If you’re looking for a reason to feel festive today, it’s the feast day of the famous dragonslayer.
UPDATE: By coincidence, since the date floats around due to the lunar calendar, today is also the first day of Ramadan. I’m not aware that any of the readers of the Hall are Muslim, but if you are, I wish you well. It was a strange Easter, and I imagine Passover, without family gatherings, and I suppose it will be a strange Ramadan too. Fate has given us all something in common.
Mainstream Constitutional notions provoke frenzy
Attorney General Barr is one of my favorite government officials. He keeps giving interviews describing what sounds to me like straight-up common-sense Constitutional analysis. I remain confused what his critics believe about how the law is supposed to work.
On the subject of the federal government's proper role in policing state governments, Barr states mildly that state governments have very broad police powers, but they are nevertheless subject to some federal Constitutional boundaries. When citizens file suit in federal court to protest that a state government has trespassed those boundaries, the DOJ looks into it and, if it agrees, takes the citizens' side.
How this became either excessive federalism or a betrayal of federalist principles, I have no idea. The only common thread seems to be abysmal ignorance of the Constitution. Lately almost every day someone tries to argue to me that in a contest between state and federal governments and citizens, either the citizens always win, or the state always wins, or the federal government always wins. None of those statements has ever been true.
On the subject of the federal government's proper role in policing state governments, Barr states mildly that state governments have very broad police powers, but they are nevertheless subject to some federal Constitutional boundaries. When citizens file suit in federal court to protest that a state government has trespassed those boundaries, the DOJ looks into it and, if it agrees, takes the citizens' side.
How this became either excessive federalism or a betrayal of federalist principles, I have no idea. The only common thread seems to be abysmal ignorance of the Constitution. Lately almost every day someone tries to argue to me that in a contest between state and federal governments and citizens, either the citizens always win, or the state always wins, or the federal government always wins. None of those statements has ever been true.
Michael Moore pries one half of one eye open
Say, did you know that electric cars don't get their electricity from unicorns?
Yes, I know all of you did, but poor Michael Moore has just now noticed. Apparently all that's left is to decimate and then impoverish humans, otherwise we're all going to die, which would be bad, or else good.
Yes, I know all of you did, but poor Michael Moore has just now noticed. Apparently all that's left is to decimate and then impoverish humans, otherwise we're all going to die, which would be bad, or else good.
FAFO
That's a language warning too, if you look up the acronym. We're getting more of them these days. It's a function of the age.
Trump orders the Navy to sink Iranian gunboats that harass our warships.
Well past time, if you ask me. I'd have done that years ago.
Trump orders the Navy to sink Iranian gunboats that harass our warships.
Well past time, if you ask me. I'd have done that years ago.
A Punk Rock Interlude
I'm not convinced that Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards aren't the best punk rock band ever. Also, not Communists.
Lars also plays guitar for a much more famous punk/ska band, Rancid. There's even skateboarding in honor of our recent story.
Language warning on all this stuff. I mean, it's punk rock. You're all adults.
Lars also plays guitar for a much more famous punk/ska band, Rancid. There's even skateboarding in honor of our recent story.
Language warning on all this stuff. I mean, it's punk rock. You're all adults.
Georgia on my Mind
Harry O'Donoghue plays the piece at the beginning of his fifth quarantine podcast, "In Song and Story." If you like it, stick around because he sings a few more. Harry was a regular at Kevin Barry's Irish Pub, in the grand old days in Savannah.
Trump Says Georgia Should Not Re-Open
I'm curious to see if this will cause all my Georgia friends to switch sides on the question. It's been completely tribal so far, with the Trump-supporters supporting re-opening a la Kemp, and Trump opponents supporting defying the governor by calling on everyone to remain inside until doomsday.
Until now Kemp has been in alignment with Trump, so you could signal your group allegiance cleanly. But now that the Orange Man has come out on the other side from Kemp, which loyalty prevails? Do you suddenly see the light on giving it a week or two more? Do you suddenly suggest that, you know, friends, we really could all use a good haircut right now?
Until now Kemp has been in alignment with Trump, so you could signal your group allegiance cleanly. But now that the Orange Man has come out on the other side from Kemp, which loyalty prevails? Do you suddenly see the light on giving it a week or two more? Do you suddenly suggest that, you know, friends, we really could all use a good haircut right now?
Barr Defends Constitutional Liberties
He’s definitely saying the right things. We will have to watch for action.
Disobedience with Style
A city park in California built a facility for skateboarding. Skaters, not being famous for obeying authority, refused to stop coming in spite of orders. So, the city brought in tons of wet sand and filled the park.
So now they’ve got dirt bikes.
So now they’ve got dirt bikes.
Civil disobedience
My county closed down the public beaches and boat ramps, not so much because they couldn't be used safely, as because the citizens vocally feared an influx of bored tourists fleeing quarantine in the teeming, scary, infected cities. It surprised me: I thought the voters would rebel, but instead a solid majority cheered the measure.
