Welcome to the weekend reading!  Happy Saturday from our Nation’s Capital, where our family is touring some museums and historical sites for the weekend. So given my time restraints, I’m going to keep this brief…

There has been some major success in Iraq that’s worth reporting, because I didn’t see this hit a lot of the regular news outlets. Iraqi, and U.S. coalition forces are close to taking back Mosul, which is the second largest city in Iraq. For the last two years the group ISIS has been in control of the city.

More national security stuff this week, this one you probably saw: Trump picks Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster to be national security adviser.  Ironically, several months ago I had purchased McMaster’s book Dereliction of Duty, but have yet to read it. The General wrote the book and released it in 1977, and it focuses on how Generals at the time of the Vietnam War caved to political pressure from politicians.  The Washington Post, whose writing since the Election has become rather venomous, used this literary ditty on McMaster as a way to verbally backhand the President who was cagy about how much golf he’d been playing in the last few weeks.  But they do give a good little summary of the book:

McMaster’s narrative focused on a handful of key decisions that were made from 1963 to 1965. “The war in Vietnam was not lost in the field,” he concluded. “It was lost in Washington, D.C., even before Americans … realized the country was at war. … The disaster in Vietnam was not the result of impersonal forces but a uniquely human failure, the responsibility for which was shared by President [Lyndon] Johnson and his principal military and civilian advisers. The failings were many and reinforcing: arrogance, weakness, lying in the pursuit of self-interest, and, above all, the abdication of responsibility to the American people.”

Anyone who calls our Lyndon Johnson for the corrupt politician that he was is a hero in my book.

The American Conservative ran a provocative headline, with a more informational story worth scanning: Polygamy: The Next Frontier.  This is something that Al Mohler and others have been warning us about for years now.

Funny: Someone had linked to a GQ article about how fashion designers are contemplating a move back to baggier, boxier suits for men again. I’m totally against going back to giant shoulder pads, btw.  But this story, the pictures, they’re just outrageous. This designer was hailed as some sort of genius, but if I wore ANY of these things, I’d be ridiculed…nothing fits anyone in any way. It just reminded me of how ridiculous the world of fashion can be.

There’s some weird religions around the world: Bare cheek as Japan men strip off for naked festival.  I can see some inspiration for Ace Ventura 3…

TECH: The incredible moment Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket lands back at Cape Kennedy.

MORE TECH: The Man Who Broke Ticketmaster…

Interesting Weekend Read: “Raised in East Germany, Jack Barsky abandoned his mother, brother, wife and son to spy for the KGB. In America, he started a second family. And then it all came crashing down…”  Anything with spies and international intrigue is pretty good reading, right?

Books: It was a bit of a boondoggle this week on the book front. I got quite a bit of the way into two books and decided to quit reading them both because of how bad/annoying they were. The worst part was that they were the handiwork of two of my favorite authors, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.  The culprits were ‘Pilgrim’s Regress’ by Lewis, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight – which Tolkien had translated. I think that the latter’s audio reading is what was what pushed me over the edge. The only way I can explain it is that the recording seemed to be overly feminized or something (Terry Jones is the artist to avoid, I suppose)…it wasn’t good. Lancelot is supposed to be this strong and chivalrous knight, after all. As for Lewis, I’m not entirely sure what he was going for, but this book was almost unreadable. I have read in other places (I think Jacob’s bio on Lewis points this out) that Pilgrim’s Regress was his worst book; now I know it for myself!  To top all of this off, my family started the second book in the Wrinkle in Time series, and the book got off to a VERY slow and repetitious start…I surely hope that this coming week is better!

What made my reading tolerable this week was time I got to spend in Psalm 119. It was obvious to me that the writer is someone who has a strong desire for reading and treasuring the Word of God. Here’s a great sample:

Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it. Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. Confirm to your servant your promise, that you may be feared. Turn away the reproach that I dread, for your rules are good. Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life! (Psalm 119:33-40)

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy your weekend.

