What is Key to Feminism?

For John, BLUF:  zthe suthor asks some of the hard questions about responsibility.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Hill to Die On

From The Chhicago Boyz, by Sgt. Mom, 20 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

I swear, I have never been able to understand how the loud and proud Capital-F official feminists made the ready availability of abortion the hill (for the pre-born fetal humans, mostly) to die on.  Yes, I’ve pondered this in blogposts many a time.  The 19th century suffragettes certainly were what we would now cast as pro-life, and so was a modern iteration, IIRC.  (I used to get their newsletter.)  Why that one single aspect, out of all the others which would have a bearing on the lives of females; extended maternal leave and benefits, quality childcare … practically any other concern other than that of abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy could be a rallying ground for those affecting an intense interest in matters of a particularly female orientation.  This, when birth control in so many forms (and for male and female alike) is readily and economically available.  This is not the 19th century anymore, not even the first half of the 20th.  Truly, it is a mystery why this particular cause and no other animates the radical fem-fringe.  I can only surmise that many of the radical and early feminists had abortions, felt horrifically guilty about it all and wished to drag other women into that particular hell with them as a matter of solidarity.

I am myself old enough to have known other women – my peers, mostly – who did for a variety of reasons, decide to take that route.  I understood that they had reasons they felt were valid and I sympathized without approval.  A woman who is pregnant and for whatever reasons, emphatically does not want to be – has a problem, a problem for which all the solutions are painful.  I did not judge then – but did feel the weight of their decision to go with whatever they felt to be the least painful.  No matter how you slice it, with abortion, you are cutting off a potential life – a viable heartbeat, little fingers and toes, a tiny face with eyelashes and a decided character, even in the womb.  So I have always approved of and supported those various enterprises which reached out a helping hand to the inconveniently-pregnant; anyone or any office which offered medical help, moral and actual support and encouragement to a woman who was inconveniently pregnant.  That was putting good intentions where they mattered; into actions which would offer an alternative to abortion.

A part of the power of pregnancy is the responsibility to be responsible.  The idea that abortion is a form of birth control does not appeal to me.  It is right up there with Eugenics as a wrong reason for abortion.

Is the purpose of Feminism to keep women in the workplace and not pregnant?  How will that work out in the long run?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Little People Suffered

For John, BLUF:  The sanctimonious Enviromentalists and climate change advocaates claim the sky is falling, but they have no real plan for helping the vast majority of the People in this "crisis".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Elitist environmentalists hate the working class

From The New York Post, by Law Professor Glenn H. Reynolds, 26 June 2022, 7:12 pm.

Here is the lede plus two:

As the United States faces skyrocketing oil, gas and electricity prices, the obvious solution is to drill for more oil and gas and build more generating plants.  Naturally, that’s off the table because the people who are being hurt most aren’t the ones who set the agenda.

High prices hurt everyone to a degree, but they’re hardest on the working classes.  Most Americans drive to work, and even in most places with mass transit there are far more jobs within a 30-minute drive than there are within a 30-minute bus or train ride.  Cars also make it easier to take kids to school, shop for groceries in a wider variety of places and stay in touch with family and friends.

With gas prices having more than doubled since January 2021, the cost of doing all these things has also more than doubled.  For a family that’s stretched tight already, twice as much money for gas means less money for other things, like food, clothing or education.  (And it doesn’t help that prices for those things are also skyrocketing.)

People who respond to complaints about the high price of gas at the pump by saying buy an Electric Vehicle are out of touch with the Average American, who can't afford an Electric Vehicle, if one were available.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Big Brother Watching

For John, BLUF:  The referenced Blog Post is complicated by the legal argot, but the question is, will our "devices" feed data on us and our activities to Big Tech or Government Minders?  This relates to the Chinese Government's Social Credit System (The Link is to a Wikipedia White Wash of the topic).  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Will Your "Smart" Devices and AI Apps Have a Legal Duty to Report on You?

From The Volokh Comspiracy, by Professor Eugene Volokh, 18 June 2022, 1:30 PM.

Here is the lede plus three:

I just ran across an interesting article, "Should AI Psychotherapy App Marketers Have a Tarasoff Duty?," which answers the question in its title "yes":  Just as human psychotherapists in most states have a legal obligation to warn potential victims of a patient if the patient says something that suggests a plan to harm the victim (that's the Tarasoff duty, so named after a 1976 California Supreme Court case), so AI programs being used by the patient must do the same.

It's a legally plausible argument—given that the duty has been recognized as a matter of state common law, a court could plausibly interpret it as applying to AI psychotherapists as well as to other psychotherapists—but it seems to me to highlight a broader question:

To what extent will various "smart" products, whether apps or cars or Alexas or various Internet-of-Things devices, be mandated to monitor and report potentially dangerous behavior by their users (or even by their ostensible "owners")?

To be sure, the Tarasoff duty is somewhat unusual in being a duty that is triggered even in the absence of the defendant's affirmative contribution to the harm.  Normally, a psychotherapist wouldn't have a duty to prevent harm caused by his patient, just as you don't have a duty to prevent harm caused by your friends or adult family members; Tarasoff was a considerable step beyond the traditional tort law rules, though one that many states have indeed taken.  Indeed, I'm skeptical about Tarasoff, though most judges that have considered the matter don't share my skepticism.

I fear the Woke mobwill say yes, your devices must report you.

