I have recently finished reading Francis Fukuyama’s excellent book, Identity The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, published back in 2018, trying to explain why the world isn’t behaving the way Francis and I think it ought, and not doing a bad job of it at all. I’ve written round and about Dr….
Search Results for: Tea Party
Eugene Volokh, brilliant and noble champion of the First Amendment or just another brick in the wall?
Both, actually. At the age of 10, in 1978, Mr. Volokh took the Math “Aptitude” SAT and scored 780 out of 800. He graduated from UCLA at 15, later graduated from UCLA Law, and now teaches there, and also runs the estimable, largely libertarian “Volokh Conspiracy” website. Here is what someone who is quite reasonably…
Barack Obama, still not getting it after all these years
I confess that I have not read President Obama’s recent memoir, A Promised Land, nor am I likely to, because I have convinced myself that the political pressures on American politicians make it impossible, or at least exceedingly unlikely, for them to ever write anything that resembles an honest book. I would say that this…
Has Boss Schumer’s Hour Come Round At Last?
“I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price! You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.” Thus Charles Schumer, senior senator from New York and possible new majority leader of the Senate, to be…
Will “Race” Sink the Democrats?
Well, I hope not. But one has to worry. Images of New York, Portland, Minneapolis, and Kenosha burning can have a strong impact on the “I’m no racist, but” crowd, who are not charmed by Trump’s general boorishness but don’t like riots. Smart phones are bringing home the ubiquity of racism in police departments across…
Stout Stories: “A Social Call” and “Truffles To Die For”
A Social Call “I’m afraid that would be impossible.” “I agree entirely. And it’s been my experience that when things are impossible, they don’t happen. Which means that we should just forget about this.” She laughed. “But that would be impossible as well.” “I assure you it wouldn’t, Ms. Harris—nor, in fact, is it. If…
Winston Churchill, Total Homo
Yeah, you read that right. Winston Spencer Leonard Churchill, worshipped by neocons as a monumental, more than human demi-god, had an eye for the lads. Or so says Michael Bloch in his diverting 2015 opus, Closet Queens Some 20th Century British Politicians. Although there’s no good evidence that Sir Winston ever went to bed with…
Political Notes from All Over: Paul Krugman is cool, Ross Douthat is mad, Kamala Harris is “necessary” (probably), and Black Lives Matter is living down to Billy Barr’s expectations
Tough to be a man! Or a woman! Or even just a little kid. But stuff happens, as Donnie Rumsfeld liked to say, and this is some of the stuff that’s happening. First up is the good news: Paul Krugman is cool! I’ve frequently though not necessarily bitched about the way the Krugman too often,…
One nation under God? More like four! Or more!
Yes, we are many nations, something that is probably true of other countries as well, but I don’t live there, so I can’t comment on them. But I can comment on the U.S. Nation 1: The American Indians The American Indians are the first, smallest (about 1%), and saddest of the nations. They were here…
Daniel Drezner, you shall not escape my wrath!
Well, you won’t, Dan. Just because I’m painfully slow and stumbling off the mark, and not much better down the stretch, you thought you could slip a few fast ones by me, but nuh-uh. I’m onto your game, and you’ll pay the price. The first of Dan’s “curve balls” (to vary the metaphor) came a…