The Dems will be showcasing a lot of butts around President Trump’s State of the Union Address.

The first prebuttal will be the State of the Swamp sponsored by Defiance.news and the Portland Frog Brigade. It will be streamed live at 7pm on Tuesday from the National Press Club. They promise

This is not a protest. This is not a watch party. This is a truth-telling counter-address that will be live, public, and loud.

It’s going to last until 11pm. Can you imagine watching four hours of this stuff?

Then Rep. LaMonica McIver, who has been indicted on felony charges for attempting to entering an ICE facility illegally and faces up to 17 years at Club Fed, will deliver another prebuttal that will stream on Meidas Touch. If you’re interested, and I’m sure you are, you can probably find the link online to watch this gripping television spectacle.  Norm Eisen, the esteemed founder of Democracy Defenders Action, repeats the tiresome trope

“The threats facing our democracy have never been greater,”

Next MoveOn.org is sponsoring a People’s State of the Union on the National Mall, also to be streamed by Midas Touch. Not sure if this qualifies as an actual butt since it is billed as neither a prebuttal or a rebuttal. Maybe it’s just a plain butt. It will be attended by such luminaries as Sen. Ed Markey and Sen. Chris Murphy. Rep. Yassimin Ansari promises, “An honest accounting of the State of the Union.” If that doesn’t convince you to tune in, nothing will.

Following in the linguistic tradition of Bad Bunny, Alex Padilla, resident of Maryland but Senator from California, will offer a Spanish-language rebuttal. I couldn’t find anything on time or streaming platform, so I’m not sure if this is a prebuttal or a rebuttal, but it will no doubt be a butt. You’ll have to figure out the time and streaming location on your own.

The final butt to wrap up the evening will be the official Democratic rebuttal by Gov. Abigail Spanberger. It starts at 10pm on PBS, so you’ll have to choose between watching the final hour of the State of the Swamp and Gov. Spanberger’s much-awaited rebuttal. Tough choices all around.

So many butts to enjoy all day Tuesday.

Visit 11  (of 16)

Any feedback today?

The American Dream was always a White Dream, and what about the Indians?

The White criticism is fair for some of our past, but not all. But that subject is for another day.

The Indians are a complex and tragic subject. I’ve often wondered what better outcome was possible, and how it might have been achieved. A decision to not grow the country across North America would have been unrealistic. Part of the story is a refusal of the Indians to assimilate although I am not sure an invitation was properly extended. One part of the tragedy is that their determination to not assimilate led to a freezing of their own culture. Rejection of American culture became a rejection of progress. North American Indians chose to live like they were exhibits in a museum. The invitation to assimilate certainly exists today, however. Maybe casino gambling will accomplish more assimilation than ever before. Of course, if they assimilate now, they must move on from many of their cherished traditions. But that is always how progress works. You and I have very little connection with the lifestyle and traditions of our ancestors of 175 years ago.

Yesterday you said assimilation happened after a people were conquered. The Indians were conquered.

No, they were not conquered. They were defeated in battle. Treaties were signed between equally sovereign entities. What is a mystery to me is to what extent the solution of Reservations was imposed onto the Indians as opposed to Reservations being a concession to Indian demands.

In any case, today is about exceptional American success. Today is about bragging and boasting. Therefore, it must start with humility. Americans are not better than other people. A great deal of luck and circumstances beyond our control are responsible for much of the successes that follow. Humility about our skills and abilities is completely warranted. But, what I am about to say is true. It serves no useful purpose to deny it. And, not all success can be explained by luck and circumstances beyond our control. I’ll wait to end to give you my explanation.

No need. I know your explanation. Your perfect paragraph. Your beloved freedom.

Nice to know you have been listening.

Okay, yesterday I mentioned the year 1946. Let’s start there.

In 1946, Germany, Japan, and Italy were defeated. Britain and Russia were victorious, but spent. Everyone’s industrial infrastructure was damaged or destroyed by war. Britain and Russia were dependent on American equipment and supplies. America’s industrial infrastructure was untouched by war as we had two oceans to protect us.

In 1946, America had the largest, best equipped, Navy in the world. It could sail anywhere in the world unchallenged. In 1946, America had the largest, and best equipped, Air Force in the world. It could achieve air superiority anywhere in the world. In 1946, America had the largest, and best equipped Army and Marines in the world. In 1946, America, and only America, had nuclear bombs. The bottom line is that in 1946 America had the opportunity and ability to do what Caesar, Alexander, Genghis Kahn, and Hitler could not do, literally Rule the World. 

As I said before, geographic good fortune was an important factor in this. But, having this unprecedented ability and opportunity is not what makes America exceptional. What America did in 1946 is what makes it exceptional. America said “no thanks”. America declined any opportunity to conquer new lands, or to force any country into signing any treaty that gave America undue influence over them. America left troops in defeated Germany and Japan in order to protect the two former foes from the aggressive and expanding U.S.S.R.