This is not good for the First Amendment Rights of those in the United States.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Crimes were Committed

For John, BLUF:  We, as humans, have been breaking the rules since Eve spoke to that Serpent.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Texas Woman Pleads Guilty to 26 Counts of Voter Fraud in ‘Vote-Harvesting’ Operation

From Epoch Times, by Reporter Gary Bai, 20 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

A Texas woman on June 16 pleaded guilty to 26 counts of voter fraud committed during a local water board election in 2018.

Monica Mendez, 36, of Port Lavaca ran a “vote-harvesting operation on behalf of a subsidized housing corporation in order to influence the outcome of a utility board election,” the Texas Attorney General’s (AG) office said in a statement on Friday.  The election in question was the 2018 Victoria County Water Control and Improvement District 1 Election in Bloomington, Texas.

Mendez pleaded guilty to 26 felony counts of voter fraud, including three counts of illegal voting, eight counts of election fraud, seven counts of assisting a voter to submit a ballot by mail, and eight counts of unlawful possession of a mail ballot, the office said.

Victoria County District Judge Eli Garza sentenced Mendez to five years of deferred adjudication probation.

My point in posting this?  Yes, Virginia, there is Voter Fraud.

I expct that during the COVID Pandemic of 2020, with State Legislatures passing laws to provide accommodatoins and Courts ruling so as to provide accommodations, some Voter fraud did creap in, not withstnading the Democrats, in a Trumpian manner, declaring the 2020 Election was perfect.

That is not to say that President Biden didn't win the Electoral College.  He did win the Electoral College.  He is our president.  Thznk you un-enrolled voters.

Regards  —  Cliff

The Administrative State

For John, BLUF:  The question of the place of Givernmental Bureaucrats in our scheme of Government is an important one.  It is becoming a topic of debate out in the public square.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Who Should Regulate?

Here is the sub-headline:

The question of whether federal agencies or the courts should have the right to interpret legislation may seem technical, but it significantly affects the power of the government.

From The New York Review of Books, by Professor Cass R. Sunstein, May 26, 2022 issue.

Reviewed:

The Chevron Doctrine:  Its Rise and Fall, and the Future of the Administrative State
by Thomas W. Merrill
Harvard University Press, 355 pp., $35.00

Here is the lede plus three:

Does the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have the authority to impose a mask mandate on people who travel on planes, trains, and buses? In April a federal district court in Florida offered a clear answer: Absolutely not. The court gave an exceedingly narrow reading to the CDC’s powers under laws enacted by Congress. In the process, it sent an unmistakable signal: some conservative judges will not allow federal agencies to protect public safety and health unless Congress has unambiguously given them the authority to do so.

That signal is ominous. In a period of congressional deadlock, federal agencies often have to take the lead in responding to urgent social problems. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many of the nation’s most important decisions about vaccinations, air travel, masks, social distancing, and more have been made by White House officials, the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Policy responses to climate change have also primarily come from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and other agencies.

Because public policy is often made by administrative agencies, it can shift dramatically from one administration to another. Whether we are speaking about public health, civil rights, clean air, health care, food safety, tobacco, or immigration, fundamental policy judgments might well depend less on Congress than on who wins the presidency.

The administrative state has been with us since the founding. But much of modern government can be traced to the 1930s, when in response to the Great Depression Franklin Roosevelt created a host of new agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, and the Social Security Administration. These agencies exercise a great deal of discretion, and they affect the lives of millions of Americans every day. (They also have international influence.) They were born in a period of enthusiasm for technical expertise: Roosevelt and his New Dealers believed in the rule of law, but they did not believe in the rule of courts; they wanted to give authority to specialists.

Later in the article Professor Sunstein gives a look at the issue:

Justice Brett Kavanaugh describes the [Chevron] doctrine as “nothing more than a judicially orchestrated shift of power from Congress to the Executive Branch.”

And this is one of things that worries me about our Government.  We elect people to the Houose of Representatives and Senate, and we elect a President, but the Bureaucrats selfpropogate, under little supervision from the other branches of the Government (Judicial and Legislative).  It is the Admijnitrative State.  To quote the Wikipedia article:

Dr. Michael Greve, a law professor at George Mason University School of Law, defines the current implemented administrative state of the United States as, “a power once known as 'prerogative'—that is, the power to make binding rules without law, outside the law, or against the law, exercised by someone other than an elected legislature,"

You may find the idea of a technocentric government as good, based on the idea that the technocrats know what they are doing.  However, technocrats have brought us such things as eugenics and the Tuskegee Experiment.  Dependiing on the experts to deide what is good for the rest of us may be good with airline pilots, but semms antithetical to a Democratic or Republican form of Government.  When and where do the People decide?

If you thought Dr Anthony Fauci was supurb conducing the US response to the COVID, you might favor the Administrative State.  On the other hand, if you have been dubious of our overall response, if yoou wonder if Governor Ron DeSantis did a better job that Governor Andrew Cuomo in helping their state through the crisis, you might be opposed to the Administrative State.

I worry that the People, the Voters, might never get a voice in this debaate.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free Julian Assange

For John, BLUF:  We should not be using the long arm of Government Police Powers to intimidate folks who hold opposing views.  The ACLU and the Democratic Party used to know this.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Glenn Greenwald asks why Marjorie Taylor Greene is saying this and AOC, Bernie, and their ilk are not.

From Althouse, by Law Professor Ann Althouse, 18 June 2022.

Here is the Twitter Message set:

Glenn Greenwald
@ggreenwald
Leave aside whatever views you have of MTG.  Just put them in a corner for a second.  OK, have we done that?

