Asia Tilt

Very interesting article discussing the decline of the West - specifically Western Europe - and how Trump is actually positioning America more Eastwards - thinking about what we can borrow from China and Singapore.

This is the first thinker - Bruno Macaes - who manages to discuss Western decline in a way that doesn't just feel awful and shitty, but rather a fact to be recognized and dealt with. This concept has already reframed how I think about the world and my life.

The world is changing. Adjust accordingly.

Interesting Take on Parkland

Students at Parkland admit to bullying and ostracizing the shooter. But of course, it's the NRA's fault.

Women

Two of my two favorites right now are Camile Paglia and Roseanne Barr. 

We don't need more protection for women in the workplace and elsewhere. We need stronger women.

Logging

Film: Death to Stalin

Good, but perhaps not great. Jason Isaacs incredible and obviously so was Steve Buscemi. Worth seeing if nothing more than a primer on Soviet history. Most Americans probably don't know who Zhukov was. Look him up on wikipedia. He beat the Germans in the field where they sent their best. We outsmarted and organized the Germans. The Russians beat them in a blood bath.

TV: Roseanne

The most relevant TV show to come along since...I can't remember. Successfully captures the tone of the original, a difficult thing to do. And I've long wondered if John Goodman is one of the greatest living American actors. Guy can do sitcoms, heavy drama, and doesn't not rely on irony or wink-wink spoofing of himself. And am I wrong, but can't he sing as well?

People in America

Are the people who live in America no longer Americans? I can't help but have this thought when I see the intensity and fervor with which both the 1st and 2nd Amendment are attacked day after day, week after week. It is as if people don't regard the Constitution at all. As if it isn't a document any more important than an op-ed in a newspaper.

America is an idea. That idea is written down in the founding documents of our nation - the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and studied and examined in the Federalist Papers, etc. Yes, it is a living idea, an idea that evolves, and it was designed to be. But what America is not - is a mood, nor a group of opinions to be negotiated.

It certainly seems that the most vocal Americans today care not a bit about the Constitution, but instead about safety, being inoffensive, and diversity (whatever that means). They want to turn out country into a safe, public playground made from non-toxic materials where no one can get hurt. What an awful vision of the world and the people in it.

Self Driving Cars

Are an utopian fantasy. And like all utopian fantasies, dangerous.

Industry experts know that driverless cars are more hype than reality. As I noted earlier this week in Asia Times: "The Information, a consulting organization that showcases industry specialists, recently held a conference call on self-driving where one expert warned: 'You have to remember that self-driving does not work, at least in… a highly functional, driverless robotaxi sense. It does not work. And there are many folks clamoring for architectures to get there. Again, think back to flight. Do you ever watch those YouTube videos where the guy pumping the umbrella and the dude with a big corkscrew and the person with the bird wings? I would think of it more that way. It is left to be seen which one of those architectures gets you to a useful outcome.'"

On second thought, all this self-driving car stuff is actually marketing exploiting utopian thinking.

High School Students

Why anyone is listening to high school students for suggestions about policy or government is beyond me. Didn't we all go to high school and remember how stupid we were? These kids are no different.

It feels like no one is tending the store in America any more.

Gangs vs. Frats

The Atlantic has gone full SJW. The article poses the question of the difference between gangs and frats. How about starting with this one: one is designed for criminal activity, the other is not.

The author actually mentions MS-13 and college frats in the same sentence. What is going on the world?

Cambridge Analytica

All I can say on the issue is that I don't get it. OF COURSE Facebook harvests and uses the data it collects on users. Why does anyone think the company is worth billions of dollars? Because they pay a monthly subscription to look at their friends' pictures? People are upset because Facebook takes their data and tries to manipulate them into buying, selling, voting, etc. That's the entire premise of Facebook and why I never signed up. I find this outrage to be completely preposterous and nevertheless support the movement to cancel Facebook. I've always said no one should use Facebook, but 1/4 of the world's population disagreed with me.

An outcome I would find utterly absurd, however, is the US Government deciding to reign in Facebook now - after the Trump election outcome vs. when Obama got elected and everyone was talking about how clever and forward thinking Obama's team was for using social media. What a bunch of turds all these people involved with this story are...

UPDATE: If this whole thing cripples Facebook, it strikes me that Trump gets inadvertent credit. MAGA!

Thomas Sowell in 1995

More right back then about today than any editorial penned this weekend.

Mascots of the annointed:

Whoever is condemned by society at large -- criminals, bums, illegal aliens, AIDS-carriers, etc. -- are eligible to become mascots of the anointed, symbols of their superior wisdom and virtue. By lavishing concern on those we condemn, the anointed become morally one-up on the rest of us. Is that important? To some it is paramount. A quarter of a century before the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said in a speech in Springfield, Ill., that the greatest danger to the future of the United States would come, not from foreign enemies, but from that class of people that "thirsts and burns for distinction." These people could not find that distinction "in supporting and maintaining an edifice that has been erected by others," according to Lincoln. In other words, there is not nearly as much ego satisfaction in building up this country as in tearing it down. Our schools and colleges are today turning out more and more people who have been taught to want to "make a difference," "save the planet" or "reinvent government" -- in short, to treat policy-making as an ego trip.

UPDATE: A twitter account worth reading.

