The 6 Crises, “The U-2”
President Eisenhower’s response to the downing of the U-2 spy plane in 1960 exposed the dishonesty and incompetence of the government agency that never never never operates on American soil.
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Learning Italian: Lesson One Audio
This is a crude first attempt. In future I hope to insert the audio into the lesson text If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section.
Wednesday’s Child: Motive and Opportunity
One aspect of the present invasion of Ukraine, and of the causes that precipitated it, has gone virtually unremarked. Yet recent revelations consequent to the ongoing mass arrests in the highest echelons of the Russian military – an echo of Stalin’s purge of the Red Army on the eve of World War II – are shedding light on a murky chapter in the annals of this century’s history.
Machiavelli’s The Prince, IX-XIII
Although most of what Machiavelli says applies more to despotic regimes, he does indicate his support for what he calls in Latin a Principatus Civilis, a civil principality, that is one that respects the rights and traditions of citizens.
Learning Italian 1: Postscript on Pronunciation
Rather than present the entire alphabet with pronunciation, let us start with the vowels.
Ask Mr Autodidact, NS 2: Faith Hope Charity
I have been asked more than once to clarify what is meant by faith, hope and charity. Faith and hope seem, in English at least, to overlap: If I have faith that my friend will pick me up for work in the morning, doesn’t that mean that I hope he picks me up?
Learn Italian I: Preliminaries
Many modern Italian series for Americans avoid grammar. While this makes it easy at first, it becomes tedious and time-consuming as one goes on. Italian, though it has lost most of the declensional forms of nouns, adjectives and pronouns, has retained most of the active verbal system of Latin and added on tense: The Conditional. By learning the grammatical terms from the beginning, students will make rapid progress.
The Autodidact: Latin Matters Conclusion
The American republic was founded, for the most part, by men with fine classical training, and anyone who takes the trouble to read the correspondence of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson will see that their conversation is studded with discussions of points of grammar, ancient history, and even the rhythm of ancient poetry. Jefferson and Adams, although old friends, belonged to rival political parties. What would our presidents have in common that they could talk about? Football? Reality shows on television?
Learn Italian
I have been long considering a not too formal Italian class, partly to help people intending to participate in one of our Italian programs. When I proposed it recently, I received one positive response from the Cornells–at least from Papa Cornell.
Six Crises, Podcast Episode 0: Introduction
Dr. Fleming and Rex begin a conversation on the plunge of the United States into anarcho-tyranny and on the American refusal to look reality in the face without flinching. In the next six (possibly seven) episodes, they will take up, one by one, the key events that turned a naive American boy into a Jeremiah, First up will be the downing of the U-2 spy plane shot down in 1960.