Now: think about the indisputable fact that not AOC, Bernie or a single Squad member could or would say most of what is in this thread, let alone in this tone, and ask why:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸
@RepMTG
If we really care about the 1st Amendment then we should care about Julian Assange.

Freedom of Press is the protection of the ability to expose the truth and publish it.

This should always be protected and this freedom should always be handled with the most respect.

There are two points here.  The first is that it should be an embarrassment to Liberals in the Democratic Paarty tht no one is speaking out for Mr Julian Assange.

The second point is that the First Amendment needs to be protecteed, and that includes the right of publications to be wrong.  Disinformation, Ms Nina Jankowitz not withstanding, is not outside the protection of the First Amendment.  Otherwise, we would have The New York Times taken down for using the term "Trump Big Lie" to describe the outcome of the 2020 Elections...Oh, wait, that is the other side view.  I believe that in the case of the November 2022 Elections we will see some backlash to the labling of "opinions" as disinformation.♠

Hat tip to Ann Althouse.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I believe Mr Trump was incorrect regarding the 2020 Presidential Election.  However I believe those who label his views "The Big Lie" are giving us a "Trumpian-like" view that the Election was perfect and nothing was wrong.  That is blatant dis-, mis- and mal-information.  This is not up for Government policiing.

Ban AC in DC

For John, BLUF:  Yes, this is from almost six years ago, but the concept is still waiting to be tested.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Glenn Reynolds:  Ban AC for DC

Here is the sub-headline:

If our rulers think global warming is a crisis, let them be a good example for the rest of us.

From USA Today, by Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds, 11 July 2016, 3:43 PM.

Here is the lede plus one:

Everyone talks about global warming, but nobody does anything about it.  At least, the people who talk about saving the planet the most seem to have the biggest carbon footprint.  But I have some ideas for fixing that.

In this, I’m inspired by Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Tex., who noticed something peculiar recently.  It seems that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who spends a lot of time telling Americans that they need to drive less, fly less, and in general reduce their consumption of fossil fuels, also flies home to see her family in Boston "almost every weekend"; the head of the Clean Air Division, Janet McCabe, does the same, but she heads to Indianapolis.  In air mileage alone, the Daily Caller News Foundation estimates that McCarthy surpasses the carbon footprint of an ordinary American.  Smith has introduced a bill that wouldn't target the EPA honchos’ personal travel, though:  It provides, simply, that “None of the funds made available by this Act may be used to pay the cost of any officer or employee of the Environmental Protection Agency for official travel by airplane.”

The author lays out a four point plan to help fight climate change and the middle two focus on our Nation's Capitol:

Obama makes a great point about setting the thermostat at 72 degrees.  We should ban air conditioning in federal buildings.  We won two world wars without air conditioning our federal employees.  Nothing in their performance over the last 50 or 60 years suggests that A/C has improved things.  Besides, The Washington Post informs us that A/C is sexist, and that Europeans think it’s stupid.

In fact, we should probably ban air conditioning in the entire District of Columbia, to ensure that members of Congress, etc. won’t congregate in lobbyists’ air-conditioned offices.

I like the idea.  I think things might actually be better if Congress decamped for the Summer and the Bureaucracy spent less time in their offices.♠

Back before Air Conditioning Washington was an enviornmental swamp, with stinky Summer weather, especially around August.  People avoided it.  Today Organizations want to move to DC.  Raytheon is the lates example, wanting to move its Corporate Headquarters to Washington.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  Thanks to the US Taxpayers I spent three and a half years in Naples, Italy, at a NATO Headquarters.  There was no air conditioning, except for the 24 Hour a Day Command Post and the SCIF (No windows to open to let air circulate).  So, for the Summer, instead of 8 to 5, we worked 7:30 AM to 1 PM.  I have stayed past 1 and almost put my eye out falling asleep at my desk, while trying to write (before computers).  And, I think we were more creative and productive than our Central European Colleagues..

Father's Day

For John, BLUF:  Fathers aren't born.  They are shaped by their Parents and their Wives.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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I received a very nice Card from my Wife

A sign of my less than stellar performance in Grammer School, I continue to be confused by things like Father's Day and Mother's Day.  Is it singular and possessive or plural or plural and possessive?  Each occurrance is a chance to try and think it through again.  Today I went with the card.  The good news is the card is from Hallmark.  I am guessing they almost always get it right.

The even better news is that the card choice was excellent and the hand written sentiments even better.

Thank you, Sweetheart.

Regards  —  Cliff

Having a Pure Federal Bureaucracy

For John, BLUF:  Right now this is a he said; she said kind of thing, but it is a sign of bad things happening in Federal Bureaucacies, in this case the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Today’s blacklisted American:  Biden administration purging conservatives from FBI

From Brhind the Black, Author Robert Zimmerman, 15 June 2022, 1:20 pm.

Here is the lede plus one:

Blacklists are back and the Democrats have got ’em: According to numerous whistleblowers talking to the office of Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the FBI has been aggressively blacklisting any employee who happens to express any conservative opinions at all.

Jordan detailed the most recent actions in a June 7th letter [pdf] to Chris Wray, director of the FBI, which was also a follow-up on another such letter sent in May

Lots of links.

Writer (and Patriot) Sarah Hoyt posted this to InstaPundit.  Given the turmoil of the last seven years, this is a concerning straw in the wind.  It might just be disgruntled employees, urged on by trouble making Republicans in Congress.  On the other hand, it could be a tone deaf upper management, trying to conform to some distorted view of righteousness.

