The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary

13

In Search of Honest Journalists

If we were to take on Diogenes as our role model, as we attempt to shine our light in the nooks and crannies of American journalism, whom could we name?  To make the game more amusing, we should, in addition to picking out the eccentrics, also have to name a famous contemporary who typified the regime lackeys that are the true heirs of Pulitzer and Hearst.

1

Wednesday’s Child: Nurse Mengele

A criminal case, expected to last for another six months, is now being heard in Manchester Crown Court.  The gentle reader may recall my fitful interest in public sensations of this kind, most recently the Depp libel trial, as these would transport me into that epoch of yellow journalism where liberty of conjecture reigned supreme, so unlike the straitjacketed press in our day.

3

The Cardinal Virtues , Introduction

The Virtues, which were once the foundation of all serious moral thought, have been reduced by modern philosophers to a set of abstractions that mean little to men and women wrestling with the problems of everyday life. In this podcast, listeners are introduced to the robust and living conceptions that animated Plato and Aristotle, Cicero and Thomas Aquinas

21

In Defense of Our Children

Authorities are prioritizing keeping violent criminals out on the streets rather than behind bars where they belong.  It’s time to consider a  more effective and permanent alternative to  incarceration.

12

Wednesday’s Child: Lady Macbeth’s Legacy

Scanning the papers, I noted with interest that the Montecito house presently occupied by the British immigrant formerly known as Prince has nine bedrooms and 16 bathrooms.  The bedrooms are neither here nor there.  I’m not a Leveller or any other sort of Communist.  It’s the number of bathrooms – great enough, I should think, to serve a medium-sized airport – that got my goat.

10

Descent Into Hell

No, the title of this brief announcement  does refer to the birth of a baby, trailing clouds of glory, into the abyss of human life in the New America.  It is the title of a Charles Williams novel that has been termed a “theological thriller.”