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Many years ago, I was in crisis. As a result of university, I had come to hate reading, an experience all too familiar to those who study literature. What saved me was picking up an unfashionable Victorian novel in a bookshop: Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White (1860). A short way into its opening – in which the hero Walter recounts how, returning from his mother’s cottage in Hampstead he is accosted by a terrified young woman dressed in white, assists her, then learns that she has escaped from an asylum – I was gripped. The story, filled with vivid...

As a young military officer at the height of the war on terror, Lt. Ron DeSantis was often seen running on the beach of Guantánamo Bay and along its ridgeline, encircling Camp America. It was a chaotic time at the U.S. military detention facility in Cuba, and as an ambitious Navy lawyer, DeSantis was positioned to witness history up close. He arrived at Joint Task Force Guantanamo in the spring of 2006 as its leaders were grappling with multiple challenges and global scrutiny. Aggressive tactics were adopted to break a hunger strike. An armed clash erupted between detainees and a...

Kari Lake, the Republican who lost the Arizona governor's race this past November, could beat both potential competitors Ruben Gallego and Kyrsten Sinema were she to run in 2024 for the latter's Senate seat, according to a recent poll. The survey, released January 11 by website Blueprint Polling, imagined a scenario in which Sinema, a former Democrat turned independent who's held her Senate seat since 2019, runs for reelection against Lake and Gallego, a Democrat who represents the state's 3rd Congressional District. Lake, who rumors say is considering running for the seat but has not confirmed this, polled at 36...

Many in the Republican conservative base have good reasons for disliking Senator McConnell. However, he is the leader of the Senate Republicans, making him the highest-ranking Republican in office. Republicans with more political power and a larger base are currently on the outside looking in. That can change. I would never pretend to know what is going on in my senior senator’s head, but I have observed him since the Reagan administration, so I know how he operates.*** Kentucky does not elect him as the Republican leader of the Senate. That is on the senators who vote for him as...

There was just one thing that would have made the brash and chaotic circus of the Trump presidency complete — his irrepressible first wife, Ivana. Unlike shy and glacial Melania, whose heart never seemed to be in it, the Czech-born former skiing instructor and fur coat model would have been the perfect, larger-than-life First Lady for the bombastic president. Her outrageous hairdos were as bouffant as his, her wit as caustic and her personality just as egocentric and competitive. The formidable Ivana was also a detail-obsessed workaholic who played a key role in the Trump business empire. She became an...

The CDC's expert on VAERS hasn't computed the URF or spotted any safety signals. His negligence has led to the death of over 150,000 Americans. It was deliberate. Here's the proof.Executive SummaryDr. John Su is the government’s top expert on reporting safety signals to the CDC and FDA. His incompetence/corruption in failing to compute a simple number required for a proper risk-benefit analysis, has led to the needless loss of life of over 150,000 Americans. Dr. Su should be immediately fired by the CDC. There is no excuse for anyone in such a critical position at the CDC to make...

More than five cemeteries overseen by The Catholic Cemeteries have seen a 15 percent increase in burials and a 10 percent increase in cremations so far this year compared to 2020. Executive Director Joan Gecik says that she believes the increases are due to a backlog of committal services that were postponed at the height of the "pandemic," but the reality is that "vaccines" more than likely also play a role. Those who still believe in the plandemic are already fearfully making reservations for burials and cremations of their loved ones for the summer 2022, expecting that the next "waves"...

Something light .... and true

Experts suggested a spate of approaches that Trump may take in a hypothetical 2024 White House race if he and Biden were to face a rematch and even if the economy was restored. “If the economy is booming, he can always find other wedge issues to run on. He can rally voters by continuing to claim Democrats stole the election, he can point to various cultural excesses on the left, and he can say there might be Supreme Court justices who will retire and they need to be replaced with conservatives. And the Biden administration and congressional Democrats will no...

In the the morning on January 6th we noted Vice President Mike Pence would end the day in history branded as a hero or a traitor to his country. We now know that answer. At noon on January 6th, while the President was speaking to a million patriots in the Capital, VP Pence released his own memo explaining why he was overlooking the corruption and election fraud which ended up stealing the election from President Trump, his boss, and the American people: “It is my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming...