Whatever the story, most Americans are looking for an FBI that is both sqweeky clean and effective.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Have The Tables Turned on Capitol Hill?

For John, BLUF:  Threat of a Coup (Coup d'Etat) on the part of a Democrat in Congress (New York 16th District Democrat Representative Jamaal Bowman).  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Squad Member Threatens 'Civil War' If GOP Takes House

From Town Hall, by Managing Editor Spencer Brown, 14 June 2022, 10:15 AM.

Here is the lede plus one:

Democrats are scrambling to cobble together a case for why they should be reelected and maintain control in the House less than five months before the midterms, and one progressive member of the House is raising eyebrows for the explanation he made as to why Democrats should be elected in November.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats don't have much of a case to make ahead of the midterms.  Their majorities in Congress and Biden in the White House have ushered in inflation at 40-year highs, gas prices doubling in less than 16 months to set records beyond $5 per gallon, an open border, a crime crisis, and international embarrassments.  So, when two thirds of Americans are living paycheck-to-paycheck, what case is left for Democrats to make?  Vote for us or there will be civil war.  Hoo-boy.

Joining MSNBC's The Cross Connection with Tiffany Cross over the weekend, [Representative Jamaal] Bowman — who is a member of The Squad(TM) — explained what Americans can expect if Republicans pick up seats and retake Congress this November

"Vote for us or there will be civil war."  That is not an attractive approach.  It says that if the American Voters, by some majority, back Republican Candidates, then the MINORITY! the losers, will rise up in revolution, in an Insurgency against the Majority.

If Rep Bowman was thinking a massive Voter Education program, so 2024 will go differently, then fine.  However, it sounded like he wants to change our form of government, by force, to empower Blue Areas, like LA, Chicago and New York City.  That would be morally and Constitutionally wrong and would likely evoke an armed response.  Representative Bowman would be like a modern day Jefferson Davis, walking away from a life dedicated to these United States, as West Point Cadet, Senator and Secretary of War.

Perhaps Rep Bowman believes the Democrats can pull off a coup, backed by Progressives in the Federal Buureaucracy.  Would the Biden Administration back such a move?

Where does Representative Liz Chaney stand on this?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Information Curation

For John, BLUF:  The Federal Government wants to control messaging out on the public airways, including Social Medial.  They may think they are doing good, but their approach is evil.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Whistleblower Docs:  DHS’s Disinfo Board Was Poised to Crack Down on Information Questioning Vaccines, Masks, and Validity of 2020 Election

From American Greatness, by Ms Debra Heine, 9 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

The Department of Homeland Security’s paused “Disinformation Governance Board” (DGB) was set up to respond to matters the government unilaterally determined to be mis-, dis- or mal-information (MDM)—specifically information that counters official regime narratives on “the origins and effects of COVID-19 vaccines,” “the efficacy of masks,” the validity of the 2020 election,” and “falsehoods surrounding U.S. Government immigration policy,” records obtained by Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) reveal.

A DHS whistleblower provided the senators with internal DHS documents revealing how the board planned to coordinate with social media platforms to enable the removal of user content it deemed to be “MDM.”

“The First Amendment of the Constitution was designed precisely so that the government could not censor opposing viewpoints – even if those viewpoints were false.  DHS should not in any way seek to enlist the private sector to curb or silence opposing viewpoints.  It is therefore imperative for DHS to provide additional clarity regarding its policies and procedures for identifying and addressing ‘MDM,’ as well as its efforts to ‘operationalize’ public-private partnerships and the steps it is taking to ensure that it does not infringe on the constitutional rights of American citizens,” Senators Hawley and Grassley wrote in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

It isn't that Government People are bad People.  My father, an Uncle, my two brothers and my three children have all worked for the Government at one time or are working for the Government now.  However, some folks believe they are doing "God's Work" and try to "help" too much.  For example, Ms Lois Lerner, from the IRS, thought she was doing a good thing, but it was, in the end, the wrong thing.  She didn't understand that the basis for our form of government is that a lot of folks can be wrong, but we pick our representatives and let them work it all out.  If the First Amendment means anything, it is that you have the right to express wrong ideas.  Sometimes we have elections to determine which ideas we will follow.  Ms Lerner either never learned that or forgot it, or learned the wrong lessons in Grade School about fair play.  However you see it, she doesn't understand America.  And that is sad.  And I am not so sure President Biden, Speaker Pelosi or Majority Leader Schumer do either.

The bottom line is that information Wants to be Free.  We should not be having Governments restricting it.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Do You Trust Your Congress Critter?

For John, BLUF:  This article strongly suggest the House Committee Looking into events of 6 Janury 2021 (Occupy Capitol Hill), which is definitzely partisan, is also dishonest.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Jan. 6 Committee Called Out for Altering Evidence and Lying About It

From PJ Media, by Columnist Matt Mzrgolis, 12 June 2022, 5:10 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

The Jan. 6 Committee has a well-established credibility problem.  The committee released various text messages that have actually exonerated Donald Trump, but they falsely characterized the messages as incriminating.  And when the truth wasn’t incriminating, they doctored text messages to make them look so.

Now Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is calling out the committee for its deceptions, and he promised an investigation during an appearance on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo.

It seems UnAmerican to have a House Committee which isn't bipartisan.  More so, in a situation like this.  During the Watergte Imbroglio it was a Bi-partisan operation.  So should it be today.

