I had it in my head that creativity expands to fill the available time – that if I could just manage to get enough free time, I could sit down and start writing properly.
But what if that’s wrong? Maybe it is, instead, like the fuel-air mixture in an internal combustion engine, that must be compressed before it can ignite.
https://olis.oregonlegislature.gov/liz/2023R1/Downloads/MeasureDocument/HB2004/Enrolled
An election is by nature competitive: the citizen is called to choose one candidate while rejecting others. Casting one’s vote is a clarifying process.
HB 2004 seeks to replace transparency with opacity. Under this bill, the voter considering a list of candidates would be called on to rank ALL of the candidates on the list, in order of preference. Thus, for a slate of three, four, five, or six candidates, there would be 6, 24, 120, or 720 possible rankings, exponentially increasing the time and mental effort involved in filling out a ballot. This is a deterrent to voting.
Under this vote-counting system, “votes that had been counted for the defeated candidate are transferred to each ballot’s next highest-ranked candidate”. This process makes vote-counting exponentially more complex and time consuming, and renders hand-counting impracticable. This is a blow to transparency.
The creation of a system where votes are routinely “transferred” from one candidate to another invites abuse and manipulation by shadowy groups intent on thwarting the will of the people. It is not hard to foresee that a group of candidates, each unable to gain significant support from the public, could run as ostensible “opponents” to one another while in fact colluding. This is an invitation to rule by cartels.
The existing electoral process already provides ample opportunities for Oregon voters to winnow the field of candidates to those few they deem most desirable. Tampering with that process is courting disaster.
UK ELECTIONS: GAINS FOR LABOUR, SETBACKS FOR TORIES, WHILE REFORM GROWS.
‘Sir Keir Starmer, a top lawyer who once served as the United Kingdom’s Director of Public Prosecutions and supposedly former hardline leftist radical, who claims to have changed his mind and reformed the Labour party he now leads into a mature and capable governing force, is going to be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
The Ipsos exit poll claims 410 seats for Labour — the second largest Labour majority ever, if it proves to be correct — and a crushing defeat to the Conservatives, collapsing from 365 seats won in 2019 to an estimated 131 today.
The Liberal Democrats are polled to have enjoyed strong growth to 61 seats. Nigel Farage’s Reform, if this exit poll is correct, have well and truly gained the beachhead they said they wanted with an estimated 13 seats — he will be very happy with this.’
‘The defeated leader of the Conservative Party, which suffered its worst election result in well over a century overnight, has said he is stepping down from power and will also give up control of what remains of his political faction.’
‘The British general election result has been described as the most disproportionate in history. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK won over four million votes but only secured five seats in the House of Commons, sparking calls for a change to the electoral system.’
MELANIE PHILLIPS: ‘NO LESS SEISMIC FOR BEING PREDICTED’.
https://melaniephillips.substack.com/p/all-change
The Reform party led by Nigel Farage achieved extraordinary success from a standing start. Despite the high bar against third parties set by the British electoral system — and despite some deeply questionable candidates, the result of a campaign thrown together at a moment’s notice with next to no organisation or party discipline — Reform won four seats, putting Farage himself into parliament for the first time.
‘The significance of this achievement, however, goes much deeper than the number of seats the party actually won. Reform did enormous damage to the Conservatives (and more than a little to Labour too) by the high numbers voting for it, costing the Tories no fewer than 180 seats. Reform is now a serious insurgency on the pattern of “populist” insurgencies against a monolithic political establishment that we have seen developing in Europe.
A deeply ominous development is the emergence of an Islamic sectarian vote, with four previously Labour-held seats lost to independent candidates whose pitch — in a British general election concerning British national interests — was about Gaza and “Palestine”. ‘
SAM ASHWORTH-HAYES: BRITAIN AND THE NEW SECTARIANISM.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/05/britain-can-no-longer-ignore-the-new-sectarianism/
‘The unexamined assumption that underlay Britain’s immigration system was a grand-scale version of the Wykehamist fallacy: people look different, but act the same. They vary on things that don’t matter very much – clothes, food, quaint traditions – but in their core, everyone is a good liberal waiting to discover that fact.
