Jeff Minick

After the Civil War, former North Carolina governor Zeb Vance became a U.S. senator. His Northern colleagues enjoyed his affable nature and sense of humor, and some of them invited him to Massachusetts during a break in government business. While

From government employees to healthcare workers, from professional athletes to school teachers, large numbers of Americans find themselves either having to resign their positions for refusing the COVID-19 jab or being fired. It doesn’t matter whether they’ve already recovered from

“Santa Claus is comin’ to town,” are the repetitive words to a classic Christmas song. But will those words ring true this holiday season?         

Perhaps not, if the ongoing backup of ships and supplies at major American ports continues. The

The other day I was sitting in a coffee shop when a rap song began playing in the café. The F-word—you know, the one that rhymes with muck and yuck—featured prominently in the lyrics. I was happy there were no

Certain politicians and special interest groups have brought out the pipes and drums to renew the Green New Deal. I recently heard our president on the radio shouting—and he was really shouting—about the perils we face if we don’t

Recently I needed to visit the Urgent Care Center here in Front Royal, Virginia. I have gone there two or three times over the past four years, usually waiting around 15 minutes to see a doctor or a nurse. This

We can trace our American penchant for victimhood back decades. Consider the 1957 musical “West Side Story,” which features two New York City gangs, the Sharks and the Jets, warring with each other. At one point, some of the Jets

(Note that what follows is entirely satire, including the quotes from a CDC spokesman, which are invented.)

Unnoticed by some in the present upheavals caused by the delta variant of COVID-19 was a quiet announcement from the Center for Disease

Sally* has worked as a nurse in an operating room for more than 30 years. She’s seen horrors most of us can only imagine, gunshot victims, patients maimed beyond belief, the dead from failed surgeries carted off to the morgue.           

I’ve just learned I may be a terrorist.           

On Aug. 13, the Secretary of Homeland Security issued a statement warning about an increase in domestic and foreign terrorism. At the end of the document’s summary were these words: “Such threats

A 60-something French Intellectual Takeout reader and I began an email correspondence a few years ago. We lost touch in recent months, but when I learned of the severe COVID-19 restrictions being enforced in France, I reestablished contact to get

Many people seem to be wondering what will become of the human soul in another world. I am wondering what has become of the human mind in this world.

G.K. Chesterton wrote those words almost a century ago in his

When I went to pick up my laundry last week, one of the employees, who had just finished folding my clothes, began weeping. “This is the last load I’ll ever do here,” she said in a choked voice. “They’re letting

“F” is for failure.

Last week, I happened upon an article reporting over 40 percent of Baltimore’s high school students had a 1.0 grade point average or less. In other words, 40 percent of these students were practically flunking their

Yesterday I was tapping away on the laptop when through the window I saw a young man walking up the drive toward the house. He was shirtless, wearing jeans and brogans—do they still call work boots by this name?—and I

Dear Members of Congress:

Some of you who are doing your duty in representing your constituents need not pay attention to this letter. You know who you are.

For the rest of you, I have a question: Where in the

I’m 70 years old, 5’7”, and a bit past my ideal measurement on the Body Mass Index. Let’s say I wake up tomorrow morning, look at myself in the mirror, and suddenly decide I’m capable of hitting three pointers in

Many of my grandkids love knock-knock jokes, but the younger members of the gang don’t quite grasp the concept. They get the “Knock-Knock” part correct, but the rest of the joke falls pancake flat, as in:

“Knock-knock.”

“Who’s there?”

“Sally.”

Joe Biden calls himself a “devout Catholic.” Sorry, Joe, but your claim is bogus and your hypocrisy rank, as can be seen in the whole recent communion controversy.

That Catholic bishops shouldn’t have to deny Joe Biden communion because of

In 1986, Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.”

That was 35 years ago, and I’d like to suggest a nine-word update: “I’m woke,

Joseph Bolanos’ reputation as a pillar of New York City’s Upper West Side community was shredded in February when FBI agents and heavily armed police raided his mother’s apartment where Bolanos was spending the night. They handcuffed him while other

TANSTAAFL with its triple repetition of the letter “A” is an acronym popularized by science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein meaning, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.”

TANSTAFL with a double A is my play on Heinlein’s contrivance: “There

Father.

Now there’s a word weighted with meaning.

For Americans indoctrinated in gender politics, father brings to mind the patriarchy, male domination, and oppression.

For others, the word father summons nightmares from childhood, abuse, slaps and punches, drunken rages, constant

Every once in a while something pops up on YouTube that knocks me for a loop.

