RIP, RBG

Our Nation has lost a jurist of historic stature.  We at the Supreme Court have lost a cherished colleague.  Today we mourn, but with confidence that future generations will remember Ruth Bader Ginsburg as we knew her -- a tireless and resolute champion of justice.

-- Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr, in a statement announcing the death of Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 18 September 2020

Not Real Magic

"I'm writing a book on magic," I explain, and I'm asked, "real magic?"  By real magic people mean miracles, thaumaturgical acts, and supernatural powers.  "No," I answer: "Conjuring tricks, not real magic."

Real magic, in other words, refers to magic that is not real, while the magic that is real, that can actually be done, is not real magic. 

-- Lee Siegel, conjurer and author of Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India, quoted in Noesis #206, September 2020

Human-To-Human Relations

In my view, anything that makes the Middle East more like the European Union and less like the Syrian civil war is a good thing. ...

I can't predict how it will all play out, but when the most technologically advanced and globalized Arab state, the U.A.E., decides to collaborate with the most technologically advanced and globalized non-Arab state in the region, Israel, I suspect new energies will get unlocked and new partnerships forged that should be good for both Arab-Israeli and Jewish-Muslim human-to-human relations.

-- Thomas L. Friedman, The Love Triangle That Spawned Trump's Mideast Peace Deal, New York Times, 15 September 2020

Evidence And Science

Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history.  This year we are compelled to do so.  We do not do this lightly.

The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people -- because he rejects evidence and science.

-- Scientific American Editorial Board, in the October 2020 Issue

A/C

Energy demand from air conditioning worldwide is projected to triple to 6,200 terawatt-hours by 2050, which is the equivalent of a quarter of the total annual electricity consumption today. This is one reason many are trying to make more efficient air conditioning tech, as the current units have not seen the massive leaps in efficiency seen in other electrical technology like solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles, and with billions of new air conditioners awaiting purchase in the decades to come, the sooner the better. In Los Angeles alone, rising temperatures could increase peak summertime electricity demand by 51 percent by 2060 under the worst case scenario. India is projected to install 1.1 billion AC units by 2050, which would make air conditioning account for 45 percent of peak electricity demand in the nation compared to 10 percent today.

-- Walt Hickey in NumLock News, citing James Temple, MIT Technology Review, 2 September 2020

9/11 Generation

Never before in our history has America asked so much over such a sustained period of an all-volunteer force.  So I can say without fear of contradiction or being accused of exaggeration, the 9/11 generation ranks among the greatest our nation has ever produced, and it was born -- it was born -- it was born right here on 9/11.

-- George W. Bush (1946 -), 43rd President of the United States, Obama: America does not give in to fear, msnbc.com (11 September 2011)

Settled In

Judgments on the president's pandemic leadership have settled in.  It was inadequate and did harm.  He experienced Covid-19 not as a once-in-a-lifetime medical threat but merely a threat to his re-election argument, a gangbusters economy.  He denied the scope and scale of the crisis, sent economic adviser Larry Kudlow out to say we have it "contained" and don't forget to buy the dip.  Mr. Trump essentially admitted he didn't want more testing because it would result in more positives.

And the virus rages on, having hit blue states first and now tearing through red states.

-- Margaret Ellen "Peggy" Noonan (1950 -), columnist for The Wall Street Journal, former speechwriter for U.S. presidents Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, "The Week It Went South for Trump", The Wall Street Journal (25 June 2020)

The Enemy Of Free Speech

What happens when the Second Amendment meets the First Amendment?  

The First Amendment loses. 

Here we have the full flowering of the First Amendment -- free speech about matters of public urgency -- marching headlong the unbridled expansion of the Second Amendment -- citizens openly brandishing loaded rifles, often semiautomatic ones, in public places. 

These two cherished American principles do not meet on equal footing, because a gun is the opposite of speech.  A loaded weapon discourages speech, intimidates, and demands compliance.  Even someone who intends no harm with a gun -- and I believe that these counterprotesters intend no harm -- is quashing the free speech of those around them, because it is impossible to speak openly when someone who hates your opinion is holding a loaded gun near you and telling you to shut up and leave. 

It's right-wing cancel culture. 

-- David Plotz (1970 -), American journalist, Guns are the enemy of free speech, Insider Today, 28 August 2020

Spirit Of Liberty

Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.  While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.  And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women?  It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes.  That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow.  A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few -- as we have learned to our sorrow.

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded.

