You would think the skies would know which way the prevailing winds blow, you know? Like the climate models, it depends on how you load up the computer with the assumptions of the programmer. If you believe in the story you are attempting to tell, naturally the process will direct you to what you know is already the correct answer. Sometimes that process fails. For example, Masks and Lab origins of pandemic viral infection are news (again).
The system in which we live- and served- recognizes the new power of the pervasive information streams that now flow on our phones, in, around, and through us. Universal knowledge right in our pockets! It has taken steps recently to unilaterally violate the very first Amendment. The terms of art are new things, like “Misinformation.” That used to be known as “disagreement.” That used to be a custom in public discourse.
You might recall that Amendment. It was the one about being able to gather peacefully to say what you think and what religion we might want to believe. Not necessarily at the same time. The Founders thought these rights were absolute personal authority issued from the authority of an all-mighty Deity. The young “people” who wrote the Amendment naturally recognized things Change. Therefore, the Amendments are themselves subject to amendment.
That is another change. We have modified or added to the first ten Amendments. There are now 27 of them in total, with six more still floating as “unratified.” Apparently, due to our various emergencies, following it appears to be too cumbersome a process. It is better to let the ever-accurate polls lead us through solutions issued from the Oval Office, right? Quick and responsive to whatever Emergency the system conjurs up. Since the new semi-formal alliance of Journalism and Executive Authority, we can dispense with incorrect thought and proceed directly to smart decision-making.
Like who paid for the research at the Wuhan Virology Institute. Simple stuff. Another one is on the docket this morning from the Supremes over at SCOTUS. They last caused a stir with the overturn of the Roe Vs. Wade decision, plus the unprecedented leak of that verdict in an attempt to change it on an a priori basis. Today they will attempt to wade through the Executive Decision to forgive student debt incurred on dubious courses of study. It is worth between $10K and $20K to those who signed up for debt, knowingly and willingly. It is the biggest debt forgiveness in history. For those of us who paid the entirety of college bills when our kids incurred them this smarts a bit. Shouldn’t there be a kickback to us, too? Instead, we are supposed pay for the education of kids we don’t know.
The justification for this current action is the old Emergency from whatever that disease, which we would have thought was over.
Think about it. The bill that contained the justification for spending the equivalent of half the Defense Bill of the most powerful military on earth is about helping out HEROS. Like all recent legisilation, the informal title of these bills amounts to the direct opposite. The Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students was became law in 2003. The title of the Bill suggests it was intended to provide financial support for university and technical students whose academic programs were thrown into chaos by the response to 9/11.
The idea that the White House could issue what is essentially a personal opinion on US Code is a fairly dramatic reinterpretation. Maybe it is a good thing, though it would seem be arbitrary and autocratic. We naturally honor the admonition from Chicago politics to “never let a crisis go to waste,” and the crisis being addressed is derived from one that is twenty years old. We recognize the essential need for graduates in gender studies and critical theory, both of which are essential for endless coffee-klatch public policy discussions in the Faculty Lounge.
We are still a little naive about how remarkable changes like this occur. They are floated as trial balloons across our national air space. We assume the SCOTUS, as currently constituted, may declare that an executive Order amounting to nearly 20% of the total Federal Budget, justified by an emergency twenty years old might be determined to be- you know, “irregular.”
We will see what comes out from the Court today. We assume the irregularity will be recognized with the admonition that Congress should pass something that is equitable and inclusive. If they feel like it.
We will how that goes. Meantime, one of the group did time with the Marines doing meteorologic things. He did a breakdown on what it is like to be on the ground in a time of seasonal change in combat. So, there may be some unpleasantness from the Judicial Branch today. But imagine for a moment you day includes a forecast like this:
“The weather has been hovering at freezing and for the next week in the Kharkiv area highs during the day will be in the mid 30s and there is going to be rain – and over the last two days there have been reports out of Bakhmut of the Ukrainians – in a repeat of a year ago – releasing water from reservoirs to turn field into mud.”
We are pleased not to be young and subject to the clouds of war. We do think we would prefer not to be hunched down in the ruins of a building near Bakhmut in Ukraine’s eastern Oblasts. That would be an emergency beyond denial.
Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com