It's another New Year, an opportunity (hopefully) to do better than before. I'm taking the opportunity for new beginnings to do something I've thought about for a long time: leave Facebook. After nearly a decade on the medium (with the enormous amount of time to show for it) I've had enough. I'll be leaving shortly. …
The Shocking (to Some) Truth About Prosperity and Morality
Tom Jacobs at the Pacific Standard finds himself surprised at the way voters conflated prosperity and morality, which eased their way to vote for Donald Trump: The findings suggest the Trump campaign's emphasis on the candidate's success in business—which has subsequently been shown to be based largely on smoke and mirrors—increased the perception that he …
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Book Review: Eric Patterson’s Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in U.S. Military History
One of the surprises I've gotten is that, even in conservative American churches, there are those in positions of influence who are pacifists. How can this be, especially since their core ethnic group is the bellicose Scots-Irish? But life is an education. Although it's tempting to regard Eric Patterson's Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in …
Wake From Your Sleep: The “Modern” Christmas Carol With a Traditional Sound
A favourite pastime of the #straightouttairondale crowd is to trash just about every piece of Catholic music written after 1965 (except, of course, what they put out.)Â Boosting the "Jesus Music" era is a goal of this blog, but this gem has an appeal that gets past not only their idea but Roman Catholicism …
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We Don’t Need “Secular Celebrants” for Civil Marriage
Sometimes I despair this country will ever get this right: "It can't be done by secular celebrants in a vast majority of states," said Nick Little, vice president and legal counsel for The Center for Inquiry, a secular organization that advocates for keeping religion out of public policy. The Center wants that to change. It …
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Joe “I have here in my hand” McCarthy Meets his Match at Harvard
When it's time to shove social theory down the throat of people, things get tough: Harvard College Dean Rakesh Khurana held what was promoted as a run-of-the-mill meeting to ensure the groups were aware of the latest school policies on alcohol and sexual assault, but the meeting quickly took another direction, according to the lawsuit …
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Andy Kessel’s Woes at the Clinton Foundation
It looks like things are catching up: Kessel told MDA "There is no controlling Bill Clinton. He does whatever he wants and runs up incredible expenses with foundation funds, according to MDA's account of the interview. "Bill Clinton mixes and matches his personal business with that of the foundation. Many people within the foundation have tried to …
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Google Employees Have Missed a Few Important Things
This is evident in their campaign after the 2016 election to block conservative media: Google employees debated whether to bury conservative media outlets in the company’s search function as a response to President Donald Trump’s election in 2016, internal Google communications obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal. Some context is needed here: these …
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If You Can’t Find a Crime, Make One Happen
That, according the Alan Dershowitz, is what Robert Muller has been doing: The recent guilty plea of Michael Cohen of lying represents the dominant trend in Mueller's approach to prosecution. The vast majority of indictments and guilty pleas obtained against Americans by Mueller have not been for substantive crimes relating to his mandate: namely, to …
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A Pesky Detail the “Religious Left” Overlooks on the Mission of the Church
In an excellent piece on the divide between the Remain-supporting clergy and the Leave-leaning laity of the Church of England, Giles Fraser makes this observation: The job of the church is not to be a faintly Left-wing lobbying group for a slightly more redistributive tax policy or a more European focused Brexit deal. The job …
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Positive Infinity 