Insider Everything | Ep. 508 Words & Numbers
Should insider trading be allowed? It seems like a straightforward question, so how did we end up also talking about sports betting and Polymarket?
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Free These People
Polyhymnia COO and Senior Fellow Antony Davies interview Free the People’s Matt Kibbe on this week’s Words & Numbers.
If there is a central theme to this wide-ranging conversation, it’s the possibility of heroes in the current climate. We can always find villains, but can we really find heroes at this point?
Hucksters Among Us: More on the Loss of Trust in Academia
Many people are writing about why Americans have lost trust in universities. There are, of course, financial reasons, including—at least plausibly—the now higher unemployment rates of recent college grads and the ever-increasing cost of tuition. I leave these to the side. Allow me here to quickly lay out what I see as a major reason …
The Omni-American Review
At a moment when American public life often oscillates between exhaustion and abstraction, serious cultural reflection has become increasingly rare. It is therefore worth drawing attention to the work being undertaken through the Omni-American Review by our senior fellow Aryeh Tepper, who serves as the journal’s editor-in-chief.
Where Have All the Men Gone?
Max Borders joins us this week on Words & Numbers to answer the question: Where have all the men gone?
Yes, we’re serious. So too are we serious about fixing this problem.
First In Freedom
April 12 marks the 250th anniversary of a largely forgotten but significant date in American history. On this date in 1776, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina met in Halifax and unanimously passed a measure instructing its delegates to the Continental Congress to vote to declare independence from Great Britain. With the Halifax Resolves, …
Words & Numbers Episode 502: Us v, Them
On this episode of Words & Numbers, Polyhymnia’s James R. Harrigan and Senior Fellow Antony Davies take a hard look at partisanship and what people believe. They conclude that it is not a matter of left v. right, nor is it Democrat v. Republican. It’s the ruling class v. all of the rest of us. …
Onward & Upward: The Rule of Law
Polyhymnia Senior Fellow Jay Nordlinger interviews Gregg Nunziata, the executive director of SRL—the Society for the Rule of Law. Nunziata worked in the Justice Department. And for the Senate Judiciary Committee. And for the Senate Republican Policy Committee. And for Senator Marco Rubio. And so on. He was in the heart of the Republican legal …
Words & Numbers, Ep. 501
After a four-week hiatus, Polymnia’s @JamesRHarrigan and Senior Fellow @antonydavies are back with episode 501 of Words & Numbers, wherein they think about four weeks’ worth of backed-up nonsense, President Trump’s leaning all over the Supreme Court during oral arguments of the birthright citizenship case, Congress’s abdication of its constitutional duties, the newly created “Guindex,” …
What Do We Owe Each Other?
Polyhymnia’s @JamesRHarrigan recently joined Josh Martens on Good Morning Liberty to discuss what, if anything, we owe one another as members of society. Anarchists love to answer this question with “Nothing!” before moving on. Marxists, on the other hand, are more inclined to answer “Everything!” So what is the right answer? Finding it is trickier …
On Recent Comments About Opera
Over the last few weeks, there has been a simmering ruckus about opera and ballet, the state of affairs with the Washington National Opera, and some musings on contemporary operas. Timothée Chalamet put opera and ballet down. He said he wouldn’t want to work in ballet or opera, because these fields are ones where people …
Liberalism: The Cause of, and Solution to All of Life’s Problems
People have been railing against and misrepresenting liberalism almost since its inception. And yet, despite centuries of criticism and countless illiberal attempts to undermine or redefine it, liberalism has produced more peace, more prosperity, and more egalitarianism than any social or political framework humanity has ever known. The historical record of the Western world over …
Iran, Venezuela, and the State of the Media
Polyhymnia COO, James R. Harrigan, joins Max Borders on Underthrow to discuss international things, including recent events in Iran and Venezuela. There’s no way of knowing where any of this is going to end up, but things are trending in a direction for now. https://underthrow.substack.com/p/death-to-dictators-iran-venezuela
College Work
I recently heard Jill Lepore, professor of history at Harvard University, on The Good Fight podcast. In discussing campus culture, she expressed dismay at the fact that some of her students had refused to read the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision (1857), which she had assigned. They refused, apparently, because it would cause them (or …
