Mission Creep

 

There Is, Of Course, The Obvious Choice

A few years ago, I learned that if you want to spark a lively debate, declare which is the best film version of "A Christmas Carol."

[Photo by Maria Brauer at Unsplash]

Research

There are many days when you are only as good as your research.

Bring along an Einstein-Holmes-Poirot-Curie passion and it will be much more enjoyable.

There's a Lot of This Going Around

 

Symbiosis

Through democracy, bureaucracy has consistently expanded, the result of the rising number of social and economic functions taken on by the democratic state. But when bureaucracy reaches a certain degree of mass and power, it becomes almost automatically resistant to any will, including the elected will of the people, that is not of its own making.

- Robert Nisbet

Pearl Harbor Day

We live in dangerous times and have enemies who would enjoy choosing significant dates in our history for their villainy.

"Remember Pearl Harbor" means the event itself but it also means remembering the need for vigilance.

Munich

 

But It's High in the Faculty Lounge

Only 2 percent of those polled refer to themselves as Latinx, while 68 percent call themselves “Hispanic” and 21 percent favored “Latino” or “Latina” to describe their ethnic background, according to the survey from Bendixen & Amandi International, a top Democratic firm specializing in Latino outreach.

Read the rest at Politico.

On My List

 

While We Were Debating Pronouns

 

Quillette: Andrew Roberts on The Decline of American Power: A Kübler-Ross Analysis. An excerpt:

"The via dolorosa presently stretched before the United States will likely encompass the replacement of the dollar as the global currency of last resort, the recognition that the South China Seas are no longer navigable by the US Navy, the understanding that Africa has been effectively colonized by China, and the possible swallowing of Ukraine by Russia and Taiwan by China. If the United States maintains its present course, Americans should prepare themselves for a century of humiliating retreats. So, how are these developments likely to play out in an already deeply divided polity and society?"