Yesterday was Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. In these dark times we find ourselves in, a day like that prompts a useful reminder that Lincoln should not just be celebrated for his idealistic qualities, his speeches, or his being the leader of the North. He should be celebrated, respected, and even admired for his darker deeds. No […]
A quick guide to determining your predictions for the upcoming House midterms. In nearly every midterm election, the party in power loses seats. Over the last four consecutive midterm elections (2006 – 2018), the president and his party have either lost the House or further lost the House. Before that, strange events disrupted the usual […]
Over 21 years into the 21st century, Ed Rollins is a name only remembered by political historians, beltway swamprats, and whatever I am. Actually, that’s a lie. Before I picked up this book, I had never heard of Rollins. Thanks to Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, I will spend the rest of my politically aware […]
The Russo-Ukrainian War of 2022 is now nearly 200 days old. Happy anniversary. Well into the fighting, this war is now almost twice the length of the next closest war that mirrors it – the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, where the newly-purged Red Army invaded Finland with over twice the strength, […]
It hasn’t always been this way. There is only one way to fix it. And it ain’t pretty. The newest Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson – a former clerk of the Justice she has been chosen to replace, a federal practitioner of criminal defense, former member of the United States Sentencing Commission, and near-decade […]
The following essay is a review that was originally intended for publication on Amazon. It may be for the best that I will probably never publish a book. If I did, it would be 800 pages before the end of Part I, and it would have been published over the dead bodies of every editor […]
High-tech and low-tech lynchings in America still happen. It is imperative to the interests of justice, racial harmony, and the rule of law in America that Kyle Rittenhouse be acquitted of all homicide charges, and that Travis and Gregory McMichael (and Roddie Bryan) be convicted of all respective charges for what they did to Ahmaud […]
What good is a promise if you don’t know what it means? January 27, 2021 marked a notable event in recent history. It was the 25th anniversary of Holocaust Remembrance Day – a day of sober and reflective gathering to honor and give posthumous dignity to the millions of Jews that were slaughtered by the […]
The following is the transcript of my favorite speech ever delivered by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Although I have never actually heard the speech, every time I read the words below, his voice rings alive in my mind. I take no credit for the transcript. It is available in Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, […]
Donald Trump would be a better president if he was meaner. Not louder; not CAPS-LOCK obsessed; not frivolous. “Meaner” in this context means what it would mean if we were to say that Abraham Lincoln was mean to the Confederacy. Or if we were to say that Harry Truman was mean to Japan. What those […]
I once saw a lone cape buffalo in Africa hold off a small pride of lions for the better part of half an hour. They had managed to separate him from the rest of his herd, and I was so sure they had him. But those puny, lazy, pack-hunting amateurs didn’t know what hit them. […]
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published on the Cinematic Katzenjammer in December, 2015 shortly before the theatrical release of Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. The individual discussed, whom I refer to as “Karol” is my friend Paul Vollmer, whose opinions and statements I have shared on this blog before, albeit on […]
In politics, your children are not interesting. Your young have nothing valuable to say about issues, candidates, cultures, or events. They aren’t informed, they aren’t aware, they aren’t equipped, they have no real ideas, and their thoughts are not their own. And worse, they’re struggling. A lot. So please do them and the rest of […]
For the past two weeks I have followed intently the accusations against Judge Kavanaugh. I read nearly every breaking article, every major hot take, and I have now listened to essentially the entire testimony by both parties. Skip to the end if you don’t want to read the rest. Before today, I refused to adopt […]
I am a student and practitioner of the martial arts. I began taking self-defense classes at a young age. As I grew into maturity, I came to understand the arts as not solely a prescription for unarmed personal protection, or method for maintaining physical fitness, but as a philosophy and discipline of life. One of […]
I wish Barack Obama and his family all the very best in their lives going forward. May they be blessed with joy, love, grace, and prosperity. I will not, however, miss his presidency, and to it I say farewell and good riddance. There are two reasons. First, Obama has been an abysmal chief executive, both domestically […]
Earlier this morning, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted the following: “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!” Don’t do it. Don’t fall for it. You know what I’m talking about. Don’t make an embarrassing spectacle of yourself. […]
Donald Trump and his movement defied the odds yesterday and won the Electoral College, cementing him as the 45th President of the United States. At this time we await results only from Michigan, Arizona, and New Hampshire, with only N.H. swinging for Hillary Clinton. Thus, popular vote notwithstanding the electoral breakdown looks to be 232 […]
This is a message for my loudmouthed conservative and Republican peers now repudiating their prior commitment to vote for Trump, and seeking to wash themselves free of Trump’s tiny “pussy-grabbing” hands in the wake of the “locker room banter” revelation. If you think that your integrity can be so easily repaired by some public magic […]
Forward by Vivek: The unofficial mission statement of V for Verbatim this year was to restore some dignity in discourse and respect among peers that has been lost in the fog of political war (repenting as well, for my own contribution to it), and to carve on a slab of internet tube stone for time […]
Forward by Vivek: The statement below comprises writings that are not my own. For the first time (and it will not be a common type of post), I am transcribing someone else’s conservative treatise against Donald Trump’s candidacy for President. I would not do this if it was simply a rant from a stranger that […]
“Now remember, when things look bad and it looks like you’re not gonna make it, then you gotta get mean. I mean plumb, mad-dog mean.” – Josey Wales Let’s first dispense with what you’re here for. I will not vote for any of the partisan candidates in November. In rejecting Hillary Clinton, I will not settle […]
“I attack ideas; I don’t attack people. And some very good people have some very bad ideas. And if you can’t separate the two . . . you don’t want to be a judge.” Justice Scalia died of natural causes and was quite certainly not assassinated. But given the abundance of disrespect and vilification in discourse […]
Of all the things in politics that I hate, the one I despise the most is the single-issue voter. And it’s not just because some people wouldn’t mind a zombie apocalypse breaking out as long as it meant that they could hold onto their precious birth control. No, this is something a little different. My […]
2016 Update: This position is no longer the position I hold. I stand by what was written in 2013 as genuine at the time that it was written. And I have not changed a word of it since. But for those who end up reading it now, this is an old post with an […]
V for Verbatim 