This, it turns out, may be entirely the wrong way to conceive of culture and identity. People can vary significantly in what they believe is moral and right, how they should act, and how society should be ordered, and they sometimes retain and transmit these differences across borders and down generations. ‘
COMMENTARY. While much of Europe trends rightward, Britain has seemingly taken a turn in the opposite direction. Britons will now have the opportunity to experience the effects of leftist policies full-on, as Americans have under four years of the Biden regime.
ISRAEL: CDR SALAMANDER, CAROLINE GLICK, AND THE IDF’S FAILED DOCTRINES.
https://cdrsalamander.substack.com/p/caroline-glicks-failed-doctrines
The title of CDR Salamander’s blog post is a little confusing; the article is an endorsement of Caroline Glick, sharing her critiques of the “failed doctrines” of the IDF. [EDIT: CDR Salamander has fixed the title.] Quoting from Glick:
Two underlying assumptions guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. The first asserted that with the end of the Cold War, the era of conventional wars had ended. In the present age, brains, rather than brawn, would rule the roost.
…the second underlying assumption that guided Israel’s security establishment for the past generation. This assumption, also championed by Barak, asserted that Israel’s most important strategic asset was the United States.
Salamander adds:
The Smartest People in the Room™ assured them all was well.
When this war ends – or at least this stage of a “war” that may never really end – this reality will have to be addressed, and probably looks like it already is.
The failure of the second assumption should ring loudly in Europe as well. The Russians have made this apparent.
Glick’s original article – titled ‘Rising from the Ruins of a Generation of Failed Doctrines’ – is here:
Glick notes that the IDF is already starting to learn some hard lessons, and moving back towards domestically-produced weapons and munitions in a program called the “Independence Project”.
COMMENTARY. I have little to add to the knowledgeable analyses of Caroline Glick and CDR Salamander, but I do want to point out one thing. The IDF was not wrong in its estimation of the American people’s support for the Jewish state, but it made the mistake of confusing the American people with the American government.
Every American patriot understands that while our own Nation’s security is entrusted to our government and our armed forces, ultimately it is the American citizenry – We The People – who are responsible for our Nation’s safety and our own. Our Bill of Rights enshrines the individual citizen’s right to keep and bear the tools of his or her own defense, and of the Nation’s. This is every American’s last line of defense against enemies foreign and domestic, and it is our protection in the event of an ineffectual or hostile government regime.
The defense of Israel is Israel’s responsibility. The Israeli people have paid a terrible price for their government’s over-reliance on technology, intellect, and a friendly regime in Washington. As Americans prepare to celebrate our Independence Day, Israelis are looking for a way forward in the wake of last October’s bloodshed. May they do so in a renewed spirit of independence.
As human beings, we orient ourselves in the world through society. Our social networks are built from the bottom up, from our day-to-day interactions with other individuals and our exchanges of courtesies, knowledge, and goods with other people. We use the reactions of others to keep us sane and rational, and through the systemic process of negotiating our relationship with society, we tap into the wisdom and experience of our neighbors and our ancestors.
It is on this level that we work out the details of interpersonal protocol: knowing when someone prefers to be addressed by their full name or a nickname, or by an honorific title such as Doctor. Disregarding the other party’s expressed preference is a breach of etiquette, and may carry a penalty in the form of a verbal rebuke or simply a harsh look from the offended party. Except in the military (where correct use of rank titles is enforced by regulations and by military law), there is no legal consequence to such a social offense because it does not belong to the realm of the State.
And that’s as it should be. The social penalty for a violation of etiquette is incremental (that is, you can dial it up and down) and not categorical (a one-size-fits-all mandatory punishment). This is the social market.
But in today’s world, the elites and technocrats want to impose a top-down model. “Hate speech” laws and “preferred pronouns” give the State power to police and control personal interactions. This is central planning applied to the social market.
CAITLYN JENNER: WOMEN’S SPORTS ARE FOR WOMEN.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13007351/lpga-golf-transgender-caitlyn-jenner-hailey-davidson.html
‘Davidson has become illustrative of what many trans people and allies dread – a seemingly self-centered individual who is not thinking about the consequences of their actions and may, in fact, cause harm to others.’
Read Caitlyn’s whole article at the link.
