Monthly Archives: November 2014

Memento Vivere

November 30, 2014 – 11:26 pm

As bad as things are, all is not lost. Here are three clips of good live music. First, a farewell performance, by Crowded House, of Neil Finn’s Don’t Dream It’s Over. I’ve always thought this is a beautiful, beautiful song, and by the time this version was recorded in 1996, Mr. Finn’s voice, which had […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Music and Recording | Comments (1)

Next

November 29, 2014 – 11:54 pm

In a post the other day I wrote: The universal acid of radical skepticism having nearly completed its work, all transcendent values have now been dissolved — and if all that once was sacred is now remembered at all, is only to be mocked and scorned. Nietzsche saw this coming: “the total eclipse of all […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 27, 2014 – 2:09 pm

To all of you. Although dark clouds gather, we still have a great deal to be thankful for — and here’s a little historical reminder that much of what we have to be thankful for is still worth preserving and defending.

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

The Healing Touch

November 26, 2014 – 7:25 pm

On Monday night, as the sack of Ferguson was just getting underway, President Obama appeared on television to make a lackluster appeal for decorum. (His remarks were broadcast in split-screen, with the gathering riot on one side and Mr. Obama on the other; the juxtaposition made for some memorable TV.) Writing at City Journal, Heather […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (1)

Watching The World Burn

November 26, 2014 – 1:42 am

By now even the most rose-bespectacled Pollyannas among you (you know who you are) must be noticing that things are getting a little, um, frayed. As I write, civil order is fracturing, with impressive coordination, all over the country. Last night an American city was sacked by barbarians — looted, pillaged, and burned as the […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (4)

Angels And Demons

November 23, 2014 – 1:17 pm

When hopes and dreams are loose in the streets, it is well for the timid to lock doors, shutter windows and lie low until the wrath has passed. For there is often a monstrous incongruity between the hopes, however noble and tender, and the action which follows them. It is as if ivied maidens and […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture | Comments (0)

Meanwhile…

November 21, 2014 – 12:01 am

At least there’s some good news today.

By Malcolm | Posted in Foreign Affairs, Reaction | Comments (3)

Paging Dr. Richter

November 20, 2014 – 3:03 pm

Everybody’s talking about the unilateral illegal-alien amnesty President Obama plans to announce tonight. (One thing you may not have heard, buy the way, is that it will add as many new foreign workers as there have been jobs created since 2009, at a time when, for example, unemployment among blacks, who will disproportionately be competing […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Immigration, Society and Culture, Politics | Comments (2)

Master Class

November 19, 2014 – 10:22 pm

On my very short list of all-time favorite writers is the great John McPhee. (If you’ve never read him, stop wasting your life and correct this mistake at once.) Here, in the Princeton Alumni Journal, is an appreciation of Mr. McPhee by one of his students, Joel Achenbach ’82. Enjoy.

By Malcolm | Posted in Books | Comments (1)

Where’s My Pitchfork?

November 19, 2014 – 3:44 pm

“First of all, temporary protective status historically has been used for special circumstances where you have immigrants to this country who are fleeing persecution in their countries. Or there’s some emergency situation in their native land that required them to come to the United States. So it would not be appropriate to use that just […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics, Immigration, Reaction | Comments (1)

No-Win Situation

November 17, 2014 – 10:51 pm

Here’s a pungent analysis of the situation in Iraq from the ‘XX Committee’ blog. (Hat tip to the indefatigable JK.) Key excerpt: The U.S. military is quite capable of defeating almost any adversary on the battlefield, even Da’ish, though that is not the same thing as producing lasting political outcomes that Americans will like. This […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Foreign Affairs | Comments (11)

Fanning The Fire

November 17, 2014 – 10:01 pm

The nation waits with bated breath for the Ferguson grand jury to return its verdict. The expectation is that there will be no indictment, as it appears that Michael Brown had attacked Officer Darren Wilson, badly injuring him, and was trying to take the officer’s pistol when he was shot. The expectation is also that […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

Boil That Frog

November 16, 2014 – 2:27 pm

Yawn… ISIS beheads another American. You know, when I was younger, that would have been a pretty big deal.

By Malcolm | Posted in Society and Culture, Jihad | Comments (5)

Did This Happen?

November 15, 2014 – 11:34 pm

Having unbosomed myself of that dyspeptic political rant yesterday, it’s time to change the subject. Here is an unsettling story about an encounter that the USS Donald Cook (DDG-75), an Arleigh Burke-class missile destroyer, had with a Russian SU-24 in the Black Sea last April. I have only just learned about this, and while it […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Military | Comments (10)

We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Mandate

November 14, 2014 – 5:49 pm

The Democrats, and by proxy Barack Obama, got hammered last week. Lest you think this was just some low-turnout election that doesn’t really mean much, a Gallup poll taken afterwards indicated that by a sizable margin — 53% to 36% — Americans would rather have the GOP at the helm than Mr. Obama. (And that’s […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (5)

Links

November 12, 2014 – 12:57 am

I’ve been too busy, again, to discharge my duties around here for a few days — and I’m working late again tonight. Here are a few links that have been piling up: ‣   Nine horror films under 9 minutes. ‣   The Life of R’lyeh. ‣   What to get me for Christmas. ‣ […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (1)

We’ll Leave The Light On For You

November 7, 2014 – 10:41 pm

In case any of you blue-state types are losing some of your mojo in the wake of this week’s whuppin’, and might even be thinking about joining the forces of Good and Truth and Liberty and Tradition and Reason over here on the Right, here’s some gentle prodding from one Danusha V. Goshka: Ten Reasons […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (5)

The Tingle’s Gone

November 5, 2014 – 7:53 pm

In the wake of today’s bizarre, solipsistic White House presser, it seems that even Chris Matthews is beginning to see through Barack Obama’s charismatic aura. Better late than never, I guess. We all know people who are still under the man’s spell, even now.

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (2)

America Resists

November 5, 2014 – 10:46 am

Last night’s election results were a welcome sign of life, and a clear indication that the Left’s cultural and political blitzkrieg of the past few years has outstripped its supply lines, and conquered more territory than it can hold. Exactly what legislative ground can actually be retaken by the forces of order, liberty, sanity, and […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (12)

End Of The Road

November 3, 2014 – 10:24 pm

More sad news today: Tom Magliozzi, who with his younger brother Ray hosted the weekly radio program Car Talk, has died of Alzheimers at age 77. I’m really, really sad to hear this. I loved this show, and I loved these guys. (Yeesh — first Jack Bruce, and now Tom Magliozzi, in a just over […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General | Comments (0)

Res Ipsa Loquitur

November 3, 2014 – 1:38 pm

I’m a registered Democrat. Some of you may find this surprising. The reason is purely tactical: I am registered in New York City, where any conservative vote is just a drop in the left-wing ocean, so the best I can hope to do is to exert a microscopic influence, in the Democratic primaries, to support […]

By Malcolm | Posted in Politics | Comments (4)

Fact And Faction

November 1, 2014 – 8:38 pm

The other day a group calling itself ‘Hollaback’ posted a video on YouTube called 10 Hours of Walking in NYC as a Woman. Its apparent purpose was to call attention to the oppressive conditions that women, even in these relatively enlightened times, must endure in a culture still in the grip of a malevolent and […]

By Malcolm | Posted in General, Society and Culture | Comments (17)