Chaos Manor View, Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Liberalism is a philosophy of consolation for Western Civilization as it commits suicide.
Under Capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under Socialism, the powerful become rich.
Under Socialism, government employees become powerful.
I’m afraid I wasted my time in trying to follow yet another debate about anti-Semitism, but I never did understand what they were debating about. While America has a small number of genuine anti-Semites (under any definition of the term), they are pretty well irrelevant. As Irving Kristol once said, America is a safer and generally more pleasant place for Jews than Israel is ever likely to be. Now of course there are organizations, mostly but not all Jewish, that equate any criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, but serious people, including Kristol, found that absurd.
There are of course places where there is real anti-Semitism, but most of them are Semitic now that the National Socialists no longer rule Germany. Fascism isn’t even anti-Semitic although the Nazi’s (who weren’t really Fascists) were. Mussolini had many high ranking Jews in his Fascist regime right up until he gave up trying to prevent the Anschluss with Austria and made alliance with Hitler. At Hitler’s insistence he began persecuting Jews, but it was not part of the Fascist – rods and axe – agenda until imposed by Germany.
But Islam certainly is anti-Jewish, right down to their Holy Koran; since many Islamic nations are Semitic – certainly not all, since neither Persians nor Kurds nor Turks are Semitic – the term anti-Semitic has more political meaning than descriptive accuracy, and is rather useless in rational debate – but on a practical level anti-Semitic in the Middle East means anti-Jewish, and at least to those who believe the Koran, means war to the knife. After the end of days, the rocks will cry out, O Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him. Now that’s anti-Semitic. Only of course the Muslim who is to do the killing is likely to be a Semite.
Israel made its Arab and Palestinian non-Jewish – mostly Muslim – population citizens. Not quite full citizens but close. The Muslim countries expelled their Jewish populations, some of which had been in the same location since Roman times, right through the original Arabian conquest under Mohammed and his generals, but through the Crusades, Saladin the Kurdish Sultan’s reconquest, the Mongol conquest, the Seljuk Turks, and the Ottoman Turkish reconquests. The post 1948 Muslim nations didn’t even settle the Jews in camps. They drove them out. Since it was often (but not always) Semites doing this, I suppose technically it was not anti-Semitism, but the effects were pretty hard on the Jews.
Of course the Jews in Israel are pretty hard on Christian Israelis, most of whom are Semites, but surely that is not anti-Semitism? Semitic Jews persecuting Semitic Christians? But of course they are opposed as Christians, not as Semites. And of course the persecution of Christians in Israel is not so severe as the persecution of Jews in Moslem lands, let alone Nazi controlled lands; but those who mention Israeli mistreatment of Christians in Israel are generally denounced by the Anti-Defamation League as anti-Semites.
And now my head hurts and I think I will give this up. It’s pretty hard to have rational debate about anti-Semitism since we can’t quite agree on any possible definition of what the subject is.
Perhaps my Jewish friends will help define it.
For a great deal more, see my 2008 dialogue with the late Joel Rosenberg on the future of Israel. Events have overtaken some of the discussion, but most of it is still quite relevant. http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/Israelfinished.html
Clinton Embodies Washington’s Decadence
She breaks the rules and gets away with it every time. No wonder voters are fed up.
Peggy Noonan
http://www.wsj.com/articles/hillary-embodies-washingtons-decadence-1464302560
The most interesting thing Donald Trump has said recently isn’t his taunting of Hillary Clinton, it’s his comment to Bloomberg’s Joshua Green. Mr. Green writes: “Many politicians, Trump told me, had privately confessed to being amazed that his policies, and his lacerating criticism of party leaders, had proved such potent electoral medicine.” Mr. Trump seemed to “intuit,” Mr. Green writes, that standard Republican dogma on entitlements and immigration no longer holds sway with large swaths of the party electorate. Mr. Trump says he sees his supporters as part of “a movement.”
What, Mr. Green asked, would the party look like in five years? “Love the question,” Mr. Trump replied. “Five, 10 years from now—different party. You’re going to have a worker’s party. A party of people that haven’t had a real wage increase in 18 years.”
My impression on reading this was that Mr. Trump is seeing it as a party of regular people, as the Democratic Party was when I was a child and the Republican Party when I was a young woman.
This is the first thing I’ve seen that suggests Mr. Trump is ideologically conscious of what he’s doing. It’s not just ego and orange hair, he suggests, it’s politically intentional.
As she often does, Miss Noonan does a better job of explaining Trump and his popularity than any of the other pundits. She is very much worth listening to.
Trump turns off many of my friends, particularly intellectuals. I understand that. After all, I is one. Trump is a populist, and most intellectuals are wary of populism and for that matter the general public. Conservatives less wary than liberals, because we maintain many Burkean traditions; but note that Burke himself in letter to the electors of Bristol (his constituency) had a good bit to say on populism.
