Daily Archives: June 29, 2022

In this week's Reason Roundtable, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and special guest Damon Root unpack the long-awaited SCOTUS ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade (1973).

1:31: Discussion on Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization

39:06: "Lightning round" on SCOTUS decisions concerning guns and school choice

51:32: Weekly Listener Question: More than most political ideologies, many of the prominent libertarian thinkers were womenAyn Rand, Rose Wilder Lane, Isabel Paterson, etc. I think it's safe to say that the movement wouldn't exist without them. But libertarianism today, fairly or not, is stereotyped as being almost all men, often men who are, shall we say, not the most socially adept. Why has that stereotype developed? And how do we, in practice, change both the impression and the actual amount of women in the movement? Bonus question: Katherinewhich Roundtabler is like which Buffy the Vampire Slayer character? And why is Nick Cordelia Chase (or Faith, though mostly because of the leather jacket aesthetic)?

This week's links:

"Alito's Abortion Ruling Overturning Roe Is an Insult to the 9th Amendment," by Damon Root

"Here Is a State-by-State Rundown of What Will Happen Now That SCOTUS Has Freed Lawmakers To Restrict Abortion," by Jacob Sullum

"Clarence Thomas Calls To 'Reconsider' Gay Marriage, Sodomy Rulings," by Scott Shackford

"Outside the Supreme Court, Our First Glimpse of Post-Roe Politics," by Christian Britschgi

"Get Ready for the Post-Roe Sex Police!" by Nick Gillespie

"In Defense of Roe," by Nick Gillespie and Regan Taylor

"Alito's Leaked Abortion Opinion Misunderstands Unenumerated Rights," by Damon Root

"In Landmark 2nd Amendment Ruling, SCOTUS Affirms Right 'To Carry a Handgun for Self-Defense Outside the Home'," by Damon Root

"School Choice and Religious Liberty Advocates Just Won Big at the Supreme Court," by Damon Root

Send your questions to roundtable@reason.com. Be sure to include your social media handle and the correct pronunciation of your name.

Today's sponsors:

Audio production by Ian KeyserAssistant production by Hunt BeatyMusic: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

See the original post here:
What's Wrong With Abortion Federalism? - Reason

Laura Ingalls Wilder was an American farmer and small-town farm journalist who rarely got involved in 20th-Century politics. She was not an activist for the vote and only entered in politics in old age, when she ran for a paid local office and lost.

And yet for decades, conservative Americans have held up her series, the Little Housebooks, which includesLittle House on the Prairie, as a Bible of libertarianism: true examples of American self-reliance and independent spirit. The nine childrens books about a hard-working pioneer family warned about the encroaching power of the state, and heralded the rise of the modern Republican party. They are fiction, of course, but based on Wilders real childhood.

Published in the throes of the Great Depression, the Little House books were powerful allegories opposing President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal programmes, which provided unprecedented financial support to struggling Americans. They also illustrated a major shift in Republican ideology that took place in the Thirties, as the party sought to widen its appeal. It shed its reputation as the party of elite business owners, and instead began to emphasise the power of the individual.

In one of the scenes in The Long Winter, a storekeeper is overcharging starving residents of De Smet, South Dakota, who want to buy the last grain in town. A riot seems imminent until the hero of the books, Charles Pa Ingalls, speaks up. This is a free country, and every mans got a right to do as he pleases with his own property, he tells the storekeeper. Dont forget that every one of us is free and independent, Loftus. This winter wont last forever, and maybe you want to go on doing business after its over.

This impromptu speech is anachronistic: arguing about unregulated markets was a debate rooted in the Thirties, when this book was written, rather than the 1880s, when it was set. It hints at the secret lying at the heart of the Little House books: it was Wilders daughter and secret co-author, Rose Wilder Lane, who imbued the books with their political message.

Lane was one of the intellectual architects of the libertarian political movement in America: she was an influential free-market activist, writer, and acquaintance of the philosopher Ayn Rand. Her projection of her radical political views onto her mothers pioneering childhood means that the series should be read as a double history: folk stories about the 1870s and 1880s woven through the vantage point of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Pulsing through the books, meanwhile, are principles rooted in the Declaration of Independence. Thanks often to Lanes revisions, characters occasionally quote that document, noting that they want to be free and independent. In Little Town on the Prairie, Pa takes Laura and her sister to the Fourth of July celebration in town. In Lanes revision, Laura is transfixed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the singing of My Country Tis of Thee:

The crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the Song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is Americas king. She thought: Americans wont obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences.

This is why the books are so beloved by conservatives today: these libertarian views formed the basis of the modern Republican Party.

Yet the books purposefully understate the difficulty of the American pioneer experience. It was in fact a brutally hard life of crop failures, isolation, and disease. Although the Little House books preserved in accurate and lyrical detail many of the skills that small farmers practiced in the 19th century, Lane recast many scenes as optimistic takes on tragedy that did not reflect how the family actually responded. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Pa announced during a horrible plague of the Rocky Mountain locust that ate crops for two years: We wont let a pesky crop of grasshoppers stop us. The locusts did, in fact, lead to their financial ruin. Two years later, according to Little Town on the Prairie, the family resorted to eating the blackbirds that had destroyed their first corn crop in Dakota Territory. The family sings Sing a Song of Sixpence at the table. And why not show some upbeat pluck in a childrens book?

But Wilder cautioned her daughter that the family was not an optimistic group. The quality they relied on was stoicism, putting up with the bad that came. Thats very different from hope. I wish I could explain to you about the stoicism of the people, she wrote to Lane in 1938, when they were halfway through writing the series. You know a person cannot live at a high pitch of emotion. The feelings become dulled by a natural, unconscious effort at self-preservation. Wilder insisted that the Ingalls family had never reacted to anything emotionally.

The divergence between Wilders real-life story and the Little House narrative was also apparent from what they left out: crime and tragedy. Gone from the books were stories Laura had written in early drafts: the death of a baby brother, a mournful episode running a tavern that ended with the family fleeing late at night to avoid paying its debts. The hardships that did stay in the books shored up tenaciousness as a value, such as sister Mary Ingalls going blind as a teenager. Laura then had to step in to help her and support the family by teaching at several schools.

The books also downplayed the various ways the government helped the family, spinning a myth of self-reliance. Like many pioneer settlers, they were given a free homestead through the federal Homestead Act, which granted tracts the government had taken from American Indians. Then there was sister Marys state-paid college for the blind in Iowa. The stories only talk of Laura having to teach to pay for Marys college expenses perhaps her clothes.

The stories continue to exert a kind of power on the American psyche. The books have sold more than 60 million copies and were taught in classrooms for many decades; the series remains part of homeschooling curricula. Laura Ingalls Wilder is the quintessential American pioneer, says Wilder expert William Anderson in the PBS American Masters documentary Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page.

And Lanes legacy can still be felt in the Republican party. Lane only wrote political articles after publishing the Little House books and her libertarian treatise The Discovery of Freedom. But she campaigned for limited government in the last years of her life. In the Sixties, she took under her ideological wing a young man in Connecticut; he was Roger Lea MacBride, who became a champion of libertarian thought and ran for president for the new Libertarian Party in 1976. Later, MacBride took the libertarian ideas with him as he migrated back to the Republican partys Liberty Caucus.

Lane also donated funds to help businessman Robert LeFevre launch an institution for adults in Colorado called the Freedom School, which named a building after Lane. Two of the early students who studied free markets and limited government there were Charles and David Koch, who went on to become members of the Libertarian Party in the Seventies and Eighties. Later, they returned to the conservative branches of the Republican Party and became hugely influential by donating money to Republicans promising to support free-market concerns, including such notions as refuting the science of climate change.

The myth of the pioneers, embodied by Laura Ingalls Wilder, inspired many conservative American values today. They were seen as the kind of independent, self-reliant Americans that the Second Amendment was designed to protect. But even they would have struggled with some aspects of modern Republican policy gun control in particular.

