A major solar storm is expected to slam into Earth tonight, potentially causing vibrant Northern Lights displays but also raising concerns about possible power outages. Scientists are calling the event a ‘cannibal’ solar storm, which takes place when one massive cloud of charged particles ejected from the sun overtakes and merges with an earlier solar […]

Indian e-commerce startup Citymall, which focuses on budget-focused grocery delivery for tier 2 and tier 3 towns, said today that it has raised $47 million in Series D funding led by Accel, with participation from existing investors including Waterbridge Ventures, Citius, General Catalyst, Elevation Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, and Jungle Ventures. The Series D round […]

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Politics Twenty Years of ‘Rome’ John Milius’s late masterpiece is still the standard against which every historical televisual art is judged.  I was reminded by social media that HBO’s Rome aired for the first time 20 years ago today, on August 28, 2005. For all practical purposes, 1999 to 2008 seems to be the peak of historical TV series and movies: Troy, Master and Commander, The Patriot, Gladiator, Deadwood, Kingdom of Heaven, Apocalypto, Passion of the Christ, Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Band of Brothers, Enemy at the Gates, The Last Samurai, and even foreign films such as Downfall and Malena. As historical fictions, despite some artistic freedom, they were mostly true to source material, aesthetically pleasing, and not stupidly “woke.”  It was also when millennials such as myself were coming of age, and neoconservatism was at its zenith. Rome is undoubtedly the standard against which every such series is still judged. Beautifully created by John Milius, two soldiers—Lucius Vorenus, played by Kevin McKidd, and Titus Pullo, played by the now-departed Ray Stevenson—find themselves at the end of an order and beginning of the next. As the republic of Rome was dying to give birth to an ever greater empire, America after 9/11 was getting into its own imperial adventures.  A history professor of mine once told me that the story of Rome is ever resonant because nothing happening around us is new, but has in some way already happened in the span of two thousand years of Roman history. In a way, we are still relitigating all major political battles, the questions of power and the questions of loyalty.  One of the most memorable moments of the series is when Caesar marches into Italy; Marc Antony comments that he seems unflappable entering Rome as a bloodstained conqueror. Caesar answers calmly that he’s glad it appears so. Political action, even then, was about propriety and prudence and not just bravado. What the public sees is as important for a politician as what a politician actually does.  Is governance by a swarm of faceless midwit technocrats truly better than one Caesar? What if you’re not in the good graces of Caesar, and James Madison’s (and Cicero’s) warning comes to pass? Who holds real power? In a republic, power should be in the hands of the people’s representatives: Cum potestas in populo, auctoritas in senatu sit, as Cicero said. Nothing more or less. And yet we get a choice of unchecked rampant populism, sometimes through the basest form of democracy, and sometimes through rank technocracy, and a senatorial class without virtue or good faith.  A statue of Caesar—C Ivlio Caesari Dict Perpetuo—is still standing in old pagan Rome next to the Colosseum, just as Madison’s statue is in the Library of Congress in the new Rome. Both silently mock bureaucracy. The debate, even after 2000 years, isn’t quite settled. HBO’s Rome ran for two seasons and was abruptly discontinued. The official cause was that it was expensive and had low ratings. An average episode cost around $9 million, and it showed. The dedication of the actors were also evident. Ray Stevenson bought Tom Holland’s Rubicon and distributed it to fellow actors as research material. “We had a field trip to Pompeii too—walked along the streets, looked at the graffiti that existed at that time,” Stevenson said at an interview. “It was my first time in Rome and to actually walk the streets and sit in places like Campo Di Fiore and Piazza Navona and close your eyes, you hear and smell a mixture of accents and food. A real melting pot, which Rome was then too.” It is dreadful how historical fiction has deteriorated into memes and slop for our dopamine-addicted society. It is a disservice to current and future generations. Between the ahistorical, woke adaptations of the lives of Anne Boleyn and Cleopatra on the one hand and online anons lecturing how every successful empire or society was ethno-nationalist (a laughable contention on its face) and harassing historians who dare to challenge the mob on the other, it is a deranged time to live. But Rome remains. The success of the series was partially due to its time.  The two eras of good historical art were the 1950s to early 1960s (Ben Hur, The Guns of Navarone, The Ten Commandments, etc.) and the early- to mid-aughts. The former came in the formative years of the Cold War, and the latter in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Good historical art often always comes with a positive, optimistic, and unifying interpretation or narrative. But the other part is that good art needs to be based on truth. Of all the moments from the Rome series, and there many, one particular and relatively insignificant one stands out to me. Lucius Vorenus’ speech in Aventine for local magistrate election ahead of Caesar’s triumph, was interrupted by a heckler who called him a ginger knob. “I’ll not deny, friend, I have a Gallic look about me, but I’m as solid a Roman as anyone!” he replies. Vorenus reminds everyone that he has shed his blood for Rome, and his forefathers before him. Loyalty to the land beneath one’s feet should be the ultimate measure of citizenship—as then, so now. The post Twenty Years of ‘Rome’ appeared first on The American Conservative.

