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The Henry Hazlitt Letters

Here are two letters from, a n d o n e letter about, Henry Hazlitt (1894-1993) , the great libertarian economic journalist a n d author. I n 2011, a frie n d from my university years added material, some of it from my emails to him, to the Wikipedia entry for Hazlitt . Those interested i n intellectual journalism may wish to read the Wikipedia entries for E n counter a n d politics magazines, which I expanded b y about 20x i n 2012 a n d 2013. For those latter efforts the judges of the two rounds of the U n z Historical Research Co mpetitio n awarded me, respectively, First a n d Seco n d Prize.

Hurrah for the CIA

The Editor of this blog thanks The Editor of The Times Literary Supplement for publishing, in that paper's issue for May 8, 2020, his letter addressing topics that have him much engaged these last forty-five years . Hurrah for the CIA I have long been at one with the efforts of J.C. (NB, April 24) to rescue Encounter from its reputation among the bien-pensants as little more than a propaganda front for the CIA – the source, over its first decade, of secret funding, which came via private foundations and thence Encounter ’s publisher, the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF). The revelation of that funding in 1966 led to the resignation of Encounter ’s founding co-editor Stephen Spender and his successor Frank Kermode, and a decline in prestige as rival start-ups such as the N ew York Review of Books absorbed its top-rank contributors. (George Steiner proved a notable exception, sticking with Encounter through to the late 1980s; indeed he had already alienated William Ph

The White for the Race House 2020, or, It's Right for Everyone, Idiot

American politics 2020, as ever: watching 10 million ants, each the ant equivalent of a 98-pound man, each bravely Donning the mask of a mighty warrior while clad down below in adult diapers, pretending to engage in a life-or-death fight to the finish over the world's biggest pile of shit. To take it with anything other than the world's most deafening Bronx cheer, or total indifference, would be to sin against, according to taste, either g-d, or one's divine self - or both .

Aisle Be $eeing You

Highly nutritious foods are often low in cost. Among them are bananas, carrots, potatoes, whole­-wheat flour, and dried beans—the sort of high fiber foods that nutritionists now recommend. They also tend to come with minimal packaging—an environmental plus. - Wellness Made Easy: 365 Tips for Better Health , by  the University of California, Berkeley  Wellness Letter A s with the taking of a daily cold swim, cold shower or cold bath - or the eating of hot peppers - under which early resistance finds itself vanquished by a habituated second-wind relish of the wholesome fruits of disciplined hardihood, an adherence while at the grocer's over each 30-day cycle to a cost ceiling - $100, say - can apply a whetstone to the blades of the soul all its own. In a time when it is not at all uncommon for urban humans to spend $5 or more each weekday upon the "food" under the black (they're only gold-plated) arches, or at the espresso bar, or double that thus at both, to say nothin

Livid at Boudica

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J ust discovered on the  Facebook page  for Unz.org, sponsor of two rounds, so far, of an Historical Research Competition tied to its vast archive of historic magazines, thence to mining for Wikipedian ore: Irene Duma  My first discovery - no women on the judging panel. Some things never change. Hmm...maybe by repressing and ignoring women, and diminishing their value and contributions, we are actually perpetuating this stagnation? Gotta go see if the archives will shed some light... May 13, 2012 at 4:34pm La Mizz Russian Legislative Assembly So Right You Guys! Though in the event last October two of the four prizes awarded by judges Andrew Bacevich, Paul Gottfried, Razib Khan, Michael Lind, Ron Unz and Thomas Woods found themselves pinned to brassieres, and the other two to the athletic cups of the prevailing hegemon, the lack of any prior estrogenetic surplus beneath the robes made the judicial corruption so unmasked - with the chest hair on the bench shaved by fully half, would not

The Only Thing Better Than a Dry Front, &c.

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S ometimes when you try to explain the productivity gains from increased investment per worker, you're so overcome by the beauty of Austrian-school capital theory that you lose sight of considerations that, hard as it is for us to imagine, are in the redemptive contemplation far more sublime still - like remedial partisan re-branding: During a discussion about ongoing challenges to the economy Thursday,  Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young referred to Hispanic workers as "wetbacks,"  an ethnic slur used to describe migrant workers. He has since apologized. “My father had a ranch; we used to have 50-60 wetbacks to pick tomatoes,” Young  told Alaska public radio station KRBD . “It takes two people to pick the same tomatoes now. It’s all done by machine.” The term "wetback" is a pejorative term that has been used to describe workers from Latin American countries who swim across the Rio Grande to reach the United States. F rom the hitmakers who brought you "TSA-Ge

Your Honor System

Convicted Massachusetts rapist caught in Maine after 34 years ... Gary Allen Irving, now 52, was sentenced to  life in prison  in 1979 after being found guilty on three counts of rape in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, the previous year, said Trooper Kenneth Gaetz, a Massachusetts State Police spokesman. The judge in the case stayed the sentence for two days, allowing Irving to go home and make arrangements before starting his prison term. During that time, Irving fled ...