The New Clarion

Iran’s Dissidents Plead with US to Keep Up “Maximum Pressure”: heartbreaking that we were so close to the finish line. We’ll now likely pursue a strategy of propping up the regime as a counterweight to newfound-allies Saudi Arabia and Israel.

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MAGA Blood Libel: Why Are They Hiding The Medical Report?: he was cremated to “lie in state” at the Capitol‽ This smells, and you know that it’d be trumpeted if it had been “MAGA murder.” The fact that it’s not suggests that the truth is inconvenient for the story or those using the events of […]

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What Happened to Officer Brian Sicknick?: this stuff drives me nuts. If the facts don’t fit your narrative, you change your narrative—you don’t suppress the facts. I mean, if you’re honest or operate in good faith.

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Want to Fix the Senate? Repeal the 17th Amendment: yep. (I found this podcast episode on the subject persuasive.)

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What can you do about the Trumpites next door?: this is pathological. I don’t know how this sort of person re-enters the fray. What level of projection would one have to entertain to think that the neighbor cleared your driveway as a recruitment tool à la Hezbollah?

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Inside One Prosecutor’s Revolt Against DA Gascón’s Criminal Justice Agenda: wow, sounds like this guy complied with his boss’s order and then expressed his opinion of the order. What a travesty that the District Attorney wants blanket flouting of the legislature’s directive!

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AOC faces backlash as critics point out she wasn’t in Capitol building during riot: how dare they doubt her story even though she was across the street from where the violent rioters were. I mean, she could’ve experienced trauma from home watching it on TV. (I confess to taking a certain glee in those who […]

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Schumer Used Violent Rhetoric To Sic A Mob On Supreme Court Justices: this is what incitement sounds like. I don’t know why the mob listening to this didn’t storm the Court but maybe they weren’t let in, the bronze door is more formidable than some windows, or norms were quite different before the 1619 riots. […]

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Chuck Schumer & Joe Biden – ‘Climate Emergency’ Powers: they should’ve limited the National Emergencies Act when they had the opportunity provided by the hated Trump. This is a trial balloon directed at one Maddow viewer in particular from the Senate leader, who won’t do it himself. “Sclerotic” doesn’t even begin to describe Congress.

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Clarity in Trump’s Wake: this is a long essay but insightful in its sprawling. The people versus the elites; populism versus oligarchy. Trump was so close to what we needed—someone willing to take on the oligarchs but not susceptible to their weaknesses—but his lack of principle made him tack slightly nihilist. We are where we […]

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A Pass for Kevin Clinesmith: the FBI attorney who lied and falsified evidence that served as a predicate for FISA surveillance of a private citizen (plus all the people he interacted with) got 12 months probation, no disbarment, and $100 fine. This contrasts mightily with General Michael Flynn, who plead guilty to lying to federal […]

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Insurrection aftermath – Staffers struggle with trauma, guilt and fear: this article describes the trauma of January 6th that has led many Congressional employees to avail themselves of therapy and other mental health resources. There are oblique references scattered throughout that “a number of lawmakers and senior staffers … had been working remotely”—making one wonder […]

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Technological stagnation – Why I came around: I am unconvinced. He (and many others in progress studies) look at the big innovations of the past and dismiss the incremental ones that have characterized the modern era. One need only watch a few episodes of How It’s Made to marvel at the scale on which the […]

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Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad: My mind absolutely reels at the implications of this, all handled with the stroke of a pen. This is whole ass’ing the global warming problem, a pillow held firmly over the face of the economy. I am now a climate alarmist after reading this.

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Greenwald – Ruling Class Define Insurgency As Anyone Who Has An Ideology Other Than Neoliberalism: this is not good. HR350 (text here) was recently introduced to combat the “domestic terrorism” Biden referred to in his Inaugural Address. This is a war on ideology straight out of Hoover’s COINTELPRO playbook minus the secrecy—they don’t need it […]

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Sen. Paul Joins ABC’s “This Week”: 97% of political scientists agree that the election was fair and free. Don’t be an election denier.

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Biden’s First Foreign Policy Blunder Could Be on Iran: so much of Biden’s public actions seem like a continuation of Obama’s policies. It doesn’t surprise me at all that his diplomacy would follow.

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Principles of Grammar: this was published last month and I remember Peikoff’s lecture version of this quite fondly. Let’s see how it comes out in written form.

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Florida bank says it has closed Trump’s accounts: it’s a private corporation and it can do whatever it desires with its property—people are free to boycott the company for its shunning. And it’s conceivable that every bank could similarly refuse to do business with him but he’d still have the option of cash. Every ISP […]

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The Washington Post Memory-Holed Kamala Harris’ Bad Joke About Inmates Begging for Food and Water: that crosses a bright line between “newspaper” and “mouthpiece.” It’s a private entity so it can sabotage its integrity as much as it wants but that’s an excuse to withhold judgement. Judgement is absolutely required; a robust culture of freedom […]

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