The Other McCain

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

False Dilemmas and Real Binaries: Patterns of Error in Logic and Rhetoric

  In his book SJWs Always Lie, Vox Day makes the important distinction between logic (the mental process by which we seek truth) and rhetoric (the language of persuasion). Both logic and rhetoric are skills necessary to statesmanship, because the political leader must first analyze the problems of public policy (logic), then explain the problem […]

Welcome to ‘Bizarre Hell-World’

Headline by Ed Driscoll at Instapundit: WE’VE DESCENDED INTO SOME SORT OF BIZARRE HELL-WORLD IN WHICH ANDREW SULLIVAN IS A VOICE OF SANITY You know, I’ve never forgiven Sully for his anti-Palin obsession, which reeked of gay misogyny and Harvard-educated anti-populist resentment, and the reason I’ve never forgiven him is because he’s never asked for […]

Poulos, You Magnificent Bastard!

  James Poulos has perhaps forgotten our first email exchange, many years ago, in which I offered him some sage advice, but whether or not he remembers that exchange, he has certainly followed my advice, and has thus risen to become Executive Editor of The American Mind. Poulos has never written anything that the Thought […]

UPDATE: Max Boot Is Still an Idiot

  Monday, I noticed an unexplained surge of traffic to my April 14 post with the simple title “Max Boot Is an Idiot,” in which I described the Trump-hating former Wall Street Journal writer as “one of the most overrated neocon gasbags in Washington.” What could have caused this increase of interest in Max Boot’s […]

The Poison Fruit of Radical Seeds

  Last weekend a gunman opened fire on the annual Garlic Festival in Gilroy, California, killing three and injuring 12. The shooter was soon identified as Santino Legan, 19, and as to his motive, there was a cryptic Instagram reference to Might Is Right by Ragnar Redbeard. We cannot ask the killer what he intended […]

‘Oikophobia’ and #NeverTrump: How Can We ‘Secure the Blessings of Liberty’?

  What has prompted our immigration crisis? Isn’t it the same sentiment that leads Democrats (and David French, but I repeat myself) to claim Ilhan Omar is a better American than anyone born here? “Oikophobia,” a hatred of one’s native country (and of one’s fellow citizens) is the most remarkable proof that our elite class […]

Reading Samizdat

This morning, I answered an email from a reader disappointed that I had linked the pickup artist (PUA) site Chateau Heartiste in my post about feminist Sophie Vershbow. The content of the post at Chateau Heartiste is anti-Semitic, and the comments on the post are even worse, and I replied to the reader’s email explaining […]

Rich Liberals (and Why We Hate Them)

  You probably never heard of Anand Giridharadas — I hadn’t, until yesterday — but let’s begin our introduction with this: He attended Sidwell Friends School, the same ultra-elite private school in D.C. to which Bill and Hillary Clinton sent their daughter Chelsea. His father Mohan Giridharadas spent 18 years at the global management consulting […]

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