Stefan McDaniel

Small nations look outward. I was born in Jamaica—remain a Jamaican citizen, for that matter—and we Jamaicans learned early that history was something that mainly happened elsewhere. We knew that Jamaica was, at best, peripheral to the social and political developments that defined the age.This . . . . Continue Reading »

I’m generally unimpressed by the term movement , which now seems to mean “advocacy by two or more people.” But maybe, just maybe, there is something to the Small House Movement , which (according to The Economist ) “has been around for years, encouraging people to think . . . . Continue Reading »

Oh, good, the British are now worried about social breakdown. . . . . Continue Reading »

If you’re looking for something new to vary the grinding winter sameness, the March issue of First Things will be of no use. In it you’ll find nothing but what you’ve come to expect: just another Pentecostal outbreak of intellect and eloquence applied to the highest matters of current . . . . Continue Reading »

The Senate might seem to have a solid nominee for Deputy Attorney General in the well-credentialed and experienced David Ogden, but Matthew Schmitz of Public Discourse provides compelling reasons to think otherwise: David Ogden graduated from Harvard Law School, clerked for Supreme Court Justice . . . . Continue Reading »

From Slate ‘s “Explainer” section : “After donating several hundred thousand dollars to a Detroit church in 1979, Saddam Hussein received a key to the city.” Oh my. . . . . Continue Reading »

Well now, this could be interesting. Aloe Entertainment is now assembling a cast for a feature film , prospectively called Mary, Mother of Christ . Camilla Belle will be in the title role and Peter O’Toole has signed on to play”Simeon.” Jessica Lange is currently being sought to . . . . Continue Reading »

Thanks to failblog.org . . . . . Continue Reading »

Representative Peter King from New York has introduced a bill that would require that all camera phones emit “a tone or other sound audible within a reasonable radius of the phone” when a picture is taken. The idea is that this will prevent sexual predators from surreptitiously taking . . . . Continue Reading »

Over at City Journal , Theodore Dalrymple continues his delightfully dyspeptic live-blogging of Britain’s decline and fall. Most recently, he comments on events in the town of Rotherham, where shop-owners keep ruffians away by blasting Bach: There is surely something deeply emblematic about . . . . Continue Reading »