I must admit, I’ve been a bit stunned by the negative reaction to President Trump’s announcement of troop withdrawal from Syria. I’ve never been a Trump supporter, but I also wish him and the country well. It’s quite possible that this withdrawal is a bad idea for all involved. Two men I respect immensely–John Zmirak and Eric Metaxas–have been writing this on twitter over the last 24 hours.

There are three terrible problems, though, that the United States has simply not come to grips with. First, we’ve not been in a constitutionally-sanctioned war since 1946, when Congress announced the end of our involvement in World War II. And, second, deeply related to the first, we’ve turned all of our war-making abilities over to the Executive, in direct violation of the letter and spirit of the Constitution. And, finally, third, we’ve been in almost constant war since President Bush’s invasion of Iraq in early 1991.

I’m no pacifist, and I believe war is often inevitable and necessary in this world. Yet, there’s a very good reason why the Founders placed the war-making ability in the hands of Congress, not in the hands of the Executive. If we go to war, it must be because the American people has a whole have decided that we must be at war. We should never take the killing of another–no matter how foreign–lightly. We must wrestle mightily with such decisions. We have avoided all such decisions since 1946.

I’m also aghast at how many people turned a blind eye to Obama’s atrocities abroad but now see Trump’s *reduction* of our presence abroad as a horror for all involved.

Zmirak and Metaxas might very well be right–that we should be in Syria.

If so, those who believe such should make the case to the entire American people, and declare it to the world. As it is, the pro-war forces have had their way for the past 27 years, and I’m tired of it. Very, very tired of it. The pro-war forces are, for all intents and purposes, the boy who cried wolf.

left-wing rapper just gave me an early Christmas present
— Read on mailchi.mp/tomwoods/talib-kweli

Hilarious. What a dolt.

Despite their obscurity, “The Rape of Lucrece” and “Venus and Adonis” were Shakespeare’s best-sellers. But why were these poems so wildly popular? (essay by Dwight Longenecker)
— Read on theimaginativeconservative.org/2018/12/underground-shakespeare-clare-asquith-dwight-longenecker.html

It’s the end of the year, and 2018 is coming to a close. Over the course of the last several months, we’ve highlighted several useful Mac and…
— Read on www.macrumors.com/2018/12/21/best-mac-ios-apps-2018/amp/

Six Colors by Jason Snell and Dan Moren
— Read on sixcolors.com/post/2018/12/my-current-keyboard-vortex-race-3/

One of my storage obsessions is finding a great keyboard. After all, it is to writers what a guitar is to rock bands. Nice review from one of my favorite tech writers, Jason Snell.–Brad

The Appeal of a Well-Simmered Life | Front Porch Republic
— Read on www.frontporchrepublic.com/2018/12/the-appeal-of-a-well-simmered-life/

It’s five a.m., and I’m wide awake. Again. Was it a dream that woke me or the Christmas lights shining in my window? Usually I can squeeze one more sleep cycle in before rising for the day. In fact, I haven’t consistently or voluntarily been up this early since high school, when my morning toilette…
— Read on kindredmag.com/2018/12/21/light-in-the-darkness/

The establishment of a newly independent Ukrainian Orthodox church could have serious geopolitical implications.
— Read on www.nationalreview.com/2018/12/orthodox-church-of-ukraine-geopolitical-implications/

I will happily admit, I never understand when folks try to define the West by skin color, skin tone, ethnicity, or some other random accident of life. It’s not about race, it’s about an idea. The West is, ultimately, about human dignity, liberty, and self-sacrifice.

Here’s Dawson on the issue.

“I still profoundly convinced of the importance of the need for the defence of the West, though it is important not to understand the expression in too narrow a political and geographical sense, as is often done.  In my view the West is a cultural tradition like that of Hellenism and one which has an even wider and more universal mission.  Now if in the time of the Persian War not only Ionia and Thebes had ‘medized’ but Athens also, and Sparta had been left to stand alone, as were after Dunkirk, the Spartans would have been justified in saying that they stood for the defense of Hellenism, even though Hellenism was a far wider thing than Sparta and Spartan culture by itself was not to be identified with Hellenic culture.  And if the Scythians or the Acedonians had risen against Xerxes and attacked his rear, and the Lacedemonians could have accepted their alliance with gratitude without feeling that they had ceased to stand for the cause of Hellenism.  One can extend the parallel by recalling that just as the defence of the West is being carried on today by the Americans and the Australians in the Pacific so in the days of the Persian War, Hiero was defending Hellenism against the Etruscans and the Carthaginians in the Western Mediterranean.  These are the Wars of the Gentiles.  But we must surely admit that there were spiritual issues in the struggle between the Persians and the Greeks, and so it is today though the issues for us are not so simple as for the men who fought at Thermopylae and Plataeae.”

—Christopher Dawson to Walter Zander, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, 12 May 1942