Using a Common Language

For John, BLUF:  What is the House Select Committee on 6 January investigating?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Understanding the 6 January Capitol Hill Imbroglio

From a blog by Ann Althouse, by Professor Ann Althouse, 30 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

"As one of the nation’s leading proponents of the insurrection hoax, Liz Cheney has pushed a grotesquely false, fabricated, hysterical partisan narrative.  Look at the so-called word insurrection, January 6 – what a lot of crap."

Said Donald Trump, quoted in "Trump calls Capitol attack an ‘insurrection hoax’ as public hearings set to begin/Former president intensifies attacks on Liz Cheney at Wyoming rally and endorses her Republican primary challenger in midterm elections" (The Guardian).

I believe what he was calling a hoax was the "insurrection" characterization.  That's why he said "the so-called word insurrection."  Now, that's a bit inarticulate.  Obviously, "insurrection" is really a word.  The point is that entry into the Capitol doesn't fit the definition of an "insurrection," which isn't a surprising assertion.  Trump gets back at his accusers by calling the "insurrection" characterization "a grotesquely false, fabricated, hysterical partisan narrative."

Has anyone on the Cheney side ever explained how it could be possible to think that overrunning the building could overthrow the government?  I wish people on both sides would use accurate language, but of course, they won't.

Here is one of the 86 Comments:

If it was an insurrection it was one of the worst in recorded history.  I have heard nothing about plans to seize communications centers.  There seemed to have been no plan for sustaining an occupation of the Capitol Building.  The number of armed participants seemed small.  Yes, we need more of a Wikipedia definition of insurrection than a Dictionary version.  On the other hand, the Post-6 January judicial process seems slow, ineffective, vindictive and avoiding of any deep dive.

Pretty much sums up my views.  However, one wonders if what the Democrats in the House of Representatives are thinking is Coup?

In summation, I see the 6 Jsnuary hearings as being a political ploy by a coalition of Democrats and Anti-Trump Republicans, to try to smear all Republicans in anticipation of the November Elections.  I don't think it will work.&nsp; On the other hand, I don't think it will hurt Democrats in the Mid-Term Elections any more than will inflation of fuel and food prices.

In the mean time, individuals continue to misremember what happened.  For example, President Biden recently said that two Capitol Police were killed by the "Occupiers".  Didn't happen. Yet no discussion of the killing of Ashli Babbitt.

For the re4cord, I believe ethat Candidate Joe Biden received the necessary Electoral College votes to be President of the United States.  At the same time, I believe there were irregularities in voting in various states.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Memorial Day 2022

For John, BLUF:  I am opposed to a one size fits all view of Memorial Day.  It is different for each of us.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Honoring Those Who Died in Military Service

Me3morial Day is about those who died while serving their Nation, our Nation.  I think of my Roommate at the Air Force Academy, Alan Trent, who died doing Close Air Support in South Viet-nam.  I think of Bob Rex, known in our Cadet Squadron as "Edipus".  He was flying a C-130 in South Viet-nam, which blew up after takeoff.  There was may classmate from the Air Force Academy and Pilot Training, Karl Richter, who died during a low threat 200th mission over North Viet-nam.  Karl and I were in the last row of the lowest EE Section, both struggling to understand how current flows.  I think of my Pilot Training Roommate, Asdo Kommendant, of Lakewood, NJ, but originally from Estonia, who died on his first mission in South Viet-nam, out of Cam Rsnh Bay.

And, I think of my Wife's late husband, who I never met, who died on day 179 of a 90 day deployoment to Okinawa.  His squadron was deployed there to replace F-102s, which were deployed to Southeast Asia to provide Air Defense there. Robert Harlan was an F-4 Back Seat Pilot doing a night air defense training mission against an electronic jamming EB-57, using a brand new technique, out over the Pacific, at low altitude, at night, after coming off of an air refueling exeercise.  A number of different challenges,

The result was a lost aircraft and two crewmembers missing and presumed dead,  And a Widow and two children without a Father.  Very sad,  Which is why we have a Memorial Day.

So, on Memorial Day I remember a number of people, including my Wife and my two oldest children, who lost a family member.  And Bob Harlan's Sister and Brother and Parents, who I have met.  I have heard the expression, "Everyone game something and some gave everything."  That applies to family members also.

Regards  —  Cliff

I Am A File Clerk

For John, BLUF:  EMail is like an addiction, which can take over one's life.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I am overwhelmed by EMail.  And, it is my fault.

I regularly have a thousand unread EMails, and that isn't even checking my World Softwware Tool and Die Account.

I reguarly try to get it widdled dowwn to under 400 totaal for each of the two accounts, but it then just explodes again.

My problem is two fold.  On the one hand, I want to absorbg all that is happening.  An impossible task.

At the same time I feel an urgue to archieve all my EMails, not letting anything that might be pertinent to slip away. : The problem is, I can't afford all that needed memory.  But,, it has turned me into a file clerk, with my day filled with moving read EMails to the proper folders; dozens and dozens folders.

I have had to change my priorities.  I am going to have to stop receiving some EMails, mostly money solicitations (I don't have the money to feed all of them anyway).

I had to do this a whle ago, when my EMail Address fell into the hands of Democrats.  They had my name as "Claire", but used my EMail.  It involved a lot of "Unsubscribe" actiond, but it seems to have finally work.