[snip}…after Mrs. Clinton learned of the Monica scandal and did not step back, claiming a legitimate veil of personal privacy—after all, it was not she who had been accused of terrible Oval Office behavior—but came forward on “Today” as an aggressor. Knowing her husband’s history, knowing his sickness, having every reason to believe the charges were true, she attacked her husband’s critics, in a particular way: “The great story here . . . is this vast right-wing conspiracy that has been conspiring against my husband since the day he announced for president. . . . Some folks are gonna have a lot to answer for.”
That sums up Mrs. Clinton’s approach. When someone speaks truth to power, mow them down the conspirators. And it works. Out of seventeen contenders, only one is left standing. Just what Mrs. Clinton wanted. Now to shake loose this Vermonter.
It is worth your time to see what else Miss Noonan has to say.
Spengler spends a lot of time separating himself from Trump – after all, Trump? – but he continues to conclude that Trump’s views on the Middle East are correct, his policies much more sound than Hillary’s, and that Trump is the only candidate that a pro-Israel American can support – even though Trump explicitly puts America First. Trump is a friend to Israel; Hillary is at best indifferent.
His views on Bill Kristol and neo-conservatism, including the indebtedness of the Reagan supporters to Irving Kristol, Commentary, and The National Interest are quite similar to mine. If any of this interests you, it is worth your time to read:
Bill Kristol Isn’t a ‘Renegade Jew.’ Just a Sore Loser Throwing a Tantrum
the elephant in the room
http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2016/05/28/zucked-silicon-valley-scared-death-trump-part-1/
If Trump pushes this, it will get him over the top. Intel just laid off 12000 people and at the same time lobbied for more H1B visa’s. This has been going on for as long as I’ve been in silicon valley. These shits need to be stopped. Intel Santa Clara is almost all Indian thanks to this program. When I was there in 91, they were very few. When my wife retired last year, I met some of her co-workers, all Chinese and Indian, all very humble, quiet people who work cheap and are terrified of losing their job. Just what management wants. The revenge of the nerds has turned into the treason of the nerds. This is going on all over the valley.
P
But, we are told, immigration is not an issue, and America First is unreal, and isolationism at best. You can’t talk about immigration control. You aren’t allowed.
Unemployment and India
“Most Americans don’t like doing that. They want jobs. But the jobs are gone, sent overseas along with the equipment they worked with, and the economy settled into one of opening containers of goods from China “
Count me as one of those whose job was outsourced, actually I remained employed a little longer since I had the job of programming the switching of the ‘800 numbers’ to their new destination in India. Afterwards I got to go out and pick up the phones and shut down the surplus equipment at various building around Boston and floor by floor at the main office. The biggest piece was the entire building devoted to the main Call Center; two buildings, several floors and hundreds of operators and agents. When we were finished, two acres of parking, empty.
Each week the ‘bean-counters’ issued lists of phones to be removed from programming and picked up, entire floors sometimes. A measure of the extent of the ‘cost cutting’ is that I was kept busy over a year in this manner. One situation I’ll always remember was getting a call from one of the department heads I’d worked with over the years, she had come in and found that everyone including herself had no phone or computer service in their department. She had called the Help Desk and opened a trouble ticket but the next morning nothing had been done, so she called me since she knew I operated the ‘Legacy’ phone system. In the interim she and her co-workers tried to carry on business with their cell phones and the wireless service on their laptops.
In the meantime I’d confirmed that the reason department’s phones were dead was that we had executed an order to delete them the night before. I’d been trying to find someone in the change-over team who could find out why they hadn’t had the company installing the new VoIP equipment there to replace the old sets. Finally I found out that the reason they hadn’t received new equipment was that the entire department was designated ‘unnecessary’ , but no one had told the personnel department to issue termination orders.
So those people were unaware that they no longer were employed by the bank.
Forbidden to say anything, I could only suggest to that department head that she needed to track down the executive in charge of her group, that there was something important that they needed to know. At that point she guessed.
How did the change-over to Call Centers in India go? I wrote about that on my blog.
https://onthenorthriver.com/2011/09/09/friday-news-14/John The River
The Railgun has Landed
How sweet it is:
<.>
The Navy developed the railgun as a potent offensive weapon to blow holes in enemy ships, destroy tanks and level terrorist camps. The weapon system has the attention of top Pentagon officials also interested in its potential to knock enemy missiles out of the sky more inexpensively and in greater numbers than current missile-defense systems—perhaps within a decade.
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http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-first-look-at-americas-supergun-1464359194
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Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
We have been watching this development for a long time. Too long, but better late than never. And I still have more faith in a strategy of technology than the most artistic deals.
