Of all the officials involved with the endless war in the Middle East, I’d love to hear what John Kerry has to say. He’s the one guy who, because of his formative experience during the Vietnam war, should have some inkling about why the US is bogged down spending lives and money for decades in a cause that thas nothing to do with the defense of the country.
He should write a book, like Robert McNamara did, that explains what everyone was thinking. Maybe it’s too soon, but I’d read that book.
https://newrepublic.com/article/146915/american-politics-has-never-been-normal
A short history of politics in the US. TL;DR: the US has been here before. The civility of the period 1870-1970 is not where we are heading, we are going back to politics as war, and thinking that a Democratic majority in the Congress will return us to reasonableness is naive.
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/02/john-perry-barlow-internet-pioneer-1947-2018
Back in my SF days, we would read this guy’s missives on the WELL and think of how we were inventing techno Utopia. Lyricist for the Grateful Dead, and spokesperson for the web before the corporations arrived and colonised it.
Let’s get the King a Commander-in-Chief military uniform. Maybe take a four-star general outfit and add more braid, a bigger hat … Create a few new medals for him to pin on. He can wear it all while he’s saluting the troops.
Interesting fact-oid: the Bank of England says that, of the average 3-4% growth in GDP worldwide over the past 30 years, negative 0.2% can be attributed to technology. It’s all outsourcing (“new sources of labour”) and better education. Meanwhile, regression of the middle class has been masked by debt.
Time for a change
A Government of One http://quillette.com/2018/01/26/a-government-of-one/
Almost. There were observers during the Obama administration warning of the power of the Presidency.
Omoshiroi Blocks: Japanese Memo Pads Reveal Intricate Buildings As The Pages Get Used http://www.openculture.com/2018/01/omoshiroi-blocks-japanese-memo-pads-reveal-intricate-buildings-as-the-pages-get-used.html
https://theintercept.com/2018/01/14/facebook-warrant-pipeline-protest-whatcom-county-justice-department/
Let’s focus on creating a vision of how we want to live, together. What all the elements of making that work need to be. How to get there from here. Let’s stop paying attention to the people that aren’t on board, and bring more people with us by outlining where we want to go and how to do it. Let’s ignore the troll king and his minons, and all the politics that surround them. Let’s stop agonizing over how we got this way. Let’s stop pining for a society that was, and take the one we have, figure out what will make it better, and go do that.
County commissioner calls prosecutor ‘snake,’ liar | South Whidbey Record. I posted a comment here.