Take five minutes to reflect . . . and then go on with the demands of life.
Bumper sticker of the week:
“The evils of capitalism are as real as the evils of militarism and racism. The problems of racial injustice and economic injustice cannot be solved without a radical redistribution of political and economic power.” MLK, Jr.
. . .
J “In the last four years? Too many institutions are failing with each passing year.”
K “Since our last discussion, the American Civil Liberties Union has gone off the rails and opted to fail. Yet they have maintained their defense of some civil liberties.”
. . .
K “The courts are increasingly militarized and weaponized war zones. The major political crime families prosecute and persecute their opponents in the name of ‘Le Law’ before hand-picked and cooperative judges.”
J “It depends on the court. Count me a fan of the recent Colorado Supreme Court decision.”
. . .
J “I agree the Federal Reserve is failing faster and may now have undermined all credibility and lost control of the economy. That frank recognition does not inspire confidence.”
K “End the Fed, they said. Mend the Fed, I said. End the Fed, I recently said.”
J “A lawyer is heading the Fed. I am uncomfortable with a lawyer heading the Fed. I am also uncomfortable with a lawyer heading the Department of Just-Us. And I am uncomfortable with an economist heading the Fed. An English major should head the Fed. Calculated obfuscation and willful misdirection should be eschewed and verboten, I say.”
. . .
J “You still nurturing your cavil with the MSM.”
K “Still deeply troubled by the wholesale lack of integrity and independence.”
. . .
K “For decades, I gave Academia a pass. Academia has earned a failing grade. I noted to someone recently that Harvard is ‘half a hedge fund and half a hustle’. Think Eric Hoffer. Are they going to refer to it as the Harvard Zuckerberg College of Arts and Sciences or the Harvard Gates College of Art and Sciences. To distinguish their graduates. Or warn others.”
J “All of the profitable universities adhere to the same business plan. There is not much difference. Massive bloated bureaucracies of useless administrators pursuing petty grievances and protecting patches of turf rather than developing and analyzing doctrines, notions, ideas, hypothesis, and tentative conclusions and challenging others to do the same. Some of the mascots are clever.”
. . .
Bumper stickers of the week:
“We now live in a nation where doctors destroy health, lawyers destroy justice, universities destroy knowledge, governments destroy freedom, the press destroys information, religion destroys morals, and our banks destroy our economy.” Chris Hedges
“Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” Eric Hoffer
DNC = RNC = WWP
. . .
K “They may legislate away Roe v. Wade.”
J “That’s what judicial legislatures do today.”
. . .
K “They have now twice avoided opining on vaccine mandates. One of the pivotal and timely issues of our time obligates the Court to issue a timely opinion.”
J “They are mandating those in attendance today to wear a mask.”
. . .
K “And they are gunning to say something on guns.”
J “They need to allow the right folks to have access to guns and to prevent the wrong fiends from gaining access. ”
. . .
K “They have narrowed our civil rights here and our civil liberties there.”
J “They have narrowed our civil liberties here and our civil rights there.”
K “And we do not see it.”
. . .
K “They do not seem to realize that their ‘Shadow Docket’ is the new ‘Star Chamber’ of our time. Now almost everything is done behind the curtain.”
J “They don’t need to be concerned about public opinion. They don’t mind to be because they are above the law.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary under the Categories “First Monday In October” and the “Supreme Court”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Equal Justice Under . . . forget it
The First Anniversary Of The Great Barrington Declaration: [Really] Focused Protection [With Prophylactic Treatments]
. . .
K “A prize dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the work of someone who or some organization that really knows something about jurisprudence and the impact of courts, judges, lawyers and police on the lives and livelihood of ordinary citizens. Someone who lives the conviction that men and women should establish and respect some norms and standards that are promulgated clearly to all and enforced equally in favor of and against all.”
J “Someone who advances the Rule of Law and stuff like that. I like it.”
K “The recipient of the fourth annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence . . . is another group . . . you got it . . . the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for its continuing efforts to advance and defend civil rights and civil liberties.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Third Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 15, 2018)”, “Second Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 16, 2017)”, “First Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 17, 2016)” and “Award Deadlines (Livelines?) (July 25, 2016)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
Give civil rights and civil liberties a chance
. . .
K “Decreasing velocity of money.”
J “Increasing inequality.”
K “Inverting yield curves.”
J “Perverting civil liberties.”
K “Distending price-earnings ratios.”
J “Exploding national deficit.”
K “Imploding institutions.”
J “Exploding personal debt.”
K “Collapsing trust.”
J “Decreasing freedoms.”
K “Increasing prices.”
J “Deflating credibility.”
K “Disturbing climate patterns.”
J “Destroying the [Supreme] Court.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “Amtrak – The (Rail) Road to National Security (January 23, 2006)”, “Humanity’s Motto: To Enslave And To Colonize (January 27, 2014)”, “Twenty Sixteen (January 4, 2016)” and “Prepping: Public and Private Perspectives (April 27, 2015)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
A system that cannot go on forever will not go on forever
. . .
K “I thought that no one discriminated against the green stuff today.”
J “The cake baker’s religious convictions seem heartfelt and genuine, yet they must yield when he opens the door to the public and seeks money.”
K “If you hold yourself out to the public to be open for business, you cannot hold yourself out to the public to be open for business only for some.”
. . .
J “There is a continuum of creativity. Everyone involved in the marriage industrial complex is creative in some way. The hair stylist, the floral designer, the nail sculptor, even the chef are all creating a creative product. The cake baker is not unique or special.”
. . .
