Category: Access

1

Fleming / On the House

4 Jan, 2017

The Xanthippe, Part 2

By

Part II Xanthippe is saved by the noisy entrance of a semi-intoxicated young man . Xanthippe: “Why, it’s Pheidippides, that new student of yours at the Phrontisterion.  What does he want?  I hope he’s come to pay his bills.” Socrates:  You know I do  not charge for my instruction.  The sophists take money, because they claim to be able to teach their students how to succeed.  I only want my young friends to understand, and who would pay for that? Xanthippe:  Some of them, at least, bring me presents—good wine and oil for dressins greens, not that lamp oil you...

12

Feature / On the House

29 Dec, 2016

The Year 2016

By

Shostakovich, our last monumental composer–before the light of the ability to write more than ditties flickered out of our civilization – used years for two of his symphonies. Symphony No. 11 was The Year 1905, for that year’s Russian Revolution. And Symphony No. 12 was The Year 1917, dedicated to Lenin and the Bolshevik Revolution. (The links lead to YouTubes of performances of the works, if you’re inclined to listen. I did writing this.) The Year 2016 was such a year. I’ll highlight three monumental events: Brexit, Trump’s victory and the coalescing effort to stop Pope Francis from scratching adultery...

11

Fleming / Free Content

28 Dec, 2016

The Xanthippe, A Lost Dialogue, Part I (Free)

By

This mysterious work, when it was discovered in the late 20th century, was attributed to Plato, but in view of the philosopher’s appearance in the dialogue, that identification is as suspect as everything about the work.  The scholar and translator, who says he discovered the text in the ruins of a Calabrian monastery, claims the Greek original was destroyed in a fire.  Even if the tale is true, it is hard to know what to make of the translation, which makes anachronistic literary references and uses late 20th century expressions for which it is hard to imagine Greek equivalents.  Nonetheless,...

2

Free Content

28 Dec, 2016

Wednesday’s Child:  The Technicolor Dreamcoat (Free)

By

Truth may be stranger than fiction, especially in places where the writers ain’t all they’re cracked up to be, but these days, I swear, even apparently random facts seem to be running away with themselves in the land of Gogol. I have made two posts, one in April and one in October, highlighting the creation in Russia of the equivalent of Himmler’s Schutzstaffel (SS), called the National Guard (Rosgvardia), and speculating on the likely function of this 350,000-strong presidential private army.  Recent developments bear out my speculation.  Last week a senior Rosgvardia commander, Aleksandr Maul, made a statement that swept...

3

All Paid Subscribers / Seiler

27 Dec, 2016

Neocons Freak Out (Free)

By

One of the pleasures of the impending Trump presidency is watching the neocons freak out, as we said in the 1960s. One of the biggest freak outs is by Charles Krauthammer, top columnist at the old CIA in-house organ, the Washington Post. Like almost all neocons, he’s really just a warmongering liberal. In his case, he even wrote speeches for Mondale, afterword moving slightly up from Mondaleism. In his most recent column, “Aleppo and American decline,” he wrote, “The fall of Aleppo just weeks before Barack Obama leaves office is a fitting stamp on his Middle East policy of retreat...

4

Free Content / Peters

26 Dec, 2016

When Christmas Was Coming! (Free)

By

When Christmas was coming, Mama would start collecting medium-sized boxes which she would later decorate with bright Christmas paper for the purpose of taking food as a gift – a canned ham, some fruit, some nuts and some homemade candy- to the numerous “shut-ins” in and around Pollock. When Christmas was coming, out would come the reserve box of Christmas cards which were chosen, filled out, and stamped at the dining table some pre-Christmas night after supper. I usually chose a card for a particular person or family; Mama filled it out and addressed the envelope, and Daddy would break...

2

All Paid Subscribers / Andrei Navrozov / Free Content

21 Dec, 2016

Wednesday’s Child:  Wheat of the Saracen (Free)

By

“Idiot!” exclaims the driver of the car I’m in, referring to the man ahead who has just pulled out, or cut him up, or whatever it is that motorists do to each other which they oughtn’t.  In exclaiming thus he pronounces judgment on his fellow man where the verdict is shorter than a sentence.  It’s called an insult. An insult is different from a slur in that no inferences are drawn about the person apart from those suggested by his behavior of the moment. He was cursed, yet remains a stranger.  Calling the erratic driver in front a “bastard” would...

1

All Paid Subscribers / Feature / Seiler

20 Dec, 2016

Nyuk! Nyuk! Nyuk! Our Delusional Opponents

By

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” Sun Tzu The great Chinese strategist’s words explain why Hillary and the Left lost, and still are losing. They didn’t know their enemy, nor themselves. They had no idea Trump would trounce them. And they continue to live in a world of delusion – or, as we say in psychotherapeutic America, they’re “in denial.” On the Fleming Foundation site, I wrote about the Left’s obsession with Russia here and here. Not the atheist, communist Russia of 1917-91, which the Left commonly defended, or at...

0

Fleming / Free Content

17 Dec, 2016

The Fleming Foundation Wants You

By

Wanted:  A Few Good Men and Women Dear Subscribers and Readers: The Fleming Foundation needs help.  We have virtually no staff but the broken-down old editor plus some part-time help from volunteers, and, if we are going to thrive and grow, we need more. If you have any useful skills—beyond talking a good game or thinking great thoughts —please consider joining our dedicated band of volunteers.  What sorts of skills?  Computer and internet experience, for example, secretarial skills, business administration, book editing and publishing, writing and editing…  We are deficient in every area. And compensation?  Initially, nothing but good will. ...

10

Fleming / On the House

17 Dec, 2016

Jerks 2: Taxonomy, Part D

By

Self-made millionaires set the tone for this class, and any scholar or man of letters who has had to raise money among men of wealth and influence will see himself in Eliot’s Prufrock.  These poor fools have to listen, hour after hour, to Dives’ tales of victories on the golf course and of his personal prowess in beating down less competent or less ruthless rivals.  I have friends who used to know a Georgia business tycoon—let’s call him Ted—and they regaled me with tales of how the buccaneering plutocrat boasted of besting not just his enemies but his friends.  Once,...