Election tomorrow.

Monday, November 7, 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.

Mike Donahue drove me out to the hospital in time for me to encourage Roberta at dinner. She’s looking much better now, and said several words. Still frustrated because she wants to say things and can’t, but the therapists at Holy Cross are excellent at helping people overcome that kind of problem. It’s obvious Roberta knows what she wants to say, so her head’s working. She’s still in there and they’ll teach her how to get back out. Deo Gratia.

The election is tomorrow. Of course my vote in California won’t count, and the election will be decided well before the California vote is counted, unlike the election when people went to bed and woke up to discover that California had gone to Woodrow Wilson by about one vote per precinct and Wilson was now the President elect.

I won’t venture a prediction. I will repeat, Trump makes me nervous; Hillary makes this old Cold Warrior terrified that she’ll blunder us into a war with Russia. Trump understands Putin much better than either Clinton does. Mr. Clinton let Ms. Albright get us into the anti-Slav position in the Balkans, where there are no obvious good guys, but the Russians have always been pro-Slavic; things have soured since then. We cannot dictate policy in Iraq and Syria, and neither Obama nor either Clinton seems to understand that the Russians take encirclement by NATO very seriously; if we really mean to act as a superpower, the only First World Nation, we need superpower capability; and we not only don’t have that now, we are losing what superiority we have in favor of more entitlements and crony services. I was an aggressive Cold Warrior, but I understood the limits; I do not think the Clintons do, as Obama certainly does not.

The nation could tolerate four years of Mrs. Clinton – indistinguishable from a third Obama turn – but I do not think we would enjoy it. I do not think we could tolerate another Hot War, especially one where we have no vital interest but survival.

Contemplate this:

New Warship’s Big Guns Have No Bullets.

<http://www.defensenews.com/articles/new-warships-big-guns-have-no-bullets>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

Presidential Election and arch of American History

Hi Jerry, Hope all is well with you and certainly hope Roberta continues to improve. You have a lot on your plate and this US election is probably lower in the priority list at this time. I thought this article by Conrad Black would prove interesting to your and your readers. It is from an outside perspective (Canada)but details in a short piece the context of this election within the greater 2 centuries of US history.
Here is the link:
http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/conrad-black-what-a-spectacle-this-election-has-been
Take Care, and good luck.
Sam Mattina

Thank you

Best essay of the week.

J

Caddell: The Real Election Surprise

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2016/11/07/patrick-caddell-real-election-surprise-uprising-american-people.html

Perhaps not the best, but certainly worth attention.

I have no idea if this is true. I merely report it. It would not surprise me if the report were literally true.

Wikileaks revealed that CNN asked Hillary’s campaign for questions to ask Trump!!

Donna didn’t have to pass the questions to Hillary, she got them from Hillary!

Automate away the public sector workers?

http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/11/02/public-sector-workers-to-be-automated-away/

[quote]

Next up on the robot kill list are public sector workers: almost 90,000 people stand to lose their jobs in Scotland alone. …

[end quote]

Rod Montgomery==monty@starfief.com

That would certainly reduce both the cost and arrogance of government, and probably improve efficiency. Robots are upon us; they are inevitable and many government jobs easily could be automated; probably half of then within ten years.  Of course we might prefer red tape…

A moment of science.

The Microwave Space Drive aka Em Drive

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/emdrive-leaked-nasa-paper-reveals-star-trek-microwave-thruster-does-work-1590244?utm_source=yahoo&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=rss&utm_content=/rss/yahoous&yptr=yahoo
Supposedly it works according to a ‘leaked’ NASA paper!
“researchers achieved a force of 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt in a vacuum after errors of measurement were accounted for.”
Link to the text of the paper
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7kgKijo-p0ibm94VUY0TVktQlU/view
Most interesting. I wonder if there is enough detail for the Chinese to take it over since NASA appears to want to kill the topic and close the research center that did the work. Or, do you think that they would prefer for someone to actually do the engineering work so that they can steal that? :-J
Pete

This could be the most important news of the decade. One Newton = force to accelerate one kilogram one meter per second per second. Small, but the EM drive seems to need no reaction mass. At 1.2 KW per millinewton, you could accelerate a small ship to enormous speeds over time. 

Quantum news

Submitted to your attention.

