"Get out," [Twitter CEO] Evan Williams said to the woman standing in his office doorway. "I'm going to throw up."
- From Hatching Twitter: A True Story of Money, Power, Friendship, and Betrayal by Nick Bilton
Saturday, January 31, 2026
Transmitting Western Civilization
Law & Liberty: Jeffrey Bristol reviews The Golden Thread. An excerpt:
Such revisions can often feel staid and old-fashioned, combatting today’s wars with yesterday’s cultural visions. The Golden Thread, by contrast, is remarkably adroit and conversant with today’s trends, a fact helped no doubt by the authors’ deep engagement with the classical schooling movement.
Friday, January 30, 2026
Deciding to Fight On
Law & Liberty: Andrew Roberts discusses the nitwittery concerning Churchill's greatest decision.
If the victory in World War II can be attributed to any one person (and I think it can), that person is Winston Churchill.
Paging Madame Defarge
Colin Wright in City Journal on the findings that women are more likely than men to endorse political violence.
Thursday, January 29, 2026
Priorities
I have to finish a book draft, write an essay for a nonprofit, clear off my desk, avoid looking at the files near my feet, get some exercise, call some friends, return a bunch of emails, complete some research into an arcane topic, get my wife to a medical appointment, finish reading two books, donate a historical document to a library, etc.
Highest priority: get my wife to a medical appointment. All else is way down on the list.
Life has a way of quickly rearranging things.
Wednesday, January 28, 2026
Minnesota's Post-Assimilation Reality
What is unfolding in Minnesota cannot be understood without first confronting a difficult truth: some cultures arrive intact. They do not dissolve on contact with modern society, nor do they gently adapt - they replicate.
Read all of Ayaan Hirsi Ali's essay in The American Mind.
The Ohio Shoveler
Kurt Harden of Cultural Offering scoffs at danger as he hand-shovels a drive-way and prepares to tackle the front walk.
Extreme cold is expected in his area tomorrow.
On the other hand, the low in Phoenix tomorrow is expected to be 46 degrees.
Our high will be 74.
Sweater weather.
Tuesday, January 27, 2026
The Number on Her Arm
Prohuman Foundation President Bion Bartning on the importance of Holocaust remembrance. An excerpt:
For years, Holocaust education relied on proximity. My children have been fortunate. Their teachers brought Holocaust survivors into the classroom; men and women who spoke plainly about what they endured. When a survivor speaks, history stops feeling theoretical. You can see it happen: the shift from “this happened” to “this happened to someone.”
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 Sighet - 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
False Equivalence
Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable. Despite tensions in Minneapolis, exploiting the Holocaust is deeply offensive, especially as antisemitism surges.
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Monday, January 26, 2026
The American Grizzly
For all of you Theodore Roosevelt fans out there, check out Richard Jordan's essay in Law & Liberty.
And, of course, check out The Wind and the Lion.
[HT: Christopher Martin]
An A.I. Skeptic Consults A.I.
"We may not have to worry about the robots taking over because we'll be too dumb to know when they have."
[Photo by Brey at Unsplash]
Blackboard Paint
Part of Nicholas Bate's latest book, this recommendation for blackboard paint is very tempting.
[Photo by Thomas T at Unsplash]
"The Global Empire of Palestine"
Łobaczewski’s conclusion cut against the grain. He argued that what he called macrosocial evil is the function of pathologically evil individuals. They disguise their true ambitions for power, wealth, and notoriety behind ideology, using terms like “social justice” which are vague enough to convey the righting of wrongs, to animate social movements united by grievance. Inside these movements, genuine psychopaths and those who adapt most easily to a pathological order rise to positions of power and influence.
Read all of Lee Smith's essay in Tablet magazine.
