. . .
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.”
. . .
[See the e-commentary at Fourth Annual Noble Prize In Jurisprudence (October 21, 2019) awarding the Noble Prize in Jurisprudence to the ACLU. See the discussion of the ACLU’s failure in the face of a fundamental challenge to civil liberties in Korematsu Two; And The ACLU Endorses It! (September 6, 2021). The state of journalism is discussed at Read, But Don’t Read (June 26, 2023), Is Tucker Carlson The Walter Cronkite Of Our Day? (July 17, 2023), 2024 Pulitzer In “Breaking News Reporting” And “Investigative Reporting News”: Jeff Gerth And The Columbia Journalism Review / Kyle Pope (March 13, 2023) and Eighth Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2023 (May 8, 2023). The courts are discussed at Weaponizing The Judiciary: Democratic Prosecutors + Democratic Judges; Republican Prosecutors + Republican Judges: Bad Math, Very Bad Math (December 4, 2023) and The Government Stumbles; The Judicial Legislature Rumbles (October 2, 2023). Academia was discussed years ago at “Adjunktification” In The S.I.C. (Schooling Industrial Complex) (March 13, 2017) and The “Intellectual Infrastructure Investment Act” (“III”) Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 11, 2019). E-con-omists and e-cono-omics are discussed at Wandering E-con-omists: The Travels And Travails Of E-con-omic Sciences (November 4, 2019).]
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
e-commentary 