Our Lady of Mount Caramel  Dear Weekend Jolter, Praised be, you too have finally emerged from your stuffing coma. Oh, really? Well, I'm so sorry that the bloat continues to blur your vision. So as not to overtax your chubby peepers, we'll keep this edition of WJ short. But before we get to the links, I need to pay a homage to a sweet, cloistered, avid-NRO-reading nun who wrote a few weeks back that while she couldn't give moolah to the now-over Fall 2017 #30DaysHathBucktember webathon (thank you to all who did give – anyone who still wants to throw a few bucks at us for a variety of important projects can donate here) she would be praying mightily for NRO. A sucker for a nun prayer, I couldn't help but find out where she holed up: It's the Mississippi Abbey (in Dubuque, Iowa), home to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, who when not (and even while) at prayer -- or in my sister's case, while hanging out at The Corner -- are making amazing candy. I told sister that her Trappistine Creamy Caramels would get some WJ love. Check out the yum yum here. And Our Lady of Mount Carmel, I was just punning. I love you! No payback please! Editorials 1. In Merkel Marooned, NR looks at the harsh political realities now being faced by the German Chancellor, and says the "market-minded Free Democrat party" may have much to gain if new elections are called. 2. We cite the "welcome change" of the Federal Communications Commission undoing Obama-era regulations mandating "net neutrality." From the editorial: If Congress wants net neutrality, then Congress can pass a law and let the FCC enforce it. It isn't up to the FCC to create sweeping new policy on its own. That kind of lawlessness ran rampant in the Obama administration, and the Trump administration is undertaking important work in undoing it, from the FCC to the EPA. Podcastapalooza 1. On the Thanksgiving Week edition of The Remnant with Jonah Goldberg, our intrepid host is joined by Washington Free Beacon editor-in-chief and fellow conservative-history geek Matt Continetti to explore the past, present, and future of conservatism as an ideology and as a movement. They pick up heaping helpings of neoconservatism, paleoconservatism, libertarianism, and Reaganism. (Alas, no Sasquatch romance novel readings this week.) 2. On the new edition of The Liberty Files, David French and Alexandra DeSanctis explain the legal meaning of the claims against Al Franken, ask whether the modern moment will cause the culture to question the sexual revolution, and ponder the propriety of the "Pence Rule." 3. Bookmonger John J. Miller talks with author Hendrik Meijer about his fascinating biography, Arthur Vandenberg: The Man in the Middle of the American Century. (By the way, Jay Nordlinger gave the book a glowing review in a recent issue of NR.) 4. JJM the switches to his Great Books podcast hat and in the new episode discusses Gulliver's Travels with Hillsdale prof Dutton Kearney. 5. Political Beats boys Scot B and Jazzy Jeff welcome New York Times reporter Nick Confessore to discuss the groovy sounds of "rocker/country-rocker/all-around-hyperprolific-polymath" Ryan Adams. 6. Belly up to the bar and demand top shelf: There are plenty of Three Martini Lunch podcasts this week to enjoy. Check them out here. Eight NR Pieces You Must Check Out or I'll Make Sure that Your Mashed Potatoes Have Lumps 1. Lena Dunham, make like Marvin K. Mooney: Alexandra DeSanctis calls out the hypocrite for serial apologizing. From the piece: One has to wonder if Dunham will ever examine the glut of tearful apologies populating her Twitter and Instagram accounts and wonder if perhaps, just perhaps, she ought to give a bit of consideration to her off-the-cuff statements in advance, so as to eliminate the need for her semi-regular groveling. One could fill an entire piece with accounts of the scuffles for which Dunham has had to issue mournful atonement during the last year alone. 2. From his Thanksgiving Eve Morning Jolt, Jim Geraghty shares thoughts on some easily overlooked signs of a gradually improving country. 