White House Christmas

Well done. Love the mugshot picture.

Why Modern Movies Feel Fake

Check out the fascinating essay by Brian Niemeier on Substack.

"In other words, movies stopped respecting the way we apprehend reality."

Tom Stoppard, RIP

The Free Press: David Mamet on Tom Stoppard.

[Photo by Erik Mclean at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

 There are in this world some very strange individuals whose thoughts are even stranger than they are.

- From In My Father's Court by Isaac Bashevis Singer

Find Something Beautiful Today

 

[Photo by Stephen Crane at Unsplash]

Definitely On My List

 

"The Greatest Discovery in Human History"

 

Jabberwocky

 

Street Smarts: A Series

 Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.

- Steve Irwin

Ultimate Old School

I made a Black Friday purchase of The World Book Encyclopedia.

Actual volumes for a bookshelf.

A new edition, of course, and so not the same as the version that captured my attention in grade school.

The volumes will arrive on Monday.

Big smile.

[I mentioned the purchase at Thanksgiving and got the expected stares. The techno-barbarians don't understand the quasi-religious nature of the experience.] 

[Next idea: card catalogues to organize my library. A mere glance would provide a daily morale boost.] 

Big Howard regarding Big Will

 

First Paragraph

Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatsoever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to.

- From A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

We Gather Together

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

May the Lord's blessings be upon each of you.

[Photo by Preslie Hirsch at Unsplash]

Time Travel

 

The Benefits of A.I.

 

Let's assume that the potential primary benefit of Artificial Intelligence comes to pass and that cures are found for many deadly diseases.

Does a society in which people get a generous annual income, and yet don't need to work, sound like a pleasant place to live?

[Photo by Costa Live at Unsplash]

The New News Media

 City Journal: Brian C. Anderson on the transformation of journalism.

10 Rules for Thanksgiving

The rules are up at Substack. (Free! Free!)

A possible amendment regarding smartphones may be needed.

[Photo by Joseph Gonzalez at Unsplash]

The Thanksgiving Movie

 

"Even though I hadn't read a word of it . . . "

Even though I hadn't read a word of it, I grew up hating Moby-Dick. My father was an English professor at the University of Pittsburgh with a specialty in American maritime literature, and that big, battle-scarred book came to represent everything I resented about his job: all the hours he spent in his attic study, relentlessly reading and writing, more often than not with Moby-Dick spread out before him.

Sometimes at dinner he even dared talk about the novel, inevitably in an excited, reverential tone that only exasperated me all the more. And yet, despite my best efforts to look as bored as possible, I found myself hanging on every word. For you see, when my brother and I were very young, my father had told us a bed-time story.

From Nathaniel Philbrick's introduction to Moby-Dick.

[This version is currently on sale at Amazon.]

Thanksgiving is Coming

 

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Juan Pablo Melo at Unsplash]

What Will We Lose If We Stop Driving?

My Substack essay explores a hidden menace.

[Photo by Eve B at Unsplash]

The Golden Thread

Seth Leibsohn discusses the book with Allen C. Guelzo.

The Church of Maybe

 As I have long said, no one is interested in the church of maybe.

- George Weigel

The Lengthy Lingo Games

 Wishing to employ the correct modern term for disabled, the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers set up a "Committee for Members with Special Needs." It didn't work. A homeless person came by, announcing a special need for housing. Then it became the "Committee for Members Who Are Physically Challenged," but a frightened fifth-grade teacher showed up, thinking it was a support group for instructors intimidated by their unruly students. So now it is known as the "Committee for Disabled Members." "Everybody understands the words and nobody protested," said James Gallagher of the committee, satisfied at last.

- From Two Steps Ahead of the Thought Police by John Leo (1998)

Old Dogs Talking (From an Interview with TJ Bennett)

 

Before Anyone Gets Weird About the Dangers of Civilian Control of the Military

 

First Paragraph

Frank Sinatra, Jr., was saying, "I don't have to take this," getting up out of his guest chair, walking out. Howard Hart was grinning at him with his capped teeth.

- From Touch by Elmore Leonard

An Assortment of What Ifs

This is the recent Substack of mine that has received far and away the greatest amount of interest.

Consider the what ifs of history.

On My List

 

As I Prepare a Substack Essay on Cars

I addressed this subject a few years ago, but am back on it due to preparing a Substack essay on changing styles of cars. 

