Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for the West as it commits suicide.
James Burnham
If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war.
Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983
Microsoft has a big slough of updates, and they affected different computers differently for some reason. My laptops seem to have done most of it in their sleep, but Eugene, my main system, never warned me he needed an update. He was slower that usual and Firefox, which has memory leaks and periodically needs resetting was particularly slow; I decided to reset everything, so I closed all applications; when I went to reset I noticed that one option, not usually there, was “upgrade and reset”. That worked, but it warned me this was going to take a while.
I went to Grasshopper, a USUS 15” laptop, to look at the mail, and of course to check if it needed upgrading. Upgrade it did not need – then – and everything worked fine. Checked mail, some important needing immediate answers. The 15” screen is only barely large enough for me to work with; Grasshopper does not have a big screen attached, and I didn’t think Eugene’s upgrade would take all that long, so I answered my agent’s message and a couple of others, and noticed that Eugene was still trundling. No time estimate of how long this would take was displayed, and I sure wasn’t going to interrupt anything. It trundled on, and I decided I’d go to the back room and make sure Swan, a big desktop in the back room, was also updated if needed. Turned out he had updated himself overnight, and came up with the “Everything is exactly” message Microsoft usually gives when it has updated things, and which is often not quite correct. There was also an update to Firefox, but this was no problem and restored last night’s session just fine.
Firefox wanted a reset after I opened it: no explanation, but I did that, and up it came with the proper saved session, and of course a window asking me to donate money. I closed that. I pay my dues to Firefox (what I consider my dues, anyway). Firefox worked fine.
So did Outlook. When I closed everything on Swan for a reset, it would not close Outlook: there were two unsent messages, did I want to send them first. Looked at them in the outbox, and both were forwards of old emails I received a while ago and had not acted on: I do that, forwarding to myself, as a reminder sometimes. Probably not the best system, but it’s what I do. Decided they weren’t really important and tried to delete them. Would not delete. Tried to look at them. Would not open. Told Outlook to close, and got the message about unsent messages, and told it to close anyway, which it did. Had some trouble closing other stuff, called up program manager, and nuked everything that was still open. Reset. Came up promptly, not even the “everything is where you left it” message. Looked in the power menu, and no “upgrade and reset” option; only reset. Opened Outlook and the two messages I could neither delete nor open were gone, and later discovered they had been sent, received, and placed in the right folders on all the machines. All’s well with Swan, who seems completely normal and healthy.
So Swan was all right; back to Eugene. He had stopped trundling and was open in Windows, and now wanted my password. No problems there, but then more delays: “don’t turn off” message, and more trundling. Finally up he came. There was an open Microsoft Edge – what they used to call Explorer – window proclaiming my good fortune at the marvels that came with the update. I figured I could look at those another time.
Firefox works fine, Outlook works fine and has the messages that were “stuck” in Swan, and the new revised Windows and Edge work quite well. No problems at all. Office has a number of revisions, one making it easier for several simultaneously to edit the same document, meaning that Steve, Larry, and I can all work on the book when we feel like it. Agent hated the “Cthulhu” title, and I don’t blame her; the new working title is Starborn and Godsons, which will remind readers of
Anyway it’s my turn to take a pass; previously if two of us tried to work through the Internet on the same copy at once, things could get a little irritating, at least for me; this new version of Office seems to make that easier. I’ve noticed no other significant differences, but we’ll see. I have to say that despite my complaining about unrequested “improvements”. Windows 10 is the best Windows yet; many of the problems with older games are now solved but running them in a mode compatible with an older Windows, and with newer computers they run at least as fast as they did on the old machines they were built for. I still find some of the improvements useless for me, and I wish they’d leave some things alone or at least leave the old commands in, but I have to say, my productivity is improving; perhaps that’s just recovery from brain cancer and the stroke, but some is due to the Microsoft team. Doesn’t mean I’m going to stop criticizing them, but this time they have an attaboy coming. Upward Mobility By Jason L. Riley To improve education, allow teachers to administer discipline regardless of race. In 2012 the Education Department released a national study showing that black students are suspended from school at a higher rate than whites, and the findings fueled a predictable debate over whether school discipline policies are racist. Two years later, the department sent a letter to school districts warning them to do something about the disparity—in effect, to stop suspending so many disruptive black students or risk becoming the subject of a federal civil-rights investigation—and the results have been just as predictable. The title alone of a new report on the fallout, “School Discipline Reform and Disorder,” might tell you all you need to know. The author, Max Eden of the Manhattan Institute, notes that 27 states and more than 50 of the country’s largest school districts have moved to reduce suspensions in recent years, often to the dismay of those on the front lines. A Chicago teacher said her school became “lawless” after the new discipline policy was implemented. A teacher in Oklahoma City said “we were told that referrals would not require suspension unless there was blood.” A Buffalo teacher who was kicked in the head by a student said his charges are well aware of the new policy. “The kids walk around and say ‘We can’t get suspended—we don’t care what you say.’ ” If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States, we would rightfully consider it an act of war. Glenn T. Seaborg, National Commission on Education, 1983 That was in 1983. Things are not improving, and the Obama decree makes it all worse. Presumably President Trump could cancel that executive order, if someone would tell him about it; perhaps this article will do that. Space Aliens & Talking Monkeys. Read the whole thing: <http://thezman.com/wordpress/?p=9885> R A wiretapping Morton’s Fork, via Lew Rockwell’s site I was already wondering how there could have been any competent U.S. investigation of Trump’s links to Russia unless it was thorough enough to use wiretapping on Trump’s resources, if only to confirm that there was nothing to tap. Any such investigation’s methods and remit must have been known or should have been known to Obama on the principle of “the buck stops here”, and so authorized by him on the same principle however indirectly. Now I find Patrick Buchanan thinking along similar lines at https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/patrick-j-buchanan/backfire-left:- ‘How could DNI Director Clapper and CIA Director Morell say that no connection had been established between Trump’s campaign and the Russians, without there having been an investigation? And how could such an investigation be conclusive in exonerating Trump’s associates — without some use of electronic surveillance? … were Attorney General Loretta Lynch, White House aides or President Obama made aware of any such surveillance? Did any give the go-ahead to surveil the Trump associates? Comey would neither confirm nor deny that they did. So, if Obama were aware of an investigation into the Trump campaign, using intel sources and methods, Trump would not be entirely wrong in his claims, and Obama would have some ‘splainin’ to do… Indeed, if there was no surveillance of Trump of any kind, where did all these [media] stories come from, which their reporters attributed to “intelligence sources”?’ Martin Armstrong touches on this at https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/martin-armstrong/ny-times-first-reported-trump-wiretapped as well. Yours sincerely, P.M.Lawrence We still need to know: how did Sallie Yates know what General Flynn told the Vice president about his phone call from the Trump Tower to the Russian Ambassador? There was some source of information about Candidate Trump and his staff that very likely came from a wiretap of Trump Tower; how did Obama people get it? Why President Trump Believes his phone was tapped during the campaign. Subject: REDUX: NSA Surveillance on Trump Two days ago, I saw details that allegedly came from an NSA database. This was allegedly submitted to Infowars by a former commander of the Cold Case Posse. Having no way to verify the data, I didn’t think it was time to say anything to you about it. I realize I’m more forward leaning, but this is a serious matter and I wanted to exercise measures of discretion and discrimination. However, that time has past and now: <.> House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes said Wednesday that the U.S. intelligence community collected multiple conversations involving members of Donald Trump’s transition team after he won the election last year. After making his disclosure at the Capitol, Nunes headed to the White House to brief the president on what he had learned. Trump then told reporters gathered for an unrelated event that “I somewhat do” feel vindicated by the latest development. “I very much appreciate the fact that they found what they found.” </> SURPRISE! The FBI is NOT cooperating! ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ https://news.grabien.com/story-nunes-fbi-not-cooperating-our-investigation-trump-camp-surve Comey is now J. Edgar Hoover? ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ And if you want the original data offered by Infowars, which covers surveillance on Trump and Alex Jones: ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ https://www.infowars.com/nsa-documents-prove-surveillance-on-donald-trump-and-alex-jones/ And let’s not forget, the FBI is now probing far-right media sites to see if they’re involved in this conspiracy to prove that NSA was in fact spying on Trump when FBI would prefer you to think they were not… Comey don’t play that! ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Most Respectfully, Joshua Jordan, KSC Percussa Resurgo The FBI is by charter supposed to have a monopoly on counter intelligence in the United States and the Caribbean. This means wiretaps and other surveillance of various foreign nationals, including officials of both friendly and potentially hostile nations. They also monitor calls to the foreign nationals’ home countries, and when possible, decode coded diplomatic cables. Often foreign diplomats and agents mention American citizens. Under the FISA rules, when American citizens are named in these transmissions even in conversations between foreigners, the citizen’s name is to be redacted from any documents conveying this information to anyone else. It is a felony to do otherwise. It is now known that during the Trump campaign, many Trump officials were in such reports, even including then Candidate Trump himself. Much of this was leaked. That included conversations between Trump and a foreigner who was under surveillance. Candidate Trump’s name was leaked. The leak is a felony, possibly by an FBI official, who gave it to someone he should not have given it to. The actual leaker may have been a civilian or relative of a careless FBI official; eventually someone then leaked it to the press, or to the Democratic Party operatives, or both. Note that this was a felony. Leakers in the Democrat Hq. told Mr. Trump’s people. Mr. Trump concluded – with pretty good reason – that he was wiretapped. Possibly he was not, but details of his telephone conversations with people under surveillance did get out, leading Mr. Trump to conclude his phone was tapped; and since these leaks circulated freely in the Obama White House, the inference that his phone was tapped by agents of Mr. Obama is very strong; and since Mr. Obama presumably could have ordered that stopped and it was not stopped, it may have been rash for Mr. Trump to say that Mr. Obama tapped his telephone during the campaign, but it is certainly understandable. The actual leakers to the Obama White House may very well not be FBI agents; but the ultimate source of the leaks must