Read moreA society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable. It can never permit either the truthful recording of facts or the emotional sincerity that literary creation demands.
Read more“While he acknowledged that ‘everybody got coronavirus,’ Lapp defended the community’s approach: ‘It’s a worse thing to quit working than dying…’About a year after the coronavirus pandemic first broke out in the U.S., national news outlets and The Associated Press wire service reported that the Lancaster County Amish community had reached herd immunity, meaning that ‘a large part of the population had been infected with COVID-19 and became immune.’ However, precise data is difficult to come across because the Amish were hesitant to publicize coronavirus cases in their community.”
Memorial Day Reflection: Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 26 April 1777
“Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve...Read more“There are dishonest people in any business. Boxing, automobiles, journalism. A good leader weeds them out, not just for the customers, but for the industry as a whole. I think of the dedicated reporters and producers who miss special family moments when news breaks, or wide-eyed interns inspired by “All the President’s Men.” Hoaxes, sloppiness and partisan hitjobs damage them, too. For this reason, calling the “fake news” elements in media the “enemy of the people” always left me queasy. I’d think of the many fine journalists I worked with who get lumped in with the fakes by people uninterested in distinctions. (Certainly I heard this when I worked at Fox.) If you’ve ever had collective guilt applied to your religion, region, race or career, you know the feeling.”
Read more“The best metaphor I know is that of a flower blooming — of nature’s Epiphany — an image I know Caryll Houselander was fond of. I think it was Houselander who said, “Whatever is loving in man and whatever is lovable in man is Christ in man.” I take this to mean that the more love and the less lust in us, the more we cease to obscure Christ and instead reveal Him, in whose image we are made.
I don’t mean to suggest it’s been easy, just simple: Our Lord endured worse than any of us and promised us that we have to take up a heavy cross each day.”
