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  • Homeschool Slow-Down? Not So Fast

    Homeschool Slow-Down? Not So Fast0

    The Washington Post reported last week that after years of rapid growth, homeschooling rates seem to be leveling off.  Between 1999 and 2012, the homeschooling population surged from 1.7 percent of the overall K-12 school-age population, to 3.4 percent—or approximately two million homeschoolers. Updated homeschooling data from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) indicate that

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  • Catalonia’s Road to Secession: Why it could mean the end of the European Union

    Catalonia’s Road to Secession: Why it could mean the end of the European Union0

    For about a year, in the period 1966-67, I lived in Spain while it was still under the Franco dictatorship. I arrived in August 1966 and enrolled in the University of Madrid. The falangista (extreme right wing) government had been in power for 30 years, and were celebrating the anniversary under the slogan “treinta anos

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  • Catalonia Shows the Danger of Disarming Civilians

    Catalonia Shows the Danger of Disarming Civilians0

    Since the tragic murder of 59 peaceful concertgoers in Las Vegas, I’ve heard well-intentioned Americans from all political corners echoing heartbroken and tempting refrains: Can’t we just ban guns? Surely we can all get together on the rocket launchers. Things like this would happen less often. We have enough military. While victims were still in

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  • Barzun in 1999: The Internet Will Lead to Isolation and Chaos

    Barzun in 1999: The Internet Will Lead to Isolation and Chaos1

    Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) was one of the preeminent historians of his day. His magnum opus, From Dawn to Decadence, traces the history of Western culture from 1500 to 2000. The book is required reading for anyone serious about understanding Western history, thought, and culture. It’s been more than a decade since I read From Dawn

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  • ‘The Hobbit’ Turns 80

    ‘The Hobbit’ Turns 800

    “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” When Tolkien wrote these words, which would become one of the most famous and most memorable opening sentences in all of literature, he could not have known what literary power would be unleashed by his creation of the diminutive hole-dwelling creature, Bilbo Baggins. This year,

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  • Why Tom Petty’s Music Will Last

    Why Tom Petty’s Music Will Last0

    We don’t have royalty in America. All we have is celebrities. And at the top of the celebrity hierarchy is the rock star. So lofty a station do rock stars occupy in the celebrity firmament, that movie stars, presidents, and even real royalty must pay them obeisance. And of course we all know how the

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