Send In The Clowns

David Brooks reaches into the history books for a discussion of carnivals and jesters. Surprising no one, he connects it to current events.

The early Christians seem to have worshiped the way David did, with ecstatic dancing, communal joy and what Emile Durkheim called “collective effervescence.” In her book “Dancing in the Streets,” Barbara Ehrenreich argues that in the first centuries of Christianity, worship of Jesus overlapped with worship of Dionysus, the Greek god of revelry. Both Jesus and Dionysus upended class categories. Both turned water into wine. Second- and third-century statuettes show Dionysus hanging on a cross.

But when the church became more hierarchical, the Michals took over. Somber priest-led rituals began to replace direct access to the divine. In the fourth century, Gregory of Nazianzus urged, “Let us sing hymns instead of striking drums, have psalms instead of frivolous music and song, … modesty instead of laughter, wise contemplation instead of intoxication, seriousness instead of delirium.”

When elites try to quash the manners and impulses of the people, those impulses are bound to spill out in some other way. By the Middle Ages the cathedrals were strictly hierarchical, so the people created carnivals where everything was turned on its head. During carnival (Purim is the Jewish version), men dressed like women, the people could insult the king and bishops, drunkenness and ribaldry was prized over sober propriety.

As Ehrenreich puts it, “Whatever social category you had been boxed into — male or female, rich or poor — carnival was a chance to escape from it.”

...

The carnivals were partly a way to blow off steam, but in hard times they served as occasions for genuine populist revolts. In 1511, a carnival in Udine, Italy, turned into a riot that led to the murder of 50 nobles and the sacking of more than 20 palaces.

Carnival culture was raw, lascivious and disgraceful, and it elevated a certain social type, the fool.

...

You can see where I’m going with this. We live at a time of wide social inequality. The intellectual straitjackets have been getting tighter. The universities have become modern cathedrals, where social hierarchies are defined and reinforced.

We’re living with exactly the kinds of injustices that lead to carnival culture, and we’ve crowned a fool king.

Well, the philosopher king didn't work out so well for a lot of people. Let me cut to Peggy Noonan on Barack Obama:

He [Barack Obama] spent an unprecedented amount of time campaigning against, and assailing in the bitterest terms, his successor. Donald Trump was “uniquely unqualified,” “temperamentally unfit.” America chose him anyway. They were choosing Mr. Obama’s exact opposite, just as in choosing Sen. Obama in 2008 they went with the opposite of Mr. Bush. When they want the opposite of what you are, they are not registering approval.

Back to Mr. Brooks and his New Year's resolution:

His [Trump's, obvi] tweets are classic fool behavior. They are raw, ridiculous and frequently self-destructive. He takes on an icon of the official culture and he throws mud at it. The point is not the message of the tweet. It’s to symbolically upend hierarchy, to be oppositional.

...

The sad part is that so many people treat Trump’s tweets as if they are arguments when in fact they are carnival. With their conniption fits, Trump’s responders feed into the dynamic he needs. They contribute to carnival culture.

...

This is a resolution I’m probably going to break, but I resolve to write about Trump only on the presidential level, not on the carnival level. I’m going to try to respond only to what he does, not what he says or tweets. I really wish some of my media confreres would do the same.

Trump certainly is not, at least with his tweets on Jon Lewis, even making a pretense of trying to bring this nation together.

 

Comments

[Neo]

The chief of staff to Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to file an individual income tax return for five years, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Issac Lanier Avant of Arlington, Va., will serve his time in a nonstandard manner, putting in 30 days first then serving every weekend in prison for 12 months -- the total of which is four months. Avant will then spend one year on probation and have to pay $149,962 to the Internal Revenue Service in restitution. It's unclear whether he will remain a top aide to Thompson.

... it appears that Harry Reid had the party, the length and the person wrong

[PD]

And even at that, Reid was probably more accurate than usual.

[Cecil Turner]

Last graf from Daddy's VDH link yesterday:

Let us hope that Donald Trump, Rex Tillerson, and Jim Mattis know this and thus keep mostly silent, remind Putin privately (without trashing a former president) that the aberrant age of Obama is over, carry huge sticks, work with Putin where and when it is in our interest, acknowledge his help, seek to thwart common enemies — and quietly find ways to utilize overwhelming American military and economic strength to discourage him from doing something unwise for both countries. [emphasis added]

What VDH doesn't say is that even Obama has been doing the cooperative stuff; it's the discouraging that needs work.

