There’s nothing more satisfying than the thoughtful ravings of a wily foreign correspondent who returns home. Especially once it can be melted down into a kind of beautiful soliloquy on the mad state of affairs in the world. That’s what I picked up in Lutz Kleveman’s Wanderjahre: A Reporter’s Journey in a Mad World, a fitting narrative that is as much a personal and spiritual…
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When German Jihad Set the Islamic World Aflame
Max von Oppenheim, Oriental enthusiast and the Germans’ secret weapon during the First World War A few weeks ago, I made a brief stint in Istanbul, the former capital known as Constantinople in the former Ottoman Empire. Much to the chagrin of my family and loved ones, my boots hit the ground not more than 24 hours after a terrorist attack took out 11 German…
On the Prospect of Living and Working Multiple Lives
The first time I really came to understand that my mind was operating on multiple levels was in early days of elementary school. I brought a friend over to my house to enjoy some snacks and video games. Typical fun time. Though we entered quickly and I headed up the stairs after giving my mom a quick 5-second summary of my day, my friend stood…
London Gaze
London: Everyone is hip with a sweater. Every idea you had about what you wanted to do that today, someone else already thought about it. Times a thousand. And they have more friends than you. There’s no space. Why so many people? London is the most important city in the world, say people from London. Newspapers are junk. Too many acronyms. It’s hip. Have you…
David Clement Targets Harper’s Fiscal Underbelly in Libertarian Candidacy
Is Classical Liberalism the Fix for Canada’s Disgruntled Conservatives? By Yaël Ossowski | October 7th, 2015 | PanAm Post How often do you find a Canadian politician willing to criticize both intervention in the Middle East and the Dairy Commission in the same breath? At least for the Libertarian Party of Canada, they’re two issues which have more in common than one might think. Whether…
The NYT’s shameful election Vienna Nazi slander
This terrible article makes a caricature of Vienna and the Austrian people and its author should be ashamed of herself. Despite all the beauty and majesty of this city, she adheres to Godwin’s law by effectively saying Vienna is heading back to olden times of the Reich because people aren’t sure what to think about a huge refugee crisis that no country knows how to…
Erie consultant breaks the bad news: ‘The city is broke’
By Yaël Ossowski | September 25, 2015 | Watchdog.org The city of Erie is in desperate times, and a consultant hired to map a positive future isn’t optimistic. “The plan I am trying to write is a plan to get the city out of the hole it is in,” Charles Buki told Watchdog.org. An urban architect — and miracle worker of sorts — Buki and…
Erie’s 10-year ‘comprehensive plan’ consultants cost over $100,000
By Yaël Ossowski | September 18, 2015 | Watchdog.org Hoping to leap into the future, Erie will spend over $100,000 to pay consultants to draw up a 10-year comprehensive plan to revitalize the city and “bring it into the future.” The total amount of $137,880, approved preliminarily by the city council in February, will be paid to consulting firm CZB, an Alexandria, Virginia-based urban planning…
Now is the time to uphold the Schengen agreement
By Yaël Ossowski | September 15, 2015 | CapX The current refugee crisis represents a moment of great stress for the European project. A plethora of voices are calling for change, but now is not the time to forsake the freedom of movement enshrined in the Schengen agreement. In the last few months, the surge of refugees, mostly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, has strained…
‘Vicious political campaigning’ backfired on MO unions
By Yaël Ossowski / September 15, 2015 / Watchdog.org They say it takes extraordinary circumstances to get ordinary people into politics. For Mary Hill, a registered nurse, that extraordinary moment came when union activists began pressuring workers at her hospital to unionize. She was ready to join the union, she tells Watchdog.org, but began to question the union’s motives when leaders began injecting politics into…