The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

The Politics of Feeling

“You can’t do that.”    But it makes me feel good. “It’s against the law.”    Then we should change the law. “Why?”    Because it makes me feel good. “Who cares about your feelings?”    Hater. Why does the phrase “the pursuit of happiness” appear in our Declaration of Independence? Most people don’t know […]

‘A Conspiracy So Immense’ — Was FDR Aide Harry Hopkins a Soviet Agent?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Hopkins “A confidential message from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, reproduced in [Diana] West’s new book, told [White House aide Harry] Hopkins that a ‘continuing’ investigation had discovered that Russian diplomat (and Comintern agent) Vasily Zarubin had made a payment to U.S. Communist Party official Steve Nelson to help […]

‘Take That Hill’

My 14-year-old son stayed home from school today sick, and put the TV on the Military Channel where, among other shows, we watched a documentary about the Battle of Hill 875 in Vietnam. To call this a battle is something of a misnomer: It was a horrible blunder, a senseless slaughter caused by poor strategy […]

What Part of ‘Fuck You, Commie Scum’ Is So Hard for @BurkelyH to Understand?

Burkely Hermann, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Class of 2016 Burkely Hermann describes himself: #Socialist, citizen of the world and college student who fights for global justice and works to challenge the powers that be. Well, who is Burkely Hermann and why should anyone care? He popped up on Twitter this morning to deny an […]

Why Don’t We Just Go Ahead and Nuke Those Vicious Communist Bastards?

When you write headlines like that, you don’t expect any offers of “senior fellowships” at leading think tanks or book offers from prestigious New York publishers, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a valid policy proposal. I woke up this morning and checked the Drudge headlines:   NKOREA: ‘Powerful striking means’ on standby… WATCHCON 2: […]

‘Defeat? I Do Not Recognize the Meaning of the Word!’ Margaret Thatcher, R.I.P.

When my daughter Kennedy was 11, Margaret Thatcher came to Washington to give a speech — sponsored by the Heritage Foundation, as I recall — and I managed to get Kennedy inside on my media pass. While I don’t recall exactly what Baroness Thatcher said on that occasion, I was deeply grateful that my daughter […]

Just in Case New York Times Readers Don’t Feel Enough White Guilt Yet …

. . . Ta-Nehisi Coates is there on the op-ed pages with a stern sermonette for them. It involves the fact that an employee of a New York deli didn’t recognize the actor Forest Whitaker and accused him of shoplifting. Coates offers a few more examples — including from before he was born — of […]

What Daria’s Grandfather Knew

Daria DiGiovanni commented on an earlier post: My maternal grandfather, who arrived with his widowed mother from Italy at the age of eight, was a staunch McCarthy supporter and anti-communist. He graduated from Temple Pharmacy School in 1919 and went on to open his own corner pharmacy in their neighborhood. My mom used to share […]

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