The Other McCain

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

‘Unspeakable Atrocities’

“It’s a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing. All Bush wants is Iraqi oil. There is no doubt that the U.S. is behaving badly. Why are they not seeking to confiscate weapons of mass destruction from their ally Israel? This is just an excuse to get Iraq’s oil. . . . “If there […]

The CIA, JFK and Clay Shaw: Paranoia and the Conspiratorial Worldview

Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested after an August 1963 pro-Castro protest Why did Jim Garrison indict Clay Shaw for conspiracy? It was as ridiculous as it was simple: In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald consulted a New Orleans attorney, Dean Andrews, to see if he could do something about his undesirable discharge from the Marine Reserves. “Andrews […]

Conor Friedersdorf’s Grassy Knoll

Conor Friedersdorf is the Lee Harvey Oswald of journalism — an alienated young man consumed by irrational hatred of his own country. Fortunately, the Secret Service need not worry about Friedersdorf purchasing a Mannlicher-Carcano rifle just now. The focus of his manic obsession is not the current president, but his predecessor. Bush Derangement Syndrome — […]

Our Moral Superiors: @Peter_Turchin’s Career of Selfish Academic Decadence

The Myth of Progress, which imagines history generally as a more or less steady advancement toward enlightenment, is dependent upon our willingness to ignore the possibility of decadence. Are we really more “enlightened” than the Founding Fathers? Do we see, in the general social and cultural trends around us, evidence of our moral and intellectual […]

The Douchebag Manifesto

Portrait of the hacker as a young douchebag. “The hypocrisy of ‘law and order’ and the injustices caused by capitalism cannot be cured by institutional reform but through civil disobedience and direct action.” — Jeremy Hammond, Nov. 15, 2013 “I gotta be me, as the douchebag credo goes.” — Ace of Spades, Nov. 20, 2012 […]

‘A Long Twilight Struggle’

That phrase from John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address came to mind this morning as I was reading an e-mail from a friend lamenting the continuation of the war against Diana West and her book, American Betrayal. Busy with other matters, I had forgotten about the unfortunate internecine conflict that developed after Ron Radosh and David […]

The Lee Harvey Oswald Democrats

Lee Harvey Oswald, arrested after an August 1963 pro-Castro protest “The alienated radical suffers from feelings of helplessness and insignificance and, unable to find satisfaction in ordinary life, seeks to vindicate himself — to prove that he is a person of historical importance — by grandiose gestures on behalf of fringe ideologies, savagely lashing out […]

New Liberal Rule: When in Doubt, Invoke Distant History You Don’t Understand

U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, 1853 “A question settled by violence, or in disregard of law, must remain unsettled forever.” — Jefferson Davis What’s up with this trend, huh? A week ago, James Fallows decided to drag John C. Calhoun into the current argument, and this week we have another liberal foray into bizarre […]

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