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ideological culture media and media people

Trying Souls

Jack T. Chick, Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, tracts

“Could this be the Antichrist?” 

 So wondered out loud today’s most popular conservative voice . . . about President Donald J. Trump.  

That commentator, Tucker Carlson, then answered himself: “Well, who knows?”

 Later, speaking to Lulu Garcia-Navarro with The New York Times, Mr. Carlson denied (thrice) ever verbalizing that eschatological question. 

Of course, as Scott Jennings points out, Tucker contextualized the matter by asserting that the president was “more of a hostage” to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in deciding to go to war against Iran. “Seems to me it has to be one or the other,” offered Jennings. “Are you a supernatural evil being or are you some weak hostage or slave to other people?”

 “These are the times that try men’s souls,” Tom Paine once wrote; today, it’s more “fry their sensibilities.”

 Consider the recent NewsGuard/YouGov survey that found 36 percent of Democrats believe the recent shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was staged, while a whopping 42 percent of Democrats fancy the failed Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt against then-candidate Trump a false flag operation. Eerily, this dovetails with Hal Lindsey’s speculations, in his 1970 bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth, that the Antichrist would make his play for power after appearing to survive a mortal wound.

 “There’s really not a lot of evidence that these social media users are citing or relying on,” explains Sofia Rubinson, NewsGuard’s senior editor. “It’s really just this belief and this distrust that the government is acting honestly and is giving us accurate information.”

 Has distrust of our leaders and the media, both well earned, metastasized into a widespread belief that the End Times are here?

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Thought

James Mill

Demand and supply are terms related in a peculiar manner. A commodity which is supplied, is always, at the same time, a commodity which is the instrument of demand. A commodity which is the instrument of demand, is always, at the same time, a commodity added to the stock of supply. Every commodity is always, at one and the same time, matter of demand, and matter of supply. Of two men who perform an exchange, the one does not come with only a supply, the other with only a demand; each of them comes with both a demand and a supply. The supply, which he brings, is the instrument of his demand; and his demand and supply are of course exactly equal to one another.

James Mill, Elements of Political Economy (1821; 1844), Chapter 4, “Consumption” Section III, “That Consumption Is Co-Extensive With Production.”

Categories
Today

Virginia for Independence

On May 15, 1776, the Virginia Convention instructed its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States’ Declaration of Independence.

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international affairs national politics & policies regulation tax policy

How to Lower Gas Prices

Iran, gas prices, oil, spending, taxes

Gasoline prices have skyrocketed. The Iran War is to blame, but the President has not been able to bring it to an end.

Still, he has offered a small fix. A federal gas tax suspension!

In its favor, this temporary measure would offer some relief. In addition, the federal government shouldn’t be attaching an excise to fuel sales anyway. The states already burden our fuel bills with their own taxes.

As if to seize a political win, Senator Josh Hawley (R.-Mo.) declared he will introduce a bill to enact that suspension.

Cutting off a source of revenue would increase the deficit, of course. But there is a simple solution to that: spend less. For example, the fuel taxes are supposed to fund road repairs. All but two percent of U.S. roads are state roads now. During the emergency, suspend the two percent spending on repairs and let the 98 percent of spending carry on, as it does now, at the state level.

Adam N. Michel at Cato argues that the best way to spend less would not only reduce the deficit but also lower gas prices: end the Iran War. 

And not just rhetorically. 

But Michel and his Cato colleagues offer a more politic plan, too: don’t merely suspend the tax, end the tax forever and end the highway spending burden along with it. “States know what their infrastructure needs are,” he contends, “and they have the fiscal tools — gas taxes, sales taxes, user charges, debt, and privatization — to meet them without a federal middleman.” 

Before October, Congress is supposed to re-authorize the federal highway program. Don’t. Dismantle it all. 

For good.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Thought

Tom Paine

I care not how affluent some may be, provided that none be miserable in consequence of it.

Thomas Paine, Agrarian Justice (1797).
Categories
Today

Constitutional Convention

On May 14, 1787, delegates convened a Constitutional Convention, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to write a new Constitution for the United States. George Washington presided over the convention.

On the same day a century later, jurist and pamphleteer Lysander Spooner — author of several important treatises, including Trial by Jury, The Unconstitutionality of Slavery, and an infamous pamphlet entitled “No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority” — died.

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crime and punishment ideological culture

Why Walgreens Gives Up

Walgreens, Chicago, crime, police, corporations

Walgreens closes another store in another crime-ridden Chicago neighborhood, so of course folks get mad at Walgreens.

The defeated Chatham store, closing its doors on June 4, suffered a million dollars in losses last year, citing theft rates “far above company average” — according to one astute observer on X.

“Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing outrage,” explains our twitterer, “particularly on the South Side.” 

One is tempted to ask the obvious question: How do these politicians get elected if Chicagoans are so readily up in arms over their neighborhood-destroying priorities?

While Chicago residents — that is, some Chicago residents — relate causes to effects and are angry with Johnson because of his policies and nonpolicies, other residents direct all their ire towards the drug store chain, instead: “With Another South Side Walgreens Set To Close, Neighbors Protest ‘Corporate Abandonment.’”

Local leaders “and residents” are rallying “to demand” that the chain either keep this particular store open or give money to healthcare organizations in the area. Hey, I’d like Walgreens to give me money to help me with stuff too. I wouldn’t think of demanding it though. Or demanding that Walgreens stores operate at a loss.

Anyway, I get it now. I get why Chicago is like this. Instead of blaming their politicians for being soft on crime, instead of blaming their neighborhood criminals, instead of blaming themselves for letting the politicians and the criminals destroy their city and civilization, too many very vocal citizens focus blame on the least guilty party in this whole sorry mess.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

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Thought

Pareto

When it is useful to them, men can believe a theory of which they know nothing more than its name.

Vilfredo Pareto, Manual of Political Economy (1927-1927), p. 94.
Categories
Today

Lei Áurea

On May 13, 1888, the Empire of Brazil abolished slavery with the passage of the Lei Áurea (“Golden Law”).

Categories
crime and punishment First Amendment rights national politics & policies

Prosecutorial Shell Game?

FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, 86, sea shells

The Department of Justice’s case against the egregious former head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, James Comey, is as weak a case as he could hope.

Comey had shared an image on social media — a photo of shells on a beach gathered together to markout “86 47” — and, when people interpreted it as a possible threat, he deleted it. “He said he thought it was a political message, not a threat,” an NPR story summarizes, “but now a grand jury in North Carolina has made a federal case out of this. It’s charged Comey with two felonies, including allegedly threatening the life of the president.”

So why do I call it weak? While “86” may have originally meant “kill” or “delete,” amongst gangsters, real or Hollywood, it’s often used colloquially to mean “get rid of.” And though “47” is the number of Trump’s second administration, it’s possible — indeed likely — that Comey didn’t mean “Kill Trump.” He could have meant “impeach Trump” or “prosecute Trump” or any other politically acceptable way to force the president out of office. 

Don’t get me wrong. Was it a dumb thing for the disgraced former government official to share? Sure. But even outstandingly horrible former FBI heads have freedom of silly speech.

This is not the first time Comey’s been prosecuted by the Trump DOJ. The last time it fizzled. And, considering the First Amendment, this one will fizzle.

Bringing forward dumb charges looks bad, like Democrats looked prosecuting Trump. The political persecution of enemies is not all that popular. 

And in a country filled with political corruption, it sets the cause of “draining the swamp” back, not forward.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob. 

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