The Fleming Foundation Cultural Commentary

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Bidenology: Parsing the State of the Union 2023

About 95% of any State of the Union Address is fluff and lies. So was Joe Biden’s last night. All the supposed economic progress he touted is belied by the inflation chewing up family budgets. The new infrastructure and other spending is just pork for favored legislators; such things ought to be built by state and local governments. 

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Wednesday’s Child: The Color of Pride

My mother, may God rest her soul, was the only one in the family who had learned to drive.  She once got a flat on the Major Deegan Expressway and recounted that motorists would whizz by the lady in evident distress without so much as a sidelong glance. The only ones who turned to look, she said, were black, and eventually one of them stopped to help her change the tire.

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A Pagan Reads John, V: The Kingdom of God

Joannes tells us that many Jews at this time, seeing the signs, put their trust in Jesus.  I asked a Roman friend, familiar with the sect, what they meant by “put their trust,” and he used the Roman verb “credere,” but that rathe begs the question.     I don’t have to tell you that our word pisteuo does not mean simply to think something is so, as in, “I believe you are right” or “I believe Socrates is wise” or “Zeus is god.”….

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A Pagan Reads John, IV: The First Sign

I do not know how much you have heard about this Jewish savior Jesus.  Like others of his calling, he is said to possess magical qualities.  In the stories I have heard about wonder-workers, the point of the miracle is usually to show how powerful the divine teacher is, and there is not much more to it.

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Wednesday’s Child: More Acid

Last week I mentioned in passing the end-of-an-era arrest of Messina Denaro, the last of the great mafia latitanti who evaded capture for decades.  Palermo is all abuzz like a disturbed vespiary, and even the usual morning fireworks – a perennial mystery to the visitor – have gone quiet on the news. Absurdly or not, the boom and crackle of the invisible pyrotechny marks the release of somebody of consequence from prison.