In 1946, the world had its first, undisputed, super power, and it chose to use that power to protect others. America, the country where its citizens swear allegiance to a document that protects freedom, America, the country that opened its arms to migrants from all over the world, told the world that it was serious about freedom. If your own citizens were free, America is the best friend ever. If your own citizens are not free, America might do business with you, but America will not befriend you. If you try to take freedom away from those that currently have it, America will oppose you. Never in the history of the world had there been an unselfish, altruistic, superpower. Until 1946.

Since 1946, others have acquired nuclear weapons, but our land, sea, and air military might remains unchallenged. Since 1946, America has been involved in a number of military actions. In every single one, America was fighting to defend others. Historians have a name for the period of time after 1946. They call it Pax Americana, Peace of America. Historians tell us fewer people have died from war over the last 80 years than any other 80 year period in history. To call that an exceptional success is an understatement.

Viet Nam, a success? Iraq, a success? Afghanistan, a success?

No, Pax Americana is a success on the whole. I am not defining exceptional by military defeats and victories. I am defining exceptional by our reasons for fighting. Never for land. Never for conquest. Never for treasure. Always to defend ourselves and others. Do we sometimes determine that defending others early is the best way to protect ourselves in the long run? Yes. Are we always right in our assessment? No. Have we made mistakes? Probably, but maybe not. Pax Americana was, and is, our goal. We have achieved our goal. Maybe our failures have served the purpose of deterring others. You can never be certain. Again, Pax Americana is not perfect peace. It is a 80 year period of more peace than the world had ever experienced. There are always bad guys in the world that want to return to the normal ways of history — conquest by force. The bad guys have free will. Pax Americana can never be perfect peace.

We can afford such unprecedented altruism because we are, by far, the richest country in the world. It is a good combination — we are the richest, and the most generous. In foreign affairs we genuinely try to do the right thing for the right reasons. We make mistakes and occasionally fail, but again, they are altruistic failures.

We are the richest because we work harder, and work smarter than others. We invent more than others and innovate more than others. The overwhelming majority of patents for the innovations that improve the world are held by Americans.

I will not claim that Americans are the nicest people in the world only out of modesty. I will claim we are second to none, though I will concede others might make that claim.

In short, America, and Americans, have done more in the last 80 years to improve the lives of everyone around the world than any other nation ever has.

You are judging a country by its rich and powerful. What about its poor and powerless?

Go to any other country you wish. Visit with their poor. America’s poor have, by far, the highest standard of living among the world’s poor.

What about our homeless?

Our homeless are homeless due to mental illness and drug addiction, not poverty.

You and I are seeing different countries. I see systemic racism, crushing poverty, and extreme income disparity.

A couple things. First, you are again confusing Perfect with Best. When I say Best or Exceptional, I do not mean perfect. Second, I love you, I will always love you. I believe you are smart, talented, and you have a good heart. But, sweetie, you are young and naive, and that is a euphemism for being wrong. You can’t see America as the best unless you see America and the rest of the world accurately.

You and your mates think paradise is the default position of the world. If a country is not perfect, if there is poverty, crime, cruelty and death, that can only be because greedy capitalists ruined paradise. The true default condition of the world is the opposite of paradise. The default condition is universal poverty, crime, cruelty, and death. If you find America’s glass to be half full, thank greedy capitalists for adding water to a glass that started off empty.

Pick virtually any criteria of a successful society. And, with the exception of our ever declining educational system, I will wager you that America is the best in the world. Go ahead and choose race relations and racial harmony. 21st Century America is the best in the world. Ask any racial minority anywhere in the world where they would most like to live. The answer will be America. Ask anyone in poverty where in the world they would most like to live, the answer will be America. In the best-country-of-the-world contest, people have been voting with their feet for over two hundred years. They come to America. They stay in America. Their children and grandchildren stay in America.

Can America improve? Sure, but it shouldn’t have to improve to earn your love, your admiration, your loyalty, and your respect. America is Best because Americans are rarely satisfied. We all want more. Not just more money, more everything. That is called ambition and ambition is a good thing. You and your mates have ambition and you have good intentions. But until you grow up, open your eyes and see both the world and America as they really are, your ambition and good intentions will either fail, or make things worse.

You can’t say Bernie Sanders is young and naive.

You’re right. Bernie Sanders is old and stupid.

Are you done telling me how great America is?

For now. When you get out we should travel. There is so much to learn.

If I get out.

I don’t know when, but you will get out, and I will greet you at the gate.

G-Pub

Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno, on the importance of winning: 

“The number one thing fans want is affordability,” Moreno said, citing Angels survey results, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “They want affordability. They want safety, and they want a good experience when they come to the ballpark.

One of the more interesting developments as the upside-down world begins to wobble is the resurgent interest in religion. Three podcast episodes of the last year stood out to me as both illustrative of this interest and of the difficulties moderns have with conceptual unitivity. We’ve simply lost the categories of lived experience. I’d like to explore below what religion is through the lens of life itself.

