More Red Lines Fading To Gray

The WaPo editorial board:

President Obama, disregarding his own red line, dithers on Ukraine

...

Again Vladi­mir Putin is flagrantly disregarding the warnings and “red lines” of the Obama administration. He has reason to do so: President Obama also doesn’t observe them. Despite Mr. Kerry’s clear words, sanctions that have been prepared against cronies of Mr. Putin and companies involved in his Ukraine ad­ven­ture remain on ice at the White House, where they have languished for more than a week. Whenasked Monday how much longer they would be held back, White House spokesman Jay Carney said, “I don’t have an end date for you.”

 

 

Comments

[narciso]

We're not serious, not even shirley;

http://www.the-american-interest.com/articles/2014/04/21/how-to-wield-the-capital-weapon/

[MarkO]

Obama's just not that smart. He has no idea what to do.

[rich@gmu]

Is the WaPo board going to wake up to the realization that the administration has been checkmated by Putin and it is going to be a long 2 and a half years (until Jan 2017) until it is over?

[Jane]

Via Clarice on Facebook: The problems with Typepad:

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/21/say-media-owned-blogging-platform-typepad-enters-day-5-of-on-and-off-ddos-attacks/

[Clarice Feldman]

Whhew! Glad we're back in business.

[narciso]

he's not the keen on the first amendment either;

http://weaselzippers.us/183624-former-supreme-court-justice-stevens-calls-for-rewriting-second-amendment-to-take-away-right-to-bear-arms/

[glasater]

Obama's just not that smart. He has no idea what to do.

Posted by: MarkO | April 22, 2014 at 10:28 AM

Plus, he's lazy.

[cathyf]

I wonder if all of us addicted blog commenters desperately hitting our reload buttons becomes part of the attack!

[Clarice Feldman]

Looks like Landrieu and Udall are losing; AA took a big hit today in the SCOTUS_--now we have to persuade trustees to ride herd on admissions and hiring in public institutions where states have outlawed AA (Wavem,Crazifornia) , It's their fiduciary duty to see that the law is followed.

[Clarice Feldman]

Looks like Landrieu and Udall are losing; AA took a big hit today in the SCOTUS_--now we have to persuade trustees to ride herd on admissions and hiring in public institutions where states have outlawed AA (Wave,Crazifornia) , It's their fiduciary duty to see that the law is followed.

[matt]

Thank goodness it wasn't drawn in the sand. Maybe the mud.

Transferring a wing of A-10's plus cover and support would surely give Putin pause.That would grind up any armor and infantry pretty well.

[rse]

Before I read the 1971 book I wrote about today I had no idea Sweden was viewed as more Marxist that the old USSR. Now I now why it is such a cradle for societal engineering.

http://www.invisibleserfscollar.com/echoes-from-the-past-preparing-the-ground-for-social-engineers-requires-malleable-human-material/ is the post.

Because the UN is so involved in these global ed reforms and so much research on the effects comes from the USSR. Putin knows precisely where ed all over the countries in the West is taking citizens without their consent. It becomes a wait game as we destroy ourselves.

[narciso]

Well the Russians are using 'special warfare'
a variation of the insurgency the Sunni tribesmen were using in Iraq and Afghanistan,

they are focusing on predominantly Russian enclaves in Crimea, now in places like Donetsk and Slaviansk

[peter]

cathyf @ 12:12; I'm not addicted. I can stop any time. swear

[narciso]

insurgency, psyops, all the tactics along with direct military operations;

http://20committee.com/2014/04/21/special-war-goes-mainstream/

[Bori]

Obama's just not that smart. He has no idea what to do.

Posted by: MarkO | April 22, 2014 at 10:28 AM

That brought this to mind.

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/dgreenfield/obama-is-too-smart-to-fail/

[peter]

I swear if I had a pron name it would be Dallas Swonger.

