May 14 2023

An Early Morning Thought For Mothers’ Day

     The image is richer than the thought; hence the act by which we comprehend an image, gazing, is richer, more profound, vital and storeyed than the thought. People today are, if the word may be permitted, over-conceptualistic. We have lost the art of reading images and parables, of enacting symbols. We could relearn some of this by encouraging and practicing the power of vision, a power which has been neglected for too long.

     [Father Romano Guardini, Meditations Before Mass ]

     Happy Mothers’ Day to all the women who have embraced that vital role — vital in the only sense that matters.

May 13 2023

Compare And Contrast

     This graphic is so penetrating that I’ll let it stand alone:

     Pass it around.

May 13 2023

Breakthrough?

     The following was culled from Facebook:

     I hope this guy’s life insurance is paid up. Imagine the kind of attention he’d get from homosexual activists were he publicly identified as the originator of this thesis. Yet it’s worth some thought – and an effort to find further evidence, whether “for” or “against.”

May 13 2023

Death Cult Chronicles

     Good Morning, Gentle Reader. No, I’m not in a better mood than yesterday. I just got more sleep than usual and am therefore ready to start fulminating uselessly at an earlier hour. Along with that, it’s Fatima Day, the remembrance of which energizes me more than one might expect of an event more than a century past in which no celebrities were killed, wounded, married, divorced, or appeared on Hollywood Squares. The Blessed Virgin might not have the “screen presence” of a Kardashian, but she reliably gets my attention.

     These days I can’t read quickly enough. I’ve been missing things, including some developments more significant than anything the media are blathering about. Here’s one that every parent in the country should know about:

     The Minnesota House has unanimously amended a bill by a trans-identified Democrat lawmaker who sought to change definitions in the state’s Human Rights Act that raised concerns among many that the bill would weaken laws against pedophilia.

     A Republican state lawmaker urged the Democrat-controlled House to vote to amend the Take Pride Act, or HF 1655, introduced by Democratic state Rep. Leigh Finke, a man who identifies as a woman. The legislation seeks to change the Minnesota Human Rights Act to include a separate definition for gender identity and remove language that LGB and trans activists oppose regarding sexual orientation.

     “‘Gender identity’ means a person’s inherent sense of being a man, woman, both, or neither. A person’s gender identity may or may not correspond to their assigned sex at birth or to their primary or secondary sex characteristics. A person’s gender identity is not necessarily visible to others,” the proposed definition for gender identity reads.

     However, Finke’s proposal also removed a provision from the state’s Human Rights Act stating that sexual orientation does not include pedophiles. Critics expressed concern that if left unaltered, then that would mean pedophiles claiming their attraction to children as part of their sexual orientation would be protected from discrimination under the law.…

     Asked why he wanted to remove language that specifically excludes pedophilia as a sexual orientation, Finke tried to dodge the question, telling Fox News only that the language in question “incorrectly ties pedophilia to a person’s sexual orientation,” and that nothing in his bill “changes or weakens any crimes against children, or the state’s ability to prosecute those who break the law.”

     I added the emphasis. Ponder it for a moment before proceeding.

***

     Pascal and I have been nattering about the rise of the Death Cults for half of forever. The core of our thesis is simple, if a bit difficult for most to swallow:

There are persons and organizations that hate people and seek to exterminate us, or as many of us as possible. They live and work among us.

     Stipulate it for the purposes of this tirade. Let’s have a thought experiment: Were you desirous of wiping out the human race, how would you go about it?

     I could add all sorts of preconditions, but the core of the thing is reducing human numbers. There are many ways of killing off multitudes – no, I’m not going to provide a compendium; use your imagination – but the most “direct” ones run up against the “Chinese problem:” Unless you get every last one of us, we’ll reproduce ourselves. Soon enough, you’ll be back where you started.

     The only sure method of eliminating Mankind is to prevent us from breeding.

     People opposed to human reproduction are called anti-natalists. Their overt rationales vary somewhat, but they share a dislike for people – at least, for more people. And knowingly or not, they are important allies to the more visible Death Cults.

     Some Death Cultists focus on killing people off; others seek to prevent them from being born. How do the latter ones go about this? Let me count the ways:

  1. Economic pressures that inhibit the growth of families;
  2. Cultural trends that disincentivize marriage and family;
  3. Pharmaceutical contraceptives;
  4. Promotion of “youth culture;”
  5. Abortion;
  6. Homosexuality;
  7. Transgenderism;
  8. Pedophilia.

     That last entry might not be obvious to some. Nevertheless, it’s a key component of the list. Persons sexually abused as children tend not to have children of their own. Some acquire an aversion to sex; some become abusers themselves; some suicide at an early age; and some simply decline to reproduce.

     The Minnesota bill mentioned in the opening segment was a clever attempt to prevent the state from prosecuting pedophilic acts. It had no other conceivable purpose.

***

     I could go on about this, but either you’ve grasped the point by now or you’re beyond my ability to reach. As my Gentle Readers tend to be significantly brighter than average, I shan’t flog this corpse further this morning. Except, of course, to lay in a pitch for this small collection of essays. And to say, once again, with feeling:

     Preach Christ.

May 12 2023

Something That Red States Should be Doing

Clamp down on the phony registrations in the Dem cities. Go in, audit their files (making sure to take clones of the drives in their computers and backups of all data), and issue a state order to drop any ‘voter’ if they don’t show up IN PERSON and provide ID (REAL ID-level, not utility bills). Any voter claiming disability must be verified at that address by state employees in person.

Now, this could be combined with the ability to scan Drivers Licenses on a phone, along with a picture of their face (mix up the picture, with directions to face right, left, smile, not smile, full frontal face randomly given, so they can’t just use a photo to evade this verification). The technology exists. They could be required to repeat a sentence, and record it (that could be as simple as: My name is _______________ of address __________________, and I swear that I am eligible to vote in this state and no other). Makes prosecution easier.

Pay special attention to the anomalies:

  • Voters over 80, who are voting in every election. Are they still living at that address, and do they appear mentally competent, or are they in nursing homes?
  • Those voters with homes in other states – check with the post office for instructions to hold mail or forward it. They may be voting in more than one state.
  • Voters voting from college towns – are they filing a state income tax return? Are they claimed by a resident of another state?
  • Does the physical location have a residence? Is it zoned for as many people as vote there?
  • If the address on the voter’s registration is a homeless shelter or social service agency, they should get special attention. They may be a transient, they may not even exist. Doubt and need to verify should be the default.
  • Check death records – is this a case of someone using a deceased person’s identity?