3. War without End, Amen. Well, not really on the "amen." In his new column, Victor Davis Hanson reflects on why "victory" seems so elusive. From his piece: . . .The classical rules of existential conflict rarely apply in the nuclear age, which explains why so often war becomes chronic and stalemated. Of course, in the future there may well be aberrations like Grenada or Panama or even Kosovo, or existential wars such as we'd see if North Korea launched a nuclear war or mounted a conventional invasion of South Korea -- such conflicts would resolve fairly quickly one way or another. But the idea that the United States can customarily win a war quickly without using its full power or marshalling public support remains difficult. And it's very rare that the U.S. faces existential threats prompting the full use of U.S. military superiority and earning the determination of an aggrieved public to purse unconditional surrender at any cost. 4. Josh Blackmun makes a case for the Trump administration to ask federal courts for an expedited ruling on the legality of DACA. 5. Ramesh Ponnuru files a strong rebuttal to the raspberries for capitalism now coming from First Things and its editor, Rusty Reno (a pal of us all). I recommend the entire piece, of course, but here is Ramesh's set-up (The "Novak" mentioned is our late friend, Michael): Now First Things is having second thoughts. A shift has been evident for a while, but the current editor, R. R. Reno, made it explicit with a recent article highlighting what he takes to be flaws in Novak's work -- flaws that he considers to have grown in importance over time. Novak, Reno says, underestimated the extent to which a free economy undermines democratic institutions and a Judeo-Christian moral ecology. It undermines self-government because it tends to reduce the scope of deliberation about the common good. "In some contexts," Reno complains, "economists and policymakers present free market principles as ironclad laws about which we have no choice. Dwindling manufacturing jobs, technological displacement, global flows of labor and capital -- we are told we have no alternative." We are told we must support a "rules-based international order" that is "technocratic" rather than democratic. And rich people, with preferences different from those of ordinary folk, have become ever more politically powerful. Reno mentions a source of anger and alarm for many social conservatives: the social liberalism of many prominent businessmen, which recasts intolerance of traditional views as tolerance. 6. Here's a wonderful interview on the "Wait No More" foster-care reform effort with Kathryn Jean Lopez and Kelly Rosati from Focus on the Family. 7. John Fund scopes out Japan's lost generation of economic growth. From his piece: Taxes contributed to that sorry slide, but over-regulation added to the problem: During a period of globalization and reform elsewhere in the world, the Japanese government bought controlling stakes in more than 50 large companies and failed to repeal Japan's anti-consumer policies. Even after a recent reduction in the tax rate, Japan has the second-highest corporate tax rate in the world. The only one that's higher is that of the U.S., and a reduction of our top rate is a central component of the tax-reform bill passed by the House last week. 8. Seems obvious, except that we may be in a Brave New World: Michael New writes in The Corner that Facebook should not be censoring pro-life groups. I Love Gatestone Institute My wife knows all about it. I urge all Jolterians to place Gatestone Institute on their radar screens. Every day, in a variety of languages, Gatestone serves up well-written, mucho-linked reports (from great writers including Douglas Murray and John Bolton) that cover much ground, but especially well Radical Islam on the march, particularly in Europe. For example, just this week there's Stefan Frank's piece: "Germany, Austria: Imams Warn Muslims Not to Integrate." The title says it all. As does the headline for this piece by Judith Bergman: "Turkey Islamizes Denmark with More Mosques." You can and should subscribe to Gatestone's daily briefing email newsletter here -- it provides news and analysis that are really quite important and rarely seen anywhere else. Gobble Gobble Burp No Baseballery or Twitter or Friends suggestions in this edition. I'm putting a stop to this since my blankety-blank computer is giving me a major case of acida. As surely yesterday's turkey did (really, it was the stuffing that gastro-knocked me into next week). So let's wrap this up, simply by wishing you and all those you love a post-facto Happy Thanksgiving, and as for my non-U.S. friends, all I can say is that I am so sorry for you that this exceptional day, and all that is wrapped up in it (except for the political disagreement with Cousin Rocco while he's passing you the cranberry sauce), proved to be just another Thursday. God bless, Jack Fowler P.S.: Do email me about any matter at jfowler@nationalreview.com. | 
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