I don’t regret the time I spent in years past advocating for greater legal and social acceptance of lesbian, gay, and transgender people. I have known successfully transitioned transgender or transsexual people in real life, who live happily as men or as women day to day, and there is know doubt in my mind that such people are what they say they are. I have a family member who is transgender and I respect this person enormously.
But not every person who is represented to us as “transgender” (or who represents themselves as such) is acting in good faith – i.e. an individual suffering from gender dysphoria, who wishes to live a well-adjusted life in society as a member of the gender they perceive themselves to be. Some are just unbalanced, depraved men who despise women and who want a chance to literally beat women at their own game.
And it seems like there’s been a surge in the latter category in the past few years.
Why is it even controversial to say that male-bodied individuals should not compete in women’s sports? The only reason we’re even having this conversation is because there are a lot of gullible, insecure liberals who live in fear that they might miss an opportunity to show themselves “not homophobic like all those right-wing bigots out there”.
The LGBT activist organizations of today have an agenda that has nothing to do with promoting justice or equality, and for that reason I no longer support them. Ordinary lesbian, gay, and transgender people do not want to “destroy society”, but the leftist LGBT organizations really do want to destroy society – not because they’re gay but because they’re leftist, and that’s how they roll.
As human beings, we orient ourselves in the real world with the help of those around us. This, in turn, requires us to orient ourselves within human society. Gender is the most basic level at which we orient ourselves in society, and if it’s not right then nothing else will be right.
USA – ELECTION 2024: DESANTIS SUSPENDS PRIMARY CAMPAIGN, ENDORSES TRUMP
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/01/21/desantis-suspends-presidential-campaign-n4925704
‘”I am proud to have delivered on 100% of my promises and I will not stop now,” DeSantis continued. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance and they see Democrats using lawfare to this day to attack him. While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump, such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent, Joe Biden. That is clear. I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee and I will honor that pledge.”‘
Most of the people I know personally in the Republian / conservative community – I am not speaking of politicians, pundits, or outrage-peddling social-media influencers – are not ant-DeSantis (or any of the other R candidates) because they’re pro-Trump, or vice versa. What I’ve actually found in real life is that ordinary people are perfectly capable of weighing the costs and benefits of a given decision – even in a highly charged political campaign – and making a choice one way or another.
Not long ago, I was discussing the primary campaign with a good friend, in particular Trump vs. DeSantis. We were both in agreement on all the substantive points of each candidate’s respective strengths and weaknesses, and at the end of the day my friend came down narrowly on the side of DeSantis while I came down narrowly in favor of Trump.
USA: SCOTUS ALLOWS BIDEN REGIME TO REMOVE TEXAS BORDER FENCE.
https://pjmedia.com/paula-bolyard/2024/01/22/shocker-supreme-court-sides-with-biden-admin-on-texas-border-case-n4925734
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/texas-installs-more-border-wire-after-supreme-court-order-allowing-its-removal-5572059
PJM: “Justices John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett sided with the liberal wing of the court, which did not explain its decision.”
Epoch Times reports that the State of Texas has not yet made any moves to take down existing barbed wire, Additionally: “The barriers being put in place were already planned prior to the court’s decision, and those plans will go forward.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: “Although the Supreme Court has permitted the continued destruction of Texas’s border security measures, this appeal remains ongoing, and the Office of the Attorney General will argue the case in front of the Fifth Circuit on February 7.”
WORLD TODAY 2024-0121
AMERICAS / INTERNATIONAL: JAVIER MILEI AT WEF IN DAVOS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfcd0gWNIog
https://www.eurasiareview.com/18012024-speech-of-argentinas-president-javier-milei-at-davos-transcript/
Speaking at the World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos, Argentina’s President Javier Milei praised the benefits of the free market economy and condemned socialism, speaking from his own country’s experience and from a wealth of statistical data. He further argued that socialism is inherently unjust because it is inherently violent and coercive. Additionally, Milei argued in favor of a broader definition of socialism: “Today, states don’t need to directly control the means of production to control every aspect of the lives of individuals. With tools such as printing money, debt, subsidies, controlling the interest rate, price controls, and regulations to correct so-called market failures, they can control the lives and fates of millions of individuals.”
