Blog 3 Columns

Falling Apart: The Unforeseen Consequences of COVID 0
- Culture
- December 16, 2020
This year has brought us a brutal lesson in the truth of the phrase “Ideas Have Consequences,” popularized by political philosopher Richard Weaver in 1948. Weaver argued that the rise of relativism was damaging Western civilization, eroding our abilities to use reason and logic for problem solving. Such loss of reason and logic have been
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Zoom Boom Driving Self-Absorption Crisis 0
- Culture
- December 15, 2020
If you thought you were sick of Zoom calls due to eye strain and the constant struggle to avoid talking over your coworkers, friends, or family members, you’ve escaped relatively unscathed. For many people, the frequent exposure to their own face while talking has driven them to some drastic measures. Plastic surgeons around the world
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Has America’s Suez Moment Come?0
- International
- December 15, 2020
Two thousand twenty will surely qualify as an “annus horribilis” in the history of the Republic. By New Year’s, one in every 1,000 Americans, 330,000, will be dead from the worst pandemic in 100 years. The U.S. economy will have sustained a blow to rival the worst year of the Great Depression. And by the
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Bringing Joy to a Weary World 0
- Culture
- December 15, 2020
I caught a glimpse of a friend’s Christmas decorations the other day while looking at social media. Positioned over the fireplace was the phrase, “The Weary World Rejoices.” That reference to a weary world, taken from the famous Christmas carol, “Oh Holy Night,” seems a fitting description of this year. Our world and those who
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Thinking Students Rank Last on the Government School Agenda 0
- Culture
- December 14, 2020
One of my favorite field trips as a child was my annual summer visit to a one-room schoolhouse where I spent the day dressed in an old-fashioned dress and bonnet, scratching away on a slate and learning lessons out of old McGuffey Readers. At the time, my delight in the McGuffey Readers stemmed from the
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Spy Novelist John le Carré Experienced Espionage Firsthand 0
- Culture
- December 14, 2020
The man whose books redefined the spy novel genre, David John Moore Cornwell, died of pneumonia on December 12 at the age of 89. Author of such intricately woven yarns as Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Honourable Schoolboy, and Smiley’s People, Cornwell was better known by his nom de plume John le Carré, and often dealt with the timeless issues of
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Children’s Mental Health Declined ‘Substantially’ During Lockdowns, Study Finds 0
- Culture
- December 14, 2020
A new study by researchers at the University of Cambridge finds that the government-imposed lockdowns in response to the coronavirus pandemic cause significant harm to children’s mental health. The study, published this week in the Archives of Disease in Childhood, was the first of its kind to analyze data on younger children’s mental health before and during the
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Staying Sane in La-La Land 0
- Culture
- December 11, 2020
Madness abounds. At an Illinois shopping mall on December 6, a boy asked a masked Santa Claus for a Nerf gun for Christmas. That Jolly Old Elf sternly said no, no guns of any kind, and suggested other gifts like Legos, leaving the poor kid in tears. His mother admirably refrained from punching Santa in the
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Politicians Are Incentivized to Embrace Useless COVID-19 Restrictions 0
- Economics
- December 11, 2020
Over the weekend Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, took to Twitter to criticize Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker for not taking more assertive government action to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “Massachusetts has more new COVID cases per capita than Georgia, Florida, or Texas,” observed Jha, who also
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Falling Apart: The Unforeseen Consequences of COVID 0