Новости за 28.12.2018

The overhyped but underrated 2006 Christopher Nolan film Inception developed the idea of deliberately seeding ideas in the minds of powerful people in an effort to anticipate, control, and profit by their subsequent behavior. Compelling concept, and applicable to–or drawn from–modern propaganda, which I wrote about earlier this year. Yet there was something missing from More

In 1899, railroad tycoon Edward Harriman put together an expedition of naturalists, scientists, painters and fellow robberbarons to explore the coast of southeast Alaska. The shrewd Harriman, head of the Union Pacific, even rented the services of John Muir, the father of environmentalism and founder of the Sierra Club, thus striking a bond between corporate villains and mainstream greens that thrives to this day. More

The new Congress will not be sworn in until after the New Year, but, at long last, the results of the 2018 midterm elections are finalized and certified. It looked good for Democrats from the moment the polls closed on Election Day; it looks even better now. The “blue wave” Democrats were hoping for, along with everyone else aware of the clear and present danger Donald Trump poses, materialized; the Trump Party got schlonged. More

For the longest time Vladimir Putin has assumed the role of an Ian Fleming super-villain in the imaginations of both liberal and neoconservative pundits. Like one of those well-worn set pieces in a James Bond novel, he sits opposite our British super-spy in a chess game with the world hegemony awarded to the winning side. More

On December 26 Japan announced it would leave the International Whaling Commission and resume whale-hunting which was banned since 1986 when it was acknowledged (albeit reluctantly by Tokyo) that some species had been driven almost to extinction. Irrespective of the moral aspects of the affair, and the fact that whale-killing is one of mankind’s cruelest commercial entertainments, More

Last year at Jamia Millia Islamia Central University in New Delhi, India I met students and teachers who thought that it was cool that I’d written an anti-imperialist book and that it was still in print nearly fifty years after it was first published. It was easy to be an anti-imperialist at Jamia Millia. After More

Bahia Amawai is a US citizen and Texas-based language specialist who helps autistic and speech-impaired children overcome their impairment. Despite the essential and noble nature of her work, she was fired by the Pflugerville Independent School District, which serves the Austin area. Every year, Amawai signs an annual contract that allows her to carry on More

When a general popularly known as James “Mad Dog” Mattis abandons a really mad American president, you know something has fallen off the edge in Washington. Since the Roman empire, formerly loyal military chiefs have fled crackpot leaders, and Mattis’s retreat from the White House might have the smell of de Gaulle and Petain about it. De Gaulle More

“Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.” – Carl Sagan “To argue that the current extinction event could be averted if people just cared more and were willing to make more sacrifices is not wrong, exactly; still, it misses the point. It doesn’t much matter whether people care or don’t care. What matters is More

“What is it . . . about the American character that allows the long con of our politics to go on and on. . .?” – Ben Fountain, Beautiful Country Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion and Revolution,  2018. What indeed can we say about the American character that clarifies the tribal state in which we now More

“What is it . . . about the American character that allows the long con of our politics to go on and on. . .?” – Ben Fountain, Beautiful Country Burn Again: Democracy, Rebellion and Revolution,  2018. What indeed can we say about the American character that clarifies the tribal state in which we now More

Two previous waves of pinyon-juniper deforestation have swept the Great Basin. A third wave is underway. These forests naturally cloak the regions’ arid mountains and slopes. Explorer journals, Mining District records and Interior’s own General Land Office survey records provide irrefutable evidence that pinyon-juniper historically occupied much of the landscape. Traces of old stumps, charred More

If fracking treated all people equally, that is, if every person in Colorado were threatened with anywhere from 10 to 50 fracked wells in their neighborhood, the oil and gas industry would be long gone. But it doesn’t, so only a minority of Coloradans reap the whirlwind in the state’s fracking fields. That Prop 112, a More

“There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men.” —Ludwig von Mises The government has shut down again. At least, parts of the government have temporarily shut down over President Trump’s demand for a $5 billion border wall. Yet while these political games dominate news headlines, send the stock More

When future historians write about 2018, what will stand out? Some might say the midterm elections that repudiated of the policies of Donald Trump and saw the ascendency of some pretty progressive figures – including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – who might potentially save our two-party system from the dreaded scourge of centrism.  But to me one of More

The establishment response to Trump’s announcement that he plans to withdraw US ground forces from Syria borders on hysteria. Defense Secretary Jame Mattis resignation fostered a similar response. Most mainstream media is screaming that chaos now reigns in Washington and that decades of US alliances are being discarded. As has been noted by others, liberals More

For, while the tale of how we suffer, and how we are delighted, and how we may triumph is never new, it always must be heard, there isn’t any other tale to tell, and it’s the only light we’ve got in all this darkness. – James Baldwin,  Sonny’s Blues I believe that until Americans, especially More

A friend called my attention to this Project Syndicate piece by Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economics professor and former chief economist at the I.M.F. Rogoff  argues that Russia will need major economic reform and political reform in order for its economy to get back on a healthy growth path. In the course of making his More

Given the way people are transforming the earth into a place where the human species cannot survive, it is only right and just that we honor achievement in the race to extinction. Without further ado, here are the top eight Extinction Awards of 2018. 2018 Extinction Global Person of the Year Award: Donald J. Trump More

It doesn’t bode well for accountability or fiscal probity that in unceremoniously shit-canning his Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the petulant President Donald Trump elevated in his stead as acting secretary Mattis’s number two, Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan. If you said, “Shanahan who?” welcome to the club. This was about as invisible a bureaucrat More

Dear America: Costly complexity is baked into Obamacare. No health insurance system is without problems but Canadian-style single-payer— full Medicare for all— is simple, affordable, comprehensive and universal. In the early 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson enrolled 20 million elderly Americans into Medicare in six months. There were no websites. They did it with index cards! More

In this season of (hoped for) peace and goodwill, it’s worth looking for things our divided country can agree on. And since all of us want to be able to trust government to spend wisely, we might find common cause in a surprising place: the Pentagon budget. When you think of politicians railing against the More

After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows this summer. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn’t find anyone who wanted to take over our farm — who would? Dairy farming is little more than hard work and possible economic More

“There are a lot of killers. What, you think our country’s so innocent?” — Donald J. Trump, Feb. 6, 2017 There continues to be a gross underestimation, even amongst politically aware liberals, of what we are really up against, and how to counter it. Increasingly, our fellow citizens are resorting to the concepts of fascism More

For years, Republicans in North Carolina have tried to roll back voter rights in the interest of “preventing fraud.” But now, one of their own — Republican Mark Harris in the state’s 9th congressional district — stands credibly accused of paying a consultant who may have stolen or altered absentee ballots cast for his opponent. More