Category: Current Affairs

Luigi Mangione and the Death Penalty

Justice demands the death penalty in certain cases. Anyone who opposes said penalty in principle I consider morally obtuse.  As for Mangione, he deserves it. The editors of the Boston Herald demur:

The death penalty should be off the table for Luigi Mangione, accused killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. And not for any reason sympathetic to Mangione.

Attaching the death penalty to Mangione’s trial would only make a martyr out of an accused killer who has already inspired zealous support among legions of fans.

Tell me what you think of this sort of moral reasoning. I don't have time to weigh in, or to lay out my arguments for the death penalty in general or for Mangione's execution in particular.  But I do have one Substack article on the topic that may be of interest:  Fetal Rights and the Death Penalty: Consistent or Inconsistent?

J. D. Vance at the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast

The Veep's performance was impressive. The man has excellent public speaking skills, is considerably more articulate than his boss, and displays natural political talent. He will make a fine successor.  On the down side, he, unlike Trump, is a professional politician. I don't have to explain what that means. Trump's astonishing effectiveness is in large part due to the fact that the man does not need the job and can't be bought. The same goes for his right-hand man, Elon Musk. Contrary to the filthy slandering of him by our political enemies, he is not in this for the money.  (As if to mock these moral and intellectual incompetents, Elon has given new life to the Hitler salute by introducing the chainsaw variant. I call it 'blue-baiting.')

Vance was right to point out the blow Trump has struck for religious liberty for all faiths. He didn't mention  Executive Order 14182 of 25 January, but I will. Enforcing the Hyde Amendment is an effective counterpunch against the corrupt and self-serving Joe Biden who, you will recall, reversed himself on his quondam support for the amendment:

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1 . Purpose and Policy. For nearly five decades, the Congress has annually enacted the Hyde Amendment and similar laws that prevent Federal funding of elective abortion, reflecting a longstanding consensus that American taxpayers should not be forced to pay for that practice. However, the previous administration disregarded this established, commonsense policy by embedding forced taxpayer funding of elective abortions in a wide variety of Federal programs.

It is the policy of the United States, consistent with the Hyde Amendment, to end the forced use of Federal taxpayer dollars to fund or promote elective abortion.

Now unless you are morally obtuse, or a Democrat (whichever comes first), you should be able to see right away that it is wrong for the federal government to force roughly half  the taxpayers to support what they consider to be a moral outrage. It is wrong even if abortion right up to the moment of birth ought to be legal. I am not saying that it ought to be legal. I am saying that, even if it ought to be legal, and becomes legal, it would be wrong to compel taxpayers to pay for it.  For that compulsion violates their conscience and moral judgment, a judgment that has the support of a battery of powerful arguments. (That the average Joe and Jane lack the intellectual 'chops' to produce these arguments, arguments which, by the way, needn't rely on any specifically religious premises,  is not to the point; some of us can. Do you remember that RINO mediocrity George W. Bush? He would often say, in his flat-footed way, that "Marriage is between a man and a woman." He was right, but that's all he could muster: he lacked the mental equipment to defend his position in an articulate manner. He reminded me of the affable jocks I'd have in my logic classes. In this respect Bush was like too many conservatives. They have sound intuitions but cannot rise to their argumentative defense.) 

In roughly the second half of his speech, Vice President Vance became repetitive, and what is worse, 'squishy' in the style of the 'liberal,' in his positive statements about the current pope.  It is too bad that the man is dying, and perhaps we should pray for the man. But should we pray that his papacy continue? That is not obvious. I'd say it is the exact opposite of obvious.  I don't believe I am very far off if I say that Bergoglio is to the RCC what Biden was to the USA, a disaster.  

It follows that if you pray for the man, you should not pray that he continue to live. For if he continues to live, his destructive papacy will continue. His papacy ought to end, which is not to say that the papacy ought to end.  You should pray that Bergoglio get his spiritual affairs in order, admit the damage he has done, confess his sins of omission and commission, and ask for forgiveness, lest he end up in hell, or in purgatory for a hell of a long time.

Here is the Veep's speech.

Donald J. Trump’s First 70 Executive Orders

Here.

From 20 January through 18 February.

Beautiful. This tsunami of common sense will swamp the Swamp Critters and drive them to blind reaction. Flailing about, they will sink deeper into the cesspool of their futile negativity, to their despair while we who are sane and reasonable sit back and enjoy the show.

Can you say Schadenfreude?

Perhaps the most satisfying is EO #2 in which Trump revokes Joe Dementia's abominations.

