Another great article. The free press is vital now more than ever. Especially against hypocrites who profess “faith” but do not practice it in their conduct. I am looking forward to the next happy essay, but medicine is as essential as it is hard to swallow. Thank you as always, Jay.
"Cass Sunstein, the legal philosopher, has scribbled a primer on Schmitt" and "Professor Sunstein drew me in" to the story of Jefferson-Hemings, too.
One of the few bright spots in the rise of illiberalism is recognizing the kinship between fellow liberals. In the before times, I had known of Sunstein as one of conservatives' "better opponents" – a worthy opponent for liberals with more conservative dispositions and policy preferences.
When I read his essay on the Jefferson-Hemings story (a story I wasn't inclined to dwell on, either), or when I read his reminiscences of the intellectual ferment at the University of Chicago, including his admiration for his more conservative colleagues, I read the "voice" of someone who's charitable and honorable, a complete human being, a mensch. And I think of the importance of institutions like the University of Chicago in bringing out the humanity in their members.
Institutions don't bring out our better selves automatically, of course. The fear that they might bring out our worse selves is sometimes warranted. Institutions can be corrupt. And the populist suspicion that they all must be corrupt, somehow, is one way to corrupt them, by discarding the discernment to recognize the better institutions.
Montesquieu held that love of the laws was the indispensable spring of a successful republic; without it the republican form cannot be sustained. The view that mere legal force (or some other passion) suffices applies, in his analysis, to monarchy, not to republican government. It appears l’ecoles in France, as in the United States, no longer teach the habits of the heart necessary to sustain any republic, ie civic virtue.
How’s I still do love The Clash from my youth. Not that you would know this, or care for such noise, I mean my rants, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones are greatest songwriting combo since Vladimir Lenin and Joe McCarthy…I kid, I KID ROCK YOU…Alls I ever am doing here down below in your comments sections is to endeavor to make you think a second time (hat tip Dennis Prager…here’s hoping and praying he finally finds a very guilty conscience for being a Trump apologist)…and even better, make you laugh…as you always make me smile Jay. The picture of the attack on our nations Capital above still makes me sick to my stomach The Don King Trump was not…at least removed from the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office, and Mr. “HANG MIKE PRENCE” wasn’t President for the last two weeks of a should have been deceased Presidency.
If I were to ever cross paths with à Carl Schmitt fan, I would politely ask him the same question I asked à brazen young man, that had the misfortune to cross paths with me in a convenience store, when I could not help notice was sporting not one, but two huge swastika tattoos, “Why should I not…”…this is a family newsletter
I am for the death penalty, but only when a case can be made for “necessity”. The evil bitch that kinda really suffered karma, if there real were such a thing (of course NOT)…Respectfully Jay, you kinda left out à most relevant part in your anti capital punishment argument, regarding the worthless human specimen’s botched execution, being preformed by the lowest common denominator of specialists The State could find…because, unlike in Schmittiian Germany, there are not a whole lot of loving medical professionals in the entirety of the United States that like to inject any human beings with death serum. I did hear that one of the would be executioners worked for N.I.C.E. for a second job….
You forgot to mention Changpeng Zhaoh…”I don’t know who he is” Don King Trumps Presidential pardon…and “Cee Zee” two BILLION dollar hard currency deposit into Uday and Qusay’s, I mean Junior and Eric’s One World Liberty Bank accounts…To The Village Idiwitt, that is reason enough for The Don to have already been removed from the Bada Bing and gone straight to hell (another highly listenable, brilliantly written Clash song), I mean cell…though every single day I am reminded of people like Baby Angelina who are no longer with us because…The President of the United States did not order, speaking of capital punishment, for a literal mass murderers head shot of one Vladimir Putin…the instant the fing monster, I mean The Dons fellow mobster, stepped on American soil.
Here’s still hoping and praying that one of these dayz this Kakistocracy will finally pay the ultimate price and all the Don King Trumps willing henchmen go to…and General Michael Flynn is stripped of his rank and ordered to return to the U.S. Treasury 100% of his military pension.
