As the review says, this book is an invaluable reference for anyone who is pro-life, pro-woman, pro-family, pro-equality and ACTUAL choice (as in, not being pressured by "baby dads", employers, etc), pro-doctor, pro-Constitution, pro-democracy, and pro-culture.
The chapters of who is harmed by abortion are"
The Unborn Child
Women and the Family
Equality and Choice
Medicine
Rule of Law
Politics and the Democratic Process
Media and Popular Culture
Effectively countering the drumbeat of "choice" and "Constitutional right" is a tall order, but they do it well.
We were founded as a nation endowed by our Creator with unalienable Rights, which means the rights come from the Creator(God) and not from Government. Unalienable rights are endowed, self-evident and not to be taken by Government, but secured by Government.
The document that secured those unalienable rights was the Constitution, and Roe declared that new "rights" could be created from"penumbras and emanations" conjured by the SCOTUS, whose oath was to defend the written Constitution.
As Justice Kennedy stated in Casey: "At the heart of liberty is the right to define one's own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life."
Just because you aren't paranoid doesn't mean that someone is not out to get you!
The beautiful Chinese Balloon was declared "harmless" by illustrious our illustrious leader. Since he is a buddy of the Chinese, I'm sure he, Hunter, and his whole circle of the Biden Crime Family would live in the lap of luxury in the PRC were something untoward would happen to us.
So even if you are confident that I'm a tinfoil hat loonie on the PRC danger, the natural version would be even more deadly.
Now I know the Biden Crime Family and our entire Davos Elite oligarchy are entirely trustworthy, and would never allow such a thing as a PRC EMP attack to happen, and then cover it up as a natural event! We know that Covid came from a bad little bat that went to market, and not some nasty lab funded to enhance the lethality and transmissibility of a virus. They simply would not lie to their loyal subjects!
So, thankfully, we have nothing to be concerned about! We can focus on the important stuff like Transgender, racist Black Police killing a Black man, the horror of 7 years olds being prevented from expressing their "true selves", and of course the never ending evil of the deplorable fascist ultraMAGA people lurking among us!
I'm pretty sure anyone that reads this blog is aware that social media is a danger, especially for our youth, and especially for our democracy.
What we may not get is just how dangerous ... and how specifically managed by China to take us down.
“Beijing’s digital fentanyl” is how the Federal Communications Commission’s Brendan Carr describes the app. “The problems present themselves as soon as you sign up; it starts feeding you content directly from a Beijing-originated algorithm.” Mr. Carr is one of many Americans calling for a total ban on TikTok. One reason, he says, was a recent study showing that accounts set up for thirteen-year-old girls were offering self-harm and eating-disorder content in as little as three minutes."
I spend a tiny amount of time on our mass (Democrat propaganda) media. I touch on it through "Google News" to be marginally aware of "Vox Populi". Topics consist of:
A daily dose of Trump Derangement Syndrome" ... lawsuits, how terrible his business and campaign are going, somebody either accused him , or are going to accuse him of of something. All of this is a very serious threat to our nation, the world, the universe, etc
Something about Biden is "better than expected" or "misunderstood". Whatever is being said that doesn't sound good is "misinformation", unfair attacks, or just misdirecting us away from "the important stuff"! Like TRUMP!
More money, tanks, missiles, aircraft, etc for Ukraine! It's a big deal now, not so much when Russia took Crimea when Obama was in office. Putin is evil, but there is no danger he might escalate just because the west is pouring everything they can muster to his opponent in Ukraine.
Hollywood, sports, British Royalty, etc "stars" activities, views, etc
Racism, white privilege, attacks on "gays, trans, non-binary, whatevers" by horrible "far right, ultra MAGA, White Supremacist Fascists ...
"The balloon" was a major topic for a couple days, but turned out to be "well. what about Trump!" ... supposedly there were balloons while he was in office, but nobody told him.
Five black police officers beating a black man to death has been big lately. Clear proof of systematic racism if you are slow on the uptake.
Back to our subject ...
"Over the last year at least seven Republican governors have taken steps to ban TikTok from government devices amid spyware concerns. In December, Congress voted for the same rule at a federal level. The Biden administration has been criticized for a drawn-out review of whether the Chinese-owned app should be restricted. Wisconsin representative Mike Gallagher (interviewed on p.26), chair of the House select committee on China, says that “allowing the app to continue to operate in the US would be like allowing the USSR to buy up the New York Times, Washington Post and major broadcast networks during the Cold War.”
It is mostly Republicans that seem concerned, so no doubt it is kind of like the balloon ... nothing to be concerned about, and Tik Tok was around under Trump, so ... never mind.
The irony is that in China, TikTok provides users with a more optimistic outlook and encourages users to become moral citizens in the eyes of the CCP. Douyin, which is what TikTok is called in China, is a hit even with parents. Despite efforts of its parent company ByteDance to present Douyin and TikTok as the same product, they are actually two separate entities. In China, if you are under fourteen, your Douyin use is capped at forty minutes a day. It also feeds you different content, with education at the forefront. Art, science, architecture and pro-CCP content are also pushed. In a recent 60 Minutes report, Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, compares the Chinese version to “spinach” and its exported, Western version to “opium.”
"How ironic" that a nation would use available technologies to strengthen itself and weaken it's opponents.
Do people watch 60 Minutes anymore? No idea, but it doesn't strike me as a far right fascist ultra MAGA outlet? Since there are 138 million active Tik Tok users in US (2/3rds under 30), it seems that more people being aware of this might "trump" all of the points above.
We hear a lot about "wealth", and "wealth inequality" today.
As I've often repeated in my blogging, zero remains zero and inflation creates more wealth inequality as a "base". If the top income last year was $100, and it is $1000 today, we have 1x the inequality. Any growing economy increases income inequality.
A million dollars today is the equivalent of $390K in 1990. There tends to be a lot of talk about "millionaires" (or billionaires), which is the Deep/Administrative State misleading you. Of COURSE there is more numeric "inequality", but that is far from "the story" because there are a ton of factors involved. "Poverty" for a family of 4 today is $26k, but since the state is at war with families, there are not many stable families of 4, and FAR fewer without the complexities of divorce, addiction, etc
If you go look at the linked charts, you can see how much Vietnam, Jimmy Carter, and now Biden have cost us ... especially those of us who at one time had "nice pensions".
On top of that, government subsidies bump the actual living conditions higher, and to be "poor" in American likely means you are obese, have a nice color tv, high speed internet, a lot of subsidies, and probably a car. (80% of poor Americans have access to a car). Compared to the rest of the world, poverty in America is somewhere between rich and middle class elsewhere. (gee, why don't we have a Southern border?)
In order to be the equivalent of a 1990 millionaire today, you need to have $2,270,826, or basically $2.3 million.
The average cumulative inflation since '92 is 127%, however it varies from 200% in Seattle to 104% in St Louis.
I have no interest in being an inflation expert, but my guess is that housing is the big reason for the difference in cities. My son paid $750 a month for an efficiency dump in Denver, and $750 for a nice one bedroom in a complex with a pool, exercise area, good parking, and a nice neighborhood in Des Moines. Basically 2x as good for the same money.
So a billionaire today is really worth $390 million in 1990 dollars. Certainly nobody is going to have much pity on someone worth $390 million, nor even on someone worth $390k in 1990 dollars. The point is (as always) take what the government and media (but I repeat myself) tell you with a BIG grain of salt!
You need $10 today to buy what a buck would buy in 1960. For those of us born in the 50's or 60's, that might explain a bit about how "we don't feel rich", though the numbers on our bank accounts look like we "should" be.
Who loves inflation? Debtors, of which the government is the gorilla in the room paying back their debt with ever more worthless dollars. Have a billion dollar debt in 1990? Pay it off today with the equivalent value of $390 million today!
As our government rulers continually show us, it is great to be king!
I have to love the name. Hamburger is very American!
The Hamburger in this case is no joke at all. A Juris Doctor (highest degree in law) from Yale, now a law professor at Columbia and noted author of a number of books, articles, and recipient of prestigious awards. You likely have never heard of him because what he writes about clearly and unambiguously makes a nearly irrefutable case that we are subjects, not citizens, with our rulers having absolute power.
How is that possible? Because the approved media and educational system narrative is that it is not possible for a "modern technological society" to be governed by citizens of a republic. Our betters find the very idea of separation of powers with a judicial system that enforces the separation through application of a written constitution to be "impossible". (the book lets you know it is fairly easily possible, just not desirable for our rulers),
I seem to be on a tear of reading deep and difficult works for some reason lately. This one is no exception, although well written. Five hundred page, fairly small print, and over 100 pages of notes is not to be trifled with. If we are to return to being a Constitutional Republic, something over a majority need to understand some of these truths that are not so "self evident", but critical to any that want to return to being citizens rather than subjects.
A shorter (and likely better) review of the book that I quote from in this post is here.
In the 1500s (and before), the application of absolute power was supposedly required because of "emergency" (like a "crisis" ... Covid, Climate Change, gun violence, etc, etc).
Those who remain skeptical might consider one of Hamburger’s examples. He discusses the 1539 Act of Proclamations enacted by a cowed Parliament at Henry VIII’s insistence. The Act authorized the king to “set forth…proclamations, under such penalties and pains” as might be thought “necessary and requisite” by the king and his council. These proclamations “shall be obeyed, observed, and kept as though they were made by act of Parliament.”
If you have to go around Parliament and Congress from time to time, perhaps the "time" should be perpetually NOW. One of our current ruling class has a definite handle on the importance of the passage of time. We should all be thankful that we are subjects to the brilliance of our betters through Administrative Law ... they have it together!
The thesis of the book is simple:
His thesis, in a nutshell, comes to this: the Constitution contemplates only two kinds of edicts that may bind citizens—rules enacted by Congress, and orders issued by duly authorized courts. Administrative edicts, by contrast, seek to bind citizens by commands that are neither legislatively enacted nor judicially decreed. They are, strictly speaking, lawless.
Perhaps (though I'm pessimistic) people will start to realize that we have been brainwashed by our "educational system" (indoctrination system), our media industrial complex (propaganda), and of course our entire Administrative/Deep State. The Deep State has now been politically weaponized to defend our rulers in the Democrat Deep State.
The linked review is more optimistic than I am. We both see the ACA as an example of the tragedy of the Administrative State, however since the linked review is from 2014, it appears my pessimism is more accurate than their admittedly tepid optimism.
The persistent, widespread, and increasing unpopularity of the Affordable Care Act may be an indicator of public exhaustion with the new regulatory paradigm. Despite early enthusiasm for health care “reform,” it gradually began to dawn on the public that a government plan to coordinate health care services all the way down, so to speak, is going to have a lot to say about when, where, how, and by whom you are treated, and for how long. And the government is not always going to say please and thank you as it steers citizens into mandated health care chutes. Despite repeated promises by politicians from the president on down, it turns out that large numbers of people will not be able to keep their previous health plan or doctors. And their new insurance policies in all probability will cost them more—considerably more.
As the book repeats multiple times, our courts including the SCOTUS have decided it is almighty precedent that requires deference to the Administrative State, and Obama Care is a nasty example.
A quote from the book by way of the review summarizes what has happened rather nicely.
The history of government is largely a story of elite power and popular subservience. Americans, however, turned this old model upside down. By establishing a republican form of government, they eventually made themselves masters and made their lawmakers their servants. More than two centuries later, the shell of this republican experiment remains. Within it, however, another government has arisen, in which new masters once again assert themselves, issuing commands as if they were members of a ruling class, and as if the people were merely their servants. Self-government thus has given way to a system of submission.
Optimists honestly thought that the Covid authoritarian lockdowns, lies, destruction of our economy and educational system would wake up the population and draw them away from Netflix, social media, and general mindless entertainment to throw the bums out. To the extent 2022 was an "election" it shows that was either a false hope, or that a serf thinking that an "election" run by the ruling class is going to free them from their servility is deluded.
You probably started reading this thinking you were a citizen, welcome to being a subject!
I'm slogging my way through "Is Administrative Law Unlawful", an excellent, though not exactly a page turner book. Short version, Administrative Law is both Unconstitutional and Unlawful ... there IS a difference, which I will TRY to unravel somewhat plainly when I review the book
In the meantime, the linked gives the sad story of the Administrative State making life miserable for a small commercial fisherman.
Federal law gives NOAA the power to force me to carry a monitor on my boat, but it doesn’t give the agency the power to make me pay for the monitor. If Congress had passed a law that allowed NOAA to force herring fishermen to pay for monitors, we could at least use our voices and our votes to check the lawmakers who’d voted for it. But since in this instance a federal agency has tried to do the same thing through an unconstitutional, unilateral power grab, we’ve been forced to settle the issue in the courts.
Why does the NOAA get away with expanding its power? In one word, Chevron.
"Chevron is a rule that tips the scales in favor of a particular result when a statute is unclear," Yale Law's Abbe Gluck has written of the principle. "In Chevron's case, the scales are tipped toward the agency's preferred interpretation."
If you follow the Chevron link, you will also find that Chevron gave us Obamacare.
If you go to the link and look at the chart, you see that up until 1970, the amount spent on healthcare seemed to be growing at a relatively similar pace to the population. Whole books are written on this contentious subject, and nothing lies like statistics. Why did this happen?
In 1965 LBJ signed Medicare and Medicaid into law. Those programs are the major driver of the huge increases in medical costs. Again, we could find endless discussion on this issue. My essential point is that in the countries that have "Single Payer", the government seriously controls the costs for people that use those programs. They wait for years if they need a procedure like a hip replacement, and if they go to a hospital, they are in "wards" 10, 15, sometimes 20 or more people. As defenders if single payer point out, though, "the people love it"!
Indeed, the healthy people do. Routine visits are well taken care of. Do you like your fire insurance? Probably yes ... because you never used it, and hope not to. Sick people don't love single payer so much (if they are able, they come to Mayo), and the really dissatisfied are generally dead. Something like we got a taste of with Covid, it can take a long time to get care when the government has you under its thumb, and the dead don't complain. They do however vote Democrat, which is likely a significant reason (on top of larger government) that Democrats like single payer so much!
Throwing government at a problem is like throwing gasoline on a fire, only in the case of government programs, they grow "spontaneously" like Jack's beanstalk. Why? Because there is nothing limiting them, so "more is better". But what about taxes and deficits? The sad truth is that a majority of the American people seem not to care, or are so bamboozled, they don't know enough to care. "The rich will pay", "Everyone will be more wealthy in the future, so it will be easy to pay it off", "The same unicorns that will give us low cost green energy will work the same magic on all our problems" ... etc, etc. Color me skeptical.
Obamacare just increased the flow of gasoline to the healthcare dumpster fire. Schmucks that bought into the old American idea of "Work hard and save for retirement" have been badly burned -- and who cares about those idiots? (of which I am one)
Close to home, friends at IBM had dutifully looked at the TOTAL they were paying for healthcare with premiums and deductibles included as they obtained coverage through IBM. Health status made no difference on IBM premiums, and the deductibles were generally capped at about "4K" ... so that is what they made their retirement assumptions on as they left or were forced out of IBM. Typically, $12K a year total. Post Obamacare, premiums went up, but deductibles and caps REALLY went up. The typical couples premium cost went up to over $20K. Total expenditures typically exceeded $30K as opposed to the estimated $12K, since older people have higher healthcare expenses. Taking a $20K hit on your yearly budget is not a positive experience. Since my younger wife continued to work at IBM, and I was covered under her, our pain was less. (thanks wife!)
Most of what we "know" is provided by the Administrative State, and their friends in large corporations and the media. Covid, and the attacks on Trump have made it much more clear what has been happening for a long time, and increases to happen. We are fed a "narrative" that lulls most Americans into the idea that whatever the Democrats, Administrative State and media (basically a single entity) tell us is truthful and things are good, except for the constant threat of Republican extremism.
Once we had a Constitution that largely prevented and certainly curtailed much of this. With the overturn of Roe, there is a glimmer of hope that we may return to Constitutional government ... a SLIGHT glimmer.
Along with Stephan the fisherman from the top link, I would really like to believe that Americans will awake from their entertainment and entitlement slumber and realize that there is STILL no free lunch!
At the time the FBI arm of the Democrat party raided the former presidents personal residence, even a few of the media arm of the Democrat party thought they better find something, or this is going to be seen as a politically motivated fishing expedition to add hatred for Trump to the 2022 midterms.
So as the midterms were over, the FBI reported, that is just what it was. The Democrat media arm has already started the memory hole process.
I remain somewhat mystified as to why they did not just plant something, or just fail to report it at all? Is it possible that there is still a TINY bit of concern that with a Republican majority in the house, there is a small chance that accountability could be demanded, or that there is still a decent person the FBI that would leak the truth? I suppose one can hope.
We live in a single party / weaponized Deep State Banana Republic. Any fair minded person has know this at least since Chappaquiddick and Watergate, to not understand this after even the Russia Hoax, shows either a complete lack of attention to our supposed "by the people" government, or the belief that a one party Oligarchy vs a Republic is where they want to live.
A quick and worthy read, especially based on it's concise analysis of our current divide.
Anyone that has set eyes on this blog, knows who "The Ruling Class" are. They are "the Swamp", Mass Media, the Democrats and the RINOs, the Administrative State, Social Media, the Ivy League brats, etc
"Excellent Sheep" gives a nice overview of the educational element of our rulers. As the book says; "The top schools select for compatibility, not excellence". I've read way too many books of this ilk, and as our recent "election" shows, we continue to accelerate toward the abyss.
While the Ruling Class thinks that Americans are unfit to run their own lives, most Americans have noticed that our Ruling Class has lost every war it has fought, run up an unpayable national debt, and generally made life worse.
Well, they have made life worse for anyone not in the upper 10% of income/wealth, and increasingly for anyone not in the top 1%.
The counterpoint to "The Ruling Class" is labeled in the book as "The Country Class". It is hard to really out a label on this class because it is so diverse, but the big issues are religion, family, freedom, being a good neighbor (especially knowing who they are), respect for people beyond (or sometimes in spite of) their "credentials. "The salt of the earth". As they continue be attacked, The Country Class is "losing it's savor" (especially in religion), but at least in the red states, there is a lot of salt left.
The book says of the Country Class that; "... its most distinguishing characteristics are marriage, children, and religious practice." I would be tempted to add guns.
The ruling class has put a lot of labels on them ... the deploreables, bitter clingers, deniers, racists, fascists, etc. Humans are prone to label their perceived enemies negatively ... the Country Class is no exception, and anything bad they say about the Ruling Class is a "vicious attack".
"... Rather, the sense of intellectual and social superiority over the common herd is arguably the main component of millions of people’s self-conception. Such people can no more believe that a Christian might be their intellectual and moral equal than white Southerners of the Jim Crow era could think the same of Negroes."
A quote which those of us of minimal intelligence and attention to current affairs see as obvious;
Since marriage is the
family’s fertile seed, government at all levels, along with “mainstream”
academics and media, have waged war on it.
The difficult part (isn't it always?) is what to DO about our rather pitiful situation? The book is painfully honest on how hard this will be. One would HOPE that the Republican Party could be the vehicle for this, but can it be? As is said early in the book ...
Republicans are the way
they are in Washington because Washington is a culture and a place that
is run and dominated—not just politically, but socially—by Democrats,
by the left. They’re the big clique. The Republicans also live there.
Everybody wants to get along with those you live next to, ...
As I personally feel, and I think the Trump phenomenon proves, faith in the Republican party to fight these natural tendencies is low:
That’s because while
most of the voters who call themselves Democrats say that Democratic
officials represent them well, only a fourth of the voters who identify
themselves as Republicans say the same about the Republican
officeholders.
As 2022 shows, the "Country Class" is divided and rudderless. There is a significant core that is Trump Forever (and nobody else), a significant number that are Never Trump (and will stay home if he is the nominee), and another (I think largest group) that are "I don't care about a party, just represent my Country Class rather than a person (Trump) or certainly not "Ruling Class lite".
We have a long tough road ahead if we want a decent country again. We need to reverse totalitarianism's (Communism, Fascism, Oligarchy ... or whatever we label the Ruling Class) "long march" with a march of our own.
First we MUST get some election integrity. Why does the Ruling Class fight election integrity tooth and nail? The fact that apparently a significant number of Americans can't figure out why, is not a good sign at all.
Podhoretz is yet another well educated super intelligent Jewish American. I have a pro-Jewish prejudice, especially after working with super intelligent and diligent Jews from IBM's Haifa location.
Smart is not always wise ... wisdom normally takes making and admitting to mistakes. Intelligence has a tendency to give one more opportunity to do this, and Norman Podhoretz (NP) is a great example. In the early 60's he was one of the founders of the "new left". One with standards of intellectual seriousness.
Yes. At the time. I was editor of Commentary, and I rejected articles that were ideologically okay but callow. The most notable example was Tom Hayden’s manifesto, which was the founding document of the SDS, Students for a Democratic Society. Hayden submitted the “Port Huron Statement” to me, and I turned it down. And some people, including many of my friends, said, “Are you crazy?” And I replied, “It’s not intellectually up to par.” And they said, “Well, what difference does that make?” Well, it made a difference to me, and still does. So there was a limit to my commitment to that movement, but I was committed to it.
Like the Democratic Party leaving Reagan (vs him leaving it), the New Left left NP,
... at some point that analysis and that agenda changed dramatically—let’s say, from Martin Luther King to Stokely Carmichael. Or from David Riesman to Saul Alinsky. Maybe it was 1972, with the bombing of Hanoi, or perhaps earlier when the whole movement turned and said this country was not bad just because it wasn’t fulfilling its own ideals. In fact, it didn’t have such ideals. Those ideals were fake.
Alinsky is a name that shows up quite a bit if you start looking into how the Swamp came to be. Both Hillary Clinton and Obama were heavily influenced by him.
NP understood and understands that America is in grave peril ... it is led by leaders that hate it. He understood and understands that Trump is a very imperfect vessel of saving America, and often compares him with the imperfect vessel King David.
In 2019, you told the CRB’s readers that Donald Trump’s election in 2016 was “a kind of miracle,” and you called him “an unworthy vessel chosen by God to save us from the evil on the Left.” And you finished that passage by remarking, “If he doesn’t win in 2020, I would despair of the future.” Now it’s 2022. Trump didn’t win. Are you despairing?
He has this to say about the Founders ...
They created a system whereby more freedom and more prosperity have been accorded to more people—including blacks—than by any civilization known to human history. That achievement is what puts us up there with Athens and Elizabethan England. That’s why I don’t hesitate to use the word “evil” in talking about the ideas and the people promulgating them who are trying their best to tear that precious system down. The last chapter of My Love Affair with America is called “Dayenu American-style.” Dayenu means “it would have sufficed.” It’s a Hebrew term and at the Passover Seder, there is a whole litany of gratitude to God: If God had only done this, it would have been enough. If he had only done this, it would have been enough. Dayenu, dayenu. So I have a whole series of dayenus about why I love this country so much. So this is where I stand. We all have to face the fact that we are at war, albeit a cold civil war, and that this moment is not just an ordinary political disagreement in which we can be bipartisan, etc., etc. All that, that’s gone. God bless America is all I can say. Amen.
America used to be "dayenu" ... "good enough", which can always be improved upon. The left no longer wants to fix it, it wants to burn it down, and given especially the "matches" of voter fraud, they may well succeed.
As I say incessantly, the left and the Democratic Party in particular are completely inconsistent.
I have to say that I am perfectly prepared to believe that the 2020 election may have been stolen. Yet the outraged reaction to anyone who says that or believes that has been absolutely astounding. Because think of Stacey Abrams, whom I regard as a nothing and a no one, lost her bid for the governorship of Georgia by something like 50,000 votes. And to this day, she has refused to concede, and for that refusal she was turned into a hero of the Democratic Party. So, the idea that it’s shocking beyond belief to cast some doubt on the 2020 presidential election is utterly demented. Anyway, the Democratic Party spent two and a half years and 20 billion dollars or whatever it was, trying to prove not just that Trump had stolen the 2016 election, but that he was actually a Russian agent, that is to say a traitor.
This article sorely deserves to be read in its entirety. It describes the level of financial peril in the US as succinctly and as nonpartisan as is possible. Of course there are aspects of partisanship because we are a two party country -- we need to deal with the problems in that context as marital problems need to be dealt with in a two party solution. Unless the union is to be dissolved.
The first step in avoiding a truly calamitous, debt-ridden future is to understand how we got ourselves into this predicament to begin with. It is not national defense or even the New Deal but rather the Great Society that is bankrupting us.
Sadly, the excellent charts that make our peril painfully clear are not in the digital version linked, so I was forced to go screen capture PDF route, but I think you can get the picture.
One of the quick responses from the left will be that our problem is that we are undertaxed, not overspent. More government MUST be better!
A fundamental preliminary question is whether our government taxes too little or spends too much. The answer is easy to determine. In 2021, the federal government collected more than three-and-a-half times as much money, in real dollars per capita—that is, above and beyond inflation and population growth—as it did at the start of the postwar period. But it spent nearly seven times as much. From 1947 (the first postwar fiscal year, as FY 1946 began in July of 1945) through 2021, the population of the United States rose 2.3-fold, while prices rose nearly 13-fold. Combining these two factors, the federal government could have collected and spent 29 times as much in nominal dollars in 2021 as it did in 1947 without collecting or spending any more in real (inflation-adjusted) dollars per capita. Instead, the federal government taxed more than 100 times as much in 2021 as in 1947 and spent almost 200 times as much. By any reasonable standard, our government isn’t afflicted by a shortage of tax revenues but by an almost endless appetite for spending.
Means are always limited, desires are not.
As the charts show, it matters which party controls the executive and legislative branches.
Despite this subsequent debt explosion, the Clinton-Gingrich era was a successful one in terms of fiscal responsibility. Indeed, over the past 40 years, deficits have been lowest when a Democrat has been in the White House and Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress. The second-best scenario has been a Republican president with either party controlling both houses of Congress. Next-best has been a Democratic president paired with a mixed Congress (with each party controlling one house), followed by a Republican president paired with a mixed Congress. The worst scenario has been Democratic control of the whole government. Over the past four decades, Democratic control (average deficit of $1.1 trillion in constant 2012 dollars) has been more than twice as costly as Republican control ($490 billion).
It would appear that unless there is massive vote fraud, we may go from the worst to the best case in finances in 2023-2024, however the hole is very deep at this point. Thomas Jefferson described the likely outcome of our financial incontinence.
Thomas Jefferson described fiscal profligacy as a precursor to inevitable misery and suffering, the first in a stampede of apocalyptic horsemen. “[T]he fore horse of this frightful team is public debt,” he wrote. “Taxation follows that, and in its train wretchedness and oppression.” This wretchedness will only be more keenly felt as interest rates rise. Too much debt puts power in the hands of our enemies and renders the average American poorer every year.
How do we fix it? Pain ... a lot like how anyone "fixes" other cancers if they can fix it at all. In our case, we basically have to return to representative Constitutional government -- rather than the Administrative/Deep State we are governed by now ... especially since Obama.
It has become fashionable to think of constitutional amendments as relics from the past. But then, so are fiscal responsibility and—increasingly—representative government. The founders made the Constitution amendable for a reason, and we should take our cues from them. In the late 1990s, we showed—briefly—that it’s possible to take action to reverse our course and help save our country from the tragic fate that Jefferson described. But the first step is to recognize that the $30 trillion elephant in the room isn’t going away. It’s just growing bigger.
Nietzsche, who died in 1900, called it. Without faith, Christianity became performative, and God a source of inspirational mood boards. Without a living soul or a serious conscience, the human being is no longer an individual but a bag of animal instincts, indistinguishable from the rest of the species. The substitute doctrines of socialism, nationalism and Darwinism offer collective redemption by economics and biology. Technology and capitalism act as force multipliers, accelerating the vortex of futility — even in America, the land that, as Allan Bloom saw, promised ‘nihilism with a happy ending’.
A paragraph that summarizes a lot of my thhouthhs about where we find ourselves. Like a lot of promises in this world, the "happy ending" increasingly looks like a long shot.
Even with the mention of Nietzsche, it is an easy and worthwhile read. Sometimes "you are here", is not the best of news.
... The proposal directs $599,000 of the total grant to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for research designed to make the viruses more dangerous and/or infectious — and its author acknowledged the danger associated with such work.
... the “documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH Director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID Director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement at WIV are untruthful.”
So they funded enhancement of a Coronavirus to make it at least more transmissible ... if not. other "useful" features, and then they lied about it. Fauci lied, people died. At this point, what difference does it make?
Why did Fauci fund making a virus more lethal? Doesn't anyone care? Are humans no longer generally curious, or has the cost of curiosity become too high? Perhaps, like feline curiosity which sometimes "kills the cat", are scientists and governments afraid to be curious? Should I be more afraid? Just because I'm not paranoid doesn't necessarily mean that they may not come to get me..
Why would not every government in the world (other than China, and maybe the US) not be demanding to see the complete documentation of exactly what that lab was working on, which protein, why that protein, what steps were performed, what kind of "failures" happened during development (too lethal? Not transmissible enough? Not enough selectivity in lethality? Not certain enough mutations to insure long term effects? ) and what kind of "enhancement" were they seeking as a goal? It appears they may have "succeeded", but do we know? We can't because we don't know their goals, and nobody is curious about them.
Could the lack of investigation be because the Davos elite told them NO! When a handful of people hold more wealth than half the population of the world, it may mean we have a concentration of power in the hands of a small group of people whose interests don't necessarily align with the rest of us. Perhaps if we knew what was going on, they would have to kill us. (or I should say, more of us)
Initially, the idea of Covid-19 spreading as the result of a "lab leak" was considered a "conspiracy theory", now it is at least a (and many say THE) likely source -- and that is from CNN and the Biden administration, so we know it comes from competent and eminently trustworthy sources!
It seems like the virus mutates a lot. Is that part of the "enhancement"? If I was amoral and wanted to create a "useful" virus, killing old people first, making sure it is really contagious, injecting billions with a "vaccine" that may not work very well against the original virus (but made me a lot of money for the "right" people), BUT, perhaps it "switches on" something much more "effective" for specific purposes. Say ebola? Might strike me as a "good" idea, depending on my amoral motivations.
I'm guessing that after a few 10's of millions of ebola deaths, giving pretty much everyone a chance to see a few of their loved ones bleed, defecate, etc until death, some sort of high priced treatment would be in decent demand. Just follow the money.
Talk about "crazy talk"! The Western nations that killed 100s of millions via war, plus at least 100 million via abortion, would NEVER find anyone so evil! -- well, maybe Trump or Hitler (same thing) ... Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot were not really such bad guys -- just misunderstood! Our advanced universal scientific amorality would simply not allow it, and we have had nothing but trustworthy leadership across the globe for decades. Nothing to worry about!
Reports of "Russian Disinformation" regarding US funding of biolabs in Ukraine, have been repeatedly "debunked" ... as more "far right conspiracy theories".
BTRP has upgraded many laboratories for the Ministry of Health and the State Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service of Ukraine, reaching Biosafety Level 2. In 2019, BTRP constructed two laboratories for the latter, one in Kyiv and one in Odessa.
BTRP supports many collaborative research projects through which Ukrainian and American scientists work together. A few recent examples are:
“Risk Assessment of Selected Avian EDPs Potentially Carried by Migratory Birds over Ukraine”
“Prevalence of Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever virus and hantaviruses in Ukraine and the potential requirement for differential diagnosis of suspect leptospirosis patients”
“The Spread of African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) in Domestic Pigs and Wild Boars in Ukraine – Building Capacity For Insight into the Transmission of ASFV through Characterization of Virus Isolates by Genome Sequencing and Phylogenetic Analysis”
“ASF Biosurveillance and ASF Regional Risk Assessment: A Field to Plate Survey
It gives one comfort to see that the US is funding dangerous research in foreign countries -- especially "friendly" ones like China, and those right next to Russia is a debunked far right conspiracy theory.
Deep down, we all know people are basically good! Why be curious? Just binge watch something mind numbing. Pay no attention to Hannibal Lector knocking at your door.
NPR is standing by reporting from its legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg, alleging that Justice Neil Gorsuch refused a request from Chief Justice John Roberts that he don a mask on the bench — a request that Totenberg implied was made by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who is diabetic.
So NPR reports that Neil Gorsuch refused a request from the Chief Justice to wear a mask.
“On Wednesday, Sotomayor and Gorsuch issued a statement saying that she did not ask him to wear a mask. NPR’s report did not say that she did. Then, the chief justice issued a statement saying he ‘did not request Justice Gorsuch or any other justice to wear a mask on the bench.’ The NPR report said the chief justice’s ask to the justices had come ‘in some form.'”
So who are you going to believe, the justices themselves or NPR?
Hard to understand how their could be division in our country isn't it?
I've pointed out the insanity of calling Jan 6, 2021 anything beyond a "Mostly Peaceful Demonstration" -- the only person killed was an unarmed white female veteran, nothing was burned, and nobody got a free TV. A moments comparison of the reaction to Jan 6 and the BLM riots of the summer is instructive.
The immediate recognition of Trump being elected was shown when women marched on Washington in the 100's of thousands wearing "Pussy Hats", an obvious symbol of their sincerity and good sense.
A very easy answer is because current leadership and meda (but I repeat myself) tend to maximize the severity of events that they believe will benefit their cause, while ignoring or completely suppressing items that would tend to give a sense of balance to thinking about events, and maybe even result in there being some level of equity in how those expressing their views on policy, elections, and actions by authorities are treated.
If say "20%" as much attention was paid to citizens being incarcerated for long periods with no charges, no legal representation, concern about "threats to democracy" may at least be seen as a problem for "both sides" to be concerned about.
Joe Biden likes to say "expodentially" -- who knew? Democrats looking human (stupid if Republicans do so) is something ignored by the Democrat media for obvious reasons - it would be simply WRONG to make lite of our glorious leader.
OTOH, everyone knew about "Bushisms" ... in fact, there was a calendar of them.
There was once a comedian named Norm Crosby that made a good living through malapropisms back when the nation had a sense of humor. I'm quite certain that this clip would be enough to get him Cancelled today.
Losing a sense of humor is a strong sign of "progress" toward totalitarianism. As "progress" proceeds, poking fun at potentates can become criminal.
So China has built and is testing hypersonic weapons that could easily take out all our carriers and almost certainly our power grid in one stroke, and we have no defence against it.
Do we care?
What might we defend? Our "right" to be consumers?
A people's myths, or in this shallow age, superhero comics, give a good clue to what they really believe. Superman used to fight for "Truth, Justice, and the American Way".
What "truth"? Critical Race Theory? What "justice"? John Rawls? What might a "better" future look like?
If if the Chinese can provide us with a lot of nearly free entertainment and consumables without the need for work, competition, and the costs of being a fading world power much like the USSR in the 1980's, why fight?
I would guess a majority of Wokeistanis would be fine with that .... and in a pure "democracy" rather than a Republic for which one might stand, or even die for, why not? Perhaps the majority of those who used to sheepishly call themselves "Americans" would not even notice that Biden's puppeteers were Chinese.
Are we so racist as to think that being ruled by Chinese is any worse than being ruled by the Davos Elite?
Governor Hochul: "I need you to be my apostles. I need you to go out and talk about it and say, we owe this to each other. We love each other. Jesus taught us to love one another and how do you show that love but to care about each other enough to say, please get the vaccine because I love you and I want you to live, I want our kids to be safe when they're in schools, I want to be safe when you go to a doctor's office or to a hospital and are treated by somebody, you don't want to get the virus from them. You're already sick or you wouldn't be there. We have to solve this, my friends. I need every one of you. I need you to let them know that this is how we can fight this pandemic."https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/rush-transcript-governor-hochul-attends-service-christian-cultural-center
Since we had it and recovered, we are living in sin, and apparently a lot of healthcare workers in Pennsylvania are as well, due to the heresy of a hospital chain.
A hospital chain in Pennsylvania announced a revised policy that seems like a reasonable recognition that certain employees who caught and fought off COVID-19 might not want to get vaccinated, and prefer to stick with natural immunity.
"Liberals" have always had "ideas so good they must be mandatory", since they are the "smart ones", and the "deplorable, bitter clingers" are just not not smart, moral, etc enough to follow "the word" from their betters.
So far, no problem seen here by "Americans United For Separation of church and state", but they did have this helpful quote:
Right now, religious extremists and their lawmaker allies are trying to force everyone else to live by their beliefs and to use religion as a license to harm others. They threaten our freedom to live as each of us chooses, which widens inequality in our communities and country. Our nation promises everyone the freedom to believe as they want, but our laws cannot allow anyone to use their religious beliefs to harm others. That’s why Americans United for Separation of Church and State brings together people of all religions and none to fight in the courts, legislatures, and the public square for freedom without favor and equality without exception. "AU will never stop doing all we can to protect your right to live and believe as you choose,"--Rachel Laser, CEO
Got that? Being the sort of "extremist" who defends peoples right to choose what goes into their bodies are seeking a "licence to harm others".
As we ought to have learned from the National Socialists in Germany, National Socialists are all about "the freedom to choose" -- between following their mandates or death.
As we can see from the Hochul speech, the religion of the state is National Socialism, and you have received "The Great Commission" to get out there and save the sinners!
COVID deaths are a little higher than they were last year at this time - of course you don't hear much about that.
If Trump was president (as he would be if the election was fairly held), it would be a "crisis of malfeasance"! As would Afghanistan in the unlikely case that the withdrawal went even half as badly as it has under Biden.
Last fall, both Biden and Kamala suggested any vaccine that rolled out under Trump would be highly suspect, and Kamala was clear that she would not take it (not that one can have ANY trust in what she or Joe says). Is it "better" that Kamala likely knows what she is saying?
The media called for Trump to be tested for Alzheimer's for pretty much his whole term, and then when he was and passes, they questioned its accuracy.
"Biden also told reporters that the world would not see a situation similar to the chaos that was seen in Vietnam, saying "there's going to be no circumstance where you see people being lifted off the roof of a embassy."
