A cold misty rain descends streaking the windows down an empty shopping street. The university baleful behind its great iron gates, a light in the porter's lodge, a faint yellow beacon at the end of a street where the massive porticoes of the bank shelter lurking figures on this barren Saturday afternoon.
- From The Onion Eaters by J.P. Donleavy
City Journal: Wilfred M. McClay on "Can We Become a Serious Country Again?" An excerpt:
Would a serious country have run up a national debt of now almost $30.5 trillion during times of relative peace and prosperity?Absurdly claiming to rule with a special mandate from the working class, the totalitarian state prescribed a comprehensive set of obligatory views in virtually all spheres of thought, political and non-political. It demanded the citizens' total allegiance, compelling affirmations and postures of assent by an elaborate system of rewards, and by penalties ranging from intensive exhortation to summary execution. In the privacy of their hearts few individuals can have wholeheartely assented - especially in recent years - to the officially sanctified dogma. But public respect for its doxology and catchwords remained indispensable for those seeking to pursue most Soviet careers. Within Soviet historiology the policy of thought control was applied with particular severity. It was especially stringent in its impact on the history of Russia, as opposed to other lands, much Russia history being treated as a state secret.
- From Russia: A Concise History by Ronald Hingley
I missed the announcement of Peter Boghossian's Social Justice Reverse Q&A Tour.
Fortunately, several if not all of the sessions are available on YouTube.
The more I study history and leadership, the more strongly I believe that neglecting a battle can be worse than losing one.
Beware of where your side is absent.