Note in the bylines several other items some of you may be interested in.

https://www.sciencenews.org/blog/context/why-quantum-mechanics-might-need-overhaul?tgt=nr

Elon Musk Thinks Automation Will Lead to a Universal Basic Income

It’s the science fiction scenario we’ve read about for years. People paid by the government because there are no jobs. This should lessen the burden on most educational institutions. They can openly be enhanced baby sitters since the pupils couldn’t get a job even if they had skills.
https://news.google.com/news/amp?caurl=http%3A%2F%2Famp.timeinc.net%2Ffortune%2F2016%2F11%2F06%2Felon-musk-universal-basic-income%2F%3Fsource%3Ddam#pt0-38057
Thanks,
John

Marx believed that work was unnecessary, if only all the surplus value went to the workers. Burnham in his thoughts on The Managerial Society had different views. Most science fiction authors have believed that the first fruits of real automation would be some kind of basic income: Mack Reynolds postulated it as shares in the national corporation that you couldn’t lose or be conned out of. No one has dug too deeply into designing an economic system that makes it actually work.

Offensive on Raqqa

The only question I have after reading this article is why am I reading about this as something that is about to happen, today. Why didn’t i read this last week as something that happened?

<.>

An attack on Raqqa has been long expected, with U.S. Defence Secretary Ash Carter saying on Oct. 25 that the battle to retake it would “overlap” with the assault on Mosul.

The top U.S. military commander in Iraq, Army Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend, said last month that the U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State wanted to move urgently to isolate Raqqa because of concerns about the group using the city as a base to plan and launch attacks against targets abroad.

France has also pushed for simultaneous action on both fronts.

President Francois Hollande said last month there was evidence that Islamic State fighters were fleeing to Raqqa, and that everything must be done to stop them regrouping there.

French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday that an offensive on Raqqa should be launched while the battle to push the group out of Mosul is under way.

“We have to go to Raqqa … it will automatically be local forces that will liberate Raqqa even if French forces, U.S. forces, the coalition contribute with air strikes to dismantle Daesh,” Le Drian told Europe

1 radio, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

“Mosul-Raqqa can’t be disassociated because Islamic State and the territories it occupies span that area,” he said.

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/isis-raqqa-us-forces/2016/11/06/id/757273/

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

I have believed this since I thought seriously about the requirements for elimination of the Caliphate. It is a purely military question. The real problem is after the liberation of the Caliphate areas, what happens to the people who remain alive in there. Who governs?

DC Attorney: FBI Agents Working To Expose Top DOJ Officials | The Daily Caller

Hard to say how true this is, but it seems to fit with everything else we’re hearing.

FBI agents pushed forward, against the wishes of the Justice Department and without the support of bureau leadership, to investigate the Clinton Foundation, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

As a result of the obstacles thrown in their way, DiGenvoa says the agents within the bureau have gone “rogue” and any upper level bureaucrat that gets in their way from investigating Clinton could be exposed.

http://dailycaller.com/2016/11/03/dc-attorney-fbi-agents-working-to-expose-top-doj-officials/

John Harlow

Clinton Foundation Probe Update

I’m reading some updates on the Clinton Foundation probe; it seems the IRS is involved now too:

<.>

Secret recordings of a suspect talking about the Clinton Foundation fueled an internal battle between FBI agents who wanted to pursue the case and corruption prosecutors who viewed the statements as worthless hearsay, people familiar with the matter said.

Agents, using informants and recordings from unrelated corruption investigations, thought they had found enough material to merit aggressively pursuing the investigation into the foundation that started in summer 2015 based on claims made in a book by a conservative author called “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich,” these people said.

</>

http://www.wsj.com/articles/secret-recordings-fueled-fbi-feud-in-clinton-probe-1478135518

I may have sent you that video. It gets into friends of the Clintons like Paul Kagame, his human rights abuses, and the financial relationship between him and the Clintons, the sum of payments he made; awards and favors he received. Other names and places are covered. I wondered if anyone was going to investigate; now I know.

Clinton Cash is worth your time and might still be on YouTube. And onto the IRS:

<.>

But the [IRS] does have a mandate to review claims of exemption, including conducting “examinations to identify and address non-compliance” like the one underway with the Clinton Foundation. One IRS document called the “Tax Exempt and Government Entities Fiscal Year 2017 Work Plan” gives a more complete picture. “Filing, organizational and operational and employment tax numbered among the top issues the Exempt Organizations Examinations group uncovered in its 4,984 examinations in 2016,” it says. “The filing issues primarily involved verifying exempt activities and securing delinquent returns.”