In the mean time, does anyone know of a support group for people with an addiction to EMail?

Regards  —  Cliff

The School Shooting, Another Angle

For John, BLUF:  A reporter for The LA Times was "shocked" that the shooter in Uvalde, Texas, was an American of Hispanic heritage.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Los Angeles Times Columnist Can’t Believe Texas Shooter Was Latino

Here is the sub-headline:

Gustavo Arellano blames American values for shooter's bloody rampage

From The Washington Free Beacon, by Washington Free Beacon Staff, 27 May 2022, 1:20 pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

A Los Angeles Times columnist expected the Texas elementary school shooter to be a "white supremacist" and was disappointed to learn he was a Latino.

"When I heard that a gunman had killed multiple schoolchildren in a predominantly Latino town in Texas, I immediately thought: white supremacist," Gustavo Arellano wrote in a Wednesday column. "How could I not?"

Arellano said his "stomach dropped" when he learned the mass shooting was in fact carried out by an 18-year-old Latino named Salvador Rolando Ramos. In an attempt to explain why a "Latino-on-Latino mass school shooting" would take place, Arellano blamed the tragedy on Ramos's assimilation into American culture.

"What Ramos did—stemming from a pathology found almost nowhere else on Earth—is as American as apple pie."

The LA Times Reporter has a good point.  The shooter had adapted to US Culture.

On the other hnd, Reporter Gustavo Arellano seems ignorant of a nation 144 mile south of the LA Civic Center, the United Mexican States.  A nation where drug cartels run big patches of territory and peole disappear.  For example, on 26 September 2014, students from a teacher training school in rural southern Mexico commandeered some buses, with an ultimate destination of Mexico City, for a demonstration.  Two buses disappeared enroute and 43 of the students went missing, to be tortured and killed.

Not every Latin American culture is like that, but to think the United States stands along in the Whestern Hemisphere in terms of violence and the use of guns is to reveal ignornce.

However, Reporter Arellano is spot on to identify culture as a part of the equation.  Our culture has shifted in the last 60 years and not for the better.  We thought we were making things better, but we were not.  I went to High school in LA County and for two of those years was on the High School Rifle Team.  I took my 22 Caliber Rifle to school on dzys we went to the range.  No big deal.  What changed?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Administrative State

For John, BLUF:  For a Century the US Congress has been delegating its authornity to Bureaucrats in the Executive Branch or in independenert agencies.  As the author says, this started to be big with President Woodrow wilson.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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A Chink In The Armor Of The Progressive Administrative State

From Manhattan Contrarian, by Mr Francis Menton, 23 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The great mission of the early twentieth century Progressives was to transform our constitutional order without ever amending the Constitution itself.  The intellectual leader of the movement was Woodrow Wilson.  The fundamental idea was to replace the messy and contentious system of separated powers and slow bi-cameral lawmaking with a cadre of supposedly apolitical administrative “experts” who could run the country smoothly and efficiently. The idea sounded rather benign to most people at the time, and probably still sounds benign to most people today.  Who could be against having “experts” to run significant government agencies?  But a hundred-plus years into this project, we have seen cancerous growth of vast administrative bureaucracies, outside the constitutional structure, and exercising great powers, but accountable to no one but themselves — the very antithesis of the constitutional structure that our founders attempted to bequeath to us. Last week the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans knocked a significant chink in the structure under which many of these agencies operate.  This chink may be only the first of many to come.  But we have deviated very far from the original structure, and the process of conforming the agencies to the constitutional structure will be a long and difficult one.  It is not moving quickly, and likely never will.  In this post I’ll try to give readers some perspective on where we are and where we may be headed, drawing in substantial part on a long post I previously wrote back in 2017.

When I was in grade school in the 1940s and 50s in South Jersey we were taught that President Woodrow Wilson was a great President.  Since then I have learned better.  He was problamatic in terms of race relations and bureaucratic growth and foreign relations and in terms of incapacitated Presidents.

We are talking laziness on the part of our elected representsatives.  And lazyiness on the part of we the voters.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

School Shooting and Society

For John, BLUF:  History and sociology tell us that school shootins, like the recnt one in Uvalde, Texas, are a relatively new phenomena, which calls for explanation.  just move along.

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Flashback 30 Years:  Guns Were in Schools... and Nothing Happened

From PJ Media, by Writer J. Christian Adams, 15 May 2018 5:30 AM ET.

Here is the lede plus four:

The millennial generation might be surprised to learn that theirs is the first without guns in school.  Just 30 years ago, high school kids rode the bus with rifles and shot their guns at high school rifle ranges.

After another school shooting, it’s time to ask:  what changed?

Cross guns off the list of things that changed in thirty years.  In 1985, semi-automatic rifles existed, and a semi-automatic rifle was used in Florida.  Guns didn’t suddenly decide to visit mayhem on schools.  Guns can’t decide.

We can also cross the Second Amendment off the list.  It existed for over 200 years before this wickedness unfolded.  Nothing changed in the Constitution.

That leaves us with some uncomfortable possibilities remaining.  What has changed from thirty years ago when kids could take firearms into school responsibly and today might involve some difficult truths.