Politics Pat Buchanan Belongs Among the Conservative Movement’s Greatest Heroes President Donald Trump should award the America First patriot the Medal of Freedom. Pat Buchanan speaks at a Christian Coalition Rally in 1996. (Brooks Kraft LLC/Sygma via Getty Images) In 1963, when President John F. Kennedy gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom its name, he said that “in a period when the national government must call upon an increasing portion of the talents and energies of its citizens, it is clearly appropriate to provide ways to recognize and reward the work of persons, within and without the government, who contribute significantly to the quality of American life.” Today, our country is in even greater need of such virtuous citizens—of heroic men and women who can serve as examples of what it means to defend the republic, renew our culture, and reclaim America’s destiny. That’s why we are calling on President Donald Trump to grant the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation’s highest civilian honor, to one of the most prophetic voices of conservatism: Patrick J. Buchanan. Pat Buchanan is a towering figure in American statesmanship. Six decades of public service—from his early days as a young speechwriter for Richard Nixon to his hard-charging campaigns for the presidency—would alone qualify him for the nation’s highest honor. But what sets Buchanan apart, what makes him uniquely deserving of this recognition, is that he is one of the great pioneers of what we now call America First conservatism. He foresaw, long before others, nearly every political crisis and cultural challenge that animates the country today. When the political class was busy declaring “the end of history” in the 1990s, Buchanan was warning that mass migration would erode our national identity, that reckless interventions abroad would sap our strength, and that “free trade” deals like NAFTA would gut the American working class and hollow out our industrial heartland. Looking back now, his speeches read like prophecy. His famous “Culture War” address to the 1992 Republican National Convention—derided by elites at the time—warned of the relentless advance of the Left’s social agenda: abortion on demand, the degradation of religious liberty, women in combat units, and the redefinition of the family.  When he accepted the Reform Party nomination in 2000, Buchanan spoke words that now ring truer than ever: There has to be one party that will stand up for our sovereignty and stand up for our workers and stand by those folks being sacrificed on the altar of the global economy. There has to be one party that will defend America’s history and heritage and heroes against the Visigoths and Vandals of multiculturalism. There has to be one party willing to drive the money changers out of the temples of our civilization. The elites scoffed. The uniparty jeered. But Buchanan never stopped speaking for the forgotten men and women of this country. As President Trump himself knows, boldness on behalf of the American people is always met by opposition from Washington’s uniparty establishment. And Buchanan endured more than his fair share of it. The neoconservative gatekeepers of the 1990s—men like Norman Podhoretz, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, and George Will—dismissed him as a nativist, a protectionist, and an antisemitic isolationist. They said his ideas were beyond the pale of “respectable” conservatism. They worked to marginalize him, to push his voice out of the movement he helped build. Even William F. Buckley joined in on the criticism, levelling a spurious accusation of antisemitism against Buchanan. And though National Review gave Buchanan a “tactical endorsement” only a few months later, the damage had been done. In hindsight, we can see that Buckley’s attempt to police the conservative movement, rather than engage in an intellectually honest debate about foreign policy, hindered one of its greatest champions. We must learn from this mistake. Here’s the truth: Pat Buchanan was always closer to the American people than were his critics. Out on the campaign trail, rubbing elbows with factory workers, small business owners, and churchgoing families, he understood their hopes and fears in a way that his critics never could. And despite every charge thrown at him, Buchanan’s words and actions were always animated by love—love for his country, love for its people, and a belief that America could and must be renewed. In a 2017 interview, Buchanan humbly reflected on his legacy: “The ideas made it, but I didn’t.” It’s time to change that. History has vindicated Buchanan—resoundingly, undeniably, time and again. His warnings about globalism, about the hollowing out of our industries, about the dangers of endless wars and cultural collapse, have proven prescient. And his courage, his willingness to endure mockery and scorn in defense of his principles, should be a lesson for every American who still believes in this country’s promise. Awarding Pat Buchanan the Presidential Medal of Freedom would not just honor a man—though doing so would be long overdue. It would also send an unmistakable message that the era of conservative timidity is over, that the movement which once censored and sidelined its boldest voices is gone for good. From now on, we will not apologize for loving this country. We will not apologize for defending its sovereignty, its borders, its families, its faith. And from now on, we will celebrate—not shun—the great Americans who paved the way for our renewal. Pat Buchanan belongs among the conservative movement’s greatest heroes. President Donald Trump should award him the Medal of Freedom. And every American who loves this country should stand and cheer when he does. The post Pat Buchanan Belongs Among the Conservative Movement’s Greatest Heroes appeared first on The American Conservative.

The following article, When Washington Gets Out of the Way – Energy Workers Deliver Results, was first published on Conservative Firing Line. After years of paying too much at the pump and hearing politicians in Washington tell us it was all Putin’s fault, American families are finally getting relief. The reason is simple: our energy workers have an administration that lets them do their jobs. The results are undeniable. This weekend, gas prices are the lowest they’ve … Continue reading When Washington Gets Out of the Way – Energy Workers Deliver Results ...

Lo-fi wizards. The post Beat Happening: the band that began with a single maraca first appeared on Far Out Magazine.

by Mish Shedlock, Mish Talk: This EO will be challenged immediately. Trump now wants to tell states how to conduct elections. The WSJ reports Trump Calls for Voter Identification for All U.S. Elections President Trump pledged to sign an executive order mandating that voters be required to present identification before casting ballots, widening his push to […]

We travel back to 1976 to spend time with AC/DC as they clamber the first few rungs on stardom’s greasy ladder

Diplomacy abandoned singer Steve Hogarth and keyboardist Mark Kelly in disagreement over 1995 artwork, which was later reinstated. In the end it was just another fight between mates