Virtue and cowardice

John Kass nails it:

Human beings do not wish to see themselves as cowards. They want to see themselves as heroes.

And, as they are shaped and taught to fear even the slightest accusation of thought crime, they will not view themselves as weak for falling in line. Instead they will view themselves as virtuous. And that is the sin of it.

The proper role of violence in civil society

I'm not sure this was what BLM wanted, but it seems that even in places like the NYT comments sections, fellow-travelers find themselves debating what violence is, whether it's wrong, and what it means to enable it without engaging in it personally.

Some of our society's old discussions about whether words and symbolic actions like Tweets and cross-burning are really "violence" will need to be revisited, if we're to excuse trashing retail outlets, injuring cops, and forming a mostly peaceful cordon of non-violent protestors around the violent ones to protect them from the cops.  We may also have to re-think what it means to acquiesce to a corrupt "system."  Many NYT commenters are at least thinking about the strategic ramifications of failing to prevent the entangling of their pristine message from the insane display that is repelling a lot of potential voters.

The Church Militant

For Catholic readers, a priest has decided that it is obligatory to fight the evils in Democratic platform planks. 

Ymar’s Post

Wednesday. 

Men’s Rea

Conversation with left leaning friend tonight:

Her: “Why can’t cops treat us the same way they treat white collar, middle class criminals?”

Grim: “I hate to break this to you, but you are a white collar, middle class criminal.”

Her: “What crimes have I committed?”

Grim: [Explains crimes]

Her: ‘AAAAHHH!’

Well, at least they won’t be able to prove that she meant to break the law. 

Higher Math

Xenon

New headlights, to go with all the other new stuff. Brakes, oil, plugs, clutch cables, tires — the bikes are newer than they’ve been in a while. 

Barr is Having a Day

It's unusual to hear a two-time US Attorney General state that he's not confident that Congress would defend even its own building from defacing or destruction.

Let the money follow the student

Heads came to a sharp point when the President put a voucher proposal into the latest COVID relief bill:

Drawing on his history of supporting school-choice initiatives, he announced an ambitious new effort to give parents billions in federal funds – as much as $10,000 per child -- and allow them to pick the emergency-education method that would best fit their child’s and families’ needs.

“If the schools do not reopen, the funding should go to parents to send their children to [the] public, private, charter, religious or home school of their choice,” Trump told reporters Thursday during a press briefing. “The key word being ‘choice.’ If the school is closed, the money should follow the student so the parents and families are in control of their own decisions.”

And if not that, then at least require the schools to go back to their core role as babysitters.  The only thing worse than spending $10K a kid for an ideologically corrupt non-education is to fail to get some expensive childcare out of it.

As my husband says, with all the kids staying home, how long before families pass the hat to hire a schoolmarm to come out here on the train from back East?

Medical mystery

West Hunter poses a mystery:  why have premature births dropped like a rock during lockdown?  His readers offer two main theories:  protection from an unknown pathogen, and decreased access to doctors who induce premature deliveries.

Ymar’s Post

It’s Monday. Time for more. 

Old Norse “Class”

First in a series, if you wanted to learn. 

Three Gorges

It’s going to be a massive issue if the dam fails, worldwide for supply chains. Watch this space for links to advice about that. 

What’s your over/under on failure?  The CCP’s confidence is probably a bald lie. 

Who had baboons armed with chainsaws for August?

Granted, "armed" may be stretching a point, just because they're carrying them around, but it's not a good look.

Grizzly Bear Blues

Yeah, Corb Lund has a new album out.

Capitalism

From the Week in Pictures at Powerline.



I'm reading "Apocalypse Never," whose author makes much the same point about the best approach to what he considers to be serious environmental risks:  we'd do better to increase prosperity and increase resilience across a number of possible fronts, than to tie ourselves down to cripplingly expensive solutions to badly understood risks that may never ripen into real problems.  Prosperous societies do less environmental damage than poor ones, despite the "Noble Savage" fantasies of limousine liberals, and the Noble Savages don't have the same ambitions for their children that Hollywood wishes they did.

Riders, Keep Your Heads on a Swivel More Than Usual- You're Now a Target

The media isn't covering this because it certainly doesn't fit their narrative, but I think many of us knew things like this were coming down the pike sooner or later-  Man deliberately swerves head on into a Harley rider because  "The Harley culture is made up of white racists"
Now I understand that this man is almost certainly suffering from mental issues, but then so are a lot of people around the country, so I have no sense that we won't see other similarly motivated acts in the future.  Beware and stay safe.

Whisky or Gin?

Ymar’s Post

Ok, you said you wanted to talk about aliens. Apparently today is the day. 

Inevitable: Resolution to Ban the Democratic Party

If the Republicans had left it alone, the Democrats would have gotten there themselves. 

Enjoy your “Washington Football Team,” by the way.