Saturday, December 26, 2020

Twelve Times the Advocates of Lockdowns Were Wrong

 Here's an article from AEIR.ORG by Phillip W. Magness


Twelve Times...


From the article linked below.

 "This has been a year of astonishing policy failure. We are surrounded by devastation conceived and cheered by intellectuals and their political handmaidens. The errors number in the thousands so please consider (these 12) to be little more than a first draft - 

Twelve-times-the-lockdowners-were-wrong/


Tuesday, December 01, 2020

Quote of the Week: Daniel Webster

 "I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing. Make them intelligent, and they will be vigilant; give the the means of detecting the wrong, and they will apply the remedy." (1837)



Wednesday, November 25, 2020

WARNING! The Great Reset Is Upon Us.

The World Plato Wanted 


H/T: The Savvy Street


Excerpts:

About twenty-four hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato came up with the idea of constructing the state and society according to an elaborate plan. Plato wanted “wise men” (philosophers) at the helm of the government, but he also made it clear that his kind of state would need a transformation of the humans. In modern times, the promoters of the omnipotent state want to substitute Plato’s philosopher with the expert and create the new man through eugenics, which is now called transhumanism. The United Nations and its various suborganizations play a pivotal role in this project which has reached its present stage in promoting initiatives such as Agenda 2030 and the Great Reset.

 

Use of the Climate Threat

The next decisive step toward the global economic transformation was taken with the first report of the Club of Rome. In 1968, the Club of Rome was initiated at the Rockefeller estate Bellagio in Italy. Its first report was published in 1972 under the title “The Limits to Growth.”


The horror scenario of global warming has been a useful tool in their hands to gain political influence and finally rule over public discourse.

Sunday, November 08, 2020

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: AYN RAND

 "IT IS YOUR MIND THAT THEY WANT YOU TO SURRENDER - ALL THOSE WHO PREACH THE CREED OF SACRIFICE, WHATEVER THEIR TAGS OR THEIR MOTIVES, WHETHER THEY DEMAND IT FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR SOUL OR OF YOUR BODY, WHETHER THEY PROMISE YOU ANOTHER LIFE IN HEAVEN OR A FULL STOMACH ON THIS EARTH. THOSE WHO START BY SAYING:"IT IS SELFISH TO PURSUE YOUR OWN WISHES, YOU MUST SACRIFICE THEM TO THE WISHES OF OTHERS" - END UP BY SAYING:"IT IS SELFISH TO UPHOLD YOUR CONVICTIONS, YOU MUST SACRIFICE THEM TO THE CONVICTIONS OF OTHERS."

GALT'S SPEECH

FOR THE NEW INTELLECTUAL

NEW PODCAST AVAILABLE. THE SECULAR FOXHOLE #6

HERE'S THE LINK:



 

Sunday, November 01, 2020

WHY TO VOTE AGAINST TRUMP

 Peter Schwartz has a blistering analysis of why American's should repudiate Trump. Don't Miss It.


Why Vote Against Trump



Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Quote of the Week: Ayn Rand

 In the absence of - intellectual - polarization, we are witnessing the growth of the ugliest kind of divisiveness or - existential - polarization, if you will; pressure-group warfare. The country is splitting into dozens of blind, deaf, but screaming camps, each drawn together not by loyalty to an idea, but by the accident of race, age, sex, religious creed, or the frantic whim of a given moment -- not by values held in common, but by a common hatred of some other group -- not by choice but by terror. 

Ayn Rand 1971


Wednesday, October 21, 2020

EPISODE 5 of The Secular Foxhole Podcast

The Secular Foxhole #5

 Our interview with Ayn Rand Institute Fellow, Ben Bayer:





Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Quote of the Week: Ayn Rand

 What objectivity and the study of philosophy require is not an "open mind" but an active mind - a mind able and eagerly willing to examine ideas, but to examine them critically. An active mind does not grant equal status to truth and falsehood; it does not remain floating forever in a stagnant vacuum of neutrality and uncertainty; by assuming the responsibility of judgement, it reaches firm convictions and holds to them. Since it is able to prove its convictions, an active mind achieves an unassailable certainty in confrontations with assailants - a certainty untainted by spots of blind faith, approximation, evasion and fear. 

From her essay, Philosophical Detection, in her book Philosophy: Who Needs It

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Take Back Columbus Day

 Reposting this from the Ayn Rand Institute:


Take Back Columbus Day

Nowadays, however, an embarrassed, guilty silence descends on the nation each Columbus Day. We’ve been taught that Columbus opened the way for rapacious European settlers to unleash a stream of horrors on a virgin continent: slavery, racism, warfare, epidemic, and the cruel oppression of Indians.

