"Hmmmmm"...2017 edition

Nixon deliberately prolonged the Vietnam War, costing hundreds of thousands of additional casualties and now there's a smoking gun:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/opinion/sunday/nixons-vietnam-treachery.html?_...

(Thanks, Gord)

Getting a little nauseous recalling the era. What an utter jerk - as it states in the article , extending the war in order further his own ambitions {and supported by the military industrial complex as we used to say}.

You should find out if my old english teacher {he hates that moniker!}, James Restion Jr., has puked upon reading the article.

I did take an anti war stance I just wish I had had my act together a little better and "beat the system" by taking advantage of the educational opportunities then. Being anti establishment was fun but not personally advantageous.

It just makes me more worried about our current political situation as Trump and Nixon resemble each other in many respects in my mind.

Delightfully curmudgeonly bookseller in D.C.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2016/05/27/capitol-hill-books-jim-toole-curmudgeon...

(Gord again.)

It's time to admit the so-called "two-state solution" is a joke:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/pretend-two-state-solution-1.3919996

Yep after the November 4, 1995, Tel Aviv, Israel assassination of Yitzhak Rabin it seems all hope of any actual mutually respected peace was lost.

Slavoj Zizek and the crisis in ecology facing China and much of the rest of the world--which seems to spawn indifference, guilt, but little tangible action or reform:

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19787/spaceship-earth-lessons-of-airpocalypse-sl...

My type of syllabus:

http://callingbullshit.org/syllabus.html

(Courtesy Gord)

A gem from THE ONION, courtesy Gord:

http://www.theonion.com/article/asshole-moves-part-city-where-all-assholes-live-...

LOL as they say.

>8 CliffBurns: If you scroll down to Obama's tweets with the Audubon Soc., that even better.

>10 justifiedsinner: this is no longer going to be a parody with our new admin!

Today is the 75th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference.
https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005477

A movie, based on notes taken at the conference, is available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYdIfOkpMos

I've seen it, found the recreation credible, the effect chilling.

Les yike!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/living-holographic-universe-1.3959758

It was naive of me to have been surprised by the denseness/irrelevancy of the comments below that article--somehow I don't expect Canadians to sound so, well, American.

My countrymen constantly provide me with a rationale for my misanthropy.

On Steve Bannon and Julius Evola

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/world/europe/bannon-vatican-julius-evola-fasc...

>17 mejix: A 1995 article by Umberto Eco seems apropos: (edited from Wikipedia)