I am one of those kids who took his rifle to [an urban] high school.

Like the author, i want to understand what changed in society since then.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Mother's Decision

For John, BLUF:  Brave eecisions by Mothers have allowed a number of us to make from womb to life outside the womb.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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John Paul II's mom chose life after her doctor advised an abortion

From The Pilot, by ACI Prensa Staff, 19 MAY 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

Over one hundred years ago on May 18, Emilia Wojtyla gave birth to her second son, Karol, after a difficult and life-threatening pregnancy. The child would grow up to be St. John Paul II.

In a new book published in Poland, Milena Kindziuk describes how St. John Paul II's mother was advised to get an abortion.

"She had to choose between her own life and that of the baby she was carrying, but her deep faith did not allow Emilia to choose abortion," Kindziuk said in an interview with ACI Stampa.

"Deep in her heart she had to be ready to make this sacrifice for the baby she was carrying," she said. It speaks for itself.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Politics at the Highest Level

For John, BLUF:  Ms Clinton may have done it (Russiagate), but that doesn't mean we go after her in the legal realm.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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CLINTON DID IT, WSJ EDITION

From Powerline Blog, Mr Scott Johnson, 23 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

I took the occasion of the testimony in the Sussman trial last week to weigh “Watergate in the balance.” John reviewed what we already knew in “Hillary did it.” On Saturday, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal — I think this is Kim Strassel’s beat as a member of the board — plays it straight in the editorial “Hillary Clinton did it.”

The Journal editorial lays out the template of the Russia hoax, minus the active participation of the FBI in pursuing the Crossfire Hurricane investigation, promoting the Steele Dossier in the FISA court and the Comey briefing of Trump as well as the conditions that led to the crippling Mueller investigation. We should probably add the setup of Michael Flynn, the incredibly fruitful “collusion” of the FBI and congressional Democrats with the prestige press, and a few other items, but here are the basics of the Russia hoax in its Alfa Bank iteration:

I am all for taking the campaign staff to trial, to deter breaking the law.  That said, going after the principal, Ms Clinton, Mr Trump, Mr Obama, Mr McCain, and so on, reduces us to the status of a Banana Republic.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Political Archeology

For John, BLUF:  The Rudi Dutschke types of the world envision a long march through the institutions, replacing what exists wiht what is untried.  Better is to build upon what is ats hand and known, improving as we go along.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Is George Washington fit only for contempt?

Here is the sub-headline:

Ask Frederick Douglass.

From , by Jeff Jacoby Globe Columnist,Updated May 18, 2022, 3:00 a.m..

Here is the lede plus one:

“George Washington University needs a new name” was the eye-catching headline on an opinion column published by The Washington Post last week.  The 750-word essay was written by Caleb Francois, a GW senior majoring in international relations who isn’t happy with his alma mater.  I read the column with particular interest: George Washington University is my alma mater.

Francois indicts GW for its “systemic racism, institutional inequality, and white supremacy,” which he blames for such alleged shortcomings as the fact that the faculty is only 19 percent Black and that “no African languages are taught at GW.”  Although a majority of GW’s students are nonwhite, Francois derides the admissions office for its failure “to ensure a student body with adequate minority representation.”

First off, there is the question of innumeracy.  What percentage of Black Professors would the Writer think is fair?

Then there is the question of the foundation for our nation.  Jesus told us:

That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built.

Luke 6:48 (NAB)

I think he has a point.  If we discount the Founding Fathers with all their flaws, and the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, what is our foundation?  Is it Criticsl Racer Theory?  That seems to go nowhere.  As we do our political archeology we need to find the treasures that are in our past and dust them off and use them to guide us into an ever better future.  Lashing out at George Washington does not advance much.  Finding what was good in him does.  This is a project for each generation.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Primaries Teach Lessons

For John, BLUF:  It will be interesting to see how Democrats and Republicans deal with abortion as an election issue, in light of the views of different ethnic groups.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Most Americans have nuanced views on abortion, Pew Center report shows

Here is the sub-headline:

From The Boston Globe, by Reporter Casey Parks of The Washington Post, 6 May 2022, 4:58 p.m.

Here is the lede plus one:

Relatively few Americans hold an absolutist view on the legality of abortion, a Pew Center report released Friday shows.

The report, one of the most comprehensive surveys on abortion attitudes in years, found that 61 percent of Americans believe abortion should be legal in some circumstances and illegal in others. Nineteen percent, or about 1 in 5 Americans, think abortion should be legal in all cases, and 8 percent say it should be illegal without any exceptions.

Earlier (27 April 2022, 6:40 pm), Globe Writer Naomi Martin, gave us a look at the campaign in the Texas 28th District, pitting incumbent representative Henry Cuellar (anti-abortion) against Ms Jessica Cisneros, an immigration attorney (pro-abortion).  The Primary Election is today.

Abortion, Democrats, and the Hispanic electorate: A complicated dynamic

Here is the sub-headline:

Can the threat to Roe v. Wade rally the Latinx electorate in the midterm elections?

Here is th elede plus one:

The conventional wisdom has long been that US La

tino voters generally hold more conservative than liberal views, particularly when it comes to abortion.

We’re about to find out in the midterm elections if that is still holds, at least in a key race in Texas.

From my observation point the bruhaha over Roe v Wade is important, it is ony one of a number of issues driving the views of voters.  Today will be interesting from Texas to Georgia.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Path to November

For John, BLUF:  Elections can be complicated and not turn on the obvious issues.  Democrats counting on the Supreme Court and its decision re Roe v Wade may find themselves surprised and disappointed.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Limits of the Democrats’ Abortion Maximalism

From Commentary, by Reporter Noah Rothman, 23 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

If hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays virtue, for Democrats, abortion is the vice, and mitigating their party’s losses at the polls in November is the virtue.

Last week, the party in power caught a glimpse of how a Supreme Court judgment striking down Roe v. Wade might provide Democrats with a reprieve from electoral judgment day. An NPR/Marist survey conducted in the immediate wake of a leaked Court decision found that the generic ballot measuring which party the public would like to see in control of Congress found Democrats surging back into contention. The Republican Party’s lead on that ballot test evaporated over the space of a month, shifting by eight points back in the Democratic direction. “Wait till June comes,” Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego said of this poll, “and you will see that number go higher.”

The Democratic Party and its allied institutions aren’t waiting. With the primaries in pivotal Pennsylvania concluded and the battle lines set, Democratic groups are training their fire on the flawed candidate Republican voters nominated for governor. A forthcoming $6 million campaign targeting Doug Mastriano will not, however, dwell on his support for overturning the results of the 2020 election, his presence at the Capitol Building complex on January 6, or the “QAnon”-affiliated company he keeps. Instead, the Democrat-aligned group Strategic Victory Fund opens with a policy argument against Mastriano–specifically, his stated support for Texas-style legislation proscribing abortion if a fetal heartbeat is detectable.

However, as the article goes on we see some Democrats hedging their bets.  For example, they are not abandoning their House colleague, Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar,who is against a bill codifying Roe v Wade.  The reason is that not all of the groups Democrats claim as their own, eg, Hispanic, are as pro-abortion as the Progressive wing.  Forther, some see bread and butter issues, such as gas prices, food shortages and inflation rearing their ugly heads.

An overturning of Roe v Wade does not promise Democrats victory in November.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trusting The Government to Do What is Right

For John, BLUF:  The Department of Justice, and the FBI, are large Bureaucratic organizations and sometimes act for self-preservation, rather than the larger good of the nation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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DOJ collected Project Veritas emails but didn't reveal it to federal judge overseeing case

From Hot Air, by Writer John Sexton, 22 March 2022 3:30 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

An attorney for Project Veritas sent a letter to District Court Judge Analisa Torres accusing the Department of Justice of sidestepping her prior rulings designed to protect the journalistic and attorney-client privileges of the organization.  Microsoft recently revealed that the DOJ had previously seized Project Veritas documents from a cloud account using a warrant which was not revealed to the court and which Microsoft was forbidden from revealing until recently.

At the base of all of this is the FBI investigation into how Project Veritas wound up in possession of Ashley Biden’s diary.  An FBI raid of homes belonging to Project Veritas CEO James O’Keefe and two former PV journalists, resulted in the FBI seizing a number of phones, laptops, thumb drives, etc. last November.  Project Veritas asked Judge Torres to appoint a Special Master to review the seized information and determine what should and should not be turned over to authorities.  Judge Torres agreed and ordered everything that had been gathered turned over to the Special Master.  But even after she issued that decision, the DOJ didn’t reveal the PV documents it had already collected from Microsoft and went behind Judge Torres back and the back of the Special Master she appointed to keep the previously seized documents a secret.

More recently Brietbart had an article (12 May) saying "Whistleblower Says FBI Targeting ‘News Media’".  It appears, from the outside, looking in, that the FBI and Project Veritas have developed mutual animosity and just can't let go.

The thing that bothers me is some unit of the Department of Justice writing its own rules regarding searching and seizure of information.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Selling Out to WHO?

For John, BLUF:  We must be careful of our Federal Government giving away authority to supra-national organizations, especially ones dominated by nations with different views on governance, freedom and social organization.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Biden Seeks New Unilateral Powers for WHO Chief to Declare Public Health Emergencies

From Epoch Times, by Commentator Mark Tapscott, 17 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus four:

President Joe Biden’s administration is pushing amendments to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) governing regulations to give Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus unilateral authority to declare a public health emergency in any nation based on whatever evidence he chooses.

The proposed U.S. amendments were forwarded to the WHO in January for consideration next week by the UN’s 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland.

In a January 26 letter to a virtual meeting of WHO’s executive board, Loyce Pace, Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) described “the importance of equity and equitable access to medical countermeasures and the negative impacts of misinformation and disinformation related to the pandemic.  We agree that we must all do better.

“The United States led an inclusive and transparent process to develop this decision, as we are mindful that updating and modernizing the [International Health Regulations] IHR are critical to ensuring the world is better prepared for and can respond to, the next pandemic.”

I liked the "inclusive and transparent" words regarding the process.  I didn't feel included and it didn't seem transparent.  I didn't notice it in the newspapers I read.  In fact, the little mention I saw was in what I might consider fring publications.  Is this typical of the current Administration.

