The Ottoman Counterfactual
I offer up this alternate history for consideration: What if the Ottoman Empire had not fallen, or crumbled rather, in the wake of World War I? What if, on the other hand, the Turkish...
Monthly Archive: January 2009
incoherent blockbusters and the Dark Knight
I think it was Eagle Eye that finally broke me. I just can’t take any more movies that don’t make any sense. Not because that forgettable Shia Labeouf vehicle was particularly nonsensical– it didn’t...
Neo-Traditionalism, Community, and the Post-Postmodern Gentleman
Scott coins an interesting term: post-postmodern. The essence of the post-postmodern man, it seems, is a sort of meshing of Reason and Tradition that eschews both the ignorance and outdatedness of many old practices...
Meet the New (Drug) Boss, Same as the Old One?
Fellow L.O.G.(ger?) ED’s post on drug legalization is exremely sharp from my vantage point. He suggests legalizing pot (agreed), generally not taking the approach of viewing users as criminals (agreed again), but questions the...
Same Sex Marriage and Nomenclature
In the epic podcast about same sex marriage between me, John Schwenkler and OG Scott Payne, John spoke about the importance of recognizing the cultural relevance of same sex coupling. John finds my personal...
the ethical sale of crystal meth
While I’m largely of the same mind as Freddie on the subject of drug legalization, which may indeed be the best way to defeat the cartels and avoid the sort of civil war (a...
Civilization is a responsibility.
Reflecting on Israel, ED Kain writes Note when Foukara mentions that the only country Al-Jazeera has never been shut-down in is Israel. Perhaps this is another reason we hold them in our esteem–they reflect...
Multipolarity and Middle East
Scott’s intriguing counterintuitive post got me thinking. He thinks Obama should hold off on diving into a Middle East Peace Process. It appears however Obama–at least in his public rhetoric–is headed in from the...
The Filter of War
Freddie writes: While I continue to believe that our national conversation is far from an equitable or fair one, I have to admit that things have changed; there is more criticism and questioning of...
re:ratiocination: mexican drug insurgency edition
C. Augustin Dierkes post on the Mexican drug war to me highlighted one of the many downsides to the drug war, one which happens to be among the more distressing changes in American life...
ratiocination: mexican drug insurgency edition
My namesake, the great detective C. Auguste Dupin, who was himself an extraordinary gentlemen (I a member of the ordinary type) deployed a process termed “ratiocination”. It involved among other things Dupin’s remarkable ability...
our changing media and the future for Israel
Although I richly deserve a reputation as something of a polemicist, I’d like to think that I am not so shrill a partisan that I don’t admit that times have changed. In the beginning...
