Individual States did not coordinate efforts of their respective militias or National guards in December, 1941, to fight in what became called World War II. A year ago the U.S. faced a World conflict with an “enemy” more implacable than in 1941.

If the (now nearly-500,000) deaths from COVID did little to change anyone’s mind about the efficacy of States’ experiments in how we address problems we face, the operation of free market forces in provision of energy in Texas probably won’t…

The dumbing down of America coincided with the spread of the audio virus people came to know as Rush Limbaugh. I shall not recount his generally misanthropic philosophy or cite specific instances of his hate-filled rants.

Instead, I want to quote the late Carl Sagan and what he foresaw: “I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time - when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped…

Paul Ogden blogged yesterday about the need for a new Constitution. Like many of my friend’s ideas, they are meant well, but horrible. A Convention can be called by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress or by two-thirds of the States’ legislatures. Const. Art. V.

The results of that convention would have to be ratified by the legislatures of “three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof...” THERE CAN BE NO LIMITS ON A CONVENTION ONCE…

In southern Indiana this morning I drove past three yards where Confederate flags flew, two with trump/pence flags. This afternoon trump was acquitted by the Senate, although the majority voted to convict. Seven members of the Republican Party voted Guilty.

The values of this iteration of the Republican Party are warped. They find impeachable the act of receiving oral sex in the Oval Office, but give a “pass” to a would-be dictator who sought to overturn the results of an election to…

Observations after Day 2 of the Impeachment trial. 1) Incitement to riot is not protected by the First Amendment. Feiner v. New York, 340 U.S. 315, 321 (1951). Trump, in his January 6 speech, used inflammatory words to move the mob.

trump (1) for months prior to and weeks after the 2020 election, disparaged its validity; (2) tweeted his followers to come D.C. for January 6, when electors’ votes would be counted: “Big protests in D.C. on January 6. Be there. Will be wild!"

The…

History is the past and the present. We can learn a lot from it. From when “with increasing frequency they were taking to the streets to molest and murder their political opponents. No election ... took place without savage battles in the gutters.”

Or how “auxiliary police” raised their flag “on office buildings everywhere” a symbolic gesture “tolerated or approved by the majority of state government ministers, who were intimidated by simultaneous demonstrations of massed columns in…

History is the past and the present. We can learn a lot from it. From when “with increasing frequency they were taking to the streets to molest and murder their political opponents. No election ... took place without savage battles in the gutters.”

Or how “auxiliary police” raised their flag “on office buildings everywhere” a symbolic gesture “tolerated or approved by the majority of state government ministers, who were intimidated by simultaneous demonstrations of massed columns in…

The Second Amendment consists of 27 words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” An asterisk should note: an individual’s right is a relatively recent interpretation.

Under no conceivable reconstruction of our past could anyone rationally say the purpose of the Second Amendment was to enable mobs to force members of Congress to cower in fear as those members consider…

Yesterday a friend suggested I change the topic, guns, I planned to discuss. She said everyone is discussing the impeachment trial. I agree: trump’s trial is important. One issue that needs to be discussed, especially in light of January 6, is private ownership of guns.

One reason people own a gun is self-defense: to defend against a burglar. However, statistics, compiled by Jacksonville State University, show only 27.6% of burglaries occur when someone’s home. If you are not there to…

Today on Civil Discourse Now (4 pm): Guns! (To save space I’ll refer to “guns” instead “gun or guns.”) In the USA private ownership makes gunshot wound (“GSW”) a frequent mechanism of death. In 2018 that number was 39,740 people. (UC Davis, “What You Can Do.”)

Reasons people own guns: self-defense, oppose tyranny, sport/hobby (target shooting, hunting, collecting), inherited, and belief gun ownership is required. However, if a specific reason to own a gun is invalid, that’s a good…

In the Answer to the Article of Impeachment, attorneys for the former POTUS may have admitted, inadvertently, to important facts that could undermine the defense they intend to interpose - that a person, once out of office, cannot be impeached.

First, the statement of an opposing party made by the party in an individual or representative capacity is not considered “hearsay.” F.R.Evid. 801(d)(2)(A); United States v. Nixon, 418 U.S. 683, 700-01, 94 S.Ct. 3090, 3104, 41 L.Ed.2d 1039…

ONE: a call-in show sponsored by someone FROM THE LEFT. TWO: premieres tomorrow, February 4. THIRD: I’ll get to that.

On January 6, trump incited idiotic violent bullies to flood The Capitol and they, in turn, have scared the excrement out of GOP members of Congress who, in turn, are trying to bully other members of Congress.

Bullies are chicken ... well, to be polite, CS. (See, “American Graffiti”.) They bully others after having been bullied themselves. This thuggery has…

Toward the end of “Caddy Shack,” Danny putts and the ball ... just ... hangs ... on ... the ... edge ... of... the... cup. As everyone around is confused by the explosions from Carl’s war on gophers, the referee keeps his eye on the ball that finally ... drops.

We become distracted if we concentrate on one front of the assault on our Constitution and pay no attention to others. One candidate for the GOP nomination in INCD5, Rev Micah Beckwith, will be back. And that’s scary.

A…

THE FUTURE: as seen by the GOP versus the Democratic Party. The GOP has been heavy on slams against what it hates. Affordable health care for all is “socialism.” Racial equality and women’s rights deny freedom. Clean environment means hurting economy.

GOP: keep things simple and speak in single voice. Capitalism: good. EPA: bad. Army: good. Peace: bad (U.S. looks weak). Prisons: good. Legalize drugs: bad. 2nd Amendment: good. Mass shootings: don’t touch our guns! Prayer in school:…

The rule is universal: neither a material witness to, nor a victim of, an alleged crime can serve on the jury before which the person accused of that crime is tried. There are good reasons for this, amongst them jurors are to be disinterested.

The Article of Impeachment, in relevant part, states: On January 6, incited by trump, members of the crowd he had addressed ... unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and ... menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and…

My good friend Paul Ogden replied to my blog “Senators who are witnesses cannot serve as jurors.” Mr Ogden did not reply to that contention. I had said Senators will serve as “jurors” in trump’s impeachment trial. Victims and material witnesses are excluded as jurors.

Instead, Mr Ogden took issue with how I described the reasons for the Civil War: The South seceded to preserve slavery and 4 of the states (GA, MS, SC, and TX) issued statements why they seceded; “a clear, primary…

Full statement of secession of Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and South Carolina plus secession declaration of Virginia

GEORGIA

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the…

Without conducting a poll, I’d say a majority of Hoosiers either would have supported trump’s coup, had it been successful, or would have complacently accepted a “strong man.” In short, they either would have encouraged or tolerated the takeover of this country by a dictator.

The Framers of the Constitution warned against “a number of citizens, whether amounting to a majority or minority of the whole, who are united and activated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest,…

To punish GOP U.S. House Reps who voted for his most recent impeachment and to discourage any GOP Senators from voting to convict, trump has threatened to start his own political party. In trump’s onanistic cosmos, his is the only hand for the job.

To start a “new” political party takes more than to simply declare it exists, and, voila, it has slots on the ballot. Each States’s laws vary. Indiana recognizes two “major” political parties, the two that receive the most votes in the most…

If you lack the capacity to be moral, you cannot be allowed to participate in a democratic form of government. That is an inference reasonably drawn when one listens to or reads advocates of a theocracy in this country.

We just emerged from four years of rule by one who was backed by religious extremists. As I wrote yesterday, of our two major political parties, one (GOP) is controlled by a minority that believes this country was founded as, and should be restored to, a…