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Jul 13, 2025
In the moderately large compendium of things I do not care about, details of the depravity of the late Jeffrey Epstein occupy a random page or two. I had never heard of the...
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Jul 6, 2025
Like many people in my neighborhood, I had an American flag ready to display when the nation’s big, beautiful birthday rolled around on Friday. I live in a small New England...
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Jun 29, 2025
For most mortals, most of the time, the deliberations and periodic eructations of the Supreme Court can seem like so many bulletins from the Office of Circumlocution. Every now and...
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Jun 8, 2025
In 1939, the American novelist Ernest Vincent Wright self-published the 50,000-word novel Gadsby, a lipogram in which the letter “e” does not appear. Since “e” is the most...
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Jun 6, 2025
Biden first intruded upon the national consciousness in 1987. That was when he made his inaugural run for the presidency: a campaign
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Jun 6, 2025
The memorandum directs the President’s legal team to investigate how Biden signed numerous executive actions during his final years in office.
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Jun 1, 2025
“To be deceived about the truth of things and so to harbor untruth in the soul is a thing no one would consent to.” — Plato, The Republic Let me start with the genus. What is...
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May 18, 2025
I want to begin this column by paying homage to the two most extraordinary passages in Donald Trump’s extraordinary speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week. Here’s the first:...
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May 4, 2025
Academia is once again in the news. Donald Trump’s recent commencement address at the University of Alabama, where he said that America’s “next chapter will not be written by...
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Apr 15, 2025
For those scouring the news cycle for the next meme, I offer what seems to me the word of the day: ‘chaos’
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Apr 6, 2025
One of the biggest differences between Donald Trump and other politicians is that Trump does what others only talk about. It’s become a popular sport to dig up video clips from...
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Mar 24, 2025
The Trump administration’s efforts will seem like retaliation or or retribution only to those who have betrayed their values.
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Mar 22, 2025
What did you think of Donald Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice on Friday? It was one of those speeches that divides the world. I liked it. But even while watching it, I...
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Mar 19, 2025
Does that make Vance akin to Goebbels? Are those sentiments “a disgrace”? I do not think so. But the fact that a prominent journalist....
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Mar 18, 2025
Stock markets may be panicking. But Trump and Musk are honest enough to admit that there’s no gain without some pain
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Mar 17, 2025
What did you think of Donald Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice on Friday? It was one of those speeches that divides the world. I liked it. But even while watching it, I...
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Feb 23, 2025
Whatever else you can say about the Joe Biden administration, I think you have to admit that its effort to keep the public informed about its progress in realizing the president’s...
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Feb 16, 2025
Everyone agrees that Vice President J. D. Vance’s speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday was remarkable. I do not mean that everyone liked it. For example, Boris...
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Feb 9, 2025
Here we go again. At the beginning of his first term as president, Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning travel from several countries—Yemen, for example,...
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Feb 2, 2025
Senator Chuck Schumer is a lawyer, so presumably he is familiar with the provisions of 18 U.S. Code § 115. In case he has forgotten—after all, there are a lot of statutes to keep...
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Jan 26, 2025
It’s almost as if elections have consequences. Donald Trump hasn’t been in office for a full week yet, but already the mood of the entire country seems to have undergone a...
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Jan 26, 2025
Is he defining the Zeitgeist, or merely riding it? You might as well ask the same question of Napoleon or Caesar
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Jan 24, 2025
Is he defining the Zeitgeist, or merely riding it? You might as well ask the same question of Napoleon or Caesar
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Jan 22, 2025
Here we are, more or less midway through the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s key nominations. Among those we’ve heard from are Pete Hegseth (nominated to be Secretary of...
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Jan 12, 2025
I was at a dinner event on Thursday night when the news came that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett decided to throw a sop to the left. At issue was whether...
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Jan 6, 2025
If you visit the State Department’s website for the Global Engagement Center, you will read that “The Global Engagement Center closed on December 23, 2024.” Not really. As has...
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Jan 5, 2025
When people talk about the “peaceful transfer of power,” they mean the power to keep things as they are. That is not what Trump 2.0 is about.
Jul 13, 2025In the moderately large compendium of things I do not care about, details of the depravity of the late Jeffrey Epstein occupy a random page or two. I had never heard of the...
Jul 6, 2025Like many people in my neighborhood, I had an American flag ready to display when the nation’s big, beautiful birthday rolled around on Friday. I live in a small New England...
Jun 29, 2025For most mortals, most of the time, the deliberations and periodic eructations of the Supreme Court can seem like so many bulletins from the Office of Circumlocution. Every now and...
Jun 8, 2025In 1939, the American novelist Ernest Vincent Wright self-published the 50,000-word novel Gadsby, a lipogram in which the letter “e” does not appear. Since “e” is the most...
Jun 6, 2025Biden first intruded upon the national consciousness in 1987. That was when he made his inaugural run for the presidency: a campaign
Jun 6, 2025The memorandum directs the President’s legal team to investigate how Biden signed numerous executive actions during his final years in office.
Jun 1, 2025“To be deceived about the truth of things and so to harbor untruth in the soul is a thing no one would consent to.” — Plato, The Republic Let me start with the genus. What is...
May 18, 2025I want to begin this column by paying homage to the two most extraordinary passages in Donald Trump’s extraordinary speech in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last week. Here’s the first:...
May 4, 2025Academia is once again in the news. Donald Trump’s recent commencement address at the University of Alabama, where he said that America’s “next chapter will not be written by...
Apr 15, 2025For those scouring the news cycle for the next meme, I offer what seems to me the word of the day: ‘chaos’
Apr 6, 2025One of the biggest differences between Donald Trump and other politicians is that Trump does what others only talk about. It’s become a popular sport to dig up video clips from...
Mar 24, 2025The Trump administration’s efforts will seem like retaliation or or retribution only to those who have betrayed their values.
Mar 22, 2025What did you think of Donald Trump’s speech at the Department of Justice on Friday? It was one of those speeches that divides the world. I liked it. But even while watching it, I...
Mar 19, 2025Does that make Vance akin to Goebbels? Are those sentiments “a disgrace”? I do not think so. But the fact that a prominent journalist....
Mar 18, 2025Stock markets may be panicking. But Trump and Musk are honest enough to admit that there’s no gain without some pain
Feb 23, 2025Whatever else you can say about the Joe Biden administration, I think you have to admit that its effort to keep the public informed about its progress in realizing the president’s...
Feb 9, 2025Here we go again. At the beginning of his first term as president, Donald Trump issued an executive order temporarily banning travel from several countries—Yemen, for example,...
Feb 2, 2025Senator Chuck Schumer is a lawyer, so presumably he is familiar with the provisions of 18 U.S. Code § 115. In case he has forgotten—after all, there are a lot of statutes to keep...
Jan 26, 2025It’s almost as if elections have consequences. Donald Trump hasn’t been in office for a full week yet, but already the mood of the entire country seems to have undergone a...
Jan 26, 2025Is he defining the Zeitgeist, or merely riding it? You might as well ask the same question of Napoleon or Caesar
Jan 22, 2025Here we are, more or less midway through the confirmation hearings for Donald Trump’s key nominations. Among those we’ve heard from are Pete Hegseth (nominated to be Secretary of...
Jan 12, 2025I was at a dinner event on Thursday night when the news came that Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett decided to throw a sop to the left. At issue was whether...
Jan 6, 2025If you visit the State Department’s website for the Global Engagement Center, you will read that “The Global Engagement Center closed on December 23, 2024.” Not really. As has...
Jan 5, 2025When people talk about the “peaceful transfer of power,” they mean the power to keep things as they are. That is not what Trump 2.0 is about.