</>

http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/the-dallas-irs-office-thats-quietly-determining-the-fate-of-the-clinton-foundation-8864404

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Iran Sending Soldiers to US!

How much do you want to bet they’re talking about the Quds Force?

<.>

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, the country’s elite military force, is sending assets to infiltrate the United States and Europe at the direction of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, according to recent Farsi-language comments from an Iranian military leader.

The IRGC “will be in the U.S. and Europe very soon,” according to the Iranian military commander, who said that these forces would operate with the goal of bolstering Iran’s hardline regime and thwarting potential plots against the Islamic Republic.

</>

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iranian-military-sending-elite-forces-u-s-europe/

This is why we need borders….

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

sc:bubbles]

Hope you are well, and something that might be of interest

I’ve prayed for your wife and you, I hope she improves quickly. FWIW try not to be too terrified.

Also I’m curious what you think of this idea:

http://www.cringely.com/2016/10/31/heck-happened-apple/

Relevant quote here:

”

     Nearly all original ideas in Hollywood, and anywhere else visual entertainment is made, begin in the mind of a writer. Yet writers, like most actors, are notoriously underpaid. Apple just needs to create a welfare state for writers.

     What Apple needs is an option for the online rights to every writer’s work. There are probably 10,000 “writers” in the entertainment business earning anywhere from $5000 to $5 million per year. I want Apple to put under contract every writer who has ever written anything that’s been produced, paying them each a guaranteed baseline of $40,000 per year (that’s $400 million annually) with an additional $600 million going to writers whose work is actually produced. Let’s say there are 2000 films and TV shows produced per year so that would be, say, $500,000 per movie and $50K per series episode.

     These amounts are substantially above Writers Guild rates and what they’d buy is a streaming option. Apple gets its pick of everything.

The industry wouldn’t know what hit them as Apple steals the idea stream at its source. Apple would have to negotiate the deal with the Writers Guild, which would love it. Producers would hate it but would learn to love it because Apple would end up financing many of their productions.

”

Patrick Melody

Intriguing. I have to give this some thought. I’ve seen nothing on it from the Authors’ Guild (which generally does not talk to the Writer’s Guild and vice versa). Apple changed the music business as Amazon changed publishing.

Thanks for the kind thoughts.

And some not so good news:

Not so fast on A-10

Dr. Pournelle,
A-10 depot can’t recover from illegal neglect:
https://arizonadailyindependent.com/2016/11/01/usaf-is-not-preparing-to-sustain-a-10-just-treading-water/
I recommend James T. Harris show. http://www.jamestharris.com/
-d

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Guy Fawkes Day

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.

Friday, November 4

Roberta had her first day of intense therapy today, and we’ll go out to see her about dinner time after she’s through. Alex got out there about breakfast time. Frank went out at lunch time but was unable to see her and has gone back to Palm Springs. Holy Cross is a freeway drive from here and the last time I drove on a freeway was before the stroke, so I’m afraid to drive on them now. I’m comfortable driving in the neighborhood such as to Trader Joe’s in the daytime, but when it gets dark I have to be home or have a driver. I managed to get to the Emergency Room a couple or three weeks ago at midnight, and had no real problems, but I don’t want to be the pitcher that went to the well once too often.

We’ll go out about dinner time.

I try to thank those who wished us well, but my schedule isn’t really my own and I’m sure I have missed a lot of them. They are appreciated and I do see them, but I can’t always answer.

Saturday, November 5, 2016 We went out to Holy Cross last night at dinner time. Roberta was exhausted from therapy, so we didn’t stay long. Alex was out there at breakfast time and says she looks better than last night; we’ll go out after lunch, which isn’t far away, so I’ll cut this short when we have to go.

