Lessons from Oppenheimer: The Imperative of Nuclear Conflict Avoidance
“Where there were great military actions, there lies whitening now the jawbone of an ass.” Saint-John Perse (French poet, 1887-1975) As film, the core importance of “Oppenheimer” lies in its messages on human survival. The personal, emotional and romantic aspects of the film are captivating, to be sure, but they are less consequential than any [...]
Love, Suffering, Pity, and Death: The Tragic Sense of World Politics
“The most tragic thing in the world and in life, readers and brothers of mine, is love. Love is the child of illusion and the parent of disillusion; love is consolation in desolation; it is the sole medicine against death, for love is death’s brother.” Miguel de Unamuno, Tragic Sense of Life Looking Beneath: World [...]
This Day in History: The Law of Gobblers and Other Tasty Sides
It is Thanksgiving Day. The aroma of turkey; of dressing; candied sweet potatoes; green bean casserole; cranberry sauce; freshly baked yeast rolls; giblet gravy, and of pies emanating from the kitchen fills our nostrils. Home is the place to be today. But have you ever given thought to the law of the gobbler? This Day in [...]
Alabama to Subject Death Row Spiritual Advisors to Nitrogen Gas Risks
In its euthanasia guidelines, the American Veterinary Medical Association advises against the use of nitrogen gas to kill rats. And yet Alabama is pushing ahead with plans to experiment with using the gas to execute its condemned. Even defendants convicted of the cruelest of murders cannot, except for cynically and spitefully, be said to be [...]
US Supreme Court releases orders after September 'long conference'
The US Supreme Court released orders Friday and Monday after its September “long conference.” The court granted certiorari for 12 cases Friday and two cases Monday for its Winter term, to be argued in January or February. All cases listed in Friday’s order were granted certiorari. The accepted cases include: Moody v. Netchoice; Netchoice v. [...]
Beyond the Declaration of Independence: Of Wisdom, Virtue, and Principles of Government
The great end of government and laws is human happiness; the rulers ought, therefore, to understand and know on what it consists; and the means of producing it. — Hon. Jesse Root, “On the Principles and End of Government” The summer of 1776 was quite productive in the annals of American intellectual and legal thought. [...]
Beyond the Declaration: Discovering the Meanings of American Independence
Few periods in the history of western intellectual thought have been more productive in so little time than the work product which flowed from the Continental Congress during the summer of 1776. On April 19, 1775, when the “shot heard around the world,” would forever become part of our history – British North America was [...]
A court in northern Argentina Friday convicted former Catholic Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta of sexually abusing two former seminarians at St. John XXIII Seminary. Zanchetta was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for committing “simple, continued and aggravated sexual abuse.” The court also ordered for his DNA to be included in the national [...]
2021 is ending sadly for Americans who believe in the rule of law, the supremacy of constitutional rights and/or the institutional authority and reputation of the US Supreme Court. On September 1 and again on December 10, five Supreme Court Justices essentially hoisted the white flag of surrender when presented with different challenges to S.B. [...]
Natural Law and the United States Constitution: Still Vital Connections
Abstract: Ideas of Natural Law were crucial in drafting the US Constitution. These seminal ideas were made known to document “framers” largely by way of William Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England. The Commentaries represent the truest philosophic origins of America’s legal system. In these dissembling times of recurrent political manipulation, Blackstone’s work warrants [...]
