It’s Saturday, midafternoon, and the latest reports are that the shooter at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh was, in fact, an antisemite of the Nazi (vs. Islamist) variety. And I don’t have an opinion on the questions that so many are, or will be, opinioning on, both with respect to this and the mail (hoax) bomber, about incitement and where to draw the line between invigorating your supporters and inspiring them, or inciting them, to acts of violence... Read more
As you know, readers, when I’m not blogging here, I’m writing at Forbes.com. My latest is an article about how people don’t seem troubled by simultaneously believing they earn their Social Security benefits fair-and-square and yet the rich should be taxed more heavily to subsidize them. Prior to that, I wrote that Social Security does indeed add to the federal debt, no matter what Congress says. But right now I have Halloween costumes on the brain, because I’m working with... Read more
“Millennials are awful and they never volunteer and they think travel sports is more important than Cub Scouts.” Yeah, that was my gripe when I was engaged in trying to find a replacement for my job as Cub Scout committee chair. Finally did, after reaching out to the one individual I thought had the best shot of agreeing to it. Now I’ve undertaken another effort, and it’s sputtering out again. For nearly the past decade, one couple has nearly-singlehandedly managed... Read more
How do we fight climate change? My money’s on carbon capture (though I know there’s an ongoing dispute about whether this is feasible, I still tend to think it’s comparatively more feasible than converting all energy generation to solar and wind). New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a different plan, though, according to the Washington Free Beacon. Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday night said the way the Allied Powers defeated the Nazis during World War II provides a... Read more
I’m afraid I owe my readers an apology, so: I’m sorry. Here’s why: I’ve never had a formal comment policy and I tend to exercise a very light touch, deleting comments only that cross the line into inappropriate insults from one commenter to another, or to obscenities, which rarely happens. And for a long stretch I was getting a lot of spam — you know, the sort of comments with “earn $575 without leaving your house,” which I dutifully identified... Read more
What should we make of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist-activist? Here are three observations: The enemy of my enemy is not always my friend. Turkey is behaving, well, suspiciously, in its actions here. As Hot Air reports, Turkey has asserted repeatedly that it has ironclad evidence that not only did the Saudis kill Khashoggi, but that they did so in a particularly gruesome manner, but at the same time, Turkey refuses to share any of its evidence. ... Read more
In the news today (in this case, via AP): “US wants drug prices in TV ads: ‘Patients deserve to know’.” The federal government said Monday that it wants to force drugmakers to disclose prices for prescription medicines in their TV commercials. . . . Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar unveiled a proposal that would apply to all brand-name drugs covered by the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which is most medicines. . . . Most Americans don’t pay the... Read more
So I’m in the middle of reading The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidtand, and I will write something up on it when I’ve finished, but in the meantime, here’s a one-paragraph summary of where I am so far. Noting the rise of conflicts on campus, of demands for “safety” and elimination of dissenting ideas, the authors have identified three Untruths about the world that it believes college students have fallen victim to: (1) everyone... Read more
So here’s the deal: when the Synod of Bishops first started, I had expected that I would watch the reports and keep up with the news coming out of Rome, and type up little summaries as a way of both sharing things with readers and digesting the information itself. But here’s what I’ve learned: there’s not much to share. The information being shared officially is bland. “Young people want to be listened to.” “Young people want a personal connection to... Read more
I previously wrote about the first half of the book Divine Renovation by Fr. James Mallon, in which he advocates for a revival of evangelism among Catholics, and a revival of moribund parishes in general, and talks about what that means in terms of Sunday liturgies: a renewed emphasis on praise and on beauty, and on quality preaching. Some of the other uncontroversial elements of his program include monthly Name Tag Sundays, an invitation not just to greet but to... Read more
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