If you’d like to follow along, the first podcast is The Charles C. W. Cooke Podcast #87 – Why Charles Should Be Religious. The second, The Remnant With Jonah Goldberg – Ask A Catholic | Interview : Father Gregory Pine. And finally, The Ricochet Podcast #762 – An Empiricist’s Guide to the Search for God.

WHAT RELIGION IS

Perhaps self-evidently, a religion is the set of rituals, traditions, habits, beliefs, ethics, and worldview that emerge in support of one’s aim at a revealed transcendent truth. Organized religions are those where large groups, having accepted a common transcendent truth, have collectively codified and shared their practices through time. The latter are a subset of the former. One need not be a member of an organized religion to be religious. One need only accept a transcendent truth, and one will conform to a set of beliefs and practices that serve that aim.

Par Exemple

Let’s say you are someone for whom wealth is the highest truth at which to aim. Wealth is a transcendent concept. You can’t touch it, but you can sense what it is. You can aim at it, you can grow in it, but it is infinitely above you. You can always be a bit wealthier.

To get more wealthy, you must abide by the patterns of its infinite truth. These patterns are revealed to you through experience, through others, through established systems, through books, through the stories of those who have successfully achieved wealth, etc. Though not yet wealthy yourself, you give yourself over in faith to the practices you’ve encountered. First, you may sacrifice your time and effort to the god of wealth by taking a job. Wealth returns a small sign that your sacrifice has been accepted – a paycheck. You then sacrifice a suitable portion of this gift back to Wealth, Wealth accepts it and blesses it with interest. As you grow in your faith, you learn more, you sacrifice more and in more ways. You make sure to read the business news once a week, each morning and evening you spend time watching the business news channel. You read of the lives of Carnegie and Rockefeller and Musk and Jobs. But sometimes you misstep. You get impatient. You gamble. You buy on credit. You purchase an item beyond your present means. But then you return to Wealth, sacrifice those missteps, vow never to stray, and try again.

Or perhaps it is Health. What is Health exactly? Hard to define, but nevertheless you believe if you walk more, eat more fiber and protein, and go to bed on time, you will grow in Health. You believe if you sacrifice your time and energy over to Health, you will be healthier. You believe if you sacrifice your favorite gastronomic indulgences, you will be healthier. Then one day you bite the bullet, go to a doctor and admit you screwed up. Jägermeister shotskis, your nephew’s leftover Pop Tart, Sanford and Son reruns until 3am. Your doctor gives you some advice, a few changes to make, and you leave knowing that Health is still within your reach.

We can play out the same for Fame, or Freedom, or Power, or anything else. This pattern is the pattern of existence itself. Whatever one considers to be the highest transcendent good at which to aim will necessarily order everything else one does. Goods of significant value will be sacrificed to the highest transcendent truth one sees. That transcendence will bless or curse that sacrifice to the degree to which it properly fits the pattern and then offer it back. The final aim (the fullest expression) is, of course, to become the pattern itself through proper consumption. I think we all know someone who lived like a pauper and died with a royal sum in the bank. Or someone like the tech entrepreneur Bryan Johnson who obsessively pursues the health markers of an 18-year-old but never spends his health living like an 18-year-old. Or perhaps a student who returns for degree after degree in preparation for a day that never comes. Wealth but not wealthy. Health but not healthy. Educated but not cultivated.

The final religious act, sacrificing the blessings and consolations for the thing itself, is probably the hardest part.

Organized Religion

What I’ve outlined above implies an act of will. However, one need not be entirely conscious of his aim. The pattern will manifest regardless. The recognition of this fact is what leads to organized religion.

Organized religions are birthed from the revelations of prophets. These prophets intuit a transcendent pattern that is both above and includes lesser patterns. Over time, theologians come to understand the ways in which the lesser patterns nest and connect within the structure of the higher pattern. (At a lower level, think rich and famous as a pattern that includes both the pattern of richness and that of famousness. There are ways in which the two work together to compound and there are ways in which they work against each other to destroy. Robin Leach was, perhaps, a theologian?)

As understanding increases, information is condensed and shared through space and time. The information here is not data. Data is not irrelevant, but it is beside the point. The information is story. The story of what it means to participate in the pattern of reality as it relates to the revealed transcendent pattern. This may take the form of written texts, oral traditions, laws, or rituals. In fact, always rituals. It is ritual which binds individuals in space and through time. Here one can also see why outsiders view these rituals as bizarre or confusing. One must recognize and be a participant in the pattern to see it fully. One must give oneself over in faith.

I hope you can see why, then, it is not quite helpful to view organized religions as distinct standalone entities that can be dissected, analyzed, and compared in search of the one true religion. In fact, no more than dissecting, analyzing, and comparing basic math, algebra, and calculus to discover which is the one true math. The patterns of reality are unavoidable, and they nest upward in ever more complex patterns.

So you see, you are already aiming up. You are already religious.

The question is, how high will you aim? How far are you willing to go?

He has set before you fire and water
to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand.
Before man are life and death, good and evil,
whichever he chooses shall be given him.

Sirach 15:16-17

President Trump seems to have a bimodal way of talking to and about people in his public comments. 