I wrote most of this yesterday. This morning (Saturday) I discovered that Microsoft has “improved” Outlook to the point of making it unusable. I tried to send a send a reply and in my answer to put in a hyperlink, but Microsoft has improved Outlook so that the INSERT tab no longer exists in Reply or Forward. I discovered that the improvement restores the Insert Tab if you “pop out” of what you are trying to do, but I still was unable to make an actual hyperlink, so in frustrations I simply pasted in the link following the reference I normally would have attached the hyperlink to. I have no idea what their intention was, and they aren’t telling; their new help system is even more useless than the old one. It used to be that I was the guy who desperately tried everything until I found a way to do something, and made a column out of my travails; I was happy enough when Microsoft or another major vendor screwed up royally because it gave me something to write about. Now I get frustrated like everyone else.

If you are forwarding something and you create text and want to insert a hyperlink to a book title (with the display the title of the book) you are in for a floundering session; I still have not been able to do it. Since all my subscriptions are recorded in Outlook – back when I used Front Page, Outlook was about the best mail/calendar program around and I got used to it – changing from Outlook is likely to be painful, but I think I’ll have to do it. Preferably to something that works a bit like Outlook did in the old days when the goal was to publish a good productive tool, not demonstrate the cleverness of the programmers.

Friday, November 4.

This morning I decided to simply shut down and restart to see if that fixes Word. It was simply refusing to recognize ^p as a valid search character, and various settings experiments seemed to make it worse.

First I tested to see if the “ignores ^p in replace” error was still in effect.  It was. It simply would not recognize ^p as a search for input.  I know that if you check the wildcard option you get a message that that doesn’t work when wildcard is selected, but this just says ^p is not a valid search symbol.  The big computer in the back room does not suffer from this problem, which is why I thought a reset might fix this machine, Eugene, which is my main machine.

Closed all programs and told it to shut down.  The screen went dark, and you’d have thought the system was shut down, but the blue power light was still on, and the red disk activity light was madly blinking.  Madly.  After a couple of minutes, I pushed the blue power button.  It shut down.  I waited for a count of 30, then turned it on again.

Held my breath; it took a while. The blue power light was on, but nothing else; but then the screen started showing the usual starting messages, BIOS info, etc., and faster than usual after that the screen came up. I put in the password.

All was well, but the red disk activity light was blinking like mad.  Very curious.  Started Firefox, and the usual set of tabs I get, including the August voice recording of me accepting the Heinlein award in a big booming voice, came up.  Some of those tabs I haven’t used since August, but that’s what Firefox gives me every time I shut it down; I wish I knew how to get it to display the most recent set of tabs instead of remembering a set months old, but if it explains that anywhere I can’t find it.  Of course they do add requests for money for Mozilla and for Colorful tabs, and I know that although I deleted them – I couldn’t send them a bill for wasting my time – they’ll be back asking for a handout next time Firefox restarts – along with a set of tabs months out of date.  I once sent them money, but I won’t pay for being annoyed. I wish there were some setting that would bring up the last set of tabs, or a way I could update the set it remembers. It probably has such a setting, but I guess it’s too much to ask for them to tell me how to use it.  I’ve tried to experiment, but they’ve defeated me.  When I restart Firefox, I’m going to get a months old set of tabs, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

Anyway, I then opened Word and tested substituting ^p for ^p^p, and lo! It worked.

By that time the red light was blinking once every few seconds, not madly.

Anyway, Word now recognizes ^p, so that’s fixed.

As to Firefox, I think I have a fix for it not ever updating the saved screen. I had checked the save tabs on exit box, but that did no good. Now I checked the “ask on shutdown” option; it does, and it saves the current screen, so that problem’s over.

I’m in the middle of an adventure with the Surface Pro, but I don’t have a happy ending yet. The Pro 3 (with Pro 4 keyboard with fingerprint reader) will not update: or wouldn’t. It would do wireless but not connect the wireless to the Internet. It connects fine with Ethernet.

Online I found a way to manually download and install an update, and while it did not work exactly as I expected, it did it. SLOWLY. Very slowly.

That allowed me to update several times in the normal way. It’s almighty slow, but it seems to be doing it. I have yet another and I’m in the middle of that. It’s taking forever. We’ll see.

I find the Surface Pro useful when it works and I’m hoping it will recover from the mopes.

On to Saturday.  A penny for the  guy…

There are some observations about Sweden.

