George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf

19 July 2022 published in The New English Weekly, March 21, 1940 By George Orwell: It is a sign of the speed at which events are moving that Hurst and Blackett’s unexpurgated edition of Mein Kampf, published only a year ago, is edited from a pro-Hitler angle. The obvious intention of the translator’s preface and notesContinue reading "George Orwell’s 1940 Review of Mein Kampf"

Ukraine: A Settlement

If you don’t condemn Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin as a villainous tyrant, if you don’t call for regime change in Russia, and if you don’t demand that the rest of the world arrest and prosecute him on charges of mass murder, you may as well call him Vladimir the Great and prepare to applaud his next conquest.

Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey

Regarding the post, Ukraine and Your Future, the painting by Ilya Yefimovich Repin is titled "Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey" and this is a modern-day approximation of the legendary correspondence between the two parties. Ukraine's response to Vladimir Putin has put me in mind of this splendid story: Turkish Sultan MehmedContinue reading "Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Sultan of Turkey"

Ukraine and Your Future

It’s only three weeks into Russia’s murderous assault on its neighboring country, but Ukraine fatigue is already setting in. If you are one of those Americans, ignorant of that region’s geography and history and feeling sorry for the Russians killed in Ukraine’s resistance, this brief piece will not untangle your confusion. It may prod youContinue reading "Ukraine and Your Future"

Does My Mask Hurt Your Freedom?

To those who have suddenly come to the defense of my freedom not to wear a mask, how about joining me by the millions to defend my freedom not to fund a corrupt government?

Facebook’s Yawning Arrogance

It has been a long time since I was last reminded how small and insignificant I am -- thank you, Facebook. I suppose that I too could refuse to accept all mail and refuse as well to be contacted in any way. And I could pretend at the same time to be a friendly entity that encourages people to communicate with one another.

America’s Slide Toward Fascism | George Smith

The article that is linked below may be the best analysis of what our rulers in the United States will never understand about their responsibility to govern.  All of what Ayn Rand has to say, in this piece by George Smith for libertarianism.org and republished at fee.org (the Foundation for Economic Education), are thoughts thatContinue reading "America’s Slide Toward Fascism | George Smith"

Banned in Boston

As for Catholic Charities and the mess they’re in in Boston, it only proves that no good deed goes unpunished.  In this country, a church that wants the State to stay out of its affairs will stay out of the government’s affairs.

Invincible Ignorance

One is stupid in the same way one is red-haired; one belongs to the stupid set as one belongs to a blood group. A stupid man is born a stupid man by an act of Providence. Although convinced that fraction of human beings are stupid and that they are so because of genetic traits, I am not a reactionary trying to reintroduce surreptitiously class or race discrimination. I firmly believe that stupidity is an indiscriminate privilege of all human groups and is uniformly distributed according to a constant proportion...

Money

In an early episode of The Beverly Hillbillies, which first aired on television in 1962, Jed Clampett comes into the kitchen — I think it was at the cabin in the Ozarks, but I could be wrong — and he tells Granny that Mr. Drysdale told him they're going to pay him in some new kind of dollars. Grannie scoffs and says: "There ain't no new kind of dollars." Jed turns to Jethro and asks: "What'd he call them, Jethro?" Jethro replies: "Mill-ee-on dollars." What we have, compared with 1962, is a new kind of dollars, but the effect is quite the opposite of what it was for the Clampett family.