I am embarresed for Rep Liz Chaney, and not just because she has to serve on a Committee with Rep Adam Schiff.  I am embarressed for her because she is on a Committee that is doing a failing job of convincing the other side, and some of the neutrals, that they are good, and are righteous.

More important, if I can't trust my Congress Member to ensure an honest and bipartisan look into the events of 6 January 2021, how can I trust her or him to provide an honest look zt other issues?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Depopulate DC

For John, BLUF:  I have heard calls to make the District of Columbia a Ghost Town.  I think it is a bridge too far.  It is as good a place as any to hold the politicians.  But, disperse the Agencies and their bureaucrats..  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dismantle the D.C. Company Town

Here is the sub-headline:

It’s time that Americans faced up to the reality that their governing apparat is a corrupt, self-engorging Leviathan.

From American Greatness, by Author Roger Kimball, 4 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

Gertrude Stein famously warned that it was important to know how far to go when going too far.

It pains me to admit that Democrats seem to have a far better sense of all that than do Republicans.  Perhaps it’s because Democrats have a visceral appreciation of William Hazlitt’s observation that “those who lack delicacy hold us in their power.”  The Democrats, that is to say, long ago became expert at the game of holding their opponents to standards that they themselves violate not just with impunity but with ostentatious glee.

The Author, Mr Kimball, then goes on to compare the treatment of a Ms Hillary Clinton Lawyer, Mr Michael Sussmann, with the treatment of GoP (and Trump Administration staff members) retired Army Lieutenant General Michael Flynn and Mr Peter Navarro.  Just for spice the Author mentions Attorney General Eric Holder being cited for Contempt of Congress and nothing happened.  Definite double standard.

The author mentions:

Increasingly, once-respected institutions like the FBI, Congress, the Justice Department, to say nothing of the educational establishment and corporate culture, have lost their claim on the people’s allegiance.$nbsp; That allegiance is not something that can be repaired by diktat.

Too right.  And President Biden's hectoring manner also isn't going to heal this.

There used to be a West Virginia Senator who made it a practice of moving DC Federal Agencies to West Virginia.  That would be Senator Robert Byrd.

We could all benefit by encouraging that state of mind.  The Nation's Capitol is a corrupt City.  Has tended that way for a long time.  Likely can't be reformed, so we should spread it out.

Electing Republicans won't fix this, nor would the election of Socialists.  Our best hope is to reduce the bureaucracy in DC.  Not close the City.  We need a national capitol.  But, reduce the bureaucratic concentration of power in Washington and its environs.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

A Revolution over SCOTUS and Roe

For John, BLUF:  There is too much extremist rhetoric over the issue of abortion and it might not end well.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Nolte:  Hours After Kavanaugh Threat, Biden Predicts ‘Mini Revolution’ If Roe Overturned

Here is the sub-headline:

After 100+ days of hiding from the media, His Fraudulency Joe Biden appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s basement-rated late show and predicted a “mini-revolution” if the atrocity called Roe v. Wade is overturned by the Supreme Court.

From Breitbart, by Reporter John Noltes, 9 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus one:

Biden’s eliminationist rhetoric about mini-revolutions came just hours after police arrested a man with a gun and burglar tools in Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s neighborhood.  Authorities claim he was determined to murder Kavanaugh.  Why?  Because in a leaked document, Kavanaugh signed on to overturn Roe.  Police also say the man was upset over mass shootings.

And now Five-Dollar-a-Gallon Joe is on television speaking approvingly of “revolutions” should Roe v. Wade be overturned.  This is the same Biden who encouraged unruly protests in front of Justices’ homes, despite a law that outlaws that exact thing.

“I don’t think the country will stand for it,” Biden said of a possible Roe defeat in the Supreme Court on Kimmel.  “If in fact the decision comes down the way it does, and these states impose the limitations they’re talking about, it’s going to cause a mini-revolution and they’re going to vote these folks out of office.”

What did President Biden mean by "mini-revolution"?  Is it a political revolt at the ballot boxes in November, sending lots of Democratic Party Progressives flooding into both Houses of Congress.  Or is it more concrete, an insurrection with the offended taking to the streets across the Nation, with Abortion Supporters joining AntiFa and BLM to impose a Frankfurt School Progressive on the "Rubes" (Ms Clinton's "Basket of Deplorables) by force?  Or does "Mini" refer to a Guerilla Campaign by the likes of "Ruth Sent Us" activists working to harrass Pro-Life people and institutions, and judical activities assosiated with restricting abortion avalability.

Actually, none of those options is good.  It reminds me of a certain US Senator talking about individuals reaping the whirlwind.

I think it is the job of the President of the United States to tamp down ideas and movements toward revolution.  That would be the job of Mr Joe Biden.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

We Miss You, Judy

For John, BLUF:  Talent isn't evenly distributed, and some with talent also suffer from their internal struggles.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Judy Garland is 100.

From Althouse, by Law Professor Ann Althouse, 10 June 2022.

The Post is short.  A video with Ms Garland's ten best songs.

Taste in music varies.  I loved the selection and some brought a tear to my eye.  On the other hand, my Wife, a professional musician and someone who helped stage a number of high school musicals (and starred in South Pacific in her own high school days), thinks Ms Garland is overrated.  Fortunately, I respect her opinions and she does not insist I adopt as my own all of her opinions.  But, I don't impose my tastes by playing Ms Gatland in her presence and she appears to count that as respect.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Free Speach as a Right

For John, BLUF:  I joined the ACLU some 30 years ago, to help ensure my Civil Rights, especially the Right to Free Speech.  Today, not so much, and my membership has lapsed.  They went "Woke".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Move over ACLU, FIRE is the New Champion of Free Speech

Here is the sub-headline:

The expansion of the Foundation of Individual Rights in Education marks the end of an era, when free speech issues were the sole province of American liberalism

From Taibbi Substack, by Reporter Matt Taibbi, 6 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus three:

After years of planning, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, better known as FIRE, announced a major expansion Monday, moving “beyond college campuses to protect free speech — for all Americans.”

