General Patton quite famously said, “Fixed fortifications are a monument to the stupidity of man.”  He was referring to the castle and latter day fortress (the Maginot line) of Europe.  Patton was, perhaps, the leading proponent of maneuver warfare having invested heavily in the invention and development of the tank, leading to other mobile army pieces like self-propelled artillery and armored personnel carriers.  He was inspired by Hannibal crossing the Alps to take on Rome.  The alps are an immense natural barrier – a fortification built by God – but they are also not the most uncrossable mountains on

Spencer Pratt is making a huge splash in the L.A. mayoral race.  It is a heck of a fun show.  Unfortunately that is all I think it is – a show.  Buzz not withstanding the odds are very much against him and even if he managed to win, there is not all that much he could do to truly change things in that increasingly dystopian city.  Meanwhile there are some very serious issues at hand.. . .

Higher education – colleges and universities – migrated here from Europe.  They were, traditionally a mentor/tutor/apprentice program.  One studied under some professor that you worked very hard to get to accept you and he gave you his wisdom as well as encouraged you to expand humanity’s knowledge generally.  It was not all that different from apprenticing to be a blacksmith, but you learned how to work with books, not metal.  As America brought democracy to education and human knowledge expanded to the point that specialization (majors) became necessary, educational programs were developed and it was no

It seems like the more we learn the less we know.  As people “study” we learn more and more about everything from how insects reproduce to the existence of planets outside of our solar system.  We do massive “big data” studies on human behavior and social trends and think we understand people.  Soon we discover that there is more to know than any one person can know.  And we often react to what we do not know with fear.  (Think covid.)   The people that do know often play on that fear to make sure they keep getting what they need (money) from us to keep what we fear at bay.  (Again, think covid.) 

Long ago, when blogging first became “a thing” there was this debate about gatekeeping.  With blogging it seemed anyone could decide what was news and what wasn’t.  It was called the “democratization of information.”  For a while there the “blogosphere” started to organize and new gatekeepers arose – puncturing the monopoly held by the NYTimes, WaPo, and the TV networks.  But then along came Twitter – not even permitting a word count sufficient for actual reporting – and things have never been the same since.  Much to our detriment.. . .

A recent “tweet” from wretchardthecat reads, in part, “The real emotional fuel for Trump hatred is only partly fueled by logical disagreement. Most of it comes from his choice of furniture, design of ballroom, the ghastly red caterpillar cap, vulgar speech and most of all ‘bigly’. They might forgive all else, but never ‘bigly’.”  Once reason is jettisoned, all sorts of interesting things begin to happen.. . .

Each Sunday I wake up and reflect on how churches are indeed growing with young people in this time when far too often God seems to be missing from our midst.  But then some Sundays I wake up and read stories like this, “Pastor Clive Johnston, 78, a former president of the Association of Baptist Churches in Ireland, was found guilty on May 7 at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on two charges under Northern Ireland’s Abortion Services (Safe Access Zones) Act 2023 for preaching on John 3:16 near the abortion buffer zone located outside of Causeway Hospital.”  Hope seems harder to find in those young attendees –

This week’s appearance of Noah Rothman featured a discussion of why would anyone enter politics these days?  It’s worth a listen, but the discussion occurs without acknowledging what may be the central fact of the matter.. . .