May there be a special place in hell for Speaker Johnson, as I so wish I could say it to his smugly dweeb Rich white trash face…lest he repent and atone, which he never will, because life is not fair. GOD HELP U.S. Gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental fire
“People may not care about corruption—but at least they are without the excuse of ignorance.”
Every time you write, Jay-or publish, I suppose- I grasp one more pearl of wisdom I can memorize and claim as my own!! (Just kidding).
With respect to capital punishment and abortion, I have always felt my thoughts consistent: that is, the State has no right to take the life of a citizen. If Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are gifts from the Creator, well, let no man put asunder.
If you are in the mood for some dark humour, I read somewhere this week that someone joked about the lady who twice failed to die at the hands of her executioners.
Someone joked- maybe Jim Geraghty in National Review? -that she should be shipped to Canada where capital punishment is banned, but euthanasia is rampant. We are expertly proficient in killing sick and unhappy people.
Just as you are sick of talking about the midterms, Jay, I am sick of Russia, Putin, Trump, and Ukraine; at the risk of sounding impertinent, the continuing betrayal of the European state makes me physically ill.
“Super” Jay, I love your writing, your musing, and your fully informed points of view.
On populism: Our present variety is enraptured by a prep school, Ivy educated heir to a fortune who spends all his free time at high end country clubs, or building an unauthorized, lavish ballroom that most of us will never attend, or “remodeling” an everyman golf course into a guilded, expensive one more to his upscale taste. Very, very strange. I guess it’s the cursing and cruelty, The Village People and the fast food. If so, perhaps populists are very gullible or a little slow.
On executions: ok in theory; not so in practice. It took me a while to get here, but practice wins. Time to stop.
Another great article. The free press is vital now more than ever. Especially against hypocrites who profess “faith” but do not practice it in their conduct. I am looking forward to the next happy essay, but medicine is as essential as it is hard to swallow. Thank you as always, Jay.
A truly beautiful piece of music. Thanks for dropping it on me.
"Cass Sunstein, the legal philosopher, has scribbled a primer on Schmitt" and "Professor Sunstein drew me in" to the story of Jefferson-Hemings, too.
One of the few bright spots in the rise of illiberalism is recognizing the kinship between fellow liberals. In the before times, I had known of Sunstein as one of conservatives' "better opponents" – a worthy opponent for liberals with more conservative dispositions and policy preferences.
When I read his essay on the Jefferson-Hemings story (a story I wasn't inclined to dwell on, either), or when I read his reminiscences of the intellectual ferment at the University of Chicago, including his admiration for his more conservative colleagues, I read the "voice" of someone who's charitable and honorable, a complete human being, a mensch. And I think of the importance of institutions like the University of Chicago in bringing out the humanity in their members.
Institutions don't bring out our better selves automatically, of course. The fear that they might bring out our worse selves is sometimes warranted. Institutions can be corrupt. And the populist suspicion that they all must be corrupt, somehow, is one way to corrupt them, by discarding the discernment to recognize the better institutions.
Montesquieu held that love of the laws was the indispensable spring of a successful republic; without it the republican form cannot be sustained. The view that mere legal force (or some other passion) suffices applies, in his analysis, to monarchy, not to republican government. It appears l’ecoles in France, as in the United States, no longer teach the habits of the heart necessary to sustain any republic, ie civic virtue.
Paris is burning with boredom now
Paris is burning with boredom now
Paris is burning dial 999999
How’s I still do love The Clash from my youth. Not that you would know this, or care for such noise, I mean my rants, Joe Strummer and Mick Jones are greatest songwriting combo since Vladimir Lenin and Joe McCarthy…I kid, I KID ROCK YOU…Alls I ever am doing here down below in your comments sections is to endeavor to make you think a second time (hat tip Dennis Prager…here’s hoping and praying he finally finds a very guilty conscience for being a Trump apologist)…and even better, make you laugh…as you always make me smile Jay. The picture of the attack on our nations Capital above still makes me sick to my stomach The Don King Trump was not…at least removed from the Bada Bing, I mean Oval Office, and Mr. “HANG MIKE PRENCE” wasn’t President for the last two weeks of a should have been deceased Presidency.