Several weeks have passed, however. We have had only two confirmed COVID-19 cases, neither of which had to be hospitalized, and both are recovering, perhaps even past the presumed contagious phase.
Yesterday the local Navigation District commissioners met. They are bound by the county's order, but most of the affected beaches and public boat ramps are in their geographical jurisdiction. The Nav District voted to remove the barricades the county had asked them to place on the beaches and ramps, and announced their intention to ask the County Judge to modify his lockdown order. In the meantime, everyone appears to acknowledge that the beaches and ramps technically still are closed, but no one from the Nav District or, apparently, the local police, intends to enforce the closure. Part of the reasoning was that local short-term rentals are still prohibited, so we shouldn't face much of a tourist influx.
I foresee an upheaval in the next few weeks as counties begin to implement the governor's instructions to re-open businesses carefully, starting with curbside delivery. A constituent called me earlier this week wanting to know whether the county was enforcing any requirement for take-out restaurant workers to wear masks. There is no rule requiring food workers to wear masks, though I did encourage her not to patronize any restaurant whose safety practices didn't suit her. She wanted to discuss her unhappiness with a particular restaurant. I urged her not to eat there. She wanted to talk about the special health needs of a live-in relative. I suggested that, given that relative's special needs, she might want to consider not eating at any restaurants for the duration. I mention her because I get the impression from social media that she's far from alone. She wants to concentrate on limiting the freedom of others rather than on her own options for hunkering down in safety, at some minor inconvenience to herself, but at no serious cost.
As always, my concern is less with these inconveniences, and almost entirely with the people who are missing paychecks, and for whom the situation is getting critical. Those of use who want or need to guard ourselves carefully are getting every opportunity to do so. No one is making us go into any dangerous buildings. The local hospitals are, if not exactly fine, at least no more inadequate than they ever were. We're going to have to open the economy back up, carefully but soon. Lots of masks and spacing, fine, but get those jobs back ASAP. So I'm pleased to see at least one local government flex its muscles a bit, and I'm curious to see how the public reacts.
Several weeks have passed, however. We have had only two confirmed COVID-19 cases, neither of which had to be hospitalized, and both are recovering, perhaps even past the presumed contagious phase.
Yesterday the local Navigation District commissioners met. They are bound by the county's order, but most of the affected beaches and public boat ramps are in their geographical jurisdiction. The Nav District voted to remove the barricades the county had asked them to place on the beaches and ramps, and announced their intention to ask the County Judge to modify his lockdown order. In the meantime, everyone appears to acknowledge that the beaches and ramps technically still are closed, but no one from the Nav District or, apparently, the local police, intends to enforce the closure. Part of the reasoning was that local short-term rentals are still prohibited, so we shouldn't face much of a tourist influx.
I foresee an upheaval in the next few weeks as counties begin to implement the governor's instructions to re-open businesses carefully, starting with curbside delivery. A constituent called me earlier this week wanting to know whether the county was enforcing any requirement for take-out restaurant workers to wear masks. There is no rule requiring food workers to wear masks, though I did encourage her not to patronize any restaurant whose safety practices didn't suit her. She wanted to discuss her unhappiness with a particular restaurant. I urged her not to eat there. She wanted to talk about the special health needs of a live-in relative. I suggested that, given that relative's special needs, she might want to consider not eating at any restaurants for the duration. I mention her because I get the impression from social media that she's far from alone. She wants to concentrate on limiting the freedom of others rather than on her own options for hunkering down in safety, at some minor inconvenience to herself, but at no serious cost.
As always, my concern is less with these inconveniences, and almost entirely with the people who are missing paychecks, and for whom the situation is getting critical. Those of use who want or need to guard ourselves carefully are getting every opportunity to do so. No one is making us go into any dangerous buildings. The local hospitals are, if not exactly fine, at least no more inadequate than they ever were. We're going to have to open the economy back up, carefully but soon. Lots of masks and spacing, fine, but get those jobs back ASAP. So I'm pleased to see at least one local government flex its muscles a bit, and I'm curious to see how the public reacts.
Sympathy for the Working Man
Glen Reynolds notes that some Americans, still drawing pay, are not that sympathetic to the ones who aren't.
There are even more dire consequences when we consider the world as a whole. How much sympathy is there for Africa and Asia among our political and managerial class, who talk about 'people of color' almost as much as they talk about 'working Americans'?
...it’s hard not to notice a class divide here. As with so many of America’s conflicts, the divide is between the people in the political/managerial class on the one hand and the people in the working class on the other. And as usual, the smugness and authoritarianism are pretty much all on one side.If they keep staying home, they'll have no homes to stay in. That's not a trivial problem, nor one that can be wished away.
There are even more dire consequences when we consider the world as a whole. How much sympathy is there for Africa and Asia among our political and managerial class, who talk about 'people of color' almost as much as they talk about 'working Americans'?
