Thought

Salman Rushdie

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

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Money, Money, Money
SharingMoney. Politicians like to spend it. People — especially special interests — like to …
Irony in Spain
SharingWhen I arrived at the Donostia-San Sebastián City Hall, in the …
Term Limits Now
SharingGovernment of, by and for the people. Yeah, right. If government …
It’s a New Democracy!
SharingAnother New Year. Should I have used an exclamation point? Shouted out …
The Cost of Reparations
SharingNearly 180 years ago, the Jesuits who ran Georgetown University sold …

Abolish. Or Set in Stone
November 13, 2024
Paul Jacob knows what to do with hypocrisy on at …Read More »
Destroying Dane Farming
November 12, 2024
Paul Jacob on Europe’s ongoing suicide over “greenhouse gases.”Read More »
Disaster Relief Pass-Over
November 11, 2024
Paul Jacob on partisanship at FEMA.Read More »
Exemplary Rejections
November 8, 2024
Paul Jacob celebrates voters in three states who protected their …Read More »
Not Now
November 7, 2024
Paul Jacob on political lessons to be learned — or …Read More »

The Whys Behind the Whats
Sharing“[H]ow quickly our differences worldwide would vanish,” said Ronald Reagan …
That Time Paul Harvey Called Me on the Phone
SharingPaul reviews the week’s big stories here on Common Sense …
Pigment Politics
Sharing“VOTE LIKE YOU,” read the Election Day sign from last …
Is Denmark Socialist?
SharingFirst… some definitions: Socialism advocates the public ownership (or control) of business …
Hat Hate
SharingI will concede — at least “arguendo” — that President Trump is awful. But …

Once the most potent moral figure in Western culture was Jesus Christ. Believer or unbeliever, you took your ethical bearings from him, or professed to. To question his morals was to expose yourself as a monster. Now, the most potent moral figure in Western culture is Adolf Hitler. It is as monstrous to praise him as it would once have been to disparage Jesus. He has become the fixed reference point by which we define evil.
Alec Ryrie, Unbelievers: An Emotional History of Doubt (November 2019). See also “The End of the Age of Hitler,” First Things, November 2024.

— Alec Ryrie