When Language is Creative: Group Names
Names for groups of animals and birds:
Antelope: a herd; Baboons: a troop; Bears: a sloth; Beavers: a colony; Buffalo: a gang; Camels: a caravan; Caterpillars: an army; Cats: a clutter or nuisance; Cheetahs: a coalition; Clams: a bed; Coyotes: a band; Crocodiles: a float; Crows: a murder; Dolphins: a pod; Ducks: a brace; Elephants: a herd or parade; Ferrets: a business; Geese: a gaggle; Goldfish: a troubling; Grasshoppers: a cloud; Hyenas: a cackle; Jaguars: a shadow; Larks: an exaltation; Lions: a pride; Moles: a labor; Owls: a parliament; Parrots: a pandemonium; Porcupines: a prickle; Raccoons: a gaze; Rattlesnakes: a rumba; Rhinoceroses: a crash; Sharks: a shiver; Tigers: an ambush; Vultures: a venue; Zebras: a zeal.
Young Men and How the Democrats Lost Them
Sebastian Junger raises important points in a Substack essay. An excerpt:
Despite long-overdue advances in gender equality, men still make up 97% of combat deaths and 94% of work-related fatalities in this country. Every year, more men are killed doing the nation’s most dangerous jobs – logging, fishing, construction, mining, oil extraction - than in the entire Afghan war. And over ninety percent of so-called “bystander rescues” are performed by men. Women do as much vital work as men and are enormously self-sacrificing in their personal lives but almost never, say, jump onto subway tracks to save a stranger when able-bodied men are there to do it instead.
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Saturday, January 24, 2026
Eternal Values versus Euthanasia of the Elderly
Commentary magazine: Pulling Britain Back from the Abyss. An excerpt:
During the 2025 debate, Sacks’s final sentences were cited in the House of Lords by a peer who knew him well: Stuart Polak, a member of Britain’s Orthodox Jewish community and one of Israel’s most prominent defenders in the Lords. “My Lords,” Polak reflected, “the words of Lord Sacks should once again ring loudly and clearly today as they did in 2006.” But the most devastating and affecting words were Polak’s own. “I speak,” he said, “out of a deep and abiding concern for the society we are shaping, for the values we hold, and for the vulnerable whom we are duty bound to protect; and, my Lords, I speak as someone who was given six months to live 37 years ago.” In a single phrase, Polak captured all that is wrong about the bill—both the way in which it will make the vulnerable feel like burdens, and the seeming infallibility it grants the predictions of doctors.
[Photo by James Giddins at Unsplash]
Friday, January 23, 2026
Dreher: Watch "Pluribus"
The Free Press: Rod Dreher on why Americans should watch the television program that has strong echoes of "Brave New World."
[Photo by Shane Rounce at Unsplash]
Thursday, January 22, 2026
From Microsoft on the Outage
"We're carefully rebalancing traffic across all affected infrastructure in the region, while monitoring the corresponding health telemetry, to ensure the environment enters into a balanced state as our remediation efforts continue."
Just think: Someone approved that message.
There's a job for English majors in high tech after all.
In Wake of Reports That NYC Detectives Were Refused Medical Treatment
GROK Yes, the Hippocratic Oath is optional and ceremonial in US medical schools—not legally required. No schools use the original version; most (over 50% as of 2017 data) adopt unique or revised oaths incorporating modern issues like social justice. Recent trends (2023-2025) show schools like UConn and Harvard using or allowing customized oaths with DEI elements, sparking debate. No confirmed data on "record numbers" opting out specifically for political reasons; evidence points to institutional shifts rather than individual choices.
Old Dog Consultant
Flashback: A rambling conversation I had with T.J. Bennett.
He's an excellent interviewer having to work with a strange guest.
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Bear with Me
I've been in a super-reclusive mode lately due to wrapping up the novel, writing some Substack essays, and preparing an item for the Prohuman Foundation.
Our house also had a plumbing leak that needed to be fixed and today will be the first one without fans and other moisture-removal devices in the background.
Am looking forward to a quasi-normal environment.
Stay mellow.
[Today will be a Handel and Copland day.]
Tuesday, January 20, 2026
Nicholas Bate
Consultant, author, novelist Nicholas Bate has been an inspiration to so many of us and his thoughts are deeply appreciated.
He is The Man Who Never Sleeps.