My older brother has owned over 50 cars.

I am far from that league. After reviewing the cars I've owned, one model in particular stands out as the one I wish I'd kept.

Here's my list:

Volkswagen Beetle

Datsun 610

Buick Regal

Ford Escort

Volvo Sedan

Volvo Station wagon

Datsun 300

Ford Explorer

Honda Element

Mercury Grand Marquis

Lexus NX

And the one I wish I'd kept: 1969 Volkswagen Beetle. Should have never gotten rid of it.

Do you have regrets about letting a car slip away?

On My List

 

When Trump Built an Ice Rink

There were important lessons in bureaucracy. An excerpt:

By October 28, 1986, the rink was completed ahead of time and at approximately 750,000 dollars under budget. Within weeks, skaters were on the ice.

[Photo by freestocks at Unsplash]

On the Beaches and in the Immigration Offices

 

Peter Hitchens is wrong: the British should not leave their nation; they should fight for it.

[Photo by Samuel Pollard at Unsplash]

Justin Johnson

 

Strategy Man

 

Unusual and Excellent

 

The Cast Is Interesting

 

Teaching a Class Today

A workshop on Equal Employment Opportunity. Sort of like "Europe in One Day" because it covers a variety of subjects, each of which could merit a separate class.

Always great to hear the perspectives of class members and to provide updates on that has been happening in this fascinating area.

Bear with me. Back this afternoon.

[Photo by Ivan Aleksic at Unsplash]

Goodbye Dragon Inn

 

Mamba Mentality

"Hard work outweighs talent every time. Mamba mentality is about 4 a.m. workouts, doing more than the next guy and then trusting in the work you've put in when it's time to perform. Without studying, preparation and practice, you're leaving the outcome to fate. I don't do fate."

- Kobe Bryant

Government Wizardry

 

The Free Press: NYC has 50,000 "ghost" apartments.

The Lock-Down Scam

 

$150 - $8 - $1500

 Check out the "oppression" message on Cultural Offering.

The Audition

 

First Paragraph

 Melissa, a twenty-four-year-old college graduate with a degree in journalism, has spent most of her time out of college piecing together a string of freelance jobs just so she can be sure to cover her rent, food, and transportation costs. Her biggest problem hasn't been getting a job. It's been securing a good job that allows her to launch her career and comfortably cover her expenses. Her parents help her out from time to time, and she's now considering whether she should move back home temporarily. "I'm disappointed, because growing up I was told that if I get an education, if I go to college, then I'll be successful," she says. "In reality, it hasn't helped me that much."

- From The New Life Blueprint: A 21st Century Guide for Success, Health, Wealth, and Happiness in a Complex World by Natalia Peart with Christopher Burge

Revolution at the Kennedy Center

 Washington Examiner: Bethany Mandel has the details.

G.W. and H.L.M. at Cultural Offering

 A colorful description of George Washington at Cultural Offering.

If I were to host a "famous persons" dinner party, there would be chairs for Washington and Lincoln.

And perhaps a recording device nearby.

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Justin Wilkens at Unsplash]

Five Stars!

At long last, after finishing some mega-projects, I sat down and read Nicholas Bate's book on How to Beat ChatGPT.

It is short, to the point, and excellent.

I've already begun some major changes related to my training and consulting services.

Excellent job, Nicholas!

[Photo by Ray Hennessy at Unsplash]

The Antisemites and Anti-Americans Object to Your Success

Antisemitism and Anti-Americanism want their victims to go away. 

You can't please these people.

[Photo by Johannes Schhenk at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

Many of us are anxious about the rapid changes Artificial Intelligence (AI) is bringing to our careers. Some of us have 'played' a little with one of the AI applications, and we have read the articles that suggest scenarios from 'nothing to fear: it's a joke' to 'the end of civilization as we know it.'.

- From How to Beat ChatGPT: How to never say AI killed my job by Nicholas Bate

[Photo by Markus Winkler at Unsplash]

Horror Show on Campus

 

A professor's take on the average college student today.

Back By Popular Demand

 

"The Question"

In 1994, American Marxist historian Eugene D. Genovese wrote a memorable open letter to the Left on the necessity for the Left to answer the question: "What did you know, and when did you know it?" 

Read the entire essay here.

[Photo by Marjan Blan at Unsplash]

Der Tiger

 

The Fatal Attraction

The fatal attraction of the government is that it allows busybodies to impose decisions on others without paying any price themselves. That enables them to act as if there were no price, even when there are ruinous prices paid by others.

