Thursday, November 3, 2016

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

“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Immigration without assimilation is invasion.

Yesterday Kaiser decided to send Roberta to the rehab unit at Holy Cross, where I learned how to recover from my stroke. I rejoiced. I don’t know if I had any influence over the doctors, but I sure tried to get her sent there. Last night they were ready to send her, but there was some kind of mix-up, and they couldn’t do it, so they moved her to another room in Kaiser from the intensive care place she had been. This morning my daughter Jenny went out to be handy when they moved her to Holy Cross, but as of 1400 that hasn’t happened yet. We’re hoping that happens soon, and I’ll go see her there.

Jenny’s going to come get me and take me out to Holy Cross when the move’s accomplished, which is why I have some time to be here. Yesterday Roberta was visibly better than the day before, so it’s reasonable to hope – and pray – for more recovery, possibly to a better level than I have. She should still have balance, which I do not, thanks to the radiation therapy, so she shouldn’t have as much trouble learning to walk. We can hope.

As Roberta reminded me after my stroke, it took a while to learn to talk after I was born. And to walk. It all has to be learned again.

The election news is boiling, and I haven’t anything useful to add to the turmoil. It is needless to point out that if back in my cold war days I had done what she did I would certainly have lost my clearances and my job, and probably have gone to jail. So would anyone else at my pay grade which was considerably below Cabinet level. It is likely that President Obama will give her a blanket pardon as soon as the election is over, and has not done so because he thinks a pardon would affect the election. That was to be expected.

The bit about a revolt in the FBI with the working agents furious with the Director is contradicted by my sources, who say the working agents are grateful to the Director for taking the blame while under tremendous political pressure. The conflict between the highly politicized Justice Department civilian lawyers and the FBI sworn agents seems to be real; at least I hear that it is. Obviously any FBI agent involved in investigating Cabinet – and above – level officials will be under very great pressure; apparently the Director is doing his best to shield them from it.

If it all reminds you of the Nixon Watergate fiasco, you are not alone in that observation.

This came in a couple of months ago at a time when I had other reasons for not looking at my mail. It’s still relevant.

On immigration, employment and welfare

Jerry

Our biggest problem is that we are 65% employed. That’s one third of our non-retired nation sitting on their keisters collecting welfare. We can’t afford it: look at all the things that are not getting done.

So put everyone to work. Follow the ADA. If anyone is “disabled” find them a job they can do. People who can’t walk can watch screens. Ditch-digging today is done with machines. If the labor were free, we’d have people doing the labor. We’d have people to supervise sheltered workshop for EMR. Heck, EMR could dig ditches with their peers. To the point: they’d all be employed. We could ditch welfare because there would be no unemployment.

To supply all those ditch-diggers and clothing-wearers, we would buy only American-made products, putting some people to work in the private sector.

I once talked to an inmate who once worked planting trees. One year his employer didn’t call. He called the employer. The employer told him there was no work. Then the inmate saw company trucks filled with presumably illegal aliens. Now my inmate was in jail. Under the new scheme, he, any citizen who wanted work, and legal immigrants would have work. Their companies, with free labor, would underbid companies with illegal labor.

Yes, we’d have to make something so legit companies hiring legit Americans would not have to compete with free labor; but people hiring illegals would have to have a mighty fine business model to survive.

It’s the kind of solution Fred Pohl trained us to find.

Unemployed illegals, with no welfare in existence, would deport themselves.

One more thing: exempt businesses with less than 1000 workers from all/most regulations.

Name withheld

I’ll consider comments. It does remind me of Fred Pohl.

Another sent in late August

SUBJ: A remarkable current example of Pournelle’s Iron Law in action

Dear Jerry,

Hope you have enough energy to read this during or after WorldCom. Hope you had a great time there, though. You deserve it. 🙂

“How We Killed the Tea Party” via _Politico_ magazine

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/tea-party-pacs-ideas-death-21

4164

Money quote:

“In 2014, the Tea Party Patriots group spent just 10 percent of the

$14.4 million it collected actually supporting candidates, with the rest going to consultants and vendors and Tea Part President Jenny Beth Martin’s hefty salary of $15,000 per month.”

Cordially,

John

Some like these:

New Hitler Rant

Yep. It’s that same old bunker clip with different subtitles…

(I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down.)

Hitler finds out Hillary Clinton is back under FBI investigation;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZordPrP2qc

It’s probably not as funny if you actually know how to speak German…..

 

Sweden Failed State

Sweden appears to be on a nearly failed state:

<.>

SWEDEN is on the brink of becoming a lawless state as the police force is losing the battle against unprecedented levels of crime and violence amid a growing migrant crisis.

The Scandinavian country is facing an existential crisis with on average three police officers handing in their resignations a day.

If the alarming trend continues, and police officers continue to resign more than 1,000 officers will have quit the service by New Years.

<…>

But police have now admitted the force has reached breaching point as more than 50 areas in the country have now been placed on a “no-go zone” list.

In February a report from Sweden’s National Criminal Investigation Service announced there were 52 areas where officers would not cope with the levels of crime being committed.

Sex assaults, drug dealing and children carrying weapons were just some of the incidents mentioned in the report.

<..>

In September, Swedish officials were forced to add another three areas to the list.

Now the Police Association have said they need at least 200 new officers to regain control in the south-east of the country.

</>

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/727574/Sweden-chaos-Police-pushed-breaking-point-unprecedented-violence-crime

Apparently, these refugees are lighting cars on fire in the South-East more than in other parts of the country and the area is lawless.

