On this day:
585 BC
A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
1830
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
1942
World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.
A solar eclipse occurs, as predicted by Greek philosopher and scientist Thales, while Alyattes is battling Cyaxares in the Battle of the Eclipse, leading to a truce. This is one of the cardinal dates from which other dates can be calculated.
1830
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act which relocates Native Americans.
1942
World War II: in retaliation for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, Nazis in Czechoslovakia kill over 1,800 people.
***
Aurora Innovation, Inc. (NASDAQ: AUR) has successfully launched its commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas.
***
White House officials have in recent weeks brainstormed strategies for enshrining into law the government cuts implemented by billionaire Elon Musk’s team, aiming to turn the U.S. DOGE Service’s moves into lasting policy shifts.
So far, however, administration officials are running into resistance not just from Democrats, but also from congressional Republicans, who have in private conversations made clear that it would be difficult to codify even a small fraction of the measures that Musk’s team unilaterally implemented, according to lawmakers and several other people familiar with the discussions.
White House officials have in recent weeks brainstormed strategies for enshrining into law the government cuts implemented by billionaire Elon Musk’s team, aiming to turn the U.S. DOGE Service’s moves into lasting policy shifts.
So far, however, administration officials are running into resistance not just from Democrats, but also from congressional Republicans, who have in private conversations made clear that it would be difficult to codify even a small fraction of the measures that Musk’s team unilaterally implemented, according to lawmakers and several other people familiar with the discussions.
***
People do not lose their freedom; they trade it.
Hypernormalization
Comedian Ashley Bez posted an Instagram video of herself trying to describe a heavy mood in the political air. “How come everything feels all …?” she says, trailing off and grimacing exaggeratedly into the camera.
“Welcome to the hypernormalization club,” digital anthropologist Rahaf Harfoush said in a response video. “I’m so sorry that you’re here.”
Digital anthropoligist. Hypernormalization.
The Guardian attributes "hypernormalization" to "scholar" Alexei Yurchak, "who described the civilian experience in Soviet Russia in 2005. Hypernormalization describes life in a society where governing systems and institutions are broken and, for reasons including a lack of effective leadership and being unable to disrupt the status quo, people carry on with their lives as normal despite systemic dysfunction – give or take a heavy load of fear, dread, denial, and dissociation."
One might stumble here. How does an autocratic, paranoid police state define itself, in the greater scheme of things, y' know? And, just for clarity's sake, how do you know when such a murderous, torturing, jack-boot "system" that, for the last five generations, has been in a state-induced coma, is "broken?" Do its aims have any correlation with the poor citizens' aims?
Nonetheless, the esteemed digital anthropologist sails on. “What you are feeling is the disconnect between seeing that systems are failing, that things aren’t working … and yet the institutions and the people in power just are, like, ignoring it and pretending everything is going to go on the way that it has,” Ms. Harfoush says in her video.
At this point, it is apparent, like, where this article and the digital anthropologist are, like, going. The Biden election and administration have been an earthquake that threatens the very foundation of the American political system, a system that has been the cynosure of world political, economic, and social life for 250 years. The concepts of Locke and Montesquieu, Madison, Jefferson, and Lincoln have been suicide- bombed by the likes of Schumer, Schiff, Pelosi, and Obama. (assuming that Biden was just a bystander.)
But, no. That's not the point at all. The Guardian and the digital anthropologist have another target in mind. The Guardian quotes one Marielle Greguski, a New York City-based retail worker and "content creator," who posted about everyday life feeling “inconsequential” in the face of political crisis. The outcome of the 2024 election reminded her that she lives in a “bubble” of progressive values, and that “there’s the other half of people that are not feeling the same energy and frustration and fear”. To Greguski, the US’s failings are not only partisan but moral, like the racism and bigotry that Trump’s second term has brought out of the shadows and into policy.
She, the Guardian, and the esteemed digital anthropologist look at the most consequential, bald-faced, highjacking, treasonous conspiracy of the most important democratic system in the history of the world, the model for all democracies, and see...Trump, who was elected in reaction to the treason!
