Despite Jeff Bezos's libertarian ideology, Amazon has used governmental privilege to grow to a massive scale, and has had a disastrous effect on American life, as Alec MacGillis shows in Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America.
Indelible in the Hippocampus Is the Perjury
Christine Blasey Ford’s Kavanaugh hoax put both the justice and Mark Judge through the mill. We owe Judge a chance to try to rebuild his life.
The Transmaid’s Tale One Year Later
The deadly dynamics behind Audrey Hale’s murder spree.
The Sad Catastrophe of the Francis Scott Key Bridge
Signs of imperial decline have become common in the U.S.. That Baltimore’s collapsed bridge takes its name from the author of our national anthem is sadly poetic.
Beware of Squatters
Favoring intruders over owners constitutes a "taking" that violates the Fifth Amendment, which says government cannot impinge on your right to your property. But squatters are turning up across the country anyway.
The Twilight of the Republican ‘McLeadership’
The Trump team is steadily purging the Republican leadership of holdovers from past decades. The departure of McCarthy, McDaniel, and McConnell is part of exorcising the legacy of a more important “Mc” whose influence is still felt in the U.S. Senate: John McCain.
Trump Hunts for a VP Close to Home
There’s more than one way the GOP could wind up with a New York-Florida ticket this November.
Trump Is Right: The Left Wants a Bloodbath
No one has yet explained how Trump would end “democracy,” but as usual for the left, it seems to be a case of projection.
Happiness in Chernobyl
The lives of the babushkas in Chernobyl are evidence that God exists everywhere, and that while destruction can often reign supreme, creation, however small, affirms our propensity for the good.
The Government Needs Censorship Because Nobody Trusts It to Tell the Truth
Americans have come to see the government as a purveyor of misinformation, not a trusted speech referee. A case now before the Supreme Court reinforces that perception.
Grounds for Suspicion
Republican voters have every right to assume bad faith from Democrats and their vote-counters, who have unscrupulously tried to increase their party’s power while behaving unethically toward electoral opponents.
Vice President J.D. Vance
If Trump really wants to hit a home run, and if he wants to pick the man most in touch with this American moment, then it has to be J.D. Vance.
My Kavanaugh Hearing Nightmare and ‘Oprah Moment’ on Fox
One thing I learned from my ordeal in the limelight of the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations is that the truth is always more complicated than the narrative.
Botox Blasey Ford
Christine Blasey Ford is out with a memoir no one asked for about her experience testifying against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation. Her unconvincing story remains the same, but her face appears to be the beneficiary of her substantial cash windfalls.
Ukraine and the Daunting, Haunting Rites of Spring
Events in Ukraine cannot help but remind observers of the haunting events of the spring of 1914.
New York Doomed to Be Migrant Central—Other Cities Take Note
Only New York has a "right to shelter," and it makes the city the top destination for migrants.
West Point Gives in to Creeping Liberalism
By abandoning its traditional motto of “Duty, Honor, Country,” West Point has given into the liberalizing trend within American society. As Samuel Huntington warned, to remain effective a military must maintain an ethos distinct from the liberal society it defends.
Princess Kate and Democracy’s Discontents
The tabloid interest in the princess’s health, is also punctuated by genuine sympathy on the part of many Brits, who see the royal family as the nation's family, too. But that's not how it should be with our elected leaders.
How Democracy Dies in Germany
German police and teachers harassed a 16-year-old schoolgirl for posting a harmless video featuring the Smurfs and about a conservative political in that country. In Germany, left-wing thought-control has replaced freedom of speech.
The Path to Victory for Trump
Trump’s best chance in 2024 is to ignore the noise and prove, contrary to the smear campaigns, that he is the superior candidate in terms of competence, stability, and sanity.
The Illusion of Privacy
We can’t live in the past, but we should minimize our overexposure to online technology.
The World Cannot Afford an Unserious America
The world, and U.S. citizens in particular, need a serious America. But thanks to our government’s refusal to secure our border, the idea of America being a serious country is a relic of a bygone era.
Is Laken Riley’s Life Worth Less Than George Floyd’s?
The issue facing Biden and his party is not whether to call Ibarra “illegal,” “undocumented” or a “newcomer,” but whether they intend to protect Americans from gang members.
Republican Ignorance and Incuriosity Encourage Corporate-Government Collusion Against Liberty
Too many Republicans still believe that running interference for big business is the same thing as preserving and defending liberty. They completely miss the ways that corporations have become the hand inside the sock puppet of big government.
A Constitution Unburdened by Consent
Because we have unburdened our political rhetoric from authentic Christianity and our Constitution from the necessity of reflecting our consent, we are burdened instead by empty language and forms now used to enslave us.