Any organization that is complicit in voter fraud should be prosecuted for a felony, and lose their charitable designation.

Now, some of these actions may be difficult to put into action. That doesn’t mean that we should not make a strenuous effort to root out the abuses. They should USE the technology – access to drivers license data, post office data, and other means to worm out the liars and fraudsters.

No one whose identity AND location has not been verified may cast a vote. No mail-in ballot may be accepted from anyone without In-Person verification, copies of that kept with voter’s files. If the state has to bring in legislation making fraudulent voting or registration (both the would-be voter AND anyone who facilitates that crime) a felony with NO plea bargaining down from a felony permitted, do so.

This is not a one-time deal. It is a on-going process.

This is no panacea for all the other problems. But, it is a way that Red states can keep the Blue cities from stealing the election.

Baby steps.

May 12 2023

The Shell Game Part 2

     Friends of mine – yes, I have a couple – have returned to a hopeless task: persuading me to re-engage with electoral politics, possibly (ulp) even as a candidate for office. They been saying some of the most incredible things:

     “If you want to change the system, you have be part of it.”
     “What point is there in complaining if you refuse to get involved?”
     “The only way to shake up the status quo is to force your way in!”

     And their “haymaker:”

     “If people like you would just vote Republican, we could fix all this!”

     The entreaties usually die down when I work the pump on my 12-gauge.

     There’s a method to the madness, Gentle Reader. Pretty soon the country will get the clearest possible demonstration. It will come from the committee investigating the Biden Crime Family.

     Some of those aforementioned friends have pointed to those investigations as “proof” that “things can be turned around.” With enough evidence, they say, we could get prosecutions of the lower levels of the clan, an impeachment and conviction of the Pretender-in-Chief, and bring the whole edifice crashing to earth. To which I reply, “Call me back when it happens.”

     I’ve never denied that “things can be turned around.” It’s my contention that the existing political edifice – i.e., the two major parties, their media allies, and the gaggle of big donors and special interests who keep them fueled – exists solely to perpetuate the status quo. They have no interest in “turning things around.” Nor would they countenance another Trump-like upstart who would sincerely attempt it.

     The Establishment’s hold on power arises from the huge number of people who cajole it, cater to it, plead with it…and vote for it. Alternations of control between Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber are perfectly acceptable, for neither side permits any non-cosmetic changes to existing arrangements. They who manage the two major parties ensure it when they qualify potential candidates. As long as the media kowtows to them and enough votes pour in every two years, the show can go on.

     Back to those Biden-clan investigations: The evidence is now sufficient for any observer not blinded by partisanry to conclude that the lot of them are massively corrupt. Indeed, sufficient evidence has been available for quite some time. The GOP-controlled investigating committee is now exploiting “recent discoveries” to trumpet triumph-to-come. The logical conclusion, were anyone involved in the investigations sincerely interested in justice, would be a deluge of indictments and trials of the non-officeholders and the impeachment of the “Big Guy.” Does anyone expect that to happen?

     I don’t. The fix is in. The Garland-headed Justice Department will withhold one or two “critical documents.” The investigators will say, with many crocodile tears, that without those documents “the case falls short of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” and will refrain from definite action. The investigations will lapse. The criminals will walk; Joe Biden will finish his term of office; and the charades will go on undisturbed.

     But were the identities of the parties reversed, the outcome would be the same. And indeed, we may see that yet. The Republicans aren’t playing this for justice, but for votes. “It’s our turn,” they tell one another. “Now we just have to keep that rascal Trump off the ticket.”

     They’ll manage. They have just as much control over their nominating process as do the Democrats. They failed to exercise it in 2016, mistakenly thinking that Trump wouldn’t secure enough support from the states he needed to clinch it. They won’t make that mistake again.

     Get off the Mishnory Road. Politics is not the answer; it’s the problem. A power-seeker is a power-seeker, interchangeable in substance with any other of his breed. Hearken to the great Thomas Stearns Eliot:

     Don’t soil yourself with political involvement.
     Don’t differentiate between thieves.
     Put not your trust in princes.
     Preach Christ.

May 12 2023

The Shell Game Of Contemporary Politics…

     …still has a few desperate players:

     It happened again on Monday. Mr. Biden appeared alongside Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to brief reporters on new efforts to force airlines to compensate passengers when a flight is canceled. As soon as his remarks ended, Mr. Biden turned and walked off, ignoring questions from reporters. This comes after the president claimed Friday that he was doing a “major press conference” that evening. In reality, he was doing an MSNBC interview.
     Taking questions from the media promotes public accountability. It also shows that the president is willing to defend his positions and instills confidence that he can do the job. It is widely known that Mr. Biden is gaffe-prone and that news conferences are not his forte. But as he runs for a second term, he should be eager to show he can handle all aspects of the job.
     Pick up the microphone, Mr. President. The media is not your enemy.

     That’s from the Washington Post, a paper so utterly allied to the Democrat Party that there’s no air between them. The Pretender-In-Chief’s unwillingness to do a press conference makes them sad. After all their service to the Usurper Regime, he won’t show them his smiling face. That leaves them unable to insist – credibly, at least – upon his “public accountability.”

     There are more reasons for Biden to avoid the mikes and cameras than I can count. Probably the foremost among them is the inevitability of having to answer questions about the corruption scandal, now in full bloom, that has enveloped the entire Biden clan. His answers would either be incomprehensible or demonstrably false. What to do, what to do…

     It’s not just the “friendly media” who are getting agitated. The whole Democrat Party command cadre is panicking. They have no one else. It’s Biden in 2024 – a demonstrably incoherent and incapable old man who must be led around by the hand – or no one. None of the aspirants to the throne could credibly command twenty percent of the popular vote.

     Credibly. It’s the word of the day, Gentle Reader. The masks are off and will stay off. There’s no use in pretending that the federal government is “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people” any longer. It’s been revealed as a cartel of predators and villains, and its masters can no longer persuade a significant fraction of the electorate of anything else. The thought must be ringing in thousands of Establishmentarian skulls:

“Elections? When the jig is so plainly up?
Why bother to hold them?”

     What will it be, Gentle Reader? Another “pandemic?” A financial meltdown? Or a full-scale war? All three have become plausible.

     Yes, I’m “in a mood.” Perhaps I’ll be back later with something sunnier.

