I have never been to teacher school, so I really have no idea what all they learn in there. I had long assumed, however, that one of the very first lessons, it would be that, once in the classroom, the teacher, s/he could not force, the public-school tots and tykes, to recite the pledge of allegiance. Because the United States Supreme Court, it had said so. And unequivocally. And way back in 1943. In West Virginia v. Barnette. And with some pretty ringing language, too.

To believe that patriotism will not flourish if patriotic ceremonies are voluntary and spontaneous instead of a compulsory routine is to make an unflattering estimate of the appeal of our institutions to free minds. We can have intellectual individualism and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.

If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.

We think the action of the local authorities in compelling the flag salute and pledge transcends constitutional limitations on their power and invades the sphere of intellect and spirit which it is the purpose of the First Amendment to our Constitution to reserve from all official control.

But I guess that just isn't in the lesson plan, West Virginia v. Barnette, there in the teaching schools. Or, if it is, the teachers, when they come out of the schools, they decide they Just Don't Care. Because, just about every day now, there comes some tube, with some news in it, about some teacher, somewhere, yanking a tot out of a chair, or heaving a tyke right out of the school, because the child, as is his or her perfect right, declines to stand and chant gibberish to a piece of cloth.

Someone suggested a thread about Chili and I just happened to have one in my files so here goes. Chili. The perfect food for Autumn weather.

September 19 is the 262th day of the year. There are 103 days left.

Today's number is 19

In times of stress we often look to comfort food to help us get through. Comfort food is food that soothes the psyche as it provides nourishment. It often is a food that we remember from our childhood. It can be a favorite dish that was made by Mom or Grandmother. It is rarely a gourmet dish. It is just plain solid home cooking.

I had to bail off of my perch on Lookout. Caught the big bird over the pond, and I'm on the lookout in a different world. Over the last few weeks I've been trying to think about the big stories of the week. It is so easy to get lost in the day to day. I've published those as the weekly watch. So this evening I'm asking you to help me sort out the big stories of the week – will you help with the weekly watch?

Way too much law the past several days; the clients, they got all the words; now, I don't have any left, for this place; I am an empty husk. Also, it is a full moon, and so the longer I linger in here, the more likely it is I go werewolf, or some rough beast equally inappropriate. Friday morning I noticed my feet seemed to be transforming into hooves: I figured it was because I'd been eating all week pig for breakfast, but now I fear it may be something more dire. I thought about at least convening here a 40-second press conference, like The Hairball's ludicrous Omega Man shindig—"I finished it"—regarding The Kenyan's birthplace; in mine, I would confess I was born on Neptune. But then I decided: some other time.

So, I'm today just going to post a little movie, and then get out. Don't worry, the thing is short—34 minutes—and also it's from Werner Herzog, which means it's Good. Herzog is an extraterrestrial anthropologist, who for nearly 50 years has been filmically examining the humans. This work, From One Second To The Next, treats humans who text while driving. It is a useful corrective for those afflicted with the delusion that the wholly artifical construct known as "Millennials" constitutes some sort of special, advanced, superior form of human. No. Such people are no such thing. They're just regular humans. Like everybody else. And, among their not-so special, advanced, superior behaviors, are thumbing out texts, hither and yon, while piloting motor vehicles. An activity that has killed, maimed, destroyed, hundreds of thousands of fellow humans. So far.

Howdy folks!

This is an open thread for folks to share their photos. Here are a few of mine: