The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary

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Feature / Fleming / From Under The Rubble

10 Oct, 2016

Hating Trump for Fun and Profit

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Yes, we watched the debate, though it seemed a wretched way to spend a Sunday evening.  I won’t pretend that we had planned to say the Rosary before reading Scripture.  I was thinking more along lines of listening to a Gilbert and Sullivan recording—perhaps The Pinafore or Patience in the old D’Oyly Carte versions I grew up with—or a Charlie Chan movie.  I allowed myself to be outvoted by wife and son.  And, while  Donald Trump is by no means as clever as Charlie or as funny as Mantan Moreland, Hillary is far nastier than any of the murderous villains Charlie...

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FF / LAT / Podcasts

7 Oct, 2016

Latin, Episode 6

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In this episode of Latin, Dr. Fleming discusses the accusative case, as well as the supine. Please use these texts as necessary to follow along: Romanum imperium, quo neque ab exordio ullum fere minus neque incrementis toto orbe amplius humana potest memoria recordari, a Romulo exordium habet, qui Reae Silviae, Vestalis virginis, filius et, quantum putatus est, Martis cum Remo fratre uno partu editus est. Is cum inter pastores latrocinaretur, decem et octo annos natus urbem exiguam in Palatino monte constituit XI Kal. Maias, Olympaids sextae anno terto, post Troiaie excidium, ut qui plurimum minimumque tradunt, anno trecentesimo nonagesimo quarto....

12

Diary of a Jerk-Hunter / Feature / Fleming

7 Oct, 2016

Jerks 1, Part D

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Greeks and Romans viewed moderation and seld-restraint as an important ideal.  Our own barbarian ancestors were cut from a different cloth from the.  Celts, Germans, and Slaves were boasters who gloried in victory and were disconsolate in defeat.  For them, self-restraint meant passing up an opportunity to get drunk or have a good time pillaging and raping.  But under the influences exerted by Roman law, the Church, and classical  literature, the upper classes developed rules of conduct that forbade mistreatment of women, children, and the poor, and encouraged an air of self-possession.  As time went on the long forgotten code of the...

16

All Paid Subscribers / Feature / Seiler

5 Oct, 2016

Second Debate: Death and Transfiguration and Tom Kaine

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Before I watch Tim Kaine debate again, I’m going to have Tom Hanks strap me into Old Sparky and pull the switch, as in “The Green Mile” movie. Basically, the Mark of Kaine said executing murderers is wrong according to his Catholic faith, but he did it as Virginia’s governor because that’s what voters wanted; that killing an unborn child is wrong, again according to his Catholic faith, but abortion should not be banned, even if voters want that, because doing so would violate a woman’s right to “choose,” similar to preventing her from choosing red over blue shoes; and...

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All Paid Subscribers / Andrei Navrozov / Feature / Wednesday's Child

5 Oct, 2016

Wednesday’s Child: Gadarene Light

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Like any massive fraud, whether successful or unsuccessful, Russia’s recent parliamentary election is an interesting subject.  Fraud, swindle, pyramid–perpetrated or operated by all sorts of impostors, flimflam artists, and snake oil salesmen–where would world literature be without them?  Thomas Mann’s Hochstapler, or confidence man, in Confessions of Felix Krull is alone worth a million real-life fraud victims. Conrad would never have written Chance, the masterwork that pulled him out of obscurity, without its central character, the swindler Smith de Barral.  Gogol would not have written Dead Souls without Chichikov, the spectre of Western monopoly capitalism in the guise of a...

8

Fleming / On the House

3 Oct, 2016

Friends of the Family

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  Slightly corrected Perspective from July 1985 Everyone wants to save the American family. Not a day goes by, it seems, without some politician or professor issuing a call to arms or an invitation to a congressional hearing. For a long time the family had been a conservative/Republican issue, but last fall both Mr. Mondale and Ms. Ferraro made a great show of their own wholesome domestic life—it worked better with the Mondales than with the Zaccaros. What a world. We are back to the old political slogans of mom and apple pie, and they have even less substance than...

1

Feature / Fleming

3 Oct, 2016

Properties of Blood I.7: Dueling for Honor, Part C

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I have some work to do on the conclusion of Chapter 6–a discussion of Faulkner’s “An Odor of Verbena” delayed because I can’t see to find my copy of the book.  I am therefore moving forward with Chapter 7. From Judicial Combat to the Private Duel It took many centuries for Germans to begin to accept some of the more humane traditions of Roman law, which would, in any event, be interpreted by kings and their courtiers as justification for ever expanding the royal prerogative and diminishing the primitive liberties of their subjects. Judicial combat, while a far cry from a...

1

FF / Podcasts

30 Sep, 2016

Christianity and Classical Culture, Episode 6: Seneca and Stoicism Part I

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In this first part of a two part mini-series on Seneca and Stoicism, Dr. Fleming explores the themes of Stoicism and how it fits with the disjunction between Roman moral philosophy and pagan behaviors. We also explore the thinking of Marcus Aurelius and how we can understand his existence in contrast with Caligula and Nero. Original Air Date: September 30, 2016 Show Run Time: 41 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Stephen Heiner The Fleming Foundation · Christianity and Classical Culture, Episode 6: Seneca and Stoicism Part I   Christianity and Classical Culture℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation....

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Free Content / FUTR / Podcasts

30 Sep, 2016

From Under the Rubble, Episode 7: News Roundup September 30 2016

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Weekly News Roundup, September 30. The Debate, The Hate That Dare Not Speak Its Name, NFL Traitors. If you’re new to the Foundation and our work, please register as a free user and get access to some of our content. Show Sponsor: Members Who Support Our Work Original Air Date: September 30, 2016 Show Run Time: 29 minutes Show Guest(s): Dr. Thomas Fleming Show Host(s): Paul Youngblood The Fleming Foundation · From Under the Rubble, Episode 7: News Roundup September 30 2016   From Under the Rubble℗ is a Production of the Fleming Foundation. Copyright 2016. All Rights are Reserved.

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Fleming / On the House

30 Sep, 2016

Shine, Perishing Republic  

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This was my second Perspective in Chronicles, June 1985 Murray Rothbard, [with a nod to Milton and Pope] described American conservatism as “chaos and old night.”  Apart from the nasty implication that we are all dunces, there is something to what he says. It is getting harder every year to figure out just what it is that makes a conservative. Consider Newt Gingrich—the Carl Sagan of politics.  He wants to colonize the stars, mine the galaxies for precious minerals, and open up the entire universe to free trade and economic opportunity.  In between star treks, Gingrich plans to overthrow the...