Certainly, the Ingalls family owned and used guns. In one scene in Little House in the Big Woods, Pa Ingalls trudges with his rifle through the snow of northern Wisconsin, checking animal traps. Rounding a large pine tree, he meets a black bear, standing on its hind legs clutching a dead pig. Pa aims his gun, kills the bear, and immediately runs home for the horses and sled to take the meat home. There, it resides in frozen form in a shed. Pa hacks off pieces with an axe at mealtimes.

Even the mythical Pa Ingalls would not have thought todays Americans needed guns in most situations, especially the range of weapons available today. He preached to his daughters the necessity of restraint. You wouldnt shoot a little baby deer, would you, Pa? says Laura. No, never! he answered. Nor its Ma, nor its Pa. No more hunting, now, till all the little wild animals have grown up. Well just have to do without fresh meat till fall.

When baby animals were roaming the forest, it was time to put the rifle away.

Read more:
The myth of American conservatism - UnHerd

JoAnna Champlain claimed victory as Cherokee County treasurer in Tuesdays primary election, receiving an unofficial 57.84 percent of the votes in 29 precincts.

Champlain defeated Noel Hunter, who received 42.16 percent of the vote. Champlain and Hunter, both Democrats, didnt have a Republican opponent to challenge them in the November general election.

I would like to thank everyone in Cherokee County who supported and voted for me, Champlain said. I am very excited to begin this new journey as treasurer, and serve all of the residents of Cherokee County to the best of my ability. I look forward to the next four years with great anticipation, knowing I will continue to learn and grow, making our office the best it can be.

Hunter said she accepts the results as is, but wished the outcome was different. She addressed Champlain and wished her the best as she takes on her new position.

Current Treasurer Patsy Stafford declined to seek reelection.

Bobby Cub Whitewater, Democrat, will face off against Republican Mitch Sterling in November for the District 1 commissioner seat. Whitewater received 58.16 percent of the votes, while Randy Jones took 41.84 percent.

Jones thanked his supporters and all who helped during his campaign.

it was amazing, and I congratulate Bobby Whitewater on his win in this primary. I wish him well in November in the general election, said Jones.

Current Commissioner Doug Hubbard didnt run again.

In statewide and federal races, between 97 and 99 percent of precincts had reported as of 11 p.m.

Among Cherokee County voters, Republican Congressman Markwayne Mullin obtained 62.64 percent of the vote for U.S. Senate. However, he faces a runoff against former Speaker of the House T.W. Shannon. The winner will meet up in the November general election with Democrat Kendra Horn, a former member of Congress, along with Ray Woods, an independent, and Libertarian Robert Murphy. Competing against him in the Republican primary on Tuesday were: T.W. Shannon, Alex Gray, Nathan Dahm, Luke Holland, Adam Holley, Jessica Jean Garrison, Laura Moreno, Michael Coibion, Scott Pruitt, Paul Royse, John F. Tompkins, and Randy J. Grellner.

Both in Cherokee County and statewide, voters chose to keep Republican U.S. Sen. James Lankford, with 67.80 percent. He turned back challengers Jackson Lahmeyer, 26.42 percent, and Joan Farr, 5.78 percent, as of 10 p.m., Tuesday. Democrat Madison Horn won 36.92 percent of the vote against Jason Bollinger, 16.82 percent; Arya Azma, 7.02 percent; Brandon Wade, 12.29 percent; Dennis L. Baker, 13.88 percent; and Jo Glenn, 13.06 percent. Libertarian Kenneth D. Blevins and Michael L. Delaney, an independent, also will be on the November ballot.

Cherokee County resident Republican Wes Nofire scored 6.32 percent of the votes on his home turf for the congressional seat vacated by Mullin in District 2, but that wasn't enough to advance him to the primary runoff. Avery Frix and Josh Brecheen will meet up in that election on Aug. 23, having tallied 14.74 to 13.75 percent respectively.

Cherokee County resident Clint Johnson got 1.46 percent of votes in that race. He thanked his supporters for their trust and confidence they instilled in him.