Perhaps this helps explain Middle Eastern autocrats?

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

People forget that Swedes are still Vikings even if they are officially ashamed of once being so. The Normans are just Frenchified Danes/Swedes and once in a while they remember that. Of course the founders of the Kievan State which became Russia were Swedes.

China debuts J20 stealth fighter supposedly based on hacked US F22 plans

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3893126/Chinese-J-20-stealth-jet-based-military-plans-stolen-hackers-makes-public-debut.html

I wonder whose server they got those plans from.

Why Comey Did It

I’m not sure how connected the former Congressman is, but this is one of the most credible sources saying that Comey had a pile of resignation letters to deal with on this:

<.>

FBI Director James Comey reopened agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails last week because “almost 100” agents threatened to resign before next week’s election, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

“A few weeks ago, almost 100 agents were threatening Comey that they were going to resign — and that kind of pressure is what turned him around,” DeLay, 69, the majority leader from 2003 to 2005, told “The Steve Malzberg Show” in an interview. “It wasn’t Comey or his integrity.

“I know he made a huge mistake when he indicted Clinton — though not indicting her — but now he’s trying to turn that around.

“He had to do it now or have all these FBI agents resign,” he added.

“That would have probably been a bigger story than what Comey did.

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/tom-delay-email-probe-fbi-agents/2016/11/01/id/756491/

Have you ever seen anything like this in your life? If true, this should be the biggest story of the year — even if they don’t resign.

This is huge.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

My sources do not corroborate this story, although I make no doubt that there was some strong sentiment for indictment; but I suspect most of the resentment is toward the Justice lawyers and of course the White House. Comey did what he thought he had to do.

FIVE FBI probes on Clinton Associates!

In addition to the email probe and the blocked — by DOJ — Clinton Foundation probe, FBI has at least five other probes on Clinton’s inner circle:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3889994/Influence-peddling-acting-Putin-s-ally-hiding-classified-secrets-sexting-FIVE-separate-FBI-cases-probing-virtually-one-Clinton-s-inner-circle-families.html

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

I wouldn’t know about this, but I do know they cannot ignore the investigation into the Clinton Foundation undertaken originally by Chelsea in good faith, and apparently leaked by vigilant hackers.

This may or may not lead somewhere. I haven’t time to do more. Some will find it interesting.

re-1Y69-4KRRS-E1NJ7H-C04HO@physicstoday-info.org

Beware Robots Bearing Beer

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/us-economy/beware-robots-bearing-beer/

“Earlier this week, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Uber Technologies announced that for the first time ever a self-driving truck completed a commercial delivery. The 18-wheeler truck drove more than 120 miles from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, hauling Budweiser with the human driver kicked back in the sleeper cab.”

“…Deloitte has previously estimated that 74% of jobs in transportation, 54% in wholesale and retail, and 56% in manufacturing are facing the risk of automation.

“In September, the transportation industry in the U.S. numbered 1.5 million jobs. That’s a big chunk of jobs in danger. And let’s not forget that America’s manufacturing sector is already shrinking painfully. This economic recovery has seen mostly a swelling of low-paying jobs in sectors such as retail — not a good sign when we’re only going to hand the few jobs we’re gaining over to automation.”

Charles Brumbelow

One more move toward robots doing reasonably paying human activities. I have said that by 2024 over half the human jobs can be done by a robot coasting about a year’s salary of the worker.

Our elected officials and their bureaucrats at work

Jerry,

Look at the fees for a certificate of citizenship! Remember, these are families adopting kids from other countries. Our “betters” can’t control our boarders, we are flooded with illegals and they want to charge me 1k for a piece of paper? Tar and feathers come to mind, at least.

Phil Tharp

———- Forwarded message ———-

For parents of older children who did not receive a Certificate of Citizenship automatically when your child came home, the fee (after 12/23/2016) will be more than double what it is now.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced numerous fee increases that will take effect on December 23, 2016. The fee to obtain a new Certificate of Citizenship (CoC) will increase from $550 for a minor adoptee to $1,170. The fee to replace a lost CoC or to change a name on an existing CoC will increase from $345 to $555. These fee increases may not affect parents who have automatically received their children’s CoC shortly after arrival, but will most likely have a big impact on parents and adult adoptees who still need to obtain a CoC.

If you haven’t submitted your child’s N-600 application for a Certificate of Citizenship yet, you might want to consider doing so as soon as possible. According to the USCIS website, these increases will not affect applications received prior to December 23, 2016.

To download the N-600 application for Certificate of Citizenship directly from USCIS, please click here. 

If you would like to read the USCIS announcement, please click here. You can also find a complete list of the fee changes by clicking here.

peter thiel gave excellent speech this morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfYLEPRiIyE

about 12 minutes long. I think you will like it.

—

Phil Tharp

I generally prefer to read than listen. There’s a comment that tells you how to get a transcript.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

All Saints Day

We are off to the hospital, and I haven’t read most of my mail.  I found this and was going to write more on the concentration of wealth, but this will have to do.

Roberta said several words last night, and I have hopes. She thanks you all for your prayers and good wishes. More later; we’re going to the hospital now.

* * *

2330: Spent most of the day at hospital or travelling to and from. Some critical decisions will be made tomorrow, so I won’t have much to say here now. My daughter, Dr. Jennifer Pournelle, flew in from South Carolina a couple of hours ago.  We talked by videophone with Commander Phillip Pournelle from the hospital room. Frank Pournelle went home to Palm Springs after having breakfast with his mother.