May 11 2023

Prepping for Urban Unrest

People are talking about lethal preps – guns and ammo, mostly.

I was on Mike Hendrix’s Substack – https://mikehendrix.substack.com/p/guantanamo-daze – and found this. Funniest end to a riot that I had read ever. And, it occurred to me, there may be a place in the Prepper’s Stash for rubber bullets. Something to deter those who are not fully committed to violence/looting, but who need to be ‘brushed back’, as they say in baseball.

May 11 2023

After Peak Compassion Fatigue

     Cause People frequently fall victim to the error of the “oversell.” That is, they persist in hammering anyone who’ll stand still long enough with their sacred Cause. This results in a long-term rejection of the Cause and, often enough, its advocate as well. The “tragedy” often includes making potentially receptive listeners, people who could become allies, into absolute opponents.

     Something like that happened in the later Twentieth Century, when American advocates for “the poor” – surely one of the most underdefined demographics in human history – became so ubiquitous and so relentless that they exhausted Americans’ natural generosity. (Cf. the National Welfare Rights Organization.) The media’s hammering of the subject was a significant contributor to the demise of the longstanding Democrat Party hold on the majority in the House of Representatives. The phrase compassion fatigue entered the national discourse. It was cited to explain many an election result, whether or not the candidates in that election had expressed specific positions or policies regarding poverty.

     What went undiscussed then, and remains largely so today, is what lies beyond compassion fatigue:

     Half of Canadians would agree to allow adults in Canada to seek medical assistance in dying due to an inability to receive medical treatment (51%) or a disability (50%). Fewer than three-in-ten would consent to expand the guidelines to include homelessness (28%) or poverty (27%) as reasons to seek medical assistance in dying.

     Canadians are split when pondering if mental illness should be a justification for an adult to seek medical assistance in dying: 43% support this idea, while 45% are opposed.

     Horrified yet? You should be. “Medical Assistance in Dying,” whether we acronymize it as MAID or MAD, is something that sends a chill up the spine even when the person to be “treated” is terminally ill with an incurable and excruciatingly painful disease. To recommend euthanasia as a social corrective for poverty and mental illness is grotesque in the extreme. Yet recent events have apparently numbed Canadians sufficiently to check that box.

     Time was, we would say “While there’s life, there’s hope.” “Dum spiro, spero,” as the Romans would put it: “While I breathe, I hope.” That’s a valuable credo; it fends off despair and unnecessary surrenders. That a great many Canadians should endorse despair and surrender on others’ behalf is shocking.

     Maybe they’re just tired of being hammered. It happened to us, after all. Canada’s problems with poverty and mental illness are at least as bad as ours. Look at the totalitarian clown they chose for their prime minister.

     There isn’t much more one could say about this. I can’t think of a rationale for the rejection of life and hope that would apply here. Mental illnesses are largely treatable today. Poverty is an even weaker justification for wanting to die; on average a “poor person” in North America is about as well off as a working-class European. Besides, economic mobility – the potential for a “poor” individual to raise his economic condition above its current level – remains a feature of both American and Canadian societies. Despite confiscatory taxation and insane levels of regulation, most “poor” persons and families don’t remain that way lifelong.

     I’m largely unacquainted with Canadian Cause People. Maybe they’re a lot worse than those south of the 49th parallel. Canada is, after all, a place of extremes: extreme cold; extreme snows; extreme politeness… Or the pollsters could have made a mistake. I think I’ll pray for the latter.

May 10 2023

Dress Rehearsal Tarantella

     First, a little music: Judy Collins singing a grim Leonard Cohen tune:

     Now that we’re properly depressed, “on with the show.”

***

     Stephen Kruiser has a warning for us:

     Because the beating heart of the 21st century Democrats is communism, civil unrest is a favorite tool of theirs. It provides a lot of cover for a lot of what they would like to keep in the shadows.

     Many expect some sort of trouble in the streets to pop up next year just before the election. But what if they decide that more is better and want to kick things off this year? Maybe just give it a trial run….

     It’s not outlandish to think that the Democrats are looking at “unrest” in cities they run and secretly hoping for some well-timed riots. Protests are a marvelous way to deflect from whatever Biden is screwing up at the moment. These dress rehearsals help them prepare for the big civil unrest finale that they almost certainly have planned for 2024.

     All sadly plausible, by the standards the Left has imposed upon us since 2020.

***

     There’s a quadrennial election coming up. The Left is likely to reprise its tactics from the last one. Those tactics depended heavily on disorder and fear.

     Remember Ol’ Remus? Remember his oft-repeated advice to “Stay away from crowds” — ? It was good back when he was still treading the floorboards; it’s even better now. And I, in my unbridled arrogance, have a codicil to add to it:


Stay Away From Cities,
And Wherever Else
Crowds May Form.

     Yes, really. If you live or work in a city of more than about 500,000 residents, you’re likely to be endangered by the riots-to-come. The exhortations from political figures such as the odious Kathy Hochul to “seek justice” for Neely will be welcomed by those whose lives are dominated by envy and resentment. Jordan Neely is just the most recent excuse. There may be other bits of tinder added to the fire; the Left is ever on the lookout for useful martyrs. But the music is already starting.

***

     The opening steps to this dance are already choreographed. The first crowds of “protestors” have been modest. Some subways have been blocked, but so far, to no lasting effect. A few token windows might be smashed, though these days that wouldn’t get much attention in Eric Adams’s New York. Figures such as Al Sharpton, who never met a dead black thug he didn’t like, are moving to the fore, and will soon urge the “protestors” to a quicker pace. Attempts to counsel nonviolence will be shouted down as “suppression.” The tempo will accelerate.

     The riots of the “George Floyd protests” are the model. Leftists in public office will condone outbreaks of violence as triggered by “right-wing extremism” and “racist oppression.” The commercial districts of the cities will experience flash mobs, smash-and-grabs, and outright looting.

     Persons minded to visit such places for purposes of their own must beware. Those with conventional expectations of safety and public order will be sorely grieved. In the “blue” cities – which means almost every city of a half-million or more – when the rioting breaks out, as the steps fly ever faster, the “forces of order” will hang back and watch.

***

     You could probably add details to the above, but the overall pattern is already clear. It’s the Left’s playbook for intimidating decent people into silence and isolation. It worked in 2020, so why not play those tunes a second time? Especially if it aids the effort to destroy the veracity of the 2024 elections?

