The Fulcrum: how Reagan was the pivotal point in conservatism
The Near Miss
He lost the nomination by a clean count, then stole the room anyway with an unscripted five-minute speech.
The Speech Before "The Speech"
Goldwater's own advisers didn't want Reagan on the air. One rich Californian wrote a personal check and put him there anyway. Episode IV
October 3, 2026 - Week in Review
The posts from the week of September 26 through October 3. We are going to do a deep and LONG series on the sainted one of the right, Ronnie Reagan.
Selling General Electric
$125,000 a year, in 1954, to host a TV show. The agency that arranged it owed its whole television business to a waiver he signed himself.
The Liberal Anti-Communist
Before the conservative, before the Republican, there was a man whose father got his job from Roosevelt's own patronage machine. That part never really left him.
The Actor Who Wasn't Quite a Star
A lifeguard chair, a dead wire, a line about losing your legs that became his memoir's title. The making of Ronald Reagan starts long before anyone was watching.
New Series - Reagan as the Fulcrum
Introducing a dive into the Reagan mythos. THe good, the bad, and the downright ugly. Three acts, from his acting days, through his performance of a lifetime, to the canonization and saint hood. No shiboleths spared
September 26, 2026 - Week in Review
Only one post the week from September 19 - 26.
That Tipping Sign...
People love to bitch about all the hands out seeking tips. Most of those who bitch really don't understand why service workers are underpaid, and how we got here.
September 19, 2026 - The Week in Review
Posts from the week of September 12 - 19, 2026. Immigration, electoral fuckery, and DHH as this week's "This Fucking Guy"
This Fucking Guy: David Heinemeier Hansson
DHH wrote "there's no quid pro quo here" and then described the quid in the next sentence. That's the whole piece in one paragraph.
The Bloody Hand of the Pope
Every time one exclusion fell in nineteenth-century America, another one rose to take its place, usually enacted by the people who had just finished climbing out from under the last one.
You Bought the Ticket
A judge confirmed at fifty-five can't borrow the naivety of the twenty-four-year-old who first got noticed. Neither, really, can anyone else.