No Comment Archives

Six Questions for Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, Author of In Justice

by Scott Horton,

His meteoric career is not simply the stuff of movies–after all, some of David Iglesias’s experiences as a Navy JAG at Guantánamo Bay furnished the material for Aaron Sorkin’s play…

The Misdirection

by Scott Horton,

Last week the House Judiciary Committee conducted two further hearings into the formulation of Bush Administration torture policy. In the second, John Ashcroft was questioned and some significant progress was…

Hans Sachs’s Schlaraffenland

by Scott Horton,

Ein gegent heißt schlauraffenlant, den faulen leuten wol bekant, das ligt drei meil hinter weihnachten, und welcher darein wölle trachten, der muß sich großer ding vermeßen und durch ein berg…

Cusanus’s Human Microcosm

by Scott Horton,

Maximo autem, cui minimum coincidit, convenit ita unum amplecti, quod et aliud non dimittat, sed simul omnia. Quapropter natura media, quæ est medium connexionis inferioris et superioris, est solum illa,…

Media Alert

by Scott Horton,

Today on Warren Olney’s “To the Point,” Jane Mayer appears to discuss her new book, The Dark Side, and Harper’s legal affairs writer Scott Horton offers comments, together with Cliff…

Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side

by Scott Horton,

In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration’s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made…

D’Alembert – Happiness and the Duty to Fellow Humans

by Scott Horton,

Mais ce qui appartient essentiellement et uniquement à la raison, et ce qui en consequence est uniforme chez tous les peuples, ce sont les devoirs dont nous sommes tenus envers…

Boileau – Nothing is Beautiful but the True

by Scott Horton,

Rien n’est beau que le vrai : le vrai seul est aimable ; Il doit régner partout, et même dans la fable : De toute fiction l’adroite fausseté Ne tend…

Montesquieu – The Corruption of Principles and the Decline of the State

by Scott Horton,

La corruption de chaque gouvernement commence presque toujours par celle des principes… Lorsque les principes du gouvernement sont une fois corrompus, les meilleures lois deviennent mauvaises, et se tournant contre…

On the Peace Born of Faith

by Scott Horton,

Max Blumenthal reports last week in The Nation on a hushed meeting convened on June 10 in the plush conference room of a Chicago law firm. The presumptive Democratic presidential…

Six Questions for Steve LeVine, author of Putin’s Labyrinth

by Scott Horton,

Less than a year ago, Steve LeVine, the chief foreign affairs writer for Business Week published The Oil and the Glory, a penetrating examination of the post-Soviet oil industry and…

Washington on the Threat of Partisan Entrenchment

by Scott Horton,

I have already intimated to you the danger of Parties in the State… Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against…

Music for the Fourth of July

by Scott Horton,

Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” (1942). The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra performs and Gregory Peck provides the narration drawn from an array of Lincoln texts, including the Gettysburg Address.

Mr. Twain Offers a Lesson on Patriotism

by Scott Horton,

It was March 16, 1901. A lanky man with elegant and flowing white hair and a prominent moustache strode to the podium. He hardly needed an introduction: the audience would…

Six Questions for Paul Alexander, Author of Machiavelli’s Shadow

by Scott Horton,

Paul Alexander is a former reporter for Time magazine who has also written for Rolling Stone, the New York Times Magazine and various other publications. He is also a radio…

Williams’s Song

by Scott Horton,

I’d rather read an account of a hidden Carolina swamp where the white heron breeds protected from the hunters reached only across half sunken logs a place difficult of access…

Adam Smith on the Nature of Human Virtue

by Scott Horton,

Let us suppose that the great empire of China, with all its myriads of inhabitants, was suddenly swallowed up by an earthquake, and let us consider how a man of…

Assessing Yoo and Addington

by Scott Horton,

I reviewed the highlights and assessed the performance of David Addington and John Yoo during their appearance yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee on this morning’s Democracy Now! with Amy…

Six Questions for Mohsin Hamid

by Scott Horton,

American interest in Pakistan has grown since the assassination of Benazir Bhutto last December, as recent developments have increasingly put Pakistan’s democratically-elected government on shaky ground. The bombing of Pakistani…

