Chaos Manor View, Tuesday, August 30, 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
I’ve been in something of a funk the last few days, and have conserved what energy I have for fiction. I’ve managed a couple of thousand words of new text, and some revisions of old text, but I suspect I brought a bug home, and it’s going to take a few days to get it out of my system.
I did manage to get a newsletter out to my platinum subscribers, with the intent of making it the subject of my next View (this one). I thought it important information and said so. I give it next, but before you go read it, read my second letter I had to send.
“He did great. His new meds seem to be working very well.”
<http://www.amren.com/features/2016/08/drugs-and-ipads-in-the-class-room/>
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Roland Dobbins
I had never seen or heard of that site. Of course in my haste I sent it without reading the comments to that post. Fortunately a friend did, and almost immediately advised me to do so. I realized I had to send this:
Subject: Maybe that will teach me
To: “Jerry Pournelle” <jerryp@jerrypournelle.com>
Date: Sunday, August 28, 2016, 4:16 PM
On inspection of the comments to that school piece I sent, I send this warning.
I have no authentication of that particular piece, but I do have a number of reports of much of what’s in it from sources I know personally. Thus I cannot guarantee that this is actually by a working teacher, but I have enough reliable information to believe it could be an exact account. Conditions in many LAUSD schools are exactly as described. Most of the iPads are locked up, and many EMR (Educable Mentally Retarded) students are mainstreamed where they take up at least as much of the teacher’s time as the rest of the class put together; you may draw your own conclusions as to the effects on the education quality for the ordinary students of all races. I note that fewer and fewer teachers send their own children to public schools in LAUSD according to the Times. Apologies for not doing the checking earlier; it’s busy around here. You may find the comments to that piece offensive.
Jerry Pournelle
Chaos Manor
South Room
Keep in mind that the map is not the territory, and I have many sources to verify that incidents like those described in the article have taken place, so that while I do not endorse the site, I can say that I find the entire article not only credible, but common. The schools were as early as The National Commission on Education indistinguishable from an act of war against the United States, and far from improving, they get steadily worse. Now California has an initiative to give the schools even more money. Of course it is vague on what improvements it will generate, but it certainly hints that they are lousy and need more money. That’s been the remedy advocated by educational authorities for forty years. The result has been they get the money, but the schools get worse.
I had many comments, but this one is typical:
Maybe that will teach me
Having worked for a school district My opinion is this is just the tip of the iceberg.
A consequence of what you call ‘creditialism’ is the idea of following mindless rules is a substitute for common sense and sound judgment.
This infects every level of government, it infects private industry also which is a consequence of the heavy regulatory environment we have today.
When I worked in government, if a person squandered massive amounts of money but did so within the agency parameters, they would be in less trouble than if they saved a fortune, but broke even a minor rule by doing so.
When I worked for the State of Alaska they could afford to pay 4 computer programmers overtime every weekend for 4 years, but could not afford to hire another programmer.
At Juneau, they had a massive transmission tower failure (a consequence of the salt water spray) but because the power company and utility company were separate entities. The Utility company could not pay extra to have a new transmission tower built in an expedited manner (costs extra) due to regulations, so the city and all the surrounding area had to run on the diesel generators for 3 weeks. Diesel costs a lot more than hydropower.
B-
Russian Military Deployment
This is worth noting:
<.>
Russia has announced plans to position a new coastal defense military
division along its eastern coast, with some troops expected to be
stationed approximately 50 miles from Alaska.
The new division, expected to be in place by 2018, will be responsible
for defending Russia’s sparsely populated Far East, stretching from
the Alaskan border to the Kuril Islands, which are disputed with
Japan.
</>
http://www.infowars.com/russia-positions-troops-50-miles-from-alaska/
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Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
We want to put missiles in the suburbs of St. Petersburg; why should they not have a garrison on their eastern frontier?
Media Protects Investment (Hillary)
I read the other day that Dr. Drew’s show got canceled after he speculated about Hillary Clinton’s negative health. And it’s not just
him:
<.>
Hillary Clinton and her media allies have been working overtime to put out numerous fires that continue to pop up and spread during the final weeks of her campaign for president. Recently, the flames have gotten more difficult to smother as reports of Clinton’s frail health have bled into the mainstream media, despite the unanimous and unilateral decision by the MSM to treat anyone who even raises a question as akin to a Holocaust denier. (On Sunday night, for example, Huffington Post fired contributor David Seaman and deleted his columns simply for linking to a Hillary health video that’s been viewed four million
times.)
Julian Assange stoked more flames when he suggested a murdered DNC worker was the Wikileaks source for the DNC hack. Most recently, the Associated Press released a blockbuster story concluding that more than half of the people Clinton met with as secretary of state gave donations to the Clinton Foundation.
Despite these ongoing scandals, Clinton’s close yet questionable ties to media outlets such as Google, CNN, PBS and The New York Times have seemed to pay off. These entities have gone out of their way to censor negative stories about Clinton, particularly ones involving the Clinton Foundation. There’s one common thread though these media outlets suppressing harmful Clinton stories all share: they’ve donated to the Clinton Foundation.
</>
And the media continues to protect their investment. I sent you a video of some CNN talking head named Cuomo or Como or whatever his name is admitting that they give Hillary a “free ride” and so her presidency “better happen” on air on CNN during a newscast.
