The inevitability of failure is baked in to Progressive Government

Peter highlights how the "homeless crisis" is manufactured, and intended to be a permanent gravy train for the government officials tasked to "solve" the problem.  Well, yeah.  It's Rich People's Leftism:

Rich People's Leftism is one of the clearest explanations I've ever seen for the utter failure of government in Blue States:

With this new approach in mind, let me contrast Rich People’s Leftism (RPL) with Poor People’s Leftism (PPL).

RPL thinks that its goal is to help poor people, while PPL thinks that RPL’s primary goal is to ensure that wealthy leftists dominate and get great jobs.

You really should click through to read about Rich People's Leftism, which dates to 2010.  We've known about this for a long, long time.  A different view is "red pill/blue pill": 

... an old post from Isegoria (you do read him every day, don't you?) gives the best introduction to the topic, phrased in explicitly "Blue Pill"/"Red Pill" terminology:

The nature of the state

• The state is established by citizens to serve their needs. Its actions are generally righteous.
• The state is just another giant corporation. Its actions generally advance its own interests. Sometimes these interests coincide with ours, sometimes they don’t.

You should read Isegoria's post as well.  Then think about the proposed $3.5T spending bill that is before congress.  Who will it help?  Who are we told that is is going to help, but won't?  To ask the questions is to answer them.

If you are not entirely cynical about everything that the government does, you're really not paying attention.  Take the Red Pill.  Or swallow the Blue one; the circus is entertaining, and the bread is free.

Queen - Under pressure

ASM826's post about the pressure that inhabitants of Blue Cities must be feeling made me think that there's an anthem for this, an anthem from 35 years ago.  The introduction really shows how fun one of these concerts must have been - although Wembley was special.  Jump ahead to around 2:45 for the song.

Under Pressure (Songwriters: Roger Taylor, Freddie Mercury, John Deacon, Brian May, David Bowie)

Pressure pushing down on me
Pressing down on you no man ask for
Under pressure
That burns a building down
Splits a family in two
Puts people on streets

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming get me out
Tomorrow takes me higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Day day day
Okay

Chippin' around
Kick my brains round the floor
These are the days
It never rains but it pours

People on streets
People on streets

It's the terror of knowing
What this world is about
Watching some good friends
Screaming let me out
Tomorrow takes me high, high, higher
Pressure on people
People on streets

Turned away from it all
Like the blind man
Sat on a fence but it don't work
Keep coming up with love
But it's so slashed and torn
Why why why?

Love, love, love, love

Insanity laughs under pressure we're cracking
Can't we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can't we give love that one more chance?
Why can't we give love give love give love?

Give love, give love, give love
Give love, give love, give love?
'Cause love's such an old fashioned word
And love dares you to care
For the people on the edge of the night
And love dares you to change our way
Of caring about ourselves

This is our last dance
This is our last dance
This is ourselves
Under pressure
Under pressure
Pressure

It must be said here that Brian May is a PhD Astrophysicist (and Commander of the British Empire, or CBE).  Not your typical head banger.  The Queen Of The World and I highly recommend the film Bohemian Rhapsody, if you haven't seen it.  Or even if you have.

Your NFL team cheats

Really.

Hat tip: Rick via email.

Thoughts about Donald Trump

Boy, the establishment hates his guts.  And he's polling so well that he's the front runner.  These two issues are joined at the hip, as the bulk of the American people despise the establishment.  Trump's candor and forthrightness (well, so far at least) cut through the clutter and resonates with regular people.

This analysis isn't anything new - you've heard it already.  You've also heard that people like him because he fights - he doesn't back down, issue phony "sorry if anyone was offended" apologies.  He's the 2015 version of Newt Gengrich.



Newt did the same thing - see how he instantly rejects the premise of the question?  Notice that the audience cheers this rejection even before he has elaborated on his single word answer?  Notice how when pressed, be unleashes a smackdown on his hapless questioner?  See how the audience cheers, to the point that you have trouble hearing the moderator try to segue to a commercial break?

Trump does that.  The other Republican candidates should be nervous about the first debate with Trump, because The Donald will basically ignore them and simply trash the establishment media moderators.  The audience will love it.

Just like Newt did.

And just like Newt, he will have a metric ton of contradictory past statements that will leave everyone wondering if they can trust him.  Me, I don't trust him - not at all.

But you know what?  I'm getting a bunch of emails from smart people saying they like what they hear from him.  And unlike Newt, Trump can fund his own campaign.  He doesn't care that the panicked GOP establishment just dropped $120 Million into Jeb's coffers.

This is getting interesting.  In a very end-of-the-Roman-Republic sort of way.  Me, I'm getting some popcorn, because this is fixin' to get good.  The circus is entertaining, and the bread is free.

Frivolity

The world is an interesting place right now.  Here is a short list off of the top of my head about events that are occurring, events that may have long-term historical impact:

• Greece looks like it will finally leave the Euro.  This may participate a financial crisis as Greek government bonds are repudiated; almost all of these bonds are held by European banks.
• The Middle East is even more messed up than normal, with ISIS fighting pretty much everyone, Iran going nuclear, and Saudi Arabia likely already in possession of one or more nuclear weapons.  Non-Proliferation has collapsed, and in the most unstable part of the globe.
• Vladimir Putin is threatening Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states.  The "Reset" has been shown to be a joke.
• China has achieved something not seen for 70 years - the re-armament of Japan in response to aggressive Chinese moves in the South China Sea.
• The economy is stalling out (again, if indeed it has ever recovered from the Great Recession).  Record numbers of Americans simply do not work.

So what are the news topics of the day?  What are the stories that get wall-to-wall coverage in what remains of our hollowed-out Press?

Some people don't like a flag.  And Bruce Jenner says that he's a woman.

A cynic would say that the frivolity is nothing but the Media trying to protect the Obama Administration from the results of their terrible policy choices.  In which case, of what use is the Media?  The truly terrifying alternative is that this merely reflects the decadence of this age of the Republic.

But all is well, Citizen.  The Circuses are entertaining, and the Bread is free.  And the Chocolate Ration has been increased from 3 ounces to 2.5 ounces ...

Quote of the Day - Dumb ex-jock edition

Chris Lynch brings the hammer down on the NFL TV coverage:

... one of the side benefits of the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson allegations is I haven't watched a single minute of any NFL pre-game shows. I need sportcasters and ex-jocks discussing societal issues in my life just as much as I need Hollywood movie stars telling me how I should think politically. I haven't watched any of the shows and I haven't missed them.

Amen.  I have enough sanctimonious jackasses in my life.  Got all I can use, actually.  Happy not to have any more.

My attitude about the airliner over Ukraine and the border mess

It's the path on the left, for the reason stated.

But hey, that's just me.  I'm a lousy news consumer, and this is also pretty much why I avoid Twitter like the plague.

(via)

The Republican Party in the "Awkward Stage"

The GOP Senate runoff election in Mississippi is instructive at how useless that party is in the cause of restoring the Republic.  Consider:

A Republican Party campaigning on making the Senate “conservative,” used liberal Democrats to preserve an incumbent Republican and defeat a conservative. The actual conservatives are the outsiders with the GOP establishment doing all it could to preserve its power at the expense of its principles.


The problem for those who call themselves Republicans is that it is harder and harder to say exactly what a Republican is these days. The great lesson from Mississippi is that Republican means, more or less, that if elected the party will reward its major donors, who are just different than the Democrats’ major donors. Policy differences are about different donors, not an actual agenda to shift the country in a different direction.

Consider:

“[They] orchestrated flyers that called me a racist,” [McDaniels] said. “They said I would end food stamps for everyone. They went into the same communities with speaker trucks and said that I was trying to suppress votes in those communities. They did every dirty trick in the book, behaving just like liberal Democrats do.”

Consider:

National advocacy groups such as the National Rifle Association and the American Action Network have gone to bat, with the NRA rushing to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran’s aid

As if we needed another reason to despise the NRA ...

Consider:

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question,

now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked

from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already

it was impossible to say which was which.

Consider:

America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards.
....

On the road to tyranny, we've gone so far that polite political action is as useless as a miniskirt in a convent. But most people are still standing around numb and confused, knowing something's wrong with the country, but hoping it isn't quite as bad as they're beginning to suspect it is.
....

Something's eventually going to happen. Government will bloat until it chokes us to death, or one more tyrannical power grab will turn out to be one too many.

Or you can relax in the belief that the Party of Caesar will be checked by the Party of Antony.  And the circuses are entertaining and the bread is free.

Frivolity, matched only by viciousness

Your Volgi has an outstanding post on how to contain the Crimean crisis, and is filled with winning strategies like this:

First, make life unpleasant for Putin’s silovik and oligarchal cronies through an expanded Magnitsky Act. Encourage our allies in Europe where significant Russian assets are held to pass similar laws. Restrict their travel. Make their personal finances difficult. Consider occasionally revoking the visas and university admissions of their children.

Second, attack Russia’s lifeblood—petroleum profits. Massively expand the export of U.S. natural gas to our European allies. Stop goofing around with Keystone XL and other oil-and-gas exploration and transport licenses. Encourage our Arab allies (if we have any left) to open the taps. Impoverish the Russian state—and its corporatist cronies—to defang their military and their ability to buy political power.

