
: There’s a risk to thinking about genes all the time. Science historian Nathaniel Comfort, on James …
: Began reading Philip Bess, Till we have built Jerusalem: architecture, urbanism and the sacred. 📚
: How Big is Trump’s amygdala?, my amateurish review of The Republican Workers Party, which I …
: I nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize whoever it was who came up with the idea of making a cheese log …
: My 2018 reading list. Leaf by Niggle (more a short story) Against Amazon The awakening of Miss Prim The shallows Fare …
: I had no idea that “St. Clive the New Academic” had cheated me of the proper context of the …
: My main thought about Brad Vermurlen’s 25 Non-Christian Press Books from 2018 that Christians …
: I could probably link to Seth Godin about half the time, but you can follow him yourself if …
: Bobby Jindal (If Democrats Were Shrewd) has an interesting suggestion for some partisan jujitsu, …
: Anticlimax of the day: Elizabeth Warren is running for President.
: Began The Republican Worker’s Party: How the Trump Victory Drove Everyone Crazy and Why It Was …
: Finished The Silk Roads, A New History of the World, this afternoon. It’s a good way for a …
: Just got my new ZoomZoom magazine as a Mazda owner. I’ve long liked Mazdas (much better than Toyota …
: Step back “Step back” is advice I need to hear, so probably some others do, too. I’m talking …
: What other president would insist on shutting down part of the federal government because Congress …
: All Things Considered interviews Joan Baez, reminding me (a) I always like her as a person of …
: If Purdue 🏈 doesn’t score on this possession, I have a The Silk Roads 📚 waiting for my eyes.
: Purdue 🏈 vs. Auburn is reminding me why I haven’t made watching Purdue 🏈 a priority. 🏀’s …
: Larry Eisenberg, 99, Dead; His Limericks Were Very Well Read New York Times headline. The obituary …
: Noble rats If you have a Wall Street Journal subscription, don’t miss this week’s Peggy Noonan …
: Progressive nonprofits bode to make things uncomfortable for Team Trump. The left has no bigger …
: Sad Radicals Want to know what Westboro Baptist Church would look like without an explicitly religious ideology? …
: Orthodox hymnody hints that we, too, may once have commemorated St. Stephen on the 26th: Yesterday …
: I voted against this bill because I cannot support a wall that is nothing more than a 14th Century …
: It’s so obvious. Why didn’t I think of “King Minus Touch”?
: When celebrities come out with ideas for passing new laws, it’s usually polite to avert one’s glance …
: Camile Paglia on Jordan Peterson There are astounding parallels between Jordan Peterson’s work and mine. In its anti-ideological, …
: An ethical choice masquerading as medical fact The heart, in my assessment, of one of the year’s top long-form journalism pieces: In 1967, Henry …
: A Christmas Letter from New York … In New York, diversity is a fact, it isn’t a formula imposed by the diversity committee. You look …
: An Arabic Christmas hymn (with subtitles). Eastern Christian hymnody, especially about Christ, is …
: A surprisingly complicated tale The best way to describe Trump’s support in the Republican primaries—when he was running …
: I am a word guy, but I understand that words sometimes fail, or that “a pictures is worth a …
: Faith is not the supposition that something might be true, but the assurance that someone is there. …
: Live Not By Lies Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, wrote towards the end of the Soviet Union. Living under a regime that was …
: A major reason I read American Conservative.
: Began The Silk Roads, A New History of the World, last night. I’m a lousy historian, but reading …
: Cutting bait The resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is the icing on this blood-drenched cake. Yes, …
: Each year, around now, I read W.H. Auden’s For the Time Being. (@ayjay has a critical edition …
: They know better Highly paid software engineers and tech executives aren’t stupid. Although they may not have read …
: Diversity is a shibboleth that shifts attention from the substantive question of whether our elites …
: Der Spiegel reporter Claas Relotius sacked over ‘invented’ stories. I most resent this …
: Into the vortex of apostasy.
: Alan Dershowitz Is Lying To You, says Popehat.
: Can’t be at ease with your Halloween costume. Can’t be at ease with the music you listen to. Can’t …
: Be very afraid: Kremlin discovers humor. “Russia’s move towards using humour to influence its campaigns is a relatively recent phenomenon,” …
: My Advent/Christmas choral singing is complete, after four extra rehearsals and three concerts in …
: Have you ever wondered whether Orthodox Christians really worship icons, denials notwithstanding? I …
: When you’ve figured out that you’re never going to figure it all out, how do you figure how much …
: Brilliant! Sisyphus Tweets his day.
