I'm not affected by the U.S. Govt. shutdown in the least. In fact, after a day of work on the immigrant visa line and a full perusal of the latest news, I think I understand the shutdown.
U.S. World War II vets to visit National WWII Memorial = USG Facility Closed
Illiterate Pakistanis over the age of 75 and with serious medical issues seeking to immigrate to the United States as quickly as possible = USG Facility Open
U.S. World War II vets to visit National WWII Memorial = USG Facility Closed
Illiterate Pakistanis over the age of 75 and with serious medical issues seeking to immigrate to the United States as quickly as possible = USG Facility Open
The administration has to punish American Citizens for electing people who are fiscally responsible. Can't have anyone who does not go with the program, you know.
ReplyDeleteSame as local governments who threaten to cut poise and fire departments when people try to cut taxes.
Repeat after me: Big government is good for me. Big government is good for me.
Another essential government activity.
ReplyDeleteIf you read through the article you'll see that even the CIA doesn't want to be doing this.
From the article:
Delete... limits on the agency’s authorities enable it to provide enough support to help ensure that politically moderate, U.S.-supported militias don’t lose but not enough for them to win ... latest setback came last month, when 11 of the largest armed factions in Syria, including some backed by the United States, announced the formation of an alliance with a goal of creating an Islamic state. The alliance is led by Jabhat al-Nusra, a group that has sworn allegiance to the al-Qaeda
Deja Vu to me. Too bad apparently none of these grand government strategists never read the memiors of Vo Ngyen Giap, who passed away this week at 102 years of age....or if they did, did not understand the man's words. He explains in great detail how this kind of "insurgency" works and who wins and who doesn't.
... don’t lose but not enough for them to win....
When has t-h-a-t ever worked?
Good point, Jourdan. Sickening, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteAlmost as sickening as the covert training the taxpayers are funding for the Syrian head-chopping maniacs.
OK, so the article states that we're training moderates but who's to say? Like the Afghan moderates who were trained by and worked along side our military and then murdered them?
ReplyDeleteThe article reeks of this administration's inept and ever-changing ME policy. No wonder the CIA is skeptical of the program, as they're working with one hand tied behind their backs and particularly since Iran is training 20x the Syrians we are. Obama can't decide what to do so he keeps our people in limbo over there? My God, this guy's ego is unbelievable. I'm guessing it is his ego that keeps this ineffective & indecisive policy going over there in Syria and Jordan???
Oh, no worries. The USG has perfected the ability to determine moderate Muslims from the rest. Have you any doubts on this front?
ReplyDeleteI have to say, when I thought that President Obama being elected would fast-forward the collapse of this current regime by a good 20 years, I thought I was thinking with my heart and not my head. Under current conditions, I'm starting to think I might actually live to see the glorious day.
(Note to self: Diet, Exercise)
The game-theoretic outcome here isn't good.
DeleteI'm finding the hippie influenced cynicism of my youth is coming in handy here.
You know who's making money hand over fist with shutdown thingie?
Corporations, man! Call it the Rage Bot Industrial Complex [RBIC]
Wait, hear me out. Seriously.
On the left: HuffPo / Kos / TPM / Slate / UpWorthy etc...
On the right: Breitbart / PJM / Daily Caller / Blaze / Twitchy etc...
All new or new-ish media plays. All serving up ads. The more they stir up their followers, the more social media hits they get, the more page views they generate, the money they make. (Of course older media plays this game too.)
I don't mean to make a false equivalence here - I know which of these groups promotes the views I find most resonant, and it's not a close call - but at the same time I personally need to draw the line and not get "caught up". It's not healthy; decisions under stress and anger are known (from deep cultural lore, from spiritual teaching and from modern science) to be very poor decisions indeed. (So there's that.)
And in terms of sitting back and making predictions, calm detachment is also the best mindset. So. Each group seems to believe that it has enough power to smash the other. Each has taken the fight to the street, as it were. And the commercial apparatus - the business models disguised as "movements" - will provide absolutely no moderating effect. They will poor gasoline on the fire. Because they are making money, man!
At this point the median Breitbart readers is ready to strangle the median Huffpo reader. OK, well, whatever... except, you know what bothers me? Ariana Huffington and Andrew Breitbart were kinda pals! They knew what game they were playing, and, to be sure, it wasn't all a game - Andrew was passionate and sincere (can't say about Ariana). And it's sad that Andrew is dead, but I get the feeling he'd still go have a glass of wine with her and chat - in a world where their publications are systematically dehumanizing each others readers.
