A Milestone

Sometime in the not too distant past COTTonLINE passed a milestone of some note. In its 18+ year history this blog has registered over 2 million hits. The counter today stands at 2,096,427, and we aren't done yet.

"Nones" Growing Rapidly

The Pew Foundation has periodically surveyed Americans concerning their involvement with organized religion. As is true in virtually all developed "first world" nations, our religiosity is declining. 

Writing at The Federalist, John Daniel Davidson views these numbers with alarm. Hat tip to RealClearPolicy for the link.

The share of Americans who don’t identify with any religion—the “nones” — increased from 16 percent in 2007 to 23 percent in 2014 to 29 percent in 2024. This increase isn’t limited to growing irreligiosity among any particular group but is “demographically broad-based,” says Pew. “There are fewer Christians and more ‘nones’ among men and women; people in every racial and ethnic category; college graduates and those with less education; and residents of all major regions of the country.”

Buried in Pew’s analysis is the critical observation that “it is inevitable that older generations will decline in size as their members gradually die. We also know that the younger cohorts succeeding them are much less religious.”

Davidson asserts, without explaining:

If America loses the Christian faith from which our system of government is derived, we will lose everything that makes America what it is. All of the rights and freedoms we enjoy, the rule of law, the checks and balances on government power, all of that will disappear.

I am of the opinion that his assertion is unprovable, and likely incorrect. Our Constitution establishes no state religion, which suggests our founders didn't see an unbreakable link between Christianity and our form of government. I trust their judgment.

Friday Snark

Images courtesy of Politico's 

The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

The Causal Arrow Redux

You may read articles like this one that try to explain why liberal/progressive women are less happy, less well-adjusted than conservative women. This particular treatment fingers marriage and religion as factors explaining the difference. 

Such articles observe a correlation between A and B and propose causation of A by B. But correlation doesn’t demonstrate causality, it only suggests a relation of some sort.

I am inclined to go at this question from another angle. Political orientation isn’t genetic, it is a choice a person makes. So I tend to think being unhappy makes you liberal rather than being liberal make you unhappy. 

People are happy or unhappy depending on whether the society does or does not “work” for them. Do they fit a comfortable niche, or feel unrooted? 

Those who feel unrooted or a bad fit with society seek change, and become liberals, seekers of change. Those for whom society “works,” and provides a good fit, will like the status quo and are thus conservative, seekers of stability. 

Faith and family, for those who have them, argue for stability. Those without are somewhat less “rooted” in society and seek change as it gives at least the chance that a better fit will be achieved following change.

Political Deep-Think

Writing for the Claremont Review of Books, William Voegeli looks at the forces keeping the Democrats from adjusting their party’s policy prescriptions to better match those of the electorate. It is somewhat long, but worth your while.

He writes with a clear understanding of “symbolic capitalism” and “conspicuous compassion,” which ideas describe how one gets ahead in the professions making up the Democratic base. These are the factors which will inhibit the Dems from abandoning their unpopular-with-the-electorate preoccupation with a set of social values not widely shared.

Along the way Voegeli deals with the overproduction of Ph.D.s and the likely impact of the DOGE efforts now much in the news. He implies that, if history is any guide, the Dems will have to lose maybe three presidential elections in a row before a major correction can shrug off the “conspicuous compassion” baggage with which they are now saddled.

In a similar vein, Ruy Teixeira identifies his Democrats as the Brahmin party, “Brahmin” here referring to an hereditary elite. Teixeira fears their beliefs dooms the Ds to minority status for the foreseeable future.

I judge both of the above authors believe the changes they prescribe for Democrats will not occur anytime soon. As Republicans we should hope they are correct in those beliefs, following the maxim that you don’t interrupt your adversary when he is losing.

Unintended Consequences

A quick web search turns up legislative efforts in both House and Senate to cap credit card debt interest rate at 10%. The House bill sponsored by Reps. AOC and Anna Paulina Luna, the Senate bill by Sens. Sanders and Hawley. I understand these to be well-intentioned.

Expect there to be several unintended consequences of these efforts. The cancellation of many outstanding credit cards, especially those held by individuals thought to be other-than-excellent credit risks. A lower cap on amount borrowed would be logical too. A recessionary reduction in spending. And more reliance on so-called "paycheck loans" and loans against car titles.

The 10% cap may still be a good regulation but fully understanding the consequences before plunging ahead with it seems indicated.

USAID a CIA Front?