In his 1995 essay "Eternal Fascism", Umberto Eco lists fourteen general properties of fascist ideology. He argues that it is not possible to organize these into a coherent system, but that "it is enough that one of them be present to allow fascism to coagulate around it". He uses the term Ur-fascism as a generic description of different historical forms of fascism. The fourteen properties are as follows:
• "The Cult of Tradition", characterized by cultural syncretism, even at the risk of internal contradiction. When all truth has already been revealed by Tradition, no new learning can occur, only further interpretation and refinement.
• "The Rejection of modernism", which views the rationalistic development of Western culture since the Enlightenment as a descent into depravity. Eco distinguishes this from a rejection of superficial technological advancement, as many fascist regimes cite their industrial potency as proof of the vitality of their system.
• "The Cult of Action for Action's Sake", which dictates that action is of value in itself, and should be taken without intellectual reflection. This, says Eco, is connected with anti-intellectualism and irrationalism, and often manifests in attacks on modern culture and science.
• "Disagreement Is Treason" – Fascism devalues intellectual discourse and critical reasoning as barriers to action, as well as out of fear that such analysis will expose the contradictions embodied in a syncretistic faith.
• "Fear of Difference", which fascism seeks to exploit and exacerbate, often in the form of racism or an appeal against foreigners and immigrants.
• "Appeal to a Frustrated Middle Class", fearing economic pressure from the demands and aspirations of lower social groups.
• "Obsession with a Plot" and the hyping-up of an enemy threat. This often combines an appeal to xenophobia with a fear of disloyalty and sabotage from marginalized groups living within the society (such as the German elite's 'fear' of the 1930s Jewish populace's businesses and well-doings). Eco also cites Pat Robertson's book The New World Order as a prominent example of a plot obsession.
• Fascist societies rhetorically cast their enemies as "at the same time too strong and too weak." On the one hand, fascists play up the power of certain disfavored elites to encourage in their followers a sense of grievance and humiliation. On the other hand, fascist leaders point to the decadence of those elites as proof of their ultimate feebleness in the face of an overwhelming popular will.
• "Pacifism is Trafficking with the Enemy" because "Life is Permanent Warfare" – there must always be an enemy to fight. Both fascist Germany under Hitler and Italy under Mussolini worked first to organize and clean up their respective countries and then build the war machines that they later intended to and did use, despite Germany being under restrictions of the Versailles treaty to NOT build a military force. This principle leads to a fundamental contradiction within fascism: the incompatibility of ultimate triumph with perpetual war.
• "Contempt for the Weak", which is uncomfortably married to a chauvinistic popular elitism, in which every member of society is superior to outsiders by virtue of belonging to the in-group. Eco sees in these attitudes the root of a deep tension in the fundamentally hierarchical structure of fascist polities, as they encourage leaders to despise their underlings, up to the ultimate Leader who holds the whole country in contempt for having allowed him to overtake it by force.
• "Everybody is Educated to Become a Hero", which leads to the embrace of a cult of death. As Eco observes, "the Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death."
• "Machismo", which sublimates the difficult work of permanent war and heroism into the sexual sphere. Fascists thus hold "both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality."
• "Selective Populism" – The People, conceived monolithically, have a Common Will, distinct from and superior to the viewpoint of any individual. As no mass of people can ever be truly unanimous, the Leader holds himself out as the interpreter of the popular will (though truly he dictates it). Fascists use this concept to delegitimize democratic institutions they accuse of "no longer representing the Voice of the People."
• "Newspeak" – Fascism employs and promotes an impoverished vocabulary in order to limit critical reasoning.

Definitely. Scary to see the specific and deranged philosophy behind this incarnation.

On a lighter note:
Lines in the sand: $60 million worth of cocaine washes up on eastern English beach

Quote from article: "Police Superintendent Dave Buckley said he believed all the packages had now been recovered but appealed for anyone finding more to contact police immediately."

Hope you guys over the puddle are doing your civic duty and taking a walk on the beach!

The great book heist caper:

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.3980337/this-...

First, and likely only, footage of French Marcel Proust surfaces:

http://www.france24.com/en/20170215-france-literature-marcel-proust-footage-wedd...

If that's indeed Proust, he hurries down the stairs at about 0:37.

Good piece calling for progressives to get their shit together to confront CEO Trump:

http://inthesetimes.com/article/19896/progressives-democrats-third-party-vision-...

>23 CliffBurns: is that what it was calling for? Because it sounded to me like more of the same leftist circular firing squad routine.

>6 CliffBurns: yikes, still have something by Slavoj Zizek on the shelf to get to. And I was so sure I would read it as soon as I bought it!!

>20 DugsBooks: heh. Well, I would. Wouldn't you!?

#24---Anna, one of the good things about the election of Trump as the CEO of Corporation America is that it has revitalized a Left that had gotten bland, exhibiting platforms and postures that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn contemptuously called "Tory lite".

The Left needs a clearly articulated, well-reasoned ideology, rather than just automatically tacking toward the middle of the road so they can be electable (i.e. attract wealthy donors without threatening their interests). There's a lot of soul-searching going on among radicals and progressives and that's a good thing as long as they can translate that into policy and real practical action.

And everyone thinks Canada's is such a progressive, civilized country.

The rich still get away with shit here too:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/kpmg-offshore-sham-1.4006469

Amy Rosenthal wrote this, and it will break your darn heart:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/style/modern-love-you-may-want-to-marry-my-hu...

Support freedom of speech:

https://www.change.org/p/national-gallery-of-canada-we-support-jordan-b-peterson...

