Categories
Update

Pizzagate Redux?

Jeffrey Epstein, murder, death, pedophile, conspiracy, paranoia,

The big news this past week has been the info dump — over a million files! — regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case. The story is mainly chaos right now. But Matt Kibbe’s interview of Rep. Thomas Massie (R‑Ky.), who is chiefly responsible for this ungainly disclosure, offers an interesting perspective on the mess. He makes a good case that blackmail was not the chief method of Mr. Epstein:

For a deeper dive, consider Tucker Carlson’s discussion of “pizza and grape juice” (and other oddities found in the release of data) with the notorious Ian Carroll:

It is quite a story, unfolding before our eyes. Sort of. And it reviving the Pizzagate story isn’t outré enough, why not reconsider the question of whether Jeffrey Epstein is really dead?

But what do the files say? The above appraisal does not analyze all the purported postmortem photos available:

There are a lot of issues to deal with regarding the Jeffrey Epstein case. One issue hanging out there, like a matzo ball: Epstein claimed to be an agent of the Rothschilds.

Categories
Thought

Robert Sheckley

I know you’re sane and you know you’re sane. But what if we’re both wrong?

Robert Sheckley, “The Death of the Dreammaster,” in Martin H. Greenberg (ed.), The Further Adventures of Batman (1989), p. 24

Categories
Today

Commies Give Up

On February 7, 1990, the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agreed to give up its monopoly on power, thus ushering the way for the dissolution of the putatively communist empire.

Categories
education and schooling

Equality, Not Excellence

Zohran Mamdani, schools, education, New York City, egalitarianism

The really socialist mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, the city’s new Handicapper General, wants to prevent the brightest children in the city’s school system from getting any extra training of their gifts and intelligence.

So he’s trying to do what one of his predecessors, the pretty socialist Bill DeBlasio, failed to do: eliminate the public school system’s Gifted and Talented programs.

What benefit could there be to students, their parents, and New Yorkers in general, in preventing gifted children from studying in schools and classrooms that give them the best chance of developing their gifts early in life? 

None whatsoever. 

Killing the more demanding academic work does not thereby improve what the average public-​school classroom offers students. It also does not improve the ability of students who are not currently qualified to enter the most advanced programs. The only goal achieved is that of a nearer approach to the egalitarian “ideal,” the world of “Harrison Bergeron.”

If the concern were really to improve the average or below-​average classrooms, this could be done — conceivably — by focusing on what could be improved in those classrooms. Are there bad teachers who could be fired? Disruptive students who could be better disciplined or shown the door? Vapid, unchallenging, or politically warped curriculum that could be overhauled?

Under the DeBlasio mayoralty, many parents protested his plan to erase opportunities for the Gifted and Talented, managing to thwart that plan. They’ll have to protest again if they want to stop Mamdani from stomping out excellence.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Categories
Thought

Philip K. Dick

That is not how you do it; you do not solve one problem with another, greater problem.

Philip K. Dick, The Transmigration of Timothy Archer (1982).
Categories
Today

Falcon Heavy

On February 6, 2018, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, a super heavy launch vehicle, made its maiden flight.

The payload was random/​not-​random: A Tesla Roadster. Elon Musk runs both SpaceX and Tesla.

Paul Jacob wrote about this at the time.

SpaceX boasts the Falcon Heavy as one of its chief successes: 

Falcon Heavy is composed of three reusable Falcon 9 nine-​engine cores whose 27 Merlin engines together generate more than 5 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, equal to approximately eighteen 747 aircraft. As one of the world’s most powerful operational rockets, Falcon Heavy can lift nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lbs) to orbit.

Categories
general freedom nannyism national politics & policies

The Unstoppable Kill Switch

Congress, regulations, control, authoritarianism

Fifty-​seven Republicans in Congress worked with the bulk of Democrats, and the President of These United States, to continue funding development of a “kill switch” on new cars. On Tuesday, the bill became law.

You may have thought that most new cars driving down the road could already be switched “off” remotely. After all, the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, signed by former President Joe Biden, required the National Traffic Safety Administration to develop just such a technology for passenger cars. “The sweeping infrastructure law passed Congress with bipartisan support,” MSNBC pointed out last week.

But government isn’t fast, and the kill switch project “needed” more funding, which was included in the new $1.2 trillion spending package.

Still, a minority did try — unsuccessfully, alas — to put a halt to this “advanced impaired driving prevention technology.”

Calling the R&D “Orwellian,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R‑Ky.) asked a relevant question: “When your car shuts down because it doesn’t approve of your driving, how will you appeal your roadside conviction?”

Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow Clyde Wayne Crews further explained: “The vehicle ‘kill-​switch’ is precisely the kind of overreach that will empower regulatory agencies to manage behavior without votes by elected representatives in Congress or real accountability.”

Though Republican Massie had proposed an amendment to defund the kill switch, and a few Democrats joined him — Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Lou Correa of California and Val Hoyle of Oregon — a Heinz 57 sauce of GOP representatives sided with the overwhelming bulk of Democrats to keeping the kill switch funding flowing.

Separate efforts to repeal Section 24220 outright, such as H.R. 1137 (the No Kill Switches in Cars Act), remain pending but likely paralyzed in committee.

The Leviathan rumbles along, no kill switch in development.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Categories
Thought

Milton Friedman

With some notable exceptions, businessmen favor free enterprise in general but are opposed to it when it comes to themselves.

Milton Friedman, “The Suicidal Impulse of the Business Community” (1983)

Categories
Today

Broken Arrow

On February 5, 1958, a hydrogen bomb known as the Tybee Bomb was lost by the U.S. Air Force off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. It has yet to be recovered.

Categories
election law national politics & policies U.S. Constitution

Federal Election Takeover?

Washington Post, hypocrisy, voting rights, democracy, states rights

“We should take over the voting, the voting in at least 15 places,” President Donald Trump declared on former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino’s new podcast. “The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”

That’s just what Democrats in the U.S. House attempted to do back in 2021 with their H.R. 1. I know well because I worked with a large coalition of groups and individuals to oppose that dishonestly labeled “For the People Act.” 

For the people who are Democratic Party hacks maybe.

A 2021 Heritage Foundation analysis argued the legislation would “Seize the authority of states to regulate voter registration and the voting process.”

“The Democratic bill is indeed sweeping,” PolitiFact informed at the time. “At 791 pages, the bill does everything from prohibiting states’ voter ID laws to breaking the gridlock of the Federal Election Commission by removing a member.”

Luckily, H.R. 1 did not pass the Senate. 

Have you ever noticed that in the tug of war between federal and state power, politicians of all stripes support the Constitution’s balance when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn’t?

Same goes for news media. The Washington Post falsely reported on Monday that by urging “Republican lawmakers” to act, the president was “claiming a power explicitly granted to states in the U.S. Constitution.” 

Well, Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution does say “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections … shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof,” but it explicitly adds that “the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations …”

Democracy dies in half-truths. 

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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