Joe Biden shouldn't write off Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Category: Columns
Sailing Ships and Troubled Waters
The ship captain as Nietzschean superman, in the 1941 film adaptation of Jack London's The Sea Wolf
Silicon Valley God Complex
Elite freaks have a tendency to try to set themselves up as the Almighty.
The Voice of God No More
The invasion of Dodger Stadium may mark the peak of public tolerance for all things LGBTQ+. Reaching this low point was the inevitable result of Americans discarding all guiding principles other than unfettered personal autonomy and absolute equality.
The Wheel and War
We may long for the romantic and heroic days when acts of military derring-do were performed by Medal of Honor recipients, but it looks like the future belongs to the ugly, impersonal, and utilitarian.
Blinken, the Posthuman Diplomat
Antony Blinken is an inherently corrupt Washington insider: he is an ideologue who seeks permanent cultural revolution at home and the imposition of its fruits abroad.
The Voice That Won’t Be Silenced
Tucker Carlson's voice is too important to silence because he speaks for so many people.
Curing Cultural Amnesia
Wokeism has spread widely, but wokeism’s triumph is not irreversible. Indeed, the necessary first step of subverting wokeism may well be the sufficient final step as well.
The Shameless Son
Jared Kushner should be ashamed of himself for his blatant, unfathomable, and utterly unacceptable profiteering from his father-in-law’s presidency. But shame is a word unknown to the 45th president’s son-in-law.
The Trans Specter in the C-Suite
The enemies of conservatives are in America’s boardrooms, where executives form the driving force of progressive causes in the United States today and have been doing so for some time.
A Cabin and a Kiss
A bizarre twist on an old apocalyptic tale.
Russia Blues
The Ukrainian campaign is not just the fight to retain strategic depth along Russia’s vulnerable southwestern flank; it is also the struggle to retain its status as a great power. The Biden administration is now more than ready for reckless escalation, a deadly game of chicken with nuclear stakes. The future is dark.
A Troublesome Trio
Reviews of films "Sharper," "The Whale," and a revisit of 1969's "The Reckoning." Despite some deficiencies, each has something to recommend itself.
Exploits of the Noble Savage
Modern grievances are, at heart, about competition for resources, prestige, and power. All that has changed are the myths used to mask the claims and obscure reality.
The Swiss Dream
Swiss people are sovereign in a way the people of France, Britain, Germany and the United States are not.
Ireland’s Forgotten Genocide
Despite much handwringing about British colonial misdeeds in Africa and the Caribbean, the systematic, purposeful extermination of more than a million Irish during the potato famine of the 19th century gets little attention.
Europe Diminished
The foreign policy consensus between Europe and the U.S. leads only to unnecessary new wars abroad and to the suicide pact of multiculturalism at home.
Familiarity Breeds Contempt
Creating a sense of moral obligation to outsiders is one of Christianity’s singular achievements. But the full genius of historical Christianity was shown by its ability to do this without falling into a suicidal universalism.
The Myth of Draconianism
Punishment has become a bad word, but it shouldn’t be.
Auf Wiedersehen, America
The America of today gives the impression she is resigned to her decline and weary of her values—not least of which is too much freedom for criminals to enjoy equal rights with the rest of us.
Uncertain Endgame in Ukraine
The war in Ukraine was started by Russia, but it was willed, engineered and choreographed by the U.S.-led West. It is both a mistake and a crime, a minus-sum game for the declining European remnant.
Dining With Danger
Along with death, crap is the great equalizer. And traditionally, satirists make a point of not being fastidious.
Modi and the Art of Realpolitik
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an unabashed realist who has been using the crisis between Russia and the collective West to increase his country’s global clout.
Fake Indians
Promoting oneself as an American Indian, even when it's not true, can be a career enhancer ... until the lie is exposed.
A Charmless Conman
Con men are just not as classy as they used to be.
Trumpism: The Myth, the Man, and the Mandate
Trump and the movement he started have suffered from inconsistent objectives and dubious accomplishments. It is increasingly hard to believe that his comeback campaign can succeed.
The Allure of the Lurid
Reviews of Blonde, adapted from the Joyce Carol Oates biographical novel of the same title, and the 1951 film, The Enforcer.
The Real American Dilemma
This remarkable editorial by Chronicles’ longest-serving editor offered one of the first and best analyses of America’s immigration problem.
White Anxiety and the GOP
White anxiety is the single greatest driver of right-wing politics in the United States, and it is as understandable as the fear one feels while trying to avoid death by drowning.
Fashionable Delusions
Politically correct victim narratives are driving America apart.
Emperor Xi of the CCP
China's 20th National Congress of the CCP brought two novelties: a new emphasis on military strength and the complete consolidation of power into the hands of President Xi Jinping.
The Pygmies Squeak … Again
Neocon intellectual midgets continue to smear Sam Francis long after his death because his writings represent an effective opposition to the ruling class.
Villainous Women
Film reviews featuring femmes fatales Aubrey Plaza in Emily the Criminal, Florence Pugh in Don't Worry Darling, and Lizabeth Scott in Too Late for Tears.
Of Demons and Ghosts
The 2022 film Prey is a predictable woke prequel to the 1987 film Predator. A better choice for adventure is the 1935 classic, The Ghost Goes West, starring Robert Donat.
‘Compact’ Makes an Impact
Michael Lind was a good fit for Compact magazine’s first event in New York City. Neither Lind nor the magazine has shied away from confrontation and challenging the managerial state.
Good Writers, Complicated Lives
Quality of writing is no longer the standard for literature, as the busybodies of the left go about canceling all our best authors for their various sins of political incorrectness.
Labor Left in the Lurch
It became clear on Labor Day 2022 that the American left has no use for Americans who make a living with their hands, particularly if those hands are white and masculine.
Horsing Around
Two films, new and old, that feature horses: Jordan Peele's Nope a pointless waste of time. Black Stallion, albeit predictable, is beautiful, compelling, and worth seeing again.
A Brutal Muse
The golden age of American popular music was an amazing time to be alive. Taki reminisces about his encounters with the composers of great American musicals.
A Conspiracy Against the People
The establishment has all but guaranteed the rise of a force in the future that will be as bad—or worse—than what they pretended Trump was.
A World Poised Between Orders
The realignment of global forces resulting from the war in Ukraine is certain to confront American hegemony and to undermine the status of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
A Stubborn Love of Honor
For the Ancient Greeks, the concepts of courage and honor were indivisible. Both are necessary to fight for what is most important.
Amnesia of the Weather Alarmists
Hot weather is nothing new. The climate alarmists would be less alarmed if they knew history.
“America First” In Name Only
The America First Policy Institute is the latest group of swamp creatures masquerading as America First populists.
Top Men at Work
Top Gun-Maverick is predictable and predictably Tom Cruise, but Our Man in Havana is just the opposite: what starts as espionage satire turns sharply and creatively to spy thriller.
The Last Temptation of The King
Baz Lurhmann's new film about Elvis Presley asks us to adulate The King, but in reality, he was given too much, too soon.
The Long Decline in the Middle
The "Welch Effect" has laid waste to American companies on American soil and, in the process, has sacrificed the economic well-being of the American middle class as well.
NATO’s Road to Perdition
NATO's recent Madrid Summit reveals a hardening, monolithic West that is likely soon to be challenged by a rising China and a multipolar world.
Ode to a Canceled Gay Nightingale
Assuming everyone in the Western canon is gay might be the safest way to ensure their survival among waves of woke culling.
The Real Cost of Electric Vehicles
For all their use in green virtue-signaling, electric cars have enormous hidden costs, both financial and humanitarian.