"Looking Beneath the Surface" Checklist
- What is the real situation, not the described one?
- Why take action now?
- Who are the key players?
- Who are the adversaries?
- Who is neutral?
- What are the definitions?
- What can be deceptive?
- What are the assumptions?
- What are the established facts?
- What is the precise problem?
- What are the limitations?
- Who has the authority?
- What is the specific goal?
- What are the possible courses of action?
- Which course is the easiest?
- Which course is the cheapest?
- Which is the most expensive??
- Which course is the best?
- How much is too much?
- How much is too little?
- Who has the power to make serious changes?
- How much time is available to fix things?
- What would success look like?
- Which problems will accompany success?
- Who has a vested interest in failure?
Excerpt
The face-to-face interaction between these two men had begun, and within two minutes, Deputy Kyle Wayne Dinkheller would be dead and Andrew Brannan would be a murderer. The question is: Why? What happened?
- From Arresting Communication: Essential Interaction Skills for Law Enforcement by Lt. Jim Glennon
Monday, January 19, 2026
When Brevity Carries a Powerful Message
Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech was 17 minutes long.
Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" was 2 to 3 minutes long.
First Paragraph
"Oy, a lebn af dayn kop!" "Life on your head!" This was my grandmother's favorite Yiddish blessing, which she showered upon me whenever I did something appealing. A smile, a nod, an intelligent word - it didn't take much to earn "life on my head," neither as a boy nor as a grown man.
- From Lawrence Bush's Introduction to The New Joys of Yiddish by Leo Rosten
Space Force
Flashing back to a place where I once went through some training.
Of course, it wasn't a Space Force base back then.
Sunday, January 18, 2026
Saturday, January 17, 2026
The Book Publishing Madness
Ted Gioia explains what happened to the book publishing industry. An excerpt:
Back in those simpler days, I was what is called a midlist writer. That meant that I would sell enough copies to make a small profit for the publishing house. But I wasn’t expected to write bestsellers.
Friday, January 16, 2026
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Novel Update
Things are moving. I expect the novel will be out this month.
It will be a tad different.
St. Michael's Mount
This looks like a great escape.
But I'm not sure if January is the best time to be there.
Wednesday, January 14, 2026
The Job Search Jungle
We need to humanize the job selection process. Here's my list of concerns.
Pass it along to job seekers and job recruiters.
[Photo by Mattia Pavesi at Unsplash]
Tuesday, January 13, 2026
Well Put
I happened to be in London staying with the Price-Joneses the day the painting arrived. I remember David showing it to me and then turning it over for me to see the Nazi eagle stamped on the back. No sooner had he received the painting than a letter came from the Belvedere explaining that the work was an important part of the national heritage and asking if they please could have it back on long-term loan. The answer was no.
- Roger Kimball, Notes & Comments, The New Criterion, January 2026
"Strive to be happy."
Desiderata - Words for Life
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
— Max Ehrmann, 1927
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.
— Max Ehrmann, 1927
Monday, January 12, 2026
Discriminatory Diversity Programs
We drifted into dangerous territory when we went from equal opportunity to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. My essay is here.
First Paragraph
From between two trees at the crest of the hill a very old man watched, with a nostalgic longing he thought he'd lost all capacity for, as the last group of picnickers packed up their baskets, mounted their horses. and rode away south - they moved a little hastily, for it was a good six miles back to London, and the red sun was already silhouetting the branches of the trees along the River Brent, two miles to the west.
- From The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
Sunday, January 11, 2026
Saturday, January 10, 2026
Minneapolis Shooting
A former federal prosecutor reviews court decisions and standards related to the Minneapolis shooting case.
A book that may be of interest:
Arresting Communication: Essential Interaction Skills for Law Enforcement by Jim Glennon.
Missed
I know it's strange, but I still occasionally click on what was the FutureLawyer site.
Rest in Peace, Rick.
