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Pattern of American socialism older than DSA

The face of American socialism is increasingly young, college-credentialed, and conspicuously well-bred. This is not coincidence. It is structure. The pattern is older than the Democratic Socialists of America. Engels co-authored the Communist Manifesto while running his father's textile mill. Marx married into Prussian nobility and lived on Engels's industrial fortune. Lenin's father held hereditary status under the tsar. Castro was the son of one of Cuba's largest landowners. What socialism reliably produces is not equality but a closed caste. The Soviet nomenklatura had ...

How to change Supreme Court in one easy step

In 2016, the conservative writer Mike Anton made a galvanizing case for Donald Trump in his famous "Flight 93" essay, arguing that the stakes in the contest between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were existential. His contention that a Clinton win would cement Democratic electoral dominance forever, such that Republicans needed to charge the cockpit or die, was implausible at the time, and seems more so in retrospect. If Hillary had won in 2016, in all likelihood, she would have been gone in 2020, washed away by the pandemic just like Trump was. This time, though, really might be ...

City on map for cyber intelligence

Western Pennsylvania's leadership in AI, robotics and cyber intelligence companies that work with the Department of War was reinforced recently. Qintel was selected for an $84 million contract with the United States Cyber Command to deliver a threat intelligence solution in support of full-spectrum cyber operations. Qintel also just announced it will be part of the inaugural Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit in the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, which Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.) is hosting in July. The two-day conference convenes CEOs, investors and senior ...

Platner wants redemption, others want refund

Democrat Rep. Ro Khanna conceded at a rally for the Maine senatorial candidate that Graham Platner's actions have not been sterling. Voters considering Platner don't like his "shameful" actions against women, the Californian said, but "they are willing to extend him grace and redemption." Maine Democrats have just chosen Platner to challenge five-term Republican Susan Collins in November. Maine is a purple state, and Collins is a moderate by current Republican standards. But here's the problem for Platner: Redemption is a theme in religion whereby someone who has committed ...

Historians who told real story of founders

The sudden death of the historian Gordon Wood, just weeks before the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, is one more mark of the closure of a golden age of the historiography of the Revolutionary era. It's an occasion to reflect on the uniqueness, indeed the idiosyncrasy, of the emergence of the primacy of this United States among the nations of the world. As the historian Walter McDougall has pointed out, a catalog of world civilizations in the year 1600 looks, with one exception, much like the world today. There is a prosperous and ...

Let love resonate instead

Most times when I'm invited to speak at a conference, someone introduces me by reading the short bio provided. But this past week at the Southeastern Writers' Association Conference, my friend, the Georgia judge and novelist Lori Duff, introduced me. She started off by warning she might embarrass me, then proceeded with the most generous and warm introduction I've ever received. What a gift to hear how your friend sees you. Not that long ago, I would have struggled to listen. I would have made self-deprecating jokes to not appear arrogant or uppity. Self-worth is something I'm ...