On Sweden

Dear Dr Pournelle,
Most importantly, I hope Roberta is doing well and that the rehab goes well.
I enjoy your blog and while I may not always agree with your view, I strongly feel it important to have commentary from people who have a sound grasp (having lived through it) of our history and the actors therein. And who can write 😉
A quick point triggering this missive on Sweden being a failed state. The UK’s Daily Express is not a reliable source of data; ranking at a similar depth to the Daily Mail in terms of reliable truth, fact and interpretation. A more reasoned essay on Sweden and its immigration issues could be found here http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/09/how-sweden-became-an-example-of-how-not-to-handle-immigration/
I’d note that the first page on Google when seeking references to no-go areas were from “publications” (sic) of a similar nature and motive to the Express and Mail.
I spent a week in Gothenburg for business in early September and there was certainly no feeling on the ground that there were any particular nor unusual worries (and my Swedish colleagues would have told me if there were).
Best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery for Roberta,
David

Being of Viking ancestry myself, I have some regard for Scandinavian affairs, and I would be reluctant to call Sweden a failed state; it does seem to be true that much of the population does not appreciate the threat. Absorbing an very large influx of migrants with no intention of assimilation is not easy, if indeed it is possible. I realize that “diversity” is said to trump everything else, but I haven’t accepted that conclusion. It seems to me that historically the US melting pot has worked very well, making Americans out of all kinds of hyphenated Americans while absorbing some of the hyphenated migrant customs – a perhaps trivial example being the St. Patrick’s Day rituals commonly observed by people whose ancestor never visited Ireland, or, who like my Viking ancestors, were not welcomed when they went there.

I do think that Sweden needs to give a lot of thought to these problems, but I have not been there in a while. My friends there are beginning to worry.

Swedish Police

Dear Jerry –

My best wishes on your wife’s recovery.

A letter referred to Sweden as becoming a failed state due to the existence of “no-go” areas for the police. I’d have to disagree. By our standards, Sweden has an extraordinarily small police force, and it’s no wonder that it is (temporarily, one hopes) being overwhelmed in the inner cities.

The Wiki page for the Swedish Police Authority states that police presence in “disadvantaged areas” is about 1 per 5000. Contrast this with New York City. There are about 40,000 sworn officers for a population of 8.5 million, or 1 per 213 persons, and some areas aren’t what you’d call great places to raise kids.. By our standards, Sweden has an extraordinarily small police force. Of course, we’re a pretty violent place for an First World country.

Additionally, the article does not specify how large the “no-go” areas are, and this makes a difference. If the areas are a square mile each, that’s one thing, but if they are 10 blocks each that’s something else. At any rate, the politics of diversity will make tailoring the size of the police force to the crime level difficult, but that’s not remotely the same thing as calling Sweden a failed state.

Regards,

Jim Martin

We moved toward “abandoned areas” in some urban environments some years ago, but New York aggressively reclaimed them years ago. It can be done, but it takes an intent to do it. I fear the years of small police forces may be over in Sweden, which would be lamentable.

Immigrants riot in Paris.

Thanks to Hillary destroying Libya and Syria, the immigrants from there are rioting in Paris.

They don’t seem to report any of this in the U.S.;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRfyFhm2OR0

This item came in my daughters health insurance enrollment application;

Welcome to Hillary’s wonderfully diverse multicultural America!

(When you import 3rd world, you don’t get 1st world, you get 3rd world. – S. Molyneux)

I don’t know if the sheet is Radical Islamic attack plans or just a privacy rights notice.

I don’t know why they bother with privacy notices. All your info is already on

Anthony Wiener’s computer. The good news is it’s in the hands of the FBI now.

That guarantees it won’t go anywhere now because the new guy in charge of Hillary’s email

investigation is John Podesta’s close friend….

(You can’t make this stuff up.)

(They’re just funnin’ us now.)

The bad news is, before the NYPD turned Wiener’s Computer over to the FBI,

they downloaded it and sent it all to WikiLeaks….

The good news is, they’ll be more interested of pics of Hillary on the Lolita Express

with under age girls than looking at your info.

The bad news we can look forward to having riots like in Paris;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRfyFhm2OR0

Eric

We will endure.

