Cab Thoughts 11/2/16

"It is a cruel mortification, searching for what is instructive in the history of past times, to find that the exploits of conquerors who have desolated the earth, and the freaks of tyrants who have rendered nations unhappy, are recorded with minute and often disgusting accuracy, while the discovery of useful arts, and the progress of the most beneficial branches of commerce, are passed over in silence, and suffered to sink into oblivion."--John Kenyon’s 1983 volume, The History Men


A lot of format problems I can not fix today.

Yes, Clinton was also awful, but as I said, she’s a little more forthright about her awfulness — she wants free college, but at least she doesn’t try to say that free college is part of her plan to shrink the government.--Landsburg

An interesting little consideration: The FBI chief is appointed for 10 years. Comey has six years left.  For the next four at least he will report to the vengeful Mrs. Clinton.

Richard Sorge was a Soviet spy during the Second Great War. His handlers sent him on to Britain, China, and ultimately Japan. He sent back the crucial fact that Japan did not intend to join Germany’s invasion of Russia, leaving the Fuhrer’s pincer movement with just one claw. This bit of spying may well have changed the course of the war. It allowed Russia to deploy its anti-Japanese Siberian divisions to the Battle of Moscow for the first, pivotal defeat of the German Army. Sorge was captured by the Japanese, tortured, disavowed by Russia, and hanged in 1944. Twenty years later, the Soviet government recognized him as a “Hero of the Soviet Union."

His main contribution to world disruption may have been in 1923 when he helped organize the library of a new think tank in Frankfurt, Germany. It was called the Institute for Social Research devoted to Marxist scholarship: The Frankfort School.

The political organization of Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a Democrat with longstanding ties to Bill and Hillary Clinton, gave nearly $500,000 to the election campaign of the wife of an official at the FBI.

Good news. Destruction is good. Phoenix does rise from ashes. Bastiat is dead. "Record-breaking floods in Louisiana have killed 13 people, damaged or destroyed 40,000 homes and landed 8,000 people in shelters. And yet flood-hit East Baton Rouge Parish – where 14 percent of residents live below the poverty line – and the rest of Louisiana are expected to ultimately benefit from the rebuilding effort as insurance funds and federal dollars start to pour in." (from something called vice news) "Ultimately benefit." I suppose disasters are actually a national resource. The Middle East must be thrilled with the destruction of their wars. Maybe that's why our esteemed leaders support terrorists. War is Growth!
Of course, Baton Rouge’s gain is other people’s loss because the money must come from somewhere. There a big difference between rose-colored glasses and stupid glasses.

A new line in the sand: The Pentagon warned that the Syrian government would be “well-advised” not to strike U.S. and allied military personnel operating in Syria a day after the U.S. scrambled fighter jets.

Who is... Gilbert Chagoury?

The regulations of the Affordable Care Act took up 51,000 pages--before the law was passed. The rise in cost of medical care was up 10% last year and is estimated to be up 22.5% this year. People are going to see and understand this. Is it possible that Obamacare will teach the public, practically, that government can not improve society simply through expansion and mandate? Large stacks of paper don’t automatically bring justice, equality, efficiency, and universal provision. Could Obamacare be the last large-scale welfare program ever passed by Washington, D.C.?
 

I do not know the Homicidal Derangement Syndrome's murder rate but  the global murder rate is over 1000 people per day.

Dilatory: 1. tending to delay or procrastinate; slow; tardy. 2. intended to cause delay, gain time, or defer decision: a dilatory strategy. Use:I remembered also the necessity imposed upon me of either journeying to England, or entering into a long correspondence with those philosophers of that country, whose knowledge and discoveries were of indispensable use to me in my present undertaking. The latter method of obtaining the desired intelligence was dilatory and unsatisfactory ... -- Mary Shelley, Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus, 1818

Dilatory is related to the Latin verb differre meaning "to postpone." It entered English around 1300.

