I should stop thinking about this. I really should. Because the consequences will be wider and harsher than anyone has yet had the courage to mention. A pardon says, sotto voce, “Yes, you’re guilty and I know it, but I’m going to let you off.” The acceptance of a pardon says, in equally hushed tones, …
Category: morals and ethics
Nov 09 2024
What We Know Now
The fourth word in the title is the one to stress. There is much that we suspected – including a few things we were sure of but could not prove definitively – that we now know to be incontrovertible. The evidence is unimpeachable. The implications are unavoidable. (And ending three sentences in a row …
Nov 03 2024
Awakenings
Yes, I’ve used that title before. Twice, in fact. But third time’s the charm, I hope. A word of warning, Gentle Reader. This one will get rough. Moreover, you may not sense it coming. But when it does, you’ll be in no doubt of it. If you can stand to have every …
Oct 22 2024
To Our Days Of Realism
I’m going to disturb you, Gentle Reader. Some of you, at least. You may find what follows antiquated, a delusion of a past century. Perhaps you’ll deem it offensive. But I have something in mind that Rudyard Kipling expresses beautifully in the poem below. Take up the White Man’s burden Send forth the best …
Jul 17 2024
Shame And Guilt
Last Saturday’s disastrous performance by the Secret Service detachment assigned to President Trump has evoked huge amounts of commentary. Some opinioneers are claiming that the evidence can’t point to anything but a Secret Service tasked to permit Trump’s assassination. Others are of the opinion that it was merely a demonstration of the low estate …
Apr 27 2024
Unspeakable Or Unthinkable Part 2: An Amoral Calculus
As my Gentle Readers might have expected, I received quite a lot of feedback on the previous piece. I wasn’t surprised by the tone of it. Disappointed, perhaps, but not surprised. The mass warfare of World War II, in which many thousands of noncombatants died, should have taught us something. The atomic bombings, …
Apr 26 2024
Unspeakable Or Unthinkable?
There are things that must be said. Some of those things are terrible to contemplate. Fortunately, there are a few people, at least, who are willing to say them. I aspire to be numbered among them. Just now, the premier speaker of the unspeakable is Tucker Carlson: For those who don’t watch …
Mar 18 2024
Shamelessness As A Political Weapon (UPDATED)
The key political asset of our time is the ability to tell any lie, however outrageous or absurd, with a perfectly straight face: eyes straight and flat, no lifting of either corner of the mouth, and no tightening of either nostril. Moreover, the liar must be able to maintain that solemn-as-a-judge expression through a …
Nov 28 2023
“That Can’t Be!”
Dave: Everybody cheats. I just didn’t know. Dad: Well, now you know. [From Breaking Away.] Have you become more skeptical as you’ve aged, or less? There’s an awful lot of utter nonsense being purveyed by the extended media, these days. By “extended,” I mean to subsume all providers of information, not just the …
Sep 24 2023
The Giveaway Headline
Sometimes, you really don’t need to read any further: Late-Term Abortion: A Complex Moral Debate in America Among the most regular of motifs one can find in the contest over abortion is the contention that it’s “complex.” “A complex subject.” “A complex debate.” “Legally complex.” And each of those formulations has at least …
Aug 23 2023
Moral Decisions
One of the philosophers vitally important to the development of Western thought, Immanuel Kant, propounded some theses that have gotten him lambasted by…let us say…persons with another agenda. The Randians dislike Kant for having criticized “pure reason:” i.e., reason divorced from longstanding postulates, empirical data, and the yearnings of the soul. Many Christian polemicists …
Jul 24 2023
The Chronicle of the DC: 13Jul09 Archives
John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar, says: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet At that link is strong evidence that the Biden regime is clearly following through on what the Obama regime started. Not only that, but the Trump interim didn’t seem to slow them one bit as the excesses we’ve witnessed …
Jun 29 2023
They Call It Anarchy, But It’s Actually Hell
Heard the name of Gonzalo Lira lately? If you have, it’s probably because the Zelensky regime in Ukraine has thrown him into prison him for writing stuff Zelensky doesn’t like. But at one time, Lira was better known for this essay, which embeds this critical observation: When the backbone of a country starts …
Jun 25 2023
An Early-Sunday-Morning Thought
A huge portion of the popular reaction against “public” schools arises from clashes over values: i.e., moral and ethical principles for living that undergird all other decisions. All education of any kind must be founded upon some set of values, because literally everything involved in human life is founded thus. It’s literally impossible to …
Mar 12 2023
Important Truth
Good morning, Gentle Reader. I had a terrible night – a lot of pain and no sleep – so if what follows seems to come out of the Bizarro dimension, please bear with me. The subject on my mind strikes me as important enough to risk it. *** At The Catholic Thing today, …
Feb 12 2023
False Promises
“The way to control and direct a Mentat, Nefud, is through his information. False information—false results.” [Frank Herbert, Dune] The supposed “artificial intelligence” program ChatGPT made some news a couple of days ago. It seems that when someone offered the program a dilemma – utter a racial slur to prevent the deaths of …
Dec 29 2022
Awakenings
(Only tenuously related to the movie of that name, which, by the way, is extraordinarily touching and contains a marvelous non-comedic performance by Robin Williams.) “I will take my life into my hands, and I will use it.” – Jim Webb I’ve been in a contemplative mood these past…let’s see, now…hmm…well, for …
Jun 22 2022
A Trio Of Pic Grabs
In my current state of screaming, frothing fury, the following graphics speak more eloquently than I can manage: I may be back later, but don’t bet the rent money on it.
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Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