Either his comments are all about him.

Or they’re all about others.

Very little in between.

Many are the occasions when we hear President Trump make himself the center of his remarks. If he mentions other people, it is often to blast them for an actual or perceived slight or offense.  

Yet when I hear many other remarks by President Trump, often remarks made when he is in the presence of other people, he makes those other people the center of his remarks. Especially people who do physical work and difficult tasks. People often characterized in media as “ordinary” people.

This often does not come across in media descriptions or characterizations of Mr. Trump’s remarks. So I try to listen to his remarks directly. 

I first noticed this sometimes extensive praise and encouragement of other people when I listened to one of his early “State of the Union” speeches after the extensive media coverage of how self-centered and hateful his words were. 

Today (Monday) I came across President Trump’s telephone call to the USA men’s hockey team after the team won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. (I saw it via PowerLine Blog.) Although in some ways he is the center of the call (he is the President of the United States, so that may be hard to avoid), all of his words in his telephone call are to and about the hockey players and the games they just played. He says that he would be honored to meet them and to shake their hands. They are the stars in his remarks. It’s a fun conversation to listen to. 

I find interesting President Trump’s facility to sound both like one of the world’s biggest narcissists, and like one of the world’s biggest boosters of other people. 

This one post offered up below exemplifies so many posts that come to me on Social Media.

Families who were not permitted to visit a loved one, while that person was mis-treated by the very medical staff who were employed to care for the health of that patient, suffer to this day. Yet the only concern of our government is to fight another war, this time against Iran, as once again we’re told, as we have been for 15 years, that “Iran is two weeks away from having nuclear warheads.”

At least 500,000 Americans were murdered by our medical scientists, by governing agents like Fauci, as well as by the hospital admins and their staffs who so carefully followed the government-endorsed protocols..

This one post, copied below,  exemplifies so much of what people report on having happened to their family members.

Remember, sometimes the person did not even have a cold on the day that the hospital ER folks admitted them. Nor did they have a respiratory virus of any kind. The individual had gone to the ER due to a broken leg, a heart attack or symptoms of an anxiety attack. Auto accident victims also became “triaged” once the notoriously inaccurate PCR test designated that their status was “COVID Positive.”

The hospital protocols involved withholding HCQ + zinc, or high dose vitamin therapy. When a COVID patient developed pneumonia, drugs used for decades to knock out pneumonia were denied that individual. This was especially evil in the Methodist Hospital in Texas, where personnel had used HCQ + zinc very successfully during March of 2020. Those patients lucky enough to experience their COVID infections early on, they rallied and lived due to proper treatment and care.

But after the end of March 2020, even in TX hospitals where it was realized by the administrators (administraitors?)  that the HCQ + zinc protocol actually saved lives, staff were forbidden from  using it. This is why Mary Bowden, MD, has spent years of her life staving off through expensive law suits the suspension of her medical license for having resisted the killer protocols and refusing to avoid  offering what she knew world  work for her patients.

Instead, the CDC/NIH-approved hospital treatment was that of  sedating a patient until they signed off on being vented, then their being vented, then administration of a cocktail of drugs including fentanyl, and remedesivir at high dosage levels.

Remdesivir was so sinister a part of this Doomsday protocol that some nurses referred to it as “Run-death-is-near.”

Fauci still walks among us as a free man. Bill Gates, whose charity foundation monies  help him avoid paying taxes on huge portions of his income, was able to use those monies to prop up ailing news media outlets among the trad media stations, as well as donating oodles to some fifty “alternative” media outlets. This enabled his message that   all  7 billion of us on the planet were  needing to be vaxxed up with an untested bio weapon in order to stop COVID. That message was ubiquitous due to Gates using so much of his wealth to put it out there.

Here is the report off my X feed today:

Following all the controversy swirling around transgenderism, you would think that this outrageous act couldn’t possibly have happened. Of course, the person charged must be proven guilty of sexual abuse. But knowing the mental issues of the transgender community, and the other disgusting abuses that have occurred, I think this one is true.

What took place ?

During a wrestling match on December 6, Keeler competed in the 190-pound weight class against an opponent from Emerald Ridge High School. Video from the bout appears to show Keeler in visible distress. According to her testimony, the opponent, a transgender-identifying boy, forcefully inserted his fingers into her private area during a move, causing her to feel violated and disoriented. Keeler later said she allowed herself to be pinned in order to end the match and escape the situation.

‘I didn’t really know what to do or how to handle that situation. I just wanted the match to be over,’ Keeler said. 

Although Keeler’s mother filmed a video on her phone, the Sheriff’s department said the evidence was inconclusive.

But the malfeasance by the schools is deplorable. Keeler and her mother reported this attack to the Puyallup School District and to coaches; schools are required to report this type of crime within 48 hours. But the report wasn’t made for two months, and only the day after a reporter contacted the school district regarding the matter.

Keeler feels she was twice-violated: besides the physical attack, no one told her that her competitor was a trans (biological male) woman.