FIRE was the brainchild of University of Pennsylvania history professor Alan Charles Kors and Boston civil liberties lawyer Harvey A. Silverglate, who co-authored the 1999 book, The Shadow University:  The Betrayal of Liberty on America’s Campuses.  To the modern reader the book reads like a collection of eccentric cases of students and teachers caught up in speech code issues, most (but not all) being conservative.

To take just one of countless nut-bar examples, Kors and Silverglate told the story of a professor in San Bernardino reprimanded for violating sexual harassment policies because, among other things, “he assigns provocative essays such as Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal,” as the court case later put it.  This was apparently the “cannibalism” portion of the accusation that he delved into such subjects as “obscenity, cannibalism, and consensual sex with children.”

The book triggered such an overwhelming number of responses from other faculty members and students that the pair decided to set up an organization to defend people who found themselves in tricky speech controversies on campuses.  They soon found they had plenty of work and, by 2022, enough of a mandate to expand beyond colleges and universities into America at large.  According to FIRE CEO Greg Lukianoff, as quoted in a Politico story, the group has already raised over $28 million toward a $75 million “litigation, opinion research and public education campaign aimed at boosting and solidifying support for free-speech values.”

I am very disappointed in the ACLU and in those Liberals who have abandoned the principles of Liberty.  We are talking about People who have abandoned Liberal Principles for Frankfurt School Progressiveism, intellectuals who fled the rising tide of Fascism, only to implant their own version n the United States.

The Right to Free Speach doesn't mean you can stop me from saying it, but you can point out my comment was wrong, boorish, prejudiced or silly.  It also means you don't have to listen, even if we are married.

Stiffling Free Speech will destroy higher education and slow scientific progress, to our ultimate detrimnt.  It is what gave us the Dark Ages and what ended the Golden Age of Islam (from the 8th century to the 14th century).

Regards  —  Cliff

Your Right to Own a Gun

For John, BLUF:  Civil Rights is more than just voting.  They can be about gun ownership.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why Black Americans Are Buying More Guns

Here is the sub-headline:

The people who bear the brunt of rising violent crime are taking steps to protect themselves.

From The Wall Street Journal, by Jason L. Riley, 7 June 2022, 6:13 pm ET.

Here is the lede plus two:

“The issue we face is one of conscience and common sense.”  So said Joe Biden last week in a prime-time plea for more Second Amendment restrictions.  The president is right on both counts, just not in the way that he and other gun-control enthusiasts imagine.

Voters have noticed that cities where shootings occur almost daily also have some of the strictest gun laws.  Using common sense, they’ve concluded that more gun-control legislation probably isn’t the solution because criminals by definition don’t respect laws.  Many of the same people likewise find it unconscionable that elected officials would make it more difficult for law-abiding residents of high-crime neighborhoods to arm themselves for protection.

Someone might remind Mr. Biden that the past two landmark Supreme Court rulings on gun control were fueled by black plaintiffs who simply wanted to defend their homes and their families.  Moreover, they hailed from cities controlled by liberals who have done an extraordinarily bad job of protecting low-income minorities from criminals.  In a 2008 case, District of Columbia v. Heller, the court affirmed that the right to bear arms is an individual right and that you don’t need to be part of a militia to exercise it.  One of the initial plaintiffs was Shelly Parker, a black computer-software designer who decided to challenge the district’s handgun ban in court after a 7-foot-tall neighborhood drug dealer tried to break into her home one evening and threatened to kill her.  “What I want is simply to be able to own a handgun in my home, in the confines of the walls of my home—nothing else,” she told National Public Radio.

I suspect that we really don't know much about Blacks and guns and how for quite a while after the Civil War Caucasians of various stripes woked to deny Blacks their Constitutional Rights.

One wonders if Black on Black crime in big cities is a result of denying Black American their Second Amendment Rights?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Do Prisons Reform?

For John, BLUF:  We need to study, and talk about, prison, probation and how prison works.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Prisoner escapes, kills family of five — showing criminals often don’t age out of crime

From Liberty Unyielding, by Lawyer Hans Bader, 9 June 2022.

Here is the lede:

Convicted murderer Gonzalo Lopez escaped a prison bus in Texas and then killed a family of five, including four children.  His escape last month triggered a huge manhunt, with hundreds of police officers scouring the woods where he had hidden.  Yet he managed to kill a family in Texas’s Leon County last week.  Later, he was killed in a shootout with police.

A key question in prison reform is if Mr Gonzalo Lopez is unusual.

The article, towards the end, says:

But experts say that inmates often do not age out of crime, even when they reach their 50s or 60s.  This February, the U.S. Sentencing Commission issued a 116-page report titled “Recidivism of Federal Violent Offenders Released in 2010.”  Over an eight-year period, violent offenders returned to crime at a 63.8% rate.  The median time to rearrest was 16 months for these violent offenders.  So, most violent offenders released from prison committed more crimes.  Even among those offenders over age 60, 25.1% of violent offenders were rearrested.

