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,…