Elon Musk on Instagram: “Fast play of today’s rocket landing on SpaceX droneship OCISLY”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BF7sxM9QES7/?hl=en
R
The holy sun…
“NASA has revealed that a massive hole, measuring more than ten per cent of the Sun’s surface area, has opened up on our star.”
And a bit from the ending of Heinlein’s “The Year of the Jackpot”.
“That was one hell of a big freckle! It was a hole you could chuck Jupiter into and not make a splash. He could see it very clearly now.”
Charles Brumbelow
It makes me uneasy, but I’ll save the terror until I hear more. Global warming? But there’s hope:
Space X Launch and Landing Go!
I just watched Space X launch Thaicom 8 and they stuck the landing!
Reusable rockets seem a reliable thing! =) It’s amazing what can happen when you don’t have to worry about Congressional appropriations.
◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊
Most Respectfully,
Joshua Jordan, KSC
Percussa Resurgo
Letting a 7 yr. old decide he’s a girl
The national debate over transgender rights could affect the future of a local 7-year-old who just finished first grade at Rolling Hills Elementary School in Clark County, but the current frenzy goes largely unnoticed by her.
A federal directive this month about bathroom use by transgender students in public schools has sparked outrage from some Republicans and prompted 11 states to sue the Obama administration.
Elizabeth was born Landon and transitioned to a girl at the beginning of the school year. Most of the community has been supportive, her mother Katie Flesch said, but they’ve also gotten some push back from people they were the closest with.
GOPUSA Editor’s Note: It only takes one paragraph, and this “journalist” is already trying to confuse the reader. This story is about a 7-year-old BOY. He is NOT a girl. The writer can refer to him as “her” or “she” all he wants, but it doesn’t change the facts. And what does “transitioned to a girl” even mean? The writer uses that phrase as if it’s some kind of scientific fact. Playing dress-up does not change one’s biology!![clip_image004[1]](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/clip_image0041_thumb.jpg "clip_image004[1]")
![clip_image004[1]](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/clip_image0041.jpg "clip_image004[1]"){kind=small}
I suppose I should comment more on this, but surely there is an age at which children do not have absolute rights to decide their future?
Squids and the Inner Light of Being
Posted on May 19, 2016 by Fred Reed
It was an epochal moment for the military and perhaps for all of society. Screwing up her courage, Air Force First Lieutenant Kara-Ann McBee walked into her commander’s office on the D-Ring of the Pentagon and announced that she was a giant squid.
Kara was slender and tomboyish, with an upturned nose, freckles, and an attractive brush-cut hairdo. She could have been Tom Sawyer’s sister. She did not appear to be a giant squid.
“But I am, sir,” she said, rigidly at attention and clearly nervous. “I’ve known it since I was a little girl. I…sir, I am a squid trapped in a woman’s body. I’m trans-phylum, sir.”
The commander, Colonel R. Boyd Gittim, was stunned. He was a compact, graying man in his mid-fifties, a combat flier who had slipped through the screening process to high position in what insiders called the Five-Sided Wind Tunnel. He was not well suited to the complex personnel issues of the modern military.
Does everyone get to decide their inner – sex, animal, profession, intelligence, species, gender, position in life?
Laptop.
After the Thinkpad line was sold from IBM to Lenovo, I have changed to HP ZBook line of laptops. They are easy to service and have spareparts available several years after the purchase, and the spare parts shop of HP and it’s technical manuals are the best in business.
I’am working on a HP Zbook 15 G2, but there is now a Zbook 15 G3:
http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/business-solutions/hp-zbook-15-g3-mobile-workstation—customizable-m9r65av-mb–1
I prefer a somewhat heavier laptop, as is has better expansion and service options, but if you prefer less weight, the Zbook 15u G3 or the Studio Zbooks are slimmer and lighter.Bo Andersen
I need “chicklet” keys – separation between keys – and while I have plenty of reports about HP reliability, their keyboard is not for me. I’m doomed to two finger inaccurate sloppy typing.
Hollywood’s economic ignorance
http://www.therebel.media/hollywood_s_economic_ignorance_part_one_old_european_ideas
http://www.therebel.media/hollywood_s_economic_ignorance_part_two_the_cashless_utopia
http://www.therebel.media/hollywood_s_economic_ignorance_part_three_the_corporate_dystopia
http://www.therebel.media/hollywood_s_economic_ignorance_part_four_the_hoarding_one_percent
Much of this is obvious to anyone who has really thought about such things but somehow there is a sizable portion of the country that thinks Bernie Sanders has viable policies. This series would be a good start to dispel the illusions of those given to magical thinking.
Eric
Yes, but who reads economics? More fun to go with the pundits. Alas.
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