 

Good morning, and welcome to the weekend reading. For those of you who are new to this email/blog, what I’m doing is rounding up all the stories, blogs, books and videos from that past week that I found most interesting and passing it along to you.  Very often I’m not going to simply send out the stuff you already heard about, unless I want to comment on it. What I’m trying to do here is give my friends in politics more access to good Christian material that can be hard to find, while giving my friends in the church more information on political events from the week from the perspective of a political professional, all while discussing tech, literature, and more. So here’s what I found interesting this week…

The most interesting thing that happened politically this week was the 80 minute press conference that President Trump held, ostensively to announce his replacement pick for labor secretary (Andy Pudzer having withdrawn from the process).  However, the presser took on the form of a rant against the media for being so hate-filled. I watched most of the press conference, and found it absolutely hilarious, and highly entertaining. Erick Erickson mentioned that as enjoyable as the press conference was, it was still not how most Americans would want their President to behave. Still, I think Erickson might be a bit tainted in his opinions of the President, having been a long-time Trump basher. Still, he’s not wholly incorrect. I would just say that he may not fully grasp the danger that the mainstream media poses to our Republic. They taint everything they write with agenda driven opinion. I think this happens on both sides of the spectrum, and its the reason I have as difficult a time watching Fox “News” as I do watching the Clinton News Network.

That said, the liberal media has gone completely berserk. I can’t even read the Post or Politico anymore without it being completely saturated with opinion – no serious news reporting. If you’re curious as to the political bent of a particular reporter, simply find them on Twitter. It is on the Twitters that these folks generally loose their sense of decorum and let their proverbial hair down. After the presser, I saw one major Ohio reporter infer that the President was being a racist, completely taking comments he made out of context (I took him to task, and he quickly admitted that, perhaps, I was correct…the whole thing left me shaking my head). I don’t think these guys do it maliciously, but from what I can discern, it springs from a few things. 1. They have a built in hatred for the President and even think he’s nuts (the Times actually ran an opinion piece this week saying as much!)  2. They don’t think carefully before they tweet/speak/write 3. They have laid aside/forgotten the fact that they are responsible to the public for their journalism, and have thus forfeited their responsibilities  4. They don’t know what it means to do hard work of true un-biased journalism (i.e. real reporting with no opinion inserted) 5. They have egos the size of the President they criticize…but forget they aren’t as important as he is.

Did the President breach decorum?  Yes, probably so.  But given the way the media has been covering the President, he might rightfully believe they pose a real threat to our Republic because of their willful neglect of their duty to the American public.

The President isn’t making it easy on himself though – for good and for bad. The nomination process for his cabinet picks has been dicey, and he just had a major cabinet official (Michael Flynn) resign in the wake of inappropriate (illegal?) conversations he was holding with the Russians (prior to Jan. 20?) re: sanctions and other important matters. It remains to be seen if there are people within our intelligence community who are actually disrupting the President’s agenda (some reports out about them not fully briefing him, and worse). Some of this drama is self-imposed, some of it is the result of the media making a mountain of a molehill, some is because his cabinet picks have been so fantastic, and some of it is because he’s running a hurry-up offense and mistakes tend to happen when you’re doing that.

Side Note – here’s a funny moment from the presser…

Staying on politics for a moment, I caught a small story in the Wall Street Journal this morning about the Consumer Protection Agency that Richard Cordray heads up. A court has finally ruled that this thing just might be unconstitutional, and the President is starting to turn on the heat.  I’m keeping an eye on this because this is an agency completely out of control, and its headed by a man who just might come back and make a run for statewide office in Ohio.

Speaking of the WSJ, they have a long Saturday Essay on Christians choosing “a life apart” from modern society. I’m a little wary of this one, and haven’t read it yet, but its the kind of article you want to keep an eye on…

In case you missed it, Samsung big-wig Jay Y. Lee was arrested this week in South Korea. This is part of a major corruption scandal that extends all the way up the chain of SK government. I suspect that there will be a lot more info on this in the weeks to come.

More international politics: Nikki Haley: U.S. supports 2-state Israel-Palestinian solution.  This is only interesting because her boss has been floating the idea that a two-state solution is out the door. In fact, a Wall Street Journal headline from the week (front page, big banner deal) said, “U.S. Drops Longtime Push for a Two-State Solution.”  So…some mixed signals coming from the administration on this front. They’re going to have to get this straightened out one way or another eventually, but it sort of plays into the POTUS’ modus operandi when it comes to international politics – namely that he wants to keep people confused and on their heals.

