The Other McCain

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

One Hundred Years Ago

Anniversaries often slip my attention. A.O. Scott has a long essay in the New York Times about World War I, which began in August 1914, so that we are now living in the 100th anniversary of the last summer of peace before that bloody atrocity. Scott points to a startling fact: On July 1, 1916, […]

‘Hold Until Relieved’

Today is the 70th anniversary of D-Day, and Americans rightly take pride in the heroic courage of our troops who saw that historic day’s bloodiest fighting on Omaha Beach. However, one of my favorite stories of D-Day — vividly told in Cornelius Ryan’s classic The Longest Day — is of the British glider troops who […]

You Know You’re Baked When. . .

by Smitty . . .a three-day conference on the military featuring speakers such as Paul Begala and Chelsea Clinton. I used to encourage young men to consider strongly a bit of military service after high school graduation. But Chelsea Clinton knows as much about the military as Chelsea Manning knows about manhood. And the prospect […]

The New Crimean War

Ukraine's Acting President Puts All Armed Forces On Full Combat Alert http://t.co/AuS07Ock5u #Ukraine #Russia — Joy Keller (@JoyKeller1) March 1, 2014 The latest headlines via Memeorandum: Putin’s War in Crimea Could Soon Spread to Eastern Ukraine — The New Republic Condemnation isn’t enough for Russian actions in Crimea — Washington Post Explainer: The Budapest Memorandum […]

Open Letter To Mike Church, aka @TheKingDude On The Military

by Smitty Dear Mike Church, I enjoyed your remarks earlier this week on the U.S. military. I’m a retired Navy Reservist, and find your ideas in keeping with the main strain of historical American thought, at least up to the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. While Teddy Roosevelt’s early 20th-century Great White […]

Up Through the Ranks, Under the Bus

Have you heard about Clint Lorance? In 2002, the Texan enlisted in the Army on his 18th birthday, and was promoted to sergeant in two years. In 2005, he earned his Airborne wings at Fort Benning. Sgt. Lorance was deployed to Iraq with the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team from September 2006 to November 2007. […]

If He’s Lost Lawrence O’Donnell …

. . . Edward Snowden’s status as progressive hero is over: MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell skewered Edward Snowden’s Christmas address on Thursday, saying the National Security Agency leaker’s claims are “wildly overblown.” “Every time he speaks, every time, he will say things that are absurdly, wildly overblown,” O’Donnell said. “He says that the government is, […]

‘Discrimination,’ Arguing by Exceptions, and the Obvious Insanity of Androgyny

Liberalism’s obsession with equality requires us to pretend that such distinctions as “male” and “female” are ultimately meaningless, and that any policy which recognizes these categories as significant must be abolished in order to prevent discrimination. This is where the rhetoric of liberalism is exposed as a species of madness. While proclaiming their devotion to […]

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