I keep rereading James Fishback’s essay on high school debate. Published May 25 in the Free Press, he called out the national circuit of high school debate for being partisan, polarized, and punitive toward any students with sane, moderate, or conservative arguments. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
A Campus Satire for Our Time
As far back as the 1960s, novelist Philip Roth declared that reality in the United States was outpacing the creative capacities of the writer of fiction. “The actuality is continually outdoing our talents,” he wrote back then, “and the culture tosses up figures daily that are the envy of any novelist.” Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Hong Kong Court Denies Jimmy Lai’s Petition to Terminate Trial
The Hong Kong High Court has rejected a request by pro-democracy activist and newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai to terminate his upcoming trial under the city’s so-called National Security Law (NSL), according to Reuters. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
David Johnston finds a middle ground in his interim report on foreign interference
THE FOREIGN INTERFERENCE INTERIM REPORT We are going to focus today in some detail on the key elements of the First Report of the Independent Special Rapporteur (ISR), David Johnston, on Foreign Interference. We turn first to the Executive Summary, where Johnston lays out his key conclusions. Foreign Interference is happening in Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
Keep The Covenant on Your Moviegoing Radar This Memorial Day
This Memorial Day, there is one movie in theaters that addresses directly the experiences of veterans. While American families are entertained by the Super Mario Bros. movie, now a billion-dollar proposition worldwide, people who prefer more true-to-life action can see the movie I recommend, Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant, which has barely made any money, even though it’s an exciting, gripping experience, and it’s got a star, Jake Gyllenhaal. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
End the Fed’s Cat-and-Mouse Game to Tame Inflation
Nine times. If you’ve seen the classic ’80s film Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, you recognize and can hear the principal’s voice. Ferris, an overconfident and overzealous teenager, has managed to ditch school with his two pals—again. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Tim Keller Lives
I’ve been a Christian for almost half a century, sometimes with a critical spirit toward sermons. So I’ll now write something I’ve never written before and never expect to write again: the best preacher I’ve ever heard “died” last Friday. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Don’t Divinize the State
One consequence of what Italian philosopher Augusto del Noce calls our present “age of secularization” is the paradoxical modern tendency of atheists to divinize politics and the state. What the Church once undid, ideology would rejoin. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Jimmy Lai Denied U.K. Human Rights Lawyer—Again
Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance has rejected Jimmy Lai’s appeal challenging the denial of access to U.K. counsel. In November of last year, a national security committee denied Lai, a U.K. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Journalists Worldwide Demand: Free Jimmy Lai
Jimmy Lai, Hong Kong’s most famous freedom fighter, is still in prison. In September, he will face a trial that could leave him spending the rest of his life behind bars for the crime of standing against the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Hong Kong and the civil rights it had enjoyed. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Liberty Is Not the Product of Any One Religion
Paul D. Miller, a professor of the practice of international affairs at Georgetown University, has argued in a recent essay in Christianity Today that Christianity is not necessary for democracy. Miller challenges “conservative evangelicals” who believe that “Christianity is necessary for a free society.” Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Tetris and the Birth of an Obsession
It may be hard to picture now, when American children spend seemingly every waking hour absorbed in Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, but once upon a time the country’s youth contented themselves with activities that did not involve gazing into tiny screens—you know, riding bikes, throwing around a football, jumping rope. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute