When two parties are having at each other, strictly speaking somebody has to have delivered the first blow. But how far back are we to reconstruct? Or, what amounts to the same thing, what’s the statute of limitations on retaliation?… Read More ›
9/11
UKRAINE, RUSSIA, AND THE DOOLITTLE RAID
Suppose I accuse you of wearing a blue tie on a Tuesday. Surely the most obvious response is, What’s wrong with wearing a blue tie on a Tuesday? Well, Russia is accusing the Ukrainians of having bombed a fuel depot… Read More ›
ON CONDOLENCES
Allow me to just stipulate. By political individualism, as distinct from individualism simpliciter, I shall mean the view that what justifies the coercive power of the state are the interests of its constituent members. By contrast, for the collectivist it’s… Read More ›
HUMOUR
There’s an important difference between twisted and sick. Dead baby jokes are twisted, but telling them at a SIDS funeral is sick. It might relieve the tension in the room, but I’d hold off unless you really know your crowd…. Read More ›
PARTISAN BLEATING AND UNSEEMLINESS
When you’re at war, it’s perfectly understandable that you’ll mourn your own losses, both military and civilian, you’ll rejoice in the losses of the enemy’s combatants, and you’ll pretty much ignore his ‘collateral’ losses, which before and since have been a… Read More ›
ON THIS TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY
All other things being equal – in this case being equally just anybody – some of us will be saints, some of us will be assholes, but most of us will be neither. For example, the likelihood of an American… Read More ›
ELEVEN DAYS IN MAY
More people died on American highways the week before 9/11 than in those two towers. But how much has been spent on guardrails compared to so-called homeland security? Does this show that Americans care less about their loved ones being… Read More ›
HOW TO BE A MORE EFFECTIVE TERRORIST – LESSON SIX
PICKING THE RIGHT TARGET I’m on record of having suggested that the targeting of the Twin Towers, though not bad, could have been better. This is because much if not most of Main Street sheds only crocodile tears when Wall… Read More ›
THE FIFTH PLANE
The plan was to take the flight out of Boston to Chicago, breach the cockpit when it reached cruising altitude, divert it south to Washington, and hit either the White House or the Capitol. And if both were still standing… Read More ›
JEWS, THE SHOAH, AND IDENTITY POLITICS (July 18, 2017)
There’s not a whole lot that’s special about us Jews. Yes, we do celebrate Easter by drinking the blood of a Christian baby, preferably one still wet from the baptismal fount. But other than that we’re pretty much like everyone… Read More ›
Paulosophical Vimplications 