“Winston Churchill is still revered in Britain and by old-generation American conservatives and Make America Great Again (MAGA) patriots alike, as the epitome of an all-wise, brilliantly successful Warlord. The truth was the precise opposite, as the great Anglo-American biographer and historian Nigel Hamilton documents in his classic trilogy of books on President Franklin Roosevelt’s wartime leadership …. as the war drew to a close, Churchill was indeed a Lion in Winter. He was an old fool – and recognized as such by both FDR and Josef Stalin at the fateful Tehran Conference of October 1943. … Now the United States is similarly blessed with its own Lion in Winter.” (07/29/26)
“As he ascended the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica for his public introduction, the Chicago-born pope was already caught between constituencies that wanted to build on Francis’s transformations and those intent on turning back the clock. Archconservative elements of the church eager to take back the reins after a decade-plus of Francis were initially mollified by Leo’s ‘traditional’ presentation. Less of a public firebrand than his mentor, he cut a diplomatic figure that a friend memorably called ‘a dignified middle of the road.’ But the most hard-line traditionalists proved impossible to satisfy. The fringe, ultraconservative Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), long a thorn in the Vatican’s side, forced a showdown earlier this month. Dignified, middle-of-the-road Leo responded by unilaterally excommunicating not only the leaders but potentially adherents of the order.” (07/29/26)
“In late September 2025, a San Diego firm called Show Faith by Works, LLC registered with the Justice Department as a foreign agent of the State of Israel. The filing it submitted under the Foreign Agents Registration Act laid out, in its own promotional language, the largest Christian Church Geofencing Campaign in U.S. history: a plan to draw digital perimeters around every major church in California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado during worship hours, and around Christian colleges on weekdays, then to track attendees and hit their phones with ads. The contract ran to roughly $3.2 million, with a ceiling reported as high as $4.1 million. … The deepest libertarian objection here is not about Israel. It is about the individual conscience, and what it means to operate on it from the outside without its owner’s awareness.” (07/29/26)
“Nobody wants to be stuck defending white people who use the N-word at black people. Since the 1970s, if not further back than that, to do so indicates poor breeding, poor manners, and poor character. We should all know better. And in Rochester, Minnesota, last year, a woman named Shiloh Hendrix committed exactly that social transgression. … after a trial which — to be charitable — could have been better-run, Shiloh Hendrix was convicted on a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace for having dropped an N-bomb on someone who was filming her. And now we’ve got people talking about Shiloh Hendrix and having a debate over the use of the N-word and just how unacceptable it is. Do we need this debate? Maybe a little more than we thought.” (07/28/26)
“As someone who has long profited from and appreciated Roger Pilon’s work, I must admit that I am gratified to see him reckon with my work—however critically—in his recent essay, ‘On the Importance of First Principles.’ I think the root of our disagreement is not that Pilon has first principles and I do not, needless to say, but that we order our principles differently. More precisely, we see principles ordered differently in our Constitution and the system of ordered liberty it instantiates. Pilon is a libertarian, and he thinks our Constitution is, too. … My view is that our constitutional order rests upon the default assumption that at the state level majorities can rule—indeed must rule—limited only by a partly undefined set of rights.” (07/29/26)
“If you want to help the western empire administer war propaganda, one of the best ways to do this is to pretend the violence of empire-targeted governments happens in a vacuum, completely divorced from western imperial agendas.” (07/29/26)
“Sometimes you learn that people are exactly who you think they are. And that may never apply more accurately and comprehensively than it does with Anthony Fauci. Fauci was portrayed, starting in early 2020, as an objective, brilliant, virtually infallible God-like figure. … That’s not an exaggeration; there were Christmas tree ornaments made depicting Fauci as a Pope, there were shrines put up in people’s houses, he was on the cover of various magazines, and he was given a parade of endless, relentlessly glowing media appearances from his fawning, adoring fans. Fans like CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. For most critics it was clear almost immediately that these portrayals and friendly media appearances depicted the exact opposite of reality.” (07/29/26)
“Let’s get this out of the way first. I have 8k Substack subscribers and 21k Twitter followers. I’m in the top 25% on OnlyFans. If that seems impressive to you, keep reading. If you know that’s what miserable failure looks like, you’re probably good. Close the tab. My expertise is that no one is more motivated to understand an industry than a mofo who can’t hack it, but keeps trying.” (07/29/26)
“When you start with a predetermined policy and then go looking for a legal pretext to justify it, you are building on shaky ground. President Donald Trump illustrated that point once again last week, when he announced a third round of broad tariffs after his first two attempts were rejected by federal courts.” (07/29/26)
