The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
We are in full bloom of summer here, with the vendor on the corner of our street and the Vucciria market detonating bunches of flowers on the sidewalk like fireworks over the Thames. The first peaches are out, too. The spring’s pent up heat explodes so violently in Sicily, as if to bust the dams of summertime in an act of solar sabotage, that it creates an anomaly, whereby the first fruit and vegetables of every season taste best – unlike the more northern parts of Italy, to say nothing of the rest of Europe, where their flavor comes...
On Thursday May 19, I’ll be giving a lecture at the Irish Rose. In putting the finishing touches on the talk, I decided to see if there had been any major candidates in the presidential race who had not succumbed to the insanity of wanting to arm the Kurds. “Not one, no no, not one!” Here is a little extract of the talk. In the nearly 1400 years since Mohammed began persecuting and massacring Jews and Christians, this pattern of Muslim behavior has not changed. Flash forward to end of 19th century, as Ottoman Turks were being driven out of the...
In the second book of the Politics, Aristotle takes up, classifies, and analyzes the variety of political systems, both real and theoretical. His initial point of departure is sharing or having in common (koinonein): Do the citizens of a commonwealth have all things, some things, or no things in common? Both extremes are absurd, both Plato’s communism and some imaginary form of libertarianism. He decries the notion of a completely unified state in terms that inevitably point the way to something like the national family that liberal Democrats in America were talking about not long ago, or Mrs. Clinton’s village...
WARNING: This piece includes revolting arguments, albeit expressed delicately, but revolting nonetheless. If you have ever wondered why American “Conservatives” lose virtually ever battle in which they engage, all you have to do is to listen to them attacking the presidential decree banning toilet discrimination. I listened for a few minutes to an NPR left-right debate on the subject. The leftist was E.J. Dionne—the broken record of the Washington Post. I was sautéing morels and shallots for a pasta course, when I heard him announced. It occurred to me immediately that I should have put on an old Gunsmoke radio...
Many rightish critics of our current political state of affairs assert that modern mass democracy does not breed true statesmen, and some of these sincere rightish critics point to the success of Donald Trump as a case in point. (I say sincere rightish critics because globalist donor class shills masquerading as movement conservatives who are critical of Trump, such as Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Bill Kristol, the boys at National Review, et al, are not sincere.) And these sincere critics are certainly right. This point deserves separate elaboration, but suffice it to say that the suite of traits that make...
Funny thing, déjà vu. However trifling the original experience that triggers it years later, no sooner is it relived in the present than it acquires mystical significance. I had a brush with it over the weekend, when some Russian friends flew us over to Spain to stay with them for a few days at their house by the sea. This was a couple of hours’ drive from Valencia, on the Iberian Peninsula’s eastern coast. Driving from the airport through small seaside towns and villages, suddenly I noticed with horror that half the shop signs were in Russian. Family restaurants, hair...
In this episode of Christianity and Classical Culture, we continue a discussion of Sophocles that started with Oedipus Rex. We continue by discussing both Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone in depth. Dr. Fleming knows these plays very well and it is a real treat to listen to his discussion of the various threads within these plays and the interpretation of them both in their time and in ours. Original Air Date: May 8, 2016 Show Run Time: 1 hour 8 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner Christianity and Classical Culture℗ is a Production of the...
In this episode of From Under the Rubble, Dr. Thomas Fleming addresses something very much in the headlines these days: Civil Disobedience. Is it lawful and right? Host Stephen Heiner also asks our guest about the civil rights movement, while Dr. Fleming asks the larger question: what do we do in a civilized society when confronted with odious laws, dictates, and decrees? Original Air Date: May 7, 2016 Show Run Time: 40 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner The Fleming Foundation · From Under the Rubble, Episode 4: Civil Disobedience From Under the Rubble℗ is...
“There ain’t no draft no more.” – Sgt. Hukla in “Stripes” Say, isn’t the U.S. House of Representatives supposed to be controlled by Republican “conservatives,” almost all of whom oppose the non-conservative Donald Trump? Weren’t they elected to a majority in the 2010 Tea Party campaign to repeal Obamacare? Well, the conservatives just voted to impose the draft on girls. H.R. 4478 actually is called the Draft America’s Daughters Act of 2016. Reportedly it was put up as a jest by “Rep. Duncan Hunter, a former Marine who served three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, [but] does not...
“Domine, si in tempore hoc restitues regnum Israel?” “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel?” Acts I: vi “…apparuit illis Iesus: et exprobravit incredulitatem eorum, et duritiam cordis: quia iis qui viderant eum resurrexisse, non crediderunt.” “…and He appeared to them and He upbraided them for their incredulity and hardness of heart, because they did not believe them who had seen Him after He was risen again.” St. Mark XVI: xiv They had spent years with Him. Lived with Him. Watched Him work miracles. Watched Him raise people from the dead. Watched Him die. Watched...