We Must, and Can, Cool Political Rhetoric
Richard Lorenc writes in the Boston Herald: “Although political conflict is inevitable, we each have the power to steer disagreements away from name-calling and rhetorical head-butting. If we want the activists and politicians to behave differently, the citizens need to behave differently as well.” Amen. And nothing will change until the citizens demand better, which …
Art and the Meaning of Life
In one way or another, the issue of finding meaning in life lies in the innumerable choices we make everyday. Shakespeare’s existential “To be, or not to be” soliloquy from Hamlet suggests that the search for a meaningful life has life and death implications. I agree, and believe the visual arts provide part of the …
Meet Blake Scott Ball
Blake Scott Ball has done us the honor of becoming a fellow at Polyhymnia. You can get to know him a little bit here. As it turns out, he is a pretty interesting and smart guy. We’re happy to have him on board, and you will be glad to meet him. https://hvilleblast.com/charlie-brown-una-blake-scott-ball/?fbclid=IwY2xjawOO07FleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeQh8Z7O1XCWYHB2syALKdC2DzqAKSI4RhPnG0K5pyXHRiIy0yfrWw04RrMEA_aem_ytsJxALTtgfE9ESZfimcwQ
Considering Mr. Scorcese
Apple TV+ subscribers now have the opportunity to peer into the complex mind of filmmaker Martin Scorcese in a five-part docuseries. And readers now have the opportunity to see what Rebecca Miller learned as she made Mr. Scorcese. “He talks a lot about an obligation to tap into a truth about human beings. And that’s …
The Two Sentences that Yield Human Respect
Polyhymnia Chief Operating Officer James R. Harrigan and economist Antony Davies discuss the two most important sentences in history, one political and philosophical, the other commercial. These two sentences, taken together, provide the bedrock of Western life and have improved the fortunes of man everywhere they have been embraced. And in the end, it all …
30 Good Minutes with Jay Nordlinger
Polyhymnia Senior Fellow Jay Nordlinger joins John Daly on the DalyExpress podcast to discuss, among other things, the Renew Democracy Initiative, free speech consistency, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, the Young Republicans chat controversy, and, of all things, public restrooms? You can have a look at the full interview here. https://www.bernardgoldberg.com/p/jay-nordlinger-on-free-speech-consistency
If Not Now, When?
A Review of The Armed Jew by Adam Fuller Professor Adam Fuller’s book, The Armed Jew couldn’t be timelier. As Hamas seeks to find accommodation with Israel through Trump’s peace plan, it is a reminder of their butchery of October 7th, 2023, with the massacre of over 1000, many of them young people, and most …
The Highest Political Question
All questions of candidates, policies, and parties are secondary to the question of what kind of regime We The People will choose, accept, or have forced upon us. Questions about what our regime is, or what it will become, span generations. They are larger in scope than fleeting feelings about individual politicos or the headlines …
Off-Center
Portraiture and John Singleton Copley’s Samuel Adams John Singleton Copley’s 1772 portrait of Samuel Adams in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston is among the most important artworks of the American revolutionary period. John Hancock commissioned the work, which hung in his home alongside his own portrait that the artist painted seven years earlier. …
A Problem at the Piano: Maria João Pires and the Misheard Mozart Concerto
Imagine being called at 9p and being asked to sub in for another performer for an afternoon concert the next afternoon in front of 2000 people. It sounds daunting, but imagine that you had played the piece in concert just a few weeks before. Less daunting. Now imagine you get on stage, and the orchestra …
X Marks the Awful Spot
by Thomas R. Grover I wish I hadn’t looked at X on Sunday night. Earlier in the day, a gunman attacked a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Michigan. He also set fire to the church building, which is a total loss. As of this writing, four congregants are dead, …
Frisk on Perelman on Buckley
David Frisk reviews Lawrence Perelman’s American Impresario: William F. Buckley, Jr., and the Elements of American Character for Law and Liberty. He writes that the book is “a gem, richly insightful on two of Buckley’s deepest qualities—his love of classical music and generosity as a mentor.” It’s the story of how Perelman came to meet …
Is a Warhol of a Warhol still a Warhol?
