Some Wednesday Readings

The speech Vice President J.D. Vance gave at the Munich Security Conference last week continues to reverberate. I don’t think I can recall a recent speech that has had as much reaction and response as this one, and it was on top of the one Vance gave at the Paris meeting on artificial intelligence. The Critic Magazine in the UK said Europe deserved it; The Spectator says it sent shockwaves across the continent. Matt Taibbi at Racket News looked at the reaction and said the mask has dropped. 

To prove Vance wrong, CBS followed German police who made arrests for violations of speech, and somehow managed to prove Vance right. Ben Domenech, a former CBS newsman, wonders why CBS has developed a penchant for censorship. 

Meanwhile, the new Administration in Washington makes its first move against sex trafficking. Oliver Wiseman at The Free Press describes what’s happening overall in Washington as the “everything is broken” administration. 

More Good Reads

Patrick Colquhoun and the Thames River Police – A London Inheritance.

Mud – Brian Miller at Notes from an East Tennessee Farmer.

The (British) police are ruining their reputation – Fred de Fossard at The Critic Magazine.

5 Tips for Writing Page-Turning Historical Fiction – Julie Hartley at Writer’s Digest.

“Street Light,” poem by John Crowe Ranson – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

Photograph: Poet John Crowe Ranson in 1941.

Saturday Good Reads - Oct. 12, 2024

This past Monday was the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 atrocity led by Hamas in Israel. Much has changed in the past year: Hamas is teetering, Hezbollah is leaderless and reeling, and their patron Iran is now waiting for the expected Israeli retaliation for its massive missile attack. We’ve also learned that anti-Semitism is alive and well in the United States, especially on the campuses of our so-called elite universities.  

Here are a few of the reflections on Oct. 7 and its aftermath. 

 

The View from Israel’s Universe – Michael Oren at Clarity.

 

Can Israel Win Back What October 7 Took? – Matti Friedman at The Free Press.

 

Black Sunday: Reckoning with Oct. 7 a year later – Uri Kurlianchick at The Spectator.

 

Jonathan Sacks on the Improbability of Israel – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.

 

Meeting a Survivor – Jonathan Dunsky at The Jewish Book Council.

 

A Year of Revelations – Bari Weiss at The Free Press.

 

A Year Without Empathy – Mich Baum at Sundial / Columbia University.

 

More Good Reads

 

Writing and Literature

 

Edgar Allan Poe’s Literary War – Harry Lee Poe at The Imaginative Conservative. 

 

A Label for My Father – Hope Coulter at Literary Matters.

 

From Beowulf to Foucault: The Literary Influences of Cormac McCarthy – Michael Lynn Crews at Literary Hub.

 

A Brief History of the Rise in Horror in 19^th Century America – Jeremy Dauber at CrimeReads.

 

Unpacking My Library (Again) – Michial Farmer at Front Porch Republic.

 

Faith

 

Goya’s Drowning Dog – Rod Dreher.

 

With chain saws and supply runs, ‘faith-based FEMA’ responds to Hurricane Helene – Bobby Ross Jr. ay The Christian Chronicle.

 

Neither Despair Nor Blind Optimism – James Williams at GS Discipleship. 

 

When the Trees Fall – Jon Hyatt at Mere Orthodoxy.

 

News Media: What has happened to the network of Murrow and Cronkite?

 

How is CBS Marking October 7? By Admonishing Tony Dokoupil – The Free Press. 

 

The Fallout at CBS Continues – Bari Weiss and Oliver Wiseman at The Free Press.

 

CBS ’60 Minutes’ airs two different answers from VP Harris to the same question – Brian Flood and David Rutz at Fox News.

 

CBS: from the Tiffany Network to the cheap discount bin – Chalres Lipson at The Spectator.

 

Poetry

 

“Without and Within,” poem by James Russell Lowell – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

My Mother’s Diary: “Uncloudy Day” – Megan Willome at Poetry for Life.

 

“Variations of an Air” by G.K. Chesterton – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

British Stuff

 

A Ramble Through Long-Forgotten London – Spitalfields Life. 

 

Pass Me Not – The Soil and Seed Project

 Painting: The Hermit, oil on canvas (1643) by Salomon Koninck (1609-1656).