USA ELECTION QUESTIONS: GBI STRATEGIES WORKER INTERVIEW – GATEWAY PUNDIT.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/new-evidence-gbi-strategies-employee-who-turned-fraudulent/
Following up on a report from last August, Gateway Pundit fills in the blanks in a Michigan State Police report on irregularities in the 2020 election in Muskegon and elsewhere in that state. Thousands of questionable voter registration forms were dropped off at the Muskegon City Clerk’s office from an entity called GBI Strategies, by a woman named Brianna Hawkins. Here, Michigan AG investigator Stephen Morse can be seen interviewing Brianna (presumably Brianna Hawkins) about her role.
זְכֹר֙ יְמ֣וֹת עוֹלָ֔ם בִּ֖ינוּ שְׁנ֣וֹת דֹּֽר וָדֹ֑ר שְׁאַ֤ל אָבִ֨יךָ֙ וְיַגֵּ֔דְךָ זְקֵנֶ֖יךָ וְיֹֽאמְרוּ־לָֽךְ:
Remember the days of old; reflect upon the years of generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you; your elders, and they will inform you.
– Deuteronomy 32:7
In the story ‘The Slows’ by Gail HarEven (first published in Hebrew in 1999, and in English in 2009), the Slows are a population of humans who have resisted adopting AOG (Accelerated Offspring Growth) – a technology that produces fully-grown humans in a matter of months – and insist on bearing and raising children the old-fashioned way. The male narrator, who has taken an interest in the Slows, expresses revulsion at their way of life (which is presumably typical of his world) but also betrays suppressed feelings of attraction towards the Slow women, despite the “swollen protrusions on their chests and the general swelling of their bodies.”
In a world where nearly all living humans are the products of this “accelerated” growth, the legacy of the past seems something superfluous. The Slows, a dwindling population of holdouts against this technology, have become a relic no longer needed.
… “Those treaties were signed many generations ago. Things change,” I said, though I knew it was silly to get into an argument with one of them.
“My grandmother signed them.” …
In the dialog above, both parties are telling the truth: in the world of the story, the narrator has seen “many generations” elapse due to the advent of Accelerated Offspring Growth; but for the Slow woman and her ancestors who eschewed such technology, the same timespan connected grandmother and granddaughter.
It’s not accidental that this accelerated pace makes it easier for the narrator’s character to justify abrogating the old treaties – because after all, “things change”. The faster pace of life – and of the life cycle itself – makes the moral claim of the past on the present seem tenuous.
The short film adaptation differs from the print original in a few details (the “outsider” journalist is a woman in the screen version) but it is very good, and it’s faithful to the essentials of the story. There’s a wonderful scene (at 10:24) where the Slow woman playfully tosses an apple to the journalist – knowing that the other woman will be unable to catch it, never having developed those reflexes from playing catch as a child, since she never had a childhood.
There are some things we learn only by touch, or from experience, or from forming and sustaining an intimate bond with another human being – a parent, a child, a mate.
Most of what we know about the world, we learn from other people; and this includes the structures within which we organize our experience. These organizing structures include not only language (itself a collaborative and cumulative project), but also the nonverbal skills and processes that we learn from being around others.
It is the individual’s experience of living in a human body, with its sensations and passions and weaknesses; and it is the experience of having been born to humans, raised by humans, and challenged by humans. It is also the collective experience of humanity encoded in our cells, our relationships, and our culture.
The dystopian future of yesterday’s science fiction is the terrible reality of today’s news. We are living in a world where a clique of socially stunted psychopaths have used their control of technology and infrastructure to brainwash us into hating the very things that make us human: our childhoods, our sensations, our passions, our bodies with their swellings and their protrusions, our very lives.
We reclaim our humanity when we refuse the demands of the technocrats, embracing the humanity of our bodies and the continuity that connects us with our elders.
Police go undercover to thwart protesters against globlization. Meetings of IMF and NATO renew fears of violence from radical groups. ‘D.C. is not going to burn.’
Stepping out: A smaller share of Americans seeks work.
An illicit posting reminds companies of the need for internal security. On Aug. 31, somebody posted a link on the jobs-related Web site Vault.com to a site with the employee evaluations of more than 300 PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants.
Political cover. Major business lobby wins back its clout by dispensing favors. Some members can hide behind chamber’s name to pursue private ends.
Turning videocams into weapons. Antiglobalization activists find they can spread message via web using cheap gear.
Freedom and Power 