The Prince, II
As a rational and classically trained writer, Machiavelli begins with definitions. He first distinguishes the two types of government as republics and principalities.
The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary
Of Cabbages and Kings, Pizza and Confucius, Part II
Artificial Intelligence is the operation of a machine programmed by dullwitted aliens posing as human beings.
Heroic: Trump Sleeps Through ‘Hush Money’ Kangaroo Court Trial
My favorite scene in the 1983 movie “The Right Stuff” is where astronaut Gordo Cooper is sleeping on the launch pad waiting for the Atlas rocket to propel him in his Mercury capsule into outer space. It’s based on Tom Wolfe’s great non-fiction account of the same name about the early U.S. space program. It’s what Hemingway called courage: Grace under pressure.
The Prince I: Historical Introduction
The dates of Machiavelli’s life are significant: He was born in the year Lorenzo “the magnificent” succeeded his father as ruler of Florence and died in the year the Medici were again expelled and when the Emperor Charles V sacked Rome.
Forrest Richard “Dickey” Betts (1943-2024) by J. Michael Hill
Duane Allman, founder and leader of The Allman Brothers Band, from 1969 until his tragic death in a motorcycle crash in October 1971, called Dickey Betts the best player in the band.
The Prince
Anyone who does not own a copy of the work can easily get one online from many sources including gutenberg.org. It is a short book, which can be read in the matter of a few hours. We’ll take a few weeks.
The Government We Deserve, Part II (of 4)
In the off chance that this screed might be read by people who do not already know the score, I ask such imaginary readers to imagine a visit from Jefferson or Twain or Mencken or even some reasonable politician like Robert Taft or Sam Ervin, who asks us to take him on a guided tour of these United States. We might begin their tour by taking them to see New York or San Francisco or Chicago or Portland, in fact to any major city in to witness the complete breakdown of law and order, sanitation, and public decency.
Wednesday’s Child: Eternal Spring
“I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars,” George Best famously said. “The rest I just squandered.” There are men in the world who, when young, have proudly lived by this quip, only to undergo a kind of Pauline conversion in middle age, binning the toys of protracted childhood and at length settling down to the life of a Roman emperor in exile.
Trump-Musk in ’24
A lot of my friends, wife included, are outraged by the purge trials against Donald Trump. I certainly agree with them that the American legal system is making a flashy display of its contempt for law, confirming the global expression that the US has joined the ranks of the banana republics.
BOMC
I am reviving our Book of the Month in a less pedantic and exhaustive format. We’ll put up a list of books in the probable order in which we shall take them up. I’ll post an introduction. We can have as much or little commentary as readers wish to provide, though I do ask everyone who is reading one of the books to put up a brief comment to that effect.
