In responding to reports of sexual misconduct on campus, the University of Southern California had a choice to make in regard to the moral formation of its young men. They blew it. Read More… Eight fraternities recently disaffiliated from the University of Southern California following the university’s response to allegations of horrible sexual assaults on campus in 2021. During the fall semester of 2021, there were several reports of girls being drugged and sexually assaulted at fraternity events. USC delayed...

As the Yankee outfielder enters the record books, it’s time to reflect on how we judge the best in baseball. Read More… So Aaron Judge sits atop the American League record books for most home runs hit in a single season—62, breaking fellow Yankee Roger Maris’ 60-plus-year record. And by all accounts, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Michael Conforto, a former outfielder for the New York Mets, had this to say about Judge: “He’s huge but he’s one...

Disney continues its decline by offering a revisionist version of its 1940 classic, with Tom Hanks as a Geppetto swallowed up by postmodernity and a puppet who’s just fine never ing a real boy. Read More… American parents used to trust Disney to charm their kids with beautiful fairy tales. Most such tales were European in origin, but Disney Americanized them, made them more democratic, less bloody minded, and ultimately hopeful. It started with animations, then added amusement parks, then...

A new book paints a dismal picture of the modern Academy and its failure to truly educate and not just indoctrinate. But are the authors’ solutions any better? Read More… Is college worth it? This has been the question for the past few years, especially in the wake of dropping enrollment. This drop has largely been a response to many college campuses going fully online and imposing a wide slew of mandates and prohibitions in response to the COVID pandemic....

One of the founding filmmakers of the French New Wave enraptured, confounded, and infuriated audiences, critics, and filmmakers. But no one was better at capturing the nihilistic moment of the late ’60s. Read More… Jean-Luc Godard died on September 13, 2022, and the news in the world of cinema and culture was received as confirmation that cinema itself was dead. Godard had a remarkable influence on cinema in the ’60s, but his fame went beyond that. He replaced the aged...

Does technology have its own moral code? And if so, does it influence ours? Why agency and action are essential to remaining fully human. Read More… Truck drivers are cowboys. I work at a food warehouse. Truckers show up with 40,000 pounds of primal-cut beef, equivalent to maybe 50 head of cattle, driven from Nebraska, by a team of horses, bit, bridled, and reined by bustion. I don’t actually spend a lot of time around these guys, but it’s pretty...

A new HBO Max series takes a look at the tragic implosion of munity of self-described anarchists who “escaped” statist America for freedom in Mexico. Tragedy ensues. Read More… I have a reasonably high tolerance for fortable television and movies, maybe a higher tolerance than I should, but the first thing I would say about the HBO Max seriesThe Anarchistsis that it is not for the faint of heart. In this case, though, the tough stomach required is not due...

But you knew that already. Read More… President Biden has signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), his attempt at delivering on his campaign promises of new investments bat climate change, improve healthcare, and impose “fair” corporate taxes. The IRA is a revival of the now defunct and unpopular Build Back Better (BBB) Act, ushered in at a whopping $3.5 trillion. Penn Wharton estimates that the IRA will reduce cumulative budget deficits by $264 billion over the 10-year budget window. The...

Social justice warriors of the 21st century have nothing on this aristocratic evangelical. Read More… “I want nothing but usefulness to God and my country” (Diaries, February 22, 1827) When the funeral procession of Lord Shaftesbury progressed through the streets of London toward Westminster Abbey on October 8, 1885, thousands of people lined the streets, bands gathered to play Christian hymns, and hundreds of banners were held high with Bible verses. The representatives of more than 200 voluntary societies linked...

An obscure maritime law hit the news recently because of catastrophic weather and its consequences. Let’s hope we never have to hear about it again. Read More… Just a few years ago, very few people knew or discussed the Jones Act. Now everyone is talking about it. In a colossal but somewhat predictable fiasco, while Puerto Rico was being pummeled by Hurricane Fiona, the Jones Act prevented a cargo ship from docking off its coast to deliver some 300,000 barrels...