Author: Crowhill Report

The prosecutor in the Rittenhouse case allegedly said that you lose the right to self defense when you carry a gun, which is a transparently stupid thing to say. If you’re not sure about that, please find a local cop or armed security guard and tell him that. Or go to any of the states that permit concealed and/or open carry.

I don’t know for sure if the prosecutor actually said that. It’s very possible his words are being twisted to make them look ridiculous.

In either event, somebody is misrepresenting the situation to get the reaction they want. It might be the prosecutor, it might be the news, or it might be both.

This has become acceptable. We take it for granted that people — lawyers, politicians, pundits, reporters — will lie and distort to promote their position.

I believe this comes down to what people used to call the fear of God. Or at least the fear of sin, and its corrupting influence.

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

We don’t believe in souls, or at least we don’t believe they can be forfeited. We believe in easy forgiveness. We don’t fear the idea that by intentionally sinning we might set ourselves on a path that leads to destruction. The end justifies any means.

This is not the mark of a healthy culture.

How about the people who have threatened the judge and jury in the Rittenhouse case if they don’t reach the verdict they want?

I haven’t followed the Rittenhouse story very much. It doesn’t particularly interest me. My casual opinion is that Rittenhouse was stupid to get involved the way he did, but that the shootings were in self defense. He’s probably liable for other charges.

But that’s not my point here. The bigger issue, IMO, is how the legal system can work when a trial “goes viral,” as they say.

The judge has been threatened. Jurors are afraid that if they come to the “wrong” verdict, there will be riots, and they might be attacked personally.

I don’t know how we solve this. We don’t want secret juries. We don’t want to tell the press what they can and can’t cover. But it’s also quite clear that these sorts of cases come with serious risk of an injustice being done because of the public attention.

It’s a world-wide problem.

Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Is Worse In E.U. Than U.S.

Austria introduces lockdown for unvaccinated. About 65% of Austrians have been vaccinated.

“Only 36% of surveyed Europeans strongly agree with the statement that vaccines are safe.”

Poll after poll conducted across Europe suggest very large numbers of Europeans have serious qualms about the safety of vaccines and potential short- and long-term adverse effects. They also voice concern about the speed with which vaccines went through the clinical development process. A vocal minority perceives the vaccine as unnecessary. And many have conveyed their mistrust of global and national authorities as well as pharmaceutical companies, who some regard as solely pursuing financial interests and not those of public health.

There are a lot of possible explanations for vaccine hesitancy. Stupid junk on the internet is certainly one factor, and a generalized distrust of authority is another.

I’m convinced people wouldn’t be as susceptible to internet nonsense if the public health authorities were more open and transparent.

When I hear about COP26, my main consolation is that the president can’t commit the U.S. to something without the approval of Congress. That is, if our system operates properly, which it hasn’t been doing recently. Obama was able to commit us to some climate nonsense, which Trump was able to undo. That’s not how it’s supposed to work.

With the Senate evenly divided, I’m hoping they will be able to prevent Biden from sleepwalking us into some bad policies.

BTW, can anyone remember how many decades it’s been that the world only has a decade to get greenhouse gases under control? I’m thinking it’s at least three.

COP26 is at least partially right. We should phase out fossil fuels, but we should replace them with energy that works. That means nukes.