There are a lot of good people in this race, and I wish them the best of luck. We will keep them to their campaign promises, said Johnson.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, Republican, defeated Mark Sherwood, Joel Kintsel, and Moira McCabe with 68.58 percent of the votes. Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Joy Hofmeister will challenge Stitt and Ervin Stone Yen, an independent, and Libertarian Natalie Bruno during the general election, as she received 64.16 percent of the votes against Connie Johnson, 35.84 percent.

Republican Todd Russ, 48.50 percent, and Clark Jolley, 33.87 percent, will meet in the runoff for state treasurer after defeating David B. Hooten, 17.62 percent. Gregory J. Sadler, Libertarian, and Democrat Charles De Coune will go head-to-head in Novembers election with either Jolley or Russ. Current Treasurer Randy McDaniel didnt seek reelection.

Current Attorney General John M. OConnor got 49.12 percent of the vote, apparently indicating he was ousted by fellow Republican Gentner F. Drummond, with 50.88 percent.

John Cox, April Grace, Ryan Walters, and William E. Crozier, all Republicans, sought the seat of superintendent of public instruction, with incumbent Hofmeister switching parties and running for governor. Cox, who is Peggs School superintendent, was able to get 24.15 percent of the votes. However, Walters took 41.46 percent, and the two are projected for a runoff. Grace got 30.63 percent, and Crozier, 3.76 percent. The runoff winner will be joined by Democrat Jena Nelson in the general election.

District 18 Sen. Kim David, Republican, snagged the most votes for corporation commissioner, 41.08 percent. She was joined by Justin Hornback, 20.35 percent; Harold D. Spradling, 12.59 percent; and Todd Thomsen, 25.99 percent. Democrat Margaret Warigia Bowman, and Don Underwood, independent, will challenge David in November.

Republican Cindy Byrd will remain seated as State Auditor and Inspector after beating Steven W. McQuillen, 29 percent.

Originally posted here:
CHAMPLAIN IS TREASURER: Whitewater to face Sterling in November; Brecheen, Frix head for D2 Congress runoff - Tahlequah Daily Press

State Auditor and InspectorCindy Byrd weathereddark money-fueled opposition in winningreelection Tuesday, beating a challenger who was backed by the founders of a virtual charter school she accused in an audit of stealing millions in tax dollars.

"I've had such a groundswell of support across the state once everyone realized what was going on with this election," said Byrd, who beat Steven McQuillen with more than double thevote total.

With no other candidate on the general election ballot, Byrd essentially won reelection to another four-year term.

In 2020, Byrd drew attention after releasinga scathing audit of Epic Charter School, which her office accused of numerous questionable expenses.

Ben Harris and David Chaney, the founders of Epic who were arrested this month onembezzlement charges,donated $744,500to Prosperity AllianceInc.from January 2020 to March 2021, which supported Byrd's opponent with mailers.

Primary election results: Kevin Stitt, Joy Hofmeister to face off in Oklahoma governor's race come November

Byrd said the arrests backed up her audit's claims, and her election victory showed voters had faith in her office.

"Its been very disheartening that there were some who did not believe the audit report that the state auditors office put out," Byrd said Tuesday evening. "But last week was more evidence that the state auditors office is putting out the information taxpayers need to know to be informed in order to know where their money is going."

Several other statewide primary races are headed for a runoff, including the commissioner of labor, where incumbent Leslie Osborn received 48% of the vote, just shy of the majority needed to avoid a runoff. State Rep. Sean Roberts, who received 38%, will face Osborn in an Aug.23 election. The winner will face Democratic Jack Henderson and Libertarian Will Daugherty in November.

The Republican primary for state treasurer is also headed for a runoff to compete for the open seat, where current state treasurer Randy McDaniel decided not to seek reelection.

State Rep. Todd Russ received 49% of the voteand Oklahoma Tax Commission Chairman Clark Jolley received 34%.

David Hooten, who recently resigned as Oklahoma County clerk amid sexual harassment allegations, received 18%, missing the runoff.

The winner between Russ and Jolley will face Libertarian Gregory Sadler and Democrat Charles de Coune.

