To say I was a difficult child is something of an understatement: I was a wild child. In retrospect, I can only feel sorry for my poor parents, who had no idea what to do with me. I was simply unmanageable. Unwilling to sit still in class, or to . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
Category: Between the Lines
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Not Like the Other
We often hear opponents of U.S. action abroad denounced as “anti-American.” On the other hand, these alleged anti-Americans present themselves as anti-interventionists—opponents of the policy and not the country. So how to tell the difference? One sign of anti-Americanism is the . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and gain...
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NeverTrump, No Reserve
The enormity of what we’re up against is something I acknowledge in the abstract, but blank out of my consciousness 99 percent of the time. It’s only when I come across an article like Alexander Rubinstein’s and Max Blumenthal’s recent exposé of the Omidyar Network . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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Schizophrenic Citizens
The very idea of dual citizenship is downright absurd. It’s a contradiction that cannot be resolved. The concept of citizenship is based on the expectation of loyalty to the country, and this, in turn, means that citizens owe their exclusive allegiance to the community in which they live . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now...
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Catch, Release, Repeat
The photo went viral: a little girl crying after she’d been separated from her mother at the U.S.-Mexican border. Time photoshopped it so that the little girl was crying while the Evil Donald Trump looked down at her, looming over her like some giant . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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Neocons in the Dark
As I write this the news of Tom Wolfe’s death is breaking. The stylish author of The Right Stuff, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, and the progenitor of the . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and gain access to other exclusive features. Already a subscriber? Sign in here
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California Dreaming
You never know what Lady Fortuna has in store for you next. Having quit college—after all, I knew what I wanted to do, and didn’t need lessons from some hippie in how to do it—I was shuttling between New York City and my parents . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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The Liars and the Credulous
I am writing this very close to March 20, the 15th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, and I’m wondering: Have we learned anything from that experience? One has only to look at the headlines to understand that no, we haven’t learned anything . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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Lost Near the Beltway
Whatever happened to the libertarian movement? Since the age of 14 I have been a self-conscious libertarian. That’s when I started reading libertarian tracts (Rand, Mises, Hayek). I say reading, but at least in the case of Mises, reading was not the same . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article...
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If It Leads, It Bleeds
Kathy Griffin, “comedienne,” posts a photo of herself holding up the bloodied head of President Trump, gore dripping down his face. A Central Park production of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar features an assassinated Caesar as Trump: The audience roars its approval as Brutus & Co . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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The Coming Backlash
The media frenzy that greeted the victory of Donald Trump is now reaching a pinnacle of manic hysteria. Every single day, it seems, there is some new toxic, trumped-up accusation: He’s a Russian agent! He’s obstructing justice! He’s wants to repeal the First Amendment! Members . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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Paper War
My local newspaper is now unreadable, and I’m damn mad about it. In order to understand the earthshaking significance of this turn of events and its emotional impact on me, you have to understand the role my paper, the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, plays . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article...
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Where Honor Is Due
I got a call from a Washington-based journalist the other day who wanted to know if Pat Buchanan had any influence on the platform of our current President. What a question! The guy sounded fairly young—at least, younger than me—so he doesn’t remember . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article...
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Considering Bannon
They liken him to Rasputin and Svengali: He’s the éminence grise of the Trump administration, the hard-line ideologue who represents and multiplies all the darkest impulses of that man in the Oval Office. But who is Steve Bannon, really? The New York . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and...
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Inaugurating a Movement
It was a clarion call to his supporters and a hard slap in the face to his adversaries—the latter being gathered just a few feet behind him as he delivered his Inaugural Address. Donald J. Trump never minces words, and on January 20 he showed that he isn . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now...
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Booby-Trapping Trump
As I write, the attempted CIA coup against the Trump administration is ongoing. Yes, you read that right: We’re getting awfully close to Seven Days in May territory. Through a series of leaks to the “mainstream” media, the Langley spooks have launched a propaganda campaign that . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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Ada Missed the Boat
For the first time since the Reagan years a Republican took Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and even Michigan. After years of waiting for the rise of the MARs (Middle-American Radicals), I hear the ghost of Sam Francis chortling with unrestrained mirth. Trump took on the Clinton machine, the . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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Any Way You Put It
You are likely reading this after the election, and already one of the following three scenarios is unfolding. One: In a Brexit-like upset, Donald J. Trump mobilizes a . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and gain access to other exclusive features. Already a subscriber? Sign in here
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Unignorable Flashpoints
As the nation prepares to go to the polls to elect the 45th president of these United States, two flashpoints may determine the outcome. The first is Islamic terrorism. It was almost funny to listen to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio inform us that a . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to...
