The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Historical Analogies and the Current Crisis

Here’s a question most people have never pondered: Why did the North fight the Civil War? The way history is taught, the focus is on slavery and the South, and the motives of the Confederacy are subjected to critical scrutiny in a way that the Union side of the controversy is not. If you start […]

Please Stop Slandering Jefferson Davis

In recent days, various of my conservative friends have thought it amusing to compare Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to Jefferson Davis. The intent is to compare Walz’s opposition to federal immigration enforcement to the Confederate president’s defense of Southern independence. They mean this as a joke, see? “States’ Rights, LOL!” There is, however, only so […]

Thoughts From a ‘Heritage American’

Perhaps you’re not on X (formerly known as Twitter) and therefore have been spared the quarrel over “Heritage Americans.” Don’t know who coined that term or in what context it originated, but it seems to be a critique of the “proposition nation” ideology that George Will did so much to promote. Far be it from […]

This Day in American History

Before we discuss what it means — this date marking a crucial anniversary — let us first recount the relevant facts: On or about August 20, 1619, “20 and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrive in the British colony of Virginia and are then bought by English colonists. . . . Founded at Jamestown […]

Why Decca Didn’t Sign the Beatles (and Why That Was Really a Lucky Break)

How long have I been a Beatles fans? Since the mid-1970s, when there was a sort of reverb echo of “Beatlemania.” Born in 1959, I’d been much too young to take notice of the Beatles craze that swept America in 1964, although I do recall my cousins Deb and Trish (teenagers at the time) being […]

Of Declarations and Independence

Today is the 249th anniversary of the publication of the Declaration of Independence. The Fourth of July is celebrated as Independence Day because it was on this date in 1776 that printers in Philadelphia issued the first public copies of the declaration. The Second Continental Congress had voted for independence two days earlier, but took […]

Sweden-Kampuchea Friendship Association 2.0: Illegal Immigrants Are the New Khmer Rouge or Something

Dana Pico was thrashing Philadelphia Inquirer liberal columnist Will Bunch, who loves Kilmar Abrego Garcia more than he loves his own mother, and it got me thinking about the utterly reflexive nature of left-wing politics. Liberals see the world as a great dramatic conflict between the Forces of Evil (Republicans generally, and Donald Trump specifically) […]

Hitler, the Nobel Prize and ‘Grease’

Truth is stranger than fiction, it is proverbially said, and such is the course of history that events and people can be connected in ways that you never imagined. Certainly I never dreamed that the hit musical Grease could be connected to a Nobel Prize-winning physicist and a World War II military intelligence officer, until […]

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