Rebane's Ruminations

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January 2026
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  • Sandbox – 17aug23

    [Embracing conservatism within the ranks of the Republican Party is becoming harder by the day.  And remaining a conservetarian therein is almost impossible.  The California Repubs have issued a major retreat call to their members.  They have announced the next capitulation from their party platform that is yet another “humiliation the more than 5 million registered Republicans still living behind enemy lines in the Golden State probably weren’t expecting, (and which) is an additional stab in the back from their own party. The California Republican Party recently released its regularly scheduled updates to the party platform (here), and, given the content of the changes, voters could be forgiven for mistaking it for the Democratic platform from a couple decades ago.” gjr]

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  • The Latitude of Constitutional Free Speech

    George Rebane

    With the upcoming Trump trials it’s time to take a more focused look at how his indictments for exercising ‘unconstitutional speech’ are holding up in the land of the First Amendment and free speech.  As a starting point I’ll take a leftwing reader’s comment in the most recent Sandbox.

    *****

    George

    Do you have the right to free speech to spread information you know is a lie or not verifiable when it is your official duty to deal with the truth? That's what Trump is accused of. Also can you note your sources that cite that Pence has the Constitutional right to pause the election certification and if so for how long. Also does that mean that Trump would remain President until the whole matter is sorted out? Also how would the other members of the Executive branch have to deal with it, for example cabinet members and Presidential appointments. Has this ever happened before?

    Links supporting your contention would be helpful.

    Posted by: Paul Emery | 13 August 2023 at 06:44 PM

    *****

    First Amendment of the US Constitution – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” (more here and here)

    As can be seen from his subsequent Sandbox exchange with other readers, Mr Emery continues to have a problem with staying on the topic he raises in the above comment.

    Do you have the right to free speech to spread information you know is a lie or not verifiable when it is your official duty to deal with the truth? That's what Trump is accused of.   The short answer is YES since the Constitution is silent on such a question.  And we must remember that politicians have the same rights to exercise free speech as those enjoyed by non-politicians, especially when both are claiming to express and communicate their beliefs.

    Also can you note your sources that cite that Pence has the Constitutional right to pause the election certification and if so for how long.

    This question exhibits a misunderstanding of our Constitution which is not intended to be a document of permissions granted by the state.  If the Constitution is silent on some matter or issue, then it cannot be appealed to resolve the matter by any third party inserting their gratuitous interpretation (see Pence's letter below).  In the electoral vote certification matter, the Constitution is only clear in requiring the Senate, chaired by the VP, to examine and count the submitted electoral votes, and certify them if they found to be legitimate.  It prescribes no time frame nor process that the VP must undertake to become convinced one way or another about the legitimacy of what he has at hand.  Therefore, he is free to follow his own counsel on how to proceed toward a certified electoral vote.

    Also does that mean that Trump would remain President until the whole matter is sorted out?  Also how would the other members of the Executive branch have to deal with it, for example cabinet members and Presidential appointments. Has this ever happened before?

    Again, since the Constitution is silent on such a contingency, one can presume the sitting government remains in place and functional until a new in legally accepted – in this case, until the presiding VP makes up his mind on how to resolve the matter.  Here we see that Pence acted totally within his several Constitutional prerogatives in accepting the electoral vote as it was presented.  VP Pence stated in a letter (here and here) that he does not have the unilateral authority to reject the electoral votes presented to him.  That is an erroneous interpretation of the First Amendment.

    This situation regarding the electoral college and the transfer of power has not happened before in our Republic’s history.  Here is the complete copy of Trump’s fourth indictment issued by a Georgia grand jury.

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  • Sandbox – 5aug23

    [Can anyone give a cogent reason why Trump is being prosecuted for speaking openly against the validity of the 2022 election that put Joe Biden in the White House?  All the man did was exercise his 1A rights, and that included asking Georgia’s governor to review his state’s vote count to see if he could come up with more Trump votes.  He blackmailed no one; he threatened no one; he just gave lip service to his opinions and beliefs to see if there was any legal and non-violent way he could change the outcome of the election.  According to our Constitution anyone can do that, and Democrats have already demonstrated that such opposition to election outcomes are perfectly legal.  gjr]

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  • America’s Numeracy

    George Rebane

    America’s numeracy has been covered in these pages since RR launched.  As technology accelerates in these pre-Singularity years, our innumeracy has become more of a critical factor in how we govern ourselves and our general quality of life that depends on our ability to create wealth.  For example, it’s almost impossible for the innumerate among us to understand the axiomatic human behaviors that make the failures of collectivism hard to understand (e.g. the widespread acceptance of neo-Marxism).  A recent article that expands on all this is ‘I wish Americans would Stop Saying they are not Good at Math’.  The table below is from that article.