- Thomas Sowell

The Great Clarification

Back by popular demand.

[Photo by Houcine Ncib at Unsplash]

Hmm

 

A Great Nation

How's this for variety?

Cultural Offering has American Heroes and the Sons of Whitaker Chambers.

[Photo by Melissa Walsh at Unsplash]

It Must Be Good News

 

Stories That Stay

 My guess is that I was in the sixth grade when I found a copy of In the Great Apache Forest in the school library.

It was the true story of George Crosby, a young Boy Scout who served as a fire spotter in the White Mountains of Arizona during the First World War.

The book had particular appeal because my family often camped in the area. I'd not only seen the remains of the old fire tower on the top of Mount Baldy but had even seen George Crosby when he and his wife owned a small store in Greer, Arizona.

The books that are currently recommended for children strike me as all message and no adventure. There is certainly little in many of them that would appeal to a young boy.

An important job. A dark forest. A large grizzly bear. A Winchester rifle.

What's not to like?

Veterans Day

For some reason, I was sent to an Air Force Base for my initial Army physical exam. Most of the guys in the waiting room were Air Force personnel getting their retirement physicals.

They mildly teased me. ("You seem like a nice guy, but I think you're crazy to go into the Army.") 

Not that the teasing didn't go in the other direction. During training I watched some Army artillery officers spoofing the Air Force in an effort to encourage the young soon-to-be Army officers to opt for the Artillery Corps. 

One of them portrayed a dandified Air Force officer who pulled handkerchiefs out of his sleeves while swinging a golf club and declaring that air support was simply not possible because there was a small cloud in the distance.

That, of course, allowed an artillery gun crew to pull up and quickly fire off some rounds.

All joking aside, I never saw anything but a high level of respect for all of the services. There was an acknowledgement that each had an important mission. 

Because each of them did.

[Photo by Joe Ridley/Beth Martin at Unsplash]

Making the Rounds in New York City

 

Well Put

 A Large Regular has the origins of upper case and lower case.

This Isn't Just Happening in the Education Field

 A natural consequence: When a full-time opening is advertised, it's often overloaded with the qualifications and responsibilities that once belonged to multiple positions. Job ads today often resemble Frankenstein's monster, cobbled together from various roles out of departmental desperation and internal compromises. I suppose it's theoretically possible that an exceptional candidate might be found who can cover five responsibilities that once belonged to three different faculty members - but it's unlikely. And candidates aren't mind readers; they don't know which of the five duties advertised are the ones that really matter.

- From "How to Fix Our Cold, Inefficient Hiring: Too many searches fail to woo candidates with kindness and professionalism" by David D. Perlmutter in The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 18, 2025

Truly Impressive

Read the story at Cultural Offering. Life well-lived.

Learning about Human Nature

These are times when large numbers of college students have never read a book and when it's possible to get a degree without having read Shakespeare. 

I believe this is disastrous when it comes to developing important insights on human nature.

If I were meeting with a class of men and women in their early twenties and our main topic was how the world really operates, my initial inclination would be to assign the following works of fiction:  

1. Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
2. Othello by William Shakespeare
3. Erasure by Percival Everett
4. Bleak House by Charles Dickens
5. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
6. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
7. Animal Farm by George Orwell
8. Submission by Michel Houellebecq
9. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
10. The First Circle by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

What would be on your list?

Repatriation

 Germany's chancellor wants Syrian asylum seekers to go home.

I hope the Swedes and the Irish are paying attention.

When Movies Had Stories

 

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Mana5280]

It Is Not Difficult to Choose Sides

 

Many Thanks

I am honored to be on the list at The Sovereign Professional.

When Shop Class and Cursive Just Went Away

 

My Substack on this national mystery is up.

[Photo by Jametlene Reskp at Unsplash]

Samba 360

What a neat idea!

[Photo by Emilio Garcia]

Reminder for Boomers

Younger generations are told that if they do the same things as the boomers did, things will work out well for them. But society has changed very drastically, and it doesn't work in quite the same way. Housing is way more expensive. It's much harder to get a house in a place like New York or Silicon Valley, or anywhere the economy is actually doing well and there are a lot of decent jobs. People assume everything still works, but objectively, it doesn't.