The entire post is filled with this sort of excellent analysis.  The problem, sadly, is that his post is aimed at, well, grown ups.  The people handling this Republic's foreign policy are not.  What they are, well, that's described in this post's title.  The State Department reflects the preferred future state as envisioned by Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and the Progressives inhabiting the Faculty Lounge.  That vision is frivolous, in that it has no understanding that actual work of production has to occur to keep society running (so long, Keystone XL); instead, a well placed Op Ed or a peer reviewed paper on some factor of Gender Studies receives pride of place.  As I said, frivolous.

That is matched by a rather astonishing viciousness - the late Christopher Hitchens described this sort of person:

We're in power because we like it.  We're in power because we enjoy punishing people.  We're in power because we enjoy owning people.  We enjoy telling them what they can do.

This is actually the bigger problem, because the strength we found to stare down the Russian Bear back in the Cold War was the strength that came from people who did things, rather than people who talked about things.  The current Administration seeks to leash those who would do things.  They are like a medieval doctor bleeding a sick patient, only more cynical - a weakened polity is easier to dominate and control.

And so alas, the Volgi's excellent essay would be good counsel for previous Administrations, or even a Romney one.  The chances that the current crowd will take any of this advice is nil.

Meanwhile, Iran watches the carve up of a Ukraine which gave up its nuclear weapons, and a Europe unwilling to engage in economic sanctions.  It is doubtful that this will spur them to give up their own nuclear program.  Our foreign policy is frivolous, but since it's the Tea Party and not Iran who are the enemies of the Administration, all is well Citizen.  Relax.  The circuses are entertaining and the bread is free.

Guess what's the least dangerous sport in the Winter Olympics?

Go ahead and guess (hint: it involves the use of live ammunition):

Strangely, the WaPo article somehow didn't mention to its readers that Biathlon involves the keeping and bearing of arms.  I'm sure that it was an innocent oversight.

(via)

Before there was Monty Python

Graham Chapman, John Cleese, and Marty Feldman put together a TV group called At Last the 1948 Show.  It aired on the UK's ITV in 1967 and 1968, after which Chapman and Cleese formed Monty Python.

Pythoners will recognize much of the same silliness.

My post of the year was yesterday

Go, watch.  Yes, it's 60 minutes long.  This is what's happening, right now.  And that "TS/SI" you see on a bunch of the slides?  That's the real NSA deal, that's all I'll say.  When the hair on the back of your neck stands up, that's when you will understand that you understand.



How did this happen?  Who's to blame?  If the crimes of this Government remain unknown to you, I would suggest you allow the New Year to pass unmarked.  But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek then I would ask you to stand beside me.  I do not yet choose to turn my face to the desert.

Or pop the cork of the champagne and wash down the blue pill.  All is well, Citizen.  All is for the best, in the best of all possible Republics.  The circus is entertaining, and the bread is free.

St. Zeno the Hermit and the last days of the American Republic

(via)

The Battle of Adrinople was the beginning of the end of the Western Roman Empire.  A vast army of barbarians - an entire people, really - had entered the Eastern Roman Empire.  The Emperor Valens decided to exterminate them, in the finest Roman tradition.  He is, after all, called The Last True Roman.

But his army was not the army of Scipio, or Augustus Caesar, or Trajan.  The Goths had those new-fangled stirrups for their cavalry and rode the Emeror's army (and the Emeror himself) down.  The Goths tossed a coin - assault the impregnable Constantinople, or set their sights on Rome itself and a helpless Italia?  It actually was the easiest decision that a barbarian horde ever had to make.

Sic transit gloria mundi.

St. Zeno the Hermit was an aide de camp to the Emperor Valens, and survived the catastrophe.  The ruins of the Empire's political system caused him to turn his face to the desert, and so he went into the wilderness to live a solitary life of asceticism, meditation, and prayer.  He, like many in the end days of the Roman Empire, chose to unplug.

We are seeing that today, in what sometimes seem to be the end days of the American Experiment.  Clark from Popehat say to burn the Eternal City to the ground.  The Internet Security community says burn the Tech Companies to the ground.  Joel says that Zeno had it right, and turns his face from the Last Days to face the desert in silence:

Really, whose fault is it that I’m doing that? It’s not George Bush’s fault. It’s not Nancy Pelosi’s fault. They don’t know me from Adam and wouldn’t care if they did. The only person who is actively doing destructive things to me is me, and I’m welcome to stop. Hating on the great omnipotent “they” – and calling that a struggle for freedom – has never gotten me anywhere. It’s like bitching about the weather: Great fun, but not as useful as fixing my own roof and insulating my own walls. The weather itself won’t change just to suit me.

While passively waiting for the world to change, I’d been ignoring the one person who could have a positive effect on my life.