    PISAmathScores

    According to the OECD-PISA website [1]:  Mathematical performance, for PISA, measures the mathematical literacy of a 15 year-old to formulate, employ and interpret mathematics in a variety of contexts to describe, predict and explain phenomena, recognising the role that mathematics plays in the world. The mean score is the measure. A mathematically literate student recognises the role that mathematics plays in the world in order to make well-founded judgments and decisions needed by constructive, engaged and reflective citizens. [1]

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  • ‘The scariest poll …’

    ‘Freedom?  We don’t need no stinkin’ freedom’.  Anonymous leftwinger

    George Rebane

    The Pew Research Center released the latest edition of a poll on free speech that they have been conducting for years.  It contains the latest tranche of evidence that corroborates one of the longtime tenets of Rebane Doctrine – a major fraction of Americans are no longer smart enough to maintain our democratic republic.  Not only that, but the level of dumbth in the population is increasing at an alarming rate.  (more here, H/T to reader)

    Over the last five years Pew has posed this poll three times.  “In 2018, Democrats supported free speech by a 57-40 margin, almost identical to the Republican view. They now oppose it by 70-28, a massive shift over the last five years, while Republican views have not changed.”

    FreeSpeechPoll2023

    As RR has held for years, most Dems are true believers in big government that they entrust with managing their (and our) lives with an unending and ever-growing tsunami of regulations, and with the handling of an ever-greater fraction of your finances.  And in recent years they have been convinced by their lamestream media and neo-Marxist politicians that the whole effort to convince new ideological recruits and maintain existing membership is by convincing everyone that allowing people to hear “misinformation” in the public square is inimical to American democracy.  Moreover, those (Republicans) who continue to maintain and support the First Amendment are evil along every social dimension – white supremacists, racists, homophobes, inequitable, non-inclusive, rejecting diversity, … .

    Today our progressives and woke contingents are actively working to break down our country from the inside.  As recently as 20 years ago these lame brains were overwhelmingly to be found in our ‘deep state’ bureaucracies and academe.  Now the infection has spread to and runs rampant in K-12 public education, corporatist business enterprises, and the military. 

    The bottom line is that most Americans today would be sanguine living in a society where all permitted public speech must first be vetted by a newly established Ministry of Truth and its local offices spread across the land.

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  • Sandbox – 20jul23

    [Here’s the latest goings on in our idiot nation.  The leftwing lamestream media are cancelling Jason Aldean’s ‘Try that in a small town’ song that he recorded in front of the Maury County courthouse in Columbia, Tennessee.  Why?  Because they claim people are outraged by the song’s lyrics protesting progressive riots and criminality in general, and the choice of its venue as having been where a black man was lynched in the 1920s.  Those outraged come from the eternally ignorant cohort of Americans who couldn’t identify the Atlantic Ocean on a world map, but somehow know such historical esoteria connected with an obscure mid-western courthouse.  gjr]

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  • Ruminations – 12jul23 (updated 13jul23)

    George Rebane

    Tax Competetive Index

    Estonia is also the most advanced nation in the integration and use of the internet in everything from commerce, industry, and the participation of its citizenry in governance.  Furthermore, the country is a leader in internet communication and the home of NATO’s institute for cyberwarfare.  It takes about 20 minutes on line to incorporate your company and be in business.

    “A Town Hall meeting hosted by the group calling themselves, “Nevada county assembly” was attended by over 200 people at the Horseman’s Lodge located along Bubbling Wells Road in Grass Valley last week. … The welcoming spokesperson emphasized the importance of First Amendment of the United States Constitution, the right to assemble in order for citizens to stay informed and wake up to the issues affecting the local community, the nation and the globe.” (more here)  They claim to assemble and act in order to promote “Life, liberty, and property”, which are the tenets of the Bastiat Triangle of Rights (q.v.).  Anybody know more about this local group?

    [13jul23 update] “ChatGPT Comes Under Investigation by Federal Trade Commission”  It’s hard to see what the government can do to impede or direct the development of any readily accessible software systems that promote the operation and enhance performance of profitable businesses.  Politicians thinking they can only show their ignorance of how technology develops.

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  • Sandbox – 6jul23

    [Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson of SCOTUS has confirmed that her career advancements have been based on ‘Section 8’ promotions.  Her dissent from last week's ruling against racial preferences in college admissions demonstrates both her gullibility and overall ignorance (terminally innumerate).  In there she argues for benefits of diversity in education, and presents a preposterous example of black infant survival rates under black physicians (here).  It reminds me of the congressman, a few years back, who warned of a Pacific island with a military base on it tipping over because we were stationing too many troops there.  Talk about our republic suffering its slings and arrows from elected officials and promoted bureaucrats.  gjr]

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  • On Higher Expressions of American Values

    George Rebane4thofJuly2

    On this annual time of celebrating the birth of our land of the free and home of the brave a friend sent me a thoughtful essay making the case that today this has become a time of the year for somber reflection.  The reasoning was sound as the author pointed out the schisms that today separate us.  On the opposite side of the argument we have the usual stories, primarily from the Left, that attempt to convince all of our American unity as long as we are unified in accepting their programs to make America into a second-class socialist state.

