Quote of the Day – America
“People say America is like 50 countries in a trench coat… eh… It is more like 200 countries bouncing on a trampoline. – Jack Wylder
This is excerpted from an essay available on Larry Correia’s webpage. (Click on the link and read the whole thing. It is worth it.) In it, the author asserts the US is made up of a collage of intermixed but different cultures and identities. It is true and part of the genius of America. There are so many choices that everyone can find some place they fit in.
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Quote of the Day: Socialism
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Quote of the Day – Equality of Outcome
A society that puts equality—in the sense of equality of outcome—ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests. – Milton Friedman
I do not know what I can add to this. Equality of outcome is the heart of DEI and the heart of communism. It is the antithesis of the traditional American values of freedom and equality of opportunity and letting those who use their freedom and opportunities best prosper most.
Quote of the Day – Enemy Action
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it’s enemy action. – Auric Goldfinger, in the Ian Fleming novel, Goldfinger.
I am late today. It has been quite the week. I came back from visiting family in Dallas with a cold. Not a bad cold, but one that filled my lungs with goo making good sleep impossible. Most days I had four hours sleep. Last night I managed eight, but in four blocks of two hours each. Lack of sleep makes you stupid. Regardless, I still put in eight hours of each day at the day job. Working from home mostly, but working stupid.
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Quote of the Day – Adaptability
Global sea temperatures in the Ordovician period were sweltering, estimated at around 100F at the equator – John Long, The Secret History of Sharks
I am reviewing The Secret History of Sharks for Epoch Times. (It is a first-rate account of the development of sharks from their origins to the present. I recommend it.) This passage struck me when I read it because of all the fuss about global warming climate change going on today. The Ordovician Period began 485.4 million years ago and ended 443.8 million years ago. It followed the Cambrian Era. We are talking about a long time ago. Since life still populates Earth, it demonstrates that 100F tropical water temperatures are survivable.
Quote of the Day – Liberty
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof. It shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family. – Leviticus 25:10, KJV
“Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants thereof Lev. XXV X” is the inscription on the Liberty Bell, originally in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall. It was cast in its present form in 1753 and was used to announce the start of Pennsylvania Assembly sessions. It is most associated with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.
Quote of the Day – Success and Failure
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill
I used this quote once before but felt it worth repeating after the Supreme Court decisions of the last week. Several decisions served to encourage. Others proved problematic and discouraging. In all, I think there was much more of the former than the latter. I say take victories where you can. A baseball player who manages to consistently connect with the ball at the plate, getting on base seven times out of twenty, is bound for the Baseball Hall of Fame. It matters little that he fails the other thirteen at-bats.
Quote of the Day – Consent of the Governed
. . . you can do everything with bayonets except sit on them. If you want to preserve your power indefinitely, you have to get consent of the ruled. – Aldous Huxley
There are multiple variants to this quote. It is often ascribed to an interchange between Napoleon and Talleyrand when the former told his foreign minister, “You can do anything with a bayonet,” and Talleyrand responded, “Yes, sire, except sit on them.” Talleyrand pointed out a throne made of bayonets had to be sat upon very carefully. What had been created by force could easily collapse.
Quote of the Day – Reason (or the Lack Thereof)
To argue with a person who has renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead.
-Thomas Paine
He is right. Try discussing climate science with those who have drunk the environmentalist Kool-Aid. Or maybe the reality of two sexes with someone all-in on gender fluidity. Try discussing crime with someone fully convinced that punishing criminals for their actions is really an expression of systemic racism. Who honestly believes bigotry in favor of people of color is somehow different than bigotry that favors those who are white? That it is not just appropriate, but laudable.
QotD: Perpetual Amusement
I’m an early riser. It did not start out that way but that’s the way it is now. I get the sideways looks I most certainly gave others when I say I wake up between 0430-0530 daily without an alarm. So in that vein, I also know that there are things I can do or accomplish early as well. Home Depot opens at 0600 on Saturday and no one is there, it’s magical.
So in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, I alone pulled into the 24-hour gas station on Ft. Belvoir, tapped my card on the fuel pump, put in my zip, and then the screen told me I was good to go. I was going to quietly ride out my fill-up, but then it happened. The small screen atop the pump began with some incredibly loud, zippy infomercial shattering my relaxing dawn. I could not get away from it.