- Peter Thiel, "Capitalism Isn't Working for Young People" (The Free Press, 11/7/25)

I'd Make It Downstream from the Family

Every problem in American life is downstream from education.

- Jeremy Wayne Tate

A Film Written by Cormac McCarthy

 

Podcasts

I'm preparing a plan for some podcasts.

They'll be relatively short and will cover a range of subjects.

If you think of any topics that you'd like me to address, please let me know.

[Photo by Will Francis at Unsplash.]

This Also Is Victims of Communism Day

 

Get On It

Hunter Gatherer Nicholas Bate has an important central message, especially for our times. 

National Fountain Pen Day

Mitigating Chaos, a man of fine reading tastes, reminds us that this is National Fountain Pen Day.

[I'm surprised the schools aren't closed.]

He has inspired me to upgrade to a higher-level fountain pen. I had a great experience with a small and inexpensive Kaweco Sport pen and then a bad one with its replacement.

A recent article about the effect of inexpensive Chinese fountain pens had a collector who said that if his place was on fire, he'd rescue a Pelikan.

Hmm.

Byrds

 A Layman's Blog has a magic folk-rock video from the Sixties.

I recall quickly buying their first album.

Supplies

Coffee, plenty of it.

Legal pads.

Pens, both fountain and Jetstream Uni 0.7.

Typing paper.

Vicks VapoInhaler.

American Heritage Dictionary.

Paperclips.

Large trash bags.

Billing sheets.

Rough outlines.

Handel. Copland. Bach.

Back to Nature

 

From "Interesting Times"

 Ross Douthat, Helen Andrews, and Leah Libresco Sargeant discuss: 

"Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?"

Wrecking New York

 

Miscellaneous and Fast

 

• The trailer for "H Is for Hawk."
• Yehuda Teitelbaum on the NYC mayoral race.
• John Carney in July on Mamdani's coalition.
• The trailer for "Atropedia."

Victory Speech

 

The New York Times: The full text of Zohran Mamdani's victory speech.

[Photo by Francesca Saraco at Unsplash]

The NYC Talent Puddle

Despite the massive talent pool that exists in New York City, two of the top three candidates for mayor would have not been in the running for an assistant department head position in a mid-sized city. 

The third one's experience would have been tainted by his poor decision-making.

NYC, What Have You Just Done?

 

First Paragraph

"It was Simchat Torah, a major Jewish holiday, and the Sabbath as well, when Hamas jihadis stormed into Israel and laid waste with a brutality and inhumanity that was reminiscent of the darkest days of National Socialist Germany."

From Antisemitism: History & Myth by Robert Spencer

Seven Dials

 

Miscellaneous and Fast

 

• City Journal: "New York Braces for a Mayor Mamdani."
• Montana politics: "She said the message was not meant as a threat."
• The trailer for "Bone Tomahawk."
• Nelson Riddle: "Route 66."
• Andrew Roberts: "Will China Bury Us?"
• Hermes Paris: Men's ties.
• Leon Redbone: "Walking Stick."

Rediscovering Bruce Catton

 

I cannot recommend the works of Bruce Catton strongly enough. 

He was a thorough historian, and his books are beautifully written.

Hmm

 

Time for Moral Clarity

The October 7 attacks deserved a better response from the civilized nations. 

My new Substack post is up. 

[Photo by Marek Studzinski at Unsplash]

All Roads Lead to History

 

Newport on The Fear of Superintelligence

 I’ll start worrying about Tyrannosaurus paddocks once you convince me we’re actually close to cloning dinosaurs. In the meantime, we have real problems to tackle.

- Cal Newport

First Paragraph

They called him Moishe the Beadle, as if his entire life he had never had a surname. He was the jack-of-all-trades in a Hasidic house of prayer, a shtibl. The Jews of Sigher - the little town in Transylvania where I spent my childhood - were fond of him. He was poor and lived in utter penury. As a rule, our townspeople, while they did help the needy, did not particularly like them. Moishe the Beadle was the exception. He stayed out of people's way. His presence bothered no one. He had mastered the art of rendering himself insignificant, invisible.

- From Night by Elie Wiesel

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Benjamin Voros at Unsplash]

I Kind of Like Series Games with 11 Innings

 

First Paragraph

On the night of February 27,1933, smoke and flames gutting the Reichstag building in Berlin marked the Wagnerian end of the short-lived German democracy.

