“The Space Traders”
For those following the faux-controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s relationship with Derrick Bell, here’s a copy of Bell’s infamous short story, “The Space Traders.” As far as science fiction goes, it’s a pretty crummy read,...
Author: Will
Will writes from Washington, D.C. (well, Arlington, Virginia). You can reach him at willblogcorrespondence at gmail dot com.
The Post-Drug War World
In what I think is an overly-pessimistic take on the United States after the War on Drugs, Walter Russell Mead makes a pretty interesting point about a possible shift from legal repercussions to private...
Reading Gingrich in D.C.
Andrew Ferguson reads New Gingrich’s 21 books so you don’t have to. Gingrich’s overblown reputation as an intellectual is well-trodden ground, but what I found interesting is what the books reveal about his weird...
Song for Stephen Metcalf
For those interested, Metcalf responds to his critics (including our own Mark Thompson) here.
Strategy and politics in Afghanistan
I bridle at the contention – apparently endorsed by all but one of the Republican presidential candidates – that a bunch of unelected generals should be dictating foreign policy. If President Obama believes that...
LeBron James and the creative class
Does the LeBron-Cleveland saga reflect the anxieties of modern American life?* Bear with me for a moment: A monumentally talented product from the old industrial heartland flees his hometown and a band of hardworking**...
X-Men: First Class
I thought X-Men: First Class was loads of fun, largely because of Michael Fassbender and James McAvoy. Here’s Jonathan Last with a pretty interesting post on mutant assimilation. On a more serious note, I...
The Finals
Sports have never been a focal point for the League, so I’ll put this one below the fold . . .
Raptured
From a friend’s Facebook update: “The most valuable lesson from the Camping Rapture incident? If you make apocalyptic predictions, make them secular. Paul Erhlich is a tenured professor at Stanford.”
Tits! Swords! Edginess!
(Editor’s note: Erik’s praise for “Game of Thrones” drew me out of semi-retirement. Bear with me) One of the problems with easing constraints on a creative medium is that creators are inevitably tempted to...
Our man in Fukushima
Christopher Carr, a commenter and occasional guest contributor here at the League, was in Fukushima when the Tsunami hit. I don’t know Chris personally, but he was one of our regulars – a sharp, even-keeled...
The IDF’s “mystique”
Below, J. L. notes that Operation Cast Lead was partly a response to the perceived loss of IDF prestige following the 2006 Lebanon incursion. I guess this is right, but I feel like every...
The Return of “F-cksaw Gate”
For those following the recent sex-ed controversy at Northwestern University (written about here by our own J. L. Wall), the professor in question was recently interviewed by Esquire.
Cultural artifacts from the age of fear
A few days ago, I was idly watching Predator 2 with the roommates. It’s an amazing cocktail of offensive racial stereotypes, bad acting, and ridiculous action sequences, plus Gary Busey and Bill Paxton. Needless...
Why does the Finnish public school system work?
In an interesting post on teacher evaluation, E. D. writes: The most successful education system in the world is probably Finland’s, and they have made teaching standards and credentials more exclusive and exacting, not less....
Delusional goat-herds with box-cutters and other threats to the Republic
Is a “liberty-advancing policy abroad” a necessary component of American conservatism? Here’s Derbyshire’s pithy response:
