Best Dozen Articles I've Read in 2024

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  • Edward Luttwak, "Why Israel Is Winning in Gaza," The Tablet (2024). "In Gaza, the Israeli air force was hardly allowed to contribute more than a fraction of its strength to the fighting, in deference to the insistent requests coming from the White House. . . Unique to Israel is the turretless Namer infantry carrier, a battle taxi in effect, that allows Israeli troops to move about in the perilous urban space protected by more armor than any combat vehicle in history."
  • Charles Murray, "Aztecs Vs. Greeks" (January 18, 2007)."Many high-IQ students, especially those who avoid serious science and math, go from kindergarten through an advanced degree without ever having a teacher who is dissatisfied with their best work and without ever taking a course that forces them to say to themselves, “I can’t do this.” Humility requires that the gifted learn what it feels like to hit an intellectual wall, just as all of their less talented peers do, and that can come only from a curriculum and pedagogy designed especially for them. That level of demand cannot fairly be imposed on a classroom that includes children who do not have the ability to respond. The gifted need to have some classes with each other not to be coddled, but because that is the only setting in which their feet can be held to the fire."


"I could quickly discover, years ago, which of my English friends were secret aristocrats. I would simply ask them what they thought about the accidental death of Diana, Princess of Wales. My middle class English pals would say something along the lines of, “It was a tragedy. She was indeed the ‘people’s princess.’” But my upper class friends would say something more like, “Good Lord, just as well she’s dead. Mad as a brush.”
  • The OSS sabotage field manual on disrupting organizations] by things like making meetings go too long and not decide anything.
"In 2008, about one in five Americans were religiously active evangelicals. That percentage has now dropped to 13%. For comparison, about 12% of Americans identify as atheist or agnostic. Approximately 8% of all U.S. adults are white evangelicals attending church every week. It's sort of amazing that a certain segment of the population fears the rise of a theocracy from this group of Americans, despite being only 8% of the population. This is a decline from 16% when Barack Obama was elected in 2008. It wouldn't be surprising if there are more atheists than weekly attending white evangelicals in the next 5-10 years."
  • "Bring back the Law Lords: Tony Blair’s introduction of a US-style Supreme Court has served to undermine the supremacy of Parliament," Yuan Yi Zhu, The Critic (2 Feb. 2024). "The Supreme Court gift shop will be the first to go, with its Supreme Court-branded teddy bears and its unsold copies of the laudatory coffee table book about the building’s architecture. Baroness Hale’s leek-themed carpet, a 1970s style fever dream, will be next, revealing the sturdy floors underneath. Then their lordships can return to the anonymous backrooms of the House of Lords, safe from the temptations of being supreme over Parliament. Middlesex Guildhall, that much-abused building, can be restored to its former glory, if it ever had any, and assist in dealing with London’s rising crime levels. Then the ghosts of the Blairite constitution may finally be exorcised."


Top Ten THigns:

*Saturday Night Live on the 3 Presidents' Testimony, very very good.
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