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The 100-Year Shadow Of The Scopes Monkey Trial

“At the present time there exist upon the earth five races… each very different from the other. The first is the Ethiopian or Negro type originating in Africa and finally . .. the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.” This brazen racist quote contradicted the biblical teaching of humanity originating from one set of parents, Adam and Eve. The anti-biblical quote came from the public school biology textbook at the center of a firestorm which resulted in a historic court case known as the Scopes or Monkey trial in ...

Allies Must Bear Their Share Of World Leadership

CHAUTAUQUA—Oren Cass is the chief economist at the American Compass. But, he notes, he’s not an economist in the sense of having an economics degree or writing papers about economics. Meanwhile, Dennis Wilder, a professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., is a former senior American intelligence officer and policymaker. ♦♦♦ Delivering the July 25 morning-amphitheater lecture at Chautauqua Institution, Cass rightly recalled Americans’ buying inexpensive steel from steel manufacturers in a particular country. The country happens to ...

Creating Memories

Last weekend my family and I traveled south for my granddaughter’s wedding. She married a man she met at PSU. He grew up south of Pittsburgh. They have dated more than six years. When she graduated, he followed her to Texas while she went to Texas A&M Veterinary School. He worked in Houston, while she went to school. Carly chose to honor family memories during her wedding. She chose to wear my wedding gown which I walked down the aisle in more than 58 years ago. She had it professionally cleaned to whiten it. Her mother also wore the same dress more than 30 years ago. For pictures ...

Lessons From The World Of Sport

This past weekend was highlighted by the 153rd occasion of a golf tournament—the British Open or, more correctly, if you live in the U.K., “The Open.” If you were an American, you had to be proud as the top four finishers were Americans, the winner being the current number one golfer in the world, Scottie Sheffler. But, golf is not just an American sport—it is a world sport. And, guess who was in the final pairing on Sunday? Yes, a player by the name of Haotong Li, from China. The lesson here was obvious: competitors don’t have to be enemies. The world of sport teaches you ...

Keeping Our Cool When Talking Climate

Ignorance, like history, repeats itself when people refuse to learn from it. One lesson we should have learned is that science and ideology do not mix. We saw this during Biden’s disastrous COVID response, which gave the U.S. the worst COVID death rate in the world. Yet some people still cling to COVID Vax/Lockdown Ideology. So it is with Climate Ideology. Last September, Hurricane Helene tracked north into southern Appalachia, bringing massive flooding to western North Carolina. Immediately the Gnostic cry went up: Climate change! Of course, people making this claim couldn’t be ...

County Trails Perfect For All Seasons

Chautauqua County is home to a wealth of year-round outdoor recreation opportunities. Whether you like to swim, fish, hike, bike, ski, or find one of the many other ways to enjoy the natural world surrounding us, there are plenty of places to find exactly what you want in a thoroughly enjoyable setting. Some of the very best places to go include the more than 250 miles of recreational trails available throughout the county. Most of us take these trails for granted and don’t fully appreciate what an important economic development driver these trails are. In addition to providing low ...