“It is thy mouth that I desire, Iokanaan. Thy mouth is like a band of scarlet on a tower of ivory. It is like a pomegranate cut in twain with a knife of ivory. The pomegranate flowers that blossom in the gardens of Tyre, and are redder than roses, are not so red. The red blasts of trumpets that herald the approach of kings, and make afraid the enemy, are not so red. Thy mouth is redder than the feet of those who tread the wine in the wine-press. It is redder than the feet of the doves who … [Read more...] about Salome is Always With Us
Modern Society
Free to Explore Ideas
From an Interview published by the Academic Freedom Alliance.Q.: You frequently publish articles at a variety of outlets. Many of your writings deal with important economic matters, but you also explore other big questions through the topics of literature, art, and culture. Finding controversy seems to be getting easier these days, even with subjects that were completely uncontroversial only years ago. My question is this, how important is the protection of extramural speech, as part of a … [Read more...] about Free to Explore Ideas
Get Woke, Go Broke?
Woke Capitalism is a growing and troubling dimension of contemporary economic and political life, especially among the mammoth multinational corporations that dominate so many aspects of our lives.” Such laments have become omnipresent in conservative circles. It has become hard to keep up with the Outrage of the Day. Woke Corporations have adopted the norms of the Left’s pet programs, both in advertising and public declarations, as well as in adopting ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) … [Read more...] about Get Woke, Go Broke?
Pseudo-Intellectuals and Their Opponents
Yet Trissotin, I must admit,So irks me that there’s no controlling it.I can’t to gain his advocacy stoopTo praise the works of such a nincompoop.It was those works which introduced me to him;Before I ever saw the man, I knew him;From the vile way he wrote, I saw with easeWhat, in the flesh, must be his qualities:The absolute presumption, the completeAnd dauntless nature of his self-conceit,The calm assurance of his superior worthWhich renders him the smuggest man on earth,So that he stands in … [Read more...] about Pseudo-Intellectuals and Their Opponents
The Canary in the Fed’s Coal Mine
Timing is everything. Imagine publishing a book two weeks before a major crisis that is perfectly explained in its pages. Jeanna Smialek just did that. If you want to understand the financial crisis slowly unfolding right now, you can do no better than to read Limitless: The Federal Reserve Takes on a New Age of Crisis. If you took an economics course back when you were an undergraduate, you may think that you know what the Federal Reserve does. Your monetary policy education, however, is … [Read more...] about The Canary in the Fed’s Coal Mine
The Cult of Heinlein
“Philosophically, just one line of ink can make a different universe as surely as having the continent of Europe missing. Is the old ‘branching time streams’ and ‘multiple universes’ notion correct? Did I bounce into a different universe, different because I had monkeyed with the setup?”The Door Into Summer by Robert Heinlein raises that question. It does not even attempt to answer that question. Therein lies a tale. Let’s begin on a positive note! If you are looking for a … [Read more...] about The Cult of Heinlein