During my absence from this blog (occasioned by the demands of paying work), the news has been even more ominous than usual:
- Our Second Cold War adversaries, Communist China and Russia (same as the First Cold War, with the senior and junior adversaries reversed), have shattered the anti-Iran front that has long been a pillar of U.S. Middle East policy by brokering a reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Tehran.
- Meanwhile, President Biden barged into the politics of America’s other Middle East pillar, Israel. Not only did he announce his opposition to proposed judicial reforms and declare that he would shun Israel’s prime minister for an indefinite period, but the U.S. ambassador to Israel took a leading role in coordinating the anti-reform campaign. I’ll forgo discussion of the merits of the proposals, which now appear to be stalled. John Podhoretz has penned an informed discussion of the political background, showing inter alia how aberrant it is to claim that Israel’s governing coalition is flouting, rather than practicing, democracy.
- Notwithstanding the array of Ukrainian flags on Twitter feeds, the Russo-Ukrainian War has ground to a stalemate, as the Biden Administration continues its dual policies of fervent rhetorical support for Kiev and tardy, desultory action.
- Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, two significant if not gigantic institutions, have collapsed. They were the victims of either inflation or a preference for left-wing politics over sound banking practices. However that may be, the federal government reacted with a de facto extension of insurance coverage to all bank deposits, the equivalent of a fire insurance company’s announcement that it’s fine to scatter oil-soaked rags around your house while smoking cigarettes. Either this is a moral hazard blunder that will lead to more bank failures in the future or</.em> it is a special deal for politically connected bankers that won’t be repeated when community banks in flyover country experience runs. Either alternative is unsettling.
- A mob of thugs who have somehow been admitted to Stanford Law School shouted down a federal judge who had been invited to speak to the campus Federalist Society chapter. The dean in charge of diversity, equity and inclusion (who else would it have been?) sided with the hooligans, warning the judge to consider whether, when it comes to freedom of speech, “the juice is worth the squeeze”. That ought to be the metaphor to be pondered by the “students”: Is the joy of harassing heretics worth the squeeze of expulsion? But, needless to say, none of them will receive any punishment more severe than being required to attend a half day seminar on the First Amendment, at which they will jeer.
- Nashville was the site of what may have been our country’s (and probably the world’s) first incident of “stochastic terrorism”. That’s an idea that has been floating around the Left, to wit, that disagreeing with leftists leads mentally ill individuals to target the persons disagreed with. The theory’s proponents overlook two points: First, there’s no reason why disagreeing with conservatives or moderates wouldn’t have the same effect. Second, the more hysterical the cause, the more plausible the effect. There’s currently no cause more given to hysterical overstatement than “transgender rights”. A few days ago, a psychotic young female who desired to demonstrate that she was really a male (and a toxic male at that) massacred six human beings of both sexes who taught at or attended a Christian school. Thus we see the chain leading from rabid denunciation through mental illness to murder of the denounced. It’s worth noting that the anti-biology zealots have rushed to declare that the “trans community” is the real murder victim. If “stochastic terrorism” is something real, won’t that narrative beget the next slaughter?
- Oh, by the way, the trustees of the Social Security System have released their annual report, which is as gloomy as ever. The time when either benefits will have to be slashed or taxes hiked is a year closer. The somewhat misnamed Center on Budget and Policy Priorities assures us that there’s nothing much to worry about: Full benefits are safe until 2035 (or maybe 2034), and that’s a dozen years away. Something will turn up, as financial wizard Wilkins Micawber used to say.
Well, then, as I emerge from my burrow, what is everyone talking about? Former President Trump has been indicted for what is, to all appearances, conduct that no one even pretends would be criminal if committed by anybody not named Donald John Trump. That’s not good, but Mr. Trump is hardly the first public figure to be subjected to unmerited prosecution. Franklin Roosevelt’s minions devoted thousands of hours of effort and millions of dollars of tax money to trying to jail Andrew Mellon. More recent the farcical indictments of John Connolly, Ray Donovan and Tom DeLay (and Senator Ted Stevens, whose conviction was obtained through prosecutorial misconduct). Before declaring that America’s Constitutional order has broken down, perhaps we see how our judicial system operates under pressure. Mr. Trump isn’t without resources. He can defend himself and doesn’t need for every amateur lawyer in the county to weigh in on his case.
China, Russia, the Middle East, Israel, Ukraine, the banking system, enemies of reasoned discourse, looming financial commitments that our country lacks the resources to meet: Those deserve more attention, I think, than the legal tangles of a billionaire.