Will the National Surveillance State Prevail Again?

by Scott Horton,

Late last week, the House Democratic leadership (which is to say, Congressman Steny Hoyer) announced a “breakthrough” in discussions with the White House and the Republicans which would produce a…

The Addington–Yoo Hearing, Gavel-to-gavel

by Scott Horton,

On Thursday, June 26, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct hearings into the legal genesis of the Bush Administration’s torture policies. Featured witnesses will be David Addington, chief of staff…

Schubert/Rückert ‘Du bist die Ruh’

by Scott Horton,

Spring passes into summer, and for this verdant Sunday, no music could be more sublime, inspiring and transporting than this. It reminds us of the power of poets to speak…

Cicero – Scipio’s Dream

by Scott Horton,

‘Sed sic, Scipio, ut avus hic tuus, ut ego, qui te genui, iustitiam cole et pietatem, quæ cum magna in parentibus et propinquis, tum in patria maxima est. Ea vita…

Travel Advisory

by Scott Horton,

Yesterday, a group of medical professionals, Physicians for Human Rights, released a comprehensive review of medical evidence concerning the treatment of detainees. The group found comprehensive evidence of torture and…

Torture from the Top Down

by Scott Horton,

In a series of hearings, Congressional leaders are trying to get to the bottom of a few simple questions: Who initiated the use of torture techniques in the “war on…

The U.S. Attorneys Scandal Enters the Criminal Prosecutions Phase

by Scott Horton,

Sources in Washington tell me that the year-long probe of the Bush Administration’s decision to fire a still-undetermined number of U.S. Attorneys for political and improper reasons is “substantially completed”…

Six Questions for Michael Sheehan, Author of Crush the Cell

by Scott Horton,

American cable television features an endless parade of “counterterrorism experts,” most of whom have little grounding in their advertised area of expertise. Michael Sheehan, however, is the real thing. A…

Empedocles’s Fragment No. 17

by Scott Horton,

Double is my account: for at one time it grew to be one alone from many, at another in turn it grew apart to be many from one. But double…

Plato’s Dialectic of Numbers

by Scott Horton,

???? ??? ??? ????????? ?????, ?? ?? ???????????? ????, ????? ?? ???? ?????? ??? ????? ????????? ??? ???????? ???? ????: ??? ?? ??? ???????, ?????????? ???? ??? ???????? ???? ?????????,…

Media Alert

by Scott Horton,

Harper’s writer Scott Horton discusses the works and character of Chingiz Aitmatov, Central Asia’s greatest novelist, who died earlier this week of pneumonia in a hospital in Germany, on the…

No Comment

From the Archive

Got it! Thanks for signing up!

Six Questions for Former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias, Author of In Justice

The Misdirection

Hans Sachs’s Schlaraffenland

Cusanus’s Human Microcosm

Media Alert

Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side

D’Alembert – Happiness and the Duty to Fellow Humans

Boileau – Nothing is Beautiful but the True

Montesquieu – The Corruption of Principles and the Decline of the State

On the Peace Born of Faith

Six Questions for Steve LeVine, author of Putin’s Labyrinth

Washington on the Threat of Partisan Entrenchment

Music for the Fourth of July

Mr. Twain Offers a Lesson on Patriotism

Six Questions for Paul Alexander, Author of Machiavelli’s Shadow

Williams’s Song

Adam Smith on the Nature of Human Virtue

Assessing Yoo and Addington

Six Questions for Mohsin Hamid

Will the National Surveillance State Prevail Again?

The Addington–Yoo Hearing, Gavel-to-gavel

Schubert/Rückert ‘Du bist die Ruh’

Cicero – Scipio’s Dream

Travel Advisory

Torture from the Top Down

The U.S. Attorneys Scandal Enters the Criminal Prosecutions Phase

Six Questions for Michael Sheehan, Author of Crush the Cell

Empedocles’s Fragment No. 17

Plato’s Dialectic of Numbers

Media Alert

Debug