Coffeehouse platitudes follow. "Hypernormalization captures this juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane." “People don’t shut down because they don’t feel anything; they shut down because they feel too much.” And of course, damning undocumentable but specific speculations: "cuts to USAID funding, which has resulted in an estimated 103 deaths per hour across the globe."
Damn the destruction of the world's first and foremost democacy; American inaction has unleashed a global tornado of death.
USAID is a pretty small agency. Lord knows how many other, larger tornadoes we are responsible for. One might question how the Trump-voting Uber driver from Reading is responsible for taking care of these dying people. Or where the money comes from when you are $36 trillion in debt. Or when his sacrifices might be deemed enough.
But, no matter.
***
Hypernormalization
Comedian Ashley Bez posted an Instagram video of herself trying to describe a heavy mood in the political air. “How come everything feels all …?” she says, trailing off and grimacing exaggeratedly into the camera.
“Welcome to the hypernormalization club,” digital anthropologist Rahaf Harfoush said in a response video. “I’m so sorry that you’re here.”
Digital anthropoligist. Hypernormalization.
The Guardian attributes "hypernormalization" to "scholar" Alexei Yurchak, "who described the civilian experience in Soviet Russia in 2005. Hypernormalization describes life in a society where governing systems and institutions are broken and, for reasons including a lack of effective leadership and being unable to disrupt the status quo, people carry on with their lives as normal despite systemic dysfunction – give or take a heavy load of fear, dread, denial, and dissociation."
One might stumble here. How does an autocratic, paranoid police state define itself, in the greater scheme of things, y' know? And, just for clarity's sake, how do you know when such a murderous, torturing, jack-boot "system" that, for the last five generations, has been in a state-induced coma, is "broken?" Do its aims have any correlation with the poor citizens' aims?
Nonetheless, the esteemed digital anthropologist sails on. “What you are feeling is the disconnect between seeing that systems are failing, that things aren’t working … and yet the institutions and the people in power just are, like, ignoring it and pretending everything is going to go on the way that it has,” Ms. Harfoush says in her video.
At this point, it is apparent, like, where this article and the digital anthropologist are, like, going. The Biden election and administration have been an earthquake that threatens the very foundation of the American political system, a system that has been the cynosure of world political, economic, and social life for 250 years. The concepts of Locke and Montesquieu, Madison, Jefferson, and Lincoln have been suicide- bombed by the likes of Schumer, Schiff, Pelosi, and Obama. (assuming that Biden was just a bystander.)
But, no. That's not the point at all. The Guardian and the digital anthropologist have another target in mind. The Guardian quotes one Marielle Greguski, a New York City-based retail worker and "content creator," who posted about everyday life feeling “inconsequential” in the face of political crisis. The outcome of the 2024 election reminded her that she lives in a “bubble” of progressive values, and that “there’s the other half of people that are not feeling the same energy and frustration and fear”. To Greguski, the US’s failings are not only partisan but moral, like the racism and bigotry that Trump’s second term has brought out of the shadows and into policy.
She, the Guardian, and the esteemed digital anthropologist look at the most consequential, bald-faced, highjacking, treasonous conspiracy of the most important democratic system in the history of the world, the model for all democracies, and see...Trump, who was elected in reaction to the treason!
Coffeehouse platitudes follow. "Hypernormalization captures this juxtaposition of the dysfunctional and mundane." “People don’t shut down because they don’t feel anything; they shut down because they feel too much.” And of course, damning undocumentable but specific speculations: "cuts to USAID funding, which has resulted in an estimated 103 deaths per hour across the globe."
Damn the destruction of the world's first and foremost democacy; American inaction has unleashed a global tornado of death.
USAID is a pretty small agency. Lord knows how many other, larger tornadoes we are responsible for. One might question how the Trump-voting Uber driver from Reading is responsible for taking care of these dying people. Or where the money comes from when you are $36 trillion in debt. Or when his sacrifices might be deemed enough.
But, no matter.
If these people are allowed to ignore the undermining of our most basic concepts, there will soon be precious little wealth and freedom to be spread around by sanctimonious bureaucrats and their flunkies.
They might well be the only ones left.
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