I see Keith Bardwell has resigned his position as Justice of the Peace down in Tangipahoa Parish, Louisiana. This is the fellow who, back on October 6, refused to marry a mixed-race couple (white lady, black gent). As a defiant serial miscegenator myself, I was naturally attentive to this story. What’s one to make of it? So far as I … [Read More]

The Internet’s Free Encyclopedia Hates Me. The first thing I noticed about my Wikipedia page, when someone directed my attention to it, was that they got my name wrong, there in the very first line! Not the spelling—they at least managed to get that right—but the pronunciation. Their rendering in the International Phonetic Alphabet is / ˈdɑrbɨʃər /  That includes two … [Read More]

Beijing has a Uighur problem. The current constitution of the People’s Republic of China, adopted in December 1982, tells us that: “The People’s Republic of China is a unitary multi-national state.” That is pretty darn close to the dictionary definition of an empire:  “an extended territory usu. comprising a group of nations, states, or peoples under the control or domination of … [Read More]

Under discussion: Watching the Door: Cheating Death in 1970s Belfast, Atlantic Books (2009), 288 pages.  The recent killings in Northern Ireland have everybody over there wondering whether this is a dying sputter of republican terrorism, or the beginning of a new round of “Troubles.” Two British soldiers were killed on the evening of March 7, when they went to the gate … [Read More]

Citizenism, Inconvenient Truths, & Examined Life I advocate what I call ‘citizenism’ as a functional, yet idealistic, alternative to the special-interest abuses of multiculturalism. Citizenism calls upon Americans to favor the well-being, even at some cost to ourselves, of our current fellow citizens over that of foreigners and internal factions. Among American citizens, it calls for individuals to be treated equally … [Read More]

The following address was given to the H.L. Mencken Club’s Annual Meeting; November 21-23, 2008 My study at home in Long Island has bookshelves on all four walls. When I originally stocked those shelves, I worked out a system for doing so. The shelves on the north wall, directly behind me as I sit at my desk, are all reference books. … [Read More]

Past a certain age you start to feel like a character in one of those Left Behind books. Remember the plot? True Christians are “raptured” up into heaven at the End Time, their prostheses, glasses, dentures, and IUDs clattering to the floor as their bodies disappear. The less pure in heart (that’d be me, I’m pretty sure) are left behind on … [Read More]

For fans of multiculturalism and unrestricted immigration, Gypsies are a hard test case. They are exceptionally antisocial, and cultivate high levels of skill in the small-criminal arts — pickpocketing, burglary, fast confidence tricks, and so on. They seem also to be striving to keep alive their ancient reputation for baby-snatching. Italy is having particular problems with Gypsies right now, as indicated … [Read More]

Finishing up his autobiography in late 1989, the crushing of that year’s student movement still fresh in his memory, the Chinese dissident Liu Binyan wrote: On the surface, the rulers have attained their objective … China seems to have been cowed into silent submission … The peaceful demonstration at Tiananmen Square was crushed, but it lit a flame in the hearts … [Read More]

Around June 17 or June 18, 1858 — which is to say, a hundred and fifty years ago, less a few days — the mail delivery at Charles Darwin’s house south of London included a package from Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist doing field work in Indonesia. In the package was Wallace’s paper On The Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely … [Read More]