 

A Coordinated Assault on All Fronts in a Fight to the Death

I don't pretend to understand Trump's battle plan, but it may be that this guy does:

The Trump Team fooled everybody, including me. As last week’s various lawsuits sprouted restraining orders like early buds emerging all over the willow trees in springtime, most commenters expected Trump to take a necessary pause for defensive retrenchment. Surely, we all thought, it would take Trump’s anti-bureaucrats some time to clear the judicial logjam. But all of us were wrong.

image 8.png
 

A brief pause to clear past the TROs wasn’t Trump’s strategy at all. No pauses! Instead, yesterday Trump tripled down, jamming the battle tank’s accelerator into overdrive and smashing ahead in a whole different direction. His new battlefield banner unfurled yesterday afternoon in the form of one executive order plus three separate press conferences, which together sent a just-relaxing Deep State enemy racing for the bunkers with its trousers still half off.

And don't fool yourselves, muchachos: this is a fight to the death:

Some people will regard my title as hyperbole.It is not.Trump, I believe, understands he is in a fight to the death.The American establishment tried to discredit and ruin him, to imprison him, to assassinate him.They stole his 2020 reelection from him. They tried to steal his NY properties. It is not possible for Trump to have illusions about what he is up against.  He is up against evil.

Trump knows that the fight is not just about him. It is about America. For decades a corrupt American establishment has been running the government for their benefit at the expense of the American people. Trump says he intends to take government out of the corrupt establishment’s hands and put it back in the hands of the people.That is the last place the establishment wants it.For them the struggle Trump began in 2015 is existential. If Trump loses, America loses, and the establishment wins. Civil liberties will disappear, especially for “racist” white people and for people who think there are only two genders. Censorship and false narratives will prevail, and we will live in a belief system constructed for us by the establishment and the whore media for whom government is a profit center.

I don’t know how many of Trump’s appointees understand that they are in a fight to the death. How strong are they?If Trump doesn’t win, their careers are over. The establishment will see to that. If the Establishment proves to be stronger, will  Trump’s appointees change sides and abandon the fight?

I don’t know how many MAGA Americans understand the stakes. How many of them think that the fight ended with the election victory and now President Trump will put everything right? If this delusion prevails, the emergency extra-legal steps Trump must take if he is to prevail will lack support among his followers.The whore media will paint a picture of Trump as a tyrant.

Addendum (2/14)

Report Card on Trump's First '100' Days.  He promised to hit the ground running, and he did. His accomplishments so far have been astonishing. If his propensity for hubris doesn't do him in, he's headed for Mount Rushmore. His interregnum did him a world of good. His getting nixed* in 2020 redounded to his benefit. His cabinet choices were outstanding and all have been or will be confirmed. A truly diverse and inclusive bunch in the proper senses of these terms, and no 'equity' in sight. 'Equity' is unjust and can get you killed. Individual MERIT rules as it must and by right: fight, Fight, FIGHT! that it be restored. The obstructionist crapweasel Dementocrats haven't learned their lesson yet, but they will in the end. They had better, or they are done for. They way they are going, 2025 may be their last year.

As I have recently opined, however, we do need an opposition party to insure checks and balances all up and down the line. The Dems would do just fine if they could thoroughly reform themselves by purging the hard-Left scum and getting back to basic sanity and moral decency. But that's a big 'if.'

If you've been around a while, you know that the Dems weren't always full of Schiff and his ilk: this used to be the party of JFK, a resolute commie-fighter who stood tall against Nikita "Shoebanger" Krushchev, and was a lifelong member of the NRA. I shudder to think what would have happened in October of '62 had Clinton, Obama, or Biden been president.

_________

*An allusion to the outcome of the Kennedy-Nixon contest of 1960.

Trump’s Gaza Proposal

 
Donald Trump seems incapable of qualifying his statements, a fault that may be connected with his tendency to exaggerate.  And so he needlessly inflames his enemies, who, given their biases, naturally took him to be advocating ethnic cleansing with his talk of "taking over" Gaza.   Anthony Flood here skillfully rebuts the suggestion.
 
I believe Tony is right, having carefully listened to the joint Trump-Netanyahu speech and the context-providing interview last night by Mark Levin of the Israeli Prime Minister. In the speech with Trump, Netanyahu  hung back, not sure what Trump was proposing with his "take over Gaza" remark.  But in the interview he put a positive spin on it. 
 
It is not quite clear whether Trump's  provocation is intentional, a sort of 'blue-baiting' if you will, or simply due to a lack of political skill. 
 
In any case, the interregnum did him a world of good. Our boy is learning the ropes, and if he plays his cards right and does not succumb to hubris he may end up on Mt Rushmore. 
 