And on that note, this was a significant disappointment:

Russia just said the unverified report paid for by political opponents is "A COMPLETE AND TOTAL FABRICATION, UTTER NONSENSE." Very unfair!

I'm still on the fence about his twitter habits, but citing the Russians as an authority on election disinformation is at best unwise.

[henry]

When does Brooks join his Ringling Bros brethren in the unemployment line?

[Clarice Feldman]

Bringing the nation together when about 30% of it consists of batshit crazy lunatics is probably undoable--work for 51-52% is my idea of pragmatic.

[Truthbetold5]

Clarice

Tell us again how it's all untrue.

Shady in Haiti – DynCorp infiltration of Haitian Police Forces
https://steemit.com/pizzagate/@v4vapid/shady-in-haiti-dyncorp-infiltration-of-haitian-police-forces

[PD]

When does Brooks join his Ringling Bros brethren in the unemployment line?

He's good. Has a new gig all lines up with the pant creaser's union.

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

Clarice,

You grow the economy at more than 2.5% per year, increase employment and participation rates, see household incomes rise and you may corrode some those on the cusp of batshit crazy. Enough to do real damage and get to 60 in the Senate where at least 30 of the Dem members are credentialed batshit crazy generals and admirals of the free shit army.

Going to be fun listening to the Senate discuss health insurance with a practicing physician. Are any of the Dems on that committee physicians?

[PD]

It's remarkable that a person will write post after post numbering what must now be in the hundreds or perhaps even thousands, just to put on public display his predilection to engage in logical fallacy.

[Captain Hate]

When does Brooks join his Ringling Bros brethren in the unemployment line?

Might be soon since it looks like Carlos Slim is about to cull the herd again.

[Truthbetold5]

PD

Aren't you the same clown who had to look up "Mena" ?

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump 58m58 minutes ago

.@TheAlabamaBand was great last night in D.C. playing for 147 Diplomats and Ambassadors from countries around the world. Thanks Alabama!

--------------------------------------

Trump and Pence were there. CNN produced a clip which I saw on Conservative Treehouse.
They seemed to be very well-received.

[buccaneer morgan]

Good gravy, ehrenteich as an authority, on Christians, Mortimer idler just screams in the ether.

Re Sid vicious, his first collaboration was with Phil age, this Snowden prototype where he predicted food riots in 1976!

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

Nikki Haley confirmation starting on C-Span3. Tom Price hearing on C-Span. Pruitt for EPA on C-Span2.

I think the Pruitt hearing is the one with potentially the biggest fireworks. All the Dems are watermelons.

[Cecil Turner]

Are any of the Dems on that committee physicians?

Nope. Pretty much all lawyers, one schoolteacher, one activist, one bad actor/comedian.

[DebinNC]

Noonan: "When they want the opposite of what you are, they are not registering approval."

That's what BOzo can't stand. Obamaism was rejected in Nov.

[Heh, read up on Atlanta; there is a blog somewhere where that was dissected.]

er, Tom, Lewis and his like are the divisive ones.

[Beasts of England]

T minus 50 hours

[Willy]

No pretense for bringing the Nation together.

Still skeptical?

Single payer will be a uniter for many, and hair en fuego, for others.

[PD]

TBT, I didn't refer to anyone in particular in my last post. Nice of you to self-identify in response to a remark about logical fallacy, though. Tells us that you know very well what you're up to: Utter BS.

[Buckeye]

Beasts

I am totally confused.

I thought Southerners ate fried green tamaters from birth.

Thought Gerber had 'em in a jar.

And now I am learning you had to go to Atlanta to taste them?

What the hell???

[Willy]

Only Nixon could have gone to China.

MAGA!

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

Well Carper just showed his hand. He is already a no vote on Pruitt and he hasn't even testified yet or made an opening statement.

[DebinNC]

CSPAN live - Patty Murray whining inarticulately about Dems being stymied from asking unlimited questions of Dr. Price.

[Truthbetold5]

PD

You were in the process of bitching about Brooks.

I took the opportunity to point out you are not a very well informed person

[Truthbetold5]

PD

Are you still defending Bush?

[The title of this post is not a cue, Marty.]