Can Biden Buy the Voters?
Biden knows what he has to do to win—but the educated whites who are the backbone of his party have little in common, culturally or economically, with the lower-class whites whose interest is in work, not woke.
Oscar Oversights
Black actors and authors are still ignored in Hollywood—including some with very revealing stories to tell.
Haley’s Career Died Because of the GOP’s Poison Ideology
This is what happens to leaders who despise their voters and whose contempt for the culture, faith, and heritage of their people is palpable and overpowering—to the point that such leaders cannot contain themselves.
Dakota Johnson’s Honesty and Madame Web’s Failure
The actress’s frankness about her regrets over participating in this turkey of a film is a breath of fresh air. It’s a cause to be hopeful that studios will learn that there are penalties for choosing to relegate art to the algorithms.
Liberal Elites Against Democracy
One of the great ironies of our present age is that democracy's would-be eponymous outfit, the Democratic Party, has become an enemy of democracy itself.
Teflon Don Strikes Again
Trump's fight with our corrupt system is why his supporters can’t let him go. Who knows? It just might make him president again.
Why I’m Not Cheering for AIPAC
It’s not the job of American conservatives to be loudly endorsing the taking down of American politicians who are critical of Israel.
SCOTUS’s Unanimous Decision and the Pandemic of Trump Derangement Syndrome
That things could get ugly and fast explains why it was imperative for the Supreme Court to rule as it did in the Colorado ballot case—and to do so unanimously.
The Left’s Beef With Beef
New York’s Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit against a beef producer is a warning to businesses not to expect impartial justice.
Clueless in Cuba
The Squad’s recent trip to Cuba shows what happens when the need for illusion is deep.
Two Cheers for the United States Supreme Court
Monday’s decision was a movement in support of the rule of law over and against lawfare and the rule of unhinged partisan power.
American Public Education Is Beyond Crisis Mode
Parents who don’t want their children to be subject to the ever-changing winds of today’s left-wing therapeutic culture will have to make the word “sacrifice” part of their vocabulary.
Veepstakes Give Trump an Edge
Small though the influence of a VP pick usually is, Trump has several ways to turn the right choice into a winning hand.
Supreme Court’s Trump Ruling Highlights Divisions Between Justices
Following Monday’s ruling on the Colorado ballot case, the Supreme Court is likely to only hear cases that can be resolved with the support of the liberal justices, while avoiding those that expose the Court’s the political divisions.
U.S. Flunks Its Own Election Standards
Freedom House sees election corruption everywhere except in the U.S., where the government pays its bills, and the legal system coordinates with the administration to impoverish and imprison the conservative opposition.
A Client State Pushes Eighty
The U.S. occupation and reconstruction of Japan began nearly 80 years ago and is considered by many to be an unqualified success. But Japan's national character was hollowed out in the process; what remains is a shell of a country still obedient to its conquerors.
Conservatives for the Working Class
In "Tyranny Inc.," Sohrab Ahmari calls out the hypocrisy of today’s American economy, which enriches unaccountable oligarchs, exploits workers, and undermines democracy.
Do What You Wish
Artificial intelligence is forging a world less free, and filled by individuals less equipped for freedom—or simply less equipped, period.
Nuland, We Hardly Knew Ye
The arch-neoconservative Victoria Nuland resigned from the State Department last week, after a long career of fomenting nearly every U.S. foreign policy debacle—most especially Ukraine's losing war with Russia.
From Myth to Mob Rule and Back Again
In this discussion of 11 critics of contemporaneity, Neema Parvini is unsentimental about human nature, scornful of pabulum, and armed with mordant wit.
Pulling the Plug on NATO
Every pro-NATO argument is really an argument for its abolition—in the eyes of America's patriotic realists.
Polemics & Exchanges: March 2024
Readers tussle with Paul Gottfried over slavery and the War Between the States, praise for November's "End of the Dollar" issue, and more thoughts on the coming American resistance.
An Obsolete Alliance Turns 75
NATO has undermined the security of its members and created enemies that, in turn, justify further NATO interference in an increasingly unstable “security environment.”
Remembering Zora Neale Hurston
Zora Neale Hurston mocked the professional victims and race hustlers of her day and advocated for a positive, non-combative black identity. She was a woman of the right.
Exodus 90: The Other Side of Feminism
Catholic macho-man influencers tell men to "man up" and fix themselves and their marriages through self-mortification. By contrast, Catholic ladies are told to indulge themselves and "discover their dignity." There is something wrong here.
What We Are Reading: March 2024
Short reviews of Vergil: Father of the West, by Theodor Haecker, and The Sociological Tradition, by Robert A. Nisbet.