The New York Times recently editorialized on the decline and fall of Atlanta Fire Department Chief Kelvin Cochran. Cochran, deeply religious, lost his job primarily for publishing, and distributing to some of his staff, a book in which his adamant opposition to homosexuality was clearly articulated. The Times‘ editorial sees no free speech or religious freedom […]
Archives
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The Passing of Two Conservative Pillars
13 Jan 2015
Two of the giants of American conservative political thought died at the end of last week. They both contributed in their own way not only to the advancement of true scholarship in political theory, but also as public intellectuals who were willing and more than capable of coming “out of the bunker” to speak truth […]
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Free Speech and the Death of Charlie Hebdo
07 Jan 2015
According to early reports, the three gunmen who slaughtered an office full of French cartoonists and two police officers, said, as they departed the scene, “We have avenged the Prophet Mohammed…” Charlie Hebdo, the magazine, is essentially dead at the hands of religious zealotry. For what, you might ask, did Mohammed demand revenge? The publication […]
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Huackabee’s 2016 Chances
06 Jan 2015
Mike Huckabee (R-ARK) is considering a presidential run in 2016. He has stepped away from his lucrative Fox News show so that he can ponder the possibilities. (Fox does not allow employees to run for office while under contract.) Indications are that he will jump into the contest. Huckabee is, without challenge, the standard-bearer for […]
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Did You Know You Were a Criminal?
31 Dec 2014
There is a great article on the subject of overcriminalization published in the Federalist Society’s Engage (vol. 15, 2, Dec. 16, 2014). This is a topic which has been drawing greater attention in recent years, and even been mentioned by the likes of Justice Antonin Saclia as a growing problem. At its simplest, it is […]
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Does truth matter? Ferguson, UVa and Ms. Dunham…
11 Dec 2014
Recent headlines have caused a storm of social conflict over the last month, and competing truth claims are raised to support various positions. We have Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, TV star Lena Dunham’s story of sexual assault during her college years in her book, the UVa rape story of a Greek frat house sexually […]
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The Social Justice Crowd Part Two
04 Dec 2014
I was happy to see some response to my earlier blog on the “Social Justice Crowd.” Here I would like to offer some clarifications and responses to the responses. Let me say first that Bert Wheeler gave an excellent rejoinder regarding one of the major benefits of enterprises such as Walmart: It substantially increases the […]
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The Social Justice Crowd–Again.
02 Dec 2014
Kevin Williamson, writing for the National Review, has perfectly captured the sentiments I have expressed on the Bereans blog on several occasions, when he wrote that the “anti-Walmart” protesters are in reality just calling for the poorer among us to be stiffed. Williamson contrasted the elite culture, whim he labeled the “Rolex crowd,” with the […]
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GOP in 2016: The Field and the Issues
02 Dec 2014
Politico has a reasonable article this morning on the emerging Republican presidential field, focusing on the issues that divide and distinguish the candidates. James Hohmann highlights immigration, NSA eavesdropping, Medicaid expansion, Common Core, and gay marriage as the key fault lines. He takes those issues and splices them through a potential field of: Jeb Bush […]
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One of the sad ironies of the rioting in Ferguson in the aftermath of the decision by the grand jury not to indict is that the destruction that occurred is ultimately directed at African-American communities. As Henry Hazlitt put so well in his book Economics in One Lesson, it is the mark of a good […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach