“But old clothes are beastly,” continued the untiring whisper. “We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better …” Children in Brave New World were hypno-trained with messages of endless consumption and appetite for new things. Because without constant and regular consumption, the over-production of […]
Continue reading →Exactly 100 years ago today, troops fighting on both sides of the Great War laid aside their arms for a day in what became known as the Christmas Truce of 1914, a spontaneous outpouring of Christmas spirit in the trenches. The Christmas Truce of 1914 played out differently in various places along the trenches, but […]
Continue reading →You probably haven’t heard of the Umayyad Caliphate, which in itself is a testimony to the effectiveness of its defeat. But there was a time when the Islamic Umayyad armies had taken over a huge swath of the ancient world, reaching from India all the way to the Iberian Peninsula. That’s where Spain is. In […]
Continue reading →I’ve noted something recently about Thanksgiving in particular and American gratitude in general. Our gratitude is generally accompanied by a spirit of resignation or complacency. I read posts and hear comments all the time to this effect: “Sure, America is going down the toilet, but it’s still the greatest country on earth. We still have […]
Continue reading →According to Seattle, yesterday was Indigenous People’s Day. Not Columbus Day: The name change comes after activists pushed for a day to honor indigenous people instead of Christopher Columbus, the most recognizable figure linked to European contact with the Americas. “This is about taking a stand against racism and discrimination,” Seattle City Council member Kshama […]
Continue reading →Want more proof that the United States is a decadent empire in its twilight years? Here it is. We’ve decided to allow a select group of illegal immigrants (as many as 2 million fit the description) to enlist in the military. This seems to be the first step in Obama’s promise to find other paths […]
Continue reading →Recently, some idiot teacher named Michael Kaechele positively compared the riots in Ferguson to the Boston Tea Party. Yes. He really did: The tragic event of the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri have [sic] led to protests and rioting against police brutality. It brings to the surface (again) the institutional racism that has […]
Continue reading →One of the most consistent refrains of Tea Party politicians is that their political philosophy is the most consistent with the Founding Fathers. But some more astute observers of history are disputing this, saying that the Founding Fathers were politicians who crafted the Constitution on compromises—and that some of the Founding Fathers were more big-government […]
Continue reading →It’s Friday, July 4, 2014, and Americans everywhere are firing up their grills and pulling out their stockpiles of technicolor ordnance to celebrate Independence Day. For most, eating too much meat and watching fireworks with the kids is about as far as this celebration will go. And most will never really consider what we are […]
Continue reading →In a short speech on Wednesday, Obama declared, “When I can act on my own without Congress, I’m going to do so.” He may have been referring specifically to unemployment benefits. But the fact remains that this characterizes his presidency (or should we say “reign”?). In the years preceding the ratification of the US Constitution, […]
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