Monthly Archives: February 2017

(Trump) Soft Religion Soft Fascist (Speech to Congress)

Posted on February 28, 2017 by

Full of soft religion and soft fascism, the Trump speech to Congress will do much to normalize this presidency if Trump can continue to stick to script. The transcript  is here. The tone was soothing and pitch perfect, the vision … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | 1 Comment

Trump Cemetery Desecration (Toppled)

Posted on February 27, 2017 by

Trump turns America over.

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Carl Schmitt, Donald Trump, and Academic Poltical Theory

Posted on February 27, 2017 by

It was always a grotesque intellectual alliance. Since about 9/11, academic political theorists on the left, including so-called political theologians, have jumped to the ultra-conservative and fascist and Nazi-leaning German Carl Schmitt. They did so for a host of concepts … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | 5 Comments

Statue of Liberty Welcomes Refugees

Posted on February 21, 2017 by

(apparently for real)

Posted in uncategorized | 3 Comments

Interview with William Kolbrener- The Last Rabbi: Joseph Soloveitchik

Posted on February 21, 2017 by

Originally posted on The Book of Doctrines and Opinions::
What would a literary critical approach look like if applied to Orthodox Jewish texts? What if the texts chosen for a critical theory treatment were the writings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik…

Posted in uncategorized | 1 Comment

(Trump) Cemetery Desecration (Missouri 2017)

Posted on February 21, 2017 by

Across the country and up into the White House, what’s new is the scale of the new anti-Semitism. Trump America looks like anti-Semites vandalizing 170 to 200 gravestones at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, Missouri near St. Louis. … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The Political Messianic Idea Is An Incoherent Mess (Joseph Klausner)

Posted on February 20, 2017 by

Going in, I thought that reading Joseph Klausner’s The Messianic Idea in Israel from Its Beginning to the Completion of the Mishnah would be just a professional chore, a look at an antiquarian piece of ideological historiography. An oddball of … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged | 1 Comment

Netanyahu Rejects Regional Peace Plan & Jewish State Idea (2016) (Timeline)

Posted on February 18, 2017 by

Based on leaked story from officials in the Obama Administration, this article by Barak Ravid in Ha’aretz puts the lie to any claim that it was the Palestinians, and not Israel, who destroyed prospects for a two state solution. The … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | 1 Comment

New Antisemitism in American Politics (Trump and Turx)

Posted on February 17, 2017 by

This is a sea change in the public sphere of American and American-Jewish political life. Watch the exchange posted below between Trump and journalist Jake Turx. The President expects a “friendly” question from Turx, obviously, because Turx is an orthodox … Continue reading →

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Choose Life: Deuteronomy and Environmentalism

Posted on February 16, 2017 by

Originally posted on affecognitive:
We just passed the sixth Sunday after Epiphany and I find that the well-known injunction from Deuteronomy—“Choose life so that you and your descendants may live”—falls easily into the slipstream of the review I am organizing…

Posted in uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments