Culture wars
April 21, 2026 — Bill Glahn
The Minneapolis Star Tribune is displeased to report, Another city just voted to fly the former Minnesota state flag. Horror of horrors, A majority of Elk River residents wanted the former Minnesota state flag to be the one displayed on city-owned properties, and on Monday the City Council obliged by passing a resolution making it so. Here’s the old flag, now legal again in Elk River, Elk River is just
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April 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In our Picks I will be posting essays and review from the forthcoming issue of the Claremont Review of Books as the editors make them available online. However, having noted the publication of the awesome two-volume history The Golden Thread in this post, I want to highlight Spencer Klavan’s review of the books in “The Renegade Academy.” In my comments I confined myself to noting what the two volumes had
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November 7, 2025 — John Hinderaker
On the off chance that there is anyone who has not seen it, here is the portion of an interview of Sydney Sweeney by Katherine Stoeffel from Gentlemen’s Quarterly (apparently still a magazine) where Stoeffel tries to engage Sweeney on the American Eagle jeans ads. Stoeffel tries to get Sweeney to apologize for the ads, criticize President Trump, express regret for being a symbol of white supremacy…or something. She fails,
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September 24, 2025 — Bill Glahn
Of course, I didn’t watch last night. I don’t recall ever watching an episode of his late night show. I lost touch with Mr. Kimmel after he left The Man Show in 2003. So, I only know what’s been reported in the media. I’m told that Kimmel’s monologue ran some 20 minutes (yeesh). As expected, there was no apology, some crocodile tears, Jimmy casting himself as the victim. The New
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September 23, 2025 — Bill Glahn
From the U.K. Daily Mail, Nexstar said Tuesday morning it would not be screening Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the 38 ABC stations it owns, Variety reported. The broadcasting conglomerate joins the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which has already said it will not screen Kimmel’s comeback on the 32 ABC affiliates it owns. Variety reports, Nexstar and Sinclair’s refusal to air “Kimmel” means that nearly one-third of the roughly 240 national ABC
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September 12, 2025 — Bill Glahn
To my point from yesterday, from The Hill newspaper, Teachers, firefighters, elected officials and even a cable news contributor have lost their jobs or are under investigation after comments they made about the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. What’s remarkable about this is just how unremarkable it all is. What we would think of as garden-variety, everyday Americans don’t think twice about publicly wishing death and pain on their
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September 4, 2025 — John Hinderaker
In recent years, the Democrats have picked some very odd fights. One of the oddest is their denunciation of Sydney Sweeney’s American Eagle jeans ads. J.D. Vance said, on the Ruthless podcast, “My political advice to the Democrats is continue to tell everybody who thinks Sydney Sweeney is attractive is a Nazi. That appears to be their actual strategy.” The faux controversy over Sweeney’s jeans ads brought more attention to
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May 22, 2025 — Scott Johnson
Last month The New Criterion honored Heather Mac Donald with the twelfth Edmund Burke Award for Service to Culture and Society. In its June 2025 issue TNC has published an edited version of her remarks — “The clash within civilizations” — accepting the award. Her remarks remind me of Jeffrey Hart’s 1970 National Review essay “Secession of the intellectuals.” Here is an excerpt lifted from the opening of Mac Donald’s
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November 20, 2024 — Scott Johnson
If you don’t watch ABC News, you may need help identifying the gentleman whom Rep. Nancy Mace bludgeons on the issue of men using the ladies’ congressional bathrooms. His name is Jay O’Brien. O’Brien identifies as an Emmy Award-winning reporter currently covering Capitol Hill, where he has been since the November midterms. He’s covered notable stories, such as the transition of power to Republicans in the House. Speaking of trans…
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March 26, 2024 — John Hinderaker
Some time ago, a house in my neighborhood started flying a gay/trans flag. In response, I suspect, two nearby houses started flying American flags. But recently, there was a change: the gay/trans flag was replaced by the Scottish flag: If you remember Scotland as a country of highland clans, conservative Presbyterians and fearsome warriors, that may seem strange to you. But actually, it makes perfect sense: Scotland is being transformed
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February 18, 2024 — John Hinderaker
For some years now, there have been arguments about the use of Indian names and imagery by sports teams. Historically, a lot of teams have had Indian-themed names, for the same reason that teams have been named after lions, bears, eagles, Vikings and Trojans. I believe it is accurate to say that polls have shown most Indians understand this origin and generally don’t have a problem with Indian names and
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November 19, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Free Press founder/editor Bari Weiss has posted the text of her Federalist Society Barbara K. Olson lecture “You are the last line of defense” together with video at The Free Press. Weiss’s lecture runs to some 4,000 words, but nothing in it is superfluous. Nothing is expendable. Events have not superseded it. The message remains urgent. Here is an excerpt taken from the top of Weiss’s remarks: Some Israelis were
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November 16, 2023 — John Hinderaker
Ferdinand Magellan was one of the world’s greatest explorers. He led the first expedition to sail around the world, although he didn’t finish the voyage, having been murdered by natives in what is now the Philippines. Magellan’s greatness as an explorer and navigator has been recognized in many ways. For example, he discovered the Strait of Magellan at the bottom of South America. And his expedition observed and recorded the
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November 10, 2023 — Scott Johnson
Clifford May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. He is a veteran reporter, foreign correspondent, and editor for the New York Times and other publications. I’m late getting to Cliff’s November 8 column “Hamas vs. Western Civ” (at FDD, where it is posted with links). Cliff has kindly given us his permission to post his column on
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September 13, 2023 — Lloyd Billingsley
Back around Labor Day, the Canadian government advised that 2SLGBTQI+ persons “could face certain barriers and risks when you travel outside Canada,” because “not all countries have the same values and legal system that we have in Canada.” That is indeed true, in ways that travelers might not imagine. LGBTQ are, respectively, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. “I” means “intersex” and + is “inclusive of people who identify as
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July 23, 2023 — John Hinderaker
You probably know about the controversy surrounding country singer Jason Aldean and his song “Try That In a Small Town.” I wrote about it here. Liberals attacked the song for being, among other things, “pro-lynching,” which of course is demented. But they succeeded in getting the song’s video banned by Country Music Television. Aldean, happily, is unapologetic. On Friday night he performed a concert in Cincinnati and addressed the attacks
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July 21, 2023 — Elizabeth Stauffer
Move over Snow White and the Seven Magical Creatures! As the Left continues to alienate themselves from traditional American values with woke new versions of classic fairy tales and children’s stories, conservatives have quietly begun building a parallel economy. The boldest arrival into this space is American Heartland Theme Park, an affiliate of Mansion Entertainment Group, LLC. The company has announced plans to create a $2 billion, 1,000 acre entertainment
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