First Paragraph
Though the evening breeze had chilled his back on the way across, it hadn't yet begun its nightly job of sweeping out from the island's clustered vines and palm boles the humid air that the day had left behind, and Benjamin Hurwood's face was gleaming with sweat before the black man had led him even a dozen yards into the jungle. Hurwood hefted the machete that he gripped in his left - and only - hand, and peered uneasily into the darkness that seemed to crowd up behind the torchlit vegetation around them and overhead, for the stories he'd heard of cannibals and giant snakes seemed entirely plausible now, and it was difficult, despite recent experiences, to rely for safety on the collection of ox-tails and cloth bags and little statues that dangled from the other man's belt. In this primeval rain forest it didn't help to think of them as gardes and arrets and drogues rather than fetishes, or of his companion as a bocor rather than a witch doctor or shaman.
- From On Stranger Tides by Tim Powers
A Former Special Counsel Assaults the First Amendment
Law professor Jonathan Turley on Jack Smith's testimony before Congress.
"Minnesota multiplied by 10"
New York Post report on a scandal emerging in New York. An excerpt:
Taking advantage of a generous New York state program to aid his ailing mother, Ballal Hossain signed up a dozen family members to work as her caregivers.
Over six years, they were paid $348,000 to look after the elderly woman at a Manhattan apartment.
Except the mom was in Bangladesh the entire time.
First Paragraph
Dr. Iannis had enjoyed a satisfactory day in which none of his patients had died or got worse. He had attended a surprisingly easy calving, lanced one abscess, extracted a molar, dosed one lady of easy virtue with Salvarsan, performed an unpleasant but spectacularly fruitful enema, and had produced a miracle by a feat of medical prestidigitation.
- From Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres
Recommendation
Starting today, schedule at least one hour of reading per day.
Do it now, because you know what will happen if you don't.
Fulfill that commitment and you'll see an enormous benefit within 10 days.
Friday, January 09, 2026
Our Times
In a sufficiently advanced college math class, lots of the 130 IQ kids have to drop out because they just can't learn the material whereas almost all the 140 kids can. In a history or literature class it's more subjective. My experience is that the 130 range, though really smart, is accompanied by more class contributions that indicate they don't quite get it, whereas that seldom happens with 140 kids. In a class on contemporary politics, a fair number of the 140 kids will take monumentally stupid positions that would never occur to the 130 kids.
- Charles Murray
Goal
What I'm trying to achieve is a voice sitting by a fireplace telling you a story on a winter's evening.
- Truman Capote
[Photo by Clint Patterson at Unsplash]
First Paragraph
It was nearing the full moon, and the night seemed to shimmer with light.
- From A Pale Horse: A Novel of Suspense by Charles Todd
Thursday, January 08, 2026
Social Media Tips: A Series
An almost perfect test for determining whether or not a drawing on social media is legitimate: If you win, it isn't.
The Translator's Job
It's not just that one "might make a case" for reproducing Caesar's rhetoric. It's that there's no defensible case for doing anything else. Reproducing Caesar's rhetoric is the translator's whole job. "Resisting it" - i.e. willfully undercutting Caesar's style to soothe modern anxieties - would be scholarly malpractice of the highest order.
- From Spencer A. Klavan's Claremont Review of Books Fall 2025 review of Gallic War by Julius Caesar, translated by Cynthia Damon
First Paragraph
There will come a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
- From Lonely on the Mountain by Louis L'Amour
"Shame Storm"
At the risk of insulting the reader: No one actually believed that Williamson was a threat to his female colleagues. It was only a pretext for what was really an exercise in raw power.
Read all of the essay by Helen Andrews.
[Photo by Adem AY at Unsplash]
Wednesday, January 07, 2026
Tuesday, January 06, 2026
First Paragraph
The ceremony was unique in British history, reflecting both the extraordinary longevity of the Prime Minister and his continuing domination of the political landscape. On 30 November 1954 almost the entire membership of the Commons and the Lords, as well as several officers of state and other distinguished visitors, gathered in Parliament to mark the eightieth birthday of Sir Winston Churchill, the first premier since William Gladstone to have reached that milestone. The setting was the eleventh-century Westminster Hall, whose magnificent high-vaulted timber ceiling and mighty stone walls exuded an austere medieval grandeur. Out of respect for Churchill's venerable age, special electric heating pads had been discreetly installed in his designated chair on the dais facing the audience.
