If an economist sees the handiwork of God in the economy, does that invalidate his economic arguments from a secular perspective? The great economist Ludwig von Mises, who himself was either atheist or agnostic, noted that: “Many economists, among them Adam Smith and Bastiat, believed in God. Hence they admired in the facts they had discovered […]
A new book describes the importance of memory, history, and national identity in saving America from desolation. One of the worst sins of the present — not just ours but any present — is its tendency to condescend toward the past, which is much easier to do when one doesn’t trouble to know the full context of […]
The inane trumps all on Zuckerberg’s social network. Since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, it’s been quite a wild ride. Thousands of doctors and scientists have been unbanned and are now speaking. Same with journalists. Accounts that posted against Covid restrictions and mandates are now unthrottled. Brownstone’s account is now at 31K and my own personal reach is up […]
Much of what you think you know about who has abortions is wrong. Apart from some radical outliers, most folks with pro-choice views regard abortion as a necessary evil. Apart from moral considerations, it’s evil because for the mother it’s gut-wrenching, risky and stigmatized. But it’s necessary because there are so many of these women. […]
Governments should focus on funding effective education. What if we just cut through the morass of programs and take all the money being provided at the federal and state level and put it into individual student endowment accounts? The late 1970s in the United States was a time of surprising deregulation. It was the beginning […]
In what has become a familiar and dismal ritual, the Archbishop of Kansas City, released an apology for sexual abuse by Catholic clergy last week. He joined “bishops across the state of Kansas in offering his deepest apologies to the victims, their families, the faithful of the church, and the Kansas Catholic community at large” He was […]
Candid childhood memories of life behind the Iron Curtain It is a truism to say that children have a grasp of reality different from adults; a clearer and more honest grasp that in most cases they lose with maturity. Rare is the man or woman who retains that innocent capacity to see through grown-up hypocrisy […]
An Ecuadorian man has changed his gender to gain custody of his children. “Self-determined gender is a cornerstone of a person’s identity. The resulting obligation of States is to provide access to gender recognition in a manner consistent with the rights to freedom from discrimination, equal protection of the law, privacy, identity and freedom of […]
These days, dead white males do not count for much. But we still have the legacy of an exceptional man who went around Athens asking people to provide basic definitions. In so doing, he proved to many that they were not as knowledgeable as they thought themselves to be. This man’s questions annoyed many, and […]
In the 1400s the printing press revolutionized Europe, enabling mass distribution of printed material fast. The Reformation roiled Europe in the 1500s, in no small measure due to Gutenberg’s invention. In the wake of Martin Luther and Ulrich Zwingli came a variety of sects, including the radical Anabaptists, who believed in adult baptism and strict separation […]
Who on earth possesses the unmitigated insolence to publicly assert a Christian, Italian and family identity? In the wee hours of Monday, September 26, thousands of Italian patriots rallied in Rome. The star attraction was a diminutive down-to-earth family-friendly fireball who had just made history with a stunning election victory. She hurled a bolt of […]
‘Maverick’ is an outstanding intellectual biography of this prolific African-American economist. Fans of Thomas Sowell have been eagerly awaiting the new biography by Jason Riley, with the appetite being whetted by the release of Riley’s one hour documentary on Sowell’s life in January. This is not a standard biography. Apart from providing a basic overview of Sowell’s […]
The safest way to store cryptocurrency is in your own crypto wallet. Anthony* (a friend) called a few weeks ago, deeply worried. A deputy principal of a high school in Queensland, over the past year he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars buying cryptocurrencies, borrowing money using his home as equity. But now all his […]
Those who seek to streamline online discourse, according to “official standards”, end up impoverishing public debate. Over the course of the past decade, numerous regulatory authorities, both public and private, have increasingly positioned themselves as guardians of the integrity of our public sphere, standing watch over the content of information, and flagging or suppressing information […]
‘Twitter is both a social media company and a crime scene,’ says Elon Musk, its new owner. In October, following months of speculation and controversy, Elon Musk closed on his deal to acquire Twitter. Among the most valuable assets Musk obtained in the US$43 billion purchase were reams of secret internal communications amongst Twitter executives. […]