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The Barnes Brief: Week of August 9, 2024
August 09, 2024
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Art of the Day

Appearances & Schedule

Art of the Day: The Bookstore: a vanishing place from the American landscape. Once a place of discovery for the curious knowledge seeker, now the few that exist often a habitue of would-be Marxists from their utopian college days drawing a state paycheck. But it’s present incarnation cannot erase the fondness of the memories I share there: holed up in a corner, a stack of a dozen books next to the chair to sit and soak up little bits of information and imagination off the written page as a day well spent (even better because I often couldn’t afford in my youth to actually buy any of the books). Uncovering and discovering new worlds either in unexplored fields of study or unknown worlds of the author’s imagination, and, in the process, learning the art of language itself as expressed in ink on the page. Bookstores in foreign nations tell their own tales, like the French love of psychology (as their books told the psychology of everything) or the Anglophile home in Paris as Shakespeare’s living library in the bookstore this photo reminds me most of. The Bookstore: a place held fondly in my mind’s eye that is never lost or too far away.

Book Recommendation: The Emerging Populist Majority https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/198466907-the-emerging-populist-majority

Closing Argument: Birthright Citizenship Debate – Is Harris Eligible?

Introduction: Top 10 Headlines of the Week

  1. Trouble in the markets
  2. Commercial real estate problems
  3. Harris Walzes to controversy
  4. Smartmatic indictment
  5. Musk Rumble win early against advertising boycott
  6. Ukraine escalation
  7. Ritter raided
  8. Gabbard on watchlist
  9. Trump crypto platform
  10. Rogan likes RFK

*Bonus: Healing power of classical music

Wisdom of the Day: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” United States Constitution, Amendment XIV.

The Evidence: Top Ten Articles Curated from The Barnes Library

  1. Election integrity in 2024. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/08/election_integrity_in_swing_states.html
  2. Harris moderate pitch pitfalls. https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/the-democrats-half-hearted-move-to
  3. Walz stolen valor. https://thefederalist.com/2024/08/09/tim-walz-misrepresented-his-military-service-he-needs-to-answer-some-questions/
  4. The Cat Lady campaign. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2024/08/09/democrats_try_to_make_2024_the_cat_lady_election_151423.html
  5. Jewish doubt of Democrats. https://unherd.com/2024/08/jews-for-kamala-are-living-in-denial/
  6. The real alien conspiracy. https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/08/conspiracy_theories.html
  7. Hollywood troubles. https://www.axios.com/2024/08/09/cable-tv-business-paramount-warner-bros-losses
  8. Google breakup coming. https://www.newsweek.com/what-branding-google-monopoly-really-means-us-opinion-1935380
  9. 4-day school week not working. https://www.realclearinvestigations.com/articles/2024/07/16/the_4-day_school_week_its_a_trend_across_america__despite_questionable_results_1044894.html
  10. UBI fails. https://realinvestmentadvice.com/ubi-tried-tested-and-failed-as-expected/

*Bonus: Kids rescued.

Homework: Top Dozen Cases TBD on Sunday Show

I.              Rumble anti-trust suit against advertising boycott.https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.393019/gov.uscourts.txnd.393019.1.0.pdf

II.           Google antitrust win https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/Google%20Search%20Engine%20Monopoly%20Ruling.pdf

III.        Ritter raid & Gabbard watchlist

IV.         Walz Stolen Valor https://casetext.com/case/united-states-v-alvarez

V.           Trump: DC & NY case

VI.         J6 defendants released

VII.      Ripple win

VIII.   Navy Seals win vaccine lawsuit

IX.        UK Censors Threaten Americans

X.           Amos Miller Hearing

XI.         1stA Campaign finance laws https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/seventh-circuit-indiana-superPAC-financing-ruling.pdf

XII.      Kennedy NY ballot case

*Bonus: Rekieta win

**Bonus: Yale Covid tuition.

*** Jury discrimination.

Closing Argument: Is Harris Eligible?

