I agree. I just also happen to not have an astoundingly convenient amnesia about what the last decade and a half or so of life have been like on this topic.

My bad!

I'm not sure Jaybird is right about that. Columbia is private but we've had 15-20 odd years of ideological purges, deplatforming incidents, and compelled speech at state schools (which absolutely are the government) and institutions like Columbia that probably wouldn't exist without the benefit of public money.

Assuming this guy didn't actually commit any crimes I think this is a serious escalation but if there's a distinction it's a matter of degree rather than kind. Everyone should think about where it all goes next time they cheer compelled diversity statements or firings over whatever speech not conforming to the latest trends in identity politics. At minimum I would say there is no reason to believe the political left in this country cares about freedom of speech. Which sucks since that was a big reason I signed up back in the day.

If they have grounds under the law so be it but from the reporting so far it is not clear that they do. At minimum they need to convict him first, and (again, based on my limited understanding) convict him of something pretty serious.

One of our immigration lawyers would need to step in but I believe involuntary loss of status requires being convicted of a felony. Saying Hamas is the greatest thing since sliced bread or that the Israelis had it coming or whatever isn't a crime.

Heh I mean this respectfully but I'd say the phrase 'doing a lot of work there' is itself doing a lot of work in your reply. So much I'm not really sure what you're getting at. The fact that the government owns most of the cathedrals (and I believe most of the churches) in France suggests significant influence on the culture, not the opposite.

Which isn't to say I see any reason to believe growing secularism is in any danger of being reversed in France. I don't. I don't think it's going anywhere in America either. However I'm pretty sure you'd strongly disagree with me if I said the historical domination of Protestantism in the US didn't leave any important cultural legacies, including many that remain with us today.

There's still a cultural Catholicism to France that I think is helpful in certain ways. It isn't a mystery why all of the post modern thought that's made American academia and progressivism stupider is a lot less popular in France despite much of it originating there. Catholicism has strong anti-bodies for that kind of stuff. But I agree that any resurgence is unlikely to be specifically Catholic in the way he suggests.

Germany I read a bit more cynically. Obviously 'Never Again' should be part of their national character but there are very real ways in which it's used as a convenient excuse to shirk responsibility and maturing into a constructive world power. The only structural force for actual revanchism is the mainstream parties who have insisted that the only way a normal person with conservative views on immigration can voice those preferences is to consort with the tiny faction that also believes the Third Reich is due for re-appraisal.

It's an interesting thought and if there's an actual partner for it in Paris one would have to be foolish not to take them up on it.

The reason it won't happen is that Douthat is fundamentally right about European populism, absent some pivoting along the lines of what seems to have happened in Italy. The most ironic thing I'd say about today's right wing populism here and there, and very much including MAGA, is that it accepts far too many of the premises of what would otherwise be viewed as progressive victim-ology. It just has a different narrative about who the victims are.

For the West to maintain hegemony or just parity of strength you need a political leadership ready to make a positive case for what we are and what our civilizational goals should be. As best as I can tell you don't see much of that on either side of the Atlantic.

Personally I think we'd all be a lot better off if we collectively decided to lower the importance of this issue to our larger worldview. Or at minimum approach it with an appreciation for the fact that companies producing movies for audiences that don't actually exist is by definition a self correcting problem.

I think the main reason not to see it is the last really good movie they made was probably Coco. All the live action ones have sucked.

Sure, we would absolutely be better off. But as big of a critic as I am of various cultural silliness in the broader left and lack of establishment accountability which at times fairly but often enough also unfairly gets laid on the Democrats I still see no excuse for this. We're going to learn the hard way that the solution for various problems with the public health authorities is not to put people into healing crystals and essential oils in charge of them. This stuff isn't a joke and change can always be for the worse.

Pretty disgraceful in light of the recent measles outbreaks. But not sure what else to expect. It's an administration of conspiracy theorist bufoons.

Hilariously enough I actually thought the Sacramento Bee quote was satire and that you had made a typo. Like that can't possibly be real. Right? Right...?

I increasingly feel like we're in a simulation programmed by Trey Parker and Matt Stone.

I'm just glad they actually did. Because my gosh.

I have spent enough time in Germany to know that even if it was in their interest to do something like that they never would.

I think Poland would do that and already kind of does, within its means, maybe same with the Scandinavians, but Germany is probably the most politically myopic place on Earth, France is too much of a mess internally, and no other countries on the continent have the economy or the clout. They could if they had a unity of vision but I don't and doubt they will develop it no matter what happens.

I fall into maybe a middle ground. I'm pretty cynical about Europe's ability to ever act as a coherent bloc without a somewhat firm hand from the US. I also think it's useful to have Europe as a friend, military ally, and partner in commerce.

What they do need is a conventional military deterrent capable of self defense with only token US contributions. We had two friendly Democratic administrations fail to make that case (to say nothing of Europeans, maybe cynically, failing to hear it) and now round two of MAGA that sort of understands the broader contours of the problem but is incapable of approaching it in a remotely constructive way.

Dude it's bad! And it's so easy to find yourself spending hours every night, mentally stressed, all from doing literally nothing. It's also easy to absent mindedly fall into. At least smoking used to have a kind of social component to it.

Europe needs to re-arm no matter the terms they are on with us. However I think they are only likely to do it in a coherent way that is helpful to US interests with our leadership and support, namely the things Trump is intent on wiping his a*s with.

I did a pre-Lent visit to the Shrine in DC on Saturday for confession then mass as kind of a mini pilgrimage to kick things off.

My battle is going to primarily be against my phone and the evening habit of constantly circling through various sites and social media of no good use to my mental or spiritual health. I found an old Kindle we had gathering dust in the basement and am going to try to use it as a means of just freaking looking at something else.

That sounds like a cool idea but way too complicated for my household especially with the biggest having baseball practice for his travel team on Fridays. I'm staring straight down the barrel of kraft mac and cheese, scrambled eggs, and probably that most traditional of all Lenten cuisine, the filet-o-fish.

Macron has too many of his own problems and France is too small and limited in its ability to project power.

Unfortunately as was proven with Merkel last go 'round it's the US or no one.

Yes, there's also nukes and nukes. It's possible the big strategic nuclear weapon systems are in disrepair. However I doubt every single one their tactical weapons that can be launched from planes or submarines is a dud. No idea if they can still reliably hit the US eastern seaboard with the push of a button but it would surprise me if things were so bad they couldn't do damage the likes of which the world has never seen to Europe, including US installations there. There's also the fact that Putin has at least potentially been put on notice based on initial performance in Ukraine and there has been some correction.

Yea the concern was security and maintenance. I don't believe operational control of the weapons stationed in Ukraine was ever anywhere other than Moscow. Kiev never had the capability of using them.

I believe what Dark is implying here is that modern day Russia's nuclear weapons don't actually work. I've seen some speculation to that effect, especially in light of how badly maintained and hollowed out it's conventional forces have turned out to be. It's also the last hypothesis anyone should want to test. We mighti learn that it's the one weapon system they've stayed on top of.

Yea to me the big miscalculation was indecisiveness from the Biden admin. If you're worried about escalation you start pushing towards a settlement in 2022 when Ukraine had a bit of an upper hand and was taking back territory. If you want to see if Ukraine can win you're way more aggressive with aid, let them take the gloves off, and push the Europeans to also share more advanced weaponry.

Instead we tried to walk a middle ground, let Ukraine lose all momentum, and now Trump is back in charge operating with malice towards Zelenskyy and myopia about the larger strategic situation.