: Will Donald Trump’s accidental legacy be an overdue clawing back of power from the Executive by the …
: Judging from Obituaries in national newspapers, Nancy Wilson was not underrated; she just …
: Here’s the racket that you should have gone into … Here’s the racket that you should have gone into. You’re selling something, a college diploma, …
: Tucker Carlson is smart and interesting enough that I’d like to watch him on TV if I liked to watch …
: I’m the kind of guy who, if I became a billionaire, would be happy to lose money on publishing a …
: One of the hardest life lessons I ever had to learn is that in the main, people prefer to be …
: Report from The Retired Guy, playing househusband to his still-working wife: our light loads stick …
: Electing Magic Ponies Peggy Noonan once again puts into words something that a lot of us probably have intuited vaguely: …
: Sigh! Nancy Wilson, who always seemed more than a bit underrated as a songstress, has died at age …
: Christian struggle against evil in this world is not, in its first instance, political or social, …
: I very recently retired from the practice of law, midwest county seat style. I hated dealing with …
: They can keep the furniture; we’ll keep the faith. Sherri Edman, ACNA Member whose church lost all …
: Princess Gloria is working with Stephen K. Bannon, center, the populist former adviser to President …
: Complicit with The Man, I’m really enjoying streaming the “Best of Joni Mitchell” play list on …
: [T]here are good Catholics and bad Catholics and … the [New York] Times team gets to decide who is …
: We. Are. Doomed. More people are getting their “news” from social media than from print …
: It seems unlikely that I’ll read anything timelier today than Joseph Sternberg, Macron’s …
: Compounding meritocracy [U]nless families are abolished, successful parents will always pass on advantages to their …
: The Origin of Pointy-Haired Bosses This is where Dilbert’s pointy-haired boss came from: “I don’t actually know much,” an …
: #NeverTrump conservatives holding firm The past two years have given the lie to many of the nastiest accusations the left levels against …
: Anti-meritocracy has a "last chapter problem" When an author caps two hundred pages of rhetorical fire with fifteen pages of platitudes or utopian …
: Patronage is the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace, and that is Power. …
: Everyone has a religion. It is, in fact, impossible not to have a religion if you are a human being. …
: Jake Meador announces his “2018 Eliot Awards” for best magazine writing. There’s some very …
: I’d like to say that everyone on the Purdue team who’s not named “Carson Edwards” or “Evan …
: 🏀 I’m very, very happy for Carson Edwards. I wish he could get a little help from his friends. …
: “There is a reason normal people hate journalists.”
: Wall Street Journal says binge-watching is “only the beginning” of the future of television. I may …
: Ammon Bundy creates a teachable moment, but some people are just incorrigible, unteachable — and …
: As long as I’m kvetching about language use (like “shaking up” an Administration that’s in constant …
: A lovely Luci Shaw poem via Malcolm Guite.
: What does Alexander Acosta’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion in the case against …
: Chilling words from the Orthodox Lectionary today (Gregorian calendar): “Then Satan entered Judas, …
: THREE shot-clock violations forced by Purdue against Maryland! 🏀
: “Die young as late as possible” is an endearing slogan, though not as pious a goal as …
: Mars Hill Audio Journal, to which several of the people I’m interacting with here should be …
: Add to the list of things that do not acutely worry me: Who Will Run to Bernie’s Left?. I’m …
: It’s now official: I have a weakness for woodcuts and linocuts. Two are in view as I sit at …
: Personal Rule of Thumb for songs: if it only sounds good with the performer writhing in a video, it …
: Big doings in SCOTUS today (pay wall). My drive-by reaction is “uphold the precedent” …
: Tutored in Bible “literalism” and, like Hammarskjöld, punctilious about words, I just …
: I am very envious of how Klein got a 26-minute book trailer courtesy on prime time. Guess it’s who …
: Obituary Wars Bryan Behar did something unconscionable. He praised George H.W. Bush. The former president had just …
: It is a shame that systematic injustice to men generally was insufficient reason for this feminist …
: Missing the WASPs Why the extraordinary attention to George H.W. Bush? Put simply, Americans miss Bush because we …
: Milestone: My first Social Security Retirement check hits the account today.