  • A debate rages over birthright citizenship takes a particular turn when it concerns Kamala Harris, as someone born in the United States to foreign-born parents who were not citizens. The birthright citizenship debate took on greater significance in light of the immigration issues over the last decade. Let’s examine the two sides of the debate. As always, we should start with the text itself.
  • “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.” United States Constitution, Amendment XIV.
  • “No person except a natural born Citizen…shall be eligible to the Office of President.” United States Constitution, Article II, Section 1, Clause 5.
  • The debate turns on the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” For some, a person born here is subject to the jurisdiction thereof unless exempted or excluded for some unique reason – e.g., the children of diplomats born here while the diplomats are no duty; the children of Indian tribes not subject to separate sovereignty; the children of enemy soldiers present in the land; and the like. For others, a person born here is only subject to the jurisdiction thereof if a parent is also subject to the jurisdiction thereof – e.g., a citizen.
  • Let’s look next at the contemporary legislative history. At the time of the 14thAmendment, Congress also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 using nearly identical language, chose the phrase “not subject to any foreign power” as a substitute for “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” Under this analysis, critics urge that a child born here of non-citizen parents is subject to the jurisdiction of a foreign power, and thus “not subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States.
  • This requires turning to the broader philosophical issue: power of the state that arises from land and power of the state that arises from people. Critics urge that territorial jurisdiction is not the equal to “political jurisdiction” and thus read the “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” phrase to mean exclusively political jurisdiction not territorial jurisdiction. This, in turn, requires some philosophical understanding of principles of jurisdiction.
  • Territorial jurisdiction holds that a state enjoys power over people and activities due to the location of those people and activities. It is useful to remember citizenship is a two-way street: it gives rights to the individual and it also imposes burdens on the individual due the state. Most criminal law still predicates and premises its power on territory: the state who holds power over the land where the crime took place enjoys the power and prerogative to prosecute and punish. In truth, much of this stems from feudal times – a person born in a particular lord’s land joined by birth the feudal contract entitling him to certain obligations from the lord (protection, justice, provisions) and to the lord (military service, judicial service, administrative service, and incomes/tax).
  • Under traditional and ancestral understanding of territorial jurisdiction, a person born in the lord’s land would be a citizen of the land unless the conditions of their birth were unusual – as children of an enemy occupying army, children of diplomats of a foreign nation physically present as representatives of that foreign nation, and the like. If we extend that principle to the question of birthright citizenship, children born in America would be American citizens unless their parents’ physical presence was on the official representation of a foreign nation.
  • A trilogy of Supreme Court cases did little to fully resolve the controversy, though they do provide precedent helpful to Harris. After the Amendment and before the turn of the century, the Supreme Court construed the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” to mean those who did not “owe immediate allegiance to” a foreign power, such as the “children of ministers, consuls, and citizens or subjects of foreign States born within the United States” unless they were legally present in the United States as permanent residents.
  • A note of question for the critics – if owing allegiance to a foreign nation precludes citizenship attaching at birth, this could effectively shift the power of citizenship to foreign nations who could simply declare people citizens at birth of their nation regardless of ancestry or geography. Equally, the children of mixed-birth parents could be stripped of citizenship as well.
  • In any controversy like this – where the textual and contextual debate earn merit on both sides – we come to the policy implications of the decision. We should always ask – who does the decision empower? Consider this: ceding to the state more power over citizenship through legislation on naturalization generally doesn’t work as intended for the benefit of freedoms and liberties – after all, this clause exists in response to the Dred Scott decision that effectively reversed the Amistad decision where we went from “born free, always free” to “once a slave, never a citizen.” The temptation to limit citizenship-by-illegal-immigration and foreigners in the White House could give the state the power to strip us all of citizenship. So think twice about what you might think you might want.
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A blast from the past

Laura Loomer confirmed that the video of her holding the drone is real. So I asked the obvious question as to how she could ever be trusted if barely 2 years ago, she was that susceptible to Russian propaganda.

Someone replied to me that they could easily find examples where I’ve done a 180 on issues. I asked which. Didn’t get an answer from that person, but a troll actually answered “Covid”. And provided a link to a YouTube video from March 27, 2020.

As the expression goes, you can’t have a reasonable conversation with someone whose sole purpose it is to misunderstand.

And the bad faith actors will always pretend to not understand a clear joke.

But the video is hilarious! I should thank them for reminding me of it, because I totally forgot about it.

Classic!

00:01:01
Mitch McConnell still MIA

It’s dereliction of duty at the individual level, and at the party level. Letting the Democrats score an easy win, and making it look like they are in fact looking out for the will of the people over the Republican Party itself, is a self own.

Where the heck is Mitch McConnell?

00:01:02
Fake Shiloh Hendrix fundraiser

The man who set up a fraudulent impersonation of Shiloh Hendrix in order to solicit donations from MAGA is now claiming it was a “social experiment”.

