Bitter Lessons from Afghanistan

By John Lloyd Quillette In his 2011 reflection on intervention, Rory Stewart offers a composite picture of a typical foreign adviser to Afghanistan before the Taliban swept back into Kabul’s Arg Palace: “James” is young, highly credentialed academically in the UK and the US, hard working, optimistic, with […]

The Michael Anton Tapes

By Mark Granza Michael Anton is an American conservative essayist, speechwriter, and former senior national security official in the Trump administration. In 2016, under the pseudonym Publius Decius Mus, he wrote The Flight 93 Election, an influential essay in support of Donald Trump’s campaign which was subsequently credited […]

The Battle for Thacker Pass

By Evan Malmgreen, The Nation To the west of the northern Nevada town of Orovada (population 155), State Route 293 cuts onto public lands near Thacker Pass, a section of high desert in the caldera of an extinct super-volcano. Around mile marker 20, an unassuming dirt road detours […]

Woke Is Old

By Bryan Caplan One of the less charming features of the woke movement is its vocal age prejudice.  In conversation, believers have repeatedly appealed to my age and their youth to gain argumentative advantage. I’m tempted, admittedly, to respond in kind.  In reality, the young have less insight on […]

Everyday Lunacy

It’s rather amusing that today’s conservatives are reminiscing about the good old days of 1985, when in 1985 conservatives were lamenting the passing of the good old days of 1955. By the Zman,  Taki’s Mag The old adage about there being a fine line between genius and madness […]

The Problem of Moral Panics

I am increasingly of the opinion that anyone with a serious anti-authoritarian outlook needs to be opposed to moral panics even before they are supposed to institutional authorities like organized religion, capitalism, or even the state itself. As H.L. Mencken said, “The worst government is often the most […]

The Deepening Menace Of Trump

By Andrew Sullivan The scene that struck me most in the Woodward/Costa tome, “Peril,” occurs on a plane. On a trip from DC to Seattle on January 7, Adam Smith, a 55-year-old centrist Democrat, finds himself surrounded by participants in the previous day’s violent assault on the Capitol. […]

The System and Racism

This is interesting. If you take out the conservative Protestant aspect of this piece, it could be something a Maoist/Third Worldist would write. Proto-Protestantism Recently I was talking with my son and he told me about some experiences he had on a Christian chat forum that he visits […]

The weird world of endless COVID

By Damon Linker The Week Earlier this week, in Philadelphia, I went to my first concert since before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The Phoebe Bridgers show took place outdoors. Admittance required proof of vaccination. (A recent negative test result was insufficient.) Concertgoers were also required to wear masks. […]