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My lengthy “Theory of Everything” essay, which appeared at Turnabout in a series of drafts, will be published in issue 128 of Telos. I would like to thank those who were good enough to comment on it. It would have been a much weaker piece otherwise.

For those interested, here are English translations of more of the aphorisms of Nicols Gomez Davila.

Maybe in another 114 years I’ll link to Time Magazine again: here’s a story from their current issue on the oldest living American, my grandmother-in-law. [Obligatory reference to political theory: her full name is Emma Verona Calhoun Johnston. That’s “Calhoun” as in John C. Calhoun, although she’s not a direct descendent.]

Because of the Internet, things I’ve written get picked up on occasion and republished one place or another. I never dreamed, though, that two early twentieth century political scientists, Raymond Garfield Gettel and William Archibald Dunning, would return from the dead—in India, of all places—to include three of my pieces in a book of essential … More ...

One to keep for reference: a survey of political attitudes among journalists. Some evident points:

• Journalism as a profession is radically inhospitable to conservative views. Not many journalists are willing to call themselves conservative, and those who do are generally to the left of the American people as a whole.
• Local journalism is less

No doubt the natural reaction to the incineration of part of the Saatchi art collection is that it’s a good thing, but the downside is that it creates a market for replacement pieces. So be smart, obey the law, and leave the gasoline at home next time you visit London.

Why are people so much more fascinated by the Nazis than the commies? Jean Bethke Elshtain thinks that part of it is that Hitler was actually a rather good artist, and the Nazi state was a sort of a Gesamtkunstwerk that drew people in then and draws them in now. Mark Shea agrees that was … More ...

Steve Sailer’s review of a couple of books on nepotism touches on a point that has struck me, that failed totalitarian states become nepotistic because social trust has vanished and other possible principles of cohesion have been destroyed. Since failed totalitarianism seems to be what we’re headed toward (totalitarianism doesn’t work, and advanced liberalism is … More ...

It’s remarkable that the New York Times should publish this: Eurabia?, by historian Niall Ferguson. Low birthrates, abandonment of Christianity, and Muslim immigration—symbolized by an Islamic center at Oxford—look like they mean the end of Europe. Not even a silly dig at the “Neanderthal right” does much to change the analysis.

Meanwhile, on other … More ...

Informants with no personal reason for a “sour grapes” attitude tell me that students who get into the top-ranked colleges, at least from competitive NY high schools, tend to be integrity-challenged. A recent Gallup poll supports their reports. It makes some sense: in a rationalized society what you are is how you are graded and … More ...