Notes On The Collapse

War Crimes and Cluster Bombs

War crimes? All war is a crime.

The concept of “war crimes” was an effort to pretend that war isn’t intrinsically a crime, and thus make it palatable for civilians and politicians. There are no just wars; there are no proper wars; there are no good wars. War is evil. That it is sometimes a necessary evil doesn’t make it any less evil. In 1944, we needed to invade Europe in order to defeat Nazi Germany; this means we had to do a bad thing to stop a worse thing.

Let’s all take that as read, shall we? While I can imagine objections to it, I can’t imagine any logical or well-reasoned ones. (If you disagree, that’s why we have a Comments section. Take your time and get it right, because if you don’t I’m going to mercilessly rip you apart. -Editor)

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About The Student Loan Thing

EDITORIAL

This may startle some of our more conservative readers, but I’m actually in agreement with the dissenting opinion in Biden v. Nebraska, the recent 6-3 decision that struck down the Administration’s student loan forgiveness program.

I’ve got a bone to pick with Biden on this, mind you. It’s clearly Presidential overreach, a cash giveaway that, if the Court hadn’t stopped it, Congress would have. Since he obviously knew this going into it, that makes it a stunt to get votes — and a particularly cruel one, since an awful lot of people out there are very deeply in debt during what anyone but a Boomer would have to admit are some of the worst economic times since the Depression.

BUT. Kagan, Sotomayor, and Jackson are in the right, and the other six Justices in the wrong.

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BREAKING: Affirmative Action Is Racism

This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down another 6-3 ruling, including the conservative majority and the moderate Chief Justice, striking down Affirmative Action in higher education as opposed to the principles of the Fourteenth Amendment.

(Incidentally: Groff v. DeJoy was also decided today, 9-0 in favor of the plaintiff, who sued on the basis of religious discrimination for being disciplined for choosing not to work Sundays. This is not minor, and should not be neglected in your attention.)

But what does this mean, and what is implied? What institutions are shaken, which are weakened and which strengthened? For this, a deeper analysis of the ruling is essential.

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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

It’s a year since the Dobbs decision, and, at the moment when pregnancy charities anticipate a spike in demand for their services, donations have collapsed.

Leaving morality entirely to one side, let’s examine cold hard fact. The average price tag for an abortion is $1500; the cost of giving birth ranges between $12-25,000, not counting the $10,600 per year that a child costs to raise. And nobody is stepping up to pay it.

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Obstruction Is Its Own Reward

The Secretary of Labor can’t get confirmed. Her own party is blocking her.

Normally, this wouldn’t be worth commenting on, even though Julie Su is not only fully qualified but also is actually doing the job right now. The Democrats, as we all know, are their own worst enemies and always have been. Rather than focusing on their opponents, they spend most of their time in office eating their own young. It’s been going on so long now, it’s acquired the force of tradition.

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Hyperbole Is Literally Deadly

Consider the following:

– People have the right to identify themselves as they see fit.
– Mislabeling groups of people is an effort to dehumanize them.
– Dehumanization is the first step toward legitimizing pogroms.
– Mass vilification is the second step.
– Ya know who mislabeled people in order to vilify and eliminate them? Nazis.
– Therefore, anyone who misapplies the label “Fascist” to their political enemies is a literal Nazi.

That last step is of course a logical fallacy; it’s employed here deliberately in order to illustrate that calling people fascists merely because one dislikes them is in point of fact the identical fallacy. Even if one applies it to only those with an authoritarian bent is dangerously inaccurate; Stalin and Mao were both absolute rulers, and each was about as far away from fascist as it’s possible to be and still lead a cult of personality.

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It’s Only A Matter Of Time

…and I can’t say it hasn’t happened. In fact, I rather think it may have.

Just over a year ago, I predicted a bloody spring. My premise was that we as a population produce a set percentage of people who go violently insane every year, and the crops from 2020 and 2021 had been festering under lockdown in their parent’s basements, just waiting for a new crowd to form so they could self-destruct in public as rampage shooters. Regrettably, that turned out to be the case, and it’s repeating again this spring.

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Oh No Not Again

Happy Indictment Day!

Only not.

Sure, “Teflon Don” got marched into court, had to get fingerprinted, and is facing full public disclosure of his hush money payments. It’s embarrassing. On the other hand, nothing he’s accused of has ever garnered more than a fine, not in any case I’ve ever seen. (NOTE: I’m not a lawyer.) The action itself — paying hush money — wasn’t illegal, or even immoral, and every campaign after Eisenhower has had a damage control unit.

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Fireside Chat

My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking — to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you…

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President. 12 March, 1933

It’s been ninety years, and we still haven’t learned the lesson.

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