: I’m the cog in the middle that makes it all turn together. Brad Parscale, Trump’s 2020 …
: Joe Carter is wrong. Rod Dreher is right. Dreher might deepen your understanding of why hundreds of …
: A blog I’ve been following spent a lot of time Monday on Jerome Corsi. I finally blurted out …
: Humanly irrelevant distinctions Mom, I am so sorry. My life has been hell since March 2003 when I was part of the Iraq …
: What's "manly" and "tough"? I equate toughness with moral fiber, with character, with principle, with demonstrated leadership in …
: Sully, George H.W. Bush’s service dog, lies before his casket in viral photo - The Washington …
: What do Alan Dershowitz and Willie Mays Have in Common? Yes, this is legal wonkery, but the smart participants at micro.blog can get it if they take a deep …
: Well, they did ask for my opinion… AT&T wanted me to take a customer survey. Everything was multiple choice until, at last, an …
: Court Throws Out Season Ticket Holder’s Lawsuit Over Football Anthem Protests
: I try not to play Ding-A-Ling to any Hokey Wolves, but it’s still shocking to see the …
: The Assange test case What happens to Assange will be one of the biggest test cases for press freedoms in America ever. At …
: Brooks' conservatism, Bacevich's conservatism [T]o say that compassionate conservatism did not work out is, at the very least, misleading. The …
: The fate of the Special Counsel Report? I was inclined to think that the Trump administration would bury the Special Counsel Report, and to …
: Les gilets jaunes Rather than an ideology or a clear philosophy, the gilets jaunes seem to share a set of attitudes, …
: How to "read" God Christ is how we “read” God. We cannot get behind Christ to speak about God as though we knew …
: Talkin’ bout my generation: Remember Chef BoyArDee Ravioli? Blech!!! If that’s your memory of …
: Grandkids’ piano recital in Indianapolis today. The penultimate performer, Romanian ancestry, did a …
: Social Media Microcosm: Nextdoor was burying me with notices from all over the city until I found a …
: Long a fan of Cogi, it never occurred to me that time (and Otter) might have passed it by. (On the …
: From my “big blog,” Clippings & Commentary for today.
: If they’re thinking of re-emphasizing teetotalism to keep their members unspotted by the …
: Toxic Masculinity We used to argue that climate change was a tough political question because its effects were so …
: Headline: “Judges for Betsy DeVos - Another ruling for the campus due process she is trying to …
: Of the $17.5 billion or so of stolen money for which claims have been filed, they have recovered …
: Bamboo socks: very comfortable and durable; drying time = half-life of Cesium-137.
: If you have any interest in what Special Counsel Robert Mueller is up to, Ken White lays it out in …
: There’s nothing all that unprecedented about Paul Manafort’s lawyers talking to the …
: Media software developer Plex has enabled its users to stream Tidal through the app alongside their …
: MSM Is Like Big Pharma: The Rewards Of Malpractice Outweigh The Penalties Interesting headline, …
: Perhaps the greatest grace ever given me was my loss of interest in popular culture some decades …
: Rare occurrence: I didn’t like the looks of my waiter at Sunday dinner yesterday, so I decided …
: William S. Lind is at the rightmost edge of bloggers I follow, and I read him with caution because …
: If you have a tour with “Winterreise” or “Songs of a Wayfarer,” something like that, you can’t …
: Tough question If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be? There is a joke in here …
: I regret the absence of a wrestling emoji as I watch a dual meet, Purdue at Iowa, on BTN.
: David Brooks, The Return of the Chastened Establishment. A glimmer of political hope and sanity.
: The December First Things has arrived, and R.R. Reno is worth the cost again after a few months left …
: Useless beauty (expanded) Beauty does not feed the body, but the soul, and thus beauty testifies to the fact that there is …
: And now you can drive someone out of business for what they didn’t print.