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Realignment
The national media campaign against Donald Trump is unprecedented. All pretense to “objectivity” has been thrown out the window in an effort to keep the populist wing of the GOP out of the White House. Nary a day goes by that the Washington Post or the
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Turkey Purge
Democracy isn’t freedom—and in today’s Turkey some people realize that, as amazing as that may seem. Not ordinary folks, but the mid-level officers of the Turkish army, who have been watching with a jaundiced eye the steady Islamization of their country by an elected leader . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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Abridging Omar
Attorney General Loretta Lynch attempted to censor the three 911 calls Omar Mateen made as he was slaughtering his 49 victims at an Orlando nightclub. All references to Islam and the Islamic State—to which he pledged allegiance as he was slaughtering his victims—were initially scrubbed. “What we . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to...
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Immigration and Ideology
It was the first meeting of The John Randolph Club, held somewhere in the wilds of Texas. I was there at the urging of Murray Rothbard, who was enthusiastic about this gathering of libertarians and paleoconservatives in the wake of the Cold War’s end. With the commies out . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now...
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The Right Reborn
The stunning success of the Trump campaign has upended what has passed for conservatism lo these many years and opened up new vistas for the American Right. Many if not most readers are familiar with the story of how the neoconservatives emigrated from the far left and . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to...
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Prioritizing Threats
As Donald Trump moves closer to the magic number of 1,237 delegates, the panic of the political class is a wonderful sight to behold. GOP donors meet in secret conclave, plotting various scenarios designed to steal the nomination. A “brokered” convention, a “contested” convention, a last . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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Who Hates Trump?
Politics is all about hatred. Never mind who you’re voting for: It’s who you’re voting against that really counts. And that’s why any disagreement I may have with Donald Trump’s actual policies is completely irrelevant. Because what really matters is . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and gain access...
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Wrecking Ball
Donald Trump has upended the GOP presidential primary process and turned it into the most entertaining reality show yet. If The Donald’s road to the White House is blocked—either by the Republican elites or by his own tendency to go too far—and he returns to TV . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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We’ve Only Just Begun
The Left is not generous in victory. The ink on the Supreme Court decision in Obergefell v. Hodges was barely dry before a vicious assault on organized religion in this country was launched, a multipronged offensive with the clear intention of marginalizing Christians and banishing . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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The Third Great Awakening
California is showing the way forward for the aspiring authoritarians in our midst—and the drought is providing them with the perfect opportunity. The front page of my local rag, the Press-Democrat, ran a story by Washington Post writer Bob Kuznia, “State’s wealthy . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and...
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A Bubbling Crude
We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. If you ask when, the answer is that you cannot make a single stroke between day and night; the precise moment does not matter. There was no painted sign to say: “You are now entering Imperium.” Yet it . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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Disturbing the Peace
The waitress at my favorite Japanese restaurant, a spotlessly clean little joint in a Sonoma County hamlet not far from my home, had no idea what she was getting into as she took the order. Two unremarkable looking customers had walked in the door: one an older, rather prissy . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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The Neocons Called the Tune
I want to apologize to my readers, although I can only hope for forgiveness. I certainly don’t deserve it. OK, Justin—I can hear you now—what have you done this time? The sin of which I am guilty is optimism of the most . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and...