And, I am not too keen on giving more power to WHO, or to even national level parts of the administrative state.  If COVID taught us anything it should have been that larger governmental organizations sometimes get it wrong.  The corrolary is that larger governmental organizations will not just resist alternative views, but actively work to suppress alternative views.  Such actions are not "science".

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Understanding Discrimination

For John, BLUF:  Discrimination comes in a number ofdifferent forms, leading to a choice of legal remedies available.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Are Jews a Race Under U.S. Law?

Here is the sub-headline:

How the United States has attempted to settle the question of whether antisemitism is racism or mere animus

From The Tablet, by Law Professor Eugene Volokh, 15 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

Is being Jewish a race?  A national origin?  An ethnicity?  A religion?  All four?

The answer is:  It’s complicated.

Discrimination comes in all forms.  When I was young in the Air Force the F-105 Pilots discriminated against the F-4 Aircrews♠ and we all looked down on the trash haulers♥.

I had come to believe we had been making progress in the area of discrimination, but we seem to have been slipping backward over the last decade.  This article helps us understand, in a relatively few words, some of the law around the issue.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I was in a Fighter Wing that transitioned from F-105s to F-4s, and the F-105 Pilots were resentful and, by and large, the F-4 Crew Dogs were glad when the last of the Thud Plots rotated out of theater.
♥   It is complicated.  Transport Pilots are graduates of the same Undergraduate Pilot Training program, or were, but were seen by fighter pilots as people who flew in straight lines from A to B.

Ignoring the Data

For John, BLUF:  Reuters, the fabled news reporting organization, apparently curates information to meet its audience's perceived prejudices.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The data about police shootings just didn't add up, but no one at Thomson Reuters wanted to hear it.

From Bari Weiss Substack, by Reporter Zac Kriegman, 12 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

Until recently, I was a director of data science at Thomson Reuters, one of the biggest news organizations in the world. It was my job, among other things, to sift through reams of numbers and figure out what they meant.

About a year ago, I stumbled on a really big story. It was about black Americans being gunned down across the country and the ways in which we report on that violence. We had been talking nonstop about race and police brutality, and I thought: This is a story that could save lives. This is a story that has to be told.

But when I shared the story with my coworkers, my boss chastised me, telling me expressing this opinion could limit my ability to take on leadership roles within the company. Then I was maligned by my colleagues. And then I was fired.

This is the story Reuters didn’t want to tell.

Here is a data person who looked at the data and found that many public pronoucements on Black Lives Matter are not solidly based on data science.

The problem here is that an organization curating information to conform with the prejudices of members of the organization.

I thank Bari Weiss for letting this appear on her substack.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Topic With a Constrained Discussion

For John, BLUF:  Abortion is a hot topic these days, but somemany are reluctant to talk about the larger ramifications, not only the question of sin (of when life begins), but also the social and economic sides of the issue.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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We have been waching the BBC Series, Grantchester.  This evening we watched Series 3, Ephisode 3.  Lots of issues in the story, but one stood out.

In the story there are several robberies at Post Offices.  Indirectly tied to the robberies is the murder of the owner of a local Garage proprieter.  He wife and the mechanic are brought in for interregation regarding the murder.

During interregation the wife (a Roman Catholic) confesses to having had an abortion.  The Vicar, Mr Chambbers, is sitting across from her and she asks the Vicar if God will forgive her.  Usually quick to comfort and console, he says—nothing.

I thought about this for a while.  Was it because she was Roman Catholic and he is Anglican?.  I am doubtful.  The Vicar is always quick with a word for everyone.  Perhaps it is all the sexual tension in the show?  There was a premonition, in that early in this Ephisode DI Geordie Keating's Mistress, Margaret Ward, tells Inspector Keating that for a couple of days she thought she was pregnant.  However, that thread runs off in a different direction.

It strikes me that the real problem for the writers was what to say next.  As a 1950s Vicar he can't possibly say it is not a sin.  On the other hand, for a modern day "Progressive" audience♠ he couldn't say it was a sin, even if (or especially if) he says God will forgive you.  I hink the writers elected to stay silent.  Such is the power of social presssure.

Regards  —  Cliff
♠  I would think this would apply especially for the US Release through PBS.

Dead Reckoning

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes the news is a little off and sometimes it might lead us to wrong conclusions.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Downed Russian fighter jets are being found with basic GPS 'taped to the dashboards,' UK defense minister says

From Business Insider, by Reporter Bill Bostock, 10 May 2022, 5:40 AM.

Here is the lede:

Wrecked Russian fighter jets are being found with rudimentary GPS receivers "taped to the dashboards" in Ukraine because their inbuilt navigation systems are so bad, the UK's defense secretary, Ben Wallace, said.

I am willing to grant that Russian fighter aircraft may not have high quality aids to navigation and that they may not be well maintained♠  but, I wonder about the ability of Russian pilots to do basic dead reckoning navigation.  Deadreckoning is fundamental to navigation.  When your Dead Reckoning position and the electronic position differ, don't automatically go with the answer from your electronic aids to navigation.

This appears to be a possible indictment of Russian Air Force training.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff
♠  It reminds me of my days as an F-4 Back Seater.  If was a rare sortie that I didn't have a "Write Up" on the air-to-air radar or the navigation systems.