I was messing around there recently when I found “Woody Allen Looks at 1967,” a variety show hosted by the comedian in which he

Twelve-year-old North Carolinian Mike Wimmer recently graduated as valedictorian of his high school class while simultaneously earning an associate’s degree at his local community college. Cooped up like everyone else during the pandemic, young Wimmer decided to go to a

Joy. Pure unadulterated joy.

This is what I felt on the first of June when I stepped into my favorite coffee shop here in Front Royal, Virginia and found all of the employees except one without face coverings. Gone were

Please hop into my time machine, and I’ll give you a short tour of Boonville, North Carolina in the summer of 1959, before bringing you back to the present day.

Strolling around this small hamlet of 600, note the town’s

In the movie Casablanca, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) demands her brokenhearted former love, Rick (Humphrey Bogart), hand over some letters of transit that will allow her husband Victor to escape the Nazis. When he refuses, she pulls a gun and

At my elbow is a letter from President Biden that came in the mail this past weekend. It’s torn in half, dotted with coffee grounds, and slightly soggy, because I just now retrieved it from my kitchen wastebasket.

I rescued

In the parish church I attend here in Front Royal, Virginia, out-of-town visitors are often surprised by the number of babies, children, and teens at any of the four Sunday services. Wiggling kids fill the pews, somewhere a baby is

Last week I filed my federal and state taxes.

The tax preparation service I use here, mostly for backup purposes in case of an audit, informed me by phone that the forms were ready for my signature and that I

It’s May, and the chilly dawn here in Virginia brings singing birds, velvet-soft breezes, and the rich perfume of freshly mown grass and damp earth. I take pleasure and joy in the time I spend on my front porch, sometimes

In a recent conversation with an internist, the good doctor asked me whether I’d gotten a COVID-19 vaccine. When I told him ‘No,” he then asked if I intended to get it at all. “Not unless someone forces it on

Though I’ve practiced several vices in my time, pornography was not one of them. I grew up in a town and a time when I didn’t even know the meaning of that word. At the private school I attended in

“Gloom, despair, and agony on me,
Deep dark depression, excessive misery….”

Those were the opening lines to a song based skit from the country music and comedy show “Hee Haw” back in the 1970s. Somehow the words and tune have

I first became a huge fan of Ernest “Papa” Hemingway back in my twenties. I read his short stories, nearly all his novels, and his memoir, A Moveable Feast, recounting the time in Paris when he was just beginning

A Man For All Seasons is a film for our time.

In this classic period drama, Sir Thomas More (Paul Scofield), a brilliant writer and intellectual and former Lord Chancellor of England, refuses to approve Henry VIII’s marriage to Anne

Are we witnessing the end of justice and equality before the law in America?

On April 15, the Department of Justice announced that the still-unnamed police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the protests at our Capitol in early January

In the driveway sits my nine-year-old Honda Civic, which I purchased two years ago after a deer demolished my Accord. Fingerprints of my grandchildren dot the rear interior window, the carpeting and seats are screaming for a vacuum, a large,

Recently while driving from town to my house, I was running through some radio stations when I landed on the Glenn Beck show. His guest was Lara Logan, a journalist and commentator unfamiliar to me, and I was sickened and

A look around at our coronavirus-obsessed world leaves those of us still possessing common sense with one question: What on earth have we become?

This question arises when viewing videos such as this one, where a pregnant, Catholic mother

Last week I invited my young neighbors, Becca and Sam, and their two little girls to supper. I prepared lasagna and salad, and Becca and Sam brought wine and freshly baked bread. After supper, the girls entertained themselves with the

Two recent mass shootings in Atlanta, Georgia and Boulder, Colorado, have once again roused those whose goal is to destroy the Second Amendment. Before the bodies of the slain were buried, before the bereft were given even a day or

A video of a white teacher from Loudon County, Virginia protesting the required Critical Race Theory (CRT) training for teachers is a highlight of Andrea Widburg’s article, “Maybe the pendulum is starting to swing on cancel culture.” Take one

There is an advantage to being 70 years old, with no Twitter account, no interest in Facebook, no regular job, and no financial dependents.

I can speak my mind.

I refrain from pushing my politics on others, but if asked

Get a job. Get married. Have kids.

Those seven words are part of the core message in Charles Murray’s The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Getting Ahead, a book I recommend to young people. Most of us have read these recommendations

All of the presidents of the 21st century—Bush, Obama, Biden, and yes, even Donald Trump—seem a cut below the gravitas and statesmanship of the founding fathers.

The first three were—and are—globalists, and as anyone with eyes can see, Joe Biden

The “woke” crazies never quit.

In the last couple of weeks, we’ve seen Mr. Potato Head attacked for his gender-bias and the Muppets “put into context” by Disney. Meanwhile, as Intellectual Takeout’s Annie Holmquist reports, the cancel culture