TECH – from Bloomberg: Elon Musk is Really Boring (h/t Alex W.) Preview:

For years he’s been thinking about tunnels—both out of a personal fascination and because they’d be an important component of the Hyperloop, the fanciful high-speed rail system he proposed in 2013. All the while he’s been quietly encouraging anyone who asks him about new business opportunities to consider digging for a living. “I think they were hoping I’d say some sort of iPhone app that they could make,” he says with a smile. “I would just say, ‘Do tunnels.’ It would obviously solve urban congestion—and we wouldn’t be stuck in soul-destroying traffic all the time.”

This story was made more interesting for me because I just finished Musk’s bio last week (h/t Brian R. for the great suggestion!).

When one thinks of Musk one thinks of space, which leads to this little ditty: Lost Winston Churchill essay reveals his thoughts on alien life. (h/t Parris P.) I don’t really want to encourage all the leftist scientists in their salivating, as if they can use WSC for proof that they were right all along etc. But its still a pretty funny article.  I’m also not entirely sure this was really a “lost” essay. Seems like Manchester might have covered some of these items in his definitive series…I could be wrong, it just sounded familiar.

MORE TECH – How algorithms (secretly) run the world

Theology for Thought – John MacArthur has a guest column on the Ligonier blog this week which is worth reading and pondering. The Title, ‘What Is the Relationship Between Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility?’ 

A few Pop-Culture stories…

This guy just can’t keep a plane in the air: Harrison Ford in Incident With Passenger Plane at California Airport

Why I Won’t Be Seeing (or Reviewing) The Shack Movie – Challies has some thoughtful points on this one. I like where he’s going. (h/t Scott Z. for having me take a closer look at this article)

Hilarious: Vehicles Flung off Carrier in Test (what is it with the Weather Channel now showing all these random videos which have absolutely nothing to do with weather???)

WHOA! Discovery of intact WWII-era bomb under Greek gas station prompts mass evacuation.

Now, some thoughtful longer-form pieces for review.  First, is James K.A. Smith’s editorial in Comment Magazine, ‘Teach Us (How) to Trust‘ which looks at society and how trust is the foundational element/glue that holds us back from complete chaos. Some interesting points here to consider.  Second, is from Max Boot over at Foreign Policy Magazine titled, ‘Trump’s Big Mouth Has Already Weakened America‘.  I don’t agree with everything he’s saying here, but his main point is that POTUS is his own worst enemy, and that is certainly the case. Ironic that he’d post this just a day or so before the big White House presser. I think there are some things in here worth considering for any leader, and if you want a more reasoned dissent from a liberal, this would be the story to read.  I personally really like knowing the mindset of my liberal opponents, and Boot has a long history of journalism that (from my experience) isn’t as reactionary or over the top as some of the others in the mainstream media, so its a good place to start.

There were three really exceptional articles/blogs over at Desiring God this week. I don’t know how they manage so much good content each week, but all three of these are of the must-read variety. The first (and my favorite of the three) is called ‘How to Love When You Don’t Feel It’, by a man named Greg Morse. This is absolutely great stuff. Here’s an excerpt:

The command to love God with everything, and others as ourselves, often assaults this kind of love, oppresses our natural cravings, and inconveniences our self-actualization:

• Love your neighbor as yourself regardless if they have wronged you.
• Love your neighbor as yourself no matter how unpopular they are.
• Love your neighbor as yourself notwithstanding the fact that they embody every pet peeve that you didn’t even realize you had until you met them.

Or, more importantly:

• Love God with everything no matter how busy you are.
• Love God with everything no matter how angry with him you may be.
• Love God with everything no matter how sick, tired, or confused you are.

No footnotes, asterisks, or qualifications nuance these two commands. “Not feeling it” is the problem to overcome, not an excuse to disobey.

The second is about disciple making and is called ‘You are My Joy’ (David Mathis), and finally, one by a lady named Vaneetha Rendall Risner entitled ‘Where is God When Things Keep Getting Worse’ which is really fantastic.