[narciso]

You read the work of Stieg Larson, who was to the left of the Swedish establishment, and you see how far, you read Lapidus, and you see it's not that progressive, as emigres from Russia, the Balkans, the Middle East do the real nasty work,

[JiB (On the 6th Ring of Typhus Hell)]

cathyf,

We are mere grains of sand on the Atlantic beaches compared to the 10 gigabytes of DDOS propelled like a laser onto the Typepad servers.

Its like pushing the elevator button after its been lit up thinking it will get to your floor faster. Once you have tripped the relay there is nothing left to do but wait. Same here. The DDOS is like a line of 100 million people and you are last in line.

BTW, "Guru Meditation" has its genesis in the old Commodore Amiga platforms of yore but it is still hanging around. Hang on to your joy sticks because this ride ain't over.

[Jane]

"I wonder if all of us addicted blog commenters desperately hitting our reload buttons becomes part of the attack!'

now that would be brilliant!

[narciso]

no, never it seems;

http://www.interpretermag.com/category/blog/

[cathyf]

The thoughts of the Swedish establishment become irrelevant after their oh-so-tolerant openness allows 7th-century barbarians to take over the streets and terrorize the inhabitants.

[JiB (On the 6th Ring of Typhus Hell)]

narciso,

Or you can read Henning Mankel and get really depressed.

[narciso]

So is it a bot attack, a virus or what is behind this,

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

cathyf-- the swedish (and rest of western europe) ethnic/christian surrender to Islam, is IMO, one of Putin's main reasons for NovoRussia. He's building as big a buffer as possible between Russia and Islamic Eurabia.

[Dublindave 2016]

A lot of people of people have questioned the veracity of my comment's relating to Cliven Bundy's position that he would shoot US Marines if they tried to remove his cattle from federally owned lands.

People say i'm full of shit and there's no way Bundy would shoot our troops. Our heroes.

O.k. I am full of shit. Bundy won't shoot US troops if they try to remove Bundy's cattle from Federally owned lands. Great. Cause that's exactly what's about to happen.....US. Marines are being briefed on a mission to take Bundy's cattle into custody tonight.

You wanna play redneck politics with the US government? Fine...the US government want's to play redneck politics with ya'll(spit bacci drop fifty IQ points)......lolololololol......8.00 pm tonight is when they're going to be deployed.

Bye bye rednecks.

Thank you for your surrender.

[JiB (On the 6th Ring of Typhus Hell)]

I was discussion the Putin v. Obama competition with Mrs. JiB and we both agreed its more than that. Both are nasty little men, Putin overtly more dangerous than Obama due to his leadership influence and projected machismo unafraid to project it. Obama, however, leads our nation, whether it is declining or savable is a question for later. Unlke some, I have come to the conclusion that rooting for Putin in an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" kind of logic is dangerous to all of us.

I am by no means even close to a fan of Obama but he is what we have as our country's leader for better or worse. What we should be doing as American citizens and patriots is making sure Obama leads us correctly and makes the right decisions. We can do this by reminding our Congress people that we all have an invested interest in keeping our country strong, providing for the national defense and assuming influence with our allies around the world. They need to be seen as pushing Obama and his administration to take the right course.

If that means we stand behind Obama as our president, so be it, but only if he is acting in our best interests and not his. Its a conundrum, that I will admit but damn if I am going to let a thug and nasty little man like Vladimir Putin think he can push us around because we have a weak kneed POTUS who is only one of 320 million.

If Obama can't handle Putin than it will be up to the rest of us.

[Dublindave 2016]

O.k so i'm getting alot of flak from my sources in the justice dept because i'm supposed to use a code word to convince the people who surf this site that this is for real.........so this is for FOX NEWS producers reading these comments........*****KELLER******KELLER******

Now you know this is for real(i'm told).

[Miss Marple]

And now, our theme song!
Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
Blooming under sable skies.
Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
There my heart forever lies.
Let the world grow cold around us,
Let the heavens cry above!
Brigadoon, Brigadoon,
In thy valley, there'll be love!