- From The Crucial Years 1939-1941 by Hanson W. Baldwin

Three for Pure Pleasure

There are some books that bring pure pleasure via the content and the writing.

• A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
• Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Alexandra Fuller
• Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat

They should be read and re-read.

Breaks: Jamie Farr and Red Skelton

 

Street Fight

Commentary magazine's Seth Mandel on the Heritage Foundation controversy.

What Is the Scariest Novel You've Ever Read?

This is my choice.

Back By Popular Demand

 

Halloween Poem

 James Whitcomb Riley: "Little Orphant Annie."

Still Great

 

The Official Halloween Song

 

Literary Lion

 

The Metropolitan Review talks with Gay Talese.

An extraordinary life.

[Photo by Ashni at Unsplash]

First Paragraph

 I cannot always see Trieste in my mind's eye. Who can? It is not one of your iconic cities, instantly visible in the memory or the imagination. It offers no unforgettable landmark, no universally familiar melody, no unmistakable cuisine, hardly a single native name that everyone knows. It is a middle-sized, essentially middle-aged Italian seaport, ethnically ambivalent, historically confused, only intermittently prosperous, tucked away at the top right-hand corner of the Adriatic Sea, and so lacking the customary characteristics of Italy that in 1999 some 70 percent of Italians, so a poll claimed to discover, did not know it was in Italy at all.

- From Trieste and The Meaning of Nowhere by Jan Morris

How Brits View Americans

 

Escaping Our National Escape Room

 

A national effort is needed.

[Photo by Zachary Keimeg at Unsplash]

Recommended Essayists

You know the version of the conversation game where everyone lists their choice of extraordinary dinner companions. I propose a collection of essayists. You might not always agree with them – in fact, I’m certain you won’t because they’d disagree with one another – but you’ll be in for fine and often highly amusing writing.

I’ll set aside some well-known powerhouses such as James Baldwin, G. K. Chesterton, Joan Didion, George Orwell, Jonathan Swift, and Tom Wolfe.

Here goes:

Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens

Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts by Clive James

Cultural Cohesion: The Essential Essays by Clive James

Essays in Biography by Joseph Epstein

In a Cardboard Belt! Essays Personal, Literary, and Savage by Joseph Epstein

Latest Readings by Clive James

Once More Around the Block by Joseph Epstein.

The Ideal of Culture: Essays by Joseph Epstein

Things Worth Fighting For: Collected Writings by Michael Kelly

Oxford Union

City Journal: Daniel J. Flynn has some ideas for the newly ousted president-elect of the Oxford Union.

He needs to read Flynn's new book on Frank Meyer.

Civilization

 

NYC Politics: 1966 Transit Strike

 

NYC Politics: Norman Mailer

 

NYC Politics: William F. Buckley, Jr.

 

NYC Politics: Adam Clayton Powell

 

NYC Politics: Ed Koch

 

NYC Politics: Fiorello La Guardia

 

This Explains a Great Deal

 

The Pipeline

It is no surprise that Nicholas Bate has a lot of great stuff in the pipeline.

[Photo by Wolfgang Weiser at Unsplash]

Clive James in Rome

 

Back by popular demand. His "Postcards" series was great.

Corning

 A former little hoodlum points to an odd regional practice.

The Ideological Lie

The Claremont Review of Books review is here.

Memories of Book (and Comic Book) Reports

Return now to the old days of Classics Illustrated Comics.

[With a modest proposal for college bookstores.]

How Did I Miss This?

 

Find Something Beautiful Today

[Photo by Hert Niks at Unsplash]

"When the Frost Is on the Punkin"

 

This has become an Execupundit tradition:

Kent Risley with a marvelous recitation of the poem.

[Photo by Elissa Wyne at Unsplash]

Bouncing Back

And yet, buried under layers of luxury and self-doubt, America’s political and economic institutions still hum with energy. Most Americans still exhibit the bourgeois democratic values that have sustained the nation on its journey to greatness. If our current political leadership doesn’t seem quite up to the task of both articulating and executing popular desires, a new generation is waiting in the wings. These new leaders will have personal and political faults of their own, of course. Leaders always do. But they may also be better suited for the task ahead. Better equipped to defend what’s best in America.

Read all of Matthew Continetti's essay in Commentary magazine.

Daniel Craig: Before Bond

 

Don't Think This Doesn't Happen

 

They examined everything except the key issue and the key witness.

But they thought they were thorough because they had explored so many other things.