Money, which represents the prose of life, and which is hardly spoken of in parlors without an apology, is, in its effects and laws, as beautiful as roses. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Does the current "equality" flap mean that because the governments of North Korea and Venezuela implement economic policies that result in the mass starvation of their people, the U.S. government should implement similar policies, “to even the playing field.” That might be the idea behind carbon taxes--as opposed to banning carbon outright which would hurt the poorer countries more than the rich.
Yes, we all live on campus now. The neo-Marxist analysis of society, in which we are all mere appendages of various groups of oppressors and oppressed, and in which the oppressed definitionally cannot be at fault, is now the governing philosophy of almost all liberal media. That’s how the Washington Post can provide a platform for raw misandry, and the New York Times can hire and defend someone who expresses racial hatred. The great thing about being in the social justice movement is how liberating it can feel to give voice to incendiary, satisfying bigotry — and know that you’re still on the right side of history.--Sullivan
Assume, if it amuses you, that foreigners flood our shores with all kinds of useful goods, without asking anything from us; even if our imports are infinite and our exports nothing, I defy you to prove to me that we should be the poorer for it.--Bastiat
Philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner wrote that human crave what he called “re-enchantment creeds,” a sense of meaning and belonging. According to Gellner, modernity — i.e., the trinity of the scientific revolution, the Enlightenment and the market economy — dissolved the old creeds that gave people that sense of meaning and belonging. When traditional religion gets chased out, we adopt other causes, movements and ideas to fill the holes in our souls. Nationalism, socialism, psychoanalysis, neo-paganism, racism: These are all forms of re-enchantment creeds. Goldberg says that
partisan politics has become a kind of re-enchantment creed.
Who is.....Pichai Sundararajan, also known as Sundar Pichai?
Mencken on bureaucrats: Very few of the Dogberries, high or low, had been men of any genuine dignity or authority before they were given office by presidential fiat. For every one who had been in a responsible position, won by experience and ability, there were at least fifty who had been college tutors, charity racketeers, unsuccessful lawyers, petty jobholders, and other such nonentities…. It was simply not in human nature for such ignoble fellows, once they had the club of government in their hands, to refrain from using it recklessly.
Book group on Hayek. He has a narrative that has become a foundation, at least in conversation. He argues that we are a tribal people who have risen above Instinct through a cultural evolution to Reason and none of these elements are able to guide us alone; indeed Reason is the least reliable in our extended world. He believes the altruism of tribalism is the source of socialism. (So we are from a close, loyal and self sacrificing band who now do not know each other.) So now Junger can write Tribes, Obama can complain that his cosmopolitan vision is undermined by Trump's tribalism. But his other point is that the complex system of the new larger world, which he calls "the extended order," is always under attack by those rationalist who believe that analysis and planning can improve the social and economic problems that are always in a process of evolution. He thinks these efforts are always destructive and always fail.
An aside: There is a thesis that we as a species emerged with two separate observation and reasoning planes. One is the immediate, short-term plane where an imminent threat exists. In this area, we can and must make a difference through our evaluation and decision. ("That is a leopard, not a panda. Run for your life.") The second is the larger temporal question which is speculative, not immediate and has no imminent risk. ("Is a volcano a giant forge for the gods?") In the first instance, the question influences individual and species survival so those skills must be well developed and accurate. In the second instance, the question is speculative, has no survival significance if the answer is wrong, and requires only consistency. Put another way, the first question is science, the second is art.
International trade is not a war or even a contest between nations, which is why the “level playing field” argument for maintaining U.S. trade restrictions is inappropriate. Trade is a series of mutually beneficial exchanges between companies and individuals.--somebody
A recent study of popular U.S. brands showed the NFL the lowest of thirty chosen, popular with only those with post-grad degrees. Really shocking, if accurate.
Zito has a book out on the Trump election and who his support comes from. She was interviewed recently (with her co-author Todd) and it really was quite interesting. She is a perceptive woman with a rust-belt background. She believes strong support came from surprising second amendment sources (feminist gun owners, for example, a subset no one even imagined would not vote for Clinton) and evangelicals, who apparently feel the tide against them socially implies eventual legal intolerance. The latter Zito feels is a significant subset because, in their hearts, they do not like Trump personally but, for the first time ever, the religious right was willing to compromise.
The bakery case is very interesting. It is a narrow decision with limited legal meaning, I think, but will reverberate among religious groups who feel--rightly, I think--the government hostile to them and that may positively flow to Trump.
In 2016, opioids were involved in 28,496 deaths in the U.S..
An aspect of the Roseanne Barr comments that has not been mentioned is their cruelty. Comedy walks a fine line when it ridicules or insults. Rickles was funny but mean. Tina Fey was uncanny but became sadistic, cruel for its own sake. Bigotry is more than incorrect, it is cruel.
One of Hayek's tenets is that governmental intervention can not solve complex problems. Indeed, the effort to impose centralized solutions to multifactorial problems merely creates more problems that must eventually be resolved. If that s true, how can anything be achieved? But if we have a government at all it is bound to do something. So it is bound to create problems that cannot be helpful and must eventually be unwound. So will we be always at work countering the negative acts of good intentions?
From an interview with the economist Doug Irwin: "Mr. Trump may be the first openly protectionist president since Hoover, but what Mr. Irwin finds most frustrating about him is that he never really defines what a ‘better’ trade deal is...."
"Google will not renew a contract with the Defense Department—one that permitted the use of Google’s top-grade AI to enhance military surveillance recon.
It’s called Project Maven. And it’s been the center-point of a lot of heated internal debate around the Google water coolers this year. Why?
Because this surveillance software gathered information for calculated drone strikes. You know, drone strikes that occasionally harm innocent civilians. And that didn’t sit well with every Googler.
- Over 4,000 employees signed a petition against building “warfare technology.”
- Some employees even quit in protest.
Now? The contract, set to renew in 2019, will be voided instead. And Google’s future relationship with the Pentagon? Up in the air. "
"Pichai-le" Cute, no?
The definitive draft of Robert Frost’s poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening - one of the most famous and popular poems of the 20th century - is to be offered for sale at Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in London on Wednesday 20 June. It is estimated at £20,000-30,000. It appears in a letter dated 28th January 1923 sent by Frost to his friend in England, Jack Haines. Frost wrote, “I shall be sending you some poetry in MS again before long", adding as an afterthought, "I believe I'll copy a bit here and now." The ‘bit’ turned out to be the final, four-verse, version of Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening word for word as it was subsequently published.
A crocodile jumped out of a lake and grabbed the pastor doing baptisms in a lake in Ethiopia. He did not survive. (The pastor, that is.)
A day after saying only a man could handle his challenging job, Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker has offered up an unequivocal apology.
Obnoxious arrogance followed quickly by insincerity.
Billionaire businessman David Koch, who along with his brother has used his fortune to help reshape Republican politics, announced that he is retiring from his family-owned company and all political organizations.
Aaaaaannnnnddddd.....a cartoon:
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