What We've Been Reading—2.3.17

Elliot Milco: My reading habits have been changing lately. Early in the winter I picked up and dropped a long list of books, including Ulrich Volker’s new Hitler: The Ascent, Carlos Eire’s Reformations, John Le Carré’s The Pigeon Tunnel, and the Cambridge Concise History of Japan. All . . . . Continue Reading »

Gorsuch and the Washington Script

A familiar Washington script exists for Republican Supreme Court nominations. Once the president announces his choice, Democrats and advocacy groups on the left start issuing dire warnings about the threat the nominee poses to the Constitution, the law, and the American way of life. The words are always the same: The nominee is “extreme,” “outside the mainstream,” “radical,” and “far-right wing.” Continue Reading »

Vetting the Executive Order

There are many things in our government that are “broken,” but our refugee vetting system isn’t one of them. We needn't, and therefore we shouldn't, shut out refugees who are fleeing terrorism in places such as Syria and Iraq, even temporarily. Because it isn't necessary to do it, it is, in my opinion, necessary not to do it. Continue Reading »

Gorsuch After Scalia

The president’s introduction of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the nation as his nominee for the Supreme Court vacancy left by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death gave us a lift we sorely needed. Finally, something to be at peace about in our public life. Continue Reading »

Bruckner’s Gethsemane

The devoutly Catholic Bruckner dedicated his last symphony to “the dear God,” and prayed in his final illness that the Lord would allow him to finish his masterwork. In the event, his prayer was not granted. Yet in a deeper sense the three movements he lived to complete could hardly be surpassed. The sublime and harrowing third movement makes any further statement, this side of heaven, redundant! Continue Reading »