>29 CliffBurns:. That's not free speech, that's no-platforming. A different thing. And Peterson has been vocal in his opposition to the right of people to have their gender identity and presentation protected under Canadian law from harassment or discrmination. So not a nice man. Anyone who thinks their rights trump anyone else's doesn't deserve a platform anywhere.

>28 CliffBurns: oh very heartrending and sweet
>29 CliffBurns: I agree with >30 iansales:
Free speech means government cannot punish you for your words, and even there, there are exceptions (e,g. Incitement, shouting fire in a theater)
People boycotting you being given a soapbox is not violation of free speech. It is a consequence of your expression of that speech and they have the right to do that because they also have free speech rights.
No one is entitled to a soapbox.

I have no problem with boycotting an event you disagree with, it's when you picket outside and try to prevent people from entering, or disrupt the event so no real dialogue can take place, that's when you have abrogated someone else's right to free speech. And that's onerous.

If you don't like what's on TV, turn the channel.

Mr. Peterson is a controversial figure and identity politics is a hot-button issue right now. That doesn't mean we shouldn't address it head on or refuse to listen to a point of view sharply divergent from our own. Peterson has been subjected to enormous vitriol by the politically correct police and makes matters worse by refusing to be cowed by them, actively engaging with them and spiritedly defending academic freedom.

The sign of a healthy intellect is a willingness to shed the bonds of subjectivity and actually approach the issue/topic from a perspective not your own--escaping the self-reflecting hall of mirrors for the briefest moment.

And since we're hauling out the hoary cliches (shouting "fire", etc.) how about remembering a little of your Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it."

I dunno, folks.

A lot of the reading I've been doing on gender/identity indicates that it is a highly individualistic response by people who feel that collectively they can't have an effect on the larger world and so have collapsed inward, seeking autonomy over the only territory they fully control, their own body, and fiercely defending its precincts from real or imagined threats.

Instead of saving the world, preserving the environment, reaching for the stars, we're arguing over whether to call each other "he and her", "ze and zir".

And that strikes me as ridiculous.

Here's Jordan Peterson on "The Joe Rogan Show", just to give you an idea of the "finer points" of the debate:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04wyGK6k6HE

>30 iansales: Informed debate requires an informed citizenry. We don't have one of those - as both Brexit and Trump's victory have shown. Nor do right-wing ideas get quashed when debated openly. They should never see the light of day in the first place.

As for Peterson, what he disagrees with does not affect him, and yet he refuses to accept the views of those it does affect. That makes him an arse. Plus, anyone who uses the phrase "political correctness" unironically is an idiot. It's a right-wing slur and meaningless.

I'm as hard Left as you can get, Monsieur Sales, and I DETEST political correctness or ANY attempt to limit the free expression of ideas. I can't stand it when people try to define the terms under which they're comfortable discussing a contentious issue. The vocabulary we must use. Screw that!

The problem is, we've lost the ability to debate, to argue and, maybe, change our minds. Penn Jillette also insists we're slowly being denied the right to express ourselves hyperbolically and I can see that as well.

Passion is mistaken for anger...and people retreat into little fetal balls. Securely consigned to their "safe spaces".

Peterson is an intelligent, articulate man, whatever you may think of his views. Trump is a blowhard and an arse. Jordan Peterson is an intellectual, with all the credentials, and therefore such ad hominem attacks are neither helpful, nor effective...or convincing.

Attack the ideas, not the man.

Would you debate paedophilia? Holocaust denial? White supremacy? Some ideas *should* be limted, and there should be legal ramifications to espousing them. And when a person from a majority group starts bullying people from a minority group by acting deny them rights, that's *not* free expression of ideas. Peterson has campaigned to have the law changed to the detriment of some people. That's no different to Orson Scott Card campaigning against marriage equality.

The internet has changed things. We can't put that genie back in the bottle. We've not lost the right to express ourselves hyperbolically, we just have to accept that the terms of reference of debate have changed. People who would not or could not speak before now have a voice. And they're rightly questioning some of the things that prople routinely said. Just like the n-word is now considered deeply offensive - would you campaign to re-introduce it? Of course not. Society has also changed. We can only move forward - it is, after all, what progressive means.

Being an intellectual is no defence. As they say, all stupid people are conservative, but not all conservatives are stupid.

Rant over :-)

Oh my, those randy Canadians are at it again! Hey you guys might be eligible for some big money. 10k to those whose bedroom adventures were monitored - and no you don't have to "win" in a qualitative comparison. ;-)

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bad-vibrations-your-sex-toy-may-be-collecting-i...

Hmmmmmmmm:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39383988

"It's ok, you can look at my butt"

https://vimeo.com/190063150

That was...odd, but neat.

I know, right? Not sure what to make of it but I find it fascinating.

Anyone smell a hoax?

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39413693

Apparently, the Nazis were big time dope fiends:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/27/books/review/blitzed-drugs-third-reich-norman...

(From Gord)

Apparently yes. Here's a review by Antony Beevor:

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/03/09/blitzed-very-drugged-nazis/

Beevor is my favourite contemporary war historian. Love the guy...

Usually, Amazon's recommendations to me are really easy to understand, based on my searches, purchases and suchlike, but I absolutely cannot figure out why they are marketing this book to me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984758550/ref=pe_2802100_231892190_em_1p_0_ti

>45 anna_in_pdx: Are there any pages in the book enclosed in cellophane that are perforated and psychedelic in design?

>41 CliffBurns: Yes, I do. Scam rather than hoax, though. Originally seemed to be buyer's remorse but now seems a matter of being thwarted in plans to profit from selling two houses rather than one. Ah, America land o'dreams, where close acquaintance with airport horror novels joins the more usual greed + ready & willing dishonesty to create the stuff of civil court cases.

Good news for aging potheads:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/may/08/daily-dose-of-cannabis-extract-c...

>48 CliffBurns: Huh?? What?? ...is there a free study to volunteer for? ;-)

....So is there a popular Canadian lawn maintenance, fetish movement?



https://www.yahoo.com/news/very-determined-man-mows-grass-000132580.html

Saw it, thought "typical fucking Albertan" and moved on.

Here in my home province, Saskatchewan, we're much more practical, level-headed people.

A headline from BBC Africa:

"Police warn bald men after ritual attack..."

First, there's the permanent hair loss thing. Then, some crazy bastards start attacking you. A person can't win...

Lovely short bit from BBC 1--"what makes us different from each other?"

https://www.facebook.com/BBCOne/videos/1319571431411489/?pnref=story

Verso Books, a leading radical publisher, is offering their e-books for 90% off in this amazing "flash" sale:

https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/3328-90-off-all-our-ebooks?utm_source=Master+Li...

I am sharing this everywhere... it is a very long read but it is extremely important. Having spent much of my life in the public sector it really spoke to me, and I think it's important to remember in this very anti-government time that a lot of government functions are very important and would not get done by non-public entities (nor would non-public entities have a concept of public interest).

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/07/department-of-energy-risks-michael-lewis

Michael Lewis is a legit journalist--I'll be sure to give that a look. Thanks, Anna.

That is seriously worrying. We have similar mind-sets over here, but our Civil Service still (just about) retains enough integrity and a sense of its role in actually running stuff for changes in Government to go fairly smoothly. But we have had our share of career politicians who say "Who needs experts?".

I was 30 years in the public sector; I left in 2010 because I could see the way the wind was blowing, and it's blown us to the desolate shore where we are today.

I have done a couple of blog posts on similar (though not such dire) problems here in the UK, based on my experience in water regulation:

http://robertday154.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/something-rotten-in-this-state/

http://robertday154.wordpress.com/2015/11/20/is-he-one-of-us/

Both date from 2015, but I feel they are still relevant now.

>56 RobertDay: I just finished reading the first one you listed, how fascinating to read. I do see some similarity in the whole "running government like a business" mindset, but think the situation has become more dire on our side of the pond recently.

