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Villey on "social contract...juridical positivism is itself, therefore, the product of the subjectivist method of discovery of justice": But let us leave these philosophies of neo-Kantian justice, which are not all that important. And now let the positivists consider the mote in their eye. Does juridical positivism (not, to tell the truth, in the version which Kelsen offers, but in the traditional form inherited from Locke or from the school of the social contract) not conceal the same vice? VILLEY (TRANS VOILLEY): EPITOME OF CLASSICAL A'ATURAL LAW 93 It is true that positivism renounces the idea of drawing from justice the content of law. We purport to leave the responsibility for its construction to the arbitrary will of the legislator, and we hope, thus, to limit the damage. And yet we feel the need to just~fy the power of the legislator, or at least the authority of laws. Our doctrine of law too is a doctrine of justice. We cannot ground the value of our positive law except by resting it on justice. But on which justice? Already the great inspirers of our theory of the sources (such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) leaned towards subjectivism. Within their own conscience, they thought they found the rule, immutable and rigid, that our promises must be kept. In order to establish the authority of the positive laws of the state, all that was necessary was to add the social contract to this rule. Juridical positivism (to this day in its most ordinary form) remains an unconscious residue of the doctrine of the social contract and, beyond the social contract, this allegedly just rule according to which one must keep one's word: juridical positivism is itself, therefore, the product of the subjectivist method of discovery of justice.

https://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/GriffLawRw/2000/5.pdf
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Protestant pro-Trump constitutional lawyer Scott Lively: That said, candor requires acknowledging the grave risks inherent in this path. There exists a real danger of sliding into right-wing totalitarianism, which would prove nearly as destructive as a fully realized left-wing version. Power concentrated in strong executive hands, even temporarily, can entrench itself if vigilance falters ...To put it another way, like Cultural Chemo, short-term Autocracy is the only remedy for Late-Stage Marxism. The patient isn’t guaranteed to survive it, but the alternative is certain death.

The Lively Letter  Online Edition,1/20/2026, Observations and Insights on Current Events, History and Theology. Photo above is at Tel Gezer archaeological site looking west toward the port city of Jaffa, Israel. Subscribe  HERE . Contact/Comment  HERE .  DONATE  HERE   t o KEEP THIS MINISTRY ALIVE      Special Mid-Week Issue Why I Stand With Trump and ICE: We Need Temporary Strong Measures to Preserve Hope for a Restored American Republic Like Cultural Chemo, Short-Term Autocracy  is the Only Remedy for Late-Stage Marxism The Warning of a Surveillance Society As Leo Hohmann  recently warned  in his analysis of the Minnesota crisis and broader immigration enforcement trends: “A chilling show-your-papers society is taking shape right before our eyes, and ICE’s partnership with global data-collection firm Palantir is pushing it to the next level.” This observation strikes at the heart of a profound concern. What begins as targeted tools fo...
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Certainly. Here is a Father Brown–inspired recasting of the material as a mystery story: quieter, more ironic, more psychological, and built around a priest who solves not merely what happened, but what kind of sin was really at work. The Mercy of Man Mountain

Father Martin was not, at first glance, the sort of man to whom violent people told violent stories. He was small, round-shouldered, and almost absurdly mild in appearance. His black coat never seemed to fit him quite properly, and his hat sat on his head with the air of something that had given up trying to look dignified. His face was ordinary enough to be forgotten at once, until one noticed his eyes, which had the disagreeable habit of seeming to understand a thing before it had been fully explained. He had come to the parish on San Jacinto Street to assist for a week while the pastor recovered from pneumonia, and in the manner of priests, doctors, and bartenders, he was told more than anybody had intended to tell him. By the third evening he had heard, in fragments and enlargements, about a thing the neighborhood still referred to as  the miracle on Cardenas Avenue . He heard it first from a widow who crossed herself when she mentioned it, then from a retired mechanic who laug...
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A revised version of the transcript: The Night Mercy Found Us Gunfire, brotherhood, and the grace that spared us

Looking back now, I can see that much of my youth was ruled by a confused mixture of loyalty, pride, and recklessness. At the time, I would not have called it that. I would have called it courage. I would have called it honor. I would have said it was simply the way we lived: if one of your brothers was in trouble, you stood with him; if someone challenged you, you did not back down; if a fight came, you fought. That was the code as I understood it then. Age has taught me that young men often  disguise  foolishness with noble names. We call it toughness, loyalty, or heart, when in truth it is often some unstable mixture of immaturity, fear, and pride. In those years I lived close to that edge, rarely thinking about consequences or how quickly a bad moment could turn into something permanent. One night at a party, I came closer than ever to learning that lesson. I was standing at the liquor table with a beer in my hand when Bobby Loco walked in. He was well over six feet tall a...
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I sometimes wonder? Thank God for a sane voice like Tucker: @caitoz · 5h Nobody wants to believe they're the villain in the story. Nobody wants to believe their government is run by psychopaths who are inflicting unfathomable evils upon populations around the globe in order to rule the world. It's much nicer to believe you're the Good Guys. Much Show more Terry @terrybythebay The best measure of a civilized society today is how many people support Israel’s war on Muslims. 90% of Israelis can’t get enough bloodshed, but only 35% in the U.S. support it. This makes me hopeful for my country. Whether people will connect the dots, I’m less hopeful. 5:14 PM · Mar 10, 2026 · 1,840 Views

Caitlin Johnstone @caitoz · 5h Nobody wants to believe they're the villain in the story. Nobody wants to believe their government is run by psychopaths who are inflicting unfathomable evils upon populations around the globe in order to rule the world. It's much nicer to believe you're the Good Guys. Much Show more Terry @terrybythebay The best measure of a civilized society today is how many people support Israel’s war on Muslims. 90% of Israelis can’t get enough bloodshed, but only 35% in the U.S. support it. This makes me hopeful for my country. Whether people will connect the dots, I’m less hopeful. 5:14 PM · Mar 10, 2026 · 1,840 Views
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