Bush? Ah, the good old days.

[Momto2]

From previous thread:

Wish I could watch the Tom Price hearings today. He is a great man!

Read this from Herman Cain:

https://www.hermancain.com/deconstructing-the-lefts-astonishingly-vapid

[DebinNC]

Sheesh. Who needs waterboarding when enemy combatants could be forced to endure an endless loop of Patty Murray?

[buccaneer morgan]

Well no sanity can be derived from Delaware sine William roth passed, this is the lesson rove missed.

Brooks accepted the freakshow of Obama, without blinking.

[Truthbetold5]

Yeah, the Bush's brought so much good throughout history.

[Cecil Turner]

You grow the economy at more than 2.5% per year, increase employment and participation rates, see household incomes rise and you may corrode some those on the cusp of batshit crazy.

A laudable goal, to be sure. But unfair trade practices and business unfriendly regulations aren't all the challenges we face. Some are structural, and of those, debt is probably the most pernicious. Several studies out there, but this one is representative (AFAICT) :

the median growth of the 20 advanced nations in this study fell by half as their debt levels moved from less than 30 percent of GDP to 90 percent or more. The drop-off was particularly significant at the 90 percent threshold: between 60 and 90 percent of GDP, median growth was still 2.8 percent; above 90 percent it was 1.9 percent. The drop in average growth between countries with debt ratios of 60-90 percent of GDP, and those above 90 percent of GDP, was even greater: 3.4 percent to 1.7 percent.

Considering we're in the danger zone and rising, I would expect growth rates to improve (once they clear out stuff like the EPA's de facto carbon tax), but don't expect miracles.

[Dave (in MA)]

Ace's countdown graphics have been pretty amusing:

Girly bike Barry:
http://ace.mu.nu/headlines/archives/obama-2.jpg

Muz-Barry: http://ace.mu.nu/headlines/archives/obama-3.jpg

Limp-wrist Barry: http://ace.mu.nu/headlines/archives/obama-4.jpg

Any guesses for #1? Mincing judo spectator Barry?

[Old Lurker]

I agree with that Cecil, and I remind us all that, like the statistics supporting employment ratios, the Debt figure is equally vulnerable to definitional shifting. If a Debt is a Promissory Note bearing a proper signature, then it is one total. If the Note is payable to another pocket, then it is another number. But if Debt includes promises for payments in the future pursuant to laws that exist at the date of measurement, then our governments have debts vastly in excess of the figure most often quoted.

Just like only an idiot scores unemployment at 4.7%.

[buccaneer morgan]

So the word apparently came down to the salon, that juniors sinecure in the Ukraine will not continue.

[PD]

Are you still defending Bush?

Am I still? Your fallacy again. Show me where I defended Bush and I'll tell you whether I'm *still* defending Bush.

[Beasts of England]

I was a late adopter for new food, Buckeye, and would eat stuff at restaurants and friend's houses before I'd try it at home. :)

[buccaneer morgan]

Yes the unfunded liability question, are their own sea of monsters,

[Truthbetold5]

Why is it that no one in Washington DC is the least little bit curious as to who the guns that the Comet Ping Pong actor Edgar Madison Welch used were registered to.

Where are the DC gun control nuts?

After all, it was an AR-15 and Comet Ping Pong is a gay establishment.

And not a word about the guns?

[rse]

I remembered Ehrenreich wrote Nickel and Dimed and was tied to DSSA.

Apparently she is far more radical. http://www.keywiki.org/Barbara_Ehrenreich

Yes, let's look to her analysis of religions.

[Buckeye]

I was a late adopter for new food, Buckeye, and would eat stuff at restaurants and friend's houses before I'd try it at home. :)

Had me worried Beasts.

Starting to think maybe you were a closet Yankee:)

[Willy]

Obama's like crack eh, Dave?

You guys are gonna miss him.

He's easy to ridicule. How will you fill the void?

Heh. I have some ideas.

[Buckeye]

I agree with both TC and OL about the implication of the debt.

Nonetheless, tomorrow has the prospect of being a much better day than yesterday.

[Truthbetold5]

PD

Are you looking for more homework assignments?

[DebinNC]

BOzo "presser", aka lovefest, in WH briefing room 2:15 today.

[Truthbetold5]

Willy

No, he would have to go away for that to happen

[Willy]

Daddy Bush and dubya?

