“Prison officials in Alabama abandoned an attempted lethal injection of a man on Thursday after trouble accessing his veins, two months after the state was accused of ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ when it spent three hours [killing] Joe Nathan James. Alabama halted the [killing] of Alan Miller, who was convicted of killing three people in a shooting in 1999, after they determined they could not get the lethal injection under way before a midnight deadline. … The attempt to [kill] Miller came hours after the US supreme court overturned a stay blocking his [killing]. A federal judge placed a hold on the execution after Alabama said it would not be ready to use nitrogen hypoxia to kill Miller, who had requested nitrogen be used, rather than lethal injection, citing a fear of needles.” (09/23/22)
“A liberal education has long been considered a way to gain general knowledge about how society works and about how to live a proper life, with the understanding that the student will eventually join a trade or a profession and understand how that activity would fit in society. However, it is reasonable to question whether the education of the businessperson or of the statesman should be the same as that of the priest or educator, whatever commonalities they may have. It would take a lifetime for someone to educate himself in all the great books of the Western canon, to say nothing of acquiring knowledge about other civilizations. That may be a lifetime goal worth pursuing incidentally, but it is unrealistic to expect all well-rounded persons to do that.” (09/23/22)
“Voting began Friday in Moscow-held regions of Ukraine [and in two seceded republics] on referendums to become part of Russia, Russian-backed officials there said. The Kremlin-orchestrated referendums, which have been widely denounced by Ukraine and the West as shams without any legal force, are seen as a step toward annexing the territories by Russia. The votes are being held in the Luhansk [People’s Republic], Kherson [oblast of Ukraine] and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia [oblast] of Ukraine and Donetsk [People’s Republic]. The vote, which asks residents if they want their regions to be part of Russia, is certain to go Moscow’s way. That would give Russia the pretext to claim that attempts by Ukrainian forces to regain control are attacks on Russia itself, dramatically escalating the seven-month war.” (09/23/22)
“It seems it should be obvious to everyone by now: those who seek positions of political power can’t even run their own lives; they certainly shouldn’t be allowed to run yours. No one is less qualified to do so.” (09/21/22)
“Fiona, a Category 4 hurricane, pounded Bermuda with heavy rains and winds early Friday as it swept by the island on a route forecast to have it approaching northeastern Canada late in the day as a still-powerful storm. Authorities in Bermuda opened shelters and closed schools and offices ahead of Fiona. Premier David Burt sent a tweet urging residents to ‘take care of yourself and your family. Let’s all remember to check on as well as look out for your seniors, family and neighbors.’ The Canadian Hurricane Centre issued a hurricane watch over extensive coastal expanses of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland.” (09/23/22)
“The usual answer to the question ‘should we vote?’ is ‘of course!’ Some consider it a ‘civic duty’ and even suggest making it mandatory. It’s how the system works. If you don’t vote you have no right to complain about the outcome. Some anarchists, libertarians, and other contrarians take things in the opposite direction. Voting, they say, signals consent to the results, and approval of a bad system. It’s a moral crime. If you vote you have no right to complain about the outcome. Personally, I consider voting neither a civic duty nor a moral crime. If I don’t like my choices (or the overall system), I’m under no obligation to pretend I do by voting. On the other hand, the system does exist …. there’s no reason I shouldn’t register my preferences as to how it operates and who runs it, if I feel like doing that.” (09/22/22)
“The House on Wednesday voted to pass legislation to reform the Electoral Count Act of 1887 to make it more difficult to subvert presidential elections. … The bill would require a third of House members to sign onto an objection to certifying a state’s presidential electors, a significantly higher threshold than the current requirement of just one House member and one senator. It would also narrow the grounds for filing an objection, while clarifying that the role of the vice president in the process is purely ceremonial. The bill would require governors to transmit the slate of electors chosen by the state’s popular vote and allow campaigns to file lawsuits to ensure that happens.” [editor’s note: The US Constitution allows states to choose electors other than by popular vote; it would take a constitutional amendment to change that – TLK] (09/21/22)
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Max Borders
“There is a quote floating around, variously attributed to Lenin and to Marx, which enjoins authoritarians to: Accuse your enemies of doing what you’re doing. Whether this was the work of Lenin or a fortune-cookie writer in Akron, it doesn’t matter. Powerful authorities are actively deploying such tactics. When President Biden gave his now-famous ‘Dark Brandon’ speech against a blood-red backdrop that authorities could have cribbed from a Leni Riefenstahl film, it revealed as much about the machinations of the powerful as the depravity of their strategists. … Those afraid of creeping authoritarianism coming from the Left might be inclined to look to the Right for electoral salvation. But increasingly, you will find that the other side will be motivated more by revenge than by the protection of any principles or American ideals.” (09/22/22)
