Good Government

It is not by the consolidation or concentration, of powers, but by their distribution that good government is effected.

-- Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), third president of the United States (1801-1809), Memoirs, Correspondence and Private Papers of Thomas Jefferson (1829) edited by Thomas Jefferson Randolph, p. 70

Illinois 5K

Today I ran the Illinois 5K as part of the Christie Clinic Illinois Marathon 2025 Race Weekend, alongside Mark Trott (one-time /afrotc on CERL PLATO).  Not a lot of preparation ahead of time, so our time was unremarkable, but it was a fun run.  

Inimical

All religions united with government are more or less inimical to liberty.  All, separated from government, are compatible with liberty.

-- Henry Clay (1777 - 1852), American statesman and orator who served in both the House of Representatives and Senate, Speech on the Emancipation of South America, House of Representatives (24 March 1818); The Life and Speeches of the Hon. Henry Clay, vol. I (1857), ed. Daniel Mallory

Nobody Ever Listened

Nobody ever listened to me until they didn't know who I was.

-- Banksy, prolific graffiti artist from Bristol, UK, whose artwork has appeared across the globe, Wall and Piece (2007)

Constructive Engagement

As leaders of America's colleges, universities, and scholarly societies, we speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.  We are open to constructive reform and do not oppose legitimate government oversight.  However, we must oppose undue government intrusion in the lives of those who learn, live, and work on our campuses.  We will always seek effective and fair financial practices, but we must reject the coercive use of public research funding. ...

The price of abridging the defining freedoms of American higher education will be paid by our students and our society.  On behalf of our current and future students, and all who work at and benefit from our institutions, we call for constructive engagement that improves our institutions and serves our republic.

-- American Association of Colleges and Universities, "A Call for Constructive Engagement" (22 April 2025), signed by representatives of more than 200 member institutions

RIP Pope Francis

May the Lord grant the deserved reward to those who have wished me well and will continue to pray for me.  The suffering that marked the final part of my life, I offer to the Lord, for peace in the world and brotherhood among peoples.

-- Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025), head of the Roman Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013, Funereal Testament (29 June 2022); published by Daily Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office (21 April 2025)

Happy Easter

I'm currently hanging out in a cabin close to Lake Carlyle in southern Illinois. We don't have the whole clan together this year, but I've got a couple of kids and a few grandkids here for the occasion.

I hope you all enjoy the holiday weekend.

A Million Amateurs

Never underestimate the power of a million amateurs with keys to the factory.

-- Chris Anderson (1961 -), editor-in-chief of Wired, The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More (2006) Ch. 5, p. 58

The Guise Of Fighting Antisemitism

The rule of law, freedom of inquiry, access to vibrant places of higher education, and strong democratic norms and institutions have allowed American Jewry to thrive for hundreds of years.

Dangerous antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories that over the past decade have already fueled a cycle of hate crimes and violence -- including the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history in Pittsburgh -- have been mainstreamed by too many political leaders, civil society influencers, social media platforms, and others.

In recent weeks, escalating federal actions have used the guise of fighting antisemitism to justify stripping students of due process rights when they face arrest and/or deportation, as well as to threaten billions in academic research and education funding.  Students have been arrested at home and on the street with no transparency as to why they are being held or deported, and in certain cases with the implication that they are being punished for their constitutionally-protected speech.  Universities have an obligation to protect Jewish students, and the federal government has an important role to play in that effort; however, sweeping draconian funding cuts will weaken the free academic inquiry that strengthens democracy and society, rather than productively counter antisemitism on campus.

These actions do not make Jews -- or any community -- safer.  Rather, they only make us less safe.

-- Joint statement from a coalition of 10 US Jewish organizations, released by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, 15 April 2025

No Young Man

No young man believes he shall ever die.

-- William Hazlitt (1778 - 1830), English writer remembered for his humanistic essays and literary criticism, Table Talk: Essays On Men And Manners (1821-1822) "On the Feeling of Immortality in Youth"

It Can Happen To Anyone

The SMART Transportation Division (SMART-TD) stands in unwavering solidarity with Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia.  He is a first-year apprentice of SMART Local 100, who was mistakenly deported by the U.S. Government, then imprisoned in El Salvador without due process or opportunity for appeal.  If this can happen to Garcia, it can happen to anyone. 