Europe’s New Blasphemy Courts

by Douglas Murray
November 4, 2016 at 5:00 am

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9253/europe-blasphemy-courts

• Europe is currently seeing the reintroduction of blasphemy laws through both the front and back doors, initiated in a country which once prided itself on being among the first in the world to throw off clerical intrusion into politics.
• By prosecuting Wilders, the courts in Holland are effectively ruling that there is only one correct answer to the question Wilders asked. They are saying that if someone asks you whether you would like more Moroccans or fewer, people must always answer “more,” or he will be committing a crime.
• At no point would it occur to me that anyone saying he did not want an endless flow of, say, British people coming into the Netherlands should be prosecuted. Nor would he be.
• The long-term implications for Dutch democracy of criminalising a majority opinion are catastrophic. But the trial of Wilders is also a nakedly political move.
• The Dutch courts are behaving like a religious court. They are trying to regulate public expression and opinion when it comes to the followers of one religion. In so doing they obviously aspire to keep the peace in the short term, but they cannot possibly realise what trouble they are storing up for our future. [snip]

One of the reasons for the First Amendment. States had “blasphemous libel” laws; many repealed them in the early years of the Union (as they repealed their laws establishing one or another religion) but the Federal Government never had those powers to begin with,

The agony of video buffering…

https://priceonomics.com/the-video-buffering-agony-threshold/

“The Internet’s vast size means users can afford to be fickle. 

“With an estimated 4.66 billion web pages available to browse, users have a virtually unlimited menu to choose from. This means even the smallest obstacles – a clunky interface, or a detour to download a required plug-in – can send users running away from a site. Amazon discovered that just an additional 100 milliseconds of waiting led to a 1% decrease in sales from their users.

“And when it comes to watching video online – an increasingly central part of what people do on the Internet – nothing deters users like buffering breaks.”

“Our [Mux a Priceonomics customer’s] analysis shows that just one buffering event decreases the amount of video a viewer watches by 40%. The more time a video spends buffering, the less video people watch, and even a small amount of buffering has a huge effect on an audience’s behavior.”

Reminds me of the meme “Lord give me patience…right now!” 

Charles Brumbelow

Roberta has a “Give me patience – now” placard on her office wall

Stunning “Revelations”

I suspected the first, third, and fifth — though without that much specificity:

<.>

1. The Clinton Foundation investigation is far more expansive than anybody has reported so far and has been going on for more than a year.

2. The laptops of Clinton aides Cherryl Mills and Heather Samuelson have not been destroyed, and agents are currently combing through them. The investigation has interviewed several people twice, and plans to interview some for a third time.

3. Agents have found emails believed to have originated on Hillary Clinton’s secret server on Anthony Weiner’s laptop. They say the emails are not duplicates and could potentially be classified in nature.

4. Sources within the FBI have told him that an indictment is “likely”

in the case of pay-for-play at the Clinton Foundation, “barring some obstruction in some way” from the Justice Department.

5. FBI sources say with 99% accuracy that Hillary Clinton’s server has been hacked by at least five foreign intelligence agencies, and that information had been taken from it.

</>

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/11/02/fbi_sources_tell_fox_news_indictment_likely_in_clinton_foundation_case.html

Why are we just now hearing about point five? Why wasn’t this mentioned, publicly? “We wouldn’t want to cause a panic”? Neither would a bank robber.

TOP SECRET//SI//TK//NOFORN (Top Secret, SI is a subset of Sensitive Compartmentalized Information — SCI, Keyhole satellite collections, No Foreign Distribution; Americans only) information was on this system and was compromised be no fewer than five foreign intelligence agencies and possibly more?

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

Understandably, I have not been following any of this, and have no idea of its accuracy. Things have become so bizarre that a number of news items I would normally ignore as absurd turn out to be true. God looks after fools, drunks, and the United States of America. We need that. Alas, I gather His patience, unlike His forgiveness, is not infinite.

Bret Baier on the two investigations

This IS from Infowars and I can’t find the video on Fox, but it appears to be legitimate.

Details the Clinton Foundation investigation, and states that the laptops that the FBI agreed to destroy as part of immunity deals for Cheryl Mills and others have not been destroyed because “an immunity deal is voided if someone lies to the FBI.”

Subj: Tweet from Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet)

Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) tweeted at 7:41 PM on Wed, Nov 02, 2016:
Avalanche of evidence in Clinton Foundation investigation. Clinton emails on Weiner’s laptop are NEW – not copies.

https://t.co/QkitMRlfrz

(https://twitter.com/PrisonPlanet/status/793976393524772864?s=02)Iince

I have never tweeted.