The four-candidate Republican primary for an openseat on the corporation commission is also headed for a runoff, as state Sen. Kim David, who received 41% of the vote, will face former state Rep. Todd Thomsen, who received 26%.

Excerpt from:
State Auditor Cindy Byrd wins reelection; other state offices head to runoff - Oklahoman.com

Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell at the Baptist Fundamentalism 84 conference. (AP/Ira Schwartz)

I know my personal experience about this topic is not unique. It cant be.

There were a few others concerned about the long-term fate of secular society in wake of the 1980s fusion of Reagan, Republicans, and evangelical religion the theocratic philosophy now in power on the U.S. Supreme Court. In my case, I was routinely dismissed by friends as overreacting or down right paranoid. Others were probably told the same thing across America. Thats why I am sharing my personal experience from evangelical-creationist ground zero: my home state of Texas!

Now I am not going to pretend I had it all figured out in the mid-1980s. But, given many conversations with conservatives and creationists, it became apparentover timethat the fusion was a toxic mix and trouble was coming. That trouble exploded in 2016 with another theological-political fusion: Trump, MAGA, GOP, and evangelical religion.

In 1984, I was a grad student at the University of Texas at Austin. George Orwells masterpiece 1984 was being widely read. Of course, most thought the USSR was the real 1984, not Team USA. When Apple launched the Macintosh in 1984, few, if any, saw the Orwellian danger of personal computers. I sure didnt.

Lots of cool New Wave bands were passing through Austin, playing at dives like the Continental Club, Liberty Lunch, and various other clubs. New wave fashions were the rage for some. Yep, I had a pair of parachute pants, which I wore a few times to concerts. But, I was much more likely to wear pointy-toed boots with Levis 501s button fly only! Still do.

All the while, the winds of fascism and theocracy were beginning to blow over the big Texas horizons. I saw the theocracy sooner than I saw the fascism.

My loose network of friends included a random mix of liberals, libertarians, quasi-conservatives, artsy fashionistas, philosophy theorists, and an odd assortment of alienated cigarette smokers, espresso junkies, and margarita lovers. In 1984, you could drink at 18 in Texas and smoke inside cafes and coffeehouses. The legendary Les Amis (the cafe featured in Richard Linklaters Slacker) was particularly smoky, but you could always get good coffee and good conversations.

The same was true for Captain Quackenbushs Intergalactic Espresso Cafe, located a few blocks away. Real intellectual conversations were had because most everyone was reading philosophy, history, and literary books with their coffee and Euro cigarettes.

In 1984, Ronald Reagan swept to a landslide second term in a grand fusion of movie star glitz, fervent evangelicalism, quasi-libertarian economics, and sheer patriotic frenzy fueled by conservative Cold War propaganda. Reagans famous TV ad said it was now Morning in America. Astrology was regularly consulted in the White House. And flags, flags, flags!

On election night in 1984, I recall protestors running through campus buildings holding signs proclaiming they were Young Anarchists for Mondale. LOL. Crazy, but no less true!

Walter Mondale and the Democratic platform were far removed from anything anarchist. Mondale and the Young Anarchists never had a chance against Reagan and the conservative frat boys (like the Bushes). Thats because Reagan and Bush were going to save the soul of America! After all, God and old money were on their side.

Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell (head of the so-called Moral Majority) led the fusion of the Republican Party with fundamentalists and evangelicals, the faithful who did not believe in evolution and other science concepts. Instead, they believed the universe was 6,000 years old, the Bible trumped the Constitution (or the Constitution was based on the Bible, which is absolutely not true), a clump of cells had more rights than the womans body that contained the cells, guns would prevent (secular) government tyranny, and America was chosen by God to be the promised land that would prevail over the evil commies in the Cold War.

In a foreshadowing of the subsequent decades, President Reagan said the following during a speech at a 1984 campaign rally in Austin:

And finally, last night I asked the House to pass the equal-access bill. It would permit religious student groups the same freedom that other student groups now have to meet in public high schools in their vacant rooms during off-hours. I believe the God who blessed this land of ours never deserved to be expelled from our schools in the first place.

The Equal Access Act of 1984 was passed and became law. Of course, as Orwell would have predicted, the goal was never about mere equal access. The long-term goal was breaking down the wall between church and state, bit by bit, across the decades. That is exactly the intent of the Moral Majority, faith-based government initiatives, the anti-abortion movement, and Justice Samuel Alitos recent Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe v. Wade. Its a theocracy in America.

Sound too alarmist? What about the Supreme Courts recent ruling in Carson v. Makin, in which they ruled that if the government funds any private schools, then it must fund private religious schools the very schools that most likely teach creationism, anti-science, anti-abortion, and discrimination against LGBTQIA+ communities and people of color, including those crossing the southern border. This ruling is a total violation of the First Amendments wall between church and state. Equal Access is achieving its long-term goal: imposing a theocracy in America.

In the days after Reagan was reelected in 1984, my liberal and libertarian friends said almost the exact same thing: Reagan was about big business, deregulation, free markets, and unfettered capitalism. Of course, the liberals feared Reagan, while the libertarians cheered Reagan.

For my liberal friends, Reagans economics were the big concern, almost the only concern, which is in keeping with the Marxist and socialist influence in their worldview. Libertarian fans of Ayn Rand were sometimes atheist, but they were far more focused on defeating communism and spreading capitalism far and wide in the name of individualism and rational self-interest.

I get the fear of Big Brother or big government, but I was more concerned about what happens when Big Brother is a creationist and theocrat. Every time I suggested that we should be more concerned about religious political power, almost all of my friends said I was overreacting and being paranoid. They said something to this effect:

Cmon Vacker, dont overreact. Youre sounding paranoid! Just because youre an atheist and existentialist, it doesnt mean religion is going to take over. Religious freedom is in the First Amendment.

Ive heard some variation of those lines dozens of times across the decades. Every time I raised the problem of growing theological political power, I was repeatedly told by libertarians, liberals, and coffeehouse philosophers it was capitalism and big corporations that were the big issue, good or bad.

By the year 1984, I had read 1984, Fahrenheit 451, Brave New World, and other dystopian literature (or seen the film versions). From 1984, I could see that the American fusion of religion, propaganda, and political power was a totalitarian mix, especially because of the control of sexuality (which Orwell warned us about with the Anti-Sex League in 1984).

Fahrenheit 451 showed how book burning could reappear in a society dumbed down by television and entertainment. Thats ever more true today. Brave New World showed how people could be seduced and programmed to accept the dominant ideologies, precisely as they think they are free individualists seizing the future or returning us to the past! (Today, thats the cults of Elon Musk or MAGA.)

The University of Texas set aside a free speech area on campus near the Student Union Building, home to the student government offices, a large cafeteria, movie theater, and the legendary Cactus Caf, where famed Austin musicians were known to drop in. In the free speech area, dozens upon dozens of student groups handed out brochures, pamphlets, and Xerox copies of their beliefs and manifestos.

I recall the Young Conservatives group selling Margaret Thatcher posters. For real! When Prince Charles toured the campus in 1986, the frats and sororities turned out in huge crowds, always yearning to be royality, to be among the elite rulers.

Lively (and largely civil) conservations could be heard and had almost any school day. Not meme wars, but actual dialogue. In my many conversations with conservative and evangelical students, it was clear to me that the end result of their beliefs would be, ultimately and necessarily, a theocracy in America. Though many would deny it, a theocracy was always the inevitable end goal, with a paradoxical mix of state-supported capitalism.

The conservative and evangelical activists conflated religious freedom, protected under the First Amendment, with the idea that all America must be ruled under a religion, specifically the religion of the Bible. They ignored the first right in the First Amendment the right to not believe in any religion and not have the government impose any religion.

Additionally, the evangelicals would never seriously consider any evidence, any facts, or any logic that challenged their faith in sacred texts or the existence of God. Nothing. Nada, Nope. Doublethink!