There have long been rumors* about USAID being a CIA front, at least in part. Here Sundance at the Conservative Treehouse writes the quiet part out loud. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

If USAID was the charitable wing of the U.S. State Dept., why would the remaining senior leadership be instructing all employees to urgently start destroying all records? The answer is easy, the charity mission of USAID was a front for the real operational mission of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

USAID has always been a CIA operation within the U.S. State Department silo. The documents they are now being told to shred and burn with urgency are the CIA operational details of how USAID manipulated foreign governments and CIA assets. This is one big coverup operation.

CTH cite a Politico document as their source on the shredding. My personal guess is that some fraction of USAID’s activities were being directed at other-than-CIA issues being worked by, for example, the LGBTQ+ lobby. 

These served as camouflage for the more sinister geopolitical agendas being worked by the Agency, giving the fig leaf of diplomatic immunity to “aid” personnel who don’t work in the embassy or consulate.

*Decades ago I remember reading or hearing about a good-hearted, selfless individual who applied to work at USAID. He or she was rebuffed with the comment that "We're not really a charitable organization."

The Rules Have Changed

The CA State University from which both the other DrC and I retired 20+ years ago today prides itself on being a "Hispanic serving institution" which translates as >25% Hispanic. This makes it eligible for funds other institutions not meeting that criterion cannot access.

As I understand the "new broom" Trump administration, such programs are no longer lawful as they discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. I expect the campus will cling to this 'distinction' until a specific court ruling tells them to stop, or more likely, DOGE cuts off the funding.

I believe it is lawful to brag about serving a heavily Hispanic population, if in fact that is now the case. On the other hand, I think it unlawful to offer a racial or ethnic subgroup more goodies than are offered to others.

Later … Here is an article which describes (and disparages) the Minority Serving Institution program. It concludes:

The reality is that such classifications are unjust to everyone involved and, as it happens, they are also unconstitutional.

Oh (Crap), Canada

Canada’s Liberals, currently in power, have chosen Mark Carney to replace Justin Trudeau as their leader and next Prime Minister candidate. Trump’s bloviating about the US acquiring Canada has shifted Canadian politics such that Carney’s Liberals now have a substantial polling lead over Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. 

Politico runs one of their “55 things to know about _____” stories about Carney. In addition to being a lifelong overachiever, it is very clear is that Carney is a committed Green, very much a climate warrior. That will be an immediate point of conflict with the Trump White House where “Net Zero” and “climate change” are largely considered hoaxes.

For a very different take on Mark Carney, see this Spectator article whose author sees Carney as a loser "failing upward." He is, it is claimed, a rootless globalist with a fine resume but few real accomplishments to his credit.

Here is another negative view of Mark Carney, this one from Sp!ked. This view calls him "a parody of an archetypal Davos man." Ouch, that stings.

They Chose ... Poorly

Essayist John Kass musing about the choices made by today's Democrat Party.

Long ago, the Democrat Party had a choice:

Cleanse themselves of their Barack Obama infection, cleanse themselves of Obama’s racist and radical addiction to racial preferences that we now know as DEI, amputate any limbs that had become sodden with jacobin gangrene and become what they had been: a patriotic American party of the American working class.

Or, they could continue following the discredited Clintons and Obamas down the sewer.

The Democrats chose the sewer.

Damn straight. Hat tip to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade for my title.

Run to Daylight

If you didn't remember to turn your clocks ahead one hour last night, and you don't live in AZ which has opted out, then you haven't noticed that Daylight Savings Time is upon us once more. 

Each year at this time people who find the time change bothersome write to complain about it. This year is no exception.

I count myself among those who actually like the practice, the long twilights are great. In late June in the Rockies the sky isn't completely dark at 9 pm. 

The transition I don't like is the one in the fall, when it becomes totally dark outside before suppertime. For me that's a downer, no lie.

An Elegy for Oscar

Sasha Stone has made a career out of following the movie industry and the Oscars. Writing for Tablet, she describes the prolonged death throes of the US film industry. 

Stone lays out why the Oscar winners are most often films you've heard little about and have no desire to see. She describes how and why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was enlarged by adding people from overseas film studios who have no commitment to the Hollywood product.

Along the way she shares how someone blew her cover and reported that she'd voted for Trump in 2016, it destroyed her decades-old relationship with the US film industry, via cancel culture.

