Basic Conflicts

On this day:

1002
English king Æthelred II orders the killing of all Danes in England, known today as the St. Brice’s Day massacre.
1642
First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green – the Royalist forces withdraw in the face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.
1918
Allied troops occupy Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
1947
The Soviet Union completes development of the AK-47, one of the first proper assault rifles.
1956
The United States Supreme Court declares Alabama laws requiring segregated buses illegal, thus ending the Montgomery Bus Boycott.

1970
Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century’s worst natural disaster.
1971
The American space probe, Mariner 9, becomes the first spacecraft to orbit another planet successfully, swinging into its planned trajectory around Mars.
1982
Ray Mancini defeats Duk Koo Kim in a boxing match held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Kim’s subsequent death (on November 17) leads to significant changes in the sport.
2001
War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
And Happy Birthday, Saint Augustine of Hippo, North African theologian, born 354 (d. 430)

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I don’t think I agree that nationalism is racism. I do think nationalism is like black magic: People who think *they* will be able to control *it* are often clueless about the forces they’re playing with.--Lincicome

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The US captured Guam in the 1898 Spanish-American War. There is movement to make it a state.

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The Jomon people living in prehistoric Japan had "little to no" Denisovan DNA, suggesting their ancestors may not have been in contact with this now-extinct group of Eurasian humans, a new study reports.

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Prosecutors in Milan have opened an investigation into Italian tourists who allegedly paid £70,000 to shoot innocent people in 'human safari' hunting trips to Sarajevo, with extra charged to kill children.

In the article, these pathological killers are called 'gun enthusiasts'.

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Gambling is a vice. Should the government benefit from it? What about other vices like prostitution?

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Basic Conflicts

"We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about. For years, those in City Hall have only helped those who can help them. But on January 1st, we will usher in a city government that helps everyone."--Mamdani

Here, a candidate with national exposure running for office in an important city is proclaiming confidence in government that directly contradicts the basic founding principles of the nation.

Promises like this defy not just history but reality. Like the aim of bruiseless falls and bananas, such a promise is not limited just by our imaginations; they confront basic laws of physics and man. They are result of different views of basic nature.

It's easy to dismiss these people. They come from a long history of violence, terror, and failure. They assume power over areas they do not influence at all. (The New York mayor, for example, has very limited ability to tax his constituents. A mayor cannot enforce a treaty with a foreign power or entity, like the International Court; trying to enforce a treaty the nation has rejected is even more of a peculiar promise.)

What is so alarming is that one million voters in New York City voted for this malignant nonsense, nonsense that is antithetical to the ideas of the nation's creation. And anything is possible with an uneducated, shallow, self-obsessed electorate.