Nice to find your blog, I need to save it and check it out regularly. Looking forward to reading the second one later when I am off the clock myself.

TIL: http://untappedcities.com/2015/04/02/this-former-nazi-town-on-long-island-with-a...

>58 bluepiano: Was that a Fred Trump development?

A lovely story to post here for a change:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40923339

>58 bluepiano: how bizzare!

Weirdest dating profile ever:
http://shouldyoudatenate.com/

>62 anna_in_pdx: You can take the boy out of Mom's basement but . . . .

Thank you thank you--grotesque, self-deluded, and great fun, which I suppose is 21st-century version of the sublime. I gleefully googled a bit & my favourite comment was 'He's like a cross between Patrick Bateman and that dude on The Office.' Also came across this link to more of Mr Rifkin: http://naterifkin.com/cut-off-family-friends-fail-one-test/. (You weren't tempted I take it by the chance to go to Boise, then, even though there's a picture of an actual plane on the map so you know you'd be going by air not Greyhound.)

>63 bluepiano: I almost feel bad for piling on but sometimes these things are just what one needs when one is wondering how well-adjusted one's own life is...

Prepare to cry:

http://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-41056859/barcelona-attack-father-of-youn...

Author scammed her way to the NY TIMES bestseller list:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/aug/25/handbook-for-mortals-by-lani-sarem...

If you look at the reviews for Mar-a-Lago the most frequent question asked is; "Will there be a wall around Mar-a-Lago"? To which the response is; "There will be a very great wall and Irma will pay for it".

The most "challenged" books of the past year:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/27/books/banned-books-week.html?smid=tw-nytimes&...

Ok Canadians!, time to dust off those jaunty hats and polish your thespian skills. Opportunity and luck present themselves for the well prepared.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/netflix-is-putting-down-roots-in-canada-2017-09...

I forwarded that article to my son, who's starting out in the film biz in Alberta...

“That’s my story and I am sticking to it.”
Man shoots at snake and hits mother in law.

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article176269791.html

>70 CliffBurns:. Cool, Just silly amounts of money being thrown around by our internet giants. I bet the technically skilled like your son are in demand.

More blurring of the line between SF and reality - kinetic weapons from space.

http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-rods-from-god-kinetic-weapon-hit-with-n...

Some thoughts on the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution, sparked off by reading China Miéville's October but going beyond a simple review... http://robertday154.wordpress.com/2017/10/22/nineteen-seventeen/

Very comprehensive and impressive, Robert. You know your material well.

One of the great "What ifs" of history to me has always been, "What if the Left had taken power in Germany after World War I, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknect escaping their killers and leading a democratic socialist regime..."

Russia would not have been alone and embattled, she would've had a powerful ally and friend in the heart of Europe.

What if...

The main problem with a scenario where the Spartacist uprising in Germany succeeds is reflected in what happened in neighbouring Austria between the wars; militias of both Right and Left carried out campaigns of terrorism, so much so that the inter-war period is often referred to by Austrians as "the Civil War" (though like most such events, it was anything but civil).

Much of the unrest in Germany arose from the myth that the country had been "stabbed in the back" by unfriendly elements at home; this myth was started by Ludendorff and Hindenburg to hide inconvenient truths, such as the imbalance of forces following the US entry into the war, the cumulative effect of the Allied shipping blockade, and the incompetence of the German military command (after all, having had forces freed up from the Eastern Front at the end of 1917, Germany was not short of military strength to put into the West). Had the Left been able to defuse this myth before it spread, and to organise effectively amongst (returning) troops in the way the Russian Left did, then the Spartacists might have had a chance of success and the Twentieth Century would have looked rather different...

USA gun debate again (sorry folks)
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/11/mass-shootings-resulting-eight-death...
AJ, if you are reading, I just want you to know I recommend your book every chance I get.

Arms: The culture and credo of the gun

One of those headlines that speaks for itself:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-42349711

Artists soon to be entering the public domain:

http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/class-of-2018

A historian friend’s year of reading in review:
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2017/12/2017-historians-reading