Recently a reader of my piece on David Webb’s book, The Great Taking, wrote me a letter in which he gave a link to an article of interest to him. He quoted this sentence from Webb’s book: “Presently, as we …
The Collapse of Credentialism
For many years, the United States has been effectively a technocracy, run by unelected “experts.” Former Harvard president Claudine Gay’s fall from grace may mark the end of that era.
Technocrats have long told us what we can and can’t …
The Moral Obligation of Civil Disobedience
My childhood was unique.
I attended St. Agnes School in the Oakland neighborhood of the City of Pittsburgh. Contrary to what one might expect, I was one of only a handful of Catholic students enrolled in the school; the typical …
Claudine Gay and the Administrative Archetype
As an academic, what has struck me most about the Claudine Gay debacle is not her mealy-mouthed testimony before Congress. It’s not the allegations of shoddy or fraudulent research. It’s not the paucity and poor quality of her scholarly work, …
Would You Have Resisted the Imposition of Time Zones?
An intriguing controversy hit much of the civilized planet in the second half of the 19th century. How would we tell what time it is? For the whole of human history, this was not a problem. Schedules were coordinated based …
The Great Taking Exposes the Financial End Game
One of the very best exposés of the covert, very well-hidden, bellicose attempts to rob all of humanity – barring the miniscule number of psychotic individuals comprising the inimical opposition – of their material possessions and their ‘immaterial’ freedom, was …
Hope in the Heart of Winter
As winter approaches—unless you’re near the equator—the nights get longer and the sun’s glow loses its warmth. For much of the world, the surrounding environment becomes harsh and even deadly. Landscapes appear empty and lose their color. Few fruits and …
A Nation of Non-Compliers
The train wasn’t scheduled for another 20 minutes, so I had a chance to contemplate the official sign on the door of the huge elevator leading to the platform. It said that only four people are allowed in because we …
The Dark Side of the Force Isn’t Actually Paved in Black
In Star Wars, we could tell Darth Vader was a Bad Guy as his preferred color scheme gave film-goers a strong clue. In the Real World, the villains wear white lab coats and are feted as galaxy-saviors.
I’m not as …
A Field Guide to Dubious Fact-Checking
It’s now 2024 – the Associated Press says so.
In case a claim was made that it’s still 2023, the AP wants to assure everyone that that is false.
Now that’s a fact check.
What isn’t a fact check is …
We Often Imitate What We Say We Oppose
There are some incongruous truths that I sometimes spring on interlocutors from time to time to test their mental agility. For example, the fact that from the point of view of actual policies proposed and enacted Richard Nixon was easily …
The Hero’s Voice is Within Your Reach
A guest essay on Laura Dodsworth’s Substack by former headteacher and author Mike Fairclough.
As the only UK headteacher to publicly question lockdowns, masking kids, and the Covid vaccine rollout to children, I was not alone in my beliefs. Other …
Hope Matters in Our War
Hope is one of the most puzzling of human affects. Some call it an emotion. Whatever it is, however, insofar as it is future-directed – like its shadows, anxiety and fear – it is inalienably human.
Moreover, its object varies …
To Starve our Feudal Overlords of Attention
If there is one subliminal message we are sent again and again in the course of our days, it is that almost everything we think or do is measurable, and that by carefully collating all the data relating to these …
The Courage to Admit Mistakes in Public
Dear friends,
A few weeks ago I was invited to give a speech at the fourth International Crisis Summit in the Romanian parliament – you might know this already because I shared the text and the recording of my presentation in …