The iconic star of such thrilling films as Bullitt and The Great Escape finally grew tired of the Hollywood life. His second life will undoubtedly prove more stunning that the first. Read More… Someone once said of Steve McQueen (1930–80) that his range as an actor was deep but not very broad. All right, I admit it—I said it in my 2001 biography of the all-American star who still looms over Hollywood like a sort of male equivalent of the...

In a surprising change in tone, Pope Francis issued a call to pray for businesspeople who “dedicate an immense creative capacity to changing things from the bottom up.” Is the class-warfare rhetoric over? Read More… Who would ever have guessed this would happen? Well, it did. And in the quiet month of Rome’s roasting August, when the city experiences a near-total exodus to cooler climes. Very few journalists, in either the religious or secular press, noticed. Yet, it rightfully made...

Don’t kid yourselves: Those student loans will be paid back. The question is by whom? And is that in any way fair? Read More… The first iron law of economics is that we live in a world of scarcity. Because of this, economics puts constraints on our utopias. Rinse and repeat. This is how we discern between good and disastrous policies. Student-loan bailouts fall into the disastrous category. There are two arguments to be made here: the moral and the...

We need to stop daydreaming about Egypt and face the wilderness. Read More… This diatribe was inspired by the most amusing book I’ve ever encountered. While perusing the wares of a D.C. bookstore, I came across a tome entitled Hope Never Dies by New York Times bestselling author Andrew Shaffer, released in 2018. It isn’t an inspirational feel-good-about-your-life how-to or workout guide that makes weird forays into the philosophical. It is, and you are reading this correctly, a work of...

Woke capitalism prioritizes politics. But paying customers always put service and price first. Read More… For years American business has allowed itself to be swayed by the push and pull of political culture. Investment decisions, corporate donations, and hiring practices have been made in response to a culture that demands acquiescence or cancellation. But as Netflix, Disney, and State Farm deal with political and cultural backlash from both sides on a host of issues, and politicians scapegoat businesses large and...

The search of Mar-a-Lago is not the first time a high-ranking official (or former official) has been under intense criminal investigation. But it may be the first time that public trust in the integrity of the agencies carrying out that investigation has been this low. Read More… It’s 1973. The Watergate scandal that would ultimately doom the presidency of Richard M. Nixon is roiling that administration. But it’s not the only breach of public trust dogging the Nixon White House....

What can a 50-year-old movie about munist regime in Czechoslovakia tell us about cancel culture and microaggressions today? Nothing, if we’re not willing to struggle. Read More… This year, at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the major film attraction in Eastern Europe, there was a memento of the Prague Spring: a newly restored version of the 1969 movie The Joke, directed by Jaromil Jireš and adapted by him and Milan Kundera from the latter’s eponymous debut novel. The Joke was...

Human flourishing demands that laws be reasonable and in the interest of mon good, and that, as Aquinas noted, the state not “impede people from acting according to their responsibilities.” Subsidiarity, too, is natural law. Read More… Any discussion of the nature and ends of liberty and justice inevitably touches upon the role of government and law in society. A good place to begin reflecting upon natural law’s approach to these questions is Aquinas’ understanding of law. In his Summa...

The horrific assassination attempt against author Salman Rushdie has provoked both cheers and condemnation from Muslims. But which response is more faithful to the scripture and the Prophet of Islam? Read More… It seems that the infamous “death fatwa” that Ayatollah Khomeini issued against Salman Rushdie back in 1989 for his novel The Satanic Verses, which most Muslims found offensive, finally reached it mark on August 12 in upstate New York. Seconds after the award-winning author appeared on stage at...

Our schools are a mess, and parents are ing increasingly fed up, willing to challenge teachers and school boards. The question remains, challenge them to do what? A new book offers some answers. Read More… In mencement speech at Kenton College, American writer David Foster Wallace started with an anecdote, “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, ‘Morning, boys. How’s the...