     The 2024 balloting is being called – yes, again – the most important election in our lifetimes. Given the behavior of the major parties, I can’t see it. The Democrats haven’t changed at all; they’re still infinitely voracious and ruthlessly determined to hold power. The Republicans haven’t changed either; they’re jelly-spined placeholders whose function is to provide a “Potemkin opposition.” None of the minor parties really matter.

     Take it as written in the stars: No matter what it takes, Donald Trump will be prevented from contending for the GOP’s nomination. The Establishment will never again permit such an outsider near the levers of power. That he’d defeat any imaginable opposition in an honest election is of no moment.

***

     Stephen Kruiser considers current events to be a “dress rehearsal.” He could be right. The Left has previously probed the margins of what’s publicly acceptable. It has excelled at gradualist tactics in its efforts to shape public attitudes and behavior. The implications are as grim as Leonard Cohen’s song.

     The above is an outline of the social devolution I foresee. Keep it handy. You can use it to check my understanding of the processes involved when the dancing really gets going. But however things may progress, do stay away from the cities. Your footwork, however adroit, might be insufficient to save you.

May 10 2023

Inherit The Wind, 2023 Edition

     If you were fascinated by the clash of issues and titans in the Scopes Monkey Trial, whether the movie version with Frederic March and Spencer Tracy or the original “starring” William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, you can’t fail to be mesmerized by this modernization by Hidden Truth author Hans G. Schantz:

     I read it in pre-release, and it’s a stunner. Go ye thither and preorder it!

May 09 2023

Matches And Powder Kegs

     In this recent piece on “CW 2.0,” John Wilder reviews current conditions that could lead to the outbreak of a second Civil War. His observations give renewed force to questions that have plagued me for some time:

  • Will the Right ever cease to prioritize the avoidance of conflict over the restoration of the Republic?
  • If so, when?
  • What might the trigger be?

     Wilder speaks of some recent events that could provide a “spark:”

     In research of Civil War over time, it appears that the conditions exist that start Civil Wars for some time before they turn into outright Civil War. Often, one group finally comes to the conclusion that they are out of power, will never be in power again, and are being treated unfairly, that feeling builds up. It’s waiting for a moment, a spark, that allows the emotional feeling to turn into action.

     He offers these possibilities first:

  • “After another transexual shot up a church school senselessly killing several people (and disappearing from the news in record time), people had enough.”
  • “Remember, the Shot Heard ‘Round the World was fired on redcoats that were out to . . . take guns.”

     He mentions other related developments as well, including the firing of Tucker Carlson and the recent murder conviction of Daniel Perry for defending himself against an AK-47-toting rioter.

     It’s adding up, Gentle Reader. At some point the total will trigger this graphic summation of the possibilities:

     We cannot know in advance what total will flip the switch, but present trends continuing, we’ll know soon enough.

***

     What’s been going on can be summed up quite briefly: The Left has been “probing with the bayonet,” just as Lenin advised. Despite multiple baldfaced denials of objective reality, their incursions have been overwhelmingly successful. As the laws of reality are self-enforcing – have you defied gravity recently? – the phenomenon demands explanation. Here’s one from an obscure work of philosophy:

     Rearden stood motionless, not turning to the crowd, barely hearing the applause. He stood looking at the judges. There was no triumph in his face, no elation, only the still intensity of contemplating a vision with a bitter wonder that was almost fear. He was seeing the enormity of the smallness of the enemy who was destroying the world. He felt as if, after a journey of years through a landscape of devastation, past the ruins of great factories, the wrecks of powerful engines, the bodies of invincible men, he had come upon the despoiler, expecting to find a giant—and had found a rat eager to scurry for cover at the first sound of a human step. If this is what has beaten us, he thought, the guilt is ours.

     I find this to be substantially correct.

     The Left’s campaign has striven to denormalize reality itself. But a society in which the majority denies reality, regardless of the specifics, cannot function. Rand’s fictional depiction of the accelerating deterioration of the United States – I very nearly typed “Untied States,” and wouldn’t that be a sorry conclusion? – implies a progression toward such a collapse. Her focus was economic, but a cultural collapse would have the same characteristics.

     Therefore we may take it as written that the American majority of today remains wedded to reality and cultural norms that respect it. But if this is so, we could defeat our destroyers. With due respect to the late Jim Morrison, we have the guns and the numbers.

     What stands in our way is our own reluctance to do battle.

***

     Fight / flight / surrender. This is the trichotomy that the living world enforces upon the organisms within it. When under attack, a living creature must adopt one of those three postures, for there are no others.

     Though it pains me to say so, the greater number of us in the Right have chosen surrender. The pain comes from the recognition that not only are we behaving like cowards, but we could easily prevail over our enemies.

     Our aversion to confrontation has us by the short’n’curlies. Until we overcome it, we can make no headway.

     Remember this incident?

     A complete monster today assaulted a woman with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene outside of the DC Gulag.
     The man stood behind a little woman and blew a whistle as loud as he could in her ears. He would not stop and would not leave. The prison staff refused to take action when they were notified of this criminal activity outside of their facility. Do you think they would have come out if it was Pelosi out there?
     This is criminal behavior. At one point he screamed at someone, “Touch, you die!”
     Is anyone else infuriated by this ghoul?

     No doubt someone was…so why did no one take action? Given that the presence of such…persons at appearances by conservative figures is practically guaranteed for the foreseeable future, why was no one prepared to deal with him?

     It’s pure cowardice: the reluctance to take a step, a completely justifiable and necessary step, in defense of our public norms.

     If it persists, there are only two possible outcomes:

  • The Left wins, and subjugates us for the foreseeable future;
  • The match reaches the powder keg, and all bets are off.

     William E. Simon, writing of the chaos and degeneration of the mid-Seventies, produced two books: A Time For Truth and, about a year later, A Time For Action. Our time is a time for both.

     Have a nice day.

May 08 2023

The “Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes” Edition

     We have this, from Robert Spencer:

     The least honorable president in American history had a softball interview with MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle on Friday, in which he uttered one of the most outlandish lies of his entire life, which has been filled with his outlandish lies: “I think I’ve proven myself to be honorable, as well as effective.”

     Oh, really?

     Decide for yourselves.

May 08 2023

Owing To The January 6 Trials…

     …and much else, including such events as the death of black thug Jordan Neely at the hands of a public-spirited Marine veteran, the legal principle – yes, Gentle Reader, it is a principle, not just some libertarian’s half-baked notion – of jury nullification has re-entered the national discourse.