    In past observances of July 4th we have noted that the two sides seek markedly different futures for America – one side decrying the nation’s past and publicly denying its patriotic destination, while the other side spells it out and celebrates the historic road that, with some miles unpaved, we have traveled.  Yet, more than ever today, half the country does not know where we have been, what we have done, nor does it share a common vision of our future.

    In preparation for the 2019 holiday, the anti-American Left decried President Trump’s celebration of our Independence Day in our capital with an extraordinary patriotic display of our military and fireworks to remember.  They told the country that this was “politicizing the Fourth”.  It’s hard to tell whether their ignorance or cynicism was showing its true colors.  The Fourth has ALWAYS been a political holiday ever since its political birth in 1776 Philadelphia.  Throughout our history every politician and political faction/party has made their presence known on the Fourth, and the more so for politicians who were then in office.

    However, on 4 July 2019 the major broadcast networks refused to carry ‘Salute to America’ from the National Mall for the simple reason that, under the administration of President Trump, it was to celebrate and highlight our country’s role as the world’s white hat hegemon that has maintained an historic Pax Americana during which enormous progress has been made in eradicating disease, hunger, and lifting hundreds of millions from the grip of grinding poverty

    Today we continue to see leftwing activists – e.g. Donn K. Harris in the 1jul23 Union (here) – at all levels argue that our national debate need not be harbinger to war.  In his counter to a 10jun23 piece by Ms Thea Hood (here) making the case that our Great Divide is preparing the country for war,  Mr Harris states that the ongoing national debate is just Americans continuing to express their differences, and such debates are never a prelude to war.  His arguments embrace all the hubris and surety of progressive thought, making clear that his notions of such as ‘fair debate’, ‘excess passion’, ‘hyperbole’, and ‘unwarranted sarcasm’ prevail.  I suppose that Mr Harris never considered the failure of debates that led to our Revolutionary War and the War Between the States (aka Civil War).

    As long as we cannot identify a common ground on which to sort out our fundamental differences, those that take us to opposite forms of governance, we continue our debate in the darkening shadow of war.  In the meantime, let’s take every opportunity to make celebration of our nation’s birth remind us of what once was possible in this fair land, and may again become so.

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  • For lack of a pinger …

    George Rebane

    The submersible Titan is now most certainly lost with five dead tourists aboard.  The search for Titan has been going on since contact with it was lost within two hours into the mission to visit the wreckage of the sunken Titanic resting at a depth of approximately 12,000 feet. (more here)

    As an engineer with some experience in working with submersible systems ranging from nuclear submarines to remotely operated underwater vehicles, I’ve been struggling to figure out how such a tourist cum research vessel could have been designed to get lost in such a way that it could not be found with the latest underwater technology brought to bear.

    All the submersible systems of any value on which I worked were always deployed, at a minimum, with a pinger to enable it to be quickly located should the need arise.  A pinger is an electrically powered transducer that emits a loud acoustic signal when activated, one that can be heard tens of miles away.  The simplest pinger can be turned on from inside the submersible by just pushing a button.  More sophisticated pingers, most certainly warranted for vehicles like the Titan, would entail programmable transponders which can listen to a coded interrogation from, say, a support vessel, and reply with a number of responses that report the condition and location of the submersible.  Such pingers can also be programmed to start broadcasting automatically when any one of a number of problems/contingencies is sensed.

    In the scheme and cost of underwater operations pingers are cheap insurance.  Even when working with marine mammals on various recovery and attack systems, we always had a pinger on the target vehicle that we wished to recover or determine its location.  These were also standard components strapped on to various test missiles, mines, and other gear to be recovered later.

    So it now boggles this technical brainbone to hear days of reports on the Titan recovery effort that lament the loss of the vehicle, designed by a first-rate engineering team, that supposedly passed its man-safe qualifications before submerging with a live crew.  The entire scenario is made even more amateurish by reports of potentially manmade pounding sounds being heard by the transducer field deployed by the rescuers, and still no one has offered the obvious observation about onboard pingers or the lack thereof.  If they didn’t think of it before hearing the possible sounds from Titan, then by now someone should have said, ‘Oh shit, we forgot the pingers!’ or at least reported the presence of dysfunctional onboard pingers when the pounding started.

    Having now discovered a debris field potentially from Titan, some may offer that the vehicle suffered a massive and sudden decompression during its descent, thereby not allowing time for a pinger to be manually activated.  But we already covered how that contingency would have been overcome with a programmed pinger.  The sound of silence on the missing pingers deepens the mystery.

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