Why Is the World Becoming Such a Nasty Place?

by Victor Davis Hanson // PJMedia

Photo via PJMedia
Photo via PJMedia

Border Disorders

Central American parents send their unescorted children northward in hopes of remittances and eventual anchor amnesty for themselves. Our friend Mexico facilitates the exodus through its own sovereign territory (hoping that no one stops along the transit, and happy that the border is further shredded). Central American governments seem happy too. More money will be sent back home. Fewer mouths will be left to feed. Possible dissidents will emigrate. A new generation of expatriates in the U.S. will grow fonder of and lobby for Central America the longer they don’t have to live there.

Continue reading “Why Is the World Becoming Such a Nasty Place?”

Saudi Police Arrest Flying, Naked, African ‘Sorceress’

by Raymond Ibrahim

FrontPage Magazine

Last month, according to Emirates247 , “A Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to 10 years in jail and ordered their lashed 1,000 times each after they were found guilty of indulging in sorcery at their employers’ houses Continue reading “Saudi Police Arrest Flying, Naked, African ‘Sorceress’”

One Nation, Under God?

by Bruce Thornton

Defining Ideas

The role of religion in American social and political life is an ever-present element in our civic conversation. The recent controversy over the contraception mandate ignited a smoldering conflict over just this issue. Continue reading “One Nation, Under God?”

The New Reactionaries

by Victor Davis Hanson

National Review Online

Starting in the 1930s and continuing after the war, the Democrats offered a liberal critique of, or perhaps enhancement to, the Republican vision of rugged individualism. A modern American state now had the capital and the moral ambition to smooth the rougher edges of capitalism by insisting on unemployment and disability insurance, a 40-hour week, overtime pay, and what we now associate with the social safety net. Such entitlements, along with a rapidly growing economy, redefined poverty — so much so that whereas in 1930 malnourishment was endemic among the poor, by 2000 obesity was far more injurious to the nation’s collective health. Continue reading “The New Reactionaries”

Before the Culture Fades

by Bruce S. Thornton

City Journal

A review of The Fortunes of Permanence: Culture and Anarchy in an Age of Amnesia by Roger Kimball (St. Augustine’s Press, 2012)

Roger Kimball has long been one of America’s most learned commentators on intellectual history, contemporary politics, fine art, and architecture. Continue reading “Before the Culture Fades”

Our Not So Best and Not So Brightest

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

From Eliot Spitzer to Elizabeth Warren to Fareed Zakaria — what is wrong with our elites? Continue reading “Our Not So Best and Not So Brightest”

Romney and the Palestinian Culture of Destruction

by Bruce Thornton

Frontpage Magazine

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is under attack for speaking an important truth about the Arab-Israeli conflict. At a fundraiser in Jerusalem on Monday, Romney made the obvious, even banal, point about the economic disparity between nations. Continue reading “Romney and the Palestinian Culture of Destruction”

Thoughts on the Rhine

by Victor Davis Hanson

PJ Media

Editor’s note: Recently, VDH led a group on a tour of the Rhine and wrote these thoughts.

Rhine Watching Continue reading “Thoughts on the Rhine”

Culture Still Matters

by Victor Davis Hanson

Tribune Media Services

Last week I led a military-history tour on the Rhine River from Basel, Switzerland, to Amsterdam. You can learn a lot about Europe’s current economic crises by ignoring the sophisticated barrage of news analysis and instead just watching, listening, and talking to people as you go down river. Continue reading “Culture Still Matters”

America’s Problem of Assimilation

by Bruce S. Thornton

Defining Ideas

The current Supreme Court term has been dominated by the Constitutional challenge to the Affordable Care Act, the healthcare legislation better known as Obamacare. Continue reading “America’s Problem of Assimilation”