     It’s actually rather strange that it should ever have faded from our minds. The whole point of the “twelve good men and true” system was to make jury nullification a living organ of our justice system. Why it isn’t on millions of people’s minds, given the number of good men who are in jeopardy of losing everything, merely for exercising their rights, demands explanation. Fortunately, the explanation is not hard to find.

     I made use of the principle in a novel — ironically enough, in the setting of a sedition trial:

     “The something you ought to know is this: When you cast your votes in the jury room, you’re absolutely free to cast them any way you want, regardless of the law, regardless of the charges, and regardless of anything the judge has told you. A juror is not liable for his vote. He can’t be punished for it. That’s at the heart of the jury system. If it were otherwise, the government could compel you to bring in any verdict it wanted. There’d be no point to having a jury at all.
     “So if His Honor instructs you that you must vote a certain way, even conditionally, you can disregard it.” Devin turned slowly to glare at the bench. The judge’s face was a mottled mask of fury. He gripped the handle of his gavel like a battle axe poised to strike.
     “His Honor is very angry with me for telling you that. He was going to tell you something like ‘I am judge of the law, and you are judge of the facts,’ meaning that whatever law he decrees, you have no choice but to enforce.” Devin grinned at the judge, then turned back to the jury box. “Well, it ain’t so, my friends. When you go into that room, you are the captains of your own destiny…and mine, too.
     “That’s the part you ought to know. If you think I’m a miserable excuse for a human being who deserves to be put behind bars, you can vote that result and no one can say ‘boo’ to you. On the other hand, if you think I’ve been shafted and want to rub the government’s nose in it, you can vote that way, and be damned to them all for that, too.”

     Once again, this is a genuine legal principle. It’s one governments have been straining to eliminate since the trial of John Peter Zenger. But judges are determined to stamp it out. It threatens the Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnibenevolent State – and the State is the source of their power. They’ve guarded that power jealously ever since the position of judge was taken away from the wise men of England, who rode regular circuits through the land, hearing cases and dispensing justice for a modest fee, and was given to the Crown to award according to the king’s pleasure.

     Jury nullification was a great part of the reason Prohibition was repealed. Juries repeatedly refused to convict the bootleggers brought before them. Those men were merely providing what the public wanted…frequently including a majority of the members of the jury. The federal government got tired of being humiliated in court. (Did you really think the Feds went after Al Capone for tax evasion because they couldn’t find evidence of his other activities?)

     The State’s aversion to jury nullification is also one of the motivations for the proliferation of administrative trials, in which a single appointed “judge” indicts, tries, finds the “defendant” guilty, and imposes a fine…usually for violating a regulation never enacted into law by any legislature. Look for the phrase “civil penalty” in statutes brought to your attention. They indicate exactly that procedure: a clear violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.

     But for a lawyer, a man whose trade is licensed by the State, to mention this to a jury in open court would cost him that license. Judges are swift to cite defense attorneys who allude to it, however delicately, for contempt, thereafter to see to it that they’re “disbarred.” Jury-nullification activists have been arrested and detained without any charge being filed against them for handing out pamphlets about the jury’s veto.

     One juror armed with the knowledge of this vital tool for restraining the State can thwart a huge mass of badge-toting, black-robe-wearing thugs. Of course, they don’t want you to learn that…which makes it even more important that you do. Go to this site to learn still more.

     If you make the criminal code sanguinary, juries will fail to convict. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Compensation”

May 07 2023

Human Institutions

     They’re imperfect – all of them. Every now and then, a reminder is useful.

     The Acts of the Apostles contains a pair of segments that make many things plain – indeed, plainer in some ways than the Church would like us to know. The first of them is in Chapter 2:

     And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. [Acts 2:44-47]

     Let’s agree to bypass the question many have raised over this passage: i.e., whether socialism, as it was practiced by those early believers, is somehow theologically mandated. Rather, let’s consider the amity and serenity the passage depicts. It tells of a true Christian peace, a state of existence to which all good men should aspire as the ideal. Now we turn a few chapters forward:

     And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. [Acts 6:1-4]

     Suddenly there’s dissension in the ranks! Some are being treated better than others in the “daily ministration” – i.e., the distribution of charity to those in need – and their fellow Greek Christians are not having any of it. Note also that the emergence of the “daily ministration” implies that the early practice of “holding all things in common” did not last. Socialism didn’t scale up any better in First Century Judea than at any time afterward.

     The Church was getting populous. Dozens had become hundreds; hundreds would soon become thousands. Human failings were becoming more influential. It was, as much so as any human-derived phenomenon can be, inevitable.

     The temporal Church, which is also called the Church Militant, will always be affected by the weaknesses of its members. We can hope that faith, prayer, and the Holy Spirit will dampen those weaknesses and correct for them, but there are no guarantees in a species that possesses free will. This opens the possibility that some who speak in the name of the Church will be wrong…and will mislead others susceptible to being misled.

     Let me say this at once: This does not condemn the Church. Neither does it “automatically” negate any Church teaching. But Church doctrine is so broad and so ramified, dependent upon the hermeneutics of many generations of scholars, that the laity is understandably at a loss when the Church promulgates a doctrine that seems remote from the teachings of Christ.

     Which is why the Church allows that the individual conscience, as long as it remains true to the core teachings presented to Mankind by Our Lord Jesus Christ, must be allowed its freedom. That’s the “properly formed conscience” of which Father Joseph M. Champlin speaks in this important passage:

     Catholics believe that an individual’s conscience is the ultimate determinant of what is wrong or right for that individual. Moreover, God will judge us according to the fidelity with which we have followed our conscience. Nevertheless, this conscience needs to be formed by objective standards of moral conduct. The Church provides us with just that — moral norms based on Jesus’s teachings, the inspired scriptures, centuries of tradition, and the laws of nature.

     These moral standards may seem at times to be inhibiting or restrictive. The fact is, that quite to the contrary, they release or liberate us. These norms both make us free, and lead us to the deep happiness that comes from following God’s plan. Jesus underscored that point when he said: “If you live according to my teachings, you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

     [Father Joseph M. Champlin, What It Means To Be Catholic, printed under the imprimatur of Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles]

     If it were not for this fundamental freedom of conscience, the Church could not have proclaimed that Protestant Christians are as eligible for salvation as Catholics – which the Church has proclaimed. The ecumenical movement that began with the Second Vatican Council would not have been possible without that proclamation.