If I were to ever cross paths with à Carl Schmitt fan, I would politely ask him the same question I asked à brazen young man, that had the misfortune to cross paths with me in a convenience store, when I could not help notice was sporting not one, but two huge swastika tattoos, “Why should I not…”…this is a family newsletter
I am for the death penalty, but only when a case can be made for “necessity”. The evil bitch that kinda really suffered karma, if there real were such a thing (of course NOT)…Respectfully Jay, you kinda left out à most relevant part in your anti capital punishment argument, regarding the worthless human specimen’s botched execution, being preformed by the lowest common denominator of specialists The State could find…because, unlike in Schmittiian Germany, there are not a whole lot of loving medical professionals in the entirety of the United States that like to inject any human beings with death serum. I did hear that one of the would be executioners worked for N.I.C.E. for a second job….
You forgot to mention Changpeng Zhaoh…”I don’t know who he is” Don King Trumps Presidential pardon…and “Cee Zee” two BILLION dollar hard currency deposit into Uday and Qusay’s, I mean Junior and Eric’s One World Liberty Bank accounts…To The Village Idiwitt, that is reason enough for The Don to have already been removed from the Bada Bing and gone straight to hell (another highly listenable, brilliantly written Clash song), I mean cell…though every single day I am reminded of people like Baby Angelina who are no longer with us because…The President of the United States did not order, speaking of capital punishment, for a literal mass murderers head shot of one Vladimir Putin…the instant the fing monster, I mean The Dons fellow mobster, stepped on American soil.
Here’s still hoping and praying that one of these dayz this Kakistocracy will finally pay the ultimate price and all the Don King Trumps willing henchmen go to…and General Michael Flynn is stripped of his rank and ordered to return to the U.S. Treasury 100% of his military pension.
May there be a special place in hell for Speaker Johnson, as I so wish I could say it to his smugly dweeb Rich white trash face…lest he repent and atone, which he never will, because life is not fair. GOD HELP U.S. Gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant Onward and Upward. Peace through superior mental fire
“People may not care about corruption—but at least they are without the excuse of ignorance.”
Every time you write, Jay-or publish, I suppose- I grasp one more pearl of wisdom I can memorize and claim as my own!! (Just kidding).
With respect to capital punishment and abortion, I have always felt my thoughts consistent: that is, the State has no right to take the life of a citizen. If Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness are gifts from the Creator, well, let no man put asunder.
If you are in the mood for some dark humour, I read somewhere this week that someone joked about the lady who twice failed to die at the hands of her executioners.
Someone joked- maybe Jim Geraghty in National Review? -that she should be shipped to Canada where capital punishment is banned, but euthanasia is rampant. We are expertly proficient in killing sick and unhappy people.
Just as you are sick of talking about the midterms, Jay, I am sick of Russia, Putin, Trump, and Ukraine; at the risk of sounding impertinent, the continuing betrayal of the European state makes me physically ill.
“Super” Jay, I love your writing, your musing, and your fully informed points of view.
Until the next goodbye…….
My best to you .
On populism: Our present variety is enraptured by a prep school, Ivy educated heir to a fortune who spends all his free time at high end country clubs, or building an unauthorized, lavish ballroom that most of us will never attend, or “remodeling” an everyman golf course into a guilded, expensive one more to his upscale taste. Very, very strange. I guess it’s the cursing and cruelty, The Village People and the fast food. If so, perhaps populists are very gullible or a little slow.
On executions: ok in theory; not so in practice. It took me a while to get here, but practice wins. Time to stop.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/01/us/a-bizarre-dog-attack-shakes-san-francisco.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KVE.ElFO.Oy0k2d7JdMHE&smid=nytcore-ios-share
Kim’s first big case…