Sailing the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal
In the run-up to Advent, the eminent Episcopal theologian Fleming Rutledge has posted an interesting piece entitled "Jesus’ Parable of the Money in Trust." It's an interesting and informative piece, informative not only in its Biblical exegesis but also (doubtless unintentionally) about the Episcopal Church itself, and the changes wrought from the days when multi-generational …
Continue reading "My Response to Fleming Rutledge (@flemingrut) on Stewardship"
A Brit is finally "woke" to the truth: There comes a point in a New York expat’s life when you suddenly realize that the liberal elites that run this town have feet of clay. You have watched them joining anti-Trump marches, opening their beautiful homes for Democrat fundraising parties and noisily bidding ludicrous sums at …
It's back in the news again: So what’s the matter with Broward? Republicans tend to blame one-party Democratic rule, and even some Democrats agree that the lack of serious partisan competition has led to bad incentives and bad habits for county leaders, just as uninterrupted Republican rule at the state level has helped make Tallahassee’s …
Continue reading "Broward County: Where the Animals are Tame and the People Run Wild"
In this interesting piece on how "meritocracy" is killing youth sports, this note: Parenting doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game, but it often is. As Matthew Stewart wrote in an Atlantic cover story this year on the new aristocracy, those in the nation’s upper-middle class have “taken their money out of productive activities and …
Continue reading "Some People Want to “Build the Wall” Anyway"
Amidst all the other election results, this, from Florida: Amendment 13, a highly charged proposal to end greyhound racing in Florida, passed. It means the roughly dozen racing tracks in Florida will have to shutter by 2020. Animal protection groups celebrated the victory, calling the win a “historic effort.” “Tonight, in an historic vote, Florida …
And they're not whom you'd expect either: Donald Trump’s decision to challenge birthright citizenship is earning applause from one corner: “Accidental Americans,” who would rather be unburdened of their citizenship as cheaply as possible. As POLITICO reported in July, “Accidental Americans” — dual nationals who have U.S. citizenship but only loose ties to the country — …
Continue reading "Some People Like the Idea of an End to Birthright Citizenship"
In the middle of a brief recap of the 2005 season of Donald Trump's Apprentice, this sudden revelation: The degree-holders were no richer than the degree-free. In fact, the average net worth of the street-smart team was three times that of the book-smart one. Were the college kids more intelligent? No again. Time after time, …
Continue reading "Maybe There Is Something to Those Cocktail Parties"
Some people evidently work under that assumption, as this ugly event in New York attests: New Yorkers woke up Thursday morning to find colorful new street art popping up on trash cans along the Lower East Side. Their message is clear – Trump and his supporters are "trash." The controversial posters feature images of “Trump …
Continue reading "Getting Rid of the White People Won’t Get Rid of Christianity"
The problem with left-watching is that, if you do it long enough, it will have you scratching your head more than making you angry. Fifty years ago, leftists hated patriotic people. They burned the flag; the courts affirmed their right to do so. They spat on returning veterans from Vietnam. They pushed the sexual revolution …
Continue reading "They Didn’t Like Patriotism, and They Don’t Like Nationalism. That Leaves…"
And no a moment too soon either: this, another journey of the genre: My education required a metaphysical moving away, I learned. A professor who could see me struggling through change asked me what scared me about it. I told her that I worried I would lose something, and she reassured me that I would …
Positive Infinity 