This behavior is so shocking and disgraceful that I can’t see how anyone who admits trust in the corporate media can be taken seriously in conversation any more than one would care to listen to a five year old’s opinions on dating and night club experiences.
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Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
Huma Abedien Corruption
I cannot keep up with all the corruption. I have tons of tabs open and I need to sleep. I just can’t believe how much crap is coming out about Hillary Clinton, the Democrats, the Clinton Foundation, and still everyone keeps chanting and clapping. Now Huma is in a pay to play scam:
<.>
Judicial Watch today released 725 pages of new State Department documents, including previously unreleased email exchanges in which former Hillary Clinton’s top aide Huma Abedin provided influential Clinton Foundation donors special, expedited access to the secretary of state. In many instances, the preferential treatment provided to donors was at the specific request of Clinton Foundation executive Douglas Band.
</>
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Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan
Innerscapes Meditation
the Paint Job
Dear Jerry Pournelle:
Your alt-right-ish correspondent Mark says that the politics of the 21st Century will be about ‘clan, tribe and identity’. Such particularism is one side of an ancient equation. The other side is universalist. Benjamin Barber called this “Jihad versus McWorld”. There’s nothing new about any of this; the game is the same as ever, just the stakes have grown.
Part of the trouble with tribalism is that tribal identity is largely illusory, and its arbitrary definitions are cynically manipulated by power elites, to control the uncritical. This has been well understood for a long time.
One of the more pernicious identity-illusions is race. The genetic science is clear: race is skin-deep. DNA differences within any so-called race are generally far greater than differences between alleged races. This science is intellectually disruptive; but for political disruption, try technology. I therefore invite you to imagine this future technology: germ-line skin-tint re-editing, a.k.a. the Paint Job.
Here’s the Paint Job’s salespitch:
“Dear future parents of color: have you been stalked by guards in department stores? Are you constantly pulled over? Do you fear for your life when a policeman looks at you? Have you been denied loans, schools, homes and jobs at first sight? If you have, and if you want a better life for your children, then have we got a cure for you! Just one injection of our patented Paint Job ™ serum, and all of your children will be so white and blonde and blue-eyed that they’ll never need to hear the Talk!”
I predict that the Paint Job will be genetic engineering’s killer app; simple, cheap, safe, but with high demand in a massive market. Racial identity-jihadists will object to this erasure of the very concept of race, but the corporations will smell money.
To see the inevitable end result, read “The Sneetches” by Dr. Seuss:
http://teacherweb.com/VA/WarwickHS/Elliot_T/Text-The-Sneetches.pdf– paradoctor
While hair straightener and various “make you lighter” cosmetic products were once best selling items among American Blacks, I think that is no longer the case. I do know a Black colleague of my wife’s once told her son’s school principal to list him as white, and when the principal was startled asked if there were something wrong with her hearing – after which came the plea to change that racial designation because they needed “good Black students” for their statistics, and calling him white would cost her school money.
Long ago when I was a graduate assistant I told an education class that I thought the racial problem would be solved entirely by the American Melting Pot; that lecture caused quite a stir at the time, and certainly I have hardly been proved correct; and since that time I have visited many places where I learned a lot more about assimilation. I was introduced by a very high ranking corporate officer of one of Finland’s biggest companies and he introduced his assistant with these words: “He’s a Swede, but he lives in Finland, and he’s my head of the xxx Department.” I later learned that this man’s family came to Finland in the 19th century. I have similarly been introduced to people in Japan with the statement that they were Koreans, although it was soon clear that their families came to Japan 200 years ago.
Edmund Burke and many others had a different view from The Paint Job:
To observing men it must have appeared from the beginning, that the majority of the Third Estate, in conjunction with such a deputation from the clergy as I have described, whilst it pursued the destruction of the nobility, would inevitably become subservient to the worst designs of individuals in that class. In the spoil and humiliation of their own order these individuals would possess a sure fund for the pay of their new followers. To squander away the objects which made the happiness of their fellows, would be to them no sacrifice at all. Turbulent, discontented men of quality, in proportion as they are puffed up with personal pride and arrogance, generally despise their own order. One of the first symptoms they discover of a selfish and mischievous ambition, is a profligate disregard of a dignity which they partake with others. To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections. It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind. The interest of that portion of social arrangement is a trust in the hands of all those who compose it; and as none but bad men would justify it in abuse, none but traitors would barter it away for their own personal advantage.
I do not think we will settle it here. The question of differences has been with us a while:
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” St. Paul may have been an optimist.
How _A Spaceship for the King_ inspired the creators of the Traveller RPG.
<http://www.castaliahouse.com/retrospective-a-spaceship-for-the-king-by-jerry-pournelle/>
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Roland Dobbins
Perhaps, particularly in the early days of the game. Spaceship for the King was the title given to the first part of the novel King David’s Spaceship; it was serialized in Analog and in those days they were reluctant to run longer works, and three part serials was all John Campbell would accept. The story still holds up well even now. So does the full novel. I gather Traveler has done well also.
Obama to ratify treaty without Senate
Obama will bypass Senate, ratify Paris climate accord himself during trip to China:
http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/29/obama-will-bypass-senate-ratify-paris-climate-acco/
What is going on in his little world?
Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan
Innerscapes Meditation
I suspect the Congress can deal with that threat. I do appreciate all the work Mr. Jordan does in finding stories for me.
Enough for tonight. We’re going to try an new gluten-free restaurant.
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
