Author Archive: Paul Epps

It’s a Short List

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I keep a list. Whenever someone in Washington does something admirable, something not for political advantage but for the country, I write that person’s name on the list. It’s a short list. — James Hankins Read more →

We Are Led by Idiots

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It’s hard to contemplate American public life in the 21st century and not arrive at the unhappy conclusion that we are led by idiots. The political class has lately produced an impressive string of debacles: the Afghanistan pullout, urban crime waves, easily foreseen inflation, mayhem at the southern border, a self-generated energy crisis, a pandemic response that wrought little good and vast ruin. Then there are the perennial national embarrassments: a mind-bogglingly expensive welfare state that doesn’t work, public schools that make kids dumber, universities that nurture destructive grievances and noxious ideologies, and a news media nobody trusts. — Barton Swaim Read more →

I Heard the News Today, Oh Boy

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I’m getting a little tired of presidents of the United States repeating things that could only be spoken by an idiot or a liar, and then trying to intimidate people out of contradicting them. The latest (though of course not the most egregious) offender is one Joseph R. Biden, who told the country today that he can raise corporate income taxes without imposing any additional tax burden on anyone who earns less than $400,000 a year. Because in the United States of America, nobody with an income under $400,000 owns any stocks or mutual funds. And if you disagree, he’ll stare you in the face and repeat himself. — Steven Landsburg Joe Manchin has also taken up the banner on this. I don’t know enough about Manchin to say whether he’s economically illiterate or a liar or both. (I don’t think Biden is an idiot, though he’s obviously cognitively dysfunctional.)… Read more →

Whatever Happened to Tomboys?

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“Tomboy,” when I was a kid, was a word that you heard all the time to refer to girls who preferred wearing jeans and climbing trees to more traditional girlish attire and activities. Probably most of them grew up to be heterosexual women, some of them grew up to be lesbians . . . I wish them all the best. (Of course there were also boys who didn’t like sports and other boyish activities although I don’t remember a polite term that we used for them.) Whatever happened to tomboys? I can’t remember hearing the word for quite a long time now. Today these girls would be put on the “trans kid” fast track, which to me is regrettable and senseless. Read more →

LinkedIn Recommendation, First Draft

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One of the most distinguished and highly reputable dignitaries in our national economy. Not only an inspired and enthusiastic creator of material assets but he is also an outstanding figure, a national benefactor, author of good deeds, in fact a patron commanding nationwide gratitude: aere perennius, full of good deeds and charitable activity, unprecedented in the annals of our more recent past, an exemplary and significant figure, meritorious public worker and pioneer. Too much? Read more →

This Day in History: Apollo 11 Landing

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On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 touched down on the moon. Pictured above, as most of you know, are Neil Armstrong on the left, Buzz Aldrin on the right, and kind of the forgotten man, Michael Collins, who piloted the lunar orbiter while Armstrong and Aldrin were on the moon. Neil Armstrong has a degree from the University of Southern California, as do I. What else do Armstrong and I have in common? Well . . . we’ve both been to the moon! OK, I lied about the moon. Maybe it’s just the USC degree. FIGHT ON! Read more →

Happy Bastille Day — Now THAT Was an Insurrection!

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Happy Bastille Day! The anniversary of the storming of the Bastille—a military fortress and prison—in 1789 by a violent mob is one of the defining moments in the fall of the monarchy, or the ancien régime, as they say in France. Check my facts but this was followed by the formation of a July 14 Commission to investigate the insurrection. Bastille Day is celebrated by parades, fireworks, flags, etc. — like our own Independence Day, which also celebrates a violent insurrection. They don’t make insurrections like they used to, I tell you. Read more →

Real Wealth is Life Without Assholes

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Uh, don’t hate all rich people. They’re not all awful. Believe me, I know some evil poor people, too. We need some rich people: Who else is going to back our movies or buy our art? I’m rich! I don’t mean money-wise. I mean that I have figured out how to never be around assholes at any time in my personal and professional life. That’s rich. And not being around assholes should be the goal of every graduate here today. It’s OK to hate the poor, too, but only the poor of spirit, not wealth. A poor person to me can have a big bank balance but is stupid by choice – uncurious, judgmental, isolated and unavailable to change. I’m also sorry to report there’s no such thing as karma. So many of my talented great friends are dead and so many of the fools I’ve met and loathed are… Read more →

Trump’s Second Term

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Donald Trump is having a pretty good second term for someone who wasn’t elected. Several favorable Supreme Court rulings while Biden continues to mess things up at home and abroad as predicted . . . Read more →

A Moment of Love

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Everything was worn out about people: they complained about debts; they were involved in gossip; they had five-storied houses built; they traded in large objects; they bought ships, mines, vineyards; at bridge parties they lamented worriedly and falsely about being too busy; everybody talked about his work, whereas, in fact, nobody did anything; people played bridge and for whole nights groaned for a moment of love. — Miroslav Krleža, On the Edge of Reason Read more →

You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good. — Jerry West

Julian Assange and the Farce of US Press Freedoms

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The eleven-year persecution of Julian Assange was extended and escalated on Friday morning. The British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, approved the U.S.’s extradition request to send Julian Assange to Virginia to stand trial on eighteen felony charges under the 1917 Espionage Act and other statutes in connection with the 2010 publication by WikiLeaks of thousands of documents showing widespread corruption, deceit, and war crimes by American and British authorities along with their close dictatorial allies in the Middle East. This decision is unsurprising — it has been obvious for years that the U.S. and UK are determined to destroy Assange as punishment for his journalism exposing their crimes — yet it nonetheless further highlights the utter sham of American and British sermons about freedom, democracy and a free press. . . . But putting oneself in Assange’s position, it is easy to see why he is so eager to avoid… Read more →

Mayor Pete’s Definition of Insanity

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Pete Buttigieg Calls ‘Door’ Solution To Mass Shootings ‘Definition Of Insanity’ — huffpost.com Mayor Pete’s timing was not ideal as a few days later, a man aggressively trying to enter an Alabama elementary school was shot and killed by police. He couldn’t get in because the doors were locked. It seems like any serious solution to school shootings would have to include multiple steps, one being hardening the physical security at the school. Does Mayor Pete lock the doors of his home? Does he lock the doors of his car if he doesn’t want anyone getting into it? But locking the doors of a school is the “definition of insanity”? Read more →

“People Who Menstruate …”

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“Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.” – George Orwell https://t.co/uPOyP7aHDQ — Paul Epps (@paulepps) June 14, 2022 Read more →

Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.— William Faulkner

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