     Catholics are called to love Protestants as our brethren in Christ, despite their disagreements with us. Indeed, that love is imperative for us, given that we spent centuries denying that brotherhood. Anyone who adheres to the Nicene Creed must be included in that love.

***

     I could have written about many other things today, but this topic struck me as overriding all the others. I’ve taken some flak for insisting on it, especially over this passage from one of my more popular novels:

     “You know,” [Father Raymond Altomare] said as he set down his empty mug, “I could tell this story with one hand on my heart and the other on a Bible, and no one would ever believe it.”
     Jana’s eyes twinkled. “We could take a few ‘selfies,’ if that would help.”
     He mirrored her grin. “Perhaps we should, so I don’t start asking myself if I believe it. But let’s leave that for later. The part that’s really tough to believe is immune to such things anyway.”
     “Hm?”
     “That the world’s foremost actress crossed North America to meet an ordinary Onteoran on the strength of a blog entry.”
     She cocked an eyebrow. “You think Tim is ordinary?”
     “Well…”
     “I have to tell you, Father, I’ve never met a less ordinary man in my twenty-eight years. And movie people get around.”
     “I’m sure. It still boggles the mind. So he’s okay?”
     “Okay and more than okay, Father. I’m here to tell you. I grew up in rural Kentucky. I went straight from there to Hollywood. And I never felt nearly as at home in either place as I do in…in Tim’s arms. He’s the brightest, kindest, gentlest man I’ve ever met.” She glanced at his mug. “Would you like a refill?” He shook his head. She took his mug, set it in the sink, refilled her own, and returned to her seat. “I assume you’re here because you’ve missed him?”
     Ray nodded. “He’s one of my most regular regulars. Six AM Mass on weekdays, seven-thirty AM on Sundays. For him to miss a weekday Mass…well, it’s happened now and then. But two whole weeks of not seeing him is unprecedented.”
     “Oh.” She smirked. “Feel free to blame it on me, Father. I got here two weeks ago today, and since then I’ve hardly let him out of my sight. But thank you for telling me. At least now I know why he’s always up so early.”
     Do I dare? Oh, why not?
     “You could come with him.”
     Jana looked down at her mug. She played briefly with the handle.
     I hope that didn’t poke a sore spot.
     Presently she said “My people have some unflattering terms for yours, you know.”
     “Your people?”
     “Baptists.”
     “Ah. Yes, I do know. Have you known many Catholics?”
     She shook her head. “There aren’t many in Kentucky, and movie people tend not to talk about religion. Hollywood isn’t friendly toward it. Especially not Christianity. I’ve taken pains to keep my own beliefs and churchgoing on the q.t.”
     “I can imagine,” Ray said. “And here we are in Tim’s kitchen, the most famous actress in the world calmly conversing with one of the shamans of ‘the cult of Mary.’ It doesn’t seem to disturb you any.”
     She smiled and sat back. “Father, I could tell you stories about my people that would turn your hair white. I know there are bad people in every sect on Earth, but Baptists…well, let’s just say that the ones I’ve known are way too ready to point out the motes in others’ eyes. I’d say the verse they’re least fond of is ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged.’”
     A Gospel citation from the world’s number one actress!
     Automatically, Ray followed: “For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own?”
     Jana grinned. “Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.”
     “You’re a King James aficionado, I see,” Ray said.
     “While you prefer the New Revised Standard Version,” Jana replied. “I own copies of both, but the poetry of the Gospels always seemed to me to come out better in the King James version. Especially Luke. More rhythm.”
     “And less blues,” Ray added, and they laughed together.
     “But still,” Jana said more soberly, “you’ve missed your most regular communicant, and now you’ve come to his home to discover that he’s been passing his nights with a Hollywood harlot.” She smirked. “A Baptist harlot, at that.”
     “That ‘judge not’ verse remains applicable, Jana,” Ray said. “I’m not going to stray from it, except to ask: are you promised to anyone? Because I know Tim isn’t.”
     Jana’s smile was wistful. “No, Father, I’m not. Neither explicitly nor implicitly.”
     “Then all is well, dear.”

     The flak has come almost exclusively from Catholics. Go figure.

     We can all be wrong. Therefore, our institutions, including our supremely cherished and irreplaceable Church, can be wrong. On subjects not directly tied to the teachings of Christ, the individual’s conscience must be allowed its place.

     Humility, my fellow theophages. Ultimately, it’s all about humility. Without it, love of neighbor is a damn sight harder, if not impossible. So is forgiveness.

     May God bless and keep you all.

May 06 2023

The Idiosyncratic Extreme Exhaustion Edition (IEEE?)

     Nothing makes me wearier than shouting into a gale, yet I do it here virtually every day. The exhaustion arises, not from the physical effort it requires, but from the sense of futility it involves. Still, someone has to do it – few are brave enough to say certain things, these days – and I’m fortunate in being invulnerable to some of the Left’s favorite tactics.

***

1. “Too Obvious”

     Here’s the theme-setter for today:

     That’s one of the most destructive of all the Leftist division-tactics currently in play. Some of what it implies is too obvious for me to slight my Gentle Readers’ intelligence by explicating. The rest brings me too near to apoplexy for a sufferer of extreme hypertension.

     We’ve had enough cases of this, these past few years, that I fail to see what an argument over it would achieve. Increased racial division is too obviously the point of the thing – and it is in the nature of the enhanced-aggression / low-impulse-control Negro race to react with still further violence.

     The young Marine who took down a violent, abusive black thug on a New York City subway is about to experience the consequences of acting in defense of others:

     A U.S. Marine veteran accused of killing erratic New York City subway passenger Jordan Neely after placing him in a chokehold Monday will likely be arrested, experts told Fox News Digital.

     After Neely, 30, began ranting on the F train in Lower Manhattan, the Marine vet dragged the mentally ill man to the ground and held him with his arm over his neck for 15 minutes, according to Juan Alberto Vazquez, who shot now-viral cellphone video of the incident.

     “Even if you’re initially allowed to use force, it has to be proportional, and a 15-minute chokehold, that’s a pretty long time. At the point that the threat is immobilized, you’re no longer permitted to use force,” former Manhattan prosecutor turned criminal defense lawyer Mark Bederow told Fox News Digital.

     That young Marine should get a medal, the keys to the city, and a ticker-tape parade. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who is responsible for the plague of violent black thugs terrorizing the Big Apple today, should be hanged by the neck until dead – and in a rational society, he would experience that penalty at once and in public. That is, unless New Yorkers would prefer to have a wave of Bernhard Goetzes correct their public-disorder problems.

