Yesterday, Democrats successfully but narrowly passed an anti–price gouging bill in the House to address raging prices at the pump and to deliver on promises for successful climate-change legislation. Meanwhile, the Senate Natural Resources and Energy chair, Joe Manchin, continues to work toward a bipartisan climate and energy package. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Disney’s new Moon Knight series mocks both gods and men
My previous essays reviewed two Progressive visions of manliness. Michael Mann’s HBO series Tokyo Vice reduces contemporary Japan to racism, sexism, and homophobia. Michael Bay’s Ambulance relatedly gives us a contemporary America where ethnic minorities, strong, independent women, and gay protagonists vanquish an evil white man. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Racelessness is the future of justice
What if the answer to racial tensions in America lay in the removal of race as a necessary identifier of any human person? This question frames a new theory put forward by Sheena Mason, assistant professor of African American literature at SUNY Oneonta, in Oneonta, N.Y. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
A federal case has been made of a brief post-game prayer
To my great embarrassment, I must admit that prior to going to law school I enjoyed the quasi-scripted drama of Judge Judy. The litigants’ outrageous circumstances and colorful personalities distract viewers into believing that the legal issues are complex. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Zelensky still wants to negotiate, Iran nuclear deal falters, deadly killing in West Bank and more
UKRAINE UPDATE Last week’s Ukraine update emphasized some fundamental realities: Reducing the risk of nuclear war means taking steps to end the Ukraine conflict. Maximalist demands from the West take us further away from a negotiated settlement. We need a conflict off-ramp for both Russia and Ukraine. Unlike most mainstream media, the paywalled Financial Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
Michael Bay’s Ambulance is DOA
Film critics recently have been trying to encourage their audiences to return to theaters—cinema, after all, is a lot more impressive on a big screen and in the company of people who share our emotions. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The Sowell of black America
“Hope has two beautiful daughters; their names are Anger and Courage. Anger at the way things are, and Courage to see that they do not remain as they are.” —Augustine Thomas Sowell is a towering figure in the liberty movement, certainly the most (in)famous “black conservative” of the 20th century. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
The Founders’ Constitution and its discontents
The term “constitutional law” is in large part a misnomer. This is rarely discussed within the guild of the legal profession and heretical in the increasingly woke precincts of the legal academy, where the field of “constitutional theory” is a cottage industry. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Choosing peace over blood and ashes in Ukraine
UKRAINE UPDATE At the close of last week’s blog post, we promised to revisit the diplomatic prospects for Ukraine, as well as to examine recent Canadian government actions on sanctions and a unanimous parliamentary declaration on genocide in Ukraine. No resumption of peace talks in wake of Guterres meetings with Putin and Visit the Rideau Institute for the complete article
HBO’s Tokyo Vice thinks Japan is really just the worst of America
One of the most stylish of American directors, Michael Mann, who made Heat and The Insider (earning three Oscar nominations), is now producing the HBO series Tokyo Vice and has directed its disappointing first episode. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
How will Christians fare in our Strange New World?
Virtually every sphere of American culture—from the university to the church to the mass media to multinational corporations and Big Tech—has become host to hotly contested debates over gender, race, sexual orientation, and a host of other issues. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute
Hollywood’s craven surrender to the Chinese Communist government
Who’s in charge in Hollywood? Surely studio bosses, well-compensated executives, A-list actors, and celebrated writers and directors set the agenda in the American entertainment industry, don’t they? Not so fast, says Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel in a rigorously researched, admirably hard-hitting new book that looks at the pernicious influence of China on Hollywood. Continue Reading… Read more at The Acton Institute