Intel launches 500 drones for nighttime light show

http://www.pcworld.com/article/3138518/robots/intel-launches-500-drones-for-nighttime-light-show.html#tk.rss_all

There is a video…

Charles Brumbelow

An Alternative To American Citizenship?

This is interesting:

<.>

Scientists and astronomers have revealed plans to set up a new nation in space called Asgardia.

Anyone can apply to be a citizen in the cosmic country, which will be based around one or more satellites orbiting the Earth.

</>

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2099865/conspiracy-theorists-claim-plans-to-create-asgardia-space-nation-in-orbit-above-earth-is-secret-illuminati-plot-to-take-over-the-world/

Asgard reminds me of the Norse myths. I am now a citizen of Asgardia!

=) I’ll save you some seats on our space ship. =) ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

They may have problems gaining recognition, particularly for their passports. In my younger radical days I knew and sympathized with Garry Davis, a WW II veteran who sat in camping on the Turtle Bay grounds where they were building UN headquarters; but that was long ago. I still have considerable appreciation for Garry, but the world is not as he saw it then, and it does not look like going there.

I once memorized Locksley Hall

Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rain’d a ghastly dew

From the nations’ airy navies grappling in the central blue;

Far along the world-wide whisper of the south-wind rushing warm,

With the standards of the peoples plunging thro’ the thunder-storm;

Till the war-drum throbb’d no longer, and the battle-flags were furl’d

In the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.

sc:bubbles]

Russian Empire or Soviet Union? — “A difference which makes no difference is no difference.”

Russia’s Ramping Up for War Where Nobody’s Looking

Paul D. Shinkman

U.S. News & World Report – U.S. News & World Report – Wed Nov 2 21:47:00 UTC 2016

The Nordic countries of Norway, Sweden and Finland fear greater likelihood of conflict with Putin.

http://a.msn.com/r/2/AAjMuGi?a=1&m=en-us

As an old cold warrior I have considerable respect for Russian capabilities, but I think their current ambitions are greatly limited by lack of Russians, and not much ideology for loyalty to an Empire with many non-Russians. The “nationality problem” as Soviet theorists used to term it was always a problem even in Soviet days with compulsory Marxist course from first grade through graduate school.

Russia’s first goals, I would say, is to get more Russian nationalists into Russia. The United States threatened nuclear war over Soviet missiles in Cuba; the Cuban crises abated with Soviet withdrawal from Cubs – and US bringing home IRBM’s from Turkey, although that latter was deliberately not publicized. I do not think they want to revive the WTO; and anyway isn’t that more a European problem? They aren’t helpless in Britain, France, and Germany…

Of course the first Russia (the Kievan State) was established by Swedes. On the other hand, Finland proved a very tough nut to crack by the Soviet Union; Putin will not have forgotten that, nor the body bags coming home from Afghanistan.

Anonymous Release Bone-Chilling video of Huma Abedin every American Needs to See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRu3U-nwyhw

This is all verifiable, too.

Hillary MUST NOT become POTUS.

{o.o}

Well, I certainly would not want Huma as Harry Hopkins to President Clinton.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Thursday, November 3, 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.

Yesterday Kaiser decided to send Roberta to the rehab unit at Holy Cross, where I learned how to recover from my stroke. I rejoiced. I don’t know if I had any influence over the doctors, but I sure tried to get her sent there. Last night they were ready to send her, but there was some kind of mix-up, and they couldn’t do it, so they moved her to another room in Kaiser from the intensive care place she had been. This morning my daughter Jenny went out to be handy when they moved her to Holy Cross, but as of 1400 that hasn’t happened yet. We’re hoping that happens soon, and I’ll go see her there.

Jenny’s going to come get me and take me out to Holy Cross when the move’s accomplished, which is why I have some time to be here. Yesterday Roberta was visibly better than the day before, so it’s reasonable to hope – and pray – for more recovery, possibly to a better level than I have. She should still have balance, which I do not, thanks to the radiation therapy, so she shouldn’t have as much trouble learning to walk. We can hope.

As Roberta reminded me after my stroke, it took a while to learn to talk after I was born. And to walk. It all has to be learned again.

