Learn Italian, Lesson 10
Piacere from Latin placeo, takes the dative case of the person being pleased or liking something, while that which is liked is the subject. So Mi piace Fabrizio = Fabrizio mihi placet.
Category: Feature
From Olympia to Paris, II
The Greeks’ love of competition and conflict is only the reverse side of their strong attachment to friends (including family) and community. These attachment were also a source of the great joy took in creating and celebrating beauty: They loved singing dancing, recitation of heroic poetry, parades, sacrifices and barbecues. All these pleasures were available at the great games
From Olympia to Paris, I
This post is extracted from the unpolished script for a subscription podcast series that should begin by the end of 2024.
Inner Party Putsch Ousted Biden
What you just saw was a putsch by the Inner Party against Joe Biden, the duly elected president of the United States and the nominee for re-election by the Democratic Party after winning the vast majority of primary voters. Here’s the 2024 count:
Six Crises: The Ocean of Pigs
Rex and Dr. Fleming look back on the foreign policy/natural security blunders that have defined the regime
Bidendämmerung: Twilight of the Biden: Meltdown at Debate vs. Trump: #swapJoeout
His performance confirmed this was a setup. His handlers set this earliest debate ever to display his decrepitude. The NY Times headlined online just a couple hours after the event, “Democrats Talk About Replacing Biden on the Ticket.”
Biden Abusing Overstretched U.S. Military for Foreign Policy Incompetence
One of the topics that ought to come up at the Thursday Biden-Trump debate, but won’t, is the fate of the U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower, CVN-69.
Florence/Tuscany Update
Bowing to popular demand, the program in October we are planning will be held in Tuscany. My current thinking is to stay for 3-4 days in Florence and Arezzo, and from those bases we shall visit a few smaller places. Possible destinations include Chiusi, Montepulciano, and Pistoia.
Trump Verdict Is ‘Revolutionary Justice’ for an ‘Enemy of the People’
In a People’s Democratic Revolution, if you are with the Revolution, then you can do anything you want without punishment: rob, rape, kill. If you are against the Revolution, you are an Enemy of the People and can be sent to the gulag or shot. It’s called Revolutionary Justice. It worked, because the Bolshiviks were in power for 74 years.
Matter Matter Matter, Part I
I am frequently asked, sometimes more than once a day, what I think of an article in a conservative magazine or some oracular pronouncement from the guru of the moment, whether the guru of the moment be Jordan Peterson or Bernard-Henri Lévy, Greg Mortenson (co-author of Three Cups of Tea) or Tucker Carlson, Bill Maher or Noam Chomsky. When I have something better to do, I dismiss the question by saying I have not read enough of the writer or guru to form an opinion.