[Captain Hate]

The JEF is incapable of leading us correctly; that's what that "fundamental transformation" claptrap was about. With a bunch of feckless RINOs pushing for immigration reform, we are screwed.

[JiB (On the 6th Ring of Typhus Hell)]

DuDa,

You have more BS than Batche (the honey dipper).

"Federal Law prohibits military personnel from enforcing the law within the United States except as expressly authorized by the Constitution or an Act of Congress. The threat of catastrophic terrorism requires a thorough review of the laws permitting the military to act within the United States in order to determine whether domestic preparedness and response efforts would benefit from greater involvement of military personnel and, if so, how."

But then this is what I would expect from an ingnorant prog such as yourself.

[narciso]

It turns out that the Brits, under Lord Derby and the French under Napoleon, stumbled into the last Crimean engagement, in quite nearly the same way, 160 years ago,

[Dublindave 2016]

Something about **OPERATION KELLER****..I don't know...this is what i'm supposed to communicate and apparently alot of people will know what i'm talking abvout.........so......these are US marines and the Bundy's need to step down tonight and adhere to both court orders.

So again...for the bundy's.......***KELLER****KELLER******

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Is this where DD gets his 'info': http://misguidedchildren.com/domestic-affairs/2014/04/special-forces-members-among-blm-agents-at-the-bundy-ranch/19404

[Dublindave 2016]

"duDa,

You have more BS than Batche (the honey dipper).

"Federal Law prohibits military personnel from enforcing the law within the United States except as expressly authorized by the Constitution or an Act of Congress. The threat of catastrophic terrorism requires a thorough review of the laws permitting the military to act within the United States in order to determine whether domestic preparedness and response efforts would benefit from greater involvement of military personnel and, if so, how."

But then this is what I would expect from an ingnorant prog such as yourself."

Sure,whatever,maybe you're right. But my contact told me to quote the 'Posse commiatus act'....I have no idea what the hell that means but apparently 'OPERATION KELLER' is going ahead tonight.

Alright,DUDA has been used enough for one day.Fuck you DOD sourse...do your own dirty work-i'm off this thing.

[Dublindave 2016]

Dublindave is not happy with the last few posts. I have no idea what's going on tonight. I'm just a bullshit artist. I have no informaion.

[Captain Hate]

Jethro Bodine Ayers: Double aught dumbass

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

DD-- hot coffee and a nap. You'll feel better.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

There's a thought.... DD = Bill Ayers?

[Dublindave 2016]

Agree NK.......this is just me being weird.....ha ha....

[lyle]

If JEF gives a rat's ass about Putin it would only be in the sense that Putin detracts from his domestic agenda of racial and social division, attacking political opponents, and generally effing this country up through a mind-boggling admixture of malevolence and incompetence.

Leader? Pffft. He's a lazy POS who wants the trappings of the office and lets the hardcore leftists littered throughout his admin to see to the details of tearing this country apart.

[Miss Marple]

JiB,

IS Obama our leader? I have seen no evidence of such. He seems to simply be there, without any sort of real actions which would give me reason to believe that is what he is.

We should have forged a partnership with Russia after 2001. I do not know why we didn't, possibly the offering of missiles to Poland et al. However, those were withdrawn by Obama so exactly why the offer was a mistake I fail to see, since Putin is pretty much doing what he wants.

I don't know what to think. If I thought all of us rallying around Obama would get him to act in our nation's interest, I would do so. Unfortunately, I think we would be greeted with "I won, Republican suckers" and then he would continue to do exactly what he is doing only with the added "bi-partisan support" we foolishly gave him.

[Dublindave 2016]

I know myself and i'm a liar and a fake...I have no connections with any government group other than the one's i've made up in my mind. Hah ha.....i'm mad......crazy as a bathouse shit......ha ha

[daddy]

Insty links to a WSJ story on this French Marxist Economic Prof and his new book encouraging taxing folks up to 80% of their income. Thomas Piketty Revives Marx for the 21st Century

An 80% tax rate on incomes above $500,000 is not meant to bring in money for education or benefits, but 'to put an end to such incomes.'

