Tuesday, September 27, 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.
Well, the ophthalmologist decided that my cataract is not ripe enough. Of course she didn’t say that. That’s what they used to say in the old days, when all they could do was remove the lens, so they wanted you to wait until things were so bad that even no lens was better than you were seeing. Apparently I wasn’t complaining enough about my cataract, nor eager enough to get it removed. I did get some drops that do seem to help, or at least I thinks so. Sand my left eye is fine, so having a lot of the light blocked off in my right eye isn’t so bad.
Apparently they don’t want to see me again for six months, so we’ll drop that story until next spring. It probably wouldn’t have improved my typing anyway.
And of course I got my flu shot while I was there. The eager young nursing students administering the immunizations also insisted on checking my other shot records, but I’m up to date on pneumonia and tetanus.
It seems to me that Hillary has based her entire campaign on “Trump’s not fit to be President, no matter how much you hate me and despise Obama’s policies.” Trump’s debate strategy seems to be to make sure she claims responsibility for the situation we are in, and doesn’t denounce ObamaCare, the Iran deal, our various regulatory policies, our immigration policy – to make sure she says you’re going to get more of what we already gave you. Big government, soak the rich, free trade agreements – and lots of migrants and immigrants. A bit more bureaucracy will take care of everything.
But you have no choice, because Trump isn’t fit to be President, he isn’t even rich, this is all a con, and he believes Obama wasn’t born in the United States and he sort of supported the invasion of Iraq just like I did, and he doesn’t know how to build a wall or do anything much. And he loses it when provoked. Just you watch.
So we watched, and yes, she led him off track sometimes – after all, this was his first ever Presidential debate, and she’s done several, and she’s pretty smart – but even when he was off track a bit he kept saying things like you’ve been in power, why didn’t you do something when you were Secretary?, and generally reminding us who spent more money we don’t have than any other President in history and got us the slowest recovery from a Recession than anything since the Great Depression. And despite the goads and slights, he didn’t turn into a raging bull ready to nuke everybody. He sounded like a business man ready to take advantage of any breaks he could get, and now ready to apply those skills to the Presidency.
Scott Adams seems to have reached the same conclusion.
If Trump continues in this way : I want to fix things, I know they’re broken, and I have done pretty good for myself, let’s see what I can do for you, and no, I’m not going to nuke any baby seals nor even Moscow or Tehran, but maybe I will adjust the rules of engagement for our sailors in the Persian Gulf – if he keeps that up, looks like he might want actually to do some of the things everyone talks about, I think he wins. I’ve had about enough of this slow recovery. And I don’t think adding more taxes and regulations will help. I don’t think Trump will make taxes worse, or grow the bureaucracy, or get us into another war. I’m not so sure about Hillary. Qadaffy did everything he could to Finlandize. He’d have licked Obama’s boots or Hillary’s toes if he thought that would help.
She summarized her Libya Policy as “We came. We saw. He died.” Of course it wasn’t so long after that that our ambassador – her ambassador – died also, but that was hardly Qadaffy’s fault. He’d died.
Somehow I think any random Marine Colonel could have come up with better results in Libya than Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Smallpox
From the CDC web sire
http://www.cdc.gov/smallpox/vaccine-basics/index.html
Smallpox vaccination can protect you from smallpox for about 3 to 5 years. After that time, its ability to protect you decreases. If you need long-term protection, you may need to get a booster vaccination. Find out who should get smallpox vaccine.
B
Yes, and they insist they have enough vaccine to immunize the entire US population. Of course it does deteriorate, so you can believe as much of that as you want to.
Miracles at Lourdes
Jerry,
Your comments about the miracles at the Lourdes Shrine sent me to google looking for more information. You comment suggested that there were several hundred such documented miracles. Perhaps that is the correct number, in total, since the founding of the shrine. But the number of recent miracles is substantially less. According to one site I consulted, prior to 1914, there were an average of 57 miracles claimed each year. Since 1947, when a medical board was created to review these claims, the total number of accepted miracles has decreased substantially: only 56 were recognized between 1947 and 1990. And since 1978, there have been but 4 recognized. It shouldn’t be surprising that the more closed these claims have been scrutinized, the fewer there are that are accepted.
