Opposed By Watchful Men

I am a member of a party of one, and I live in an age of fear.  Nothing lately has unsettled my party and raised my fears so much as your editorial, on Thanksgiving Day, suggesting that employees should be required to state their beliefs in order to hold their jobs.  The idea is inconsistent with our constitutional theory and has been stubbornly opposed by watchful men since the early days of the Republic.

-- Elwyn Brooks (E.B.) White (1899 - 1985), American essayist, columnist, poet, and editor, best known today for his work in a writers' guide, The Elements of Style, and for three children's books: Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan, generally regarded as classics, Letter to the New York Herald Tribune (29 November 1947)

Uncontainable

"The accretion of dangerous power does not come in a day." Youngstown, 343 U. S., at 594 (opinion of Frankfurter, J.).  But "[i]t does come," "from the generative force of unchecked disregard of the restrictions that fence in even the most disinterested assertion of authority."  Ibid.  By needlessly granting the Government's emergency application to prohibit universal injunctions, the Court has cleared a path for the Executive to choose law-free action at this perilous moment for our Constitution -- right when the Judiciary should be hunkering down to do all it can to preserve the law's constraints.  I have no doubt that, if judges must allow the Executive to act unlawfully in some circumstances, as the Court concludes today, executive lawlessness will flourish, and from there, it is not difficult to predict how this all ends.  Eventually, executive power will become completely uncontainable, and our beloved constitutional Republic will be no more.

-- Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissenting in Trump v CASA, in which the majority ruled that federal district courts cannot be allowed to enter nation-wide injunctions (27 June 2025)

Retreating

To give meaning to our Constitution's bedrock equal protection guarantee, this Court has long subjected to heightened judicial scrutiny any law that treats people differently based on sex.  If a State seeks to differentiate on that basis, it must show that the sex classification "serves important governmental objectives and that the discriminatory means employed are substantially related to the achievement of those objectives."  Such review (known as intermediate scrutiny) allows courts to ascertain whether the State has a sound, evidence-based reason to distinguish on the basis of sex or whether it does so in reliance on impermissible stereotypes about the sexes.

Today, the Court considers a Tennessee law that categorically prohibits doctors from prescribing certain medications to adolescents if (and only if) they will help a patient "identify with, or live as, a purported identity inconsistent with the minor's sex."  In addition to discriminating against transgender adolescents, who by definition "identify with" an identity "inconsistent" with their sex, that law conditions the availability of medications on a patient's sex.  Male (but not female) adolescents can receive medicines that help them look like boys, and female (but not male) adolescents can receive medicines that help them look like girls.

Tennessee's law expressly classifies on the basis of sex and transgender status, so the Constitution and settled precedent require the Court to subject it to intermediate scrutiny.  The majority contorts logic and precedent to say otherwise, inexplicably declaring it must uphold Tennessee's categorical ban on lifesaving medical treatment so long as " ‘any reasonably conceivable state of facts' " might justify it.  Thus, the majority subjects a law that plainly discriminates on the basis of sex to mere rational-basis review.  By retreating from meaningful judicial review exactly where it matters most, the Court abandons transgender children and their families to political whims.  In sadness, I dissent.

-- Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, dissenting in US v Skrmetti, Attorney General for Tennessee, in which the majority upheld a Tennessee law denying gender-affirming care to minors (18 June 2025)

Foolish People

Foolish people -- when I say "foolish people" in this contemptuous way I mean people who entertain different opinions to mine.  If there is one person I do despise more than another, it is the man who does not think exactly the same on all topics as I do.

-- Jerome K. Jerome (1859 - 1927), English author, Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow (1886)

Economic Reality

Rarely has an economic policy been repudiated as soundly, and as quickly, as President Trump's Liberation Day tariffs -- and by Mr. Trump's own hand.  Witness the agreement Monday morning to scale back his punitive tariffs on China -- his second major retreat in less than a week.  This is a win for economic reality, and for American prosperity.

One tragedy of Mr. Trump's shoot-America-in-the-foot-first approach is that he's hurt his chances of rallying a united front of countries against Beijing's mercantilism.  By targeting allies with tariffs, Mr. Trump has eroded trust in America's economic and political reliability.

Beijing now also has the benefit of concrete experience to reassure the Communist Party that Washington would struggle to impose economic sanctions in a crisis such as a Chinese blockade or invasion of Taiwan.  

