Faith, Fiction, Friends: Saturday Good Reads

The BBC didn’t have a good week. First, it was called out for how it twists coverage on the British grooming gangs scandal. Then, like almost all U.S. media, it was sucked into the allegations that Israeli troops had fired on people in Gaza who were trying to get to food aid. The only problem with the report – it wasn’t true; the information came from “health authorities” and “witnesses,” all of whom were connected to Hamas. The Washington Post quietly made corrections without ever calling attention to the mistakes. But mission accomplished: the lie was out there, ricocheting around the globe. Then, the White House publicly took the BBC to the woodshed.

Andrew Klavan and Spencer Klavan have an ongoing exchange of letters on the Substack site The New Jerusalem. They cover a broad range of subjects (as in, whatever they might be interested in), and it’s informative and often fun to watch the two at work. This past week, the subject was AI. Spencer started it, with “The Computers Work for Us.” His dad came back with an aha! moment – “Of Androids and Mormons.”

About 20 years ago, I lost my mind and accepted a position as director of communications with St. Louis Public Schools. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything, but I’d never do it again. My first day, before I had a chance to get to my office or fill out HR forms, I had a mob of reporters shouting questions about a teacher sick-out day. But for the eight or nine months I was there, I met and observed all kinds of groups working to make a difference, like Teach for America. Times have changed. Dramatically changed. Read Andrew X. Evans on “Taught for America: A Chronicle of Failure.” (I did eventually fill out the HR forms. However, the department lost them and was afraid to say anything. I noticed when there was no paycheck.)

In 2023 on a trip to London, we tried to see the Parthenon Marbles (formerly known as the Elgin Marbles) at the British Museum, but the room was closed for renovation. In 2024, my wife thought me slightly weird when I insisted on seeing them “one last time” (we’d seen them in 1983 and 2012). And see them we did. Good thing. The new chairman of the British Museum has agreed to “permanently loan” the sculptures to the Greek government (under British law, he can’t give them or return them without changing the country’s “de-accessioning” law. The permanent loan terminology supposedly sidesteps British law and saves the Labour prime minister a major embarrassment.

More Good Reads

America 250

Blue and Gray Education Society Announces “Cradle of the Revolution” Tour with Emerging Revolutionary War Era – Rob Orrison.

John Hancock: First to Sign, First to Invest in America’s Independence by Willard Sterne Randall – review by Kyler Burd at Journal of the American Revolution.

Major General Francis Channing Barlow and the 1875 Concord Centennial – Andrea Quinn at Emerging Civil War.

British Stuff

Footage of Winston Churchill’s 1929 Visit to the United State Now Online – International Churchill Society.

J.D. Vance was right about censorship – Paul Coleman at The Critic Magazine.

The British Mother Serving Time for a Tweet – Dominic Green at The Free Press.

Get ready for blasphemy laws – Tom Jones at The Critic Magazine.

Israel

‘Free Palestine’ Terrorism – Jeffrey Herf at The Free Press.