Kilmar fled El Salvador after enduring threats and extortion from the violent Barrio 18 gang.  These threats were so severe that a U.S. immigration judge granted him legal protection in 2019.  Despite this protection, Brother Abrego Garcia was unlawfully detained and forcibly deported by ICE agents on March 12, 2025, while driving home from work with his son. ...

The United States Government has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street and remove him from the country without due process.  The Government's contention otherwise, and its argument that the federal courts are powerless to intervene, are unconscionable. 

This egregious violation of our brother's rights has been acknowledged by federal courts and even the U.S. government, which admits his removal was an "administrative error."  However, Kilmar remains in custody overseas, and the federal government has failed to take action to bring him home, even contesting a court order to do so. ...

-- Statement by the Sheet Metal / Air Rail Transportation Union, "SMART-TD Stands With Brother Kilmar Abrego Garcia" (10 April 2025)

No Other President

We're going to have one shot at this and no other president is going to do this, what I'm doing. ...  So it's going to be very interesting.  It's the only chance our country will have to reset the table, because no other president would be willing to do what I'm doing or to even go through it. 

-- President Donald Trump, speaking about tariffs and the US economy in a Q & A alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, 7 April 2025

Follow The Law

The United States Government arrested Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in Maryland and flew him to a "terrorism confinement center" in El Salvador, where he has been detained for 26 days and counting.  To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia's warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison.  Nor could it.  The Government remains bound by an Immigration Judge's 2019 order expressly prohibiting Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador because he faced a "clear probability of future persecution" there and "demonstrated that [El Salvador's] authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him."  The Government has not challenged the validity of that order.

Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an "oversight."  The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law.  The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong.  The Government's argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.  That view refutes itself.

In the proceedings on remand, the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.

-- Statement of Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, respecting the Court's decision to uphold a lower court's ruling that the U.S. Government must "facilitate and effectuate the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States" in Kristi Noem, Secretary, Dept. Of Homeland Security, et al. v. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, et al. (10 April 2025)

Foundation Of Virtues

Humility is the good and solid foundation of virtues; should it waver, the whole house of virtues collapses.

-- Guigo de Ponte, also known as Guigues du Pont, Carthusian monk of the Grande Chartreuse, De vita contemplativa (13th Century), as translated by Dennis D. Martin, in Carthusian Spirituality: The Writings of Hugh of Balma and Guigo de Ponte, (New York: Paulist Press, 1997), p. 197

Waiting For Baudot

This post is in honor of Mediacom, the internet provider that is currently not providing me internet.

I abruptly lost service for both internet and cable (yes, I still have cable) around noon fifteen. It's now eleven fifteen ish, and the estimated time of repair has changed to stay just beyond reach.

I'm posting from my phone, so I'll leave it at that. 

Least Sensitive

When I hear it contended that the least sensitive are, on the whole, the most happy, I recall the Indian proverb: "It's better to sit than to stand, it is better lie down than to sit, but death is best of all."

-- Nicolas Chamfort (1741 - 1794), born Nicolas-Sébastien Roch, French writer, Maxims and Considerations, #155

Nothing Else

I am a showman by profession -- and all the gilding shall make nothing else of me.

-- Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810 - 1891), American showman who is remembered for founding the circus that eventually became Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, as quoted in P. T. Barnum: America's Greatest Showman (1995) by Philip B. Kunhardt Jr. and Philip B. Kunhardt III

Wipe Out

Roughly $2.5 trillion was erased from the S&P 500 Index on Thursday amid worries that President Donald Trump's sweeping new round of tariffs could plunge the economy into a recession.

The damage was heaviest in companies whose supply chains are most dependent on overseas manufacturing.  Apple Inc., which makes the majority of its US-sold devices in China, fell 9.3%.  Lululemon Athletica Inc. and Nike Inc., among companies with manufacturing ties to Vietnam, were both down more than 9%.  Target Corp. and Dollar Tree Inc., retailers whose stores are filled with products sourced outside of the US, dropped more than 10%.

-- Jeran Wittenstein, Carmen Reinicke, and Matthew Griffin writing for Bloomberg, "Trump Tariffs Wipe Out $2.5 Trillion From US Stock Market" (3 April 2025)

As Much As You Can

Find things beautiful as much as you can, most people find too little beautiful.

-- Vincent Willem van Gogh (1853 - 1890), Dutch Post-Impressionist painter, in a letter to his brother Theo van Gogh (January 1874)

Not Normal

I rise tonight with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because our nation is in crisis: Bedrock commitments are being broken; Unnecessary hardship is being borne by Americans of all backgrounds; Our institutions are being recklessly and unconstitutionally attacked and even shattered.