If there's a silver lining to this turmoil, it is that markets have forced Mr. Trump to back down from his fever dream that high tariff walls will usher in a new "golden age."  The age didn't last two months, and it was more leaden than golden.  White House aide Peter Navarro, the main architect with Mr. Trump of the Liberation Day fiasco, has been repudiated.

Mr. Trump will not want to admit it, but he started a trade war with Adam Smith and lost.  He's not the first President to learn that lesson.

-- The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal, "The Great Trump Tariff Rollback" (12 May 2025)

The Ideal Strong Person

As I become Strong, Strength gives me Autonomy.  Now that I have Autonomy, I must act with Integrity so that I do not infringe on other individuals acting autonomously and with integrity.  This forbearance from interfering with the autonomy of others is Justice, which I expect from them in return.  In choosing among goals with Integrity, I must willfully embrace Right Prioritization, choosing to choose with Integrity.  A society of individuals acting in this way will be Interdependently Effective.

-- Don Appleman, in my essay "The Ideal Strong Person", submitted with my application to test in April for 4th Dan in Taekwondo (8 February 2025)

Tuning Our Opinions

[W]e consciously or unconsciously pay more attention to tuning our opinions to our neighbor's pitch and preserving his approval than we do to examining the opinions searchingly and seeing to it that they are right and sound.

-- Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 - 1910), known as Mark Twain, American humorist, novelist, writer, and lecturer, "The Privilege of the Grave" (1905), published in 2010, the author having requested it not be published until 100 years after his death

Ultracrepidarian

ultracrepidarian
ul·tra·crep·i·dar·i·an
/ˌəltrəkrepəˈderēən/

adjective

expressing opinions on matters outside the scope of one's knowledge or expertise.

noun

a person who expresses opinions on matters outside the scope of their knowledge or expertise.

-- Definition from Oxford Languages via Google.com

Everyday Life

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness.  You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism.

-- Erma Bombeck (1927 - 1996), born Erma Fiste, American humorist who achieved great popularity for a newspaper column that depicted suburban home life in the second half of the 20th century, as quoted in 50 Ways to Stand Up for America : Put the Spirit of July 4th Into Everyday Life (2002) by W. B. Freeman

A Dollar In The Hands

The unattractive lesson of the majority opinion is this: What's mine is mine, and what's yours is yours.  The lesson of the history of public accommodations laws is altogether different.  It is that in a free and democratic society, there can be no social castes.  And for that to be true, it must be true in the public market.  For the "promise of freedom" is an empty one if the Government is "powerless to assure that a dollar in the hands of [one person] will purchase the same thing as a dollar in the hands of a[nother]." Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U. S. 409, 443 (1968).  Because the Court today retreats from that promise, I dissent.

-- Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, dissenting in 303 Creative LLC v Elenis, in which the majority found a free speech right for a business to deny service, 30 June 2023

In A Wind Tunnel

Everybody has opinions: I have them, you have them.  And we are all told from the moment we open our eyes, that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion.  Well, that's horsepuckey, of course.  We are not entitled to our opinions; we are entitled to our informed opinions.  Without research, without background, without understanding, it's nothing.  It's just bibble-babble.  It's like a fart in a wind tunnel, folks.

-- Harlan Jay Ellison (1934 - 2018), American writer known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction, and for his outspoken, combative personality, Commentary on Sci-Fi Channel's Sci-Fi Buzz

Basic Bargain Of Democracy

In concise summary, on Wednesday the leader of the executive branch incited a crowd to march on the legislative branch.  The express goal was to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electors from enough states to deny Mr. Biden an Electoral College victory.  When some in the crowd turned violent and occupied the Capitol, the President caviled and declined for far too long to call them off.  When he did speak, he hedged his plea with election complaint.

If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign.  This would be the cleanest solution since it would immediately turn presidential duties over to Mr. Pence.  And it would give Mr. Trump agency, a la Richard Nixon, over his own fate.

We know an act of grace by Mr. Trump isn’t likely.  In any case this week has probably finished him as a serious political figure.  He has cost Republicans the House, the White House, and now the Senate.  Worse, he has betrayed his loyal supporters by lying to them about the election and the ability of Congress and Mr. Pence to overturn it.  He has refused to accept the basic bargain of democracy, which is to accept the result, win or lose.

It is best for everyone, himself included, if he goes away quietly.

-- Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal, "Donald Trump's Final Days" (no pay wall - they want you to read it), 7 January 2021

Leadership Vacuum

Covid-19 has created a crisis throughout the world.  This crisis has produced a test of leadership.  With no good options to combat a novel pathogen, countries were forced to make hard choices about how to respond.  Here in the United States, our leaders have failed that test.  They have taken a crisis and turned it into a tragedy. ...

