Good Rule

 It is a good rule of thumb that one should become skeptical - and perhaps also concerned - whenever everyone in a position of authority starts to say the same thing. Particularly when they also all do so at the same time.

- Douglas Murray

First Paragraph

 Beyond the Indian hamlet, upon a forlorn strand, I happened on a trail of recent footprints. Through rotting kelp, sea cocoa-nuts & bamboo, the tracks led me to their maker, a White man, his trowzers & Pea-jacket rolled up, sporting a kempt beard & an outsized Beaver, shoveling & sifting the cindery sand with a teaspoon so intently that he noticed me only after I hailed him from ten yards away. Thus it was, I made the acquaintance of Dr. Henry Goose, surgeon to the London nobility. His nationality was no surprise. If there be any eyrie so desolate, or isle so remote, that one may there resort unchallenged by an Englishman, 'tis not down on any map I ever saw.

- From Cloud Atlas: A Novel by David Mitchell

"Defining Deviancy Down"

 Glenn Loury on Daniel Patrick Moynihan's famous essay.

A brief biography of Moynihan. It's sad that he never ran for president. That would have been a fascinating choice.

Wisdom: Don't Make Unnecessary Enemies

 

On the Bay and On the Ropes

 

Our Times

•  The Free Press: Former Attorney General William Barr on the efforts to keep Trump off of the ballot.
• Greg Lukianoff: Harvard, Claudine Gay, and "The Silver Spoon Rule."
• Wilfred Reilly: What "Black Lives Matter" and "Free Palestine" Have in Common.
• Gurwinder Ghogal: Concepts to Survive the Year.
• Washington Examiner: Javier Milei is the anti-Hugo Chavez.

Rick Rubin on Creativity

 

Too Often Overlooked

I can remember way back when these novels were very popular. They are worth checking out.

• "The Travels of Jamie McPheeters" by Robert Lewis Taylor
• "The Sand Pebbles" by Richard McKenna
• "The Secret of Santa Vittoria" by Robert Crichton
• "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
• "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute
• "Auntie Mame" by Patrick Dennis
• "I Was Dancing" by Edwin O'Connor
• "The Virginian" by Owen Wister
• "Laughing Boy" by Oliver La Farge
• "Ride With Me" by Thomas Costain
• "Andersonville" by MacKinlay Kantor
• "An Operational Necessity" by Gwyn Griffin
• "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Wouk

Back By Popular Demand: Meeting Jeffrey Epstein

 

First Paragraph

 I'll never forget cross-examining my mother about punchcards.

- From The Geek Way: The Radical Mindset That Drives Extraordinary Results by Andrew McAfee