Except for your selective memory dementia, but I can help with your nemesis progtards. Just ask my opnion.

[buccaneer morgan]

She's like one of those mutants worshiping the cobalt bomb.

[Mahon]

Trump has survived and thrived in New York real estate and finance, Hollywood/television, and now politics - the most turbulent and shark-infested waters in the country. How big a fool can he be?

[Truthbetold5]

Willy

Do you believe Tony Podesta is a pederast?

[Willy]

TBT: Even if he died in a fire, they would disrespect his corpse. It's an anti Christian streak.

[Beasts of England]

O ye of little economic faith!

[Willy]

He looks like a perv..ask a defrocked priest if there are any.

[Beasts of England]

I am half-Yankee, Buckeye - but don't tell anybody!! :)

[Cecil Turner]

Most of the way through Winter is Coming. Concluding narciso is right: overly alarmist (and Kasparov is even more of an interventionist than I am). Also it covers events at a fairly superficial level, though it collects them nicely to show the big picture. Also his tendency to note he was winning a chess match when any particular event took place is a bit off-putting.

However, it's very readable, and his strategic analyses are good. It's also a useful antidote to the general lack of alarm and ongoing appeasement of a dangerous regime.

[Truthbetold5]

Sounds like you believe Podesta is a satanist as well, Willy

[buccaneer morgan]

Now Ron radosh and the late Eugene genovrse broke away from that cargo cult, thankfully.

[Jane]

Patty Murray is such an asshole. Between her rants last night against Betsy Devos and today against Rep Price, someone should shame the hell out of her. How disgusting.

"Why is it that no one in Washington DC is the least little bit curious as to who the guns that the Comet Ping Pong actor Edgar Madison Welch used were registered to."

Because the people pushing the story have no credibility at all, and if it turns out to be true they will have destroyed all credibility of the accusers. I assume that is your goal.

[buccaneer morgan]

Its a good primer, for those who don't know anything on the subject, take Ben judah as a case study in how to examine volodya poorly

[Jack is Back (Again)!]

The chutzpah on display by Sheldon Whitehouse discussing campaign contributions by firms with carbon interests is stunning. I hope one of the republican senators bring up any of Whitehouse's campaign funding and by whom. The Dems really are eligible for a Trump RICO investigation.

[Truthbetold5]

Jane

Are you really that stupid?

[Old Lurker]

Narc "Yes the unfunded liability question, are their own sea of monsters"

Narc, it is just not whether the liability is funded or not, rather "funded with what?"

Best example which so many politicians misunderstand is that while a lot of Social Security is backed by a Trust Fund, the "cash-cash" in that fund has long been traded to Government IOU's so that one way or the other, future taxpayers will have to fund it with their future dollars.

[James D]

Are any of the Dems on that committee physicians sentient?

Fixed it for you.

[James D]

I don't understand why TM links to the excerable David Brooks, but I'm not following the link.

Brooks long ago demonstrated exactly what he is, and there's no point wasting time reading anything else vomited up from his sorry excuse for a brain.

[Old Lurker]

James, you could improve it further by deleting "Dems"

[dublindave]

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody. There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us. Americans can expect to have great health care…. Much less expensive and much better.”

--The President-elect , Donald Trump

Very excited about Republicans healthcare plans.At first I was a little nervous but this is a solution that works for me.

[buccaneer morgan]

Its like jousting with the black knight,

[Janet the expert]

Again, let me say...
These "hearings" are misnamed. The Congressmen/women are giving mini speeches & hardly letting the nominee talk at all.

The Congressmen/women aren't 'hearing' anything except their own voices.

[buccaneer morgan]

The streetwise professors renders some understanding re china

[lurkersusie]

Excellent

If Donald Trump had been referring to Rep. John Lewis’s civil-rights record when he wrote on Twitter Saturday that the congressman was “all talk” and “no action,” the president-elect might need a refresher course in U.S. history. One of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s closest allies, Mr. Lewis was on the front lines of the successful fight to end Jim Crow.