That he didn’t keep the money he admits to having fraudulently solicited.

Unfortunately, under the circumstances, “it was just a joke, bro” will likely not cut it.

Wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 requires:

• A scheme or artifice to defraud, or to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises.
• Specific intent to defraud
• Use of interstate or foreign wire communications in furtherance of the scheme
• That any misrepresentation was material.

Lack of fraudulent intent is a complete defense. But that requires good-faith belief in the truth of statements, honest mistakes, or pure non-fraudulent motives - which can include a true practical joke with no design to obtain money/property.

On its face, not the case here.

And the really sad thing is he’s got a young kid. That he ...

00:02:35
February 17, 2024
Appearance on Richard Syrette

I did a quick hit on Richard Syrette yesterday. Gotta keep Canadians apprised of the U.S. madness.

Appearance on Richard Syrette
The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023

Closing Argument: Birthright citizenship is deeply American, and wholly Constitutional.

The Barnes Brief, Podcast Format: Monday, July 17, 2023
Declaration of Independence

Audio podcast style.

Declaration of Independence
Questions for Bourbon with Barnes: Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Ask in replies and answering Live at 9ish eastern tonight.

Questions for Bourbon with Barnes: Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Ask in replies and answering Live at 9ish eastern tonight.

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The Barnes Brief: Wednesday, July 29, 2026
I. THE INTRODUCTION
 
A. Art of the Day 
  • The Venetian arched bridge above, the old walls of the city surround, the bricklaid road ahead, the dance of light against the alley, as the shadow makes us bigger than ourselves. 
 
B. Wisdom of the Day
  • “When we don’t put the brakes on our self-absorption, we have nothing stopping us from self-destruction.” Zeena Shreck. 
 
C. Appearances
 
  • Judge Napolitano
  • Peoples Pundit
    placeholder
  • Dialogue Works
    placeholder
  • Daniel Davis
 
D. Daily Picks
 
E. Special Notices
  • Special discount on SportsPicks subscriptions. Get all the picks on elections markets, economic markets, events markets, sports markets, plus exclusive AMAs, Masterclasses, and the best value in prediction markets anywhere, for less than $1/day and more than 50% off the annualized price. Discount code: 1776
 
II. THE EVIDENCE: BARNES LIBRARY
 
A. Food & Medicine
 
B. Economics
 
C. Politics
 
D. Geopolitics
 
E. Culture & History
 
*Bonus: Board Post of Note
 
 

 

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The Barnes Brief: Tuesday, July 28, 2026
I. THE INTRODUCTION
 
  • Special discount on SportsPicks subscription. Get all the picks on elections markets, economic markets, events markets, sports markets, plus exclusive AMAs, Masterclasses, and the best value in prediction markets anywhere, for less than $1/day and more than 50% off the annualized price. Discount code: 1776 https://sportspicks.locals.com/post/8098900/huge-discount
 
A. Art of the Day 
  • Winslow Homer’s portrait of a farmer bestows even more than seen/scene in the painting, as the painting itself bestows the story of America — the farmer, in simple dress, shears the fields of America’s expanse to feed a hungry nation, the hearty yeoman of labor turning land into sustenance and a place into a nation. But the title and timing tells an even starker story — ’The Veteran in a New Field” displayed in 1865 after the end of the Civil War. 
 
B. Wisdom of the Day
  • “The Russians are slow to saddle up, but they ride fast.” Otto Von Bismarck.  
 
C. Appearances
 
  • Judge Napolitano
  • Peoples Pundit
    placeholder
 
D. Daily Picks
 
II. THE EVIDENCE: BARNES LIBRARY
 
A. Culture
 
B. Economics
 
C. Politics
  • Trump wants to be like Napoleon
 
D. History
 
E. Geopolitics
 
*Bonus: Board Post of Note
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The Barnes Brief: Friday, July 24, 2026
I. THE INTRODUCTION
 
 
A. Art of the Da
  • A warm cup of coffee, a firm-backed chair, a well-worn wooden table, a soft light overheard, a farmed window overlooking the rainy streets as folks hustle about in the early morning hours softly lit by the gaslight streetlights, as they hustle about their day and you sink into a good book or deep thought, the warm cop waiting. 
 
B. Wisdom of the Day
  • “Talk sense to a fool and he calls you foolish.” The Bacchae. 
 
C. Appearances
 
 
D. Daily Picks

 

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