The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
When I posted my comments about Trump on Facebook, some “friends” seemed to think that I was endorsing or defending his language. I added this clarification: I am far from accepting, much less endorsing, such speech. As an observer of political reality, though, I refuse to indulge in idle speculation about a world that no longer exists. I find very little in public life to be even minimally acceptable, from the poor English, incomprehensible reasoning, and indeceny in broadcasting to the filth of popular music to the pornography of movies and television. I do not go out to movies, even...
This morning my wife, who has a bad habit of following the news, asked me about the “legacy” of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I know he plagiarized his dissertation and just about every major speech or statement he made, advised soldiers to betray their country during the Vietnam War, maintained significant contacts with Communist agents, and betrayed his wife incessantly and with teenage girls. But, to be fair, a lot of great men have had feet of clay. What are his positive accomplishments that would be worth celebrating?” It’s not only a fair question but a valuable one. Before...
It shows the immaturity of American politics that a vulgarity a U.S. president used in private becomes a mediastorm for weeks. But let’s look at the real reasons why one country at issue, Haiti, is such a mess: Co-presidents – as they fashioned themselves – Bill and Hillary Clinton destroyed Haiti’s economy in 1994 to put back in power a communist priest, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been defrocked in 1990 by Pope John Paul II. That was just two more years after communism fell in the Soviet Union and the Communist Party was abolished on Christmas Day 1991, so the...
This is from a web piece posted in 2004 When will there be peace and stability in Iraq? When will the United States be able to sign off on an Iraqi democracy and bring the troops home?” Many Americans have been asking these question over the past six months. The obvious answer to both questions is: “Never.” The foreign-policy leaders of the Bush administration know that Iraq, like Afghanistan, has no cultural or historical basis for a democracy. They also know that we are increasingly hated by all parties, and that the rising resistance to U.S. occupation will invite more...
Although far from perfect – such as continuing the Obama-Bush Wars – one of the main benefits of electing President Trump is laughing at the liberal commentariat’s freak out, as we said in the ’60s. Pat Buchanan pointed out the attacks on Trump are worse even than those on Nixon. For an old conservative like me, what’s heartening is how Trump never takes it lying down. Attack him, and you can expect a response. That’s so different from almost every Republican in my lifetime, current examples being Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan. An amusing specimen...
Question: Is everyone angry with Trump for using the vulgar language we hear everyday on the street or for telling the plain truth about Haiti. I have even heard American blacks refer contemptuously to “Hessians”–and they were not talking about German mercenaries in the American Revolution. I suppose there must be some place with more hapless, dependent, filthy, and violent people, but none with a history like Haiti’s. It took a witchdoctor like Papa Doc Duvalier to impose any order, and these days all they seem to be doing is to lie around waiting for another hurricane to give...
There is much that is useful in Hutcheson and Hume, who correct many errors of the Enlightenment, and there would be little point to denying the significance of Adam Smith as the first person who comprehensively demonstrated the superiority of the free market over all the deluded wise men who think they can regulate and plan an economic system: Although we are free to reject the selfish individualism of Mandeville and Smith, their analysis gives us true insight into the way social and economic systems actually work. It is quite another thing to say that it is our human destiny...
I overdid it at Christmas, which for the Russians was this past Sunday, remaining incapacitated – catatonic is the usual term – and incapable of writing anything new this week. So here are some old jottings. Through the fog of champagne and grappa there dimly glimmers in them, I trust, a truth that bears repeating in the New Year. Reading all the various, though scarcely varied, opinions on the “crises” that Moscow throws the West’s way – after 100 years of Russian misrule one might think the word would be safely devalued, but no, they use it like St. James’s...
It was Twelfth Night this weekend, the end of the Christmas season for Christians who are too enthralled to restrict the celebration of the Incarnation to a single day preceded and followed by shopping, the modern form of worship. Our happiness commenced at midnight December 25th and was only tempered as the Wise Men of the East brought their gifts to the King of Kings. So too does Season 1 of our podcast series finally end as well. I am happy to admit on behalf of all the Foundation staff that we bit off more than we could chew last...
In this episode, Dr. Trifkovic continues discussing particulars of the centuries-long Islamic invasion of Europe as well as a revisiting of the Crusades – why they happened, and how successful they were. Original Air Date: January 8, 2017 Show Run Time: 40 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Srdja Trifkovic Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner The Fleming Foundation · Islam: The Real Truth About the “Religion of Peace”, Episode 9 Islam: The Real Truth About the “Religion of Peace”℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2018. All Rights are Reserved.
