TRS Sunday Post: Even MORE Classified Documents Discovered in Biden's Residence
Elect 1970s Nixon-Carter era politicians; get 1970s Nixon-Carter era results?
Dean Baker with the left-wing Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) would like to convince you that two years of back-to-back 8% inflation with a looming recession, $3.29/gal gasoline, and presently in the process of defaulting on a $31T debt is somehow worthy of an A+ grade.
Now far be it from me to criticize the second term of the Jimmy Carter era. Yet for all the grandstanding, the selling point of “hey, it could be worse!” doesn’t strike the average American as all that fantastic.
Of course, this morning’s news brings the discovery of even more classified documents in the personal possession of Joe Biden, with the press discarding the vehemence and ire they directed at former President Donald Trump in favor of a more measured and reasoned approach.
There’s no need to dive into the proprieties. Yet when the rules and narrative apply one way for one tribe while they are entirely discarded and even smiled upon as the fumblings of an old man in another?
That’s not democracy — at least, certainly not the Greek definition which wedded the demos to any concept of nomos (law).
We were promised a return to normalcy. Perhaps high inflation, hypocrisy, CRT, transgenderism, and Drag Queen Story Hour is what certain prophets of normalcy had in mind. Yet if the ancient root of the word normal means anything in particular, we are far from anything resembling normative.
At least we are still capable of sending bright shiny objects into outer space. Which, if you are so inclined between the hours of 6pm and 8pm on Monday, turn thy gaze to the east towards Wallops Island and get ready for something cool.
FLS: Crowds Gather to Reinter General A.P. Hill’s Remains in Culpeper
THE HILL: Democrats Starting to Bend on Federal Debt Ceiling
AL-JAZEERA: Russia Renews Localized Offensive Near Zaporizhzhia
LINGAMFELTER: A Tale of Two Legislatures
CORTEZ: Character, Not Equity, Should Be the Measure of Merit
His Masterly Pen: A Biography of Jefferson the Writer by Fred Kaplan
Though certainly nothing on the scale or ingenuity as Kevin Hayes’ approach to the man as The Road to Monticello, Kaplan takes the kaleidoscope and turns it ever so slightly so as to consider Jefferson as a writer. What we get is a near first person account of Jefferson’s writing style, his emphasis, and how Jefferson chose to express himself through his writing — a practice far more measured and meaningful than today’s fire and forget methods.
The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
This little book is terrible. Pass.
Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith by Joseph Pearce
If you are looking for a nice, short, one-volume on the life of Pope Benedict XVI? This isn’t the one. If Ratzinger were seven feet tall and ripped apart his enemies like so many phone books? This might be instructive. Instead, it tries way too hard to turn Benedict into someone he never was (and as a result becomes boring).
Thomas Jefferson: A Biography of Spirit and Flesh by Thomas Kidd
This might be the most insightful book on Jefferson since Annette Gordon-Reed’s Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings in 1998, which only received a proper (if polemic) response in William Hyland’s In Defense of Thomas Jefferson in 2009. Jefferson’s condition as a deist was hotly contested by his daughters who knew him best, and understandings of Christian faith in public life were highly checkered by the Second Great Awakening after the Federal period. Was Jefferson the borderline atheist which so many of his Federalist critics accused him to be? Or was Jefferson’s belief in reason so vitally strong — and proponents of faith so utterly unreasonable — that when forced to choose between sham variants of faith and sound principles of reason, Jefferson chose to put his faith in reason? An excellent book free from pretense and worthy of a deep read. Give this one 50 pages a day.
Critics of the Enlightenment edited by Christopher Blum
Blum’s introduction is perhaps more instructive than the readings, who beyond de Maistre aren’t terribly well known in Anglo-American circles. These mostly French thinkers take aim at liberalism (lowercase-l) over concepts of tradition, and to some degree influence the European right today.
Hemingway on War edited by Sean Hemingway
Those who know me understand my admiration for the work and writing of Ernest Hemingway. This collection of his observations on war are an outstanding collection of insights on the human condition. Certainly worth your time.
Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy by Martin Indyk
Kissinger is considered the progenitor of foreign policy realism, a much battered school of international relations which nevertheless brought the Vietnam War to an end, presided over the collapse of the Soviet Empire and Eastern Europe’s transition to democracy, prosecuted the 1991 Persian Gulf War, and brought China into the world community. Indyk’s firsthand knowledge of the man and his efforts to stabilize the Middle East in the wake of the 1973 Yom Kippur War are a masterclass.
Shaun Kenney is the editor of The Republican Standard, former chairman of the Board of Supervisors for Fluvanna County, and a former executive director of the Republican Party of Virginia.