And so I dropped back out. To the extent possible I live as though the State doesn’t exist. It’s a greater extent than some other people might manage, because I’m happily willing to accept personal limitations that would drive normal people completely over the wall. I have the luxury of living completely alone, and thus free of compromise, and I have friends who get a kick out of being enablers. Some of them read this blog. I also have finally made a virtue of the fact that I am genuinely a maladjusted, antisocial hermit type person who has never done well in groups. If you needed somebody to climb into a space capsule and make a solo trip to the moons of Saturn with some expectation of arriving there sane, I could do that. Silence and solitude do not bother me in the slightest way. People actually pay me to be out here by myself, so I can watch their stuff.

But while hermitage is a common fantasy, it really isn’t a particularly healthy lifestyle for most people and that’s why I never proselytize. This is my kind of freedom. You go find your own***.

We see two reactions to this End Of Days: Heros and Saints.  Neither of those is easy, and so most people check out.  Better the panem et circenses than the hard, lonely slog.

But Joel is right.  Each must find his or her own freedom, even if it is as with the Knights of the troubador epics: entering the dark forest where no path leads, and where no man has made a trail.

You enter the forest
at the darkest point,
where there is no path.

Where there is a way or path,
it is someone else's path.

You are not on your own path. 

- Joseph Campbell

 Or opt for the circus.  The bread is free.

Vincent Price, comedian

Yes, he's hilarious as he roasts Betty Davis.  It's classy, and oh so funny.



What a display of wit and humor and class.  Oh, it is sadly missed in these days of Jersey Shore, Homey Boo-Boo, and the other panem et circenses.

Why Hollywood is in trouble

Their big budget formulaic rehashes can't compete with video games.  Even formulaic rehashes are beating them like a rented mule:

GTA 5 sold more than $800 million worth of copies in its first day on store shelves. Those are the highest first-day retail figures in Take-Two history, the publisher announced today, and that doesn't even count digital sales on PSN and Xbox Live.

That's more than Star Wars has grossed.  Remember, Star Wars took 36 years to get not quite that much revenue.  Grand Theft Auto 5 did it in a day.  And GTA5 isn't even for sale everywhere yet (Japan and Brazil, to name two).  And it's the fifth game in the series - not exactly the freshest of offers.

Top 10 Hollywood Hack scene fails

The Gaijin emails to point out the awesomeist Redit, It's A Unix System I know this!  You will lose a day here, not just in what is posted to it but in what that leads you to.  This is pretty good.



All I can add is that the movie "Hackers" was such a deep sucking chest wound of FAIL that it could have had 3 or 4 scenes in the top 10.  But I guess that would have been bogarting the Fail, or something.

A Fanboi and his money are soon parted

Gratuitous dig at Apple fanbois because this can only be purchased through the Apple store.  This contains weapons grade frivolity:

The Philips Hue lightbulbs are the Internet of Things made real: multicoloured light bulbs with network connectivity and cloud control, with only the outrageous price preventing world domination.

The bulbs come beautifully packaged in a three-light starter pack, along with a controlling hub. The bulbs fit into a standard screw socket and connect wirelessly to the Ethernet-connected hub – and even each other.

A smartphone app (for Android and iOS) gets you up and running within a few minutes, but it’s the documented programming interfaces and social network interconnection that may justify the £179.95 price tag.

£60 light bulbs.  That's $100.  Each.

[blink] [blink]



It's bread and circuses, all the way down.

There are so many things wrong with this

I don't even know where to start:

Leave it to Bieber. The "Baby" singer was allegedly speeding in his Calabasas, Calif. neighborhood again over the weekend, but this time he ticked off the wrong neighbor.


Former NFL star and current ESPN commentator Keyshawn Johnson saw the Bieb driving recklessly in his Ferrari over the weekend, so he chased him down in his Prius – yes, that's right, the big man cares about the environment.

...

Johnson reportedly parked right up behind Justin's Ferrari and got out of the car to talk to Bieber about his driving style, but this time the Bieb didn't act like a tough guy, as he has in previous confrontations with neighbors over his driving. Instead, he ran inside his house and wouldn't come out, TMZ reports. At least two people called the cops on Bieber, who reportedly "appeared stoned."

I mean, a Prius?

So Sumdood is retiring from the Tonight Show?

I heard he's funny.  Is it Deano?



It's OK to dangle a participle if you're wearing a long jacket.  Heh.  Not sure who this Sumdood is, but he sure seems funny:

"Bigger than the Beatles"?

I don't think so:

With a 27-1 second-week blast to the top for "Can't Buy Me Love," the Fab Four locked up the chart's entire top five:

The Billboard Hot 100, April 4, 1964

Position, Title
No. 1, "Can't Buy Me Love"
No. 2, "Twist and Shout"
No. 3, "She Loves You"
No. 4, "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
No. 5, "Please Please Me"

Go ask your parents about these songs, kids.  And yes, it was this much of a sensation.  Girls would go to their concerts to scream until the passed out.  As you can hear, it was impossible to get a good live recording of their concerts.:











It's hard to overstate how big a part of my childhood this was.