The Thatcher Line

Commentary by , June 15, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The Thatcher Line It is totally in keeping with the tone of the current political debate that the news that is actually most important is the least discussed. Here is what’s really important: we’re careening headlong past the Thatcher Line, the point at which the government runs […]

Comments are closed

Trump’s Diplomacy Is Just Bad Theater

Feature Article by , June 13, 2018

In their “unprecedented” one-on-one summit in Singapore, US President Donald Trump announced that he would suspend joint military operations with South Korea. In return, North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un agreed to…um, er, let me check. OK, nothing. He agreed to do nothing in return. Read the “agreement” signed by Trump and Kim as the result […]

Comments are closed

“Why Can’t We Hate?”

Commentary by , June 11, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The Geopolitics of Resentment Donald Trump’s so-called “populism” is a euphemism for a politics that is primarily about venting your resentment, sticking a finger in somebody’s eye without really caring about any other consequences. Consider Trump’s handling of the latest G-7 Summit, which is supposed to be […]

Comments are closed

IT-Backed Authoritarianism

Commentary by , June 8, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. “IT-Backed Authoritarianism” If you want to know where Google’s social-engineering aspirations are headed, you don’t need to look to the future. Look to China’s “social credit system,” a merger of Western-style financial credit scores with a more nebulous and politicized measure of a citizen’s orderliness—and political loyalty. […]

Comments are closed

Progressives Against Enlightenment

Feature Article by , June 6, 2018

One of my concerns about the Trump era is that it signals a wave of anti-intellectualism on the right, a collapse in concern for basic ideas. It has also triggered something of an anti-intellectual response on the left, because Trump is the bogeyman who justifies blind, frenetic “resistance” in place of thoughtful criticism and reasoned […]

Comments are closed

Killing Freedom Softly

Feature Article by , June 4, 2018

Today, in a resounding 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court affirmed that the government cannot crush your freedom unless they’re really nice about it. The court ruled in favor of Jack Phillips, a devout Christian and proprietor of Masterpiece Cakeshop, who had been prosecuted by the Colorado Civil Rights Commission for refusing to bake a cake […]

Comments are closed

The Spies Who Came Back to the Cold

Commentary by , June 2, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The Right to Try The best part of the Trump administration, underneath the overhanging existential dread, is the push for deregulation. A lot of this has been done through executive action, which is of limited value because it can be undone by the next president (something Barack […]

Comments are closed

“Roseanne” and Donald

Feature Article by , May 31, 2018

Roseanne Barr has been fired, causing ABC to cancel the rebooted version of her self-named TV show, “Roseanne,” because of a tweet with arguably racist implications. The whole debacle is a microcosm of the way we live now, and in ways that are not comforting for either side. Sure, it’s a warning about the hair […]

Comments are closed

Is Google Landru?

Feature Article by , May 30, 2018

Last week, I wrote about how those of us on the right can be Star Trek fans despite its supposedly “Progressive” politics. Partly, this is because good art is about a lot more than a didactic political message. But it also struck me how much of the message of Star Trek is consistent with the […]

Comments are closed

Generic Democratic Candidate

Commentary by , May 28, 2018

Five Things You Need to Read Today 1. The Gods of the Copybook Headings In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all, By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul; But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy, And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: […]

Comments are closed