Trans-Weather (02/04/23)

Although originally assigned to the category “in danger from global warming,” much of the Northern Hemisphere now identifies with freezing from record-setting cold.

How t Stop the Decline of Western Culture: Read Mises, Rand, and Reisman

Western Culture is in its greatest decline since the 3^rd Century, when the Graeco-Roman culture of the Ancient World began its descent into the Dark Ages. Self-made sub-morons declare that men can have babies and that one cannot say what a woman is without a degree in biology. 

Instead of being justly ridiculed and booed out of the Senate hearing room, one such moron was made a member of the US Supreme Court a few months ago. Why? Because her being a woman[?!] of color was thought essential to prove that the Court did not regard race or sex as essential.

What was proved, of course, is that a majority of the present US Senate is a pack or racist fools who tripped over a glaring contradiction that they hold, the contradiction between their alleged opposition to racism and their obvious racism.

They were racist in insisting that the candidate belong to a favored race, and also “sexist” in demanding that she belong to the favored female sex, which, unlike even a very small child, some of them can’t define.

Contemporary culture, the cultural “mainstream,” is a cesspool of absurdities and contradictions. It needs to be replaced.

One source of replacement is the inspiration that can be gained by studying works of the past. As the men of the Renaissance were inspired by the works of Antiquity, so too, we can be inspired the works of the more than 25 centuries that preceded us.

But there are some very recent authors, up to now largely ignored, who have a great deal to say that can be of great value in changing our cultural “mainstream,” particularly in the areas of philosophy and economics. They are Mises, Rand, and Reisman.

Mises’s Socialism and Human Action, Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and Reisman’s Capitalism are four of the most essential books of this kind.

Reisman’s Capitalism contains an extensive bibliography of books including, in addition to all of the works of Mises and Rand and the leading works of the enemies of capitalism, such as Marx and Keynes, the leading works of all lesser supporters of capitalism. 

(Search respectively under Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, and George Reisman in the category “All.”)

Biden Is Breaking the Law

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of race. Yet that is exactly what Pres. Biden is doing on behalf of his nominee to the Supreme Court. Republicans should name this fact repeatedly in the hearings and otherwise refuse to participate.

Federal prosecutors should bring charges against Biden both for this and for his daily defiance of immigration laws. Biden is operating as though he had been given the powers of Hitler under Germany’s Enabling Act of 1933, which allowed Hitler to do whatever he liked.

Washington’s Birthday

 

Today, February 22, is Washington’s Birthday. For most of our history, it was celebrated as a national holiday and deserves to be again. Lincoln’s Birthday can be combined with that of Martin Luther King and celebrated as “Black Freedom Day.”

However great the merits of Martin Luther King may be, they do not outweigh those of the Father of Our Country, which is what Washington was. Yet this is what is implied by giving King a national holiday but not Washington.

The communists, socialists, and progressives who attack Washington for owning slaves have no solid ground on which to do so, for, unlike Washington, who sought the end of slavery and ultimately freed his slaves, they seek the reimposition of slavery—for everyone.

Socialism requires that everyone work for the government, for whatever pittance the government chooses to pay. This is slavery.

Reason Is Infinitely More Important Than Race

 A commonality of skin color and associated facial features is as nothing compared to the fact that human beings of all races share the faculty of reason. The former may allow for an interesting group photo once in a while.

The latter is what underlies the accumulation and application of knowledge and gives to the members of all races the ability to produce the goods and services that the members of all races need and desire.

Every day the members of all races benefit from the work of the members of all other races in that greatest phenomenon of voluntary social cooperation, the division of labor and capitalism.

For elaboration, read my Capitalism. It’s available in Kindle, hardcopy, and a two-volume paperback edition at Amazon.com: george reisman, capitalism a treatise on economics

How Fox News Can Better Counter The Leftist Networks

Commentators on Fox News have rightly said that the various leftist networks make a major contribution to rioting and civil unrest by creating a false narrative on important events, which is then disappointed, seemingly with no explanation but some nonsense such as “white racism.”

Fox can do something about this. For one thing, it should post on YouTube such decisive commentaries as its showing how the prosecutor in the Rittenhouse case actually made the case for the defense.

Amazingly, he called one witness after another who testified that Rittenhouse was the victim of aggression, not the aggressor.

Fox should also post on YouTube all of its series of snippets showing one after another of the leftist commentators using the identical key words in their commentaries, as though they had all been briefed beforehand by the Ministry of Propaganda.

Finally, Fox should consider advertising on the other networks by showing how it differs from them, in not following a leftist party line, and catching them up in their lies, such as creating the impression that the men Rittenhouse shot were black.

Some Questions About Income Tax Audits

 

An income tax audit is essentially a search. Why, consistent with the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, doesn’t it require a search warrant signed by a judge?

Since income-tax audits sometimes lead to criminal prosecutions and jail sentences, why is it not a requirement that anyone whom the IRS wishes to audit, first be given a “Miranda Warning,” with its notification of the right to remain silent and to have an attorney present?

Why isn’t the 5^th Amendment to the US Constitution and its protection against self-incrimination a routine basis for the refusal to submit to an audit, thus requiring the IRS to make its cases without the cooperation of citizens forced to help in their own incrimination?