MANY remarkable photos and videos of the aftermath of the riots in London can be found here. Residents of Tottenham began lighting cars on fire, tossing Molotov cocktails and looting stores after a policeman killed a black man who shot at them. This is the hero (below) for whom the black rioters were seeking justice. He is described simply by the New York Times as a “father of four.”

Police were seen running away from the rioters. The Daily Mail describes the aftermath:

One police officer, asked by an elderly resident why more had not been done to stop the rioters, replied: ‘The way we look at it, we’re damned if we do, we’re damned if don’t.’ Read More »

JEREMY writes:

I recently read several posts and commentary about sexual harmony in marriage on your website and I thought that my experiences might provide some insights.

My wife and I are in our late twenties and have been married for nearly five years. Read More »

I HAVE BEEN away for two days and without Internet access. I will be posting comments that I received during that time shortly.

LARRY B. writes:

Of all the conditions that Republicans put on their conservatism, I can’t think of one as maddening or outrageous as the caveat: “I am against abortion except in cases of rape or incest.” 

Since 1976 both parties have allowed federal funding of abortions in cases of rape or incest, and then the recent Hyde Amendment was also dropped by the Republicans, which would have curtailed such funding (not even ended it entirely).

Read More »

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MARIA writes:

I feel there are parallels between the situation of your reader who no longer finds her husband desirable and my own. I am also in my late twenties and married five years.

My husband, two months after our second child was born, confessed to twice, on separate occasions while I was visiting relatives, arranging a rendezvous with someone else. (Once he kept his engagement, but left upon arrival; the second time he never went.) I forgave him immediately, but it took a long time for me to trust him again. I felt horrible doing it, especially since I had forgiven him, but I “checked” his email for months. I knew he knew and I’m thankful he was patient and understood that he needed to gain my trust again, and never said anything to me about it. Read More »

JEFF W. writes:

Your recent discussion on day care brought this quote to mind:

Pair marriage is monopolistic. It produces an exclusive family, and nourishes family pride and ambition…Pair marriage is also individualistic. It is the barrier against which all socialism breaks into dust. As the cost of a family increases, the connection between family and capital becomes more close and vital. Every socialist who can think is forced to go on to a war on marriage and the family, because he finds that in marriage and the family lie the strongholds of the ‘individualistic vices’ which he cannot overcome. He has to mask this battery, however, because he dare not openly put it forward.

From Folkways by William Graham Sumner (1906).

IS A WHITE PERSON who rejects multiculturalism and wants to preserve the culture of his ancestors a “white nationalist?” The label has an unsavory connotation. Writing at The American Thinker, Jared Taylor, editor of American Renaissance, explains why it’s hard to find the right word. He writes:

Whites who do not accept the current — and, I might add, very recent — orthodoxy on race have been called many things, but the reason there is no agreed-upon name for them is that they are expressing views that were so taken for granted by earlier generations of Americans that there was no need for a name. Read More »

HURRICANE BETSY writes:

Your recent commentary on feminine practical clothing got me going. I think that I recall you saying that you didn’t have enough aprons. I found this, and it seems that it would really do the job. Read More »

DIANA writes:

I do not think Amy Winehouse’s death is any kind of watershed. The monstrous machine will go on and on, until the entire economic system crashes. The possible rewards of show business look so glittering that there will always be legions of young dummies willing to sacrifice their youth for them. Read More »

IN FEBRUARY, a feminist blogger reviewed the PBS documentary Southern Belle. She was shaken to the core: Read More »

Bowl of Citrons, Giovanna Garzoni

THE GARDEN
by Andrew Marvell

How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays;
And their uncessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow-vergèd shade
Does prudently their toils upbraid;
While all the flowers and trees do close
To weave the garlands of repose.

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence, thy sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men:
Your sacred plants, if here below,
Only among the plants will grow;
Society is all but rude,
To this delicious solitude. Read More »

BUCK O. writes:

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, the British writer Peter Hitchens called the British National Party a “delusional cult” because it limited membership to whites. In response, Lawrence Auster wrote:

So BNP limits membership to whites. Therefore BNP members are “outside the rules of reason,” they are a “delusional cult,” they are people who “specifically reject reason and truth in their discourse” and who “cannot really be treated as if they are civilised participants in the national debate,” and therefore instead of debating or talking civilly with them, one just treats them with mocking contempt.

What’s wrong with that? Read More »

KENDRA writes:

I read your recent post on the PBS documentary on the “Southern Belle” girls camp in the south.

I am not sure if you are familiar with the “Girls Rock” band camp phenomenon that is sweeping the nation, but there are camps hosted in many large cities now. Read More »

ERIC writes:

Your post on the women reclaiming lost identities as Southern Belles was a fine counterpoint to the stories about the untimely death of singer Amy Winehouse. I have a hunch that Winehouse’s unhappy life and wretched death are a watershed of sorts, a point at which the tide begins to recede. Read More »