She notes the industry still produces an occasional audience favorite and mentions Top Gun Maverick, Oppenheimer, and Barbie as examples. Her main villain is "woke," which the industry has whole-heartedly embraced while the country has mostly shrugged off when it voted to reelect Trump.

Saturday Snark

Images courtesy of Power Line's The Week in Pictures

and its Comments section.

How They Died

There's been a lot of interest in the deaths of actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa. The autopsies have been done and we know or can guess what happened and it is damned sad. ABC News has the story.

Hackman, 95, died of cardiovascular and Alzheimer's disease likely around Feb. 18, about one week after his wife died from a rare syndrome, hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, on about Feb. 11, officials said.

Arakawa, 65, died from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare disease transmitted through rodent urine, droppings or saliva, officials said.

Reading between the lines, Hackman was out of touch with reality, his much younger wife was caring for him at home, and they were relatively isolated from neighbors and local friends. She got sick and died, he wasn't able to call for help. With her dead, he wasn't fed and watered so he died several days later, alone and forgotten.

This could happen anytime an elderly couple is hanging on, caring for each other, and the healthier one dies while the more shot-down one is left to die from lack of care, having been unable to get help for the sick partner. 

There are older couples everywhere thinking, "Could that happen to us? Are we at risk?" It's a wake up call for sure.

Friday Snark

Images courtesy of Politico's 

The Nation's Cartoonists on the Week in Politics.

Citing the Precedent

National Review reports the arrest on espionage charges of three soldiers in the Pacific Northwest, charged with selling classified documents to China. All three have names strongly suggesting they are ethnic Asians, likely Chinese - Jian Zhao, Li Tian and Ruoyu Duan.

Do a Google search for "Chinese spy cases in the US" and you'll find most of the dozen or more so named perps appear to be ethnic Chinese. I don't think FDR had this much evidence when he interned the ethnic Japanese in western North America, with Canada's help.

It doesn't require much imagination to foresee the internment of ethnic Chinese then resident in the US in the event hostilities between the US and China break out. Who can forget Manzanar and the other 9 camps holding Japanese internees? If we win the war we can always apologize later; if we lose, we're screwed regardless.

If I were FBI director I'd be sure those conducting security background checks on Asian Americans in sensitive jobs were extra thorough. Occasional randomized rechecks might be justified. 

As was the case in 1941, most of the target population is probably innocent, but sorting out collaborators in time of war ... isn't easy or quick.

The irony is that the CCP can bribe Asians living here using money we spent buying their heavily advertised Temu gimcracks. Hat tip to Lucianne.com for the link.

Afterthought: This is a problems nations with large immigrant populations share. One that low-immigration countries with homogeneous populations don't have. 

Long-standing examples of the former are the US, Canada, and Australia. More recent examples include much of Europe with the exception of Hungary. China and Japan are examples of low immigration societies.

Blowing Their Cover

 A quote to ponder from John Hinderaker of Power Line:

Congressional Democrats are nearly all on the far left, the difference is whether they conceal the extent of their leftism to be electable in moderate districts. Swing-district Democrats are angry at safe-district Democrats for blowing their cover.

Not kidding. One thing the "far-" anything folks have in common is a lack of common sense, which may well emerge as the label historians someday give the current era.

Happy Data

Steve Hayward is the charts guy at Power Line  He has posted the chart below produced by CBS News/YouGov, which is certainly no ally of Donald J. Trump. 

For extra enjoyment, imagine the angst it produced at CBS as you absorb what the chart shows - a very positive public response to the President's speech to Congress and the nation last night.

Our Hope

The other DrC and I were reflecting about our reactions to the Trump/Zelensky dust-up. Neither of us are comfortable with Trump saying he sees equivalence between the two sides in the Russia vs. Ukraine war. We certainly don’t.

We independently have concluded we hope Trump is playing 3-D chess, while others are playing checkers. That he has a grand plan and is working a sophisticated bargaining scheme. 

The alternative is ugly and we hope unfolding events will prove supportive of the clever bargaining hypothesis. Getting the warring parties to the table is the first step. For a deal to be successful both parties need to end up feeling somewhat okay with the outcome. This sometimes requires people to say things they don’t entirely believe.

China Leaving Panama Ports

Red State reports a consortium headed by US pension investor BlackRock is buying the port operations of Hong Kong firm CK Hutchison. Be clear, the selling firm is under CCP control. 

These facilities include the two ports at either end of the Panama Canal, an issue about which President Trump has expressed national security concerns. Count this as another win for the Trump administration.