***

2. “If You Meet Mush, Push!”

     New York isn’t the only city where Negroes-in-ascendancy are asserting power over us:

     In a way, this…person’s brass is a model for the rest of us to study. She trumpets her falsehoods and demands with no embarrassment, nor with any fear of being contradicted or shamed. Damned few of us in the Right would be equally bold even in stating documented truths.

     I’m out of touch with developments in Denver, so I can’t report on the general reaction to Miss CdeBaca’s demands. Nevertheless, it was assuredly the voters of that city who gave her a seat on their council. Truly, as ye sow, so shall ye reap. Or as H. L. Mencken put it, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

***

3. “All It Takes Is…”

     Among the saddest of all pronouncements on our social and political ills are those that proclaim solutions that:

  1. Would definitely work…
  2. …but are impossible de facto of attainment.

     Here’s one from a commentator I generally agree with. Jared Taylor runs down the list of our worst social and political pathologies, and fingers the cause:

     All these things have something in common: Pathological individualism. An inability – or a refusal – to think beyond narrow, personal interests.

     As I’m an individualist, it would seem…well…pathological for me to agree with this diagnosis. Yet I do, because not thinking beyond narrow personal interests is shortsighted. As individuals, we face a tough task surviving, to say nothing of flourishing, in a hostile environment. We need cooperation from those around us sufficient to give us space and time in which to labor and establish our personal redoubts. The late Marshall Fritz once declaimed upon this, and no one more favorable to individualism and individual freedom has ever lived.

     As I said a few days ago, the people striving to reduce us to rightless serfs a hair’s breadth from poverty and squalor are not stupid. Evil motives do not require stupidity from their possessor. The Usurpers of America’s governments and public institutions are rich in “pride, craft, and cruelty.” (Leo Tolstoy) To quote that earlier piece:

     We’re being made to run on a wheel. Our existences are being reduced to futility by the application of ever harsher constraints and survival pressures. We’re getting nowhere, we’re tiring from the effort, and the Usurpers are making the wheel ever harder to spin.

     The Tennessee Star editorial proposes a “grand alliance” of the great mass of us who want our country back as it was. The Usurpers hope to prevent exactly that, which is the central reason for their policies. As they force Us the People to struggle ever harder to keep ourselves and our loved ones alive, adequately provided for, and reasonably safe, they drain us of the energy that would make it possible to resist them. A man who’s barely succeeding at “treading water” can spare no thought for anything but survival.

     The “grand alliance” paradigm isn’t unique to the Tennessee Star. Jared Taylor’s prescription is close to identical to it. But too many of us have no margin for any kind of activism, no matter how beneficial. Consider the identities of visible activists: the majority of them are persons being supported by others. They’re not “treading water.”

     There are solutions to our problems. Today it takes courage and the willingness to endure a fair amount of abuse even to speak of them, especially those that would correct for our flirtation with “diversity” and “multiculturalism.” The malevolent ones who have captured the corridors of power have already made the most direct of them practically unattainable. In this lies a lesson for our posterity, assuming we can stir our gonads enough to produce any.

     Have a nice day.

May 05 2023

A Brief Announcement

     Someone who gave the name of “Mike Bizzaro,” along with a strange-looking email address, just wrote to inform me that “[my] soul has been removed from Christianity.” He also provided a link to one of the ugliest web pages I’ve had the dubious pleasure of visiting. It is extremely important that anyone who agrees with this…diagnosis be aware that I am unamused by such announcements. I find it offensive in the extreme, regardless of the motivation behind it.

     This is exactly the sort of behavior – and the sort of person – that has made it unacceptable to talk about religious faith in public. No one finds it acceptable. Among other things, it is the exact opposite of humility.

     Your religious beliefs are your own affair. I talk about mine, which are largely orthodox Catholic doctrine, when I talk about matters of faith and the spirit. Disagree if you prefer, but if you think it is your duty to chastise me for my beliefs, don’t think for a moment that I’ll be happy to be told about it. Especially not if you provide your condemnation as a “comment” to a post on a completely different subject.

     Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. [Matthew 7:1-2]

May 05 2023

The Plunderers Hunger Part 3: The Root Of It All

     Do you reject Satan and all his works, and all his empty promises? – Rite of Confirmation

     If you undergo Confirmation as a Catholic, you’re asked that question, and you’d better answer it correctly. Yet Catholics are usually Confirmed around thirteen years of age. The young Catholic is seldom much acquainted with Satan, and – in this country, until recently – is unlikely to have brushed against his works or his promises. We shield our children from such things, as is our duty. Yet we adults are immersed in a world that’s steadily coming to resemble Hell. Satan’s fist squeezes us ever more tightly, yet we do almost nothing to resist him.

     In this connection, have a subtle haymaker from the brilliant and sadly neglected David Warren:

     Politics is the modest equivalent of war. It invites, in its nature, a kind of moral corruption in which what should never be done to another without cause, is given an arbitrary cause. The politician may argue that he did something in order to improve the economy, or hasten success, to be on the right side of history; whatever.

     The rules for personal goodness do not apply when politics comes into play. The chance of being fair usually does not exist, for it will slow the advancement of progress. The clearest moral laws will come into question, when something can be gained by questioning them.

     Mr. Warren’s gentle phrasing sneaks up on the reader. But the last sentence in the above snippet tears all the veils away.

     If there are moral laws, then they constitute absolutes: rules that must not be broken for any reason. But men are not the creators of absolutes. We may recognize them when we encounter them – we’d better – but they do not originate with us. However, some men seek to evade or deny them.

     Which men are known for this?

***

     It’s time to put it with maximum bluntness:

To the politician,
Right and wrong are merely obstacles.

     Political action is completely disconnected from “need.” It bears no relation to “progress.” It’s the diametric opposite of “the common good.” It serves no “security” but that of the men in power. Knowingly or otherwise, such men serve evil.

     The endless attempts to substitute anything else for right and wrong as our moral boundaries are exactly and only concerned with subverting the barriers right and wrong present to the politician. Indeed, such attempts are what define a man as a politician; nothing else is required.

     The giveaway is this: whether or not he occupies a public office, he who seeks to effectuate such a substitution always strives to harness the power of the State to his cause.

     The point is power over others. That is the politician’s supreme hunger. It has never been otherwise. Indeed, it cannot be.

