Wednesday’s Child: Casus Belli
It stands to reason that the piloting of a banana republic should be in the hands of banana republicans, but unfortunately we’re not in Latin America and it’s Republicans with a capital R who are at the helm.
Category: Access
Italian III.15. Prepositions with infinitives, and taking time
Back from Italy and feeling the relief at not having to speak Italian all day long.
Grammar I: Infinitives are, as we all learned, verbal nouns.
Making War Hell
O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown the thunder of the guns with the shrieks of their wounded, writhing in pain;
Wednesday’s Child: Why Russians Lie
I want to sound a note that at first appears incongruous or frivolous but is in fact deeply relevant, namely, how the habitual lie seeps into the national character and becomes an inalienable part of it.
Rainbow Stew
Merle Haggard was anything but a political thinker—or even a particularly good songwriter—but, with the exception of one unfortunate line—his 1981 hit song “Rainbow Stew” summed up the common wisdom of disgruntled Americans.
Podcast: Sorting Out the Latest Persian War
Tom Fleming and Jim Easton try to find some sense in the Peace President’s military adventure.
Wednesday’s Child: Farewell Great Britain
Great Britain finally gave up the ghost in the early days of this rainy March, but I shall not now dwell on the immediate cause of her passing, which was, of course, the extirpation of hereditary peerage in the House of Lords.
The Empire’s Attic and Welcome to Arezzo
I had already seen, in every major town that fell under Florentine occupation, the visible signs of Florentine tyranny in the glowering fortresses built by the Medici dukes.
Iran War SitRep Day 13: Resemblances to the Ukraine War
All wars are different. But they have similarities, especially those close in time…. How are things similar to a war up on the steppes of Eastern Europe to a war in the mountains of the Middle East?
