Category: Free Content

18

No Representation Without Taxation

Some sensible person on FB suggested that only taxpayers have the right to vote. Some of his “friends” demurred. I gave this answer: Paying taxes is a significant part of citizenship, so is agreeing to do one’s duty, if drafted or receiving a summons to sit on a jury. I avoided but did not evade military service on legal and reasonable grounds, but if taking the franchise away from draft-dodgers meant that I forfeited the right to vote, so be it. But that is only the start. Decades ago, I proposed a general rule that taxpayers, but not tax-consumers should...

5

Clash of Civilizations

Reading A Thousand Years of Jihad took me back more than 55 years to my freshman year in college.  I had become a rather indifferent student by the time I graduated from high school and went to college only to play football.  However, an outstanding history professor renewed my interest in scholarly pursuits with lectures that not only told great stories but also revealed great truths.  Thomas J. Fleming and Frank Brownlow do the same in this volume, and convey an impression of intimacy as if one is sitting in their classroom.  This is learning at its best.

3

More on the Masked Avengers

A FB friend I wish I knew personally reposted my observations on masks. I thought about responding to the rather shrill responses, but it would be bad taste to insert myself into his discussion, so… I don’t wish to stick my oar into Bob Alpert’s discussion, but I did include a proviso for medical necessity, which I meant also to cover, obviously, people in regular contact with decrepit old people like me. Our son, in his late 30’s, was talking to me on FaceTime, from Chapel Hill, when someone across the street–about 30 feet away, tried to shame him for...

1

Trump on the Couch

You have to laugh at politics or you’ll collapse in a corner and start babbling like Joe Biden. A recent comedy fest has been the book by President Trump’s niece, Mary Trump (MT), trashing him

7

Comfortable Words from a Skeptic

One of FDR’s many mercenary writers penned a line that is quoted often but perhaps not enough: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” That’s obviously not true in any literal sense. As the tornado comes barreling down the street and is about to slam into my house and take us all to Oz,. fear is not the main problem, but in responding to the twin panics, ginned up by government and their media, fear is the greatest problem. A friend recently posted something someone wrote him, comparing our current problems with the Holocaust and used as...

4

Systemic Sexism

I am not just angry. No, “angry” does not begin to describe my outrage. For 400 years, my people have been oppressed and living in fear. And this injustice has been virtually ignored while we continue to suffer torment and mistreatment.