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Confessions of a Libertarian Activist
I’ve been a libertarian activist since the age of 16 or so—long before the term libertarian became known and widely used by the general public. Indeed, when I announced my conversion to parents, friends, and associates I distinctly recall a number of them saying something . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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Jihad on the Western Front
It’s a Charlie Hebdo world—a place where “free speech” means the freedom to depict the Pope in drag with the caption “Ready for anything in order to win some clients?” Where “liberty” means crude drawings, of the sort one might see on a men’s . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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LBJeb
You knew Jeb Bush was going to run for president; after all, assuming the worst is really the essence of conservatism. And, sure enough, he’s “actively exploring the possibility”—a half-measure that prefigures the weakness and tepidity of another Bush presidency. Conservatives tempted to glom . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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Living With Foreigners
My grandfather, Nicola Raimondo, came from a little town called Torre di Ruggiero, at the tip of the Italian boot. It was a poor place then, and it looks to be even poorer today, from what I can tell, with half the place for sale and the other half . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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The Golden State’s Lavender Jacobins
You knew it would come to this. So did I. And yet one is still surprised by the sheer boldness of it all. From my local paper: California public schools do an inadequate job of teaching students about gay and lesbian history, despite a 2011 law that . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to...
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My Conversation With Alex Jones
I always had the general impression that radio shock-jock Alex Jones was a huckster—basically an entertainer, as opposed to a serious person. I’d never bothered to listen to his broadcasts, and all I knew about him was secondhand. My recent encounter with Jones gave me the . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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The War of Wars
I have lost the battle with my garden, the only war I care about these days. The Drought (yes, I mean to capitalize it, to personify it as if it were an angry god) has scorched the yard, and there is no such thing as victory in the face . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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Foreigners No More
They are coming: on trains, on buses, on foot, all the way from Central America, where they meet up with smugglers who take them across our nonexistent border. This has been happening for decades, but there’s one big difference in the recent wave of illegal immigration: These are . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now...
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Neocon Nightmare
I have a recurring nightmare in which the war criminals who lied us into Iraq reappear to mock the hundreds of thousands they murdered in cold blood, repeating the same lies, the same rationalizations, the same mindless slogans that lured us into that hellhole to begin with. Bill Kristol . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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Is There Hope?
Think of what we’re trying to do: upend the biggest, deadliest, most intractable apparatus of power this world has ever seen. The sheer scope of the Leviathan State is so daunting that any patriot who seeks to take it on is immediately faced with the enormity of his . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now...
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Stalking the Bear
Washington desperately needed a new enemy, so the timing of Putin’s bloodless “invasion” of Crimea was just right. Al Qaeda’s value as a fear generator has been seriously compromised ever since the death of Osama bin Laden, and now that it looks like the U.S. government . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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The World Upside Down
The hysterics are deafening: The “invasion” of Crimea has the pundits in an uproar, with the Krauthammers and Kristols and Kagans calling for a new cold war (verging on hot), and the “progressives” chiming in with calls for sanctions and making Vladimir Putin “pay a price,” as the President . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe...
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Why Has the Land Turned on Me?
I have showered more love on this old 1940’s farmhouse than on any person living. Certainly, I’ve spent more money on it than I care to count. But more than the house itself—an undistinguished structure made interesting only by my renovation—it’s the land I . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full...
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The Russians Are Coming!
When the Berlin Wall fell, and the Soviet Union imploded shortly afterward, the world breathed a sigh of relief—except in the faculty lounges of our more exclusive universities, the last bastion of Marxism in the developed world. But these hothouse exotics weren’t the only losers. Their opposite . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to...
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Taking Action
“I don’t just renovate,” says Nicole Curtis, the 36-year-old star of Rehab Addict. “I restore old houses to their former glory.” She’s a willowy blonde with the body of a pinup model and the determination of a drill sergeant—and she can wield . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article and...
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No Peeking
I promised mysel I’d stay out of local politics once I moved up here to Sonoma County, California, but this story is too good to pass up. It was 3 a.m., and the beautiful lady heard a rustling at her window. Maybe it was the . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the...
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It’s Always World War II
They call it the “Good War,” I suppose, in order to differentiate it from all the really bad wars we’ve been fighting—and losing—lately: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and all the future conflicts our political class has up its collective sleeve. I call it the Worst War, because . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access...
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An Unexpected Sea Change
One minute we were just waiting for the bombs to drop on Syria. The next we were listening to the President tell us why it was a good idea—but never mind! What in the heck happened? The American people rose up, that’s what . . . Subscribers Only Subscribe now to access the full article...