Author: Thomas Fleming
Death of a “Diva”
Morgana King died in March. Born in the province of Catania (Sicily), she moved to New York with her family at an early age and, with a clear if wispy voice, she enjoyed a fine career as a singer of popular music with a strong jazz orientation. Her recording of the Kern/Wodehouse standard “Bill” is a classic performance. Those who do not have an ear for popular music may recall her as Mamma Corleone. Since “de mortuis nihil nisi bonum,” should be the rule for normal human beings (which excludes politicians, journalists, and academics), I’ll say nothing about the late...
The Wall at the World’s End
Donald Trump has still not been able to build his wall to keep America safe from Central American kitchen workers who got to the bathroom and don’t wash their hands before returning to work. But if neighboring aliens are still pouring in to the USSA, news has come of a formidable deterrent to the other kind of alien–things from outer space. The New Horizons spacecraft, cruising somewhere in the neighborhood of Pluto, has detected what could be a hydrogen wall. Score a big one for Donald! We all know how fond the Democrats are of aliens, but not everyone is...
White and Anti-White Supremacists–A Plague on Both Their Houses
These days, when they tire of texting and tweeting, mental incompetents take to the streets and pretend to be political activists.
Herodotus Book I, concluded
Herodotus devoted much of the first book to the Persians, their conquest of Lydia, and their subjugation of the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor and the offshore islands. He spends a great deal of time on the Ionian Revolt, provoked by Persian expansion, because it is both the predecessor and a major cause of the first Persian War with the mainland Greek cities. The early Greeks, who were not unified either in dialect or ethnicity, were divided into distinct ethnic and dialect groups: The Ionians, who were predominant in Asia Minor, the Aegean islands, the great island...
Life–Right or Duty? Part 1: From Under the Rubble: Episode 33
In this first of a series of podcasts, Thomas Fleming and Rex Scott debate the constitutional, ethical, and Christian arguments for and against pre-partum infanticide.
Take Five: Smoke Gets In Your Eyes
Anyone can quit smoking, but it takes a man to face cancer.” An old saying from the 1960’s.
Take Five: The Sin of Civil Disobedience
A Scandinavian civil disobedient gives new life to the insult “Dumb Swede.”
Poems of the Week: Lunacy
Sad things, as are the reaches of a stream
Flowing beneath a golden moon alone.
Herodotus Book I, Continued: Democracy and Tyranny
By Herodotus’ time, tyranny had developed a bad name, and he his descriptions of their behavior constitutes a pragmatic manual to set beside Machiavelli’s The Prince. Tyrants champion the poor and the weak particularly women and foreigners; they are lustful and prone to adultery and eccentricity—Periander was accused of having relations with his dead wife. They maintain power by disarming the citizenry and oppressing anyone who is distinguished for birth, talent, virtue, or wealth. I know, it sounds exactly like the Democratic Party today.