So, is locking people up something that allows them to reform themselves, or is it a period to hone skills?  Further, given that some 35% of prisions don't return to a life of crime, can we identify those individuals and within a reasonable length of time return them to society, focusing our penal resourses on the real social misfits?

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Dominik Lay Running

For John, BLUF:  Democracy works because Citizens stand up and run for office.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Dominik Lay Announces

For 18th Middlesex Seat

Just Now, on City Life Show.

He is running in the Democratic Part Primary, against the incumbent, Rep Rady Mom, and also Mr Tara Hong.

The Primzary Election will be in early September.

This should be an exciting Summer.

Regards  —  Cliff

Wrong Vision

For John, BLUF:  Scripture tells us thzat without a vision the People will perish.  This is a couple of weeks old, but it talks to the current situation, and lack of proper vision.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why Team Biden might be purposefully grinding down the middle class

From The New York Post, by Professor Glenn H. Reynolds, 26 May 2022, 4:50pm.

Here is the lede plus three:

Vladimir Lenin supposedly once said, “The way to crush the bourgeoisie is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation.”

There’s some doubt as to whether this line is genuine; regardless, it seems like a pretty good description of what the Biden administration is doing to America’s middle class.

Inflation is running rampant. The Producer Price Index, the most useful measure of general inflation, is up a whopping 16.3% from April 2021, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That means that roughly $1 out of every $6 that people earn has been lost to inflation in a single year.  Or to put it another way, 80 minutes’ earnings out of every eight-hour day have been eaten up.

The author then goes on to analyze the current social and economic conditions.  For sure, it aooears the current administration did not do a strategic analysis of where the United States was and the ways it could evolve.  Rather, they put ideology ahead of planning.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Reaching the Voters in 2022

For John, BLUF:  A Reporter asks if Democraft can reach back to the ordinary people, to give them a reason to vote Democrat in November.  She looks at the examples of two Democats with ties to Braddock, PA.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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People, places and politicians: Abstract rhetoric doesn’t respond to voters’ real concerns

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, by Reporter Salena Zito, 29 May 2022, 9:04 AM.

Here is the lede plus six:

BRADDOCK, Pa. — For much of the past 300 years, this tiny borough hugging the banks of the Monongahela River has had a front-row seat for key moments in the formation of the country and in the development of its Industrial Age prosperity.

It was here in the first major battle of the French and Indian War that British Gen. Edward Braddock, tasked with capturing French strongholds, marched with an army of British soldiers, Native American allies and Colonial provincial troops, including a young George Washington.

The battle ended in utter failure for the British Army: The region remained in French hands for three more years; Braddock lost his life; and the North American conflict accelerated into a global war. This set in motion both the career of George Washington and a series of events, beginning with British taxes on the colonies to pay for the war, that led to the American Revolution.

One hundred years later, a Scotsman named Andrew Carnegie began building one of the first Bessemer steel mills in the United States. It featured a new and inexpensive process in which molten pig iron was blasted with air to remove its impurities. Carnegie named the mill the Edgar Thomson Steel Works and hired competent managers to run the place.

What had been a mostly agrarian community was transformed into a thriving and diverse town of immigrants, African-Americans and many others. The cramped housing for unskilled workers was built hastily and close to the mill; nicer homes for skilled workers began dotting the slopes. The mill’s success was built on the backs of those workers: Their blood and sweat built the American steel industry.

Joanne Bruno recalls a childhood in the 1950s filled with trips to Braddock Avenue’s vibrant business district filled with dress shops, hotels, grocery stores, barber shops, beauty salons, specialty shops and restaurants. “Even as a young mother in the 60s my friends and I would meet and have coffee,” she said.

Today the mill still stands, and still defines the skyline, but the town is a shadow of what it once was: 18,000 people lived in Braddock when Ms. Bruno was a child; today that number is 1,721.

I think the defeat, yesterday, of San Fransisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin shows that Progressives are on a path, and even if they wanted to step off it, don't know how.

And, those Progrressives don't really have a plan to get to the future they envision, as with Mr Boudin.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

George Soros takes a High Profile Hit

For John, BLUF:  We know how this story ends.  San Fran DA Chesa Boudin lost by double digits in yesterday's recall election.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Will Chesa Boudin's DA Dream Die in Chinatown Today?

From Newsweek, by Reporter Virginis van Zandt, 7 June 2022, 3:49 PM EDT.

Here is the lede plus two:

The fate of San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin will be determined Tuesday by people like Leanna Louie, one of the 60 Asian Americans who were assaulted in San Francisco in 2021 — up 567 percent from nine victims in 2020.

Boudin is a fresh-faced and charismatic public figure, having been in office for just over two years after serving as a public defender.  His self-described progressive approach to prosecution seemed a perfect fit for San Franciscans, and his childhood story drew sympathy.  (Boudin's parents were Weather Underground members who were sentenced to decades in prison for their roles in a 1981 armed robbery and murder when Boudin was an infant.)

Boudin was elected district attorney in 2019 on a "restorative justice" platform, which emphasizes meetings between the victim and the offender to discuss the crime and how it was harmful.  He vowed to prevent crime by addressing the root causes, including poverty, mental health issues and drug abuse.

Mr Boudin lost 40% to 60%.  That seems a fairly strong sttement by the voters.

No, California didn't just turn Republican, but we are seeing a small revolution against the Progressives.  As the late Speaker, Tip O'Neil, used to say, all politics is local.  Mess up with the locals and they will look elsewhere.

