The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Like those time-lapse nature photographs that show the flower bud opening into a full-blown blossom only to shed the petals one by one in a matter of seconds, each successive visit to London reveals an acceleration of its decomposition. We may be horrified by the ravages of time on the features of an old friend when we meet a him after many years on different continents, but should his face have the same effect on us after a mere month’s absence, then either we need better glasses or else we’re looking at a picture of Dorian Gray. The scandal upon...
Chef Garret Fleming and his dictatorial father talk turkey in time for the holiday.
Allen Wilson bets against gambling in Arkansas, and TJF asks one of life’s ultimate questions.
I am revising a series of articles and lectures I wrote on American Imperialism. In some places I have deleted political references that have lost their significance, in others I have expanded and developed an argument in light of later events and more serious consideration. The first version of this was written in (so far as I can tell) 2002. While the Trump administration may, viewed in retrospect, represent a lull in the imperialists’ Grand Design to wipe the old America from the face of the earth, no President willing to hire John Bolton or Nikki Haley can be regarded as a defender of the American Republic.
Megyn Kelly gets fired for making sense the first time in her career, while Don Lemon is praised for living down to expectations…
There is something out there, in the depths of the cyberworld, called TripAdvisor, and it occurs to me that modern culture increasingly resembles it.
The change-over in the House was predicted by pundits from the day of Donald Trump’s election and therefore means very little. Nonetheless, it does show that the American electorate–it is hardly possible to speak of Americans as “a people”–is not only divided by class and region and race but even segments that supported Trump two years ago failed him. A cynic might say it is because America’s blue-collar class and Middle Americans in general are fat, stupid, and cowardly, and cynics are generally right.
Ignatius warned against one of the perennial temptations—to impose Jewish customs on the Church: “It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believeth might be gathered together to God.” [Magnesians 10] Ignatius also warned against the poison of heretics who denied the reality of Christ’s passion. [Trallians 11]
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By the time he went on leave during the late fall of 1943, Bong had 21 aerial victories and was wearing captain’s bars. Back in Wisconsin, at a Superior State Teachers College homecoming, he met the girl of his dreams, Marge Vattendahl. When he returned to New Guinea in January 1944, he had his ground crew decorate the nose of his P-38 with a large photograph of Marge. It was the last thing seen by many a Japanese pilot. By early April he had added four mo