I have added a few letters below the “Trouble With Marx” essay.

  * * *

Trouble with Marx

 

 

My memory fails, and I forgot the name of my favorite economist. I racked my brain to no result. I have his books upstairs, but while going up is easy, coming back down is not, and coming down carrying things is worse. Then I remembered his book, The trouble with Marx”. The economist I had in mind was David McCord Wright.

I also remembered had written about Wright’s observation that Marx was correct in some of his projections, and I had written about that, so I googled The Trouble with Marx Pournelle, which took me to an odd page: it was a serious discussion of Marx and Marxism from a long time ago. Much of it appeared in my journal at one time, including letters to me (which had full credit to the authors but there was no mention of me, ,my journal, or the original source.

The question of concentration of wealth arises again. Wright devoted some time in his book to Marx’s predictions about concentration of wealth under Capitalism, and speculated that one thing that had served the United States well was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and vigorous enforcement under trust busting presidents.

I wrote the following at least a decade ago. Google doesn’t show where, and I haven’t time to do other searches for the original postings. It’s still relevant, and given the situation here, I haven’t time to write on the subject.

This was sparked by a reader’s comment or essay that Marx wasn’t a Marxist in the Marx-Lenin meaning.

 

*.*.*

 

Marx was a founder of the Communist International, and he did have some ideas about “the specter” that was haunting Europe. As you say he was cheering for one side in the ‘class war’, and it’s often hard to separate that from his economic analysis.

Some of his analysis is plain silly, like the “labor theory of value’. Fortunately that’s not required for his major analytical thought, because if it were a necessary assumption then Marx’s thought would be as unread as pre-Lavoisier theories of oxidation. In fact, though, the ‘labor theory of value’ was part of what you rightly call cheering, and unrelated to any objective analysis.

Marx did not understand production, and particularly had no notion of the power of technology. He thought anyone could operate the “tools” and “means of production” and that the control and ownership of the power plants and big machine tools was terribly important. That’s to some extent what misled Stalin and Mao, of course. They ought to have known better. Marx wasn’t imaginative enough to see that the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t stop with massive centralized machine shops (made necessary because energy distribution was difficult and expensive); but Stalin and Mao ought to have known that there was a Second Industrial Revolution characterized by the hand-carried quarter inch electric drill that made distributed production possible. Now we have the Third brought on by the small computer and once again all is changed. Marx foresaw none of this, and his economic analysis is based on a very obsolete theory of industrial production.

As in the computer business, hardware often trumps software. Ownership of the means of production is no longer an automatic key to wealth, nor is it all that hard to acquire the means of production. Particularly in the computer/intellectual property field, the means of production are available to almost anyone.

So much for the fundamental flaws in Marx.

Even so, Marx was certainly influential among German economic theorists, and through them Asian including Japanese; Karl Wittfogel being one of the more important. Wittfogel almost single-handedly converted an entire generation of Japanese economists to Marxism, which meant Communism, until his break with the Party over the Hitler/Stalin Pact. He later used his great familiarity with Marx’s theories to see a major contradiction in them.

One of the major attractions of Communism was being on the inevitably winning side. Communism claimed to be scientific, and its adherents were marching in step with the flywheel of history. That’s a powerfully attractive argument to some.

But in Oriental Despotism, Wittfogel pointed out that Marx himself was horrified to see a contradiction: that state capitalism, modeled after the old hydraulic societies (Egypt, Babylon, etc.) could be eternal, not evolving, because it had no internal contradictions as Marx claimed everything except the classless society would have. Marx called this “the Asiatic Mode of Production” and was intellectually honest enough to leave the speculation in Das Kapital, but not honest enough to pursue the implications: that there could be eternal states, never changing much, never evolving, with utterly despotic governments. Such states are vulnerable, but ONLY to OUTSIDE pressures; as an example, the Great Mogul Empire lasted until a handful of Europeans pushed it over. Wittfogel also showed that the USSR was very nearly such an Oriental Despotism, and that China always was one: it was when it ceased to be such under Sun Yat Sen that it became vulnerable, and Sun Yat Sen was able to bring about partial revolution in China only with outside help.

Wittfogel is important to understanding Marx because he took Marx seriously and dealt with Marx’s arguments. David McCord Wright does much the same. His book “The Trouble With Marx” was originally a scholarly work much unread, and because of that was something of a failure as a Conservative Book Club selection since many buyers through that club didn’t know what to make of an economist who took Marx seriously as an economic theorist: the were looking for an anti-Communist tract.

Lester Thurow of MIT sometimes takes Marx seriously, but not often. He is a great lecturer, and it’s always worthwhile listening to him, but his analyses tend to be trendy and topical; I am not sure I have heard much from or about him since Hillary Clinton’s attempt to “reform” American health care, a subject about which Thurow knows more than most, although I strongly question his assumptions.

Wright believed that the American anti-trust laws were the major defense against the kind of destruction that pure capitalism can bring. And of course Schumpeter looked into the face of the capitalist abyss and withdrew in horror.

One attempt to mitigate the effects of unrelieved capitalism is economic nationalism, as well as local control of institutions. By local control, I mean using zoning laws to prevent Wal-Mart from coming in and displacing all the local merchants. I won’t get into the desirability for a local community of placing large barriers in the way of Wal-Mart; I do question the sanity of national laws that prevent the local community from having a say in the matter.