In just 71 days, the President has inflicted harm after harm on Americans’ safety; financial stability; the foundations of our democracy; and any sense of common decency. These are not normal times in our nation. And they should not be treated as such in the United States Senate.

The threats to the American people and American democracy are grave and urgent and we all must do more to stand against them. Generations from now will look back at this moment and have a single question -- where were you?

-- U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) on the Senate floor as he began a speech that lasted 25 hours and 4 minutes (31 March - 1 April 2025), surpassing by 46 minutes the record previously held by Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) when he spoke against the Civil Rights Act in 1957

Makes Up In Height

Happiness makes up in height for what it lacks in length.

-- Robert Frost (1874 - 1963), American poet, winner of four Pulitzer Prizes, Title of poem (1942)

A Plot Afoot

There's a plot afoot all right, and I'll gladly name the forces propelling it -- hysteria, ignorance, malice, stupidity, hatred, and fear.  What a repugnant spectacle our country has become!  Falsehood, cruelty, and madness everywhere, and brute force in the wings waiting to finish us off.

-- Philip Roth (1933 - 2018), American novelist, Pulitzer Prize winner in 1998 for his novel American Pastoral, The Plot Against America (2004) Chapter 8, "Bad Days" p. 315

There's More

There's more to being a human being than having your own way.

-- John Updike (1932 - 2009), American novelist, poet, critic, and short-story writer, Rabbit at Rest (1990)

Clean

We are currently clean on OPSEC

-- Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (15 March 2025), in a chat on the commercial messaging app Signal about upcoming military strikes in Yemen that included the Secretary of State, White House Chief of Staff, National Security Adviser, Director of the CIA, Director of National Intelligence, other administration officials, and Editor in Chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg, as quoted in The Atlantic, "Here Are the Attack Plans That Trump’s Advisers Shared on Signal" (26 March 2025)

Vast Conspiracy

America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy.

-- John Hoyer Updike (1932 - 2009), American novelist, poet, critic, and short-story writer, "How to Love America and Leave it at the Same Time", Problems and Other Stories (1979)

What Is Right

Our presence here today is remarkable and improbable.  With all the punditry, all of the lobbying, all of the game-playing that passes for governing in Washington, it's been easy at times to doubt our ability to do such a big thing, such a complicated thing; to wonder if there are limits to what we, as a people, can still achieve.  It's easy to succumb to the sense of cynicism about what's possible in this country.

But today, we are affirming that essential truth -- a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself -- that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations.  We are not a nation that falls prey to doubt or mistrust.  We don't fall prey to fear.  We are not a nation that does what's easy.  That's not who we are.  That's not how we got here.

We are a nation that faces its challenges and accepts its responsibilities.  We are a nation that does what is hard.  What is necessary.  What is right.  Here, in this country, we shape our own destiny.  That is what we do.  That is who we are.  That is what makes us the United States of America. 

-- Remarks by President Barack Obama on the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 23 March 2010

RIP George Foreman

I want to keep fighting because it is the only thing that keeps me out of the hamburger joints. If I don't fight, I'll eat this planet.

-- George Foreman (10 January 1949 - 21 March 2025), American two-time World Heavyweight Boxing Champion; nicknamed Big George, he became a successful businessman and an ordained Christian minister who had his own church; referring to his long boxing career, as quoted by George Plimpton in The Guardian "Thriller turned griller" (4 October 2003)

All Powers

The accumulation of all powers, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.

-- James Madison Jr. (1751 - 1836), American statesman, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fourth president of the United States from 1809 to 1817, Federalist No. 47 (30 January 1788)

Living Messages

Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.

-- Neil Postman (1931 - 2003), American author, educator, media theorist, and cultural critic, The Disappearance of Childhood (1982) Introduction

Not An Appropriate Response

For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision.  The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.

-- US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts in a statement in response to President Donald Trump and his allies calling to impeach judges who have ruled against the administration (18 March 2025)

Covid Anniversary

It was on March 11, 2020, when I first described COVID-19 as a "pandemic".  While many media highlight that date as the pandemic's anniversary, the much more significant moment was six weeks earlier, on January 30, 2020, when I declared a public health emergency of international concern -- the highest level of alarm under international health law.  At the time, there were fewer than 100 reported cases outside China, and no reported deaths.

COVID showed the world where our individual and collective weaknesses lay, as organizations and countries alike.  But it also sparked great collaboration, investment and innovation.

We have the knowledge, tools, and experience to prevent the next pandemic.  What we need now is determination, cooperation, and the will to act before disaster strikes again.

History will judge us, not on whether we saw the next pandemic coming, but on how well we were prepared.  We know we cannot sustain a repeat of the losses inflicted by a crisis like COVID.  So I am confident my answer will turn to an unequivocal "yes" when we are asked in the future if we are primed for preventing or containing the next pandemic.  We have no other alternative -- our collective global security demands it.

-- Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization, "After COVID-19, is the world ready for the next pandemic?", on the 5th anniversary of the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic (11 March 2025)

What Comes After

What comes after is not always progress.

-- Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni (1785 - 1873), Italian novelist, poet, dramatist, and critic, "Del romanzo storico" (1850), in Andrea Tagliapietra (ed.) La storia e l'invenzione (Milano: Gallone, 1997) p. 64

An Unbridled View

Here, the Executive has unilaterally deemed that funds Congress appropriated for foreign aid will not be spent.  The Executive not only claims his constitutional authority to determine how to spend appropriated funds, but usurps Congress's exclusive authority to dictate whether the funds should be spent in the first place.  In advancing this position, Defendants offer an unbridled view of Executive power that the Supreme Court has consistently rejected -- a view that flouts multiple statutes whose constitutionality is not in question, as well as the standards of the Administrative Procedure Act ("APA").  Asserting this "vast and generally unreviewable" Executive power and diminution of Congressional power, Defendants do not cite any provision of Article I or Article II of the Constitution. ...

For the reasons above, the Court grants in part and denies in part Plaintiffs' motions for a preliminary injunction.  Consistent with this opinion, it is hereby ORDERED:

* The Restrained Defendants are enjoined from unlawfully impounding congressionally appropriated foreign aid funds and shall make available for obligation the full amount of funds that Congress appropriated for foreign assistance programs in the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024.

-- United States District Judge Amir H. Ali, in his Memorandum Opinion and Order in Aids Vaccine Advocacy Coalition et al, v US Department of State, et al (10 March 2025)

Important Communal Aims

Social equality and economic protection of the individual appeared to me always as the important communal aims of the state.  Although I am a typical loner in daily life, my consciousness of belonging to the invisible community of those who strive for truth, beauty, and justice has preserved me from feeling isolated.

-- Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 - 18 April 1955), German theoretical physicist, in "My Credo", a speech to the German League of Human Rights, Berlin (Autumn 1932), as published in Einstein: A Life in Science (1994) by Michael White and John Gribbin, p. 262

A Different Story

As Donald Trump took the oath of office on Jan. 20, he was flanked by some of the world's wealthiest people.  The billionaires present that day -- including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg -- had never been richer, flush with big gains from frothy stock markets.

Seven weeks later, it's a different story.  The start of Trump's second term has delivered a stunning reversal for many of those billionaires sitting behind Trump in the Capitol Rotunda, with five having lost a combined $209 billion in wealth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

-- Dylan Sloan writing for Bloomberg, "Billionaires at Trump's Swearing-In Have Since Lost $209 Billion" (10 March 2025), written before the Dow Jones and S&P 500 lost another 3% on Monday and Tuesday of this week

Keep Going

Next time we march we may have to keep going when we get to Montgomery.  We may have to on to Washington.

-- John Lewis (1940 - 2020), American politician and civil rights leader, U.S. Representative for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020.  Told to New York Times (7 March 1965) by Lewis, chairman of the Student Non-violent Co-ordinating Committee and organizer of the Selma to Montgomery march, after police stopped the demonstrators with violence

A Deliberate Decision

Never be insolent unless it is a deliberate decision, and only toward a man more powerful than yourself.

-- Émile Auguste Chartier (1868 - 1951), writing under the pseudonym Alain, notable French essayist, philosopher, and journalist, Giving Pleasure (1928)

Portals Of Discovery

A man of genius makes no mistakes.  His errors are volitional and are the portals of discovery.

-- James Joyce (1882 - 1941), Irish novelist, short-story writer, and poet, Ulysses (1922) Ch. 9: Scylla and Charybdis

Decent People

Everybody continually tries to get away with as much as he can; and society is a marvelous machine which allows decent people to be cruel without realizing it.

-- Émile Auguste Chartier (1868 - 1951), writing under the pseudonym Alain, notable French essayist, philosopher, and journalist, Alain On Happiness (1928) Attitudes Toward Neighbors

Specialized Discipline

It is no crime to be ignorant of economics, which is, after all, a specialized discipline and one that most people consider to be a "dismal science".  But it is totally irresponsible to have a loud and vociferous opinion on economic subjects while remaining in this state of ignorance.

-- Murray Rothbard (1926 - 1995), American economist of the Austrian School, historian of both economic thought and American history, and political philosopher, The Death Wish of the Anarcho-Communists (1970)

New Bedfellows

Belarus                 Mali

Burkina Faso            Marshall Is.

Burundi                 Nicaragua

Central African Rep.    Niger

Equatorial Guinea       North Korea

Eritrea                 Palau

Haiti                   Russia

Hungary                 Sudan

Israel                  United States

-- Complete list of 18 countries that voted against a UN Resolution titled "Advancing a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine", which passed with 93 votes in favor, on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2025)

Without All Doubt

Without all doubt, charity to the poor is a direct and obligatory duty upon all Christians.

-- Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797), British and Irish statesman and philosopher, Thoughts and Details on Scarcity (1795)

Difficult To Resume

Nothing is more dangerous than discontinued labor; it is habit lost.  A habit easy to abandon, difficult to resume.

-- Victor Hugo (1802 - 1885), French poet, novelist, and dramatist of the Romantic movement, Les Misérables, Volume Four: Saint Denis and Idyl of the Rue Plumet, Book II - Eponine, Chapter I: The Field of the Lark

Does Not Count

To each according to his threat advantage does not count as a principle of justice.

-- John Bordley Rawls (1921 - 2002), American philosopher, and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy, A Theory of Justice (1971) Chapter III, Section 24, pg. 141

Their Servants

Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe.  No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.  Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time; but there is the broad feeling in our country that the people should rule, continuously rule, and that public opinion, expressed by all constitutional means, should shape, guide, and control the actions of Ministers who are their servants and not their masters.

-- Sir Winston Churchill KG OM CH TD FRS PC (1874 - 1965), British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955, speech in the House of Commons (11 November 1947), published in 206–07 The Official Report, House of Commons (5th Series), 11 November 1947, vol. 444, cc.

To Feather Their Nests

We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American Eagle in order to feather their own nests.

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), American statesman and political leader who served as the president of the United States, from 1933, to 1945, Eighth State of the Union Address, known as the Four Freedoms Speech (6 January 1941)

Even More Important

While it is well enough to leave footprints on the sands of time, it is even more important to make sure they point in a commendable direction.

-- James Branch Cabell (1879 - 1958), American author of satirical fantasy works, Beyond Life (1919) Ch. VI : Which Values the Candle, § 2, p. 173

On The Truth

Mr. President, Ukraine did not "start" this war.  Russia launched an unprovoked and brutal invasion claiming hundreds of thousands of lives.  The Road to Peace must be built on the Truth.🇺🇸🇺🇦

"Russia Invades Ukraine in Largest European Attack Since WWII" @FoxNews (February 24, 2022) https://foxnews.com/world/russian-invades-ukraine-largest-europe-attack-wwii.amp

-- Former Republican Vice President Mike Pence, in a tweet responding to Donald Trump's false claim Wednesday that Ukraine started the current war with Russia (19 February 2025 11:54 AM)

To Provide

The function of the artist is to provide what life does not.

-- Thomas Eugene Robbins (1932 - 2025), American novelist, Another Roadside Attraction (1971)

Strange Alchemy

The strange alchemy of time has somehow converted the Democrats into the truly conservative party of this country -- the party dedicated to conserving all that is best, and building solidly and safely on these foundations.  The Republicans, by contrast, are behaving like the radical party -- the party of the reckless and the embittered, bent on dismantling institutions which have been built solidly into our social fabric.

-- Adlai Stevenson (1900 - 1965), American politician and statesman, statement during his 1952 presidential campaign, quoted in Unadjusted Man in the Age of Overadjustment: Where History and Literature Intersect (1956) by Peter Viereck

Individuals Count

Revolutions are the periods of history when individuals count most.

-- Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), American novelist, playwright, and film director, Barbary Shore (1951) McLeod, in Ch. 29