Is treason the right word for Joe Biden’s contemptible border policies?

If his goal was to undermine the United States, I don’t know what Joe Biden would have done differently.

He’s weakened and demoralized our military. He’s sold off large portions of our strategic petroleum reserve. He practically invited a Russian incursion into Ukraine, then got us involved in the conflict. He’s intentionally destroying our energy industry. He’s actively trying to destroy what’s left of our culture — in many different ways. He’s done nothing to preserve the dollar’s status as the world reserve currency, which will have a dire economic impact on the country. I think it’s likely that he has accepted bribes against the interests of the United States.

The man is despicable, and I have sometimes said he’s a traitor.

But I think I’m wrong about that.

Webster’s defines treason in a relatively narrow way. It means an attempt to overthrow the government or to kill or injure the sovereign or his family.

The U.S. Constitution defines treason like this: Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.

By that definition, you might be able to make a case that Biden is a traitor. Allowing our border states to be overrun could (maybe) be considered an act of war, but if it turns out that he has taken bribes from China, that would definitely qualify.

Biden is treacherous. He’s a disaster of a president and will go down in history as the worst ever. But up to this point, I don’t think it’s fair to accuse him of treason.

The liberal obsession with guns

After every mass shooting, liberals call for more restrictions on guns. Generally speaking, I’m in favor of allowing people to arm themselves, but there are legitimate questions about what that means. For example, we all seem comfortable with the idea that citizens can have shotguns but can’t have machine guns, so it’s really a question of where to draw the line.

I don’t pretend that I know exactly where that line should be drawn, although I know enough about guns to know that the “assault weapon” talk is usually a display of ignorance. It has more to do with what a gun looks like than its actual capabilities.

America definitely has a gun obsession, although most of the time, people think it’s only the right that’s obsessed with guns. That’s not true. The left is equally obsessed with guns.

You can see that obsession in at least three areas.

  • The fantasy that more gun regulation will stop these mass murders. It won’t.
  • The refusal to look at any other ways to address this problem, like re-evaluating our mental health system, or to look at deeper sociological problems, like fatherlessness.
  • Resistance to the idea of allowing citizens to protect themselves — as if the police can do that.

In addition to the gun obsession, the left has a very weird view of the use of government power. They have no problem with armed-to-the-teeth police raids on peaceful people they don’t agree with politically, but they’re often against police use of force against actual criminals. It’s very weird.

I recently saw a spot on some news program where Trey Gowdy — seemingly fighting back tears after some horrific murder — said he’d be willing to give up all his gun rights if somebody proposed a solution that would actually stop these horrible crimes. I think that’s short-sighted, but it highlights a significant truth.

None of the “gun control” proposals would stop these horrible events.

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”

I heard this quote (from Arthur C. Clarke) for the umpteenth time today, and while I think there’s an important insight here, the saying irritates me.

The important insight is that advanced technologies might be able to wow the superstitious mind.

The truth is that the technology doesn’t have to be all that advanced. Imagine visiting a group of people who don’t have writing. The ability to send a message with some scribbles on a piece of paper might seem like magic.

Here’s what I don’t like about the saying.

  • “Sufficiently advanced technology” sounds too much like the “No True Scotsman” fallacy.
  • He hasn’t defined magic.
  • People react differently to unexplainable phenomena. E.g., some said it thundered.

So while I don’t dispute that there’s a legit insight here, there’s so much wiggle room and ambiguity that it strikes me as a bit arrogant and condescending.

What are these strange new UFOs?

I’ve always regarded interest in UFOs as a bit nutty, but apparently the evidence has mounted to the point that it’s not a question of whether they exist, but what they are. This episode from Daily Wire is very helpful.

So, what are they?

Reports indicate that these craft demonstrate abilities that go way beyond anything we can do. Rapid accelerations, sudden 90-degree turns, disappearing and reappearing, no obvious signs of propulsion, etc.

A possible explanation is that these reports are incorrect, and these craft are not doing anything all that special. It’s possible, but I don’t consider that likely. “Top men” have reviewed this carefully and say this stuff is real and serious.

If these craft are from China or Russia, we’re in serious trouble. The good news is that explanation seems unlikely because the tech is so far ahead, and would represent a sudden and dramatic leap in capabilities. You usually see evidence of that sort of thing in other technologies. Or so I’m told.

The same applies to the assumption these are secret U.S. devices.

The idea that they’re aliens from another planet seems very goofy to me. Why the heck would aliens come all this way and just flick around here and there? Invade, or say hello, or something.

Someone will say aliens have already made contact and our governments are hiding it, which I also find unlikely. It’s not unlikely that the government would lie. That’s a dead certainty. It’s unlikely they’d be so competent at it for such an extended period of time.

We also need to consider that “alien” means more than just beings somewhat like us, with weird ears or extra fingers or something, who come from another place. If they are aliens, they could be so different from us that our attempts to understand their motivations or strategy would be pretty useless.

Some people will say they’re angels, to which I say (1) how is that all that different from saying they’re aliens?, and (2) I can hear Captain Kirk saying “Why does God need a space ship?” (Star Trek 5.)

What other options are there?

  • Some hidden culture that’s lived in secret on this planet all this time that we didn’t notice?
  • Time travelers?
  • A modern-day version of Captain Nemo?

I’m hoping it’s all a bit of a mistake, and these are just the modern equivalent of weather balloons, but … I’m afraid that’s probably not right.

Who attacked the Kremlin?

By now you’ve probably seen footage of an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin.

Putin is claiming this was an assassination attempt by Ukraine. That’s certainly one possibility, although it seems it might qualify as the lamest assassination attempt ever in history.

It could be a false flag operation by Russia. It could be Russian separatists. It could be a weird mistake, or … I suppose it could even be AI (although I seriously doubt that).

Who do you think did it, and will this escalate the conflict?