But for anyone who bothers to check out the full tweet, it’s clear that Mr. Trump was referring to Mr. Lewis’s record as a lawmaker. “Congressman John Lewis,” wrote Mr. Trump after the lawmaker questioned the legitimacy of the election, “should spend more time on fixing and helping his district, which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk—no action or results. Sad!”
Jason L. Riley: John Lewis’s Record in Congress Is Less Than Heroic http://www.wsj.com/articles/john-lewiss-record-in-congress-is-less-than-heroic-1484697531 …

[Willy]

He's cryptic dublin, but it's possible the KingHell deal maker is using that bromide...

If no party feels comfortable, then it's probably a good deal or wtte.

[dublindave]

Watching devos get taken apart by the Democrats was a thing of sheer beauty. The deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on her face as Sanders et all educated the potential education secretary was truly priceless.

Did she not even know she was going to be asked actual questions about actual things? Did she think that Jesus would carry her trough whatever trials came her way?

What a dummy.

I love being a Democrat.

[JimNorCal]

I've been nervous about Porch. Any fallout from being observed with a Trump related screen on the computer?

[matt, deplore me if you must]

It is truly amazing how little intellectuals know of religious history. The early Christians were chaste, very respectful, and focused on the second coming of Christ, which they felt could be any minute.

Reading Romans, Paul was in the position of reconciling congregations of Jewish Christians and Christians who had converted from other religions, gentiles from all over the empire and every class. There was some serious rancor.

Dionysian celebrations would have been out of the question for Christians at the time. Even then the liturgy was pretty well set. The blessing and breaking of bread and a sip of wine. The re-telling of the gospel stories. It wasn't rocket surgery.

As to Brooks, he lives in the city of bread and circuses. And the newsroom is becoming ever smaller. The New York Times will soon be publishing out of Bob Guccione's brownstone and renting the downstairs out as a whorehouse to complement the one on the upper floors. I think the downstairs whores will be more honest.

And how about that Bradley Manning pardon? WTF? The scumbag dumps hundreds of thousands of pages of classified and top secret doc onto the front pages of the world press and gets a pardon. Simply disgraceful.

[Willy]

Many rumors of a sedate and somewhat sullen PEOTUS occupying the Tower...suddenly realizing what he's done.

[Willy]

Bemoaning the state of "christianity" Matt can't help himself even for Jesus.

Bradley Manning should die in a fire. Oh wait.
I infer...

[jimmyk]

But if Debt includes promises for payments in the future pursuant to laws that exist at the date of measurement, then our governments have debts vastly in excess of the figure most often quoted.

C'mon, OL, if that were an issue, states like Illinois would be be having fiscal meltdowns and people would would be fleeing the state in droves.

Oh, wait. Never mind.

[Buford Gooch]

It's amusing watching the trolls converse with each other. The rest of you should remember to ignore them.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Well Bernie Sanders just told us that we are NOT a compassionate nation.

Got feed that narrative that the US is the source of all evil.

Orrin Hatch nicely points out that many members of the committee including those in the room have purchased healthcare stocks, and the charges made (by Murray, who obviously was lying about what Price told her) were hypocritical adn simply designed to smear him.

[JimNorCal]

"You grow the economy at more than 2.5% per year, increase employment and participation rates, see household incomes rise and you may corrode some those on the cusp of batshit crazy."

That's the key question for our future, I think. Two example outcomes:
1) Trump is a dilettante, Dems and GOPe successfully sabotage his Admin, media united front refuses to cover successes, support from his base evaporates from weariness and questionable decisions, etc
2) Remember Ron's first election. He was the glib but unserious actor who was an idiot and would cause WWIII, way too ideological, extremist, etc. But after the nation and world showed undeniable improvements he crushed his opponent for second term. Similarly, Trump "squeaked by" with only 300 electoral votes (heh) despite desperate resistance from Dems, 100% of the media and maybe half of the GOPe leadership. Any improvement in the economy will lead to crushing victories in '18 and '20.

I know which way I'm betting.

[Truthbetold5]

Jane

Maybe Heather Podesta and the board at the DC Police Foundation will take down the DC pedo ring.

Yeah, that's the ticket!
http://www.dcpolicefoundation.org/board-members.html

[Willy]

NorCal. He isn't even sworn yet, but the cracks in this egg are tectonic for your expectations.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

JimNorCal,

I think that idea that Trump is a dilettante and doesn't know what he's doing is a false hope that the democrats and some GOPe have.