Here are all these ad hawkers screaming hey, there's these really, really horrible people there - let's you and them fight! Something's not quite right here. don't see it ending in a good place.
And the event that would hasten the collapse which you (Jourdan) are feeling lose its safe distance and abstract charm is gradually becoming more and more likely.
Some large weapons are going to be fired on some large crowd. And when the Treasury Bond market next opens after that incident, things will go downhill in a hurry.
(Which matters, why, lewy? Because then nobody can borrow, not the government, nor anyone seeking credit which is priced in reference to the Treasury market (i.e. all credit).) The economy will have "gone code" as lady red might say. This time with no rescue. The US had sufficient credibility to extend it's own credit to fund the cap in the last crisis. With tanks in the streets, US credibility will be shot to hell, and with it our creditworthiness, which will take down the economy, which will prevent us ever regaining our creditworthiness. Bad stuff all round.
All I would suggest is for those people who see this as a good outcome to prepare for the consequences.
I agree that the hate-mongers are scoring a banner year, and stuffing their pockets with devalued Obama bucks. But still, the facts are the facts.
DeleteThe left is too far invested in the Obama quagmire to be able to extricate themselves from the muck. They're stuck, and so they explode at the only people they can and retain their sense of self: the Tea Party. It's ugly. And scary.
Conservatives, on the other hand, are sick to death of being demonized and called playground names. Has there ever been a President and Senate who so openly despised decent, ordinary Americans? People have gone from stunned to angry. Very angry.
I concur with lewy that sometime soon we will see tanks in the streets of our cities, and weapons fired by our federal government upon crowds. It's coming. We can't stop it, but we can be prepared to rebuild when the smoke clears.
Andrew Breitbart was never a hater. Yes, he was instrumental in starting the HuffPo for Ariana. He would always sit down for a beer with his opponents to try to discuss.
DeleteHe also believed that having popular culture on your side was critical.
flo, I was a huge fan of Andrew and if I implied he was a hater, I was misunderstood. He was a genuine "happy warrior" in the tradition of WF Buckley. Definitely agree.
DeleteHowever - and I'm making a business observation here, not a moral judgement - the organization he built is, right now, monetizing outrage. So is PJM. Etc. So when we (and I for sure do) go to these sites and get outraged, we're doing more than informing ourselves - we're enabling someone's business model. I've become very conscious of this as I've been exposed to many new startup companies and their business models, and how they think. And there are always newcomers (e.g. Legal Insurrection, etc) who are awesome - and looking to make a buck.
Can a blogger be part of a movement and have a business model? Yes, but staking your livelihood on a movement is an inherent conflict of interest. In business, "disclosure" is often sufficient to get around this.
If I talk to a local guy about a startup, and he sings about how awesome those guys are, and later it turns out he's already invested and didn't tell me, I'd be pissed. We disclose these things to each other. Once we disclose our position - yes, I'm invested, and so you should listen to what I say in that light - we can still get info and exchange views. It doesn't end the conversation, but it colors it.
All I'm doing is pointing out that these new media outlets (right, left, and schizo - e.g. BuzzFeed, DailyBeast - which trend lefty, but not reliably so) have a monetary interest in promoting rage. Doesn't mean what they write about isn't outrageous.
And thinking about popular culture: Andrew was right about that... and having some engines to help drive popular culture necessarily entails profit. These things have to be self funding. I'm OK with that.
DeleteNo, I didn't infer that from your comment, lewy! I was just writing whatever came into my empty head about Andrew, I was such a fan. It's still hard to believe he's gone...
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of PJM, I am tired of all the hype about "Next Generation." It is as though the rest of the business has tanked and they are trying to generate something new.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I suppose it could also be an attempt to reach out to younger Americans. But almost everyone I see who is involved in Next Generation sounds as though they have never stood in front of a camera before. Bill Whittle they ain't.
I LOVE Bill Whittle. Ditto Pat Condell.
ReplyDeleteHow is it that Tzar Barach I can spend more money to shut things down than were spent to keep them open. Latest thing is the National Park Service has closed of view points so people cannot stop to look at Mount Rushmore.
ReplyDeleteTzar Barach is a class-A a$$hole.
DeleteWhat really steams me is that Park Service employees are carrying out these orders. I haven't heard of one federal employee standing up to the regime. They are selling their honor for a well-padded paycheck. Collaborators. And cowards!
He's such a pig. Imagine for a moment if Bush had done this.
DeleteThis is why I refer to him as the thin-skinned teleprompter reader.