Saturday, December 14, 2024

Saturday Good Reads - Dec. 14, 2024


The 24-hour news cycle seems like it’s in overdrive, more like 36 hours of news crammed into 24. The Assad regime fell in Syria. The man sought in the murder of the United Healthcare CEO was spotted, arrested, charged, and is still fighting extradition to New York. Pardons proliferated like topsy in Washington, along with speculation that all kinds of people would be pardoned.  

Daniel Penny, the Marine who stopped a mentally deranged man in a subway train, was acquitted in New York CityAnd the vibe is shifting, writes historian Niall Ferguson at The Free Press, and it’s going global. The vibe shift is now favoring a championing of reality and a rejection of the bureaucratic (aka managerial elites). Guilt is out, and courage is in.

 

Much has been said and written about Luigi Mangione, the man accused of murdering United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. Everyone’s writing because everyone’s trying to understand it. One of the best discussions I’ve heard or read is Christopher Rufo’s on Mangione and left-wing nihilism

 

Almost 40 years ago, I spent considerable time in Canada, attending government hearings in Ottawa and Toronto. It was one of the best work experiences I could have had, and I loved the Canadians that I met, talked with, and worked with. Forty years later, I read stories like this one, and I wonder what’s happened; it’s as if Canada looked at protests on Ivy League campuses in the U.S. and said hold my beer.

 

More Good Reads

 

Writing and Literature

 

Coriolanus’ Sea of Bloody Fists – Henry Oliver at Liberties.

 

The Allure of a Novella: Why Writers (and Readers) Should Indulge – Tara Deal at Writer’s Digest.

 

Let’s Not Forget Charles Dickens’s Other Christmas Ghost Stories! – Olivia Rutigliano at CrimeReads.

 

The Ultimate Journey in Two Novels by Walker Percy – David Leigh at Church Life Journal.

 

Life and Culture

 

A Measure of Gratitude – Meera Subramanian at VQR (Hat tip: Patton Dodd).

 

American Stuff

 

The poor health of America – Ben Domenech at The Spectator.

 

Lincoln’s Rise to Eloquence: How He Gained the Presidential Nomination by D. Leigh Henson –  review by Kevin Donovan at Emerging Civil War.

 

Russiagate Remnants – Michael Caputo at Racket News.

 

Poetry

 

Created – Annie Nardone at Calla Press.

 

“A Prayer for the Past,” poem by George MacDonald – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

British Stuff

 

Conservatives can no longer trust institutions – Niall Gooch at The Critic Magazine. 

 

The reason Americans fear for Britain – Roger Kimball at The Spectator.

 

Faith

 

My Top 10 Theology Stories of 2024 – Collin Hansen at The Gospel Coalition.

 

Art

 

White – Sonja Benskin Mesher.


O Holy Night – Life in 3D


 

Painting: Young Woman Reading, oil on panel (1875) by Lucius Rossi (1846-1913).

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