Shadows of the First World War loom over Germany’s ambiguous response to Russia (New Statesman) The Wild West Outpost of Japan’s Isolationist Era (Narratively) Vivid glimpses of life on an artificial island – called Dejima – in Nagasaki Bay. Dejima was a Dutch outpost and the sole trading route between an isolationist Japan and the … Continue reading Some Monday Links
So kinship necessarily expands the utility and probability of shared interests measurably, a path of study likely threatening to politicians … It might be fun to see a kinship matrix for current U.S. politicians ..? This is from the always interesting Jack Curtis.
Isn’t nationalism itself a sort of conspiracy theory? This is from longtime reader (and honored guest) Jack Curtis.
Jack Curtis has a new Guest Post up. An excerpt: It was expected that doctors would have some charity patients from those less well off. You also expected that he would do everything possible for your care because that reputation was the reason you wouldn’t call someone else next time. That was reinforced by the … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “Providing healthcare isn’t practicing medicine”
by Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@aol.com Once, if you or your child were ill, you called a doctor. He would arrive at your home, carrying a black leather bag full of mysterious medicines and shiny instruments, the mere presence of which provided confidence. You expected his visit to be followed by a bill, which you would pay … Continue reading Providing healthcare isn’t practicing medicine
Jack Curtis is back with another guest post, this time on despotism. Here’s a sneak peak: All human government is to some degree despotic; if it were not there would be no need for organized force. The more realistic issue seems to be: How much despotism should be tolerated in return for the benefits of … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “Resolved: Human Government is Despotism”
by Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@aol.com First, what is despotism? Per a dictionary definition: oppressive absolute power and authority exerted by government. Next, what is government? From the same source: the governing body of a nation, state, or community. Apparently, a despotic mayor is at least a theoretical possibility. So, onward! Can we not say that all … Continue reading Resolved: Human Government is Despotism
Jack Curtis is back: The Democrats stood firm for Catholics and Jews while the Protestants who ran things tended to minimize or exclude them; today their Obamacare forces the Catholic Little Sisters of the Poor to fund abortions while Barack Obama was called the most anti–Israel president in America’s history. Regardless, a substantial majority of … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “Those Astonishing Reversals on the Political Left”
by Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@aol.com It can be amusing during the sound and fury of current political ideologies to recall those expressed by the same political organizations in the reasonably recent past. For instance, the Democratic Party that represented the southern slave owners during the Civil War and sponsored the postwar Ku Klux Klan now lays … Continue reading Those Astonishing Reversals on the Political Left
Jack Curtis is back as our guest, and with a thoughtful vengeance: It is no coincidence that Reformed Judeo-Christian culture has led the explosion of human progress in recent centuries; it both set up the church as society’s and government’s visible conscience, and by reversing sovereignty from king to people, freed incalculable individual effort into … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “Government: The Great Post-Christian Swindle”
By Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@aol.com The great myth of this post-Christian age is the substitution of Godvernment for God and it is a swindle self-evidently obvious to any thoughtful observer whether or not a believer. A human government is a small group of people relying upon force and at least the tacit consent of the governed … Continue reading Government: The Great Post-Christian Swindle
Jack Curtis is back with another excellent guest post, this time on Catholicism and it’s place within the modern world. An excerpt: The Church is losing ground among the powerful while it is gaining among lesser folk; how will the Church’s captain plot its course among such shoals? Its Cardinals are obviously concerned; they have … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “Sailing a Catholic Ship on Modern Seas”
Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@cs.com The Catholic Church faces an existential crisis but then, it always has. And its martyrs have generally built better than its crusaders. The crisis du jour is of course, the post-Christian modernism enveloping Western Europe and North America, i.e. the developed world. “We don’t need no stinkin’ Church” seems to resound in … Continue reading Sailing a Catholic Ship on Modern Seas
This essay, by longtime NOL reader and CPA Jack Curtis, is the first essay of 2020’s “Be Our Guest” feature. Here is a snippet: This widespread financial vulnerability seems a natural result of government policies that minimize interest rates and support monetary inflation as the Federal Reserve and other central banks have continued to do … Continue reading Be Our Guest: “The U.S. Economy: A Fading Illusion?”
Jack Curtis jackwcurtis@cs.com Coming up on the 2020 U.S. presidential election, President Trump takes repeated curtain calls for his creation of the best economy ever, crowing endlessly over an unemployment rate currently 3.5%. His would-be Democrat opponents whom usually attack him for even breathing, do not attack his assessment. Their somewhat dubious pack of intended … Continue reading The U.S. Economy: A Fading Illusion?
Notes On Liberty 