I realize now that this is the guy Amity Schlaes was discussing on Larry Kudlow's weekend Radio show 2 weeks back. Schlaes sez that this guy is a Marxist and that his tactic is to try to bludgeon opponents into silence by inserting all sorts of indecipherable equations into his book, so that folks will be daunted at trying to refute him and will self silence.

She also says they even she doesn't think this guy completely believes what he writes, but that the Hard Left will love this guy because with him demanding Tax rates of 80%, people like the Obama's and Hollande's will be able to raise taxes on the masses, just less than 80%, and will then be able to point to their Tax raises and tell us how they aren't as high as the 80% called for by Picketty, so they're not really Marxist, so shut up and pay your taxes.

Schlaes says that is what this guy Picketty is intentionally doing---providing cover for the Left to raise taxes to the roof, just not thru the roof.

[rich@gmu]

>>>8.00 pm tonight is when they're going to be deployed.<<<

I'll butter the popcorn. is that EST or Pacific?

[lyle]

You left off the best part about the leftist's wet dreams of the neo-Marxist, daddy:

As Megan McArdle noted a while back, the threshold for “earning too much” is just above what a two-earner journalist or academic couple can plausibly make.

[Danube on iPad]

"Oddly, as written, Posse Comitatus does not apply to the Navy or the Marine Corps. Naval forces repeatedly supported law enforcement authorities in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For example, naval personnel supported the Coast Guard in 'anti-rum running' operations during Prohibition, and Marines were used repeatedly to suppress riots in cities near naval bases, as well as to provide security details for the U.S. Mails in 1921 and 1926, and suppress the Alcatraz Prison Riot of 1946. This changed with the establishment of the Department of Defense in 1947. An administrative ruling by legal eagles in DoD decreed that the act now applied to the Navy and Marine Corps."

[Dublindave 2016]

>>>8.00 pm tonight is when they're going to be deployed.<<<

I'll butter the popcorn. is that EST or Pacific?"

Trust me...nothing is happening tonight.....i'm full of shit...ha ha....tricked you.....

[peter]

What I love about Professor Richard Epstein is his remarkably professional and educational tone: LUN

[GMax]

Double Douchebag is just mailing it in these days. So sad that its almost a pain to hit the keyboard. The silence of the liberals funk is clearly upon him, must be that looming catasphopic loss and all the sniping going on in the Democrat foxhole. Union bosses admitting Zero is feckless, Masshole Democrat congressman saying Ocare is going to decimate us, and on and on. Its just hard to put one Birkenstock in front of another these days. Have pity, on him. Like Kermit says "it just aint easy being a watermelon"...

[narciso]

That's a decent review, daddy, but Clive Crook now with Bloomberg, sucker punched
the French Krugman, with that most unexpected tool, math, what a vicious animal,

[rse]

daddy-it fits with the book The Second Machine Age that is from 2 MIT Sloan profs with comparable tax rates on high incomes. Quite Marxist without saying it with the M word.

They all play into the idea that ICT is Marx's magic technology that will finally allow a public sector centric human development society.

As discussed earlier Sweden has had one of this for a while and the bureaucrats chose to mandate national suicide via immigration. I am convinced from papers I have read coming out of EU that this is another means of redistribution. Must let them in and then must provide equality of outcomes.

[narciso]

Just slaps him with a mackerel

http://www.moneynews.com/InvestingAnalysis/Krugman-Liberals-Economics-Book/2014/04/21/id/566646/

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

GMax-- it depends. The white-Lib Clintonistas are going the way of the Dodo, like Rockefeller Repubs. They are a dime a dozen and will hold signs saying 'will blog for food' (right Ezra?). The hardcore Progs are taking over; but a young white male Troll who is willling to buy in with his new brown/union overlords and troll to keep some young white Progs on board the SS Dem, are worth paying a few $$$ to. I think DD fits in that category.

