Brownstone Category
Come On, Peggy Noonan, Just Say You Were Wrong
The answer to the question “Will they ever admit to being wrong?” is of course: no. I’m speaking in particular…
When Nearly All Governments in the World Met Their Match
What was the fundamental error of the Covid response? We’ve yet to come to terms with it. It traces to…
Flagellantism Is the New Political Ritual
The old FedEx envelope was clever, a work of art even, optimistic and colorful, signifying speed and progress. What a…
The Declaration That Wasn’t Supposed to Happen
It’s been a continuing mystery for three years, at least to me but many others too. In October 2020, in…
Anti-Lockdown Goes Mainstream
It’s a shift worth marking. New York Magazine is featuring an article called “COVID Lockdowns Were a Giant Experiment. It…
The Shredded Social Contract
This is not about whether there is such a thing as a literal social contract. The phrase has always been…
The Triumph of the Apocalyptics
In the course of almost four years, and really dating back a decade and a half, I’ve managed to read…
A Pandemic of Lockdown Denialism
There is an old expression: “Success has a thousand fathers but failure is always an orphan.” It’s a spin on…
Fauci and the CIA: A New Explanation Emerges
Jeremy Farrar’s book from August 2021 is relatively more candid than most accounts of the initial decision to lock down…
The Great Demoralization
On March 6, 2020, the mayor of Austin, Texas, canceled the biggest tech and arts trade show in the world,…
Megyn Kelly Asks Trump a Few Hard Questions
One reporter has proven brave enough not to take the deal. The deal is: you can interview Trump provided you…
Orwell Meets Your Stuffy Nose
“Experts have long doubted the effectiveness of phenylephrine,” which is a common ingredient in DayQuil, NyQuil, Sudafed, Mucinex, and others.…
Anthony Fauci’s Very Bad Week
It’s not been Anthony Fauci’s best week. Forever intent on managing his image and public opinion on the pandemic response,…
At the White House, March 10, 2020, Reconstructed
We still don’t know precisely what caused Donald Trump to flip in his position on the coronavirus. On March 9,…
Are We Facing Lockdowns 2.0?
National Public Radio was in a frenzy this morning but it felt like the movie Groundhog Day: they were spreading…
The Great Game of Let’s Pretend
Two nights ago was supposed to be a night of reckoning and truth. The intrepid and independent journalist Tucker Carlson…
The Questions Crying Out for Answers
The conspiracy of silence is obvious. Both political parties like it. The media likes it too because it was a…
How Have You Changed?
The last three and a half years have been times of enormous upheaval. It has affected politics, economics, culture, media,…
This Was Tucker Carlson’s “Greatest Public Mistake”
A new biography of Tucker Carlson offers a very interesting look at the intellectual odyssey of the most popular commentator…
The Money Trails of the Pandemic Planning Racket
The Justice Department has dismissed all charges related to campaign finance leveled against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and CEO…
The Great Cloud of Disrepute
A dark cloud of disrepute hangs over all official institutions in the developed world. It affects governments most but also…
The Free Speech Scare
It was a strange experience watching the House hearing in which Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was testifying. The topic was…
The Intellectual Roots of Techno-Primitivism
The assault on enterprise of the last few years – meaning not the biggest politically connected businesses but smaller ones…
A Genealogy of Corporatism
It’s not capitalism. It’s not socialism. The new word we are hearing these days is the right word: corporatism. It…
Twenty Grim Realities Unearthed by Lockdowns
It’s common now to speak of the before times in contrast to the after times. The turning point was of…
New CDC Director Is Another Lockdowner
In the old Soviet Union, citizens were not required to be a member of the Communist Party. But if you…
Downton Abbey, the Corruption of the Great Families, and the Future of Freedom
For much of Downton Abbey, viewers are treated with glorious eye candy of British aristocratic life in a mighty estate,…
How Lockdowns Bolstered an Industrial Cartel
Among the many grim memories from the depths of lockdowns were boarded up local shops and long lines outside the…
Sorry, This Is Not Going Away
The kids are two years behind in education. Inflation still rages. White-collar jobs are disappearing thanks to the reversal of…
After Covid: Twelve Challenges for a Shattered World
Three years ago, in the depths of lockdowns, it became obvious that we desperately needed a new citizen movement with…