The Bible was the final word. The one thing they all believed with absolute conviction: God exists and is on their side, the Bible is truth, and they want to Make America Moral Again! That means we must go backwards a few decades or, more likely, a few centuries.

By 1986, Hollywood gave us Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in Top Gun that mind-meld of GQ machismo, jet fighter-fetishism, and Team USA war propaganda. Its no wonder the Soviet Union soon collapsed. The Kremlin and commies knew they had no chance against Maverick, Viper, and Ice. Not a chance!

In the wake of the Cold War, super conservative George W. Bush was elected governor of Texas in 1994 and President of the United States in 2000. My friends (now including profs) said the same thing: Bush is all about corporations and capitalism. Cmon Vacker, didnt you see Bushs Brain (2004 documentary)? Bush is the puppet for Karl Rove and greedy capitalists, the puppet for Dick Cheney and the Pentagon. The Bible has little to do with his policies. Again, I was overreacting. Yet, the very same Bush appointed John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. The same Bush that approved of torture regimes in the Terror War.

Nothing much changed in the 2000s2020s. Is it right to be concerned about privacy, exploitation, free speech, human rights, the environment, and so on? Yes, of course! Concerned about a theocracy. Nah, thats too far.

Even though the American theocracy will smash the wall between church and state, deny basic human rights to disfavored groups (women, people of color, and LBTQIA+ communities), and destroy the environment in the name of economic growth and a biblically ordained dominion over the Earth. Just wait until the current Supreme Court guts environmental protections. Its coming, sooner or later.

Of course, President Trump appointed three more high priests of medievalism and here we are. Its 2022 and America is fast becoming a fascist theocracy. Theres no denying it. Its unfolding right before our eyes.

Its obvious patriarchal and biblical domination are being forced upon women all across America. The evangelical fanatics and Supreme Court medievalists are telling women they have no right to control their bodies, no reproductive rights, and no rights to determine their healthcare. If women have no autonomy for their bodies, then they have no real rights at all. Alitos opinion represents a full-on assault on the universal human rights possessed by all women.

Thats why the Courts goal is not about morality or saving fetuses. The real goal is to inflict pain, cruelty, and domination upon women and anyone else not favored by the theocrats. Misogynous and morally bankrupt fanatics are hurtling women and society backward by centuries in a merger of church and state.

Ultimately, the theocrats on the Supreme Court are attacking the Establishment Clause, the principle atop the First Amendment which says Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting the Establishment of Religion Alito and crew are destroying the wall between church and state.

There is no end in sight, as the fanatics are coming after all reproductive rights and contraception. And theyll come after numerous other rights and freedoms held by the people and groups they do not like. There is no end, there is no bottom.

After all, what are all those AR-15s are for? To prevent tyranny? Or to impose tyranny? Are we supposed to believe the Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and Oath Keepers are going to be peaceful and do nothing? If they get in power, theyll be aiming their AR-15s at Americans who are not down with fascism and theocracy.

Unless defeated, somehow, this theocracy will be like all the others from the past. A complete horror show. A real life Handmaids Tale, a real life Idiocracy, and real life Planet of the Apes.

But, yeah, I and others were overreacting and paranoid in 1984.

_____________

High taxes forced the closure of Les Amis Cafe. The building was bulldozed to make way for a Starbucks. Liberty Lunch closed in 1999 to make way for downtown hipster development. The Continental Club still rocks (as a copy of itself). Keep Austin Weird no longer applies.

I wonder what became of the Young Anarchists for Mondale.

Excerpt from:
In the 1980s, My Friends In Texas Said I Was 'Overreacting' - Medium

Reports of cryptocurrencys death have been exaggerated. For those whove followed bitcoin since the beginning, the fall from $64,000 to $20,000 is simply another of bitcoins many deaths (one website has tracked 455 obituaries). Those who bought at the top are asking why bitcoin is only $20,000. This question would have been unfathomable a few years ago. We should ask the opposite question: Why is this internet-created money, started by an unknown programmer on an obscure web forum, trading so high?