This modern view of Columbus represents an unjust attack upon both our country and the civilization that made it possible. Western civilization did not originate slavery, racism, warfare, or disease — but with America as its exemplar, that civilization created the antidotes. How? By means of a set of core ideas that set Western civilization apart from all others: reason and individualism.

Quote of the Week: Leonard Peikoff

There is no future for the world except through a rebirth of the Aristotelian approach to philosophy. This would require an Aristotelian affirmation of the reality of existence, of the sovereignty of reason, of life on earth - and of the splendor of man.

Aristotle and Objectivism agree on fundamentals and, as a result, on this last point, also. Both hold that man can deal with reality, can achieve values, can live non-tragically.  Neither believes in man the worm or man the monster; each upholds man the thinker and therefore man the hero. Aristotle calls him "the great-souled man." Ayn Rand calls him Howard Roark or John Galt.

Leonard Peikoff

The Ominous Parallels

Tuesday, October 06, 2020

New Feature: Ayn Rand Quote of the Week

I thought of this driving into work today. It'll be a weekly quote from Ayn Rand or one of her associates. Sometimes I'll have where the quote is taken from and sometimes not.


Here's the first one:

Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values.

Saturday, October 03, 2020

Episode #4 of The Secular Foxhole Podcast is now online!

The Secular Foxhole 4 


Martin and I did a bit of 'housecleaning' in this short episode. Still, we talk about shows to come and ideas we will talk about. Click the link above to listen. Any feedback or comments are welcome.



Thursday, October 01, 2020

Minority View: Confirm Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court

 UPDATED: 10/5/2020

 There are much more serious and freedom affirming issues behind the pathetic circus that's about to descend on us October 12th when the hearings begin to confirm Justice Barrett to the Supreme Court.

I've recently been studying the horrifying apparatus known as the Administrative State. Plaguing us here in America. It has grown with unchecked power over all of us, for decades. Since it is populated with 99% leftist/progressive - and unelected - "goose-steppers," that answer only to Democratic operatives, is it any wonder there is any freedom's left for individual Americans?

I subscribe to the New Civil Liberties Alliance newsletter and in its latest issue, they produce a White Paper outlining her work defending the individual against the state. Of course, by no means is she perfect. Who is?

Speaking for myself, ANY rollback of state power over the individual is a step for genuine progress. I tentatively endorse her nomination.        

Monday, August 31, 2020

The Secular Foxhole Podcast is Here!

Hello Everyone!

  Martin and I have officially started podcasting. We have done a "teaser" episode and just finished an episode about great books.

   Find us on Apple Podcasts and many others... ( I will update how else you can find the podcast as soon as I can.)

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Monday, July 27, 2020

Why The Name Secular Foxhole?

Back in 2004, why did I choose The Secular Foxhole as the name for my blog, and possible (2020) future podcast?  Actually, I had two names jostling back and forth in my head back in 2004. The 'contest' was between this and Fish Wrap: What else are newspapers good for? Both, I thought, were apropos then, and sadly, even more so today.

I settled on TSF because at the time I felt it had more attraction to an audience, and because of my own thoughts and feelings concerning the state of our society/culture. In my mind I pictured myself looking through binoculars out at the world in the safety of a foxhole. I didn't choose it because I thought I was in a "war" with others or with society. Let's be clear about that.

I wanted to convey the frustration I feel when you know that the things you advocate puts you squarely in the minority and that what I consider irrational is flowing over all of us in waves. 

Fundamentally though, I am still optimistic about my journey. America is the greatest nation in human history and yes, American Exceptionalism is real and worth defending intellectually and morally. This probably puts me at odds with fellow secularists. So be it. 

Let's discuss...

P.S. I actually used the other name for a blog you'll find in the Blogroll at right - which will soon be cleaned up of old links. I haven't posted to it for at least seven years, though.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

My Journey to Reason

I chose to capitalize the letter R in Reason. Not for any particular philosopher's ideas though. I want to emphasize Reason as man's tool of both survival and of knowledge.

As a boy I loathed going to church. I was around eight or nine years old when, being with both my parents and my older brother, I asked my mom why we had to go. You see, I was pretty put-out about getting up early on Sunday morning's and going to what I had already experienced as ritualized boredom. She replied, "What would our neighbors think if they didn't see us going to church?"

Being young and actually being a decent kid, I didn't say out loud, "Who cares?" But then and there, I decided religion was anathema to life. Certainly to my life!

Nevertheless and sadly, off to church we went. 