[Dublindave 2016]

GMAX nails me.......we Dems have failed.......8.00 pm will come and go and nothing will happen and everyone will say ha ha that DD is an asshole.......I am an asshole.........you'll be right....

[rse]

This is great http://pjmedia.com/michaelwalsh/2014/04/22/whos-next/?singlepage=true

Elizabeth Warren would also lend herself well to icon art, even without a feather headdress.

[Neo]

In a candid moment during a State Department speech, the top US diplomat said changing global power dynamics made a quaint memory of the early East-West stalemate, when American children would "crouch under our desks at school and practice" safety steps for a possible nuclear attack.

"During the Cold War... it was easier than it is today -- simpler is maybe a way to put it," Kerry told aid and development experts.

"The choices were less varied, less complicated, more stark, more clear: Communism, democracy, West, East, the Iron Curtain."

... ah, yes. The good old days of the Cold War

[narciso]

He was on the other side, for most of that period,

[Jane]

This is great:

Meb Keflezighi’s 'incredible' American success story

Keflezighi, 38, who came to the United States at age 12, crossed the finish line at 2:08:37, weeping and kissing the ground, draping himself in the American flag and saying, “God bless America.”

The names of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu were written on his bib — all were killed in the dual Boylston Street bombings last year — as was the name of Sean Collier, the MIT campus police officer gunned down days later in his cruiser, allegedly by the bombing suspects.

“I wanted to win it for Boston ... win it for the people,” Keflezighi said after the finish. “The last three to four miles, (the crowd) pushed me through it. I’m so lucky to be the champion.”

“It’s not about me,” he continued. “It’s Boston Strong. Meb Strong.”

The bombing “probably resonated more with Meb than any other runner in the field,” said Patrick, recalling a story about Keflezighi’s childhood in war-torn Eritrea.

“He was born in Eritrea when it was at war with Ethiopia, and one of his earliest memories as a young child was having to help clean up the debris of human flesh of a young boy who was playing with a bomb when it exploded,” Patrick said. “That’s why he was so emotional last year at the race, because he saw this whole thing coming back. It was like you almost can’t escape violence and these senseless killings.”

[Porchlight]

Hey everybody. Just testing the waters in the Ty(phus)ber.

[James D.]

Well, I made it onto the site, which is a victory in itself today, it seems. Let's see if this comment gets past the "guru meditation" and avoids the "missing or unhealthy backend"...

[narciso]

Some lines shouldn't be crossed at all;

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/tom-blumer/2014/04/22/nbcs-martha-white-39-paragraphs-all-time-record-number-temps-not-word-ob

[cathyf]

Puzzled -- I was getting all sorts of errors, and now I come back and fined comments time-stamped during the period I got errors!

[cathyf]

Find not fined (homophonobia strikes again!)

[henry]

JamesD, I don't think Iggy or DoT are allowed to fix a "missing or unhealthy backend" until after business hours on the west coast.

[daddy]

Had my Snow Tires removed this morning at a local shop downtown, where I was close enough to a weak valley station to catch part of the Dennis Prager Radio Show.

Today he interviewed some elderly Baylor History Prof on his new book How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
by Rodney Stark

Didn't know the book or the Prof, but the conversation was so interesting and insightful that I'm sticking it up on my "must read" list.

Boy, do I miss a daily dose of Dennis Prager. What a treasure he is.

[Account Deleted]

I can no more conceive of the Russian thug as a friend than I can conceive of Obama as a leader. The utility of the thug lies in his shredding of the cheap facade of the progressive fascist hallucinatory fantasy, both here and particularly in EUtopia. The OPM Famine seems to have accelerated what little sand remains in the top of the hourglass.

Why should the thug accept ZIRP play money when he can take income producing real estate because his opponents lack both the means and the will to oppose him?

[daddy]

"During the Cold War... it was easier than it is today -- simpler is maybe a way to put it," Kerry told aid and development experts.

Yep. It was so much easier back then when our enemies acted like people acted back in the 20th Century, and not like now when people shouldn't act like they did back in the 20th Century but for some reason still do.

