The Freedom of Disunity

Last week I gave a talk on my pet topic of bullfighting in front of various politicos from Spain and Britain at the Reform Club in London, which was founded in 1836 in the wake of the Great Reform Act of "€™32 that was ...

The Glaring Inequality of Obamaville

Rising inequality “is the defining issue of our time,” said President Obama in his Osawatomie speech that echoed the “New Nationalism” address Theodore Roosevelt delivered in that same Kansas town a ...

Times Square circa 1950

I Liked the Older New York

In that wonderful old Broadway musical Guys and Dolls, gambler Sky Masterson is romancing the Salvation Army’s Sister Sarah Brown after an all-nighter of boozing it up in Havana. Walking Sarah home to her mission in New ...

When in Doubt, Blame the Teachers

In case you haven’t caught any of the buzz about the movie, or seen Steve Sailer’s review, Waiting for Superman is a 2-hour documentary deploring the state of our public schools, and suggesting ways that public ...

No Way Out

AIX-EN-PROVENCE—I attended a young friend’s wedding to a celebrity DJ in a beautiful tent in an olive grove. Had a short chat with the beautiful Kate Moss and her hubby, followed by some heavy boozing under the ...

The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man by Jan Brueghel the Elder and Pieter Paul Rubens, c. 1615

Oh, the Humanities!

A friend of mine kindly sent me the brochure of a conference of art historians that has just been held at University College, London, which claims to be one of the best academic departments of art history in the ...

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A Tale of Two Dragon Ladies

Mme. Nhu, who died five days before THE wedding, was a hell of a woman. When she was captured by the commies in Hue in 1946, she stood up to them until the French rescued her four months later. She was anti-French and ...

Today France, Tomorrow the USA?

As that rail and subway strike continued to paralyze travel in Paris and across France into the third week, President Emmanuel Macron made a Christmas appeal to his dissatisfied countrymen: "Strike action is justifiable ...

Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles

Claims to Fame

I have tried all my life to understand my fellow humans but have failed. If I understood them better, perhaps I would share more of their interests. Take reality TV, for example. Returning to France recently, I discovered ...

For More Crime, Vote Democrat!

New York Mayor Eric Adams would have been the Democrats' runaway choice for president if only he'd kept his campaign promise and cut crime in the Big Apple. No mayoral candidate talked about "safety, safety, safety" more ...

Broken Codes of Conduct

The desire for perfection in human relations is a powerful stimulant of conflict—and of a bureaucracy to adjudicate it. That all should be fair, open, aboveboard, that no one should ever experience discomfort because of ...

Donna Karan

Hypocritical Oaths

The only woman who has not been sexually harassed and possibly raped by Harvey Weinstein is Mata Hari, and that’s because she was executed by the brave French a hundred years ago this month for spying. She was not a ...

A Capital Offense

Last week I reviewed a book published by an American academic press—it hardly matters the title or author, for in the respect to which I wish to draw your attention they are almost all the same these days. With few ...

‘Locked and Loaded’ for War on Iran?

"Iran has launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," declared Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Putting America's credibility on the line, Pompeo accused Iran of carrying out the devastating attack on ...

Gazillions

Gazillions. That’s the number of times the federal government has spied on Americans since 9/11 through the use of drones, legal search warrants, illegal search warrants, federal agent-written search warrants and just ...

Hampton Court Palace

Parties, Pols, and Parking Wars

I am trying to decide with some friends what is worse, English weather or English football. The former is improving as I write, but the latter’s problems are terminal, too many “directors of development” and other ...

Judging Police Brutality on a Tase-by-Tase Basis

Dark decades of direct experience with human beings have given us reason to operate from an ecumenical distrust of human nature. Although perfectly natural, human nature is a foul entity regardless of what skin color, ...

Ann’s Plan to End Police Shootings

To use the cliche of the moment, these are deeply polarized times. But there are some issues so urgent that we must find common ground. At the top of that list is preventing police-citizen interactions from resulting in the ...

Europe’s Culture War Against America

Socialist elements within the European Union disapprove of America and welcome any opportunity to criticize and undermine it. Three topics will facilitate their attack"€”the death penalty, freedom of speech, and ...

Justin Trudeau

Shine Briefly, Little Pony

"€œI think it would be appropriate for Earth Hour in the interests of the environment for the Senator to punch Justin Trudeau's lights out."€ That was author Mark Steyn, speaking for millions of Canadians right before ...

Holocaust Revisionism

I should first admit that it took quite a lot for me to actually go see Inglourious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's latest about a special Army unit of Jewish avengers, led by a half-Cherokee Good Ol"€™ Boy, who rampage ...

The Dumbing-Down of America

“Is our children learning?” as George W. Bush so famously asked. Well, no, they is not learning, especially the history of their country, the school subject at which America’s young perform at their ...

Letters From a Screenwriter in Trouble

Dear Gato, I"€™ll tell you some more about Armando Rhon, "€œgreatest realtor in Mexico"€"€”Baja California, that is"€”when I have time. Unfortunately, I have a feeling he and I will be seeing a lot more of each ...

How a Soldier Thinks

There are over seven thousand dead in Syria now. What are the Syrian soldiers thinking? The last post Marie Colvin made before her death tells us they"€™re "€œshelling a city of cold, starving civilians."€ Soldiers ...


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