Similarly for economic nationalism: while a global economy is inevitable in the long run, as Keynes said, in the long run we are all dead; what matters are the living; and a nation that allows a skilled worker with 25 years investment in a particular company to suddenly be put on the street while his job is exported to a foreign country may well enjoy cheap jockey shorts, but may also have created a disaffected class from among those formerly the most patriotic. “For a man to love his country, his country ought to be lovely,” said Burke; and a country that is more concerned with cheap goods than the employment stability of its work force, and which goes out of its way to make it easy to export jobs, may be in trouble.

Couple that with an education system almost guaranteed to produce many graduates with no skills whatever and not even the learning skills of acquiring skills, so that they must now compete for menial jobs not merely with local menials but with the entire world including a single mother in Thailand, and you have an even more interesting situation. It is an experiment I would not care to have run, but we are running it here.

A world economy is probably inevitable in the long run, but I am not convinced that marching in step with the flywheel of history is always the right idea; and I am certain that Marx had some deep insights into what unrestrained capitalism can and will do.

I always thought David McCord Wright and Wilhelm Roepke to be economic theorists worthy of far more attention than they receive, because I always thought one ought, a Schumpeter and those two did, to take Marx quite seriously.

State capitalism is every whit as able to pave the road to serfdom as is communism. One may say it won’t happen here, but the one who says that isn’t reading newspapers.

All of which points us back to Roepke’s Humane Economy; and I am out of time just now.

More another time.  Thanks to all.

I seem to have missed pledge week, but a number of you subscribed or renewed anyway.  Needless to say I’ve been slow in recording those the last few days, Apologies, and a great many thanks. And of course thanks to all for your kind remarks and prayers.

* * *

What the Feds Have Done to Colleges and Schools.

<http://www.mindingthecampus.org/2016/11/what-the-feds-have-done-to-colleges-and-schools/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I always opposed Federal Aid to Education – about which the Constitution says nothing and grants Congress no powers.  If the Feds want to help education, let them build, in the District of Columbia where the Constitution gives Congress full powers, schools that are the envy of the world.  Universities, high schools, grade schools; build them and run them well.  They need not force themselves on the States. Show how they can make schools better.

For some reason they have not done this.

“It’s important to have a very large hiring pool (such as Chicago or

NYC) from which to choose enthusiastic, smart and low-paid permanent employees.”

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3895102/Clinton-s-Silicon-Valley-secrets-Google-boss-Eric-Schmidt-drew-campaign-plan-met-Uber-Airbnb-Lyft-executives-private-roundtable.html>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I wonder if this has anything to do with the quality of the schools?

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

* * *

Customer Service

Dear Jerry,

Interesting observation you made, that capitalism concentrates on the bottom line even to the exclusion of good Customer Service. Just returned from that bastion of -relatively- unregulated capitalism named Las Vegas, and I noticed a good example of your principle in action.

In the Old Las Vegas of last century, each hotel had a buffet for when you wanted to gorge, a coffee shop for a lighter meal, and perhaps a hot dog stand on the casino floor for a quick snack. Something for every level of appetite and pocketbook.

In the New, Improved Las Vegas of these times, the buffet is still there. The coffee shop is one with the Dodo. Gone, if you don’t get that reference, which with our schools means you are under thirty. The hot dog stand is in the same “Extinct” category. Instead there is the 21st century horror familiar to all shoppers of the “Food Court”, which sounds like where you go when your order is wrong, or the bacteria level too high for human consumption, but actually is where you are given the choice of twelve different mal-cuisines, all priced at levels that ensure you cannot spend less than ten dollars for any solid food. You can get a drink for five at these monstrosities, but refills, never.

The closest thing to a cafe is some high end dinner house. So when we wanted breakfast, after arising in our comfortable and bargain priced room (got to give the rubes something to keep them coming in the doors!), We were faced with donuts and coffee, or some pink matter alleged to be eggs, on a crusty shape that might have been Torquemada’s version of a bagel if he had ever seen a bagel, or the buffet, and either way spend maybe forty bucks before they are done with you.

In a somewhat desperate move for real table service, we settled on the high end dinner house, open early for brunch. Italian themed, they “served” us a bowl of greens, a basket of bread, and two beverages. With the aid of a hotel supplied ten dollar coupon, we got out of there for not quite thirty dollars, including tip.

I can well imagine the financial analysts selling this whole idea to some MBA manager types in a corporate meeting: “We don’t have to pay staff to wait on tables, the customers do all the schlepping of food and beverage for themselves, they pick up their own trash and put it in the garbage for us, and we don’t even have to run the food operation, we just lease the space to these operators for a high dollar/square foot fee and Watch The Money Roll In!”

I noticed that almost every party in the hotel check-in line had a small ice chest on wheels, with extendable handle. Seems people are wise to this scam and are bringing their own comestibles and beverages. The Hospitality Industry has “improved” things to the point in Sin City that the “Guests” now have adopted Third World dining habits.

Ah, Sweet Idiocy, thy name is Capitalism!

Petronius

Capitalism is an economic system. It produces stuff. It is not concerned with building communities or their deterioration, or their morality. Unrestricted capitalism would result in human flesh for sale in the market place.

On the other had, too many restrictions and regulations produces depression and economic misery, and in the case of the Soviet Union, complete collapse. I foud this which also seems relevant.

On immigration, employment and welfare, 

Jerry

Our biggest problem is that we are 65% employed. That’s one third of our non-retired nation sitting on their keisters collecting welfare. We can’t afford it: look at all the things that are not getting done.

So put everyone to work. Follow the ADA. If anyone is “disabled” find them a job they can do. People who can’t walk can watch screens. Ditch-digging today is done with machines. If the labor were free, we’d have people doing the labor. We’d have people to supervise sheltered workshop for EMR. Heck, EMR could dig ditches with their peers. To the point: they’d all be employed. We could ditch welfare because there would be no unemployment.

To supply all those ditch-diggers and clothing-wearers, we would buy only American-made products, putting some people to work in the private sector.

I once talked to an inmate who once worked planting trees. One year his employer didn’t call. He called the employer. The employer told him there was no work. Then the inmate saw company trucks filled with presumably illegal aliens. Now my inmate was in jail. Under the new scheme, he, any citizen who wanted work, and legal immigrants would have work. Their companies, with free labor, would underbid companies with illegal labor.

Yes, we’d have to make something so legit companies hiring legit Americans would not have to compete with free labor; but people hiring illegals would have to have a mighty fine business model to survive.

It’s the kind of solution Fred Pohl trained us to find.

Unemployed illegals, with no welfare in existence, would deport themselves.

One more thing: exempt businesses with less than 1000 workers from all/most regulations.

Name withheld

I have always believed that simply doubling the size of businesses exempt from various regulation —  ten becomes twenty, fifty becomes one hundred. one hundred becomes two hundred, etc. – would greatly aid the economy with minimum effect on worker happiness.  They never want to try that.

Monday, October 31, 2016

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

“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Immigration without assimilation is invasion.

Sunday morning – this morning although it’s after midnight now so maybe I mean yesterday morning – I discovered that Roberta had suffered a stroke during the night. I called 911. The firemen responded almost instantly.

We spent the day first at the St. Joseph’s Emergency Room (where the firemen took me after my stroke), then at the Kaiser Emergency Room where she was taken by ambulance arranged by Kaiser, then finally in the Kaiser main hospital. Alex was with me for essentially the entire time. My second son, Frank, who lives in Palm Springs, drove up as soon as he could. Our youngest son, Richard, flew in from DC and just got here.

Roberta appears to be about where I was after my stroke. She can’t really talk yet, but she’s aware of what’s going on around her. We’re trying to arrange rehab at Holy Cross where I was retaught how to swallow, walk, and do all the other things people do.

I’m trying to be calm, but I’m scared stiff.

I’m about to go to bed. Prayers appreciated. It’s after midnight. I’ll try to write more tomorrow.

Some good news.

sanity strikes the Air Force

http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/a23537/air-force-fires-up-depot-line-keep-a-10s-flying-indefinitely/

—

Phil Tharp

 

A-10s Forever

I know you have mentioned the importance of the unique capabilities of the A-10 a number of times, and I thought you might be interested to know that even the USAF has come to agree with you. The air force has announced they are expanding depot line maintenance to keep A-10s operational indefinitely.
http://www.defensetech.org/2016/10/28/air-force-flying-10s-indefinitely/

Bill

 

Air Force Faces Reality on the A-10

http://www.businessinsider.com/air-force-keep-a10-indefinitely-2016-10

“The move [to retain the A-10 indefinitely] also follows trials initiated by the Air Force to determine if the F-35 or A-10 better executes the close air support role, which suggest that the A-10 came out on top.

“The Government Accountability Office debunked the Air Force generals’ contentions that the A-1o could be replaced, arguing that the plane’s low flight costs, unique airframe, and hyper competent, impeccably trained pilot community was without peer in today’s Air Force.”

“…without peer in today’s Air Force.” Now there is a slap at the dogfighting Top Guns. 

Link to a sixty minute compilation of A-10 video is included with the article. 

Charles Brumbelow

A mixed bag from mixed sources. Comey has a real problem.

Subject: James Comey……

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. He did the right thing. The level of corruption

is so astronomical (as revealed by Wikileaks) and now the Wiener files….

The total extent of the Clinton Foundation is now estimated to be as much $1 Trillion. 

It’s possible Wiener saved all the emails without Huma’s knowledge….

I have to say, that I have been following this whole email scandal very closely.

Huma Abedin has been revealed in emails to have expressed concern to others about

some actions the Secretary had taken. Huma was unfortunately was forced into an

endless game of “Whack-a-Mole” to keep the whole thing from going off the rails.

AND! She was having to deal with Wiener at the same time.

Huma needs to be cut some slack.

It’s disturbing the media has focused totally on Trump sex allegations as a distraction

away from the email server and WikiLeaks emails.

It’s disturbing the Democrats in Congress think this is somehow political.

Inside the Clinton camp, the statement about the use of the private server was;

“FUCKING INSANE”! (In their own words)

I believe Brian Pagliano is on record as stating when setting up the server, that it was a

serious problem. I assume he was reassured that everything “Taken care of”.

So he proceeded. They would have gotten someone else to set up the server anyway.

The private server outsourced the State Department to the Clinton Foundation for profit…. 

They say “Money is the root of all evil.”

“Lack of money is the root of all evil.” – Mark Twain

“Women are the root of all evil because all they care about is money.”-

(LOL)

James Comey part 2

Maybe the FBI, by reopening the email investigation, is trying to point out to the American

people they are voting for a criminal.

“He who elects a criminal is not a victim, but an accomplice.”

Eric Sabo

If you want to hear it in her own words;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-W-SYn-uhk

The leaks just keep coming.

Just in case you folks do not yet know about “Most Damaging WIKILEAKS” at “http://www.mostdamagingwikileaks.com” with it’s catalog of leaks, well, there it is. Be sure to note its page of new leaks, “http://www.mostdamagingwikileaks.com/new-leaks“. The leaks just keep on dribbling. It is very apparent that Hillary is a VERY VERY deplorable person with no morals and no ethics other than pure self interest.

{^_^}

Email Saga Update

I found a few things interesting about this email resurrection:

1. I’ve noticed the press is not clear on whether it’s “a thousand”, “more than a thousand”, “more than ten thousand” or “tens of thousands of emails”. What seems certain is “five digits”; so at least ten

thousand: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/10/30/abedin-reportedly-pleads-ignorance-how-emails-at-center-latest-clinton-probe-got-on-computer.html

2. Attorney General Loretta Lynch allegedly tried to block Director Comey from doing this:

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/james-comey-broke-with-loretta-lynch-and-justice-department-tradition

3. FBI cannot access the emails, yet, because DOJ hasn’t authorized them to get a warrant:

<.>

The FBI was waiting for approval from the Justice Department to get a warrant, something it had not received as of Saturday night according to Yahoo. “We do not have a warrant,” a senior law enforcement official said. “Discussions are under way [between the FBI and the Justice Department] as to the best way to move forward.”

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Headline/FBI-Comey-warrant-emails/2016/10/29/id/755972/

This last one is interesting, and — of course — some Senate democrats demanded that Comey give some details by Monday. How can he give details when DOJ is sitting on the case? And, I’m confident we’ll see attacks against Comey on Monday if he cannot deliver whether DOJ is the cause of the delay or otherwise. This next week should prove at least mildly entertaining.

If DOJ continues to sit on the warrant, what then?

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

FBI Revolt!

The plot thickens on the suspected FBI revolt. Rumor has it that agents were going to hold press conferences if Comey didn’t act; I cannot confirm any of that but this adds credence to the rumor:

<.>

FBI agents investigating Hillary Clinton’s private email server knew in early October that data recovered in a sexting probe of Anthony Weiner might relate to the case — but waited until last Thursday to tell the FBI director, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Headline/fbi-waited-weeks-tell-comey/2016/10/30/id/756039/

And we have this as well:

<.>

The former chief ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration has filed an ethics complaint against FBI Director James Comey, alleging he violated federal law banning executive branch employees from certain forms of political activity.

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Politics/Painter-Bush-lawyer-Comey/2016/10/30/id/756041/

This ethics complaint is interesting, but I doubt much will come of it since AG Holder was held in contempt by Congress and nothing happened.

So, what does it even matter? This seems like more bread and circus

nonsense to me. But, I do not envy Comey’s position and I hope he

loves this country and is doing whatever the right thing is right now.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

More science news

Optical Rectennas for Imaging

Optical rectennas are a revolutionary technology for imaging. Existing, very expensive CCD devices have, at best, 5u resolution and require cooling for performance. Optical rectenna-based devices with the geometry in the article appear able to improve resolutions by 10x or more (possibly to sub-wavelength) and operate in visible and far infrared without cooling (i.e. from 5 to 77c). The smaller spot size might enable redundant pixels, dramatically improving yields, and therefore lowering costs dramatically. Oh, and efficiency is far less important for imaging, than for energy production. Noise is important, and alas, we haven’t seen any noise figures on the diodes. Also, a rigid substrate is actually preferred for imaging, so development to commercialization should be much closer.
If high resolutions and efficiencies with low noise can be developed, the new sensors could help a modest 0.5-meter digital telescope to be as productive as a current 5-meter professional telescope. It could bring a golden age of astronomy. The sensors would combine with and further drive recent improvements in aporeflective optics, image processing and observatory management software. (Vendors now have “farms” of modest and not-so-modest digital telescopes in areas with clear, dark skies, rented by the minute over the Internet. This is actually very affordable, per image, compared to buying one’s own equipment and trying to use it at available times and locations with local weather, seeing and light pollution. You just make a list of observations and the telescope takes them for you.)

Ray G. Van De Walker

And that will have to do for tonight.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Friday, October 28, 2016

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

“Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Immigration without assimilation is invasion.

This will be short because we really don’t know anything, and I have a lot to catch up with.

Unless you’re on an expedition in Borneo, you have heard that the FBI has reopened the investigation into the affairs of Hillary Rodham Clinton. That is significant this close to the election. What it will discover is a mystery. One the one hand we know that the WikiLeaks indicate conspiracies to violate the election laws of the United States, malfeasance in office – pay to play in the State Department as an example – and any number of violations of IRS Code 501 C 3, which governs the permitted activities of non-profit tax exempt organizations. Not just violations of regulations, but conspiracies to violate them. Conspiracies to commit illegal acts are themselves felonies. They also meet the Constitutional definition of “high crimes and misdemeanors”.

On the other hand, we have the New York Times and Clinton Gazette claiming that the FBI made and announced the decision to reopen the investigation because of something found in Weiner’s weird emails including to a 12 year old girl. Normally one wouldn’t want to be associated with anything Weiner, but he is so thoroughly a person of ridicule that it can be dismissed as just another Weiner story. Hillary’s line on WikiLeaks has been to shout “Russia, Putin, the Russians, Putin, all lies, Russia” over and over again; that’s getting weak, so perhaps it’s time to start pointing to Weiner and giggling.

Perhaps that will happen. It’s the take of the NY Times and Clinton Gazette.

There are other narratives, though.

The Cold Clinton Reality

Why isn’t the IRS investigating the Clinton Foundation?

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-cold-clinton-reality-1477608696

Hillary and Bill Clinton are asking for a third term in the White House, and voters who want to know what this portends should examine the 12-page memo written by a Clinton insider that was hacked and published Wednesday by WikiLeaks. This is the cold, hard reality of the Clinton political-business model.

Longtime Clinton aide Doug Band wrote the memo in 2011 to justify himself to lawyers at Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett who were reviewing his role and conducting a governance review of the Clinton Foundation at the insistence of Chelsea Clinton. In an email two weeks earlier, also published on WikiLeaks, Ms. Clinton said her father had been told that Mr. Band’s firm Teneo was “hustling” business at the Clinton Global Initiative, a regular gathering of the wealthy and powerful that is ostensibly about charitable activity.

Poor innocent Chelsea. Bill and Hillary must never have told her what business they’re in. If she had known, she would never have hired a blue-chip law firm to sweep through the hallways of the Clinton Foundation searching for conflicts of interest. Instead of questioning Mr. Band’s compensation, she would have pleaded with him never to reveal the particulars of his job in writing.

But she didn’t, and so Mr. Band went ahead and described the “unorthodox nature” of his work while emphasizing his determination to help “protect the 501(c)3 status of the Foundation.” [snip]

The story got out. A blue ribbon law firm found shocking conditions in violation of all kinds of laws, it was written in a report which was leaked, and the FBI had no choice but to open the investigation. The FBI isn’t saying; but given the extraordinary performances of its Director in the past few weeks to insist “nothing to see here”, it makes a more reasonable explanation. Wiener they can ignore, but a reputable law firm hired by Chelsea?

But of course I don’t know.

And we still don’t know all of the WikiLeaks to come.

Email Drama Resurrected!

This is becoming like a bad slasher film that keeps having more and more disappointing sequels:

<.>

The F.B.I. is investigating illicit text messages that Mr. Weiner, a former Democratic congressman from New York, sent to a 15-year-old girl in North Carolina. The bureau told Congress on Friday that it had uncovered new emails related to the Clinton case — one federal official said they numbered in the tens of thousands — potentially reigniting an issue that has weighed on the presidential campaign and offering a lifeline to Donald J. Trump less than two weeks before the election.

In a letter to Congress, the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, said that emails had surfaced in an unrelated case, and that they “appear to be pertinent to the investigation.”

Mr. Comey said the F.B.I. was taking steps to “determine whether they contain classified information, as well as to assess their importance to our investigation.” He said he did not know how long it would take to review the emails, or whether the new information was significant.

</>

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/29/us/politics/fbi-hillary-clinton-email.html?_r=0

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

FBI To Re-open Clinton Email Server Investigation

Jerry.
Something of interest: FBI to Re-Open Investigation Into Hillary Clinton’s Email Server (http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/fbi-to-re-open-investigation-into-hillary-clintons-email-server/ar-AAjx01q?li=BBnb7Kz).

Kevin

I am sure we have not heard the last of this.

My friend Fred Reed, former Marine, longtime DC Reporter, blogger and curmudgeon, worries about the death throes of Empire. Not the Soviet Empire, which occupied a lot of my time and energy during the Cold War, but the American Empire which is crumbling fast; will it die without a war?

The Loosening Grip

A Beginner’s Guide to Death Throes

Fred Reed

http://www.unz.com/freed/the-loosening-grip/

Oh good. The world reaches a crossroads, or probably a road off a cliff, just when I want to relax and watch gratuitous violence on the tube. To judge by the rapid drift of events aboard our planetary asylum, the talons of Washington and New York on the world’s throat are fast being pried a-loose. The Global American Imperium is dying. Or so it sure looks anyway.

I say talons of “New York and Washington” because America’s foreign policy, forged in those two cities, belongs entirely to them. Americans have no influence on it. Further, none of what the Empire does abroad is of any benefit to Americans. Do you care at all what happens in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, or the South China Sea? Do you want to pay for it? America has been hijacked.

And the Empire prospereth not. It prospereth very not. Consider the recent record of the world’s hyperpower:

Washington does not have control of Afghanistan, and obviously is not going to.

Washington does not have control of Iraq, and appears unlikely to.

Washington did not back Iran down, and isn’t going to.

Washington did not back Russia down in Ukraine and Crimea, and isn’t going to.

Washington did not back China down in the South China Sea and, while this is perhaps not over, the Empire seems to be losing.

Washington has not backed North Korea down and is not going to.

In the Philippines, President Duterte has told Obama to “go to hell” as being “the son of a whore,” which may be taken to indicate latent hostility. He is vigorously seeking rapprochement with China. While Washington may have him murdered, it seems to be losing control of the Little Vassals of ASEAN.

Turkey seems to be cuddling up to Russia–that is, looking East like Duterte. Maybe Washington can turn this around temporarily, but there’s a whole lot of wavering going on.

Meanwhile Washington thrashes around impotently as per usual in Syria, and, though the jury remains out on this one, looks to have poor prospects. If Washington–AKA New York–loses here, after doing so in Iraq, Libya, Somalia, and Afghanistan, the Empire will beyond redemption be on the downward slope.

The United States is not in danger. The Empire is. This is not good. Empires, the Soviet Union notwithstanding, seldom go quietly. Either Washington gambles on war of some sort against Russia, or Russia and China, in the desperate hope of reversing things, or the Empire gets slowly eaten. Or not so slowly. Once one country pries itself loose, many may rush for the door.

New York may go for calculated war against Russia–say, cyberwar expected not to turn into shooting war, shooting war in Syria not expected to turn into global shooting war, global shooting war not expected to turn into nuclear war. This will be a crapshoot. Note that America has badly misguessed the outcomes of every war since Korea.

This is why the American election actually matters, unusual in Presidential contests. It is Blowhard against Corruption, a swell choice, but Trump is firmly against war with Russia, and Hillary for. Her military understanding is that of a fried egg. [snip]

The rest of Fred’s column is very much worth reading; I can’t say I agree with it all, or that I would have written that, but I can’t prove it wrong and you might find some things to contemplate.  Do recall that Fred is a self styled curmudgeon; and that he is a rather astute observer.

       If you have not already seen it, Fred is at his curmudgeonly best in a previous column:

http://www.unz.com/freed/ronald-mcdonald-or-lucretia-borgia/

I’ve mentioned it before. Some humor is appropriate this week.

Some tyrannies fall hard; what’s left behind is not pretty:

Khadaffi’s Murder

Eric Margolis

http://www.unz.com/emargolis/khadaffis-murder/

“We came, we saw…he died” boasted a beaming Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, speaking of the 2011 western overthrow of Libya’s leader Muammar Khadaffi.

She was, of course, shamelessly paraphrasing Caesar’s famous summary of his campaign around the Black Sea. Mrs. Clinton, who seems ordained to be America’s next president, should have been rather more cautious in admitting to murder.

This week marks the fifth anniversary of Khadaffi’s grisly death. The Libyan leader was fleeing in a motor convoy to reach friendly tribal territory when French warplanes and a US drone attacked and destroyed the vehicles. Wounded, Khadaffi crawled into a culvert where he was captured by French and US-backed rebels.

Khadaffi was severely beaten, then anally raped with a long knife. At least two bullets finally ended his suffering. Thus ended the colorful life of the man who wanted to be the second Nasser and leader of a united Arab world. His death was a warning to others trying to challenge the Mideast status quo I call the American Raj. [snip]

Khadaffi was quietly cooperating with the US when the Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia. Secretary Hillary Clinton and her neocon advisors decided to seize advantage of Mideast turmoil and overthrow Khadaffi.

A new ‘color revolution’ was unleashed by the western powers. Protests were organized in Benghazi, always an anti-Khadaffi stronghold, by CIA, French intelligence and Britain’s MI6. Western special forces attacked Libyan military positions. The UN was gulled into calling for ‘humanitarian intervention to supposedly save civilian lives.’

France led the military intervention. Khadaffi’s son, Seif, had claimed that his father had helped finance French president Nicholas Sarkozy’s election. The vindictive Sarkozy intended to shut up the Khadaffis.

Western special forces intervened behind the cover of a popular uprising. Khadaffi’s rag tag forces quickly collapsed and rebel groups seized power, murdering Khadaffi in the process.

The west got Libya’s high grade oil and was rid of a thorn in its side. Khadaffi told me that if he were overthrown, Libya would splinter into its tribal mosaic – which is just what has happened. Chaos reigns as warlords backed by the US, France, Britain, Italy and Egypt – and a small ISIS contingent – fight over bleeding Libya. Decades of development that made Libya Africa’s leader in health care and education were wiped away. [snip]

Our treatment of Khadafy cannot have gone unnoticed by other non-elected leaders (Diem had not the Khadafy experience yet, but his treatment by Kennedy’s wise men should have been a lesson to anyone asking for US help: You, personally, will not likely survive if you invite us in.)  Kadaffi didn’t invite us in, but he tried to Finlandize; Obama and Clinton decided that wasn’t good enough. She came, she saw, he died.I expect most Libyans would give a lot to have him back now.

We used to negotiate better than that.

Note that we do not hold air supremacy in the Eastern Mediterranean, and probably do not have the means to acquire it without major effort. Taking out the Russian SAMs would involve combat with the Russian forces: an act of war, in the Middle East, against a major power with quite modern anti-air equipment. And the Mediterranean is filled with boatloads of Libyan refugees headed for Europe, joined now by Syrians. A war worth avoiding. We can and should defeat the Caliphate, and that would require a major effort now; do we want to make another effort to defeat Russian air supremacy in Syria as well? Perhaps we could negotiate spheres of influence? A CoDominium?

Oregon militants found not guilty in ‘unbelievable, truly astonishing’ verdict

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/10/oregon_standoff_defendants_fou.html#incart_maj-story-1

A jury Thursday delivered a stunning across-the-board acquittal to the leaders and participants in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation and a remarkable blow to the federal government as it tries to tamp down a national movement led by a Nevada family to open public lands to ranchers, miners and loggers.

The verdicts finding Ammon Bundy, older brother Ryan Bundy and five others not guilty of a federal conspiracy drew elation from defense attorneys who spent five weeks arguing that the armed takeover amounted to a time-honored tradition of First Amendment protest and civil disobedience.

“Maybe this is a lesson that that’s not the way to engage with these people, who want nothing more than just to be heard, just to have a forum to talk about the injustices like the case of the Hammonds and the treatment of ranchers,” said Lisa Ludwig, standby counsel for Ryan Bundy.[snip]

A surprise. In Oregon.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.