Retail sales numbers for July came in at a disappointing 0.0%, well below the 0.4% Wall Street had expected.  This consumer-spending slowdown is happening against a backdrop of much lower gas prices and (supposedly) an improving job market. People are piling up a tremendous amount of new debt in two areas: auto and student loans. Outstanding car loans and student loans have climbed to $1.1 trillion and $1.4 trillion respectively, both record highs.

When Vesuvius erupted, 20,000 people lived in Pompeii, including merchants, manufacturers, and farmers who exploited the rich soil of the region with numerous vineyards and orchards. None suspected that the black fertile earth was the legacy of earlier eruptions of Mount Vesuvius. Herculaneum was a city of 5,000 and a favorite summer destination for rich Romans. According to Pliny the Younger’s account, the eruption lasted 18 hours. Pompeii was buried under 14 to 17 feet of ash and pumice, and the nearby seacoast was drastically changed. Herculaneum was buried under more than 60 feet of mud and volcanic material. Today, Mount Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the European mainland. Its last eruption was in 1944 and its last major eruption was in 1631. 

Andrea Tantaros, a  former Fox News host, has filed a lawsuit against the network claiming that former CEO Roger Ailes and current host Bill O'Reilly both subjected her to unwanted sexual advances. She says her complaints cost her her job.

The seventh season of GoT will be made up of seven episodes, while the eighth will be made up of just six.

What an appalling state of affairs: The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe aims to send 500 international observers to observe November's U.S. presidential election, a tenfold increase from the number the group deployed in 2012. A coalition of more than 200 U.S. civil rights groups urged the OSCE in a letter released on Tuesday to provide even more than the 500 observers the OSCE requested based on an assessment it conducted in May. The United States of America is going to have its election monitored. By whom? Pakistan? Venezuela?

YouGov poll found that just 5 per cent of Britons think that the world, all things considered, is getting better. More Americans believe in astrology and reincarnation than in progress. The cultural historian Arthur Freeman observed that ‘virtually every culture, past or present, has believed that men and women are not up to the standards of their parents and forebears’.



Golden oldie:

http://steeleydock.blogspot.com/2010/01/state-of-union.html

Merkel denies any link to her immigration policies... but the government suggests the citizenry arm itself and stash 10 days worth of food and water "in case of attack or emergency," and now, despite constant proclamations of Germany's economy at the heart of European economic 'strength', the Bundesbank is calling for people to work until they are 69 (up from the current retirement age of 62).

"Regardless of their political agenda, my celebrity pals are fundamentally mistaken about our “civic duty” to vote. There is simply no such thing. Voting is a right, not a duty, and not a moral obligation. Like all rights, the right to vote comes with some responsibilities, but lets face it - the bar is not set very high... Donald and Hillary are there because we put them there... The electorate has tolerated the intolerable. We’ve treated this entire process like the final episode of ‘American Idol.’ What did we expect?” --the disturbingly lucid Mike Rowe

You have to show your identification to board an airplane, cash a check, buy liquor, or check out a library book and rent a video, but not to vote for who runs the government.

From the NYT:  “Doug Band wrote to Cheryl Mills and Huma Abedin that he needed to connect Gilbert Shagoury, a Lebanese Nigerian billionaire who is one of the Clinton Foundation’s top donors with someone at the State Department to talk about his interests in Lebanon. It’s Jeff Feltman, Ms. Abedin answered, referring to Jeffrey Feltman, who is the American ambassador. I’m sure he knows him. I’ll talk to Jeff. Mr. Band asked her to call Mr. Chagoury immediately, if possible. This is very important.” Now inquiring minds might ask, "Who is Gilbert Shagoury (aka Gilbert Chagoury)?" And, if I were to tell you he had pledged $1 billion-BILLION-to the esteemed Clinton Foundation, would you be pleased?

AAAAaaaaaannnnnndddddd.....a graph: