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What if Trump said the world was created six days ago?
What would people say if Trump accidentally said, “God created the world six days ago ( Read more... ) -
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“Angela Merkel: Europe’s Most Influential Leader ( Read more... ) -
The Legacy of Barack Obama
Michael D’Antonio’s book about the Obama Administration is an easy primer for anyone who wants to go into more detail when arguing with trolls about why Obama was a great President. He has separate chapters on all the big issues, explaining why Obama’s achievements were the best liberals could expect in the face of the GOP’s closed ranks and minds ( Read more... ) -
Louis Brandeis
The book I’m reading is more hagiography than biography, but Brandeis was a progressive lawyer and Supreme Court Justice and yet an opponent of FDR on several economic issues. Brandeis’ ideas about democracy are Jeffersonian, but it did not lead him in the direction of the Jacksonians ( Read more... ) -
Robert E. Lee
I read a book called "The Making of Robert E. Lee" by Michael Fellman. I thought it would be about how Lee became a great general, but it was really about the making of Lee the icon. Lee became a paragon of Southern virtue because his father and grandfather had blown all their family's money and being the perfect gentleman and a talented military ( Read more... ) -
(Untitled)
I've been alternating between researching and writing an alternative history novel these last few weeks. An agent said she liked the broad scope and imagination, but I was making mistakes about people's daily lives. I've always focused on the big picture of history myself, not really caring if people wrote with pens or pencils, if they drank tea or ( Read more... ) -
“Death’s End” by Cixin Liu
I have no idea if Cixin Liu has ever seen an episode of “Star Trek,” but his “Death’s End” is quite the rebuttal of some basic philosophical premises of the show ( Read more... ) -
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Ode to A1C ( Read more... ) -
Two for the Road
Last night I saw “Two for the Road,” one of the most interesting Aubrey Hepburn movies. It shows primarily four road trips across France by two people: the one in which they met, the one they took as newlyweds, the one they took with another middle class couple, and one they took as a rich couple. Cutting up, transposing, and alternating clips of ( Read more... ) -
Clinton v Trump Round Three
A remarkably civilized debate, during which I kept wondering, why do dissatisfied Republicans think Trump is a catalyst for change? The more he “stays on message” the more he sounds like an ordinary Republican politician. Same economic policies, same gun policies, same anti-feminist policies, same law and order policies. He leans towards ( Read more... )