Playing on the Team—Midge Decter (RIP)

For John, BLUF:  Ms Midge Decter, cited in our Blog Header, passed away on 9 May of this year, at the age of 94.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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"Liberalism, she said [in the late 1960s], rather than speaking to the common man and woman as it had in the past, was veering off the tracks into 'a general assault in the culture against the way ordinary Americans had come to live...."

From the Althouse Blog, by Law Professor Ann Althouse, 10 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

"She argued that the real revolution that allowed women to have careers was not the women’s movement but the availability of modern forms of birth control. To Ms. Decter, women had a biological destiny to be wives and mothers, and those who tried to escape it evinced self-hatred. In her 1972 book, 'The New Chastity and Other Arguments Against Women’s Liberation,' she wrote that women’s 'true grievance' is not that they are 'mistreated, discriminated against, oppressed, enslaved, but that they are — women.' She offered a solution: Single women should remain chaste, because women are

naturally monogamous. And withholding sex, she said, was a form of power over men...." From "Midge Decter, an Architect of Neoconservatism, Dies at 94/As a writer and intellectual, she abandoned liberal politics, challenged the women’s movement and championed the Reagan Republican agenda"
(NYT).

She asked difficult questions.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Occulted Streets

For John, BLUF:  In Twelver Shia Islam, the Twelfth Imam is the hidden, the ocullted, Imam, who comes at the end times.  See Richard Bulliet's book, The Tomb of the Twelfth Imam.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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It appears that I received a parking ticket on Frday, 8 April of this year.  The loction was Francis Street.

I received a letter from the City of Lowell yesterday, telling me I was late in paying my fine.$nbsp; It was a surprise, as I don't recall seeing a parking ticket under the wiper.  I didn't recognize Francis Street and looked for it on my iPad, and then Google Maps.  Zip.  My wife confirmed it.

I then drove to the Election Office, where the Departmnt Head is the Hearing Officer.  But, Shannon, who has the Conn, since Elliott Veloso departed for Cambridge, went for the practical issues.  She too looked for Francis Street and could not find it, even in the database of voters.  At this point I drove to the Parking Office, which noted that there is a Francis Street, off Dutton, where the old Giant used to be (before my time)  I won a Quarter bet on Elliott being in Cambridge, but was told it was too late for an appeal, per the rules.

The important information was that Francis Street is off of Dutton Street.  I drove the area and while there was no street sign for Francis, there was an unsigned street off of Canal, running toward the offices of the National Paark Service and LTC.  I had paid a visit to LTC around that time, so that seems to narrow it down.

I returned to City Hall and the Elections Ofdfice and Shannon escorted me up to where I had to pay, where another very fine City Employee greeted me by name and accepted my $30 in payment and late fees.

So, Francis Street is still occulted, but I did send an EMail off to the Hamilton Canal Innovation District Chief Design Planner.

Regards  —  Cliff

Trust the Voters

For John, BLUF:  This is item 4, about the Democrats trying to use the 14th Amendment to disqualify a [Republican] US House Candidate.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Monday Ethics Madness, 5/9/2022: Villains! Leakers,The Paid Liar, The ABA, And More

From Ethics Alarms, by Blogger Jack Marshall, 9 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

Another totalitarian move by Democrats fails. I wouldn’t vote for Marjorie Taylor Greene if she were running against that inflatable Jabba—or even the real Jabba—but the effort to keep her off the ballot using the 14th Amendment provision designed for members of the Confederacy shows just how ruthless and uninterested in democracy the current Democratic Party is.

Rather than finding a way to beat the loose-cannon Georgia Congresswoman fair, square, and on the merits, Democrats tried to defeat Greene by getting her name removed from the ballot by falsely accusing her of being a Confederate—OK, participating in an “insurrection against the nation” That’s a crime that Greene was never charged with, and none of the January 6th rioters have been so charged either. The challenge to Greene’s qualifications was based entirely on things she said or posted on social media supporting the rioters. Democrats were trying to remove her from the ballot based on political speech, which is First Amendment speech. (Progressives don’t like the First Amendment.)

A Georgia judge rejected the attempt, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger quickly announced that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene will remain on the GOP primary ballot, saying,

“In this case, Challengers assert that Representative Greene’s political statements and actions disqualify her from office. That is rightfully a question for the voters of Georgia’s 14th Congressional District.”

This relates to the previous post, about terrorism or vandalism.  If it was a Democrat being so attacted there would be cries of fascism.

Hat tip to the Ethics Alarms.

Regards  —  Cliff

Terrorism or Vandalism

For John, BLUF:  intellectual Honesty is in short supply these days.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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What's the difference?

From Althouse, by Professor Ann Althouse, 9 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

It's interesting, the differences that matter to people, the endless quest to distinguish alligators from crocodiles and psychopaths from sociopaths, but what I wanted to know was the difference between vandalism and terrorism.

I'm reading "Madison anti-abortion headquarters hit by apparent Molotov cocktail, vandalism, graffiti" in the Wisconsin State Journal:  "Vandals set a fire inside the Madison headquarters of the anti-abortion group...."

It is obviously terrorism.  It was done to cause terror, rather than just make a mess of things.  However, how one classifies the event is a good indicator of one's position on this issue and on Democracy.

I think, for sure, a clear headed thinker does not call it terrormism when the other side does it and vandalism when one's own side does it.