After Keeler reported the attack to her coach, the following was his response:

‘I most certainly would not put Kallie on the mat if I thought she was competing with a male,’ Keeler’s coach replied. ‘I will investigate this and look to see if we have a video on our end. I will touch base with you either this afternoon or tomorrow morning after I do my due diligence.’

However, Keeler’s family said they never heard back from the school. Additionally, the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office did not receive a formal report until Jan. 30.

Emerald Ridge High School has been overly accommodating to their trans students:

Emerald Ridge High School was previously accused of allowing two trans students to use the girls’ locker room. [Undivided podcast host Brandi] Kruse reported on Jan. 23 that several female students told the school’s principal and vice principal that they felt uncomfortable and believed the trans students were watching them change. According to Outkick, one of the two students in question is the same student who allegedly tried to violate Keeler in December.

Brandi Kruse even consulted wrestling experts about the alleged attack:

To assess whether the contact could have been accidental, reporter Brandi Kruse consulted wrestling experts with decades of experience. After reviewing the video, the experts concluded that the position executed did not require the type of contact alleged. They noted that in similar situations, a wrestler typically grips the opponent’s thigh or knee rather than making prolonged contact in a prohibited area.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is also investigating for Title IX violations.

People who have been fighting the transgender fraud for years are appalled that these kinds of encounters are still taking place. Too often, biological men who call themselves transgender are mentally disturbed. Too often their “gender affirming” treatment doesn’t deal with their mental issues. And now young women are being attacked as these treatments persist. Here’s one person who speaks the truth:

‘The allegations in this case are sickening. While the District may prioritize ideological agendas over the safety and dignity of its students, the Trump Administration will not tolerate such conduct.’

— Kimberly Richey, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education (OutKick) 

When will this insanity stop?

[originally published in American Thinker]

Congressional Representative from New York Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (often referred to as “AOC”) recently appeared at an international security conference in Germany. 

Most of the conservative mockery of AOC’s remarks at that conference focus on her nonsensical answer to a predictable question about Taiwan and China. However, I am much more concerned by her assertion that our culture of Western Civilization is “thin.” And by implication fragile and unstable. (I have been unable to find a decent video of her remarks that are not accompanied by a lot of commentary that detracts independent analysis of the remarks themselves.) 

She continues her remarks with the truism that cultures evolve and change over time. But she makes it sounds like those changes are radical and rapid. Her belief that our Western Civilization culture is “thin” leads her to assert that materialistic economics will break the culture. And that in turn, the “black and brown” “global south” should overthrow the “white” Western Civilization.  

If Western Civilization were overthrown in North America and Western Europe, AOC would find herself missing a lot of features of her life as she now lives it in our culture. Features that are so deeply embedded in our culture that she doesn’t notice them. Features that she seems to take for granted but are not necessarily included in other cultures. 

Once again, AOC demonstrates her ignorance (historical and otherwise). 

Cultures are generally thick and deep. They do change over time. But those changes tend to be slow, and build on all the layers of the pre-existing culture. People living in their culture often don’t recognize the extent that culture influences everything they experience. 

The Western Civilization culture in which we in the United States and Western Europe live (including AOC) is exceptionally thick. It is the product of thousands of years of work by our predecessors. The ancient Hebrews. The Hellenistic Greeks. The Romans. The Christian Church. The Enlightenment. Each building on its predecessors. We hope making things better with each development. Yes, there have been setbacks along the way. But the thick foundation keeps development relatively stable. Even the seemingly major event of the American Revolution of 1775-76 was in many ways based on the “revolutionaries” trying to conserve the existing culture by opposing some then-recent departures from longstanding cultural foundations. They were not trying to reinvent everything. 

One of my favorite things to note when reading the Old Testament of the Bible is noting how much continuity there is between the instructions given to the Hebrew people on how to live together in community, and our cultural and legal expectations in 21st Century Western Civilization. Large parts of today’s Western Civilization can be traced rather directly to the ancient Hebrews. 

Western Civilization is very thick.

If AOC really thinks our Western Civilization culture is thin, fragile, and unstable, she is even more ignorant than I thought. 

That said, if we intentionally abandon our Western Civilization and affirmatively allow another culture to take over, radical change can happen fairly quickly. But, it would be an intentional act, and not an inevitable or accidental result of normal changes and evolution. 

Thank you, James, for again perfectly encapsulating something important in a way that stops me cold and gives me something to brood about.

Now They’re Ruining Reeses? 

It takes constant vigilance, like bracing yourself in an uncormfortable office chair, to fight encrapification. In my own craft, the temptation to let some fluff or stumble go rather than record a pickup and blend it into the original is probably my biggest temptation to encrapify. If I’ve done something obviously wrong, like somehow creating a Congressional Church instead of Congregational, the pickup decision is easy to make. But little stumbles that don’t interrupt the flow (or don’t seem to) are tempting to pass. 