Dingbat Pelosi has proposed the benighted Joe Biden for that high honor, thereby underscoring her preternatural asininity and her unfitness both for high office and political commentary.
 
Trump's propensity for hubris does, however, worry me.  Merriam-Webster:

Hubris Comes From Ancient Greece

English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of their his mortality.

It is an index of the extreme polarization of our time that there are those who are quite sure that Trump enjoys divine protection. They speak, irresponsibly, of the 'miracle' of his escaping death by assassination at Butler, PA.  But how could anyone know, and confidently claim, that God intervened to save his life? I am not saying that God did not intervene in this instance, or that divine intervention in nature is impossible; I am saying that you are guilty of epistemic pretense if you pretend to know what cannot be known, but can only, at most, be reasonably believed.  

Hubris or providential protection? You are free to believe what you like, but in a case like this, the wise man suspends judgment.

The ever-helpful Dave Lull informs me that our friend Edward Feser has weighed in on the Gaza matter with an article in National Catholic Register, Trump's Gaza Proposal is Gravely Immoral.

Catholic opinion on Trump is divided, to put it mildly. See Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano's Letter to American Catholics.
 
Addendum (2/13)
 
Gaza Takeover

Encouraging Trends

  • The acquittal of Daniel Perry. He should never have been charged with a crime. Although there are instances of toxic masculinity,  there was nothing toxic about Perry's manly behavior. He ought to count as a hero in the mind of anyone who can think straight. 
  • The decline of race-delusional BLM bullshit.
  • The death of DEI. 
  • The de facto presidency of Donald J. Trump over a month before his inauguration.
  • The decline of gas prices. I paid $3.099/gal for unleaded regular at Costco, Mesa, AZ two days ago. What did you pay?
  • The resignation of Christopher Wray.
  • And the list goes on. Morning in America!

Morning in America!

Hats off to all the patriots who did their civic duty.  But this is no time to gloat over the defeat  of our enemies. They will not give up or give in. For these totalitarian dogs, the political is everything.  They do not suffer, as we do, from The Conservative Disadvantage.

The war is just starting and the national sanitation project will take at least a generation to accomplish.  To give you a taste of what we are up against, here is David Frum writing in The Atlantic this morning:

Donald Trump has won, and will become president for the second time. Those who voted for him will now celebrate their victory. The rest of us need to prepare to live in a different America: a country where millions of our fellow citizens voted for a president who knowingly promotes hatred and division; who lies—blatantly, shamelessly—every time he appears in public; who plotted to overturn an election in 2020 and, had he not won, was planning to try again in 2024.

Above all, we must learn to live in an America where an overwhelming number of our fellow citizens have chosen a president who holds the most fundamental values and traditions of our democracy, our Constitution, even our military in contempt. Over the past decade, opinion polls showed Americans’ faith in their institutions waning. But no opinion poll could make this shift in values any clearer than this vote. As a result of this election, the United States will become a different kind of country.

In a post from January of this year, Dueling Articles, I arrange a confrontation between Frum and Steve Cortes. The comment thread is a very good one, featuring contributions by the most distinguished among the MavPhil commentariat.

World leaders congratulate Trump.

UPDATE 3:42 PM

Leftist incomprehension:

Jonathan Chait, Americans Didn’t Embrace Trump, They Rejected the Biden-Harris Administration

But Lanny Davis, remember him? displays some self-awareness:

The Morning After: Lessons to Learn — and not to Learn

Ten Reasons to Vote Republican

By Peter Kalis.  This list, reproduced here verbatim, receives the plenary MavPhil endorsement. I will only add that the first item in the order of listing is also the first in the order of importance.

1. I believe a nation that doesn’t take its borders seriously doesn’t take itself seriously.

2. I believe in a Reaganesque approach to foreign policy. That is, peace through strength.

3. I believe in an independent Supreme Court whose decisions are grounded in the Constitution and statutes it is asked to apply. From the ascension of Earl Warren as Chief Justice in the mid-1950s and for a half century thereafter, the Court acted as a super legislature and handed down a continuous thread of left-leaning decisions with little or no foundation in the Constitution. In response, Republican leaders did not seek to pack the Court or impose term limits on its Justices, as Democrat leaders routinely do now.

4. I believe that merit, not immutable characteristics like skin color or gender, should drive personnel and admission decisions and the distribution of governmental largesse.

5. I believe that biological males, however they might identify, do not belong in girls’ and women’s sports or in their locker rooms or restrooms.

6.I believe that excessive government spending results in burdensome taxes, mountains of debt, bureaucratic bloat and inflation.

7. I believe that overregulation imperils innovation.

8. I believe that many institutions of higher learning have dangerously replaced an emphasis on critical thinking with ideological conformity.

9. I believe that toleration of anti-semitism on American campuses and elsewhere is a stain on American history and that aggressive support of Israel against its enemies is in our national interest and is justified by an informed view of the history of the Middle East and the Jewish people.

10. I believe in a growth economy and that the “secular stagnation” heralded by the Obama Administration undercuts opportunity for all Americans.

Long live the Republic! Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. This an excellent time to be investing in precious metals in the broad sense of  the term.  Au sits at $2738/oz at the moment. But Pb has come down in price. Stock up. Catacomb Joe reminds us of the old Boy Scout motto: "Be prepared."  

Bumper Stickers and Yard Signs

As November 5th approaches, I am seeing a lot of them, especially yard signs. I myself prefer to 'go gray' inasmuch as such signage will reliably trigger emotions, but never persuade anyone to change his position.  Suppose you have good relations with your neighbor across the street. You share some interests, but have never talked politics.  You display a Trump-Vance sign. He sees it, and thinks to himself, "I thought Ron was a nice guy, but what sort of person would vote for Hitler?"  What did you accomplish by putting up the yard sign?  Nothing, and you've made things slightly worse.

"But shouldn't you stand up for what you believe in?"

Generally speaking, yes. But there are more effective and prudent ways of proceeding.  Vote, encourage your like-minded friends to vote, try to persuade open-minded fence-sitters, make a campaign contribution.

There are also safety considerations, especially if you have a family to protect.  Take a gander at this, seeing once again  just how vicious, vile, and dangerous our political enemies can be.

Trump supporters in Pennsylvania are reportedly being targeted with threatening letters from radical leftists, warning them that their visible support for the former President could lead to dire consequences.

Residents with Trump signs in their yards, particularly in Philadelphia, have reported receiving disturbing letters through the U.S. Postal Service, complete with fake Trump campaign letterheads, Post Millenial first reported.

The threatening letters, which start off as a seemingly benign “thank you” note for being engaged in the electoral process, quickly devolve into dark, ominous threats.

One Trump voter, Janet from Penn Valley, shared her harrowing experience to Post Millenial.

After proudly displaying Trump signs in her yard, she received one of these letters, filled with hateful rhetoric and explicit threats to her family and property.

The unsettling message was far from an isolated incident. Janet, who reported the matter to the Lower Merion Police, revealed that other Trump supporters in her area had received similar letters.

Local law enforcement, however, has been unable to pursue the matter further, as the letters were delivered through the mail without any available video evidence.

Despite this, Trump supporters in the area have confirmed that this intimidation campaign is widespread, with reports of the same threatening letter being delivered both by mail and without postage directly into mailboxes.

The letter, which opens with pleasantries, swiftly transitions into a vitriolic condemnation of Trump supporters, labeling the former President a “felon, rapist, desecrator,” and blaming him for political violence in the country.

Read it all.

Policies Trump Personalities

I'm with Kevin Sorbo. You say character matters? I agree! Trump's beats Kamala's. 

"That moment when someone says, "I can't believe you would vote for Trump.”

"I simply reply, “I'm not voting for Trump.”

"I'm voting for the First Amendment and freedom of speech.

"I'm voting for the Second Amendment and my right to defend my life and my family.

"I'm voting for the next Supreme Court Justice(s) to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"I’m voting for the continued growth of my retirement and reducing inflation.

"I’m voting for a return of our troops from foreign countries and the end to America’s involvement in foreign conflicts.

"I'm voting for the Electoral College and for the Republic in which we live.

"I'm voting for the Police to be respected once again and to ensure Law & Order. I am tired of all the criminals having a revolving door and being put back in the street.

"I’m voting for the continued appointment of Federal Judges who respect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"I’m voting for keeping our jobs to remain in America and not be outsourced all over the world – to China, Mexico and other foreign countries. I want USA made.

"I’m voting for secure borders and have legal immigration. I can’t believe we have actually have flown 380,000 illegal immigrants into our country. I am voting for doing away with all of the freebies given to all of the illegals and not looking after the needs of the American citizens.

"I'm voting for the Military & the Veterans who fought for this Country to give the American people their freedoms.

"I'm voting for the unborn babies that have a right to live.

"I’m voting for peace progress in the Middle East.

"I’m voting to fight against human/child trafficking.

"I'm voting for Freedom of Religion.

"I'm voting for the right to speak my opinion and not be censored. I am voting for the return of teaching math, history, and science instead of indoctrination of our children and pronouns.

"I'm not just voting for one person, I'm voting for the future of my Country.

