Sailing against the tide
In Latin America, it is customary for governments to alternate between “right-wing” pro-American populists and “left-wing” anti-American populists. Last year, Bolsonaro was replaced by Lula in Brazil; now Argentina, with the pendulum swinging in the opposite direction, ousted the left-wing peronista government and elected right-wing populist Javier Milei. The conventional wisdom is that the rightists…Read more
Is the Pope Catholic? For a long time, this was a rhetorical question, similar to the question about where do bears relieve themselves. But as of late, it has become an actual question, with no clear answer, or maybe a negative answer. Something very strange is happening in the heart of the Catholic Church. I…Read more
There was a construction going on for months near my place, and every morning at 7 AM they would start this annoying BEEP-BEEP sound that pierces your ears and can be heard from a block away. Even after construction ended, I could still hear the sound in my mind. I think it permanently damaged by…Read more
Just in time for Christmas, we have created a new version of Hans Andersen’s Story “The Snow Queen”. Yes, you read it right, it’s not “The Drag Queen”, to keep up with modern times, it’s the original “The Snow Queen”, Andersen’s immortal beloved classic. You can buy it now at a cheaper price in our…Read more
The other day I started playing with one of those new “AI art” tools. Bing’s one is the most popular, I suppose, but it’s also the most heavily censored. So I tried to play a bit around the politically correct filters. It was no surprise that all kinds of ethnic or religious descriptions were forbidden….Read more
In George Orwell’s classic novel “1984”, the records of past history are constantly being modified by workers at the Ministry of Truth. As a Party member observes: “He who controls the past, controls the present. He who controls the present, controls the future.” Orwell had been, of course, inspired by Soviet communism, where Stalin would…Read more
We have published three new books by our imprint Contrarium. The first one is a bilingual Spanish-English edition of a selection of Horacio Quiroga’s short stories. Quiroga was a South American master of the short story genre. Many of the stories presented here are translated into English for the first time. Others are classics but…Read more
Pablo is dead. Who is Pablo, you may ask? I had no idea either, but the main street downtown suddenly appeared full of flowers and written notes and candles and teddy bears. “R.I.P. Pablo”, said a graffiti in the shape of a heart. I started to think he was a victim of terrorism. Turns out,…Read more
While most people were understandably driven to fear, rage or despair over the most recent massacres in that eternal conflict in the Middle East, while thousands were protesting in the streets for their preferred side and a few were even driven to violence over it, I, after an initial panic, spent my time trying to…Read more
I knew something was afoot when they said that it was “Israel’s 911”. I mean, I guess it depends if you believe the official narrative or not. But for those of us who don’t necessarily believe the official story, this is a red flag. Now, I’m not saying people didn’t die. People also died in…Read more