The Other McCain

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

Is the Left Breaking Apart?

Before getting into the issue addressed by the headline, would you mind if I tell you a bit of a personal story? Because I was a witness to the birth of the so-called “Alt-Right” circa 2007, and was directly acquainted with many of the personalities involved. When I had first come to Washington, D.C., a […]

Freddie deBoer, ‘Elite Overproduction’ and the Inevitability of Competition

One aspect of my personality that most people don’t usually “get” is that I am intensely competitive by nature. The reason this trait is invisible is because, over the years, I found it advantageous to conceal it. “Never let ’em see you sweat” was my philosophy, and I made a point of appearing jocular, happy-go-lucky, […]

It’s Almost as If Freddie deBoer Never Read ‘The Road to Wigan Pier’

If you don’t know who Freddie deBoer is, you should. He is one of those leftists who, a la Christopher Hitchens, refuses to follow the herd, to ignore facts and common sense, or to forgo necessary criticism of his own side of the aisle. Which means that sooner or later, by the inexorable logic of […]

‘We Were Somewhere Around Barstow on the Edge of the Desert When the Trump Derangement Syndrome Began to Take Hold …’

Look, if Ed Driscoll wants to play the literary allusion sweepstakes, I’ll see his Allen Ginsberg and raise him a Hunter S. Thompson. But the important point, really, is not about trying to win a silly game of Internet one-upsmanship, but rather that Bill Kristol has become a pathetic joke — a caricature of a […]

The Action and the Reaction

What have we learned here? A self-declared “free speech absolutist” makes an offer to purchase Twitter, and many liberals instantly get nightmare visions of Hitler. Glenn Reynolds observes: “Democracy Dies in Darkness” is the motto of the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post. It may sound like a warning, but more and more it seems like a […]

The Problem With ‘Equality’

  In the mid-1970s, in an attack on [Wilmoore] Kendall, [Harry] Jaffa published an article, “Equality as a Conservative Principle,” the very title of which served to mark him as a latter-day Jacobin in the eyes of many conservatives influenced by Edmund Burke. (“Believe me, Sir, those who attempt to level never equalise. In all […]

Is Ace of Spades ‘Cruel’?

Who was it that first described Ace of Spades as an ewok? I don’t know, but it stuck, because he was bearded and bespectacled and cuddly. Maybe since he’s started working out — GAINZZ! — Ace is less ewok-like than he used to be, but was it fair for Victor Davis Hanson to call him […]

Policy Goal: Avoid World War III

Ever since Russia invaded Ukraine, I keep thinking of Barbara Tuchman’s Pulitzer-winning history The Guns of August, which chronicled the miscalculations that led to World War I. Probably few of the people blabbing about the need for NATO to defend Ukraine have read Tuchman’s book, and certainly they seem heedless of its lessons. While I’m […]

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