On this day:
1503
King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1588
Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada’s attempt to invade England.
1844
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
1863
American Civil War: following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
1908
Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight.
1942
Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945
World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
***
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City. The announcement stopped short of explicitly stating that Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said that was the intention.
***
Don wants you to know who Erzsébet Báthory is. It's pretty amazing.
***
Ex-Pirate David Bednar became the first Yankees pitcher in 43 years to record a save with all five outs by strikeouts since Goose Gossage did so on May 14, 1982 against the Oakland Athletics on the road.
***
OpenAI released its new GPT-5 model — the engine that will power its key products, including the free and paid versions of ChatGPT — challenging its arch-competitor Anthropic. Anthropic's Claude is frequently viewed as the best AI for writing code, which could be the reason OpenAI leaned so heavily on GPT-5's coding skills as the company introduced its new model Thursday.
***
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said Texas Republicans and Donald Trump “have left us no choice” when asked if she, too, would attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts to get rid of its GOP representatives. She seems to have forgotten that each of the Bay State’s nine congressional districts is already represented by Democrats.
***
Socialism and Groups
"The goal of socialism is communism." - Vladimir Lenin
"In theory, Socialism may wish to enhance freedom, but in practice, every kind of collectivism consistently carried through must produce the characteristic features which Fascism, Nazism, and Communism have in common. Totalitarianism is nothing but consistent collectivism."--Hayek
King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1588
Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada’s attempt to invade England.
1844
The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
1863
American Civil War: following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).
1908
Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers’ first public flight.
1942
Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945
World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.
***
Israel’s security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City. The announcement stopped short of explicitly stating that Israel would take full control of the Gaza Strip, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu previously said that was the intention.
***
Don wants you to know who Erzsébet Báthory is. It's pretty amazing.
Ex-Pirate David Bednar became the first Yankees pitcher in 43 years to record a save with all five outs by strikeouts since Goose Gossage did so on May 14, 1982 against the Oakland Athletics on the road.
***
OpenAI released its new GPT-5 model — the engine that will power its key products, including the free and paid versions of ChatGPT — challenging its arch-competitor Anthropic. Anthropic's Claude is frequently viewed as the best AI for writing code, which could be the reason OpenAI leaned so heavily on GPT-5's coding skills as the company introduced its new model Thursday.
***
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey said Texas Republicans and Donald Trump “have left us no choice” when asked if she, too, would attempt to redraw the state’s congressional districts to get rid of its GOP representatives. She seems to have forgotten that each of the Bay State’s nine congressional districts is already represented by Democrats.
Amazing.
***
Germany's Economy Minister Katharina Reiche warned on Wednesday that flawed site selection and shifting market dynamics were undermining offshore wind tenders, as the country's latest offshore auctions received no bids.
***
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Socialism and Groups
"The goal of socialism is communism." - Vladimir Lenin
"In theory, Socialism may wish to enhance freedom, but in practice, every kind of collectivism consistently carried through must produce the characteristic features which Fascism, Nazism, and Communism have in common. Totalitarianism is nothing but consistent collectivism."--Hayek
Discussions over Socialism are rare. Emotions and hopes do not withstand much scrutiny. Discussions within Socialism are rarer still.
One element that has always been interesting is the Socialists' view of the group, the Collective. We humans are drawn to groups: family, community, church, and social groups. Socialism promises another, larger and spiritual, united and visionary. Socialism seems to answer an inner need.
But the Socialism group is not a merging, a maturation, or a fulfilling. Socialism is not a next step, a flowering. Instead, it fills a void, a void it creates. Stuart Finkel had the startling observation that communists have always acted more forcibly to undermine free association than to undermine free enterprise. Socialism must always overcome the status quo. Replace the norm. That's what a revolution is.
But that new Collective is also hard to trust; it might elect someone like Trump. So the group needs a filter, a real control, should the group not fall in line and the ideals waver. Hence Red Guards. Gulags. Inquisitors. And the new group can only be so accommodating; focus and efficiency are important. The group must be streamlined, sometimes pruned.
The very first thing that suffers under collectivism is deviation from the norm.
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