Anyone else who recklessly squandered lives and money in this way would be suffering legal consequences.  Our leaders have largely claimed immunity for their actions.  But this election gives us the power to render judgment.  Reasonable people will certainly disagree about the many political positions taken by candidates.  But truth is neither liberal nor conservative.  When it comes to the response to the largest public health crisis of our time, our current political leaders have demonstrated that they are dangerously incompetent.  We should not abet them and enable the deaths of thousands more Americans by allowing them to keep their jobs.

-- Editorial signed by 34 editors of The New England Journal of Medicine who are United States citizens (one editor is not), "Dying in a Leadership Vacuum", 7 October 2020

Obsessed With Magic Bullets

But punishing the [CDC] by marginalising and hobbling it is not the solution.  The Administration is obsessed with magic bullets -- vaccines, new medicines, or a hope that the virus will simply disappear.  But only a steadfast reliance on basic public health principles, like test, trace, and isolate, will see the emergency brought to an end, and this requires an effective national public health agency.  The CDC needs a director who can provide leadership without the threat of being silenced and who has the technical capacity to lead today's complicated effort.

The Trump administration's further erosion of the CDC will harm global cooperation in science and public health, as it is trying to do by defunding WHO.  A strong CDC is needed to respond to public health threats, both domestic and international, and to help prevent the next inevitable pandemic.  Americans must put a president in the White House come January, 2021, who will understand that public health should not be guided by partisan politics.

-- Editorial published in The Lancet, "Reviving the US CDC", 16 May 2020

For A Reason

He's [Pres. Trump] got a obviously a big fan in me.  If you're asking what my party affiliation is... I'm a Trumpocrat.

-- Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, speaking to reporters at Denver International Airport after being released from prison subsequent to the commutation of his sentence by President Trump, 18 February 2020



I really wish someone would have asked the people of Illinois whether we want Blagojevich to be set free.  I'm pretty sure we put him in prison for a reason.

Acts That Satisfy

Each of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.

The Mueller report describes several acts that satisfy all of the elements for an obstruction charge: conduct that obstructed or attempted to obstruct the truth-finding process, as to which the evidence of corrupt intent and connection to pending proceedings is overwhelming.

In our system, every accused person is presumed innocent and it is always the government's burden to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.  But, to look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a conviction for obstruction of justice -- the standard set out in Principles of Federal Prosecution -- runs counter to logic and our experience.

-- DOJ Alumni Statement, signed by 803 (and counting) former federal prosecutors, contesting the judgement of US Attorney General William Barr in his handling of the Mueller report, Washington Post, 6 May 2019

Tour de France 2014

Props to the winner(s) of this year's 101st Tour de France.

Vincenzo Nibali won, with a margin of 7 minutes, 37 seconds, the widest margin since at least 1999.  He is 29, and has now won all 3 grand tours, Italy 2013, Spain 2010, and now France.

Peter Sagan won the best sprinter's Green jersey, his third in a row, and he's just 24 years old.  He won the jersey despite never winning a stage in this year's Tour.

Poland's Rafal Majka, another 24 year old, won the best climber's Polka Dot jersey, and provided quite a show in winning stage 17.

The first two Frenchman to finish on the podium since 1997, in 2nd and 3rd place, were 37 year old Jean-Christophe Peraud and 24 year old Thibaut Pinot, who also won the White jersey as best young rider.

The best placed American was Tejay van Garderen, who is 25, and finished 5th.  I expect we'll be hearing a lot about all the 25 and under's in this note for years to come.  This should be fun to watch.

Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower

Considering the enormous value of the information he has revealed, and the abuses he has exposed, Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight.  He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service.  It is time for the United States to offer Mr. Snowden a plea bargain or some form of clemency that would allow him to return home, face at least substantially reduced punishment in light of his role as a whistle-blower, and have the hope of a life advocating for greater privacy and far stronger oversight of the runaway intelligence community. ...

When someone reveals that government officials have routinely and deliberately broken the law, that person should not face life in prison at the hands of the same government.

-- Editorial Board of the New York Times, "Edward Snowden, Whistle-Blower", New York Times, 1 January 2014

Family Mission Statement

Family mission statement:

To cooperatively construct and maintain a safe, nurturing place to practice exercising our judgment, and respecting the judgment of others, in order to develop as autonomous individuals who are ready to contribute to the greater good while finding personal fulfillment.

Parent

Parent is a verb.  Do it.