“Abraham Lincoln was not an original advocate of abolition. In fact we know that his journey to what he called ‘the central act of my administration, and the great event of the 19th century’ was a relatively slow, though continuous, one. Emancipation was a complex process that involved the actions of the slaves, the Union Army, Congress, and the president. Historians have argued over the relative roles of the slaves and Lincoln in the coming of emancipation. I want to shift the terms of this debate by drawing attention to a third group of emancipators—abolitionists, particularly Black abolitionists, and Radical Republicans.” (06/19/25)
“Almost ever since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, I’ve had the odd sensation … of one dispensation giving way to another, of finally finding ourselves in a Warring States period. That seemed to be cemented this week when Israel, after resisting temptation for 20-odd years, gave in to it and struck Iran — not just hitting Iran’s nuclear program, but also assassinating generals, bombing the state TV station, and striking at Iran’s governance capacity. It wasn’t so much war in the Middle East that was the shock but the reaction in the West, or rather the lack thereof. There were no particular concerns about whether the strike was just or not, or even about the liberal international order — the idea that states are by default guaranteed their sovereignty, that even our enemies are dealt with through diplomacy, treaties, or, at a push, economic sanctions rather than military force.” (06/19/25)
“Now that Israel has opened a second front in this current war – fighting both in Gaza and now blasting Iran hard – there are more and more Americans who want the US to get busy in the next phase of this forever war. Will The Donald reject this and live up to his 2024 campaign promises? We are seeing and hearing very mixed messages.” (06/19/25)
“In a speech after being released from 27 years in prison, South African leader Nelson Mandela told the United Nations in 1990, ‘We must ensure that colour, race and gender become only a God-given gift to each one of us and not an indelible mark or attribute.’ He urged that ‘We … see [and] interact with one another as equal human beings.’ South Africa still grapples with the legacy of apartheid rule, which ended three decades ago. And its national sports teams have been the arena for heated debate about equal opportunity, representation, and quotas. But their evolution, especially in sports traditionally seen as domains of the white minority, reveals progress toward Mr. Mandela’s ideals. In mid-June, the national cricket team clinched the world championship in the sport.” (06/18/25)
“Political violence is violence for political reasons. More precisely and to avoid circularity, the difference between political violence and ordinary violence is that the former is motivated by resistance to, or promotion of, the imposition of some collective choices on others. … Imagine a very different system: a society with no collective choices. To make the model watertight, also assume that there is no demand for political choices: everybody is tolerant of what others do within some traditional and very general rules, such as ‘thou shall not kill nor steal.’ All individuals want laissez-faire and accept its consequences. Even if you don’t think that such a state of the world can exist or remain stable, the thought experiment helps distinguish political violence from other sorts of violence.” (06/19/25)
“The lies told to ignite the war with Iraq have been resurrected to ignite a war with Iran. The assessments of intelligence agencies and international bodies are dismissed, replaced by hallucinations.” (06/19/25)
“One comment I get very often when I speak to people involved in conversations around DEI is, ‘so, did America actually get less racist because of all this?’ It’s not a side question — it’s the question. After corporate America dumped tens of billions of dollars into programming, conferences, speaker sessions, and workforce briefings ostensibly designed to deepen our national conversation on race (to say nothing of similar efforts in higher ed and beyond), was the actual result that people were less divided along racial lines? The reality is, we’re talking a lot more about race now — and it’s by no means clear that the result has bettered our discourse.” (06/19/25)
“When it comes to criticizing President Donald Trump — and refusing to give credit for virtually anything — it’s full speed ahead for Democrat politicians. On the economy, Axios just reported: ‘The stock market had been recently scraping new highs … The unemployment rate was 4.2%, and inflation was well-contained near the Fed’s 2% target.’ Gas prices are down, as is the retail price of eggs. Inflation, despite the tariffs, is at a four-year low. Wages are up. That southern border has become a nonissue for much of the media. The New York Post recently wrote, ‘Border Patrol agents didn’t release a single migrant into the US last month …'” (06/19/25)
“In these turbulent times, I’m often reminded of an anecdote popular in liberal circles. In liberated postwar Paris, French intellectuals would gather on the Rive Gauche — the south side of the Seine near the Grands Boulevards — to debate France’s future over apricot cocktails. Many — likely the majority — were on the Left: Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, and others. Raymond Aron was an exception, and his participation was mostly by chance, stemming from his long-standing friendship with Sartre from their university days. A liberal alongside the era’s showpiece Marxist — this was not bound to go smoothly. They clashed more and more frequently. During one argument—Sartre, presumably after several cocktails, suddenly shouted at Aron: ‘Mon petit camarade, pourquoi as-tu peur de déconner?’ Roughly translated, that means: ‘My little comrade, why are you so afraid of talking nonsense?'” (06/19/25)