I remind myself that anything that has the potential of taking a listener out of that comfortable word-cloud I’m trying to create is a Bad Thing, especially since it’s not all that hard to fix. I’ve gotten pretty good at blending in pickups. to the point where when I hear it poorly done in a book produced by someone else, I wonder what they’re paying their engineer for. A little title I did last year, Why Sound Matters, talks about this phenomenon from the standpoint of an engineer setting up a live performance and running the sound board. 

I also remind myself of the looming monster shadow over the horizon…AI narration, or “Virtual Voice” as Audible calls it. Got to keep the lance ready for that dragon. So far I’m protected by the fact that it does such a crappy job, but it will get better; it always does. Add the fact that it is undoubtedly using my published stuff to improve itself, without my permission, and my head is down and locked with my main valve stuck wide open. Rowrbazzle. 

But at the end, thank you again, James, for adding some brightness to my Monday morning and making my neurons combine in new and unforeseen ways. I’m grateful. 

My predictions are below the fold, but before we begin, I recommend you read Kevin D. Williamson’s evergreen 2014 National Review essay on the annual SOTU embarrassment: Great Caesar’s Ghost — On the nauseating spectacle that is the State of the Union address. It begins:

The annual State of the Union pageant is a hideous, dispiriting, ugly, monotonous, un-American, un-republican, anti-democratic, dreary, backward, monarchical, retch-inducing, depressing, shameful, crypto-imperial display of official self-aggrandizement and piteous toadying, a black Mass during which every unholy order of teacup totalitarian and cringing courtier gathers under the towering dome of a faux-Roman temple to listen to a speech with no content given by a man with no content, to rise and to be seated as is called for by the order of worship — it is a wonder they have not started genuflecting — with one wretched representative of their number squirreled away in some well-upholstered Washington hidey-hole in order to preserve the illusion that those gathered constitute a special class of humanity without whom we could not live.

About both the speech and SOTU as an event, I predict the following:

1. The speech will be long, so long. Our Gasbag-in-Chief’s address last year to a joint session of Congress lasted 100 dreary minutes, his 2019 SOTU took 82, and his 2024 convention acceptance speech took 93. As his cognitive decline accelerates, he’s increasingly unable to read a paragraph or make a point and get on with it, instead subjecting his audience to lengthy random digressions, often barely comprehensible to speakers of English.

2. The speech will be vulgar. Our needy, emotionally fragile president, his feelings hurt by having his regal pretensions corrected by the Supreme Court in the tariff matter and whether or not the guilty justices are present, will insult them crudely and with abandon (if they do attend, I’d love to see a cutaway showing the six cowardly, unpatriotic fools and lapdogs looking at their phones while someone who thinks their job is to “do what’s right for our country” demeans them). Our Toddler-in-Chief will insult others, of course he will, but the SCOTUS justices will get both barrels.

3. The speech will be filled with lies. The lie is Trump’s natural form of expression, and a high-profile event like the SOTU is guaranteed to produce a tsunami of falsehoods from our Fabulist-in-Chief. This year he will lie about his popularity; his “landslide” 2024 election victory and its ensuing “mandate”; the economy; inflation; jobs; the success of his cretinous tariffs; the amount of foreign capital flowing into the US; his historic victories over Venezuela, Denmark, and Greenland; the imaginary stolen election of 2020; domestic terrorists; his enemies Comey, Bolton, Smith, James, Schiff, etc.; his fatuous and risible Board of Peace; and endless other subjects both big and small. Nothing he says can be believed; every word he says is a lie, including “and” and “the.”

4. He will make no mention of the subject which has engaged much of the world for several months, the Epstein files. Trump’s frantic attempts to suppress publication of the files failed and he will not be keen to remind us that in this matter he emerged the loser.

5. The speech will propose no meaningful legislation. Believing himself Monarch-in-Chief, Trump prefers to rule by royal decree (executive orders, as they’re known here). He has no use for Congress and treats both the House and the Senate with contempt. He is not motivated to solicit the cooperation of their members because he believes all power resides with him and that the exercise of this power is limited only by what he amusingly calls “my own morality.” For other views of this “morality,” I recommend you consult the betrayed wives, defrauded charities, cheated family members and business partners, stiffed vendors, minority apartment-seekers, etc., that litter his career.

6. The speech may contain a surprise. Trump is a creation of television and knows the value of a dramatic revelation. There is a greater than even chance that during the speech our Reality-TV-Star-in-Chief will announce that bombs have begun falling on Tehran.

7. The event will be nauseating. As Trump enters and leaves the chamber, craven Republican House, Senate, and Cabinet lickspittles, eagerly abandoning their dignity and self-respect, will attempt to exchange, well, spittle with their love object. The sight will make you want to vomit.

What are your SOTU predictions?

An audio meetup (AMU) is an international conference call of Ricochet members.

Please join us at 8:00 pm Eastern/7:00 Central/6:00 Mountain/5:00 Pacific.

We talk on many different topics. Feel free to place a suggested topic in the comments and be prepared to discuss.

Dial in to 605-313-5109, access code 139584#, to take part in the festivities.

This is an old, odd call number that does not behave normally on the freeconferencecall.com app. If on wifi, just click through what appear to be error messages and instruct it to use internet audio.

