In this podcast, we discuss a very revealing video that appeared on YouTube a few weeks back. Someone who prioritizes materialism and appearances is confronted by another man who has a very different value system. The resulting clash between the two of them is highly revealing.
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The following tale is found in Ibn Zafar’s political treatise, The Consolation For The Ruler During The Hostility Of His Subjects. Because it is likely to unfamiliar to most readers, I will paraphrase it here.
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Abraham Lincoln’s literary powers were a product of his life experiences and his innate abilities. From a young age, his exposure to tragedy had been personal and continuous. The death of his mother, the death of Ann Rutledge, and various other hardships had given him an acute sensitivity to the meaning of loss. In the writing of letters of consolation, Lincoln was able to harness these sentiments and express them in ways that gave specific tragedies a timeless and almost cosmic significance. We have already here discussed the famous Bixby Letter. Two other letters of consolation from Lincoln’s hand, much less well-known, merit our attention as models of compassion and heartfelt sympathy.
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This is a podcast reading of my essay Let Us Never Despair, which was published here on May 18, 2024. What is the origin of despair? And how may it be confronted? We provide some answers to these questions, and related ones, in this podcast. The man of virtue and fortitude will never abandon himself to despair.
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There is an inscription in the Bayeux Tapestry which reads Isti mirant stella, or “these men wonder at the star.” The scene in which it appears depicts a group of men pointing to a highly stylized image of Halley’s Comet, which made an appearance around the time of the Norman conquest of England.
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I had a great conversation yesterday with Lance, the proprietor of DVX Publishing, a publisher dealing with books in the areas of political science, history, leadership, and military affairs. It was a free-flowing discussion that covered a lot of ground in moral philosophy, ethics, and current events. I also encourage you to follow him on X. You can hear the entire one-hour discussion on YouTube by clicking here.
It has been clear for some time that neither the American political right, nor its counterpart on the left, has capably embraced the leadership challenges of twenty-first century modernity. Even a cursory survey of the political landscape reveals a dismal picture. On the right, we find the mouthpieces of corporatist and plutocratic reaction, mixed with an assortment of cranks, religious ideologues, demagogues, and rogues; while the left, which once represented the interests of the working classes, has been almost entirely overwhelmed by a venomous and destructive obsession with identity, race, and gender politics, which accomplishes nothing except to corrode the fraternal bonds essential for the maintenance of a healthy social order. The inevitable result of this acute polarity has been a debilitating paralysis. Congress can hardly accomplish anything except token and toothless half-measures, which succeed only in delaying problems, instead of solving them.
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A reader has asked me to provide my thoughts on what topics would be suitable for the homeschooling of his precocious eight-year-old daughter. I thought I would take the opportunity to expound at some length on what would be a suitable course of study for any student of any age, male or female, seeking to furnish himself or herself with the seeds of a solid and enduring education.
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The historian Edward Gibbon, in Chapter LII of his history, offers an instructive quotation alleged to have been spoken by the first emir of Cordoba, Abd Al Rahman III. This prince ruled a considerable part of Spain for a period of thirty-two years, from A.D. 929 to 961. Upon the death of this laborious and tolerant caliph, the following rumination was found among his writings:
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Kenneth Sewell’s cogent, well-argued, and deeply unsettling book Red Star Rogue claims that on March 7, 1968, a rogue Soviet submarine destroyed itself while attempting to launch its ballistic missiles at Honolulu. How could this submarine have penetrated US waters undetected? What actually happened aboard the K-129? Why has the incident been kept secret for so many years? The history of this terrifying event is discussed. Sewell’s book reminds us that, at any given time, the world truly walks along the edge of a straight razor. Listen in to an in-depth discussion of this unnerving story.
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Quintus Curtius 
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