The age of the red hats

Clearly,
there were Lenins before Lenin, but this was a constitutional republic
predicated on a Burkean understanding of consensus and stability.  The
Founders of this republic could not possibly have assumed a coup d’état
with elites wearing their pink hats or their metaphorical pointed red
ones.  The age of the red hat has reappeared, and with it has come a
level of predestined anger.

In
my judgment, this republic cannot survive this attack.  We will be a
different state or have no state at all.  President Trump rightly
concludes that it is a weary time to be a guy in the U.S.  "Men are now
guilty till proven innocent.“

This
Kavanaugh case has left America in shambles.  Partisanship has reached
new heights, and congressmen are insulted and abused.  The university is
a mere incubator for emerging hardcore leftist views.  Yes, there are
still stalwarts who stand behind rational positions, but they are
seemingly in an alarming minority.

For
several years, the Chinese pointed red hats ruled the roost.  In a
China dominated by party control, this could not last.  In an economic
takeoff stage, the Chinese authorities could not permit the ravings of a
new class.

Will
Chinese precedent influence American opinion?  Red hats are the first
sign.  They don’t wear them at Georgetown, Harvard, or Yale yet, but
based on "course corrections,” it is only a matter of a short time
before American history programs fall into the interstices of radical
sentiment.

The age of the red hats

The Rise of the Neo-Generalist – Startup Grind – Medium

cultml:

The
bottom line is Jobs, Mikkelsen, Martin, Storm, Ortiz, Young, Altucher,
Grant, Devine, and oh yes…Pippi Longstocking along with many others who I
don’t have the column space to write about are all on to something.
They recognize that the future is being able to broaden and apply your
knowledge in an array of ways and then mix and match those ways to
create new ways. Genetics, futuristic thinking, and mixing ideas are all
connected.

People
recommend always reading books for that very reason. They are
instruction manuals for furthering humanity. By recognizing this concept
of Neo-Generalism we are expanding our soul, allowing our creativity
and inner-self to flourish, and furthering humanity’s future. But above
all else, and perhaps most importantly, Neo-Generalism is bringing us
all closer together.

The Rise of the Neo-Generalist – Startup Grind – Medium

The Interdisciplinary Delusion

cultml:

…The desire to overcome boundaries between disciplines is not in itself
new. Specialization has always had its discontents, and programs for
interdisciplinary cooperation or the creation of new disciplines out of
the synthesis of old ones are perennial features of academic life. What
seems distinctive about the current moment is the argument against the
very existence of disciplines and departments in the first place. At its
most extreme, this new vision endeavors nothing less than a complete
redrawing of the basic units of the university, so that once-separate
departments of, say, economics, chemistry, or music dissolve into an
open flow of information among scholars with varying skill-sets.

…The mistake is to conceive of the disciplines and the relations among
them against a common point of reference: the physical or biological
world, explained by basic science. The point is of course not to dispute
that the fundamental constituents of the universe are physical and its
units of life biological. But not every part of the world can have a
physical or biological explanation. That is why we have disciplines in
the first place. The behavior depicted in novels, say, cannot be
explained by biology because fictional characters are not biological
creatures. The world made present by poetry cannot be explained by
physics or botany because it is not exactly physical, or not in the same
way, and its flowers are not real flowers. Reading is not the same as
seeing, nor writing the same as thinking.

The Interdisciplinary Delusion

The Self-Defeating US Empire

Implicit in Putin’s comments was that the US is acting like a failing
empire. Unsure of its former dominance, the US is resorting to brute
force to shore up its otherwise declining power. But in doing so,
America is acting above its credibility and thereby compelling others to
seek ways around Washington’s overextended writ.

When the dollar replaced gold as the global financial
standard in the early 1970s, the American currency assumed a privileged
position in international trade. But with such a privilege comes the
responsibility to be a universally respected banker, which entails a
certain apolitical character of the dollar.

America’s loss of national economic power has resulted in the US
abusing the global dollar system for its own selfish interests. That in
turn results in loss of confidence by other nations. Washington is
politicizing the dollar system in order to pursue its national
interests.

The over-reliance by Washington on economic sanctions against
other nations is forcing them to seek ways of circumventing the
US-dominated global system of trade and commerce.

We see this in the European Union setting up a non-dollar system to
continue trade relations with Iran after Trump abandoned the
international nuclear accord with Tehran. We see it in the way Russia
and China are setting up a payment system for oil and other commodities
which obviates the use of dollars.

yes no maybe

not that we shouldn’t , just be aware of possible side effects

The Self-Defeating US Empire

America’s Disastrous Occupation of Afghanistan Turns 17

Money offers no answer. The Afghan government is incompetent, divided,
and corrupt. The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan
Reconstruction continues to issue reports detailing massive waste and
ineffectiveness of programs for everything from development to security.
A recent analysis of Washington’s stabilization program concluded: “The
U.S. government greatly overestimated its ability to build and reform
government institutions in Afghanistan.” Whatever success it had won’t
outlive the U.S. presence: “successes in stabilizing Afghan districts
rarely lasted longer than the physical presence of coalition troops and
civilians.”

“shocked” let’s make them kind of like us , even though we don’t know who we are didn’t work

None of the arguments for permanent war are persuasive. As a matter of
geopolitics, Afghanistan is irrelevant to U.S. security. Russia, China,
India, Pakistan, and Iran all have a greater interest in regional
stability. Washington should encourage a Central Asian conclave, perhaps
under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Far better
for Washington to leave and allow Afghanistan’s neighbors to reach a
modus vivendi reflecting their relative interests. The result wouldn’t
be a liberal, Westminster-style democracy allied with America. But it
might be the best possible outcome in a messy, ugly world.

screw it up, doesn’t work, give up

what u get with children in charge

…Afghanistan always has been ruled at the village and valley level.
Someday it might become something different. But that is not
Washington’s responsibility today. 

re   pub   lic

In contrast to his predecessors, Donald Trump seemed to understand how
hopeless the Afghanistan war is. Before announcing his candidacy, he
said simply: “Let’s get out of Afghanistan.” A gaggle of establishment
advisors has since pressed him to suppress his instincts, but he still
has time to do the right thing. At 17 years and counting, it is far past
time to bring America’s bravest home.

prison of two ideas

America’s Disastrous Occupation of Afghanistan Turns 17

Paul Craig Roberts Fears “Western Civilization No Longer Exists”

cultml:

Most likely this deplorable situation is the case throughout the
Western World. Society is so divided that there is no society there. And
the idiot Russians want to join us!

To be truthful, there is nothing left of Western
civilization, and the fault is not Russia’s, China’s, Iran’s, or
Venezuela’s. It is our own.

We are an insouciant people, unconcerned, ignorant, worried
only about unimportant things, kept ignorant and confused by a media
that serves only the One Percent.

The American people, indeed the people of the West, have no awareness that they are headed into total destruction, if not by climate change, if not by nuclear war, then by societal collapse.

Paul Craig Roberts Fears “Western Civilization No Longer Exists”