[James D.]

The site seems to (temporarily, at least) be stable again. Yay!

So here's a question. I already know the answer, but it's worth asking anyway. Do all the people yammering about income inequality and the evils of the 1% not understand that they're going to be the first ones up against the wall, if they ever actually got their way?

Do they not realize that'a how it ALWAYS goes, time and again, throughout history?

[daddy]

I've figured it out!

Here's what I think we should do!

We should hire people to stand just on the Mexican side of the border and to hand out free Kinder Eggs to immigrants trying to illegally cross into America.

[James D.]

"During the Cold War... it was easier than it is today -- simpler is maybe a way to put it," Kerry told aid and development experts.

To the extent that it WAS simpler, and that we had a clearer view of the value of our civilization, the rightness of our values and the lack thereof of the civilization and values of our adversaries, it was no thanks to people like Kerry, who, as narciso points out, was firmly on the other side.

[Dave (in MA)]

Jane, Meb K. was born in and emigrated from Eritrea during a time in which it was fighting for independence from Ethiopia, so it was not inaccurate to say he was from Ethiopia.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Kerry-- Cold War was easier?, mais bien sur. Fighting Nixon, Reagan and the CIA was far easier than fighting Brezhnev, the Central Committee and the KGB.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

and certainly easier than fighting Tsar Vlad and the Mullahs... although I don't think Obummer allows Kerry to actually, you know, fight the Mullahs.

[daddy]

I think there is probably a lot of truth in what NK says here:

the swedish (and rest of western europe) ethnic/christian surrender to Islam, is IMO, one of Putin's main reasons for NovoRussia. He's building as big a buffer as possible between Russia and Islamic Eurabia.

Whether anti-Islam is his aim or a byproduct of his re-capitulating Russia's old borders I don't know, but I think that will ultimately earn Vlad many allies in western Europe from people angry at State surrender to Islam.

I suppose the question could be boiled down to this: Who else in Europe could an anti-Islamist name and rally around that is even on the radar screen as far as taking effective steps that might ultimately lead to limiting the advance of Islam in the West?

Parties like Le Pen I suppose, and 1 or 2 minor characters under 24/7 anti-Fatwa armed guard in Belgium or Sweden, so that they don't get their heads chopped off. But other than that?

I haven't thought about it at all, but it's a scary thought.

[Neo]

From listening to Progressives, like Liz Warren, I never would have believed ...

It turns out that 12 percent of the population will find themselves in the top 1 percent of the income distribution for at least one year. What’s more, 39 percent of Americans will spend a year in the top 5 percent of the income distribution, 56 percent will find themselves in the top 10 percent, and a whopping 73 percent will spend a year in the top 20 percent of the income distribution.

LUN

[Porchlight]

Today he interviewed some elderly Baylor History Prof on his new book How the West Won: The Neglected Story of the Triumph of Modernity
by Rodney Stark

Rodney Stark is fascinating. I didn't know he was at Baylor. I found The Rise of Christianity very instructive. Basically he applies sociological methods to the spread of Christianity in the early centuries AD and concludes that it spread so quickly because it dramatically improved lives. He began the work as an atheist/agnostic but I believe he has essentially converted as a result of what he discovered.

[Jim Miller]

On "earning too much": For years, I have been amused by the way most congressman think that the rich, the people earning too much, begin at just a little higher than a congressman's salary.

(With so many political families having dual careers, I suspect that they would now say that the rich begin at about twice a congressman's salary.)

BTW, an income of about 40K -- per person -- would put you in the top 1 percent, by world standards.

[Jane]

Meb K. was born in and emigrated from Eritrea during a time in which it was fighting for independence from Ethiopia, so it was not inaccurate to say he was from Ethiopia.

Dave,

My apologies. I'm so dumb I never heard of Eritrea. Thanks for the clarification.