My favorites:

“Some Americans will never appreciate America, until after they have helped destroy it, and have then begun to suffer the consequences.”

I was cured of this notion by traveling and living in other countries for only a short period of time. You quickly learn how great America is -- and how falsely romantic socialist and communist ideas are. It only took me 3 days in Prague, a week in Cuba, and a bus ride in Venezuela to grasp this idea.

 “There was a time when we honored those who created the prosperity and the freedom that we enjoy. Today we honor the complainers and sue the creators. Perhaps that is inevitable in an era when we no longer count our blessings, but instead count all our unfulfilled wishes.”

And not reading history doesn't help.

My Globalization Fear

Perhaps the long term result of globalization is that the US will start becoming more like China and Russia, than they become like us. After all, they've both been around a lot longer.

And why this is bad: Chinese Citizens with "Bad Social Credit" to be blocked from trains and planes.

In the long term scheme of things, China and Russia may view us as little more than the smart, innovative kids who will build a bunch of cool toys they can steal and use to exert old fashioned power.

Opioids

Politicians took millions money from the drug company that makes Oxycodin. 

It’s difficult to tell exactly how far Purdue’s influence reaches, because the pharmaceutical industry pays front organizations to do most of its lobbying and that often occurs at the state level. The company has also pushed their influence in areas outside of Congress, such as to patient advocacy groups, hospital accreditors, physicians and federal agencies.

Dig a little and I bet you will find the same story behind the Transgender movement. These companies fund political and social ideas to popularize "new norms" in order to make profit. It's the oldest game in the book and if you're wondering why so many people are saying 2+2 = 5, this is why.

Nashville Student Protests

Teens pull down and burn American flag and brawl over gun violence.

Anyone with half a mind knows teens do not have fully developed brains and nihilistic, criminal tendencies (particularly the boys). This is a not a surprise. What is a surprise is the permissive adult culture who is trying to exploit teen idiocy into a political movements/ideas. They don't have any, believe me. I was one once.

This Is Rather Interesting

...Sex differences greater in societies where mates freely choose (vs. arranged).

Counterintuitive, but nonetheless goes some of the way to explain why American women - despite more opportunity and freedom than most other people who've ever existed on the planet, still feel tremendous pressure and burden.

Thank God For Armond White

He's not right all the time. Maybe not even very often at all. But he's still the most important critical voice we have because he dares to speak against the problems in film culture: the corporate values, the cultish progressivism, the sadism, the arrogance. No one misses his ire. And he is at least capable of speaking about aesthetics and film history instead of only ideology and wokeness.

Here, he talks about Wrinkle In Time. Now, I'm hesitant to criticize a film I haven't seen, but gimme a break - I'm not seeing this movie. Especially after White eviscerates it. I remember the first time hearing about DuVernay and being like - oh cool, a new, original voice. Then I found myself tortured by actually watching Selma. Good lord, what a piece of shit. And then I saw DuVernay speak and discovered she's a PR person and her whole "career" now makes sense. She made 1 not very good movie. Literally, 1 movie and her name was suddenly blasted around film circles like some type of auteur. What gigantic scam. And even more evidence of a scam: her next film is a $100 million dollar Disney picture based on a famous children's book with Oprah in it. Talk about a desperate, almost fanatic ploy to be taken seriously and loved.

Now...you ask...why pick on DuVernay? Isn't her career the exact same as Patty Jenkins? I'd argue there are a couple of differences. One, Monster was a legitimately personal film. I didn't love it, but it was at the very least interesting and original and she managed to coax out that performances from Charlize. Selma? An entirely forgettable, inelegantly directed film about one of the greatest Americans in history. That's almost hard to pull off.

Second, Jenkins was in the Hollywood trenches for years after - directing loads of pretty good television and out there trying to get stuff made. She wasn't held up as some type mystical new important American the way DuVernay is. I guess part of it is just hitching herself to the Oprah thing, but God, why does anyone take her seriously as a filmmaker is beyond me.

To be fair, I haven't seen Wonder Woman either.

#MeToo

If you subscribe to the #MeToo movement (which I don't), you must believe Juanita Broaddrick's rape claim against Bill Clinton (which I do). She has been steadfast in her claim from day 1, told numerous people about it, and the scenario she depicted was similar to scenarios claimed by other Clinton had affairs with. In short, it is highly plausible she is telling the truth.

And if you believe Juanita Broaddrick, they you must also believe that Hillary Clinton knew about the incident, covered it up, and even attempted to intimidate Broaddrick into not talking about it. Which sounds to me like the actions of a criminal. And so all these sanctimonious Hollywood folks grousing on and on about the system and complicity and blah-blah-blah, ought to contend with the fact that their candidate in 2016 (not very long ago even by the standards of those utterly ignorant of history) was a direct enabler of this activity and provided cover for possibly criminal behavior.

And you must then also contend with the fact that you may have voted for Bill Clinton once or twice (a likely rapist) and probably just voted for Hillary in 2016. This would make YOU part of the problem, would it not? And it would make you a raving hypocrite.

The more nuanced view would involve admitting that there is rape and rape-rape and what Clinton did wasn't cool, but it was the freaking 1970s, and we need to all chill the f--- out. Or, you ought to be going after him. I don't see another position that one can rationally justify.