The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary

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All Paid Subscribers / Seiler

7 Jan, 2019

Dems vs. the Electoral College

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The best thing the new Democratic House can do is waste its time on things that aren’t going to happen. Such as pushing a Constitutional Amendment to abolish the Electoral College. Yes, they’re still miffed Hillary won the popular vote, but lost in the Electoral College. Even though, if the popular vote were decisive, Trump would have run a far different campaign concentrating on the large population centers and forgetting low-population states. Which is one reason why the EC never will be abolished. It takes a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, then a three-fourths vote of the state...

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Feature / Fleming / From Under The Rubble

5 Jan, 2019

The Future Belongs to Them

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The freshman Democrats in Congress are behaving like the stars of a down-market reality TV show.  Alexandria—like Cher and Madonna, she really doesn’t need a last name—has been dancing up a storm, though many of her supporters have been disappointed by her lumbering performance.  

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Uncategorized

2 Jan, 2019

Wednesday’s Child: Ritual Sounds

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Well, gentle reader, the ball has dropped, “Auld Lang Syne” has been sung, corks have hit the ceiling and wishes have been made. “The year is no longer new,” as Pasternak said in a poem of nearly a century ago. “Another, newer, has been promised.” Nursing my morning head will take awhile, possibly all the way through Orthodox Christmas next week and until the Old Russian New Year on January 13.  As Robert Burns’ venerable text suggests, this is the time to reminisce rather than act, and memories, obedient to the call of the bagpipe, are now marching before my...

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Free Content

1 Jan, 2019

Sicilian Trog, Part II

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This is the long-awaited Part II of my Agrigento Trog There is hardly a better place in Europe—not even Athens—were the differences between the ancient and the modern world can be felt so acutely.  20th century Agrigento is, at its best, a tribute to the greed and and contempt for humanity that have characterized modern governments that are the distilled essence of democratic man.  The local government is hopelessly inept at carrying out the most basic tasks—picking up trash, policing traffic, cracking down on organized crime.  And yet, good democratic socialists that they are, they have imposed new rules on...

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Feature / Heiner

30 Dec, 2018

The Yellow Vests Run Out of Gas

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When asked to share my thoughts on the recent yellow vests protests, I initially demurred, stating that is was simply another case of the French being the French (about benefits) (about airbnb and/or uber) (about strikes in general).  The French also lack the resolve and ability to fix problems, as seen by the “we are not afraid” and “Je suis Charlie” sentiments now long since forgotten (thankfully).  But as I thought more on the matter, I realized that the Yellow Vests are simply a remake of an American film we’ve already seen (and forgotten): Occupy Wall Street. What Happened to Occupy? In September 2011, a...

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Autodidact

30 Dec, 2018

How To Learn—and Not to Learn—a Foreign Language, Part III:  Grammar

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“I’ve grammar and spelling for two And blood and behavior for twenty. In studying any new language, the two most basic elements are the proper pronunciation, meaning—and of course spelling—of words, in other words ‘vocabulary,’ and grammar.  In simple English, while the study of vocabulary focuses attention on individual words, grammar consists of the rules that determine the form (morphology) and function or structure (syntax) of words. The arbiters of Postmodern English have tried their best to eliminate prescriptive grammar—that is, the normative rules of language usage—from our speech, but few other European languages have been so thoroughly revolutionized.  The...

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All Paid Subscribers / Feature / Seiler

27 Dec, 2018

Good Night, Generals

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Just after President Trump took office, on Fleming Foundation I recommended he not hire generals for his top national security positions. Trump did the opposite. But almost two years later, he finally has civilians in what should be civilian posts. Gen. Flynn didn’t last long as national security adviser and remains embroiled in the witch hunt against Trump, victim of yet another “Justice” Department and FBI perjury trap. Gen. Kelly recently resigned as chief of staff. And Gen. Mattis just resigned in protest as secretary of defense over Trump withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria. When Mattis said he wouldn’t leave...

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Best Revenge / Fleming

27 Dec, 2018

Trog 6

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Most of us Americans, by the time we reach a certain age, have grown used to living in our own houses with our own families and under our own rules.  Travel upsets all our  arrangements, and in hotels we are subjected to other people’s arguments and, what is worse, to other people’s children.  Here in Agrigento, we have our own little house, which is really just two apartments that make up one building.  But, for all the privacy we have, we are still on other people’s property. The other people are used to strangers, since they operate a very nice...

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All Paid Subscribers / Andrei Navrozov / Wednesday's Child

26 Dec, 2018

Wednesday’s Child: On National Pride

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A columnist, but really just about anybody in the talking heads corner who voices opinions with the regularity of a grandfather clock, must be a fool if he doesn’t harbor a measure of remorse.  Opinion in general has something of a sleight of hand about it, in that it presupposes the choosing of subjects on which one believes one has something to say and the leaving out of other subjects, with the result that one appears more confident of one’s view of the world than one really is. Well, I thought that since we’re all on holiday, for today’s peroration...