With millions of dollars in speculation in nonfungible tokens, initial coin offerings and obvious get-rich-quick schemes, its easy to forget that bitcoin wasnt created by people looking to get rich. It was designed by a pseudonymous programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto, who wanted a money not controlled by government-run central banks. Like gold, the bitcoin network is outside the control of any political entity. There is a predictable rate of money creation, and the number of bitcoins in existence will never exceed 21 million.

See original here:
Dont Believe the Obits for Bitcoin - The Wall Street Journal

TOPEKA Republican gubernatorial candidate Arlyn Briggs recorded a campaign commercial outlining his vision of conservative government in Kansas only to find out a prominent Christian radio network had no intention of airing the advertisement.

He said an employee at Bott Radio Network in Overland Park explained the campaign spot couldnt be used on the network after learning of Briggs arrest on a charge of criminal threat against a law enforcement officer. The arrest in Allen County was a misunderstanding that ought to be resolved in his favor, Briggs said, but the radio networks rebuff was a setback in his primary campaign against GOP frontrunner Derek Schmidt, who is the states attorney general.

Im a strong Christian, Briggs said. My job is to be a strong reflection of Jesus Christ.

Briggs, 64, of rural Kincaid, said the legal trouble stemmed from allowing a man being sought by law enforcement for an alleged stalking offense to stay with him in early June. Briggs noticed a sheriffs department vehicle driving slowly past his home, so he called the department to remind authorities of the castle doctrine, the stand-your-ground right of individuals in Kansas to take reasonable action, including deadly force, in defense of a home.

He warned law enforcement officers not to try anything, he said, and pointedly added I may shoot you. He said he wouldnt have actually fired on deputies, and nothing happened. But officers later served an Anderson County warrant on him for criminal threat. He was released June 15 from Allen County Jail.

If successful in the Aug. 2 primary against Schmidt, Briggs would likely face Democratic frontrunner Gov. Laura Kelly as well as independent candidate Dennis Pyle and Libertarian Seth Cordell in November. If victorious in the general election, Briggs said he would donate his state government salary to charity.

I feel the primary is where the contest is this year. Kelly is so liberal, Briggs said. I say vote for the person. Not what they said, but what they do.

Briggs said he was disappointed with Schmidt as a political leader, and asserted the attorney general was too focused on getting on U.S. Sen. Jerry Morans good list in anticipation of eventually running for Morans seat in the U.S. Senate. Briggs said hed challenged Schmidt to five debates, but hadnt received a response.

I think theres growing concern among conservatives across the United States and Kansas with whats happening with government and our leaders, Briggs said.

On social media last year, Briggs was critical of state legislators who he claimed talked about the value of local government control and then passed bills stripping local elected officials of influence. He said they all should be taught a lesson by being voted out of office.

Briggs ran for the Kansas House in 2012 and 2020, but lost both contests. He was soundly defeated in the most recent campaign, falling to state Rep. Trevor Jacobs, with Jacobs securing 83% of the vote in a GOP primary.

He said he lived in Johnson County for about 30 years. He worked for a Kansas City bank and at Hallmark and has been employed as a trucker and farmer. He performed mission work in more than a dozen countries, he said.

Briggs lieutenant governor running mate is Abilene resident Lance Berland, who Briggs said recently performed community service in Colorado to deal with his own legal challenges.

On social media, Berland said we the people were engaged in a fight against Republican and Democrat warmongers, the most bloated, wasteful bureaucracy in human history and corrupt crony capitalists. He claimed businessman George Soros, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett were involved in demise of U.S. freedom.

We have been played, and Americans killed, by our own government and the ultra-wealthy non-citizens who dominate our nation from Davos, Geneva, and Brussels, he said. These people have perpetuated and delivered the world only racism, eugenics, war, toxicity, disease and unnecessary deaths by the hundreds of millions. These people serve only themselves and the devil.

He also expressed disappointment Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden were convinced by the global health mafia to recommend Americans be vaccinated against COVID-19.

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Kansas GOP governor candidate arrested on felony charge plunges ahead with campaign - Kansas Reflector