Author: HP McLovincraft

Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.

Demolishing the Lincoln Myth, Yet Again

Extension of slavery in the territories was for Lincoln an entirely different matter, and on this issue he refused all compromise. Here we confront a paradox. If Lincoln thought it more important to preserve the Union than to oppose slavery, why was he unwilling to compromise over slavery in the territories? If he thought slavery’s extension was too high a price to pay to preserve the Union, why was he willing permanently to entrench slavery wherever it already existed? It is hard to detect a moral difference between slavery in the states and the territories.

DiLorenzo readily resolves the paradox. Lincoln opposed extension of slavery, because this would interfere with the prospects of white workers. Lincoln, following his mentor Henry Clay, favored a nationalist economic program of which high tariffs, a national bank, and governmentally financed “internal improvements” were key elements. This program, he thought, would promote not only the interests of the wealthy industrial and financial powers that he always faithfully served but would benefit white labor as well. Blacks, in his opinion, would be better off outside the United States, and throughout his life Lincoln supported schemes for repatriation of blacks to Africa and elsewhere. If blacks left the country, they could not compete with whites, the primary objects of Lincoln’s concern. (Lincoln, by the way, did not see this program as in any way in contradiction to his professed belief that all men are created equal. Blacks, he thought, had human rights but not political rights.)

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Couple under house arrest after testing positive for COVID-19

A Kentucky couple is under house arrest after one of them tested positive for coronavirus and refused to sign self-quarantine papers.

Elizabeth Linscott got tested for COVID-19 because she was planning to go visit her parents.

“My grandparents wanted to see me, too, so, just to make sure that, you know, if I tested negative, that they would be okay, everything would be fine,” Linscott said.

After testing positive but without showing any symptoms, Linscott said the health department contacted her, requesting she sign documents.

“I agreed to comply to call the Health Department if I was to go. I was to call the Health Department if I was to leave my house for any reason,” she said.

But, she chose not to sign.

“I had gotten a message from them, a text message that stated, because of your refusal to sign, this is going to be escalated, and law enforcement will be involved,” she said.

Later that week, the county sheriff greeted Linscott’s husband, Isaiah, at their front door.

“I open up the door, and there’s like eight different people, five different cars, and I’m like ‘what the heck’s going on?’ This guy’s in a suit with a mask. It’s the Health Department guy, and they have three papers for us. For me, her and my daughter,” he said.

The couple was ordered to wear ankle monitors. If they travel more than 200 feet, law enforcement will be notified.

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