In a newly released report, the Congressional Budget Office issued new estimates for the status of Social Security.   The new estimates indicate that the Trust Fund will be depleted in 2032 rather than 2033.   If nothing changes, that will result in benefit reductions of 7% in 2032 and 28% going forward.   Social Security is a stand-alone program, isolated from the rest of the Federal Budget.   By law, it can only spend the tax revenues received from FICA taxes and the funds – if any – in the Social Security Trust Fund.   Current tax revenues are insufficient to meet current benefits paid and that shortfall is being made up by redeeming the US Treasuries held in the Trust Fund.   Once that cushion is gone – and it now appears that will happen in 2032 – the program is limited by law to pay out as benefits no more than the FICA taxes received.   

Social Security has been the “third rail” of politics for years now.  There have been repeated promises to address the issue from politicians of all stripes.  But their preferred solution has been to kick the can down the road.  For example, in 2023, my Congresscritter – NJ’s Tom Kean Jr – cosponsored legislation “to safeguard Social Security and Medicare.”   His website trumpets this achievement.   Really?   What did this remarkable legislation do? 

118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. RES. 109

“Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that Social Security should be preserved and
protected for current beneficiaries, and for future generations to come.”

That’s it in its entirety.  No mention of how this magical rescue is supposed to happen.   It’s pure, unadulterated BS.  But he seems very proud of himself for shoveling it.

Kicking the can down the road ceases to be a viable option shortly.  There is going to be an outcome.  Doing nothing means supporting a 28% reduction in benefits.  To quote Archibald Cox:  “Not to decide, IS to decide.”

It comes courtesy of an X post I came across earlier today, from someone with the handle of “Roman Helmet Guy”.

“If someone gave me the money to start a university there, every undergrad would learn the exact same thing: History & Math. One track for everyone. No electives. Why? Because if you know enough history and you know enough math, understanding anything else becomes trivial. And by teaching just a single track, this could be done for dirt cheap.

For history, the first year should just be reading 50k pages written during the Ancient period, second year 50k pages from the Medieval period, third year 50k pages from the Early Modern period, and fourth year 50k pages from the Modern period. Professors would give daily lectures to structure and synthesize the day’s readings. In the course of this history instruction, students would ofc read the theological, philosophical, and ideological works that drove much of history. And they would debate these ideas to learn rhetoric and become skillful writers and speakers.

For math, the standard math major is already somewhat decent, but there would be just one rigorous track for everyone: an intense course load that covers both theoretical and applied, and with enough probability and information theory etc to understand AI. In the course of instruction, practical applications to engineering, physics, coding etc would be taught alongside.”

The rest here: https://x.com/romanhelmetguy/status/2025620817321787612

I like it. A lot. Unboxed thinking, something in very short supply, and much needed.

Victor Fleming, born February 23rd, 1889, directed two films fifty years later that were rather memorable.

Back in 1998, critic Rick Polito wrote what might be the greatest one-line TV listing ever for TCM.

(Gee, who was running Georgia at the time?)

I can’t claim to be a major hockey fan. I am a lousy skater and attend no more than 2 or 3 pro games a year. I did enjoy the US Olympic Mens’s this year and their nail-biting OT victory over Canada. And congrats the the American women who also took gold away from Canada.

Those of us old enough to remember stunning US hockey team’s victory over the invincible Russians on this day in 1980 probably took special satisfaction today.

Those of us in the DC area learned of that 1980 triumph earlier than the rest of the country.

The 1980 game was taped and delayed as was most of ABC’s Olympic coverage. in those days, and with no internet, no cable and no broadcast or news sources willing to spoil the fun, you could watch without knowing the outcome–unless you watched the game on the Washington DC ABC affiliate WJLA 7. The US was hanging surprisingly tough within a goal when during a local advertising break, anchor newswoman, the late Renee Pouissant urged viewers to tune in for local news after the game to see highlights of the stunning American victory.

The Channel 7 switchboard was overwhelmed. I know because I was one of thousands calling to express my disappointment, to use a milder word. She said later that even her husband called to yell at her. Still a great US win even if not as exciting as it was for the rest of the country.

I watch UK politics fairly closely, and that includes how the Epstein scandal has affected both the Royal Family and the Labour Party.

I have also seen some British commentators on British television (which I mostly catch on YouTube) implying that with ex-Prince Andrew’s arrest that Britain follows the rule of law, and implying that the U.S. isn’t.

That argument falls apart pretty quickly when you consider that:

• Ghislaine Maxwell is in an American prison after being convicted by an American court
• Epstein was convicted twice and died in an American prison
• So far, no one has been convicted of anything to do with underage girls except Epstein and Maxwell
• Ex-Prince Andrew’s recent arrest was not for sexual misconduct
• Peter Mandelson is primarily being investigated for corruption not related to sexual misconduct
• The information that the Brits have regarding Mandelson and Andrew came from the U.S., not their own law enforcement

What I’m getting at is the Epstein scandal is all about sexual misconduct, but so far, prosecutors don’t have beyond a reasonable doubt proof that anyone else broke laws regarding sexual exploitation.  That includes the Crown Prosecution Service.