I am synpathetic to correcting "root causes, including poverty, mental health issues and drug abuse" but one needs a bridge to get there, a bridge that allows the lives of others to not be harmed.  Mr Boudin did not have that bridge, and perhaps didn't even have an idea that it was needed.  When Government makes changes, there are pertibations that ripple through the system, impacting those not targeted by the changes.  Those are unintended consequestions and they must be allowed for and compensated for.  Mr Boudin failed to do the needed planning.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Guns and Police Response

For John, BLUF:  A friend of mine sent me this item this morning.  I think it makes a good point.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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This is actually making a point by exagerstion, but it is a point worth making.

I thought the point about the Police standing around for an hour was a great one.

When the threat is just seconds away the police are only minutes away, unless it is rape in Seattle, in which case they don’t care.

We need to adjust our gun laws.  For exsmple, tightening up background checks would be good.  I am not against moving the age to purchge a gun back to 21 yers of age.♠  On the other hand, laws against "big scsrey guns" seems to make some feel safe, but in the statistics it doesn't move the needle.♥

Of course the police situation vries.  It is not easy to get a license for a gun herein Lowell, or in the Commonwealth of Massachusettas.  On the other hand, we have a pretty good Police Department, responsive to our needs.  Not like "defunded" Seattle.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  At the same time we could repeal the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age to 18.  If you aren't old enough to be responsible with a bullet, why would you be old enough to be responsible with a ballot?
♥  I think it was Mr Joe Scarboroough who claimed the AR-15 is more deadly than the M-16.  Not so.  The AR-15 requires a trigger pull for each bullet.  The M-16, which I fired on a Rfile Range at Fort Carson in the early sixties, has three options  Single fire, three round burst and fully automatic.  It is just that the AR-15 looks scarey, and has for half a century.

Seeking Truth and Jutice

For John, BLUF:  The below describes an revered institution of higher eduction that is not reflective.  Otherwise, they would be appalled by their conduct in this situation.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Ilya Shapiro resigns from Georgetown following reinstatement after 122-day investigation of tweets

From The Fire, by Ms Sabrina Conza, 6 June 2022.

Here is the lede plus two:

After a more than four-month investigation that led to his reinstatement last week,  Ilya Shapiro resigned today from Georgetown University Law Center.

On June 2, Shapiro was reinstated as senior lecturer and executive director for the Georgetown Center for the Constitution after a 122-day investigation — which began before Shapiro started his first day on the job.  Georgetown investigated Shapiro after he tweeted that Sri Srinivasan, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, would be President Biden’s “best pick” for the Supreme Court.  He continued:  “But alas [Srinivasan] doesn’t fit into latest intersectionality hierarchy so we’ll get lesser black woman.”  Shapiro’s “lesser black woman” phrasing gained considerable attention on Twitter and within the Georgetown community, and led Georgetown Law Dean William Treanor to denounce the tweet as “appalling” and “at odds with everything we stand for at Georgetown Law.”

Although Georgetown was correct to reinstate Shapiro, its initiation of an investigation transgressed its purported commitment to “the untrammeled expression of ideas and information.”  Investigations of protected speech produce a chilling effect.  Moreover, Georgetown, in its stated justification for reinstating Shapiro, made little effort to defend these principles, making clear that it is not interested in protecting the expressive rights of faculty and students with dissenting viewpoints.  For this reason and more, Shapiro’s decision to resign from Georgetown is readily understandable — indeed, his resignation letter is mandatory reading for anyone interested in FIRE’s issues.

In her article, including two of the three quoted paragraphs, Ms Conza provides a number of links.  Plus, she publishes Mr Shapiro's letter of resignation.

If my friend Jim Shannon, from Church, were still with us I would tell him how sorry I felt for him, what with his graduation from and affection for Georgetown University.  This is an embzrrassment for Georgetown University, for Higher Education, for the Catholic Church and for the Jesuits.  As a person who has persued a college degree and a post graduate degree, but never associated with Georgetown, I am embarrassed.  As an American I am embarrassed.

As for Mr Shapiro's tweet, it might hurt the feelings of some, but seems a fair assessment of the situation at the time.  Back in the old dsys we would say "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me."  Can't we all grow up a little and learn to accept comments and criticism?

The more importnt lesson to be lerned is tht the western tradition of free inquiry, which moves forward science and the humanities, is in jeopardy.  That will be a loss for all of us.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

Odd Terms

For John, BLUF:  Being a Blow In to Lowell, I sometimes use terms unfamiliar to Lowellians  On the City Life show this morning I used the term "Pencil whip' and drew blanks from the producer and the three others around the table.  I was discussing the Sttes Registry of Motor Vehicles issuing driver's licenses without actually administering the road test.  In my lrevious existence, in thes Air Force, we would have said it was "pencil whipped".  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Pencil Whip

Here is the Definition from The Free Dictionary:

pencil whip
1. To complete a form or record, especially a checklist, without doing the work required or by providing falsified or incomplete information.
It has come to light that the safety supervisor aboard the oil rig had been pencil whipping his observational reports for several weeks leading up to the disaster.
2. To approve such a form without actually verifying that the contents are accurate or properly completed
We're supposed to fill out a detailed checklist after each shift, but I know my boss just pencil whips them.

A Lesson Learned, or re-learned.  We are a pretty big and diverse nation and not every idiom is present in evdery cornor of the Country,

So, if I use a word that is not familiar to you, please ask me to define it.  I will try not to pencil whip it.

Regards  —  Cliff