be the FBI because by law and charter they are responsible for all counterintelligence operations in the US and Caribbean. A few FBI agents are given the authority to name a US citizen named in a surveillance of a foreigner when there is a national security threat, but that would have to be reported and approved by their superiors, or a high Justice Department official. We do not know the names of those authorized to approve this release, but we can assume they include the Attorney General and immediate subordinates. We do not know whether the FBI Director is privy to the names of Americans in those surveillance reports. Perhaps he is. In any case, there is some question whether the Director should now be involved in the investigation of those leaks. In any event, I believe this is why President Trump believed that his tapped by President Obama. Condemned to repeat Dear Doctor Pournelle, Forty years ago this month, British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, after a long and vicious campaign by elements of the British ‘Deep State:, called it quits. This article, from the thirtieth anniversary of Wilson’s resignation, details how a plot by rogue elements of the intelligence services destabilized his government and led to the resignation of an elected leader. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/mar/15/comment.labour1 “As Peter Wright confirmed in his book Spycatcher, Wilson was the victim of a protracted, illegal campaign of destabilisation by a rogue element in the security services. Prompted by CIA fears that Wilson was a Soviet agent – put in place after the KGB had, the spooks believed, poisoned Hugh Gaitskell, the previous Labour leader – these MI5 men burgled the homes of the prime minister’s aides, bugged their phones and spread black, anti-Wilson propaganda throughout the media. They tried to pin all kinds of nonsense on him: that his devoted political secretary, Marcia Williams, posed a threat to national security; that he was a closet IRA sympathiser” Santayana certainly had a point, eh? Of course, it can’t happen here… Petronius re. Military Suicide Dear Jerry, “The entire linked article is worth reading, particularly the two sections on national suicide (Political Suicide and Foreign Policy Suicide). Note I am recommending this for reading and contemplation, and perhaps discussion.” This piece by ‘The Saker’ is certainly entertaining polemics. And already holding many of the same views about the ultimate outcome of these trends, I can say I largely ‘agree’. But the discussion is always in the details, right? I could entertain myself and perhaps others by an informed quibbling of details of the AH-1 vs. AH-64, or the potential tactical situation up in the Cheorwon Valley. Just to take two examples of first hand experience. But this seems not very useful now. Although nominally written from a conservative-nationalist ‘American’ vantage I think ‘The Saker ultimately offers just another belt-way centric view. The difficulty in discussing such an article lies here where ‘The Saker’ writes: “I could list many more types of suicides including an economic suicide, a social suicide, an educational suicide, a cultural suicide and, of course, a moral suicide.” In other words, the totality of what’s going on ‘domestically’ in Flyover Country. The Saker seems not to have much intimate contact with this region and therefore doesn’t discuss it. His expressed view reminds me of mid-19th Century European and American maps of Africa. The continental outlines were precisely charted but the interior south of the Sahara was merely marked with pictures of elephants, lions, grassy savannas and jungles. From the standpoint of Flyover Country the national security complex dysfunctions identified by The Saker are indeed true. But perhaps they aren’t ‘dysfunctions’ at all from the standpoint of the ‘Anglo-Zionist elites’ who The Saker rightly diagnoses here: “but the ultimate unmasking of the viciously evil true face of that 1% must be credited to Hillary with her truly historical confession in which she openly declared that those who oppose her were a “basket of deplorables”. We already knew, thanks to Victoria Nuland, what the AngloZionist leaders thought of the people of Europe, now we know what they think of the people of the USA: exactly the same thing.” This also I heartily endorse and agree with. It could have formed the basis for an informed discussion of “economic suicide, a social suicide, an educational suicide, a cultural suicide and, of course, a moral suicide.” Viewed in perspective, these Anglo-Zionist elites appear to regard themselves as much at war with Flyover Country as with Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Probably far more so. Its difficult to imagine real ‘regime change’ emanating from the four external sources, although the Anglo-Zionist elites clearly fear Putin’s Russia in this regard. Its not difficult at all to imagine it emerging from western Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and potentially Minnesota in the near future. Stripped of the threadbare moral cant the political, social and economic policies these alienated elites impose on the rest of the USA are intentionally hostile. I think the real ‘suicide’ whose results are swiftly manifesting themselves consists of the dichotomy of perpetually waging internal social, political and economic war on the very sources one relies on for troops, an industrial base, weapons and the ‘strength’ to conduct external policy. In my opinion those readers who seek to identify their real enemies might find some clarity of thought in these passages, which you’ve recommended in the past: Then out spake brave Horatius, The Captain of the Gate: “To every man upon this earth Death cometh soon or late. And how can man die better Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of his fathers, And the temples of his gods? -From Thomas Babington Macaulay’s Lays of Ancient Rome I do not see that Russia, Iran or North Korea offer any threat at all to me and mine. About China I have grave doubts. Enough to want to keep my ICBMs, nuclear bombers and Pacific Fleet on DEFCON 2 fully cocked on ready alert. But about the Anglo-Zionist Empire I have no doubts; it is the irredeemable and incorrigible enemy who threatens ‘the ashes of my fathers and the temples of my gods’. Best Wishes, Mark
An Obama Decree Continues to Make Public Schools Lawless
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
