“The dead made promises on our behalf. We pay their debts, inherit their quarrels, and walk roads they laid and ruins they left. This is the ordinary condition of being alive. We arrive in a world built by the hands of the dead, which, for better or worse, is our inheritance. Some accept this fact without much thought. What we accept less readily is its mirroring — that we, too, will shape the world for others to inherit. Just as the dying left us an inheritance of gifts and debts, we will leave one, too.” (05/26/26)
“Turkey’s major political traditions of the past two generations — Kemalist secular statism, political Islam, and ethnic nationalism — all subordinate the individual to a collective project in different ways. Rand is countercultural against all three, and yet she articulates something that life in Turkey has quietly become: more individualist, more disenchanted, more on the hustle. That is why her readers pop up in unexpected places, and why they have been multiplying for over half a century. Today, the political scene is more conducive to young readers of Rand than ever before.” (05/26/26)
“Since October 7, we have been lectured nonstop about the supposedly singular sins of Israel. The campuses, the left-wing media, and the new Democratic Socialist officials, both federal and state, following the cue of student activists and professors from the Middle East, have painted Israel and their Jewish supporters as Nazis, fascists, and among the worst murderers in today’s bloody world. This is nonsensical. The medieval-style massacre of 1,200 Jews in their homes on October 7, during a time of peace, should have increased awareness of the existential dangers Israel faced. Instead, it spawned a gathering storm of antisemitism.” (05/26/26)
“There’s a reason so many conservative justices over the past 40 years have rejected the idea that the establishment clause prohibits only compelled religious exercise. If government is permitted to use its power, prestige, and resources to overwhelm citizens with government-preferred religious messages, it paves the way for the manipulation of religious conscience, especially when dealing with children in classrooms. Protecting the independence of religious conscience is a core constitutional commitment, expressed perhaps most famously by James Madison in his 1785 ‘Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments,’ where he insisted that ‘[t]he Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man.’ The First Amendment is allergic to religious orthodoxies. For this reason, requiring the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms crosses a fundamental constitutional line.” (05/26/26)
“Medical school always had its own set of peculiar struggles, as, I suppose, does everything. Certainly, Basic Training in the military is an eye-opener. What makes medical school unique is the profound contrast of the reality with the ideal.” (05/26/26)
“When Chinese leaders claim that the American empire is in decline, I immediately assume their analysts are decoding dispatches from ESPN, The Athletic, and columnist Shams Charania. After all, it’s in sportswriting, I’ve come to think, that the songs of the canary in the all-American coal mine couldn’t be clearer. If the games we play and watch reflect our past and present lives, then the coverage and commentary about them may help predict our future. American sportswriters have been cheerleaders for empire since the early twentieth century, when Bat Masterson decided that shooting people in Dodge City wasn’t fulfilling enough for a man of his talent and ambition. Yes, that Bat Masterson. He came East and, as a boxing columnist for the New York Morning Telegraph, became a new sheriff in the emerging industry I’ve come to call SportsWorld.” (05/26/26)
“It is maintained by most experts that a general fall in prices labelled as deflation is ‘bad news’ for the economy for it postpones people’s buying of goods and services, which in turn undermines investment in plant and machinery. All this sets in motion an economic slump. Moreover, as the slump further depresses the prices of goods and services, this intensifies the pace of economic decline. … The emergence of deflation is always good news to the economy since it is in response to the liquidation of various activities that caused the erosion of the savings generation process.” (05/26/26)
“When the accusation is sexual assault or rape, the rights of the accused go out the window. President Trump knows that firsthand — and he’s asking the US Supreme Court to remedy it. Prosecutors and plaintiffs’ lawyers can drag in character assassins who know nothing about the alleged assault, but instead make their own claims — without proof — that they too were victims of the accused, often years or even decades earlier. That’s what happened to Trump in the E. Jean Carroll case, and why he’s appealing the jury’s decision. Last week, the justices delayed for the 11th time answering whether they will take up E. Jean Carroll v. Trump.” (05/26/26)
“Outside the MAGA bubble, Americans are increasingly seeing Trump as the loser he is. He has failed on every front. Manufacturing employment is down, inflation is outpacing wages, consumer sentiment is at a record low, mortgage rates are up. Trump’s war of choice has led to utter humiliation. According to current polls, Americans are giving Trump extremely low approval ratings, both overall and on every major issue — even border security …. Inside the MAGA fantasy bubble, however, Trump’s reign is hailed, almost literally, as the Second Coming.” (05/26/26)
“The president’s attempt to get more states to establish diplomatic ties with Israel will be no more successful than the criminal war he started.” (05/26/26)