Books: As I mentioned earlier, the Musk book was pretty darn interesting, though it was full of swear words. I also read G.K. Chesterton’s classic work ‘Orthodoxy’ after some inspiration from my friend Nic M. Ironically, one of my favorite chapters in the book was chapter 4, where I find Chesterton is both at his best and his worst. He sublimely explains why he believes in democracy, and then is studiously conveys his own misapplied reasoning for the importance of ‘tradition’, revealing some of the incorrect underpinning for his Catholic faith. It is almost as if an a priori belief in democracy has influenced his thinking on the role of tradition (in fact, there really is no “almost” about it). I thought Chesterton magnificently explained some of his reasoning as to why he is a Christian, while showing some willful ignorance on others – I especially thought his treatment of Calvinism horrendously unintellectual (or at least beneath his abilities).  In addition to these, I finished ‘Alexander Hamilton’ by Ron Chernow, thereby confirming that Hamilton was as deserving of my low opinion as I thought he might be (still the book was really interesting, and his life would make a good movie…its probably why the broadway play is so successful). Conrad’s famous ‘Heart of Darkness’ was polished off early in the week, and I found it really interesting. The style of writing was something else. I’d grown up watching ‘Lord Jim’ with Peter O’Toole, and seeing how Conrad’s characters dealt with personal moral struggles. He does a good job of conveying some of that in his halting style of writing. Finally, I read ‘The Billionaire’s Vinegar’ which was a fascinating story (about 300 pages, maybe 75 too long) about ancient wines…well wines from two hundred years ago. Specifically it focuses on the drama surrounding some bottles of French wine supposed to have been owned by Thomas Jefferson. There’s a lot of modern day legal intrigue that makes the book drag at certain points, but overall very interesting stuff.

The Tele – and lest you think I’m simply a bookish troglodyte, I do watch some TV (from time to time). Last night we finally got around to finishing the third (and final?) installment of the recent Sherlock Holmes (season four from PBS).  It had parts that were not as believable from an acting standpoint, than others, but overall it was nice. This one felt as though the ending was a bit more true to the books – at least that’s the sense I got.

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy the weekend!

PJW

Welcome to your weekend!  As you may have noticed, I didn’t get to send out a blog posting last week – sometimes life just gets a bit too hectic.  So I have some stories and blogs that may be a bit older than one week.  I hope you enjoy!

First on the list is a compelling story in the Federalist by Bre Payton which wins the award for longest headline: A Disabled Lawmaker Speaks Out About Abortion: ‘People Like Me’ Are Facing Extinction. I like the points being made here, and am glad that there is some pushback across the pond to the almost continual devaluation of life by society and political elites.

Next…the big to-do in the news this week was how the courts have blocked (for now) the travel ban that President Trump put in place. In his Briefing from Friday, Al Mohler talks about what’s going on here, and helpfully focuses on the separation of powers. This is part of what makes our country so unique – we aren’t a pure democracy, and we aren’t a pure dictatorship, we are a republic. Along similar lines, Mohler also discusses how liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren was rebuked for her breach of decorum on the U.S. Senate floor. Warren, who might be labeled one of the most liberal politicians in American, was criticizing Senator (now Attorney General) Jeff Sessions in remarks that were too personal to find a place within the Senate’s standards of debate. Mohler ties this story into his larger discourse on the nature of our republic, and how the Senate was put in place as a check on the democratic passions of the House. So when Warren started behaving in such a way that reflected the worst sensibilities of the mob, she was silenced by the leadership of that institution which she (unforunately) belongs. Not because what she was saying was just an attack on decorum, but because it represented a type of discourse that didn’t belong in the Upper Chamber. Certainly this was an interesting week to watch the American political system at work.

On the travel ban...I found an interesting opinion piece over at the Washington Examiner this morning, which is more well-rounded (or at least more civil) in its appeal than I’d heard out of either side recently.  The piece starts from the assumption that as Americans one of the ways we like to keep the peace and promote that peace throughout the world is to spread our ideas around the world, and give deserving people a chance to enjoy our ideas and values here on these shores. In the end, the author argues for some tweaks to the travel ban (no specifics here though), and spends significant time giving examples of those worthy folks making their way to our shores.

FUNNY: Alex Trebek makes fun of Jeopardy contestant’s music preference

Quick Theology Hit: What is the most important factor in your life? Steve Lawson gives a short answer here.

And…since its almost Valentines Day: The Rude, Cruel, and Insulting ‘Vinegar Valentines’ of the Victorian Era…

NOT THE ONION:  Bibi Netanyahu on meeting with Chuck Norris: ‘Israel is strong but it’s indestructible now’

NOT THE ONION…but close enough…this one is for my friend Rob L:  Family Exiting Church Unable To Find Minivan In Sea Of Identical Minivans

“Squirrel!!”  Trump Supports Ex-Im Bank, Democrats Say After White House Visit. (requires WSJ subscription…i.e. pony up if you want to read)…sneak peak:

Conservative Republicans have waged a battle over the past two years to close the agency, which finances exports by companies based in the U.S., because they say it is an example of the government picking winners and losers. The bank’s backers say the agency allows U.S. firms to compete on equal footing against foreign rivals that receive similar support from their governments.

