Happy that the apparent value of your house is rising? Exasperated at rising grocery costs? Those are two sides of the same debased coin, and the face on the coin is that of any politician you wish to name who has voted for policies that lead to a “stealth tax” …continue reading
After reading Red Deception, an international thriller by Gary Grossman and Ed Fuller, I am expecting a subsequent installment of this successful series of books that follows the protagonist, Dan Reilly, in quashing an intentionally-released viral plague! After opening with a sequence that teases several terrorist groups infiltrating the United …continue reading
Pertinent to our recent situation, this is an excerpt from Federalist No. 28, on the question of whether to restrict the legislative authority (that is, Congress) in regard to common defense: That there may happen cases in which the national government may be necessitated to resort to force, cannot be …continue reading
The book this is excerpted from is available for next to nothing for Kindle at Amazon. The Federalist Papers without annotation is available for free. Federalist No. 1 is a general introduction to the ensuing series of papers arguing in favor of approving the new proposed Constitution. Together with the …continue reading
If you do not attend a religious service weekly, this article likely does not appeal to you. However, if you sorely miss Mass, read on! Our benevolent overlord in Sacramento has decreed that indoor Church services are not allowed, not even chopped down to ten congregants and a sole priest. …continue reading
I enjoy murder mysteries, from psychological to police procedural to British cozies to locked rooms. Stuck at home (safer!), I am feeding my obsessive-compulsive leanings by reading all the Alex Delaware murder mysteries by Jonathan Kellerman, from When the Bough Breaks (first published in 1985) to The Museum of Desire …continue reading
From The Age of Entitlement: America Since the Sixties by Christopher Caldwell: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was, as we have noted, a legislative repeal of the First Amendment’s implied right to freedom of association. Over decades it polarized the political parties and turned them into something like secret …continue reading
From Benedictus: Day By Day with Pope Benedict XVI, the entry for March 7: Moral obligation is not man’s prison, from which he must liberate himself in order finally to be able to do what he wants. It is moral obligation that constitutes his dignity, and he does not become …continue reading
Before Brett Kavanaugh got raked over Congressional coals, Neil Gorsuch had a much easier time as President Trump’s nominee to replace the late Associate Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court. Scalia’s death was a surprise. No great resistance was made to replacing the conservative originalist Scalia with …continue reading
From Halloween through Thanksgiving and past Christmas Day, we generally keep political discussions off the table at home. In opposition to Gloria Steinem, the personal is not nor should it be political. That way madness lies. But now, on this last Sunday of 2019, we look past New Year’s Day …continue reading
This excerpt from Through the Year with Fulton Sheen is, maybe, a good thing to read once all the excitement and clamor of Christmas morning has quieted… Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, which in 2020 falls on February 26. In the epistle to the Philippians we read: “For the divine …continue reading
Last week we were given a brief break in order to enjoy, to relish, to revel (a bit) in the idea of Emmanuel, “God is with us.” This final short week offers a handful of days to join Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the magi, in pondering the curious …continue reading
Although Advent is at its root a penitential season, when Christians remind themselves that they need to prepare for the second arrival of Jesus — the Third Sunday of Advent is also known as Gaudete Sunday, gaudete being a Latin command along the lines of Rejoice! After all, the first …continue reading