Dear Sheffield, Thanks for sharing the commentary supposedly written by Ian Duncan and published in The Baltimore Sun. I say supposedly because Ian Duncan, their journalist on intelligence and military issues, didn’t actually write it, and the piece never appeared in The Sun. The real title is “Ten Percent is Not Enough.” It was written... Continue Reading →
Glimpses of Our Civil War Today
The Civil War is, for the American imagination, the great single event of our history. Without too much wrenching, it may, in fact, be said to be American history. Before the Civil War we had no history in the deepest and most inward sense. Robert Penn Warren, The Legacy of the Civil War, 1961 Introduction... Continue Reading →
Trump, Women, and Assertive Men
Trump’s Women What do we know about Donald Trump’s attitudes and behavior toward women? We know he favors women's bodies over their minds. We know he objectifies women’s body parts. He has even discussed openly the high quality of his daughter’s body parts. We know he’s in the habit of rating women from 1-10. We know... Continue Reading →
Graceland: Barack Obama’s Third Inaugural
President Obama’s eulogy for Clementa Pinckney—massacred Pastor of Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina—was one of the finest I’ve heard, and deserves standing among the most important speeches in our history. Think about his problem for a moment. What could he say to the wife, daughters, extended family, colleagues, and co-religionists of a Pastor... Continue Reading →