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

Where We Came From

For John, BLUF:  There are still a lot of mysteries to be learned in science.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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We Have Even More Evidence Life's Building Blocks Came to Earth From Space

From Science Alert, by Writer Conor Feehly, 27 APRIL 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

We still don't know just how the first life emerged on Earth.  One suggestion is that the building blocks arrived here from space; now, a new study of several carbon-rich meteorites has added weight to this idea.

Using new, extremely sensitive analysis techniques for these meteorites, a team led by scientists from Hokkaido University in Japan detected organic compounds that form the very backbone of the nucleic acid molecules common to all life as we know it – DNA and RNA?

I still favor the Garden of Eden version, but we should be open to all possible understandings.

Regards  —  Cliff

We Have Even More Evidence Life's Building Blocks Came to Earth From Space

The Real Issue Is Preserving the Republic

For John, BLUF:  I hear people, like The New Yorker's Susan B. Glasser saying:

Faced with such challenges, President Biden seemed finally ready to abandon the pretense that he could once again unite the fractured nation and heal our Trump-distorted politics with some old-fashioned bipartisan Senate dealmaking.  That comforting fiction helped him defeat Donald Trump in 2020 but has been comprehensively debunked by Biden’s subsequent struggles in governing.  In remarks to reporters on Wednesday, the President previewed his new, more partisan message for the campaign to come:  “This is about a lot more than abortion,” he said.  Republicans are radical and dangerous, not only anti-woman but anti-gay, anti-personal freedom, and anti-democracy.  The Trumpist maga movement, he said, “is the most extreme political organization that’s existed in recent American history.”

[Shouldn't MAGA be all caps?]

So, Bipartisan Biden was a pretense to get elected.  I don't think Ms Glasser respects either honesty or our system of government.  Would she destroy the Constitution to allow infanticide.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Irrational, Misguided Discourse Surrounding Supreme Court Controversies Such as Roe v. Wade

Here is the sub-headline:

The Court, like the U.S. Constitution, was designed to be a limit on the excesses of democracy.  Roe denied, not upheld, the rights of citizens to decide democratically.

From the Greenwald Substac, by Reporer Glenn Greenwald, 3 May 2022.

After several introductory paragraphs, Mr Greenwald gets to the nub of the issue:

Every time there is a controversy regarding a Supreme Court ruling, the same set of radical fallacies emerges regarding the role of the Court, the Constitution and how the American republic is designed to function.  Each time the Court invalidates a democratically elected law on the ground that it violates a constitutional guarantee — as happened in Roe — those who favor the invalidated law proclaim that something “undemocratic” has transpired, that it is a form of “judicial tyranny” for “five unelected judges” to overturn the will of the majority.  Conversely, when the Court refuses to invalidate a democratically elected law, those who regard that law as pernicious, as an attack on fundamental rights, accuse the Court of failing to protect vulnerable individuals.

This by-now-reflexive discourse about the Supreme Court ignores its core function.  Like the U.S. Constitution itself, the Court is designed to be an anti-majoritarian check against the excesses of majoritarian sentiment.  The Founders wanted to establish a democracy that empowered majorities of citizens to choose their leaders, but also feared that majorities would be inclined to coalesce around unjust laws that would deprive basic rights, and thus sought to impose limits on the power of majorities as well.

The Federalist Papers are full of discussions about the dangers of majoritarian excesses. The most famous of those is James Madison's Federalist 10, where he warns of "factions…who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.”  One of the primary concerns in designing the new American republic, if not the chief concern, was how to balance the need to establish rule by the majority (democracy) with the equally compelling need to restrain majorities from veering into impassioned, self-interested attacks on the rights of minorities (republican government).  As Madison put it:  “To secure the public good, and private rights, against the danger of such a faction, and at the same time to preserve the spirit and the form of popular government, is then the great object to which our enquiries are directed.”  Indeed, the key difference between a pure democracy and a republic is that the rights of the majority are unrestricted in the former, but are limited in the latter.  The point of the Constitution, and ultimately the Supreme Court, was to establish a republic, not a pure democracy, that would place limits on the power of majorities.

Remember what Dr Benjamin Franklin replied to the woman as to what the Constitutional Convention of 1787 have given us?

A Republic, if you can keep it.

The end of Roe v Wadd will not end abortions, nor will it end abortion on demand in many parts of our Great Nation.  It will mean that in those parts of the nation where the Citizens think there should be limits to abortion, there could be such limits.

It might also mean a certain internal dignity for those women who conceived a child in difficult circumstances and carried that child to term.

Regards  —  Cliff

More Thoughts on the SCOTUS Leak

For John, BLUF:  The leak of a DRAFT SCOTUS Opinion provides a broad range of issues for discussion.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Midday Ethics Heat-Up, 5/3/22: The Great Dobbs Leak Freakout Continues!

From Ethics Alarms, by Mr Jack Marshall, 3 May 2022.

Mr Marshall has several good points on the subject, besides the tweet previously covered in this blog.  For example, the last big SCOTUS leak was, ironically, with Roe v Wade  Then there is "The law school rot connection."  That is a winner for me.  There is a look at what Reporter Glenn Greenwald had to say on the issue.

Worth the time.

