My feelings about personal injury lawyers are not universally negative, despite numerous examples of their misbehavior. I even harbor a certain tenderness toward them. This is because of their many clever billboard advertisements in Houston, which bring me daily amusement during my various commutes around the city. “Advocatus sed non latro, res miranda populo.” The above [...]
The English have shown themselves to be as “revolting” as the French or the Russians but for a much nobler cause. Let’s raise a glass of the best beer to those revolting Englishmen of the sixteenth century, who rose and died for the Faith of their fathers. Charles Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, who led [...]
In what kind of world is it fair that the United States should shoulder the burden of protecting totally wealthy societies from a corrupt and violent world? Though it would be hard to pin a tail on Trump’s ever-moving and erratic donkey of a myriad of statements on every topic imaginable, it’s pretty clear that [...]
Art has the twin functions of reflecting a culture and shaping it. The problem that contemporary artists face is a difficult one: how to express meaning to a world that has become culturally over-stimulated by the spectacular, the hyper-sexualized, and the dumbed-down by inanity, and which has increasingly become antagonistic to manifestations of Christianity. “We [...]
AI must not be allowed to supplant the powers of the soul, which are the intellect, will, and sentiments. AI bots must not displace our human sentiments, affections, and loves. All these things define our humanity and were given to us by God to help us know, love, and serve Him. The promoters of Artificial [...]
Are we “on a pilgrimage to heaven,” or are we preparing a worthy place for God to dwell? In his new book, N.T. Wright argues that postmortem destiny is not central to the New Testament’s message. The good news that Jesus came to proclaim does not concern an “afterlife” as popularly understood, but rather the [...]
Were Tolkien and Chesterton correct in defining the English as inherently inert and slavishly slothful? Smile at us, pay us, pass us; but do not quite forget; For we are the people of England, that never have spoken yet. —G. K. Chesterton (The Secret People) It is June 9, 1941. Britain is at war. J. [...]
Tools are a significant part of the permanent things, but they are also relative to time, place, and function. That is, we are tool-using animals. Or to put it another way, we are an ingenious species, capable of creating hammers of nuanced proportions, and using them to build dwelling places and to kill other members [...]
Ideology is not only lazy, it is, at heart, criminal. There never was an ideology that allowed for the fullness of man. Always, ideology denigrates the truth and the dignity of the human person. One of the most dangerous things to come out of the French Revolution was the notion and norm of an ideology. [...]
Meindert De Jong’s "The Wheel on the House" is not merely about what we like. It is about what we need. Too often, announcements in our world that “We’re all in this together” are merely announcements from powerful people that they are in charge. De Jong’s beautiful tale is something different. Meindert De Jong [...]
Russell and Annette Kirk with the author Driving across the snowy landscape of Michigan the day after Christmas in 1973, I was somewhat apprehensive. I had been invited to take part in the first seminar of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in the ancestral home of Dr. Russell Kirk at Piety Hill. We were [...]
Whatever his failings as an imaginative thinker, President James Monroe’s own convictions were rooted deeply in the spirit and the letter of the U.S. Constitution. As he entered the White House in March 1817, he had little (well, less) use for James Madison’s newfound love of nationalism. While he entered the presidency too late to [...]
It’s always exciting whenever a missing piece of the puzzle of William Shakespeare’s life comes to light. One such piece was discovered recently in a London archive by Lucy Munro, Professor of Shakespeare and Early Modern Literature at King’s College London. In doing research on the location of London playhouses, Dr. Munro stumbled upon a [...]
As a theory of history, progressivism always believes in conflict and violence and antagonism. Progressivism, then, not surprisingly, is wrapped up in bigotry, racism, and violence. “Progress! Did you ever reflect that that word is almost a new one?” asked an enraptured Woodrow Wilson in 1913. “No words come more often or more naturally to [...]