The other thing that jumps out is how infrequent these miracles are relative to the number of visitors at the shrine. According to one site, approximately 5,000,000 people visit the site each year, and some 350,000 people bath in the water. So the odds on obtaining a cure from a visit are exceedingly low.Craig
Why do you think I am surprised that we see fewer miracles as science advances? It is obvious that many old wives’ tales – blue bread mold, orange mold, spider webs – produced results for centuries before we learned what the mechanism was. I don’t expect that trend to stop, and neither does the Pope or any of the theologians I know of. They may see implications in our scientific advances that you do not see, but they certainly do not deny them. What has not happened that they have dropped to zero. I don’t recall saying that the laws of statistics are relevant here.
I said it is an act of faith to believe that there never will be any more miracles when our science is sufficiently advanced. Perhaps that deserves a stronger faith that belief that prayer can sometimes be effective, but that wasn’t my argument. Incidentally, the decline in number of miracles certified has a lot to do with the rules applied to the definition.
Persia
https://www.strategypage.com/qnd/iraq/articles/20160926.aspx
I do hope that the US politicians and military leadership are paying attention to this analysis. I’ve been saying such since 2003.
David Couvillon
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.;
Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq;
Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time;
Distinguished Expert, TV remote control;
Chef de Hot Dog Excellence; Avoider of Yard Work
So do I.
Credibility
I’m incredulous… the author is making the argument that ‘credibility’ and ‘reputation’ have no bearing on current or future diplomatic or military actions. Therefore, promises/threats are merely rhetoric.
David Couvillon
Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, Retired.;
Former Governor of Wasit Province, Iraq;
Righter of Wrongs; Wrong most of the time;
Distinguished Expert, TV remote control;
Chef de Hot Dog Excellence; Avoider of Yard Work
Holy carp!
Evidently we had an incoming over Australia!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/huge-meteor-crashes-earth-flash-8917015
It could not have hit “offshore” as the article reports; we would have heard tsunami reports by now. More likely an airburst, per the reports I’m seeing. Also the reports are over a lot of different non-USA media.
![image[3]](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image3_thumb-1.png "image[3]")
‘Huge meteor’ crashes to earth as flash of light is …
Hundreds of local reported seeing a “burning light” at Turkey Beach and Emerald in Queensland, Australia, followed by tremors
Stephanie Osborn
“The Interstellar Woman of Mystery”
http://www.Stephanie-Osborn.com
![image[3]](https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/image3-1.png "image[3]")
A book recommendation
Jerry,
Book reviews/recommendations used to be a regular feature of your Chaos Manor column. I understand you are not able to produce as much as you used to, and have had to let this slide. But in return for many interesting suggestions in the past, I would like to suggest a book to you. I feel comfortable doing so, because it was a book that Bill Gates recommended on his blog:
https://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Sapiens-A-Brief-History-of-HumankindCraig
From the September 1996 Column – A Little Taste of Crow Column The book o
f the month is Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life by David Friedman (Harper Business, 1996). One doesn’t normally think of an economics book as light and pleasant reading, but David makes it seem so. He also explains most of the assumptions underlying economic theory. If you have any interest in economics at all, you’ll find this book both readable and fascinating; and I guarantee you’ll learn something from it. David analyzes such things as the length of supermarket checkout lines, whether to change lanes on a freeway, and incidentally something about money and unemployment. He’s a former King of the East in the Society for Creative Anachronism, and one of the most interesting people I know.
>From the October 1996 Column – Of Zip and Spam and NT 4_0 Column The book of the month is by Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, The Thirty Years War (Routledge). I thought I knew all I wanted to about the Defenestration of Prague , Friedrich the Winter King, Father Tilly, Cardinal Richelieu and Father Joseph “the gray eminence,” and Wallenstein, but once I opened this wonderful book, I found a wealth of details more fascinating than any novel. Part of Hitler’s popularity came from his promise to upset the Peace of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years War.
Missing Special Forces article
Hi Jerry,
FYI The Special Forces article does still exist on the originating site:
It is a members only article which was probably ‘borrowed’ without permission by the site whose link you posted.
SOFREP appears to be a legitimate site with articles from former Special Forces members.
-Blair S.
Scott Adams on Periscope: live-streaming he debates,
Jerry
After this: http://blog.dilbert.com/post/150919416661/why-i-switched-my-endorsement-from-clinton-to
There is no other way I’ll watch/listen to the debates than –
sc:bubbles]
Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.