Published 173 years ago this month, Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was an instant bestseller, followed by countless print, stage and screen productions. Victorians called it “a new gospel,” and reading or watching it became a sacred ritual for many, without which the Christmas season cannot materialize. But A Christmas Carol’s seemingly timeless transcendence hides the fact that it was very much the product of a particular moment in history, its author meaning to weigh in on specific issues of the day. . . . What he wrote was that employers are responsible for the well-being of their employees. Their...

As the COVID-19 pandemic has caused state, federal, and international governments to impose various degrees of "safer at home" orders to flatten the curve, at some point we will have to begin to discuss whether the cure (economic Armageddon) is as bad as, if not worse than the disease. While I won't question the medical rationale for making such recommendations, the question for Americans that must be addressed is, when and how will we exit the coronavirus turnpike? The economic impact of the national shutdown is estimated to displace upwards of 53 million American workers. What will be the impact...

Miley, I’m writing this letter to you on the slight chance you’ll read it. If you don’t, many others will, and some of them will begin to pray for you daily. Some of your followers might also read it, and perhaps something in this letter will speak to them.But I write to you for one reason only: I care about your soul. Despite your riches and your fame, your life is a shell of what God intends it to be.Please forgive me, though, if I’m not super familiar with your work. My daughters are in their late 30’s, so I...

Herewith, an under-asked question for our friends on the progressive left: “Has Donald Trump’s remarkable rise done anything to change your mind as to the ideal strength of the State?” I make this inquiry because, for a long while now, I have been of the view that the only thing that is likely to join conservatives and progressives in condemnation of government excess is the prospect that that excess will benefit the Right. Along with their peculiar belief that History takes “sides” and that improvement is inexorable and foreordained, most progressives hold as an article of faith that, because it...

Bernie and Trump boast about inspiring new people to head to the polls but less than a week away from the Iowa caucuses, the number of registered voters has decreased in the state over the past year. If the major political parties had some trick up their sleeves to get more voters registered ahead of the Iowa caucus, it hasn't happened yet. With under a week left until people vote for the first time in 2016, the number of registered Democrats and Republicans has remained fairly static in the last six months. So the big crowds at rallies for Bernie...

NEW YORK (AP) — Gym classes that promise a plump posterior are in high demand. A surgery that pumps fat into the buttocks is gaining popularity. And padded panties that give the appearance of a rounder rump are selling out. The U.S. booty business is getting a big bump. Companies are cashing in on growing demand from women seeking the more curvaceous figures of their favorite stars, who flaunt their fuller rear ends. Nicki Minaj, for instance, raps about her "big fat" butt in "Anaconda." Reality star Kim Kardashian posts photos of hers on Instagram. And in the music video...

Rick Santorum Was The Most Conservative, Authentic and Resilient Candidate of 2012. Tim Stanley April 10th Rick Santorum's struggle touched a chord with many working-class Americans Rick Santorum said goodbye on Tuesday afternoon. It was a classic performance from the Rickster – heartfelt, overlong, a little bitter. He pledged to go on fighting for the little people but acknowledged that the race was over, brought to a close by his daughter’s illness and poor polling. To most people this means that it’s now between Romney and Obama. The only minority report on that will come from Newt Gingrich. You can...

After reading Donald Trump's logic about why he thinks Barack Obama's presidency may be "the greatest scam in the country's history," we spent much of yesterday getting up to speed on the issue. Until yesterday, we actually hadn't looked at the birther question in detail, because we assumed it was just ludicrous conspiracy theory cooked up by folks who are desperate to do anything to have Barack Obama un-elected. SNIP SNIP do we really KNOW that Sarah Palin was born in this country? Or Donald Trump? Or Mitt Romney? A few weeks ago, Donald Trump made a big show of...

So many intelligent Americans believe, say and do stupid things. When a large fraction of the population is like this, a nation rots from the inside and succumbs to external forces. I have always searched for the simplest yet best ways to explain what I see as a multi-decade decline of every aspect of the United States , especially its political system and government. I keep coming back to the inescapable logic that a large fraction of Americans, regardless of their education, economic status and political alignment, must suffer from delusion. This delusion produces denial about hugely important subjects and...

There is plenty to criticize in the strange case of the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates at his home by Cambridge, Mass. police. When police responded to a call that two men were apparently breaking into a residence, they found Mr. Gates had broken into his own home because he didn’t have his keys. That should have been enough to satisfy the police that Mr. Gates was not a burglar and the police then would have gone about their business. But, alas, things often turn out to not be as simple as they ought to be. Read...