***

     Among the most telling of all the quotes in my collection is this one, from Eric Hoffer:

     A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people’s business…The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice the utmost humility, is boundless.

     Rare is the man of substantive achievement – deeds that have actually created value for himself or others – who enters politics. The exceptions have swiftly discovered how hostile the political class is toward them. Few rise high enough or last long enough to be worth mentioning.

     We called for “outsiders” to break the seals on the corridors of power. We championed Donald Trump: the construction magnate, the man of demonstrable achievement who knew how to get things done. We applauded Ron Paul: the obstetrician, the man who penetrated the fraud that is fiat currency, and was willing to say so. We celebrate Rand Paul: the ophthalmologist, the man of principle who has pointed out the perfidies of Washington time after time, albeit to no avail. Three good men. Political outsiders.

     What should our enthusiasm for those figures have told us about ourselves? What deeper understanding should it have illuminated for us…and why didn’t it?

     Political action is plunder. Politicians are criminals. They are the muscle, the leg-breakers, the triggermen for Lysander Spooner’s “secret band of robbers and murderers.” They cannot be anything else. We do a good man, a man who sees right and wrong clearly, no favor by raising him to political office.

***

     Ann Barnhardt, among others, has said that the desire for political power is an inherent disqualification for it. Miss Barnhardt sees clearly. Her acerbity is of no moment. She knows right from wrong.

     But knowing right from wrong is a foundation, not a fulfillment. It does not suffice to say “I know evil when I see it.” Nor does it suffice to point it out when it happens by.

     We must cease to “choose the lesser evil.” We must cease to pretend that there is any such thing as “a necessary evil.” We must withdraw all sanction for it or consent to it.

     Governments have amassed power enough to exterminate us all. The wholly manufactured COVID-19 pandemic is proof. How much longer will men whose strongest desire is unbounded power over us, who rankle at the slightest criticism, who seethe at the merest hint of opposition, resist the urge to employ that power in its ultimate expression?

     Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us….In order to obtain and hold power, a man must love it. Thus the effort to get it is not likely to be coupled with goodness, but with the opposite qualities of pride, craft, and cruelty. – Leo Tolstoy

     The State represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the State is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from the violence to which it owes its very existence. – Mohandas “Mahatma” Gandhi

     “No power that is merely earthly will serve against the Hideous Strength.” — Clive Staples Lewis

     Reject the State.
     Dismiss its promises.
     Pray for it to come to an end.

May 04 2023

History May be, in Fact, Bunk!

I was a history major. I did some research as an undergraduate, that gave me a passion for refusing to buy into the popular stories, and burrow down to find out the underlying facts.

I was bored with what I was reading, and decided to find something on my Kindle library that was a little lighter, and more interesting. I found a copy of a book I’d read many years ago, in paperback form. It was The Daughter of Time, by Josephine Tey.

It’s a fiction story about a hospitalized policeman in England, who stumbles upon an historical mystery – what exactly happened to the sons of Edward V – the two Princes in the Tower.

It’s a very good story and highly entertaining (which was just what I was seeking). I won’t spoil the story if you’ve not read it, but, in the process of looking at contemporary accounts, the Inspector discovers that nearly everything about the legend is complete myth.

But, it’s a myth that is widely accepted as truth, and no amount of logic, reason, or proof will convince most people that the story is almost completely made up.

Which brings me to today – in the year 2023.

Donald Trump is widely considered by those to the left of Calvin Coolidge to be a villain equal to Richard III. His virtues are nonexistent, his crimes are all-but proven and many, and the nefariousness of his attempts to overthrow the lawful government is a known fact.

We will NEVER convince any of them to the contrary. So, I suggest we don’t try.

I neither dislike nor idolize Trump. He had his successes, he had his failures. One of his greatest failures is that he was too trusting of his staff and Cabinet (not unlike Richard III in that).

Would I want him to run again?

No. In fact, the best thing that could happen is that he stands down from running again. He could claim ill health (either in himself or his family). That would give him a graceful way to bow out. At that point, the NEVER Trumpists could lobby for the Left to back off of further prosecution, and let him live the remainder of his life in relative peace. That negotiation would depend on Trump’s acceptance of the necessity of the action.

Does that mean that I’m a DeSantis fan?

Not particularly. But, I’m willing to consider him, or anyone else that would oppose the March of the Left. If we lose, well, the meltdown of the economy may well happen – and, the blame would be solidly on the Left and their accomplices in the Genteel GOP crowd. If they ALL went down, well, that might be the price we pay for putting this country on a solid footing again.

May 04 2023

The Plunderers Hunger Part 2: The Coin Of The Realm

     Let’s start the day off with a little Ayn Rand:

     “Well, anyway, it was decided that nobody had the right to judge his own need or ability. We voted on it. Yes, ma’am, we voted on it in a public meeting twice a year. How else could it be done? Do you care to think what would happen at such a meeting? It took us just one meeting to discover that we had become beggars—rotten, whining, sniveling beggars all of us, because no man could claim his pay as his rightful earning, he had no rights and no earnings, his work didn’t belong to him, it belonged to ‘the family,’ and they owed him nothing in return, and the only claim he had on them was his ‘need’—so he had to beg in public for relief from his needs, like any lousy moocher, listing all his troubles and miseries, down to his patched drawers and his wife’s head colds, hoping that ‘the family’ would throw him the alms. He had to claim miseries, because it’s miseries, not work, that had become the coin of the realm—so it turned into a contest among six thousand panhandlers, each claiming that his need was worse than his brother’s. How else could it be done? Do you care to guess what happened, what sort of men kept quiet, feeling shame, and what sort got away with the jackpot?”

     Rand was prone to repetition, and few would accuse her of being overly subtle, but she did capture the dynamic that championing need over rights puts into force. Multitudes of competing claimants inevitably arise, simply because there’s no cost to doing so. They don’t have to offer anything but their whines, though some will supplement them with threats to public order.

     Need as an entitlement is the seed for a carnivorous plant whose growth accelerates continuously. It can’t be constrained; it can only be killed. But it is not unique. Any substitute proposed for rights – “the legacy of slavery,” “a history of marginalization,” “the public good,” what have you – will produce a similarly ravenous plant with the same growth curve.

     Rather than beat a concept this important into the magma layer, I’ll close here with a question for my Gentle Readers:

Can you name any task relegated to government
That has not experienced such a growth curve?

     I’ll be waiting for your contributions. And yes: more anon.

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