Top Story I will be reading today: The Next Big Blue-Collar Job Is Coding

As you know, Betsy DeVos was confirmed as the next Secretary of Education earlier in the week. Beth Green from Christian (Canadian) think tank Cardus has a blog entitled, ‘Advice for Betsy DeVos From Canada’.  If you like to nerd it out a bit on the policy front, then Cardus is a good place to peak at.

On to Foreign Policy: Nicholas Eberstadt writing for Fox News Opinion discusses ‘How to really deal with the North Korean nuclear threat’.  Excerpt:

As bizarre and satire-prone as the North Korean regime’s buffoonish-looking Kim Jong-Un and his servile courtiers may be, Pyongyang’s leadership is neither irrational nor suicidal. The rationale behind this confrontation would actually be to achieve a maximum of strategic gain with a minimum of actual destruction and violence.

The basic idea is to force Washington to blink in an escalating crisis on the Korean peninsula—a crisis of Pyongyang’s own making, at a time and under circumstances of Pyongyang’s own choosing.

TECH: Uber Hires Veteran NASA Engineer to Develop Flying Cars

TECH: WHY HOLLYWOOD AS WE KNOW IT IS ALREADY OVER (h/t Lisa W.) This was really a great read – highly recommend!

Funny! From Aimee Byrd:  ‘How John Owen Proposed to His Wife’ (h/t my Kate)…”That he who possesses a happy wife doth, as spake some philosopher, possess also a happy life.”

Popular in my Facebook feed this week, from National Geographic: Why All the Cool Kids Love Columbus, Ohio.  Oh ya!  I love me some CBUS bragging!

Fascinating stuff from Atlas Obscura: Watch a Massive Swirling Tornado of Tuna.

SCOTUS Watch…from Ramesh Ponnuru writing for National Review: Neil Gorsuch: A Worthy Heir to Scalia 

From Jon Bloom over at Desiring God: Your Weakness is Not Meaningless…excerpt: “What do our limitations have to do with love? Just about everything. Because the way God made us, we always experience love most in the places where grace is most needed. This is true both in how we receive love (from God and others), and in how we give love.”

In Case You Missed it: A good Q&A with R.C. Sproul from January has been posted up on Ligonier’s website here. 

Literature Alert: A Tale of Two Tolkiens. This is about the grandson of the famed novelist who has come out with a new novel himself. The novel is somewhat inspired by the real life events of his grandfather.

John Piper addresses the Old Testament’s relevance: Which Old-Testament Promises Apply to Me?   SAMPLE TASTING re: 2 Chronicles 7:14…

Therefore, the application we make of this verse is not that if Christians will repent God will heal America. We have no such promise in the Bible. Rather, if Christians repent, turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves, and pray to God, he will do a mighty work in and through the church however he please.

Christians – please soak that in.  If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard Christians preach, pray and claim 2 Chron. 7:14 in a way that pertained to America, then I would have paid for my kids’ college by now. However, Piper goes wider than this, and looks at more examples, so it worth considering what he is saying here, and thoughtfully applying it to other such passages.

Books…Here’s where you can find the books I’ve read and/or am reading right now. This week I read several short stories adapted from Shakespeare with my kiddos, and also finished Paul Tripp’s ‘Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands’ as well as Bauer’s ‘The History of the Ancient World’. I’m half way through two biographies, one on Elon Musk, and one on Michael Jordan. Both have been very enjoyable thus far!  I’m also about a third of the way through Roger Christian’s book on industrial art and set creation for Star Wars, which has been insightful, but really poorly written. Speaking of poorly written, after 40 or so pages in ‘We Two’, a biography looking at the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, I had to put it down. It was so scatter-brained and poorly executed that I couldn’t take anymore assault on my senses.  Short stories from the week included Oscar Wilde’s ‘Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime’ and Sir Walter Scott’s ‘The Tapestried Chamber’, both of which were interesting – Wilde’s short book was pretty amusing but ended in a disappointed fashion – it almost seemed Wodehouse-like in its humor.

That’s it!  I hope you enjoy your weekend!

PJW