So Who Is John Galt, Anyway?

Announcement by , September 26, 2019

I’m pleased to announce that So Who Is John Galt, Anyway? A Reader’s Guide to Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged is now available at Amazon. You can buy it as a paperback or as an e-book. A lot of credit goes to my wife, Sherri, for spending a couple of weeks of her time making the […]

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The Man-in-the-Middle Campaign

Feature Article by , October 24, 2020

One of the best ways to gauge how a presidential debate turned out is to ask: What is everybody talking about the next day? After the final presidential debate, what people seem to be talking about is Joe Biden’s equivocal answer on fracking and fossil fuels. You could argue this is a bit of a […]

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Someone Is Wrong on the Internet

Commentary by , October 20, 2020

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. Lamest October Surprise Ever There has been a big online kerfuffle about supposed bombshell reports showing Joe Biden’s corruption by way of his sleazy, ne’er-do-well son Hunter Biden. To cover this, though, we’re going to need some wider context. The central claim against Biden is that as […]

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What’s So Bad About Trump’s Tweets

Feature Article by , October 19, 2020

The congressional hearings for Amy Coney Barrett have set off another round of whining from Trump supporters about the unfairness of it all. Not the unfairness of the treatment of Judge Barrett—who has handled the hearings well enough that she is likely to be rapidly confirmed—but the unfairness of their treatment at the hands of […]

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“Mr. Rogers Versus Your Crazy Uncle”

Commentary by , October 16, 2020

Second Non-Debate Roundup October 16, 2020 Welcome to another day of “Trump-bashing.” I still get complaints from some readers about this. I’m glad you’ve stuck around this long, I hope I offer enough non-election-related material to make it worth keeping your subscription, and you can take comfort in the fact that it’s only going to […]

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The Case Against “Western Civilization”

Feature Article by , October 13, 2020

After giving it long and serious thought, I have decided to come out against “Western Civilization.” I’m sure I’m not fooling any of my longtime readers with this. You know this doesn’t mean what it might seem to mean, and you have probably already noticed that I used quotation marks around “Western Civilization.” I am, […]

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“Insurrection for Insurrection’s Sake”

Commentary by , October 9, 2020

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. “A Blessing from God” For another politician, contracting COVID-19 might be a humbling moment, a prompt to take the disease more seriously, show gratitude for having survived it, and maybe show a little empathy for those who have suffered worse than he has. For Donald Trump, it […]

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Salon of the Refused, Episode 22

Announcement by , October 6, 2020

Episode 22 of my podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I talk with Helen Pluckrose, editor of Areo magazine and co-author of Cynical Theories, about the roots of today’s “woke” culture war in the philosophical school of Postmodernism. The conversation includes: how a philosophy of radical skepticism became dogmatic and authoritarian, how we […]

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The Epistemological Election

Commentary by , October 2, 2020

Presidential Debate Roundup Update: Well, October is going to be interesting. As this newsletter goes out, we got the news that Donald and Melania Trump have tested positive for coronavirus, a development that seems logically inevitable. This could completely transform the presidential contest or it could have no effect whatsoever, depending on the severity of […]

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The “Very Fine People” President

Feature Article by , October 1, 2020

Among many appalling moments in Tuesday night’s debate, Donald Trump repeated his Charlottesville “very fine people” technique, once again shying away from condemning white nationalists. Challenged point-blank to condemn violent and white nationalist groups, Trump instead told them to “stand by” because “somebody’s gotta do something about Antifa and the left.” This was immediately taken […]

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Salon of the Refused, Episode 21

Announcement by , September 29, 2020

Episode 21 of my podcast series, Salon of the Refused, is now available. I talk with Washington Post columnist George F. Will about the rising statism of the right. The conversation includes: how he became more “libertarian,” the “loaded pistol” of populism and the virtues of elitism, the paradox of American conservatism, the substance of Donald […]

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