-- Learned Hand (1872 - 1961), American judge and judicial philosopher, in an address to a crowd of 1.5 million at a ceremony where 150,000 people were becoming American citizens, in Central Park in New York City, "I Am An American Day" 21 May 1944

[Your humble editor recommends you read the whole thing here.  I have quoted just under half.]

Labor Day

On this day -- this American holiday -- we are celebrating the rights of free laboring men and women.  The preservation of these rights is vitally important now, not only to us who enjoy them -- but to the whole future of Christian civilization.

-- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882 - 1945), American statesman and political leader who served as the President of the United States from 1933 to 1945, speech on Labor Day, 1 September 1941

He Serves Best

The President of the United States of necessity owes his election to office to the suffrage and zealous labors of a political party, the members of which cherish with ardor and regard as of essential importance the principles of their party organization; but he should strive to be always mindful of the fact that he serves his party best who serves the country best.

-- Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822 - 1893), 19th President of the United States (1877-1881).  As president, he oversaw the end of Reconstruction, began the efforts that led to civil service reform, and attempted to reconcile the divisions left over from the Civil War and Reconstruction.  Inaugural Address (5 March 1877)

Voluntary

There are conditions of blindness so voluntary that they become complicity.

-- Paul Charles Joseph Bourget (1852 - 1935), French novelist and critic, Cosmopolis, Ch. 5 "Countess Steno" (1892)

Poor Choices

Over these past few days, the irresponsible actions of a small number of students have created the very real possibility of ending an in-person semester for all of us.  Their poor choices have led to a concerning and rapid increase in the number of new undergraduate COVID-19 positive cases. ...

We have created the most extensive testing process of any university in the country.  We have extensively modeled to make the best science-driven decisions.  We have invented a new COVID-19 test.  We've created a new app to ensure building access and academic standing are linked to testing compliance.  Seven teams have worked since the spring to do everything we could possibly think of to make your Illinois experience as normal as possible.

We've given ourselves a real chance to come together and to stay together.  But the decision to do so is in your hands.  We stay together.  Or we go home.

-- Excerpts from a message to undergraduate students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2 September 2020

Just Desserts

Between "just desserts" and "tragic irony" we are given quite a large scope for our particular talent.  Generally speaking, things have gone about as far as they can possibly go when things have gotten about as bad as they can reasonably get.

-- Sir Tom Stoppard OM CBE FRSL (1937 -), Czech-born British playwright and screenwriter, knighted in 1997, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990)

Public Safety

The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who's best on public safety and law and order.

-- White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, describing a campaign strategy that believes Trump benefits from social violence, in an interview on "Fox and Friends", 27 August 2020

No One Knows

Weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough.

-- Martin Amis (born 25 August 1949) is a British novelist, essayist, and short story writer, Einstein's Monsters, "Introduction: Thinkability" (1987)

A Moment Of Crisis

Our Convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation.  The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life.  Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.

Americans watching this address tonight have seen the recent images of violence in our streets and the chaos in our communities.  Many have witnessed this violence personally, some have even been its victims.

I have a message for all of you: the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end.  Beginning on January 20th 2017, safety will be restored.

-- Donald Trump, accepting the Republican presidential nomination, 21 July 2016

Storm Surge

STORM SURGE: The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline.  The water could reach the following heights above ground somewhere in the indicated areas if the peak surge occurs at the time of high tide...

[Sea Rim State Park TX to Intracoastal City LA...10-15 ft] ...

Unsurvivable storm surge with large and destructive waves will cause catastrophic damage from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, including Calcasieu and Sabine Lakes.  This surge could penetrate up to 40 miles inland from the immediate coastline, and flood waters will not fully recede for several days after the storm.

-- US National Weather Service, Hurricane Laura Intermediate Advisory Number 28A, 26 August 2020

Senate Confirmed

The Department has a long-standing policy of limiting participation in partisan campaigns by its political appointees in recognition of the need for the U.S. Government to speak with one voice on foreign policy matters.  The combination of Department policy and Hatch Act requirements effectively bars you from engaging in partisan political activities while on duty, and, in many circumstances, even when you are off duty. ...

Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event.

-- December 2019 memo to all State Department employees, written by a department legal adviser and approved by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, detailing guidelines on if and when State Department employees may engage in partisan activities.  Tonight (25 August 2020) Secretary Pompeo speaks to the Republican National Convention in remarks recorded in Jerusalem while on official travel.  politico.com

Think They're Thinking

If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you.

-- Donald Robert Perry Marquis (1878 - 1937), American humorist, from archy and mehitabel (1927)