One of the crazier stories to have emerged out of the history of atomic weapons research is that of the fate of Louis Slotin, one of the physicists behind the Manhattan Project. Slotin engaged in what was known as “tickling the dragon’s tail”, which referred to ‘tickling’ the exposed, 14-pound plutonium core of an atomic bomb with beryllium reflector half-spheres positioned around the core. The half-spheres were to be kept apart at all costs, because if they fully enclosed the plutonium, it would trigger the nuclear chain reaction. This insane experiment was performed to take measurements of criticality of the core relative to the position of the beryllium. Slotin himself used only a flat-head screwdriver to hold the two half-spheres apart, meaning that the screwdriver was all that stood in the way of the plutonium melting down. On May 21st, 1946, Slotin’s screwdriver slipped, and, so the story goes, blue light flooded the room, which also contained seven other observers. Slotin had the presence of mind to push the half-sphere off, halting the meltdown. But he had been hit with a fatal dose of neutron radiation, and died nine days later. This now-defunct practice is one of the strangest episodes in history, but also fascinating, if for nothing else than an example of the consequences of the vaunting arrogance that can infect scientific minds.

I bring this up because for the past three months our leaders have been tickling the dragon’s tail of a civilizational collapse, only the screw slipped long ago. The situation has reached critical mass. Over 40 million unemployed, over 100,000 small businesses permanently closed, inflation on the horizon followed by over a decade of economic and societal pain. And yet those that caused this man-made catastrophe aren’t the ones that will feel the pain. The pain always falls to the most vulnerable in society, everyone living at the margins and who are now underwater. The protests and riots are a consequence of the destruction wrought by locking down a complex and interwoven economy. George Floyd’s death just happened to be the spark that ignited the saw dust that has been accumulating for months. The leaders that forced lock-downs on us didn’t heed the warnings of the inevitable, irreversible consequences. And now millions of the poor, and of course minorities, will suffer disproportionately. Was it worth it?

266 U.S. hospitals have furloughed millions of employees since mid-March.

There is no overestimating the colossal, tragic irony this situation.

What cities across the United States are experiencing is the inevitable consequence of shuttering a vast economy for over two months. The naive policy of locking down society lit an invisible fuse, and now the consequences are becoming visible. Now we know that the lock-down policy that threw 40 million Americans out of work, destroyed hundreds of thousands of small businesses, and decimated the U.S. healthcare system was imposed in vain. COVID-19 is now widely seen as an infection dangerous only to the very old, and those with pre-existing conditions. It poses no real risk to anyone under 60, and, significantly, no risk to children. Despite this knowledge, we will be treated to pandemic theater in the fall, when kids return to school, and find the many virus protocols needlessly disrupting their childhood.

The consequences of the most suicidal policy in history, suicidal on a civilizational scale, are emerging. The riots are merely the beginning. The question now is: are we able to pull ourselves out, or have we fallen below the event horizon, from which there is no escape?

Agents of chaos.

NOTE: This isn’t about White vs. Black, it’s about well-connected and well-funded outsiders arming and inciting a minority group into committing acts of violence. The thugs on the Left are complicit, as are the celebrities condoning the wanton destruction. The Left seem desperate to instigate a completely avoidable race war.

I remember reading years ago that the goal of the Manson Family murders was to ignite an apocalyptic race war. How are the instigators of today any different?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LF-v-7sBvPY

It is amazing to me that at the exact moment that America began to awaken to the fact that COVID hysteria has been one colossal farce, a new national crisis emerged to fill the gap, again triggering our emotions, short-circuiting our ability to think. We are told to take sides, either for the protests or against them. We were also told to take sides during COVID madness: you’re either on the side of Science and lockdowns, or you’re just a backward, deplorable, Trump-voting moron!  As Jimmy Dore has said, chaos benefits the powerful. Division benefits the Political Class, who are now rushing in to take full advantage of that chaos.

Will we soon see the U.S. military deployed on U.S. streets, battling rampaging mobs of U.S. citizens? That seems to be a certainty at the moment, unless the rioters decide to pack it up and go home. Will a new PATRIOT Act-style piece of totalitarian legislation be drawn up and passed in order to quell the nihilistic insurrection?

Liberty is unstable, because it offends our inner savage. When powerful social forces align to coax out that inner barbarian, liberty dissolves before our eyes.

Not only is it possible to simultaneously view both the murdering cops as well as the rioting mob as thugs of a similar stripe, it is essential to do if one wishes to be consistent. In a just world, cops would not murder a prone, unresisting suspect. Also in a just world, those same cops wouldn’t refuse to protect businesses and innocent civilians under attack from rioting mobs.

“The world isn’t fair!” goes the Boomer wisdom. Well, at the moment society may be far removed from the ideal of justice, but that doesn’t mean there should be no attempt to push it in the direction of a more just society. And that means a world where our rights are protected not only from the armed agents of the State, but also from rampaging thugs in an advanced state of re-barbarization.

Protect the innocent is a wonderful motto. It’s one that cops should live up to, but also one that we should live up to as well. Protect the innocent, from our fellow citizen as well as from the armed agents of the State. Strip the police of qualified immunity, and forbid the unionization of public employees.

Set up a civilian board that provides oversight of the cops that patrol our streets. Increase focus on empathy training rather than weapons training. Or rather, rework the type of weapons training the cops receive. Take cues from police forces in other nations, like Germany or Norway, forces that kill far fewer civilians than the United States.

Why do some cops appear so eager to draw their weapons as a first resort? Why the epidemic of dog shooting deaths by cops? Every other profession finds a way to deal with territorial dogs without gunning them down.

Why isn’t there an unarmed police force working along side the armed? The cops in my town are strapped with every weapon and tech gadget that they can fit onto their body. Is that really necessary? They aren’t in a warzone, they are working in their own community, among their neighbors, family, and friends.

Make it easier to fire a bad cop, as well as forever ban them from ever again working as a cop in the future. A cop that polices a community should have roots in that community.

These are just a few ideas on how to correct a problem that has been kicked down the road and into the future for decades. Others have different ideas on how to solve it, but the solution must always begin with the divesting of unaccountable power wherever it resides.

Via Strategic Culture Foundation

Large piles of bricks have been conveniently placed in the path of the rioting mobs, but who did it? Who’s paying for it?

The Jewish Voice is reporting that the group, Antifa, is handing out money to rioters. Where are they getting their funds?