An April 2025 story in The Art Newspaper contains the headline “Miami dealer charged for hawking fake Warhols.” I must admit that the phrase “fake Warhol” forced an audible laugh; the American Pop Art icon’s work is saturated in “fake,” within the term’s connotations of “inauthentic,” “imitation,” and “unreal.” Warhol “forged” so much of his …
The Weaponization of the Department of Justice
Up today on Words & Numbers, Antony Davies and I are joined by Clark Neily, Senior Vice President for Legal Studies at the Cato Institute, to discuss the weaponization of the Department of Justice, and what that might mean moving forward. The thing you can bet on is that whatever the Trump administration does with …
Music is Life
There is scarcely a person alive who wouldn’t say that music makes life better. Almost all of us, on the order of 90 to 95 percent, listen to music every day. Globally, people listen to over 20 hours of music a week on average. Music is, without question, an indispensable part of life. But sometimes, …
‘Deficit Day’ Is No Cause to Celebrate as Spending Exceeds Taxes
The federal government will spend $7 trillion in 2025. That’s roughly $19 billion per day, or around $50 million in the time it takes to read this article. On the other side of the ledger, the government will collect $5.2 trillion in taxes. Careful readers will already see the problem. That $5.2 trillion dribbles …
Happy Deficit Day!
September 21 is Deficit Day for 2025, something we have been calculating and talking about for some years now. What is it? From this point forward, for the rest of the year, the United States government will be spending money it does not have.
To Learn Or Cheer?
Few people seem interested in learning. Many prefer cheering. Americans in 2025 are, in important respects, less knowledgeable about the world and about themselves than Americans were in 1925. Or 1825.
Constitution Day and the One Ring
At the heart of Tolkien’s tale lies the One Ring, an object of immense power that corrupts all who seek to wield it — even the noblest fall prey to its seduction. Tolkien reminds us that power, no matter how well-intentioned, must be handled with caution and humility or not at all.
Charlie Kirk and the Death of Civility
On this episode of Words & Numbers, Antony Davies and I talk about the clear problems that have emerged in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s murder. When people are confident and comfortable in their public celebration of a young man’s death, something has gone horribly wrong. And if we don’t set things right, things will …
RIP, John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne
At Black Sabbath’s Back to the Beginning show on July 5th, rock royalty showed up to pay tribute to Ozzy Osbourne at his retirement gig. Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian said it best: “We’re not here to say goodbye, we’re here to say thank you.” But as it turns out, they were there to say goodbye. …
Deep Listening: Exploring Music with Daniel Asia
This interview originally appears on American Sephardi. Please visit their website here. The American Sephardi Federation’s Sephardi Ideas Monthly (SIM) by Dr. Aryeh Tepper is a continuing series of essays and interviews from the rich, multi-dimensional world of Sephardi thought and culture that is delivered to your inbox every month. Daniel Asia is an award-winning …
Juneteenth 2025
Juneteenth combines “June” and “Nineteenth,” commemorating June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Galveston, Texas, and General Gordon Granger announced to 250,000 enslaved men, women, and children that they were slaves no more.
Of Patriots and Freedom
We celebrate a number of holidays every year in the United States, and while each has its partisans, there aren’t many that get to the heart of who we are as a people. Indeed, few could. We manage to find the worst in each other in just about every aspect of public life, and we …
Aesthetic Thinking
As human beings we have an extraordinary ability to think scientifically, to disassemble the world mathematically, to come out of ourselves and solve problems objectively. But we also have the concomitant subjective faculties of contemplation, appreciation, and reflection.
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