[lyle]

Read this review of the "rock star" Marxist French economist's book at lunch today. Worth a quick read:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303825604579515452952131592?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303825604579515452952131592.html&fpid=2,7,121,122,201,401,641,1009

Money quote (well, one of them):

Mr. Piketty believes that the wealthier a society becomes, the more people will claw for the best relative social station and the more inequality will ensue. He turns to those timeless economic authorities Jane Austen and Honoré de Balzac in mapping our future. Throughout the book, he importunately digresses with the dowry-chasing machinations of characters in novels like "Sense and Sensibility" and " Père Goriot. " He is obsessed with the following calculus: Are the fruits of working hard greater than those attainable by marrying into a top fortune? If not, "why work? And why behave morally at all?"

[daddy]

Cool Porch,

On the show Prof Stark was definitely a promoter of the idea that Christianity was fundamental to the invention of "Science" and the rise of the West.

He made many excellent thought provoking statements, but one that really struck me was that he said Judeo/Christianity ultimately promoted the idea, unlike so many other religions, that God was rational and had created a world/universe that was fundamentally rational, ergo that it could be rationally investigated for rational rules.

With that as a foundational thought pattern, unlike most of the rest of the world where the world was considered mysterious and indecipherable, in the West inquiry follows and ultimately leads to our Galileo's and Keplars and Newtons, etc.

I can make arguments about the ancient Greeks and the Chinese of the 9th-10th centuries, which the Prof mentioned, but I don't want to hammer the prof yet as in the Talk radio format limitations he didn't have a long enough time to expand his thoughts and comment on that, so that's why I want to read his book. Certainly sounds fascinating, and thanks for mentioning him and his previous work.

[James D.]

BTW, an income of about 40K -- per person -- would put you in the top 1 percent, by world standards.

But, of course, when you point this out, the progs go crazy.

Mention that poor people in America have air conditioning and cable TV and iPhones, while "middle income" people in large parts of the world would be fortunate to have 1,000 calories of untainted food a day, and they screech at you that you want poor people to be miserable, and that only the rich deserve to be happy.

What the progs can't understand, or don't want to understand (or do understand, but have realized there's no graft or power in it for them) is that the fact that the entire point of our system, the entire benefit of it, is that poor people have amenities and comforts and access to things that a majority of people in the world today don't have, and we ought to be celebrating that fact.

Instead, they whip up envy and division, and do their best to tear things down for everyone.

[James D.]

Hey, rse...I imagine you've read this already, but if not...

http://www.technologyreview.com/review/526561/the-limits-of-social-engineering/

Deciphering people’s behavior is only the first step. What really excites Pentland is the prospect of using digital media and related tools to change people’s behavior, to motivate groups and individuals to act in more productive and responsible ways. If people react predictably to social influences, then governments and businesses can use computers to develop and deliver carefully tailored incentives, such as messages of praise or small cash payments, to “tune” the flows of influence in a group and thereby modify the habits of its members. Beyond improving the efficiency of transit and health-care systems, Pentland suggests, group-based incentive programs can make communities more harmonious and creative. “Our main insight,” he reports, “is that by targeting [an] individual’s peers, peer pressure can amplify the desired effect of a reward on the target individual.” Computers become, as McLuhan envisioned, civic thermostats. They not only register society’s state but bring it into line with some prescribed ideal. Both the tracking and the maintenance of the social order are automated.

[GMax]

SS DEM is breaking deep and taking on water and instead of bailing some idiot is trolling. My guess is the Affirmative Idiocy is illegal in Michigan ruling with prog support is really what is driving the stupid militaristic fantasies today, well that and forgetting to take the stelazine.

[GMax]

BTW the Republicans are back polling ahead of Democrats in the Generic Congressional ballot poll by Rasmussen. In midterms you generally can add about +6 to the generic result and have a reasonable approximation of the election results. That would make it R + 7, which is a blowout. That is also making the douchebag a bit unstable today.

[Eric in Boise]

James, it seems that people who are okay with people being controlled by others always see themselves as controllers rather than controllees. Funny that.

And Honore de Balzac was an economist? Jeez, I thought that was French for "No hitting below the belt."

