The Giving of Thanks

 As I sit in health amidst splendor and abundance, make no mistake. 

I am grateful. 

Anonymous voices from the hidden, smoky rooms of the Internet

In response to concern for the "future of the republic": 

"I think it is WAY PAST TIME, by almost 100 years, to understand that the republic, as originally envisioned, IS DEAD. ACTUALLY DEAD. AND HAS BEEN FOR A LONG TIME.

None of us here have ever experienced any functioning version of it. Maybe [redacted, a recently deceased member who was 95 or so], when he was alive, but even that's debatable.

There is a horrific zombie thing shambling around wearing its rotting skin, grasping the increasingly tattered parchments of the glorious founding documents in its withered skeletal hands, wearing the old glory flag as a cape.

And most people can smell the rot, but are in astounding denial about it.

This election isn't even a nail in the coffin, it's more like a rotten jaw falling off, with a voiceover from the Black Knight coming from off stage saying that it's only a flesh wound.

As for what we do about that, fuckallifIknow."

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This is all in reference to my understanding that we have been operating in what I call the "Post Constitutional Order", and have been for quite some time. The PCO (for short) is characterized by a federal government wielding expansive, unenumerated powers justified mostly by theories of power that are alien to the founder's understanding of the thing, and all of modern (ie: since the early 20th century) provenance. Chief among them are abuses of the federal taxation power, notably since the Harris Narcotics act, and twisted interpretations of the commerce clause since the 1941 Wickard v. Filburn.  Needless to say, there is significant societal approval for these powers, so long as they look to be wielded in apparent benevolence. 

One of the problems with studying history is that "it's turtles all the way down", and each onion skin layer you peel back begs for a deeper level to be peeled back to explain the layer in your hand. 

For our purposes, the PCO transitioned from vague aspiration to actionable plan under Woodrow Wilson's administration. I think of Wilson as the architect of the post constitutional order, the Sith master, if you will, and his acolyte, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as the general contractor who did most of the heavy construction. 

While the PCO was indeed primarily a project of the progressivist influence infesting the Democratic Party, the Republicans were entirely complicit in the matter as a junior partner, and always have been. The extraconstitutional powers wielded by government are the engine on the gravy train, and preserving it is the highest priority of both parties. 

And this is why the sleep gas of forgetfulness is being blown at you by all sides, to persuade you to accept the defeat and removal from the board of the one truly disruptive piece to come along in a lifetime. 

By popular request...

 The paperback edition is now available. 

Enjoy.

Hong Kong, RIP

My first professional boss, who was instrumental in launching my career and her husband came from Hong Kong. They were top notch people. They both naturalized and are now US citizens, but her parents chose not to immigrate, or take British passports. "We are from Hong Kong, this is our place, and it will always be ours."

Sometimes, that turns out not to be the case.

https://www.newsweek.com/china-completes-subjugation-hong-kong-comes-america-opinion-1546918

Some thoughts on the Election of 2020

 What I will say is that the 2020 presidential election is not over.

At this point, I have to say that this election proves many things, but actually solves nothing, no matter who ultimately prevails in the currently contested feat of constitutional conjuring.

The kaleidoscopic factions of our polity accrete around two mega factions. These factions are characterized by:

• Proceeding from incompatible and mutually exclusive first principles.
• Neither of which can agree even upon a common description of reality itself and
• Neither of which will accept dominion by the other.
• Both of which are exploited by a power elite whose highest priority is the preservation of the post constitutional order that is the engine of their gravy train.

In full social, political and economic context, elections cannot resolve any of those things. The only thing it can resolve is whose turn it is to clean the toilets, and whose turn it is to poop in them.

The other thing that's worth understanding is that there are two entirely different levels of proof in play:

• There is justified reasonable doubt as to the legitimacy of the purported Biden win.

But this is not the same as:

• There is proof beyond reasonable doubt of wide scale, outcome changing fraud, or of the myriad individual acts of fraud that add up to an election changing difference. 

The difference between these two things describes a region of ambiguity. Maintaining that region of ambiguity and the context of fait accompli is all that is needed to sustain a putative Biden win, and with it, a democracy of uncertain integrity. 

Americans will fight to keep their electoral democracy (1) if they're certain it is actually at stake, but people don't want to bet their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor on an ambiguity. 

Establishing AuthenticRealityFact as to the integrity of our zombie(2) republic's electoral democracy is therefore of crucial import, but the context is such that establishing that AuthenticRealityFact may not be possible, and the benefit of the doubt accrues to Biden & Co. 

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(1) To the extent that voting is ethical in the first place. There are ethical limits as to what can be legitimately voted upon.

(2) Our republic is, and has been in a state of partial collapse for almost 100 years. That's a whole other topic. 

Oh, My. It's been a really long time.

 

 

Some of you knew me then, by another name. That was another time, a different age.

For over a decade, I've held my peace, watching it all unfold around us. 

Recently,   I've been busy.