San Jacinto
Texan denizens, we join you today in celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. For those not from Texas, this was the battle that redeemed the sacrifice at the Alamo. As Marty Robbins describes in this song, the men of the Alamo bought thirteen days for Sam Houston to assemble an army to contest the army brought north by Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
This day 1836, Sam Houston's forces met Santa Anna's and won a decisive victory. Ironically, it will take you longer to read a thorough account of the battle than it took to fight it: from the opening volley of artillery to the Mexican rout was eighteen minutes. As the article says, though, "the killing lasted for hours."
The Republic of Texas was born.
This day 1836, Sam Houston's forces met Santa Anna's and won a decisive victory. Ironically, it will take you longer to read a thorough account of the battle than it took to fight it: from the opening volley of artillery to the Mexican rout was eighteen minutes. As the article says, though, "the killing lasted for hours."
The Republic of Texas was born.
"Decaying" Communities Can Survive, Dude
The Atlantic is hysterical. Can you still say "hysterical"? The author's not a woman so we're going with it.
As for the 'decaying communities in revolt against the modern world,' son, we've got this if you can just take your systems of debt off our necks. I'm planting a garden, as are all of us. I never thought of myself as a gardener, but because I married a woman who loves gardens, I've built literal tons of them. The current one has three raised beds, more than twenty feet long, with the soil carefully broken and double-dug. They're amended with all organic things like ash and charcoal and manure.
We're going to have food in the harvest like you can't imagine. The forest is full of turkey and deer, the mountains full of bear and grouse. Our population density is minimal, and we live in fresh air and sunshine. School is canceled, but the school buses are still running to drop off food daily to the poor. If only we could figure out a way to push back mortgages, so we don't unhouse a bunch of people in the middle of the growing season, you could otherwise just stop worrying about us and focus on the afflicted cities.
It's the modern world's system of universal debt that's dangerous. Our community isn't decaying, it's growing. It's growing crops.
This was the American landscape that lay open to the virus: in prosperous cities, a class of globally connected desk workers dependent on a class of precarious and invisible service workers; in the countryside, decaying communities in revolt against the modern world; on social media, mutual hatred and endless vituperation among different camps; in the economy, even with full employment, a large and growing gap between triumphant capital and beleaguered labor; in Washington, an empty government led by a con man and his intellectually bankrupt party; around the country, a mood of cynical exhaustion, with no vision of a shared identity or future.I'm pretty sure that labor's wages were rising faster than we've seen lately before this happened, led by the 'empty government con man.' That's not what I want to talk about.
As for the 'decaying communities in revolt against the modern world,' son, we've got this if you can just take your systems of debt off our necks. I'm planting a garden, as are all of us. I never thought of myself as a gardener, but because I married a woman who loves gardens, I've built literal tons of them. The current one has three raised beds, more than twenty feet long, with the soil carefully broken and double-dug. They're amended with all organic things like ash and charcoal and manure.
We're going to have food in the harvest like you can't imagine. The forest is full of turkey and deer, the mountains full of bear and grouse. Our population density is minimal, and we live in fresh air and sunshine. School is canceled, but the school buses are still running to drop off food daily to the poor. If only we could figure out a way to push back mortgages, so we don't unhouse a bunch of people in the middle of the growing season, you could otherwise just stop worrying about us and focus on the afflicted cities.
It's the modern world's system of universal debt that's dangerous. Our community isn't decaying, it's growing. It's growing crops.
Gloves Off
I'm not sure that invoking the French Revolution is a great idea right now, but here we are.
And then there's this truly astonishing ad. This is World Wrestling Federation stuff. If Biden happened to win after seven more months of ads like this, he'd be a laughingstock the day he took office. If he's up to taking office, of course. That's looking unclear, which is likely to be the focus of yet more forthcoming ads.
Demagoguery seems to be the order of the day. Not that these people deserve better, but there are some pretty clear warnings from history about following this path.
And then there's this truly astonishing ad. This is World Wrestling Federation stuff. If Biden happened to win after seven more months of ads like this, he'd be a laughingstock the day he took office. If he's up to taking office, of course. That's looking unclear, which is likely to be the focus of yet more forthcoming ads.
Demagoguery seems to be the order of the day. Not that these people deserve better, but there are some pretty clear warnings from history about following this path.
Havamal 38
Raven sends a piece about a Norwegian mountain pass that has recently become clear for the first time in a long time. The last time was apparently the Viking Age, and many artifacts are being discovered. Along the way they quote my favorite verse from the Havamal.
There are photos of some artifacts, and video of the pass and another about tunics.
There are photos of some artifacts, and video of the pass and another about tunics.
Judicial Review of Petty Tyrants
An argument that we should see more of it, and no deference given by the courts to "authority figures" who exceed their constitutional powers.
Motions to get real
Some of the legal pushback against seemingly punitive religious restrictions appears to be working.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)