This was remarkably insightful from the immortal Sargon of Akkad:
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Cargo Cult Remake
Posted July 3, 2024 By John C WrightThe Phoenix Exultant Ep. 16: The Fire
Posted July 3, 2024 By John C WrightFrom THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.
But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?
Not Tired of Winning Yet CLXX
Posted July 1, 2024 By John C WrightIn Trump v. United States, the court holds that a former president has absolute immunity for his core constitutional powers.
The High Court language is clear enough to speak for itself. Allow me simply to quote:
A federal grand jury indicted former President Donald J. Trump on four counts for conduct that occurred during his Presidency following the November 2020 election. The indictment alleged that after losing that election, Trump conspired to overturn it by spreading knowingly false claims of election fraud to obstruct the collecting, counting, and certifying of the election results. Trump moved to dismiss the indictment based on Presidential immunity, arguing that a President has absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions performed within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities, and that the indictment’s allegations fell within the core of his official duties. The District Court denied Trump’s motion to dismiss, holding that former Presidents do not possess federal criminal immunity for any acts. The D. C. Circuit affirmed. Both the District Court and the D. C. Circuit declined to decide whether the indicted conduct involved official acts.
Held: Under our constitutional structure of separated powers, the nature of Presidential power entitles a former President to absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for actions within his conclusive and preclusive constitutional authority. And he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity from prosecution for all his official acts. There is no immunity for unofficial acts. Pp. 5–43. (a) This case is the first criminal prosecution in our Nation’s history of a former President for actions taken during his Presidency. Determining whether and under what circumstances such a prosecution may proceed requires careful assessment of the scope of Presidential power under the Constitution. The nature of that power requires that a former President have some immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts during his tenure in office. At least with respect to the President’s exercise of his core constitutional powers, this immunity must be absolute. As for his remaining official actions, he is entitled to at least presumptive immunity. Pp. 5–15.
The whole opinion is available behind the link above.
No comment is needed from me. The case is self explanatory to anyone familiar with even the basic principles of constitutional law, or, for that matter, basic common sense. That is had to go all the way to the Supreme Court when any District Court or even any 1st year Law Student could have reached this result is a sad sign of the sick corruption rotting the minds and souls of our society.
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Knights and Knaves
Posted July 1, 2024 By John C WrightThe most recent talking point from the Enemy is to say that, while Biden was unable to speak, think or function on the debate stage, at least he told the truth, while everything Trump said was lies.
Everything? I watched the whole debate. Trump is not an articulate speaker, and at times he is vague, but I heard not a single lie from him.
The problem I have is this:
Anyone debunk Biden’s lies quite easily, and quote sources. Even Snopes, of all places, lists the “Fine People on Both Sides” hoax as a lie. Shame on them for not being man enough to do the same for the “Trump said Injecting Bleach cures COVID” hoax, nor the “Losers and Suckers” hoax. )
But I can find no definitive list supporting the claims of Trump lying which quote sources. I cannot even find a good list of what the lies are alleged to be.
Boasts are not lies, nor is speaking off the cuff, nor are jokes, nor are exaggerations, since none of theses are meant to deceive, nor have the power to deceive anyone but a child.
The following list is the closest I can find:
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Not Tired of Winning Yet CLXIX
Posted June 29, 2024 By John C WrightThe Supreme Court this very day in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. ___ (2024) together with a companion case, Relentless, Inc. v. Department of Commerce, rescinded the nigh unbridled power of the Administrative State to interpret their own laws for themselves, called the Chevron doctrine.
The Loper and Relentless ruling today held that The Administrative Procedure Act requires courts to exercise their independent judgment in deciding whether an agency has acted within its statutory authority. The courts may not defer to an agency interpretation of the law simply because a statute is silent or ambiguous; Chevron is overruled.
Justice Neil Gorsuch in the concurring opinion writes “…today, the Court places a tombstone on Chevron no one can miss. In doing so, the Court returns judges to interpretative rules that have guided federal courts since the Nation’s founding.”