- From Attlee and Churchill: Allies in War, Adversaries in Peace by Leo McKinstry
Monday, January 05, 2026
The Teachers Retirement Association
I've been waiting to hear more about this potential scandal in Minnesota.
A jarring quote from the New York Post story:
The TRA has also posted gains claiming it beat its own benchmark by exactly 0.2% in every period for 30 years — which Siedle calls “virtually impossible.”
East Germany Was Unavailable
Brandi Kruse interviews a Washington state socialist.
His choice of a country in which socialism has worked: Cuba.
Uncomprehended Problems
These (logistical) problems were so grave and pointed so surely toward final defeat that one is forced to wonder how the founding fathers of the Confederacy could possibly have overlooked them. The answer perhaps is that the problems were not so much unseen as uncomprehended. At bottom, these were Yankee problems; concerns of the broker, the money changer, the trader, the mechanic, the grasping man of business; they were matters that such people would think of, not matters that would command the attention of aristocrats who were familiar with valor, the classics, and heroic attitudes. Secession itself had involved a flight from reality rather than an approach to it. ...Essentially, this was the reliance of a group which knew a little about the modern world but which did not know nearly enough and could never understand that it did not know enough. It ran precisely parallel to Mr. (Jefferson) Davis's magnificent statement that the duration of the war could be left up to the enemy - the war would go on until the enemy gave up, and it did not matter how far off that day might be.
- From The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton
First Paragraph
Every schoolboy knows that the Middle Ages arose on the ruins of the Roman Empire. The decline of Rome preceded and in some ways prepared the rise of the kingdoms and cultures which composed the medieval system. Yet in spite of the self-evident truth of this historical preposition we know little about life and thought in the watershed years when Europe was ceasing to be Roman but was not yet medieval. We do not know how it felt to watch the decline of Rome; we do not even know whether the men who watched it knew what they saw, though we can be quite certain that none of them foretold, indeed could have foreseen, the shape which the world was to take in later centuries.
- From Medieval People by Eileen Power (May 1924)
Sunday, January 04, 2026
Saturday, January 03, 2026
Nitwittery Update: The Bias Against Novellas
Many agents and publishers won't take on short novels. The minimal word count requirement varies, but it can be as high as 60,000 words.
They will, however, accept short novels by established authors. Stephen King would have no difficulty, but if the writer is not well-known, the door is usually closed.
Translation: The following books, if written by unknown writers, would not be considered by many publishing houses and agents today:
Animal Farm, The Pearl, Jonathan Livingston Seagull, The Old Man and the Sea, Heart of Darkness, The Metamorphosis, A Christmas Carol, Of Mice and Men, The Stranger, The Little Prince, and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.
All of which brings to mind the great observation by historian Robert Conquest:
"The behavior of any bureaucratic organization can best be understood by assuming that it is controlled by a secret cabal of its enemies."
Classic
Tell me the tale of a man, Muse, who had so many roundabout ways
To wander, driven off course, after sacking Troy's hallowed keep;
Many the people whose cities he saw and whose way of thinking he learned,
Many the toils he suffered at sea, anguish in his heart
As he struggled to safeguard his life and the homecoming of his companions.
- From The Odyssey by Homer [Daniel Mendelsohn translation]
Friday, January 02, 2026
The Big Bad Apple
Claremont Review of Books: Christopher Caldwell on Mayor Mamdani's New York.
An excerpt:
Thus far, Mamdani has had extraordinary good fortune. With the Democratic Party in disarray last winter, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo looked like he could easily take the party’s nomination away from the scandal-tarred incumbent, the black ex-cop and later Trump ally Eric Adams. Cuomo, it’s true, had resigned the governorship under a cloud of sexual-harassment allegations in 2021. But his followers figured such peccadillos would matter less in the big city. What they hadn’t reckoned with was the way the city’s electorate had changed.
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