"I'm voting for my children and my grandchildren to ensure their freedoms and their future."

Slouching Toward Totalitarianism

Can Trump save us?

Klingenstein: Is our regime totalitarian, emerging or otherwise? What makes it so? How far along are we? Can we fight back?

Ellmers: I think the essay that Ted Richards and I wrote for your website, and the several excellent responses that you published, cover this pretty well. 

Klingenstein: How much can Trump fix it?

Ellmers: Very hard to say. Showing up, as they say, is half the battle. Or, as you have noted, the first step in winning a war is to know that you are in one. Trump knows this. He has to keep making the case to the American people that they are true sovereigns, and the arrogant ruling class is illegitimate. The outrageous incompetence of the Secret Service, which failed to prevent the attempted assassination of President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, is a good way to remind people that our so-called experts have no expertise. These bureaucrats are mostly blowhards, grifters, and phonies. 

I agree with Trump’s decision not to talk any more about how he was almost murdered, but incoming Vice President Vance should… a lot. In fact, I hope that Trump will continue to do what he does best as president — using his wit and populist rhetoric and negotiating skills to good effect — while the vice president’s office acts as the day-to-day juggernaut that ruthlessly dismantles the administrative state. 

Klingenstein: Will Trump win? What does it depend on? If you were his political consultant, what would you advise him to do?

Ellmers: I think he will win by a significant margin — too big, as people are saying, for the Democrats to steal. My friend Jim Piereson, writing in The New Criterion, has predicted that Trump will win the popular vote by six points, take all the swing states, and get 339 electoral votes. That sounds right to me. 

He seems to have been changed somewhat since he nearly took a bullet to the head. I would encourage him to remain upbeat and positive. 

Klingenstein: What will happen after Trump if he is elected in 2024?

Ellmers: Again, hard to say. Of course the Left will launch its resistance campaign, but I don’t think anyone knows how much support it will have outside the radical fringe. Some of my friends think I’m too optimistic, but I suspect that some energy and panache has gone out of protesting and rioting since the 2020 Summer of Left-wing Love. There will still be violence by Antifa and others, but I don’t think it will have the same mainstream support. And we should not discount the anger the hard Left will direct at the Democrat party. The media and the Beltway establishment really screwed up this election by lying about Biden, and I think the radicals will not take kindly to having their agenda thwarted by the complacency and arrogance of the Democrat’s leadership. 

Klingenstein: Is Vance MAGA? Is he the right choice for VP? He abhorred Trump before he lauded him. Does this make you hesitate?

Ellmers: It’s extremely important that Trump 1) went outside the decrepit establishment and picked someone who will help him fight the Beltway blob head-on; and 2) picked someone young and energetic who can carry on the MAGA agenda. That means Trump is thinking long-term. It was a good choice. 

Having just finished Hillbilly Elegy, I would say that Trump's VP pick was an outstanding choice, the best he could have made from the outstanding candidates on his short list.  A second brilliant move was his welcoming of RFK Jr. into his coalition. Here is the Kennedy clan's black (red?) sheep's Arizona Trump endorsement. 

Victor Davis Hanson on Tim Walz

13 hours ago. About 22 minutes long. Penetrating analysis of the recent rollercoaster of events, and excellent advice for Trump if he can rein in his ego sufficiently to take it and act on it.

More: The Harris Flop Would Be Scarier Than Her Flip

No one voted for the Biden-Harris ticket to borrow trillions sparking hyperinflation, to wage war on fossil fuels, to go woke, to welcome in 10 million illegal aliens, to abandon $50 billion in weapons to the terrorist Taliban, and to find America facing existential wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and soon perhaps over Taiwan.

But getting leftists elected requires fooling the American people into thinking their "moderate" campaign veneers will continue into their presidencies — even though they never do.

So, for now, Harris and her new vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, will smother all their cherished left-wing positions — at least until November.

The two left-wing chameleons will assume the temporary identities and policies of "moderates." That is a de facto admission that they know that the public does not want any of their true agendas.

The temporary metamorphosis means that the leftist nominees superficially feign agreement with what most Americans support –energy independence, low taxes, limited government, strong defense, deterrent foreign policy, secure borders, legal-only immigration, and assimilation rather than woke/DEI tribalism.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the most brazen and extreme examples of left-wing flip-floppers in memory.

Kamala the chameleon is stupider than Pelosi, more mendacious than Hillary, and farther to the left than Joey.  And like him, nothing but a puppet. Her much-vaunted 'joy' is the laughing-gas inanity of  an over-grown adolescent ingenue. She is of the ilk of AOC, she of the occasional cortex.