K “The coercive authority of the government coming to bear on an individual once again gives me some pause.”
. . .
J “In the end, the decision is a piece of cake.”
K “And as easy as pie.”
. . .
K “And the case reveals once again that we are not one country, we are two countries deeply divided against each other. And we are not one country with two political parties, we are two countries with one political party – the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ – divided into two divisions, the ‘D’ division and the ‘R’ division.”
J “And a chasmic and unbridgeable divide between those two divisions.”
K “The ‘D’ division of the Supreme Court and the ‘R’ division of the Supreme Court are two divisions of armies that battle head to head to impose and inflict their version of the Constitution on the other army.”
. . .
[See Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, 16-111.]
[See the e-commentary at “Brown: 5 – Plessy: 4 (June 29, 2015)”, “Dividing The Divided Supreme Court In A Divided Country (October 3, 2016)”, “Five Red Rich Republican ‘Catholic’ Corporatist ‘White’ Boys . . . Versus . . . Four Blue Comfortable Democratic ‘Jewish’ Individualist White ‘Girls’ . . . And All By-Products Of The S.I.C. (October 2, 2017)”, “The Tsunami Hits Shore (March 24, 2014)”, “The Sea Change Is Now A Tsunami (March 11, 2013)” and other e-commentary under the Categories “First Monday in October” and “War and Wall Street Party”.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Open to all
Let them eat cake; insist they sell it
It is a cake walk and as easy as pie
. . .
K “Could be.”
J “Seems so.”
. . .
J “The behavior seems less porcine and more saurian, although one’s saurian impulses are usually triggered defensively in response to a threat rather than engaged offensively to threaten another animal.”
. . .
K “Society has been silent for far too long. One or two of the accusations may be distended or exaggerated, yet far too much has gone on for far too long with far too little attention or action. Most of the women did not speak up until now for the simple and true reason that no one listened and no one cared.”
. . .
J “So many uncelebrated perpetrators victimize and terrorize uncelebrated women in untold and unsung nightmares in unnamed communities.”
K “And they remain unknown and unacknowledged and unresolved.”
J “I reckon that we need a candid national reckoning akin to past truth and reconciliation undertakings.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “The Endless War On Women By American Warriors (July 22, 2013)” and advice that remains timeless at “On Advice (May 11, 2009)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.” Winston Churchill
. . .
K “A prize dedicated to acknowledging and celebrating the work of someone who really knows something about jurisprudence and the impact of courts, judges, lawyers and police on the lives and livelihood of ordinary citizens. Someone who lives the conviction that men and women should establish and respect some norms and standards that are promulgated clearly to all and enforced equally in favor of and against all.”
J “The law schools are vacuous deserts of inbreeding and infighting that gestate little legal gamesters. The bench is a magnet for wankers who played the legal game profitably and perpetuate the racket for the benefit of the judges and a few lawyers. Is anyone qualified in America? Is someone outside American eligible? Give the nod to another underappreciated and overworked public defender who somehow manages to make a difference.”
K “They were included within the group of individuals acknowledged and celebrated last year. The recipient of the second annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence . . . is John W. Whitehead and the Rutherford Institute for his and its dedication to the protection and defense of civil liberties and human rights. He and the Institute are indeed public defenders of law and policy who have made and are making a difference.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at “First Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 17, 2016)” and “Award Deadlines (Livelines?) (July 25, 2016)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
I wasn’t using my civil liberties anyway
. . .
K “Someone who was one of the three or perhaps four heterosexual intellectuals in American to support gay marriage during the dark ages – in the early summer of 2011 – finds himself troubled by this new unbounded license to choose bathroom policy.”
J “That makes you all kinds of very bad things, you know. A reactionary, a red neck, a misanthrope, a misogynist, a mugwump and a sexist. For openers.”
. . .
K “Decades ago, I argued that notions of equal protection required more physical bathroom facilities for women than for men. That turned some folks apoplectic. Look at the lines outside the women’s bathrooms that form even today. The average time per visit for women is much longer than for men. I contended that the only way to achieve equality was and is to implement inequality. That did not sit well in some quarters.”
. . .
K “Clean available public bathrooms are key to public health. Think about it. When you turn on the television, they say that you invite into your living room deplorable characters that you would not allow to tread anywhere on your property. Public bathrooms are part of the social contract we make with fellow citizens allowing all of us to enter and share the most private chamber in one’s castle for a short and awkward period of time.”
J “When I stand next to an imperfect stranger at the wall urinal, I recognize that I am waiving my privacy in an uneasy truce with the other chaps for a minute or two.”
K “Exactly. We all agree to a ‘modus vivendi’ that entails a temporary suspension of our privacy.”
. . .
K “Thus, there must be an unequal number of stalls for women than men. And the stalls should be kept separate based on decisions made by Nature. In all other ways, treat everyone equally.”
. . .
J “The likely response and compromise will be more single ‘family’ bathroom units in the future.”
K “Building design will change. The total number of square feet per person dedicated to public restrooms will increase.”
. . .
K “I wonder if being way ahead of the curve in the past is likely to lead one to be way ahead of the curve in the future. Few see it.”
J “You are still a filthy troglodyte.”
K “I resemble that remark.”
. . .
[See the “e-commentary” at “Brown: 5 – Plessy: 4 (June 29, 2015)”, “The Tsunami Hits Shore (March 24, 2014)” and “The Sea Change Is Now A Tsunami (March 11, 2013)”.]
Bumper sticker of the week:
Public Bathrooms: “Separate and Unequal”
e-commentary 