The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary

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Wednesday’s Child: Letter from London

Every time I set foot in the First World, I feel like the Last Man. It starts, as if filmed by a student of Kusturica’s, with the guards by the X-ray machine at the airport checking the shoes of my two-year-old for plastic explosive. That, and the ritual command to “remove the belt,” is the great propylaea to the world beyond Palermo. They are afraid the traveler will hang himself with the belt while they screen him.

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Texas Outlaws?

A friend and reader writes in to ask what is going in Texas, where Governor Abbott is trying to control the border with Mexico.  Isn’t this unconstitutional, he asks, since the Federal government is responsible for maintaining the border?