Author: Crowhill Report

P&C drink and review Joyous IPA from Troegs, then talk about tattletales and crybabies. The boys are sick of them, but it seems their ranks are swelling.

Instant gratification. The daily outrage. Helicopter parents. Participation trophies. And people get extremely upset over the most ridiculous things.

How have we come to this place? How did we become so coddled and spoiled?

The boys discuss possible causes from three angles: technology, culture, and the geopolitical situation. Plus the malaise of safety.

The Babylon Bee — the paper of record — had the perfect satire for the idea of increasing the Supreme Court to 13 justices: Losing Baseball Team Suggests New Rules Allowing Them To Add 4 Players To The Field.

But just because the recent proposal is somewhat ridiculous doesn’t change the fact that some reforms might be wise.

ISTM there are two main problems with the court.

The first is that the court has been filling a legislative vacuum. The solution for that has little to do with the court. Congress needs to step up. Not that I want this Congress to do anything but resign, but in general terms, Congress needs to stop pushing off their legislative duty on the courts and the federal agencies.

The second problem is the obvious one — that the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice is such a partisan drama. For that one, I think the solution is to expand the court to dilute the impact of any given nomination. But not from 9 to 13. That’s peanuts. It needs to be a much bigger number.

There’s currently about 179 judges on the federal bench. Why not just have them rotate in and out on the Supreme Court? That would severely reduce the significance of any individual nomination.

No, I am not quoting the climate change girl. I’m quoting a fully grown woman who reamed out my lovely dental hygienist because she sent her kids back to school.

“You’re putting the teachers at risk.”

The moral expert apparently went on for about ten minutes, complaining about how horrible a human being is the woman who has been taking care of my teeth for about a decade. (She’s very friendly, and somehow manages to remember all my children and what they’re doing, and other details I would never expect her to know.)

I can’t imagine speaking to someone that way. It’s like the worst caricature of the Methodist Church Lady, going around wagging her finger and hectoring and lecturing from her holier than thou perch.

How did we get here? It’s not only that people are dead certain about things way over their heads, and about which there is legitimate debate (otherwise the schools wouldn’t have opened!), but they’re willing to make enemies about this stuff.

… I would put aside money to …

• cope with disasters (at least some of which will be unexpected).
• move large numbers of people out of threatened areas.
• take care of refugees.

But those would be short-term solutions. I would also work on the legal, social and financial framework for getting these people into a new life where they can thrive, and not simply be cared for in refugee camps.

One of the last things I would be doing is fretting over converting the U.S. to solar energy. That is too much like polishing the brass on a sinking ship.

If I really believed CO2 was an “existential threat,” I would be doing everything possible to convert the global energy market to nuclear power.

Which all reminds me of Glen Reynolds’ saying about global warming: I’ll start believing in it when the people who say they believe in it start acting like it.