The first bit of evidence is the quality of his cabinet. Does anyone believe these men and women would go through this confirmation process and be willing to serve if they thought he was a dummy who was just messing around and would lose interest?

Secondly, we see that he actually works. Other than a game of golf with Tiger Woods, I have seen no evidence of slacking off in any manner.

I look forward to what is going to happen once he actually has authority to act.

[Joan]

Oh, come on, "...Trump is not trying to bring the nation together" ??

If he'd try, the Democrats and Left, et al., wouldn't do anything but jeer. Trump is in a battle, and his opposition is vicious and unyielding and unrelenting. Why should he pander to them? I think his election shows that millions of other people feel the same way he does. Whether he'll come out on top, only the coming weeks and days will tell who prevails. I hope Trump does.

[DebinNC]

If I lived in 95% white, upper middle class Vermont where the avg. home price is $225,000, I'd likely feel smug and magnanimous too.

[Dave (in MA)]

ha, narciso reference to the Franciscus POTA

[DebinNC]

The first noticeable change from BOzo to Trump I'm hoping to see is many more "you" and "we"s and far, far, far fewer I, me, and mys.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

And now Al Franken is insulting Price.

This is just annoying.

[Willy]

Nice thought Deb. Is the future now on topic?

[Joan]

Janet the Expert: "The Congressmen/women aren't 'hearing' anything except their own voices."

You're correct, and it seems like that's what has been going on since ad infinitum.

[Janet the expert]

Oh my goodness. Al Franken dogging the nominee on owning tobacco stocks sometime in his life.

Maybe the Dems could answer some questions about pot smoking, fisting, sodomy, illegals killing Americans, drugs pouring over our open borders, ...

[lyle]

Let's all get our questions ready for Zippy's swan song presser. I'll go first: Mr. President, how much more wonderful would your time in office have been if you hadn't had to lead a country full of ignorant unpeople?

[Janet the expert]

Boy, Dems are loathsome people.

Sick.en.ing.

[Willy]

Congress is a showplace with actors, scripts and sets. It's not even infotainment.

'Don't block me from the camera, bitch"

[lurkersusie]

Good article

The Issue Is Not Trump, It's Us | Opinion | teleSUR English
By: John Pilger

"A writer," the journalist Martha Gellhorn told the second congress, "must be a man of action now ... A man who has given a year of his life to steel strikes, or to the unemployed, or to the problems of racial prejudice, has not lost or wasted time. He is a man who has known where he belonged. If you should survive such action, what you have to say about it afterwards is the truth, is necessary and real, and it will last."

Her words echo across the unction and violence of the Barack Obama era and the silence of those who colluded with his deceptions.

That the menace of rapacious power — rampant long before the rise of Trump — has been accepted by writers, many of them privileged and celebrated, and by those who guard the gates of literary criticism and culture, including popular culture, is uncontroversial. Not for them, the possibility of writing and promoting literature filled with politics. Not for them, the responsibility of speaking out, regardless of who occupies the White House.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/The-Issue-Is-Not-Trump-Its-Us-20170116-0025.html

[windansea]

Trump certainly is not, at least with his tweets on Jon Lewis, even making a pretense of trying to bring this nation together.

Jaysus. When will you get it thru your noggin that playing nice with todays Dems/MSM does not work? They only care about power.

How long did the NYT's promise to atone for their bias during election coverage last anyway?

maybe 2 minutes?

[Buckeye]

Al Franken is a particularly obnoxious poseur.

[PD]

If I lived in 95% white, upper middle class Vermont where the avg. home price is $225,000, I'd likely feel smug and magnanimous too.

Not to mention that Bernie "man of modest means" Sanders owns not one, but three homes.

[Miss Marple the Deplorable]

Letter former President George H. W. Bush sent to President-elect Donald Trump.

Gracious and a nice touch.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2d43xZXgAIgLPn.jpg

[JimNorCal]

"Most of the way through Winter is Coming. Concluding narciso is right: overly alarmist (and Kasparov is even more of an interventionist than I am)"

To be fair, Kasparov has spent a lot of time in the West and desperately wants freedom for his people. Like black slaves in the US, despite heroes like Harriet Tubman getting freedom organically from only your own efforts is hard and maybe impossible. Thus the attempt to somehow gin up intervention from outside. Thus overly alarmist. Not from stupidity but from attempting to establish a paradigm...also from desperation.