Anything Heavy

National Review gets it wrong again, Elon Musk against the regime, and more.

Canva

My son likes to find the biggest stones his little hands can hold to throw in the brook. I watch him search as the water babbles by and discern which rock is just big enough to make the desired splash. He squats to dig his fingers into the sand and pries his gem from the earth and heaves it over to the edge. Plop. He stands on the bank, watching the sunlight glint on the ripples like dollops of gold, just long enough to admire his work before returning to toil for a new stone. I think of that line from the movie “Heat”: “I’m a cowboy, looking for anything ‘heavy.’”

Like my son, I write and talk about topics like the Russo-Ukrainian War because I enjoy lifting heavy things and, in this case, somebody needs to do it. Until it’s over, I will split my time between covering that and domestic issues.

Iraq Versus Ukraine: Warmongers Get It Wrong Again | Washington Times

by Pedro Gonzalez

Amid rising costs of food and fuel and an immigration crisis and a crime wave, National Review's Rich Lowry rebuked Americans calling for restraint toward the war in Ukraine as “neo-isolationists.” I published a response to him in The Washington Times.

Who Really Committed War Crimes in Bucha? | American Greatness

by Christopher Roach

“For all the ink spilled in condemning what is being called the Bucha Massacre, one wonders if the calls for war crimes trials and claims that the responsible government is illegitimate would be withdrawn if it turns out not Vladimir Putin and Russia, but Voldomyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, were responsible for whatever took place in Bucha. The question answers itself.”

Budapest: You Can’t Build Anything Down | The American Conservative

by Bradley Devlin

While America and the West are fixated on what they should tear down, Hungary looks to build up by restoring its architectural beauty.

French Presidential Election Déjà Vu | Chronicles

by Srdja Trifkovic

Marine Le Pen stands a strong chance of unseating Emmanuel Macron in France’s election, with polls showing Macron’s lead narrowing. Her gains have embarrassed the country’s main political parties, which are utterly worthless and rotten to the core.

The Democrats’ Twisted Priorities on Crime | The Spectator

by Amber Athey

Their “criminal justice reform” policies keep enabling the bad guys.

Averting Our Eyes | City Journal

by Heather Mac Donald

The New York subway massacre has roots in mental illness, but the Brooklyn shooter’s delusions were likely fed by the relentless cultivation of racial resentment.

Elon Musk Versus the Regime | Contra

by Pedro Gonzalez

Elon Musk effectively declared war on the established political order when he suggested wresting control of one of its main tools for maintaining and manufacturing consensus.

Musk for Democracy | IM—1776

by Auron MacIntyre

“It is hard for our elites to continue to justify their rule through fictions like ‘free enterprise’, ‘democracy’, or ‘the marketplace of ideas’ when they are willing to so blatantly subvert those institutions the moment their power is challenged. Even if this gambit fails, Musk deserves credit for putting the whole rotten mess on display for all to see.”

Twitter and the War of Oligarchs | COMPACT

by Geoff Shullenberger

“A less censorious Twitter is desirable in itself, as is the emergence of any meaningful challenge to the conformity that stifles cultural and intellectual life. But a less censorious internet also risks obscuring how power is really exercised in a world where the so-called public square is a patchwork of privatized ideological fiefdoms.”

Bullet Points

Reuters: “U.S. monthly producer prices increased by the most in more than 12 years in March amid strong demand for goods and services, the latest sign of persistently high inflation that could compel the Federal Reserve to aggressively tighten monetary policy.”

Washington Times: “The U.S. Treasury announced Thursday that it collected more than $2.1 trillion in taxes between October 2021 and March of this year. The figure is the first time in history that tax collection has exceeded more than $2 trillion over six months.”

AAA: “As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine continues, crude prices soar, leading to higher pump prices in the U.S. The national average for a gallon of gas is $4.06, a staggering 45 cents more than a week ago, 62 cents more than a month ago and $1.30 more than a year ago. The national average has not been this high since July 2008.”

Bloomberg: Western countries supplying Ukraine with weapons are depleting their own arsenals needed for national defense.

CBS News: The Council on Criminal Justice reported a 30 percent increase in homicides nationwide in 2020, a 5 percent increase in 2021, and “about the same level of increase into this year.”

---

Here is a media roundup.

The Historical Roots of the Russo-Ukrainian War with Sean McMeekin | Contra

Sean McMeekin is the Francis Flournoy Professor of European History at Bard College and the author of “Stalin’s War: A New History of World War II.” He joins me for this episode to discuss his latest article for Chronicles, “Putin, Russia, and Ukraine: Historical Roots of a Tragedy.”

Sidebar with Senior Writer at Chronicles, Pedro Gonzalez | Viva & Barnes

This interview is partly biographical. I enjoyed talking with these two. We went over Ukraine and conservatism.

The Ukraine Agenda | Monica Matthews

Monica Matthews was kind enough to bring me on her show to talk about my reporting on Ukraine.