This ruling is a significant and far-reaching as the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) overruling Roe v. Wade (1973).
The case being overruled is Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, (467 U.S. 837, 104 S. Ct. 2778 (1984)) which established the Chevron doctrine. At first Chevron was a minor case, but, as with Roe v Wade, successive layers of reinterpretation expanded its meaning far beyond the original holding, and made it the single most cited case in administrative law.
The Chevron doctrine held that if Congress has not directly said otherwise in the authorizing statue, a court must defer the agency’s own interpretation of the statute authorizing the agency, provided it was reasonable. In other words, Federal Agencies merely decided for themselves what their own powers were, and what they were authorized to do.
Vacated and remanded, 6-2, in an opinion by Chief Justice Roberts on June 28, 2024. Justices Thomas and Gorsuch concurred. Justice Kagan filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justice Sotomayor joined. Justice Jackson recused herself. However, Jackson joined the dissent in the Relentless case.
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CNN Defeats Biden
Posted June 28, 2024 By John C WrightI saw the strange spectacle of the Trump-Biden debate on CNN last night, and while I am happy that Trump has now has no foreseeable chance of being defeated by Biden, I am unhappy that neither I, nor any political commentator whom I noticed, foresaw that CNN and the cabal directing the DNC would undermine and backstab Biden.
The moderators of the debate, Trump-haters suffering terminal stage-four Trump Derangement Syndrome, maintained evenhanded decorum, ask balanced questions of both sides, and, more to the point, neither fake-factchecked Trump nor favored Biden. It was literally the last thing I expected.
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Review: Disney’s THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE
Posted June 27, 2024 By John C WrightWatching or rewatching all the Disney full length animated features in order is fascinating, as it puts each work in historical perspective.
With Disney’s THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE (1986), we near the end of the Disney’s Dry Spell of inferior offerings and see hints of the renaissance to come. As with all Disney films, childhood memories make objectivity nigh impossible, but, in my particular case, I had never seen this film before, no heard any review of it, so my first viewing is as a graybeard of many winters.
And yet I was delighted.
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The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 15: A Civilized Man
Posted June 26, 2024 By John C WrightFrom THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.
But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?
Rockets Landing on Tailfins
Posted June 26, 2024 By John C WrightHere in the far future year of AD 2024, rockets land on their tailfins as God and Robert Heinlein intended.
Elon Musk, the D.D. Harriman of our timeline, posted this on the worldwide computerized Telstar-linked visiphone system we use.
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/
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Thought for Today
Posted June 25, 2024 By John C WrightWhy are conservative women consistently prettier than radical women?
My theory: there is a natural reason and a supernatural reason.
Conservative women are happier and healthier.
Killing one’s own child in the womb, witchcraft, sexually mutilating children and grooming them for homo-pederasty causes self-hatred in women. They overeat, pierce themselves, tattoo their flesh, stain or shave their hair in purple half-bald spectacles.
All this betrays self loathing. They love ugliness. You serve the Devil, you may start to look like the Devil.
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Lt Gov Mark Robinson
Posted June 23, 2024 By John C WrightI would like to see this man as vice president and then later as president. He is a powerhouse of a speaker.
I post this to draw attention, my brothers and sisters in Christ, to his first dream of seeing who will visit him in his mansion in heaven. Amen to what he says.
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Thought for the Day
Posted June 22, 2024 By John C WrightFrom the pen of “Darwin to Atheist” on Twitter. He is answering a crackpot who casts doubt on the historical figure of Jesus on the grounds that no contemporary written accounts of Him survive.
***
Below are other historical figures, and the earliest accounts we have of them.
Alexander the Great
•Lifetime: 356-323 BC
•Earliest Accounts:
•Arrian: “Anabasis of Alexander” written around AD 130-150, about 400 years after Alexander’s death.
•Plutarch: “Life of Alexander” written around AD 100, about 400 years after Alexander’s death.
