I remember not long ago walking out of one of those beltway morning movement pressers with a fellow ingrate. I was lamenting the hidebound, blinkered establishmentarian attitude that, it appeared, was intended to serve the Republican party indefinitely. But in 2006 it was already clear that . . . . Continue Reading »
A Pew Poll measuring the “happiness” of the American people is out, and good news for me, people get happier as they age. But that is not why I brought it up. Rather, I was taken by the analysis of the poll presented by science writer Robert Roy Britt, Editorial Director of the on-line . . . . Continue Reading »
First Things associate editor David Goldman will be talking about his article “Demographics & Depression” with Tom Keene this evening on Bloomberg Radio from 6-7. For those in the New York area, Bloomberg radio is found at 1130 am. . . . . Continue Reading »
John Dickerson at Slate has an entire article comparing President Obama to Commander Spock. Spock is famously logical and not prone to emotional outbursts, but he could also enter the minds of others and was therefore more empathetic than his human colleagues. These traits reminds Dickerson and . . . . Continue Reading »
As I went down to the river to pray : If Pope Benedict hoped to immerse himself yesterday in the waters of the River Jordan, where Jesus was said to have been baptised by his cousin John, he will have been disappointed: the river is now such a polluted, denuded shadow of its former self that . . . . Continue Reading »
William McGurn sums up much of what I’ve been thinking since Sunday: Seldom does dawn rise on an America where the morning’s New York Times displays a more intuitive grasp of a story than the New York Post . The coverage of Barack Obama’s commencement address at Notre Dame, . . . . Continue Reading »
Alfie Patten, the 13-year-old boy who made a such a big, hand wringing splash in the UK by claiming to have fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend—who was sleeping with a few other boys, as well—turned out not to be the father after all. From the story:DNA tests have revealed . . . . Continue Reading »
Wo es sich christelt, da judelt es sich auch, quipped Heinrich Heine. It translates roughly: where Christians do something, so do the Jews, but with onomatopoeiac allusions to tinkling bells and doodling bagpipes. Events this week proved Heine’s dictum twice over. The clever, worldly and . . . . Continue Reading »
Reading about President Obama’s controversial speech at Notre Dame reminded of how adept our president is at saying one thing while doing just the opposite. He was at the top of his game in his commencement address, assuring his listeners, for example, that he respects pro-life medical . . . . Continue Reading »
The nihilism unleashed by Nietzsche has caused more harm and suffering than can ever be measured. It turns out that much of the themes of anti-human exceptionalism we see today come right out of his playbook. For example, last week I criticized a University of Wisconsin professor named Deborah Blum . . . . Continue Reading »
Subscribe
Latest Issue
Support First Things
