Category: The American Spectator
The Line We Must Not Cross
Tens of millions of Americans since the founding of our country have served in the U.S. armed forces. From the…
The First Snowfall’s Bitter Welcome
The first snowfall isn’t magical; it’s a mess and always has been. Clean roads turn grimy overnight, coated with cinder,…
Getting Intimate With Updike
Here’s a nice illustration of the personal and professional range of John Updike, the novelist, poet, essayist, critic, and short story writer who rose to singular fame (appearing twice on the cover of Time magazine, then the ultimate mark of celebrity) in the second half of the 20th century. During the year 1960, he volunteered to teach Sunday school at his local church. Meanwhile, he was fighting his publisher’s lawyers, who worried that the sex scenes in his latest novel, Rabbit, Run, were explicit enough to violate U.S. obscenity laws, which were still a thing.
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Tribe Mentality
The past few years have seen the almost unprecedented intrusion of politics into chick lit. It seems no novel about the life of wives or mothers can be complete without the occasional diatribe about systemic racism or Donald Trump or the genocide launched against transgendered people. For someone who is looking for a little escapism, the proverbial beach read is no longer a place to find it. But just as these authors are clearly under the sway of their political environment—or at least virtue signaling to show that they don’t just care about romance or drama in the PTA—they are also influencing the political environment as well. And they can use the broader audience they attract to plant information about niche ideological hobby horses.
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Dealing With Maduro Is No Distraction. It’s a Necessity.
With the latest American-led negotiation about Ukraine well underway, Beijing browbeating Japan’s new prime minister over her concerns about Taiwan’s security, and India rolling out the red carpet for Vladimir Putin, the Beltway is consumed with… Venezuela. The Trump administration’s drone strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats have roiled Washington, and criminal accusations and constitutional challenges abound.
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Remembering Allan Brownfeld
For any writer, losing a mentor is a painful moment, and such was the case when I found out that…
The Drug Boat Incident, a Decision-Making Simulation
You are an experienced Navy SEAL Commander (rank 05) with a solid combat record in Iraq and Afghanistan. You have…
Something to Hold Against Donald Trump
In many ways, Trump is outperforming the expectations many of us had for his second term. Things are going reasonably…
Keep On Truckin’ — If You Are Rightly Licensed
WASHINGTON — What happens when rules designed to ensure public safety fray so much that undocumented residents can obtain commercial…
Is the HiLux Coming to America?
President Trump appeared to say that Americans are going to be allowed — isn’t it great? — to buy small, inexpensive vehicles that…