So do those Brits have any allegations that specific Americans are getting shielded from the Epstein scandal?  I don’t hear that, as they preen.

I am still planful for Bolivia, but understandably not much aided by the geography of the thing. Them Andes ain’t just tall, they’re wide; you can hardly even put roads around ‘em. I may end up visiting the much less challenging places I’ve already been. Only this time, I’d go from the Brazilian border to Santa Cruz de la Sierra by day bus, not night train, and then from the latter town down to the southeastern corner of the country not by air but by road. That is, see much more than I did in 1986.

In 1986 I left Bolivia by taking a taxi over the Argentine border but in 2026 I propose to exit by bus over the Paraguayan. And that leads to my title. About the only town of size between there and Asunción is called Mariscal Estigarribia. Is it chiefly if not solely South America that has many places named after military men?

Or am I just fooled by the railroad lines out of Buenos Aires? I think those are all named after generals. I cannot claim that even the extra-violent places like Colombia or Honduras or Mexico favor such toponymy. Those nations may have had more indigenous names already in place, so to speak, whereas Argentina was and still is mostly white folks. As for Paraguay, it had Jesuits, until they were thrown out – by the King of Spain – in 1767. Then it had…well, I’m still not sure. ‘Course about a century after that, it had almost nobody at all, because the War of the Triple Alliance didn’t end ’til the maximum leader himself died in combat.

What is now the town of Mariscal Estigarribia got that name in 1944. This replaced the one bestowed in 1934. That one in turn was applied in 1928. Is it a testament to Paraguayan political stability that – except for Puerto Stroessner reverting to Ciudad del Este right after the big guy left in 1989 – there have been no further renamings?

There certainly was plenty of war, on both sides of the frontier, though seldom over it. Bolivia long had internal ructions, not just in the period 1899-1952. As for Paraguay’s, I decided to pass on the 1947 one this time and go for the 1922-1923 one, finding interesting if not unprecedented the numbers given for troops. I have by the way no idea at all what the biggest South American battle ever was. I can’t believe it was the cornering of the Graf Spee, but, military-concentrationwise, maybe it was. Civilian-deathswise, the Brazilian transition from not-ruled-by-Portugal-anymore to ruled-by-a-Portuguese-family-in-grateful-exile was nasty. But I digress. Right here, I find it moderately notable that Paraguay had a navy or at least a merchant marine, and an anarcho-syndicalist one at that. Whether Paraguay had its own Gdansk or Kronstadt, I am unsure, but I wonder if such domestic troublemakers are, or were in the early twentieth century, essential to disaster.

I still get the idea that a vast population of docile onlookers may not lead directly to superlative violence but it makes such violence as there is more conspicuous. Just a few het-up leaders can do, or get started, a lot of damage, even among their scarce followers.

Is it a testament to the barrenness of the Chaco that there is still nothing there? That is what I expect to see on an upcoming trip. Not much info about the place. I get the idea Wikivoyage is entirely synthetic, an automated collation, AI-before-there-was-AI: the border is well west of Mariscal Estigarribia itself but immigration formalities are there, and you bypass Villa Montes as you arrive from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, yet you still detour into Argentina and then cross that country’s frontier with Paraguay? I doubt all of this.

That Bolivian troops themselves crossed into Paraguay in the 1930s directly is certain. I am uncertain if Paraguay returned the favor in that conflict; I think most if not all of the fighting was on its own territory. I should reread more than just Estigarribia’s English Wikipedia article, which states near the top that Paraguay won an “upset victory.” Makes it sound as if Paraguay loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth and the fans in the stands behind home plate started doing ribald Jesuit-condemned dances and these induced the Bolivian pitcher to balk in the winning run and that was the game. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t the case.

I’m also pretty sure that I couldn’t emerge less ignorant than if I actually went to the town named after Estigarribia: though the Chaco in general is almost unpopulated, apparently much war materiel remains strewn in the area. I understand Libya’s leading if not sole industry after WWII was scavenging military wreckage in the desert but Paraguay is not Libya. As for the man himself, he has joined the roster of Ostensibly Hispanic Aviation Deaths, following Juan de la Cierva and Carlos Gardel and preceding Omar Torrijos. Not many happy endings down there. It is remarkable to me, and maybe also to Paraguayans, that the town has grown or at least hung on in spite of Mennonites’ preferring to move just about anywhere else.

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let you all know that there will be a planned Ricochet outage this evening at 6pm ET. We have to do some emergency work on the database array. I’d like to have given more notice—and, preferably, to have had this work done in the middle of the night—but those options weren’t available to me. It could last up to three hours, but I’m hoping it’ll be quicker than that.

I’ll have a lot more updates for you in the coming weeks. As many of you know, my business partner passed away last week after a long battle with cancer. I have a lot of things to sort out, and will turn my attention back to Ricochet once that is done.

Charlie