Monday, December 08, 2014

Top writers and thinkers in America today

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that it is mostly about featuring the ideas and words of people who are much smarter than I. In that quest for truth, one of the things I have done is subscribe to something called "The Best of Journalism." Conor Friedersdorf, a staff writer for The Atlantic, is the one who puts that together twice a week.

This week Mr. Friedersdorf did something unusual. He admitted that he didn't see the signs of "staggering journalistic malpractice" when he linked to a Rolling Stone Magazine story about an alleged rape. I wrote to Mr. Friedersdorf congratulating him for publicly acknowledging his mistake, and I asked him if he had considered the possibility that the reason he didn't see it may be because, like the majority of people in his profession, he has a liberal bias.

I told Mr. Friedersdorf about my blog, and he said he would read it. So, who are the people I read that I think shed light on the great issues of the day? Here is a list of people for whom I am very grateful for their area of expertise, whom I regard as the top writers on critical issues of our day:

Critiques of the domestic and foreign policy failure of the Obama administration: Victor Davis Hanson

What it means to be a Christian, and what Christmas is all about: Ann Voskamp

All about Islamic Jihad, the sworn enemy of America, Israel, and the west: Andrew McCarthy, Robert Spencer, Pamela Geller

All about Iran, the world's biggest sponsor of terrorism: Michael Ledeen

Justice in America: Andrew McCarthy and J. Christian Adams

The hoax of global warming and climate change: William Teach, Anthony Watts, and Steven Goddard

Economic, demographic, and political commentary about places: Joel Kotkin

The evil of feminism: Chateau Heartiste

Political analysis: Ace of Spades

China: Epoch Times

Resistance to socialism: Bill Whittle, Scott Ott

There are many more outstanding writers and thinkers I rely on to enrich my knowledge of the world. They are listed on the blogroll at the right side of my blog.

Update: Mr. Friedersdorf replied: "For writers and thinkers on the right, I regularly follow Reihan Salam, Charles C.W. Cooke, Matt Welch, Peter Suderman, Radley Balko, Matt Labash, Rod Dreher, Daniel McCarthy, Andrew Ferguson, Heather Mac Donald, James Poulos, everyone at the Orange County Register op-ed page (where I am a columnist), Ross Douthat, Yuval Levin, Jim Manzi, and many more–too many to name them all, I suddenly realize!"

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