Regards  —  Cliff

The SCOTUS Decision Leaks

For John, BLUF:  The deliberate leaking of a DRAFT SCOTUS decision on an abortion issue is an ethical blot on the Staff of the Supreme Court.  It would also be a point to examine larger social issues.  Not going to happen.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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WHEN THE MOBIUS LOOP COLLAPSES:

Posted at InstaPundet, by Mr Ed Driscoll, 3 May 2022, 2:22 pm.

Here is the tweet:

Dave Smith
@ComicDaveSmith
Progressives have given away their two favorite go to responses on abortion.

“My body my choice” rings pretty hollow after Vax mandates.

“It’s a women’s issue” is tough if there’s no definition of woman.

8:46 AM · May 3, 2022·Twitter for iPhone

The mobius loop is a connected strip of paper with no inside or outside.

At the end of the day, this is scoring points, but misses the key point, as long as women get pregnant there will be abortions and as long as there are abortions there will be the taking of human life.

My own position is that abortion is wrong, but, given our pluralistic society, abortions should be legal through the first trimester, perhaps the first five months.  After that there should be no taking of life.  Those who perform partial birth or post partium abortions (infanticide) are guilty of manslaughter.  I would allow no late term abortions for rape.  There is no incest exception, as incest is rape.  The life of the Mother should always be a consideration for the mother.  Delayed decisions should not be rewarded.

Not often discussed is the sociology of this issue.  For example, there is that fact that since the time of Ms Margaret Sanger abortions have been focused on Black Women.  Does this have anything to do with the eugenics and racist views of Ms Sanger?  The next question is why abortions need to be available for the full nine months of a pregnancy?  It would seem responsible women would quickly know they are pregnant.  Some realize almost immediately.  Others take a month or so to realize.  The "I'm just getting fat" line seems pretty weak.  Further, are parents, schools and girlfriends not helping young women to form an understanding of the responsibilities involed in having sex.  Responsibilities to one's partner and in the event of conception.  While I am not advocating use of anti-pregnancy actions, they are inherently better than abortion, after life has begun. Abortion should not be the ultimate birth control method.  Planning on that is irresponsible.  Responsible adults want to have fun, but they should be prepared to be responsible for the results of their actions. Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Another Free Speech Decision

For John, BLUF:  This seems reasonable.  If "A" can fly their flag, why not "Z", and all those in between.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Supreme Court says Boston was wrong to refuse Christian flag

Here is the sub-headline:

In a unanimous decision, the court said the city created a public forum, open to all comers, when it allowed organizations to use a flagpole in front of City Hall.

From NBC News, by Reporter Pete Williams, 2 May 2022, 1:38 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus three:

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that the city of Boston violated the Constitution when it refused to let a local organization fly a Christian flag in front of city hall.

While the case had religious overtones, the decision was fundamentally about free speech rights. The court said the city created a public forum, open to all comers, when it allowed organizations to use a flagpole in front of City Hall for commemorative events.  Denying the same treatment for the Christian flag was a violation of free expression, it said.

"When the government encourages diverse expression — say, by creating a forum for debate — the First Amendment prevents it from discriminating against speakers based on their viewpoint," Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in the decision.

"The city’s lack of meaning­ful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as pri­vate, not government, speech — though nothing prevents Boston from changing its policies going forward," Breyer added.

I admit to being one of those who is reasonably happy with the US Supreme Court.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Loans For Thee, Repayments For Me

For John, BLUF:  Sometimes we make judgemental errors.  Whose job is it to help us correct (pay for) those mistakes?  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Is Forgiving Billions in Student Debt a Political Loser for Democrats?

Here is the sub-headline:

It's getting increasingly difficult to see the upside in massive debt forgiveness -- and very easy to see how it could backfire

From Truth or Consequences, by Speechwriter Michael Cohen, 2 May 2022.

Here is the lede plus six:

For several months I’ve been putting off my look back at all the many things I’ve gotten wrong since I began Truth and Consequences last year. That day is still coming, but today I’m doing something similar — I’m going to highlight something that I preemptively got wrong! Ever since word leaked last week that President Biden is inching closer to forgiving tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt, I’ve assumed that such a move is good policy and smart politics. I’ve written as much and made this argument on Friday’s Zoom Chat.

Yesterday, however, I was discussing the issue with a friend who sees things otherwise. He made an argument that I found impossible to rebut, “How does reliving student debt help my general contractor? Or my union plumber?”

It’s a great point, and it speaks to the significant political danger of student loan forgiveness. While once I saw the political upside in forgiving billions in college debt, I’m coming around to the position that it could actually add to the Democratic Party’s political woes.

The Facts on Student Loan Debt:

Here are a few facts to consider: When measured by income, the poorest one-fifth of Americans hold about 8 percent of all student debt in America. Conversely, the wealthiest one-fifth of American households have a third. In all, approximately 43 million Americans — or one in eight households — are still paying off their student loans.

That means that the overwhelming majority of Americans have no student debt and that most of the Americans who owe money are not poor or working-class but broadly fall into the middle class.

How does it add up to a winning political strategy to forgive billions of dollars in debt for that segment of the population?

I admire the ability to admit when one is off the beam.  Writer Cohen is such a person.

I think Mr Cohen is on the mark.  Are the Republicans smart enough to exploit this?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff