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Today is Constitution Day, so naturally conversation at the 3WHH bar turned directly to the question of whether the state-mandated observances of Constitution Day in public colleges and universities are unconstitutional! Naturally there is division on this issue that maps with our ongoing division over the perspicacity of peated whisky.
John (left) appears less than convinced here.
From there we delve into the lively subject of the “National Conservatives,” who met again this week in Miami. John was present for part of the program, and his disposition is well expressed in the photo nearby. We devote a lot of time to looking over the NatCons’ “Statement of Principles,” observing some difficulties, while also expressing cautious support. The NatCon movement is where the action is right now, and deserves attention going forward. Steve expresses his longer thoughts here and here.
From there the bartenders ask—what the hell is Lindsay Graham up to? John thinks Graham’s bill to impose federal restrictions on abortion after 15 weeks is unconstitutional, while Lucretia thinks it is perfectly within the four corners of the 14th Amendment to extend the protections of the law to unborn persons. Steve ponders the timing, political prudence, and intent of Graham’s gambit.
Finally, we discuss briefly the increasing signal-to-noise ratio of the pre-election polls, which are now producing highly volatile and contradictory findings.
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I was very disappointed that no one mentioned that the people used in the Martha’s Vineyard “stunt” were all criminals. Every last one of them. Not even mentioned in passing.
The greatest mystery in all this is why they weren’t immediately hired as domestics for all those mansions. Is there a “no brown people need apply” rule for domestic help on the island?
I’m not the final word on this, but I’ve heard some pretty convincing conversations that the EU is a survival thing. They are going to get their ass kicked if they don’t try to turn into some form of the United States. I realize this isn’t going very constructively and it enables a lot of bad people, but that is my new view.
Maybe this is a good venue for an interview of King Banaian. His way into all of that stuff including being the guy that set up the Ukraine central bank. He personally knows that guy that Putin poisoned.
The reason people are against free markets is because we have not been practicing free markets for decades. Whining about socialism and populism is stupid. Those political manifestations are an intelligent reaction given how bad the leadership has been for decades.
Meet my new favorite article.
https://brownstone.org/articles/fiat-money-and-the-covid-regime-actually-existing-postmodernism/?utm_medium=onesignal&utm_source=push
Comparative advantage absolutely is unfair when the Fed is constantly creating CPI or asset inflation. The second the Soviet Union fell, we should have switched to a libertarian economy and an almost deflationary Fed policy. Better living through purchasing power. Progress is mostly defined byy more purchasing power.
Why would you try to “fix” abortion with more government force when this whole thing is easily solved by the wider distribution of the Plan B pill? Just distribute the Plan B pill widely and make the moral case. You put the Democrat party and Planned Parenthood out of business overnight.
You do realize the Plan B pill essentially is guaranteeing a miscarriage….it’s not like taking an aspirin to get rid of a headache.
A pro life doctor here already went over this. It works just like the IUD. It doesn’t implant. It’s not the same thing as RU 486.
In regards to Steve’s mention of the Great Pumpkin prayer, I always thought that about my time in the military. The chaplains would always give some watered-down blessing before an event. I mocked it with, “Oh great spirit that may or may not be there”. Once the chaplain couldn’t make it to our summer picnic. The boss asked a captain to say a blessing, probably because she was publicly devout. Oh what a difference. Referencing Jesus. Didn’t hear a prayer like that before or after while in the military.
Peter Thiel – we can stipulate that Star Trek has flaws, some of them serious.
Star Wars has Jar-Jar Binks.
Your first point is a fair criticism; my only defense is that there is so much wrong with the current administration’s policies regarding illegal immigration that within the context of the Martha’s Vineyard iteration the fact that the illegal immigrants there are criminals is almost beside the point. When the laws governing illegal immigration are not enforced; when it becomes clear that if an immigrant only needs to make it across the border; and when illegal immigrants need not worry if they have no skills, no family connections, or no prospects for making a living because know they have a strong probability of becoming a ward of the state it seems somewhat misguided to concentrate on their criminality. I do not disagree that illegal aliens are criminals, but what I find much more objectionable are the criminals in the Biden Administration who cynically refuse to secure our border, which in essence “invites” desperate persons to risk their lives and their children’s lives for the illusive promise of the American dream.
This is a pretty good primmer. I have trouble remembering the details of the differences between Trump and Biden.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Biden-Isnt-Enforcing-Immigration-Law-Because-He-Thinks-Its-Inherently-Inequitable?&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social-media&utm_campaign=addtoany
The only people that are qualified for asylum are people that are under one way persecution for political or religious reasons. They are supposed to stop in the next country. 90% of them are lying. Nobody is supposed to go between ports of entry.
Lincoln, yes, and Jackson, yes, and criticisms of Alien and Sedition Acts, yes. And more to say about that there is.
“Who Can Interpret the Constitution?”
LOTS to say about all of these observations.
And whole books to write about originalism in theology compared/contrasted with originalism in law. And so little time. And so few brain cells.