: What POTUS gets wrong about SCOTUS We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an …
: Behind every five-dollar bill handed out a car window to a homeless man, there is some useless …
: No democracy can survive in … a paranoid climate of ambush and summary execution. Camille Paglia
: [S]ecular humanism has failed. As an atheist, I have argued that if religion is erased, something …
: The benefit of the law The success of his appeal makes me ashamed to be an American. It is a reminder that in cases …
: Eugenics today In France a pro-life video was banned by the government because it shows children and adults with …
: Sisyphus today New York University finance professor Aswath Damodaran, who literally wrote the book on valuation, …
: Facebook has its Upton Sinclair moment, when we see just how the sausage is made and it turns our …
: From 1945 until today - 20 to 30 million people killed by the USA..
: Ingenious: Divide States to Democratize the Senate. (Pay Wall) It responds to a plausible concern …
: An instructive pattern emerges: When Gospel Coalition people opine on LGBT issues and celibate …
: In anticipation of Black Friday In 2007, the journalist Adam Welz records, 13 rhinos were killed by poachers in South Africa. This …
: Seth Godin on (metaphorical) Signal to Noise Ratio.
: On a lighter note, I think Purdue men’s basketball is going to be a real pleasure to watch …
: Then there are the lies of self-deception, the ones we tell about ourselves. These are the most …
: After much effort, overnight success The suddenness of the cultural revolution of the Sixties was due to the fact that the Western …
: Every so often, it’s worth paying homage to people who “got it right” when others …
: I’m consistently impressed by Alastair Roberts, affiliated with Theopolis Institute, though …
: Expert: One who assures that the evidence fits the desires of those who get invited to all the best …
: They changed the world to sand, and now find it slipping through their fingers. Jonathan Pageau
: Off the beaten path, but excellent every time I’ve attended: Eighth Day Symposium, Wichita, …
: So the last time I read Brave New World I said to myself “Self: this Huxley fella is way more …
: “Stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.” II …
: Cultivating the soul [P]eople only really become interesting when they differentiate themselves from one another, as true …
: Our future is thus most likely to be a dystopian one. But it won’t be the dystopia of the …
: The world would be better off if people tried to become better. And people would become better if …
: One of the big reasons why the Right has never been able to defend itself from undermining attacks …
: Provocative and very worthwhile: How Christians Invented Secularism (And Pop Culture). [F]or my …
: Why Western European heads of state choose childlessness: “My dad arranged for your dad a $20 …
: On this Armistice Day, Fire: A Sestina For Survivors, by Malcolm Guite
: If we are crazy, then it is because we refuse to be crazy in the same way that the world has gone …
: The Venn diagram is dead. There’s no overlapping area. David Brooks
: [T]hose of us who are teachers, preachers, pastors, we don’t do people any good by trying to make …
: I’m encouraged by groups like Better Angels and Mejdi multiple-narratave tours, promoting …
: I’ve been frustrated by the speculation about what “Acting Attorney General” …
: I just returned from a dual-narrative Mejdi Tour of the Holy Land. Our problems in the U.S. are a …
: With all due respect to the breathless pundits, Tuesday was not a particularly strong rebuke of …
: Temple Mount is beautiful, as is the Dome of the Rock. But it’s easy to imagine someone desiring its …
: Yesterday in “Capharnum,” ruins of a synagogue Jesus frequented. Today, arrived at Jerusalem and …
: But-but-but-but — the announcers said the momentum had shifted to Oakland. How can this happen? 🏈
: Pro Tip: When you demonstrate angrily in public, you may not be happy to find your photograph …
: Some sober thoughts on the Pittsburgh shooting. [T]here is one infallible rule for a sensible …
: To pursue The Quieter Life requires overcoming our fear of missing out, our fear that, if we let our …
: If you can’t describe the problem without babbling about Jews and Jewishness, it’s …
: Almost everything I need to know about Robert Bowers, the Pittsburgh synagogue murderer, is …
: [M]anager Dave Roberts emerged from the dugout. He had decided that the bullpen gave the Dodgers a …
: Feeding frenzy One reporter from a national newspaper deceived his way into our library so that he could rummage …
: Corporate interference in politics If there was money to be made in pointing out double standards, the job would be very secure: …
: I made two good decisions in the last 11 hours: Watching game 3 of the World Series ⚾️; and …
: When you’re out of the habit of watching baseball, seeing Hank Aaron, Sandy Koufax, that …
: "Fear of the Lord" is soooo old paradigm The essence of de-Hellenization is a loss of “the superiority of the immutable over the changeable,” …
: When paradigms shift. [R]ival paradigms are incommensurable … Incommensurability means that there is no agreement about …