Julius Caesar
•Lifetime: 100-44 BC
•Earliest Accounts:
•Suetonius: “The Twelve Caesars” written around AD 121, about 165 years after Caesar’s death.
•Plutarch: “Life of Caesar” written around AD 100, about 150 years after Caesar’s death.
Tiberius Caesar
•Lifetime: 42 BC – AD 37
•Earliest Accounts:
•Tacitus: “Annals” written around AD 115, about 80 years after Tiberius’s death.
•Suetonius: “The Twelve Caesars” written around AD 121, about 85 years after Tiberius’s death.
Socrates
•Lifetime: 470-399 BC
•Earliest Accounts:
•Plato: Various dialogues written soon after Socrates’s death, but the best-preserved texts are from about 50-100 years later.
•Xenophon: Writings also from about 50 years after Socrates’s death.
**Comparison with Jesus**
•Lifetime: Circa 4 BC – AD 30
•Earliest Accounts:
•Paul’s Epistles: Written between AD 50-60, within 20-30 years of Jesus’s death.
•Gospels (Mark): Generally dated to around AD 70, about 40 years after Jesus’s death.
•Josephus: AD 93-94, about 60 years after Jesus’s death.
•Tacitus: AD 115, about 85 years after Jesus’s death.
For a crucified Jewish carpenter to have records of his existence earlier than all of the above figures… that’s pretty impressive, don’t you think?
****
Postscript: an added bonus, from another account called Autocorrect:
Regarding the carefully folded burial cloth found by St Peter in the tomb.
In Hebrew tradition, when a Master was done eating he would wad up the napkin and toss it on to the table, so the servant would know to clean up. When he carefully folded his napkin, that meant “don’t touch anything, I’ll be back”
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Poetry Corner: The Friar of Orders Gray
Posted June 22, 2024 By John C WrightA reader named Jeanine asked about the poem which heads the short story “By His Cockle Hat and Staff”
This short story was published in Forbidden Thoughts edited by Jason Rennie (Superversive Press, January 2017). Introduction by Milo Yiannopolous. Stories by Nick Cole, John C. Wright, Sarah A. Hoyt, Brad R. Torgersen, &c. Non-fiction articles by Tom Kratman and Larry Corriea. Buy nine copies today! Send my kids to college!
Unbeknownst to me, this same poem is quoted by Shakespeare, for Ophelia sing in mourning as she goes mad, “He is dead and gone, lady, / He is dead and gone, / At his head a grass-green turf, / At his heels a stone” (IV.v.29-32).
Here is the whole:
The Friar of Orders Gray
Thomas Percy (1729–1811)
Adapted from old ballads
IT was a friar of orders gray
Walked forth to tell his beads;
And he met with a lady fair
Clad in a pilgrim’s weeds.
“Now Christ thee save, thou reverend friar;
I pray thee tell to me,
If ever at yon holy shrine
My true-love thou didst see.”
“And how should I know your true-love
From many another one?”
“O, by his cockle hat, and staff,
And by his sandal shoon.
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The Phoenix Exultant Ep. 14: Silence Falls
Posted June 19, 2024 By John C WrightFrom THE PHOENIX EXULTANT, vol. II of my debut trilogy.
In the far future, where men are as gods, living lives of perfect peace and prosperity, Phaethon of Rhadamanthus discovers all memory of his lifework has been hidden from him. For he is the engineer of the sole starship his civilization has ever produced: the mighty, majestic, and immense Phoenix Exultant. She is a ship to conquer the stars.
But such ambition is outlawed in utopia. Phaethon is a pariah, exiled mentally and physically, denuded of possessions, and cast down among outcasts. His life is sought by sinister agents of the Silent Oecumene: an apocalyptic menace none but he dares see. For in a world where mind or memory can be edited at will, what is truth?
Interview: Atheist to Catholic
Posted June 19, 2024 By John C WrightI have an interview today on Kyle Whittington’s podcast.
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