Yes. Now flash forward some eleven years and after sporadic church going and me becoming an acolyte and reciting scripture in front of the church, on my 18th birthday, I announced to my parents I was not setting foot in another church for the rest of my life. They took it rather well, actually.

Still, being young and without serious intellectual guidance, I struggled for years. I have a vivid memory of driving around the city, by myself, and saying-- I need to learn how to think.

That, is the crux of the matter, isn't it? Learn How To Think. How sad, that after twelve years of "public" education, millions of young adults are left without a clue on how to fend for themselves in the world. 

A few years after that, and not yet learning how to think, I find myself in a different city and different circumstance. Having found a job with a meager wage, I ventured into a local record store and met the manager who introduces me to someone who has now been my friend for over 40 years. 


That friend introduced me to a novel. He loaned me his copy of "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. There are many words to describe what that gesture meant to me, but it was like tossing a lifeline to a drowning man.

Ever since that day in March of 1979, I've never looked back. 

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

MORE BAD NEWS: FAMILY OF GEORGE FLOYD PETITIONS UN TO DISARM AMERICAN POLICE

NIHILISM RUNS WILD...

FROM : SOVEREIGN NATIONS VIA BREITBART


KEY PASSAGES:

The group sent a letter on June 3 to one of the international body’s working groups asking for support for the end of the provision of military equipment and military-type training for police, the teaching of deescalation techniques, independent prosecutions and autopsies for “extrajudicial” police killings, and more.
“When a group of people of any nation have been systemically deprived of their universal human right to life by its government for decades, it must appeal to the international community for its support and to the United Nations for its intervention,” Floyd’s family attorney Ben Crump said in a press release.

Monday, June 22, 2020

The Left is Having an Identity Crisis (from December 2019)

Just found this over at Areo online magazine. The authors are "leftists" who are battling the demise of their own "side" and calling out Identity politics and elitism.

Here's the link:

The Left is Having an Identity Crisis

Key passage:

Let’s start with what isn’t going to work. It simply will not do to blame these electoral results on the idea that the majority of the population is ignorant, hateful, or unaware of their own best interests. This is the attitude—made popular throughout the educated left by a growing commitment to elitism and critical theories—that got us into this mess in the first place. This attitude is particularly worrying because it leads leftist activists to double down on exactly those things that are killing the left.

Wednesday, April 22, 2020

FROM INVESTOR JEFF BROWN'S  NEWSLETTER:

4/21/2020

Get ready for immunity passports…

Last Friday, Dr. Anthony Fauci said the federal government is considering immunity passports for people who have recovered from COVID-19.
These are certificates that confirm an individual has tested positive for the COVID-19 antibodies, making that person immune and offering “proof” that they cannot contract and spread the virus. In other words, those who are immune are safe to go about their business as normal.
And as it turns out, the U.S. government has been in talks with early stage artificial intelligence (AI) company Onfido to make immunity passports a reality. Here’s how it will work if this moves forward…
Onfido will maintain a database for immunity records. Through a smartphone app, Onfido will use AI to scan and analyze identification documents – drivers’ licenses, passports, and national ID cards. The AI will confirm that the documents are not counterfeit.
Then, using the smartphone’s camera, Onfido will use facial recognition to verify that the individual submitting the documents is the same person. That’s how the COVID-19 test results will be tied to the person’s identity.
At that point, Onfido will provide a digital certificate that will serve as the immunity passport. That way people can prove they are immune to COVID-19 just by pulling up the Onfido app on their smartphones.
No doubt this is going to be a polarizing issue.
On the one hand, being able to prove immunity will be important for health care workers. Patients will want to know that their doctors and nurses aren’t infected with the virus.
And health care workers would like to know if the patient is immune as well. Plus, health care workers who are immune will not need to use full personal protective gear.
And when we get back to having large gatherings again, venues will want to be sure that their event is not going to cause a COVID-19 outbreak. The only way to do that is to verify attendees’ immunity passports. Many attendees will want this also.
On the other hand, this raises serious privacy concerns. Medical records are among our most sensitive data. We normally keep these issues to ourselves.
And while we’re just talking about COVID-19 right now, there’s no question this would eventually lead to storing the records of all our vaccines and immunizations in our immunity passport app.
Imagine if we go to board our plane for an important business trip or vacation but are turned away at the gate. Your immunity passport raised a red flag.
Or perhaps we’re suddenly turned down for our next job after receiving a verbal offer. “Sorry, your immunity passport wasn’t up to the company’s expectations. You are ‘at risk.’”
It makes tremendous sense to test health care professionals, but this is a slippery slope when applied to an entire population.