Defense of Truth

Quick post on the false equivalency that the ignorant or the agenda-driven blithely draw between what they see as a rise of populism in Europe and Trump's populist rhetoric and victory here in the US.  A few  caveats to consider before concluding they're the same thing: 1. Trump is not a conservative, but tapped into the vast electoral power of a few key conservative ideas--not because he understands them properly, or argues them effectively, but because the electorate trusted that he could deliver on the results they want.  Conservatism is above all an ideology which values results and evidence over utopian ideals and "war on poverty"-esque promises that deliver no measurable improvements despite decades of money thrown at problems.  American Conservative intellectuals almost all had one of two reactions to the Trump nomination: a. he's not a Conservative but could deliver on our vision for the country than the other nominee, therefore we'll hold our nose

Democrats and the Left are up in arms over the silencing of Senator Elizabeth Warren.  She read from a 1986 Coretta Scott King letter which was opposed to Jeff Sessions who was then before the Senate Judiciary Committee as a candidate for a federal judgeship.  In the letter, King focuses on conduct and her own opinion of its consequences, by saying that Sessions had used his power as a prosecuting attorney to "intimidate and chill the free exercise of the ballot" and furthermore, to "intimidate and frighten elderly black voters" ( full letter here ).  Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader, invoked rule 19 prohibiting the direct or indirect maligning of a fellow Senator's character to stop Warren's speech. I personally don't think Warren's recent use of Coretta Scott King's words rises to the level of impugning character.  People are allowed to have opinions, even wrong ones. What strikes me, however, is the media and the Left's rea

Without any sense whatsoever of his own irony, Imgur user WildYucatanMan wanted to do the world a service and make a handy dandy infographic to "help" people distinguish between the various editorial orientations of popular online sources.  Here's his take on the media outlet scene: If you get lost in the weeds of his content, you might be tempted to note the ostensible effort toward balance and some kind of rationale for placing outlets along spectra according to ideology and journalistic depth.  And while arguing with WildYucatanMan's judgment about which outlets are obviously in the wrong place is certainly also fair game, it's missing the ironic point entirely. This infographic is not the ANTIDOTE for fake news, it's the PRIME EXAMPLE of why fake news is a problem to begin with! Did you notice that there's no one signing his/her actual name to the grid?  An anonymous source is by definition disreputable until vetted, is it not?  Even if the an

President Trump has said some inexcusable things about women and has bragged about doing some inexcusable things to/with women.  I roundly condemn his words and actions for the repulsive and deeply offensive things they are.  I teach my girls not to give the time of day to any boys with such attitudes about women, and I teach my son never to indulge such attitudes himself. This post isn't about that. Instead, it's about why (mostly Democrat) women are protesting in massive numbers in the streets around the country today.  Do they have a right to speak their mind and protest whatever they choose?  Absolutely!  And just what is it they're upset enough to travel and march together about? Here's a short video outlining their reasons, from their own publicity materials (sorry, Blogger won't let me embed video directly from a non Youtube url...grr): https://www.facebook.com/womensmarchonwash/videos/1407285932618015/ 1. I want to feel safe at school -

I remember having to sit in a required course taught by an English professor, on the theory and history of Empire.  As a first reading, he assigned a post-911 State of the Union speech by Bush, and then had us listen to the most recent one for comparison, since it was right about that time in January.  He was right to note that these kinds of inauguration and SOTU speeches for a sort of genre unto themselves that historians and scholars of rhetoric like to review and appreciate the nuances of.  Genres are funny things--over time and by weight of example they gather sets of conventional rules that each instance variously obeys and flouts, thereby growing and redefining the genre itself. However, as he was asking us what we thought about the most recent one, I kept my comments to myself for fear I'd have to defend them publicly (which I wasn't fully prepared for a the time).  I've always suffered from Voltaire's famous "esprit d'escalier" where the stea