[Porchlight]

Thanks for mentioning it, daddy - it sounds great. If you read it, come back and tell us more.

[lyle]

And Honore de Balzac was an economist? Jeez, I thought that was French for "No hitting below the belt."

Zing!

[Porchlight]

Exactly James D. at 4:14. We have the most prosperous society in the world at all levels. Low-income Americans enjoy a greater standard of living (in terms of physical safety, health care, ability to travel, access to technology & education, not to mention basics like food, shelter and clean water) than high-income people had just a couple of centuries ago. This is not a matter of opinion; it is fact. It is truly mindblowing.

And yet they want to wreck it all. It can only be lust for power; nothing else explains it.

[narciso]

well there was a report about nationalist parties in Europe, and they are supporters of Volodya on balance, I put the UKIP in that vein, with Farage being among the more energetic supporters,

I find him a dangerous figure, but I understand who he is, and what his goals are,
unlike Zaphod the Solon and Lurch.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

Porch-- that's all they are about, using politics to gain power that they can't gain in the marketplaces of ideas, goods and services.

[lyle]

I assume everyone has read VDH's latest but this is jaw-dropping even by Flathead standards:

Thomas Friedman recently wrote of the upside to Vladimir Putin’s possible radical cutoff of natural gas to the former Soviet republics and Eastern Europe. Friedman nearly rejoices that Putin has inadvertently helped the green cause. Supposedly, once Putin’s erstwhile gas buyers grasp that Russia proves an unreliable supplier, they will then be forced to redouble their efforts at wind, solar, and renewable energy. Thus, we will all be better off. “If I’m actually rooting for Putin to go ahead and shut off the gas,” Friedman asks, “does that make me a bad guy?”

He's one of your betters, europeasants.

[NK(withnewsoftware)]

so true about Vlad. He is a corrupt and dangerous man, but we know who he is, what he wants, and how he intends to get there. We know none of that about the Obummer crew.

[Neo]

Scott Colby, executive vice president of the New Hampshire Medical Society, said he started hearing from physicians in his state about a week ago, when doctors who were just filing their tax returns began receiving notices from the Internal Revenue Service that someone had already filed their taxes and claimed a large refund.

[narciso]

A crude broadbrush of the situation;

http://www.businessinsider.com/charlemange-russias-friends-in-black-2014-4

[maryrose]

NK:
Obama and company have no plan . They are feckless power hungry idiots that cheated their way into a second term. Putin has the power and he uses it freely because he knows Bammy won't stop him. Sending Biden was just to insure that Obama wouldn't be snubbed or embarassed. He should be the one getting this resolved. Instead he's going to the Far East as a look squirrel move to stop the constant bashing he's getting for being such a wimp.

[narciso]

Who voted for her again;

The most quoted part of Sotomayor's opinion is this: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination." This is a rejoinder to Chief Justice John Roberts's assertion, in Parents Involved v. Seattle School Dist. No. 1 (2007), that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." (Roberts in turn rebutted Sotomayor in a separate concurrence to today's decision, which we're leaving out of our ranking by clarity.)

[rse]

James-yes, I have read Pentland's Social Physics and written a post or two about it. He was the one who led me to the frightening FuturICT vision our data overlords have volunteered us for.

Remember me joking yesterday about the Acknowledgments page? Pentland was one thanked by name there in The Second Machine Age book. Also thanked was the name I recognized as heading up the Curriculum Redesign project Harvard, MIT, Stanford, MS, Google, OECD, UNESCO, Singapore, Massachusetts, etc are all involved in.

At my layer in the onion everyone seems to know each other and is own the same page. It is nothing like the public talking points.

[lyle]

The difference between Putin and Obama?

Putin doesn't hate his own country.

[maryrose]

Finally the correct ruling on Michigan's AA ban. I can't tell you the number of Excellent students denied by Michigan because they had to honor racial preferences and therefore had to reject Caucasian applicants with better board scores and grade point averages.