The election news is boiling, and I haven’t anything useful to add to the turmoil. It is needless to point out that if back in my cold war days I had done what she did I would certainly have lost my clearances and my job, and probably have gone to jail. So would anyone else at my pay grade which was considerably below Cabinet level. It is likely that President Obama will give her a blanket pardon as soon as the election is over, and has not done so because he thinks a pardon would affect the election. That was to be expected.

The bit about a revolt in the FBI with the working agents furious with the Director is contradicted by my sources, who say the working agents are grateful to the Director for taking the blame while under tremendous political pressure. The conflict between the highly politicized Justice Department civilian lawyers and the FBI sworn agents seems to be real; at least I hear that it is. Obviously any FBI agent involved in investigating Cabinet – and above – level officials will be under very great pressure; apparently the Director is doing his best to shield them from it.

If it all reminds you of the Nixon Watergate fiasco, you are not alone in that observation.

This came in a couple of months ago at a time when I had other reasons for not looking at my mail. It’s still relevant.

On immigration, employment and welfare

Jerry

Our biggest problem is that we are 65% employed. That’s one third of our non-retired nation sitting on their keisters collecting welfare. We can’t afford it: look at all the things that are not getting done.

So put everyone to work. Follow the ADA. If anyone is “disabled” find them a job they can do. People who can’t walk can watch screens. Ditch-digging today is done with machines. If the labor were free, we’d have people doing the labor. We’d have people to supervise sheltered workshop for EMR. Heck, EMR could dig ditches with their peers. To the point: they’d all be employed. We could ditch welfare because there would be no unemployment.

To supply all those ditch-diggers and clothing-wearers, we would buy only American-made products, putting some people to work in the private sector.

I once talked to an inmate who once worked planting trees. One year his employer didn’t call. He called the employer. The employer told him there was no work. Then the inmate saw company trucks filled with presumably illegal aliens. Now my inmate was in jail. Under the new scheme, he, any citizen who wanted work, and legal immigrants would have work. Their companies, with free labor, would underbid companies with illegal labor.

Yes, we’d have to make something so legit companies hiring legit Americans would not have to compete with free labor; but people hiring illegals would have to have a mighty fine business model to survive.

It’s the kind of solution Fred Pohl trained us to find.

Unemployed illegals, with no welfare in existence, would deport themselves.

One more thing: exempt businesses with less than 1000 workers from all/most regulations.

Name withheld

I’ll consider comments. It does remind me of Fred Pohl.

Another sent in late August

SUBJ: A remarkable current example of Pournelle’s Iron Law in action

Dear Jerry,

Hope you have enough energy to read this during or after WorldCom. Hope you had a great time there, though. You deserve it. 🙂

“How We Killed the Tea Party” via _Politico_ magazine

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/08/tea-party-pacs-ideas-death-21

4164

Money quote:

“In 2014, the Tea Party Patriots group spent just 10 percent of the

$14.4 million it collected actually supporting candidates, with the rest going to consultants and vendors and Tea Part President Jenny Beth Martin’s hefty salary of $15,000 per month.”

Cordially,

John

Some like these:

New Hitler Rant

Yep. It’s that same old bunker clip with different subtitles…

(I was laughing so hard, tears were rolling down.)

Hitler finds out Hillary Clinton is back under FBI investigation;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZordPrP2qc

It’s probably not as funny if you actually know how to speak German…..

 

Sweden Failed State

Sweden appears to be on a nearly failed state:

<.>

SWEDEN is on the brink of becoming a lawless state as the police force is losing the battle against unprecedented levels of crime and violence amid a growing migrant crisis.

The Scandinavian country is facing an existential crisis with on average three police officers handing in their resignations a day.

If the alarming trend continues, and police officers continue to resign more than 1,000 officers will have quit the service by New Years.

<…>

But police have now admitted the force has reached breaching point as more than 50 areas in the country have now been placed on a “no-go zone” list.

In February a report from Sweden’s National Criminal Investigation Service announced there were 52 areas where officers would not cope with the levels of crime being committed.

Sex assaults, drug dealing and children carrying weapons were just some of the incidents mentioned in the report.

<..>

In September, Swedish officials were forced to add another three areas to the list.

Now the Police Association have said they need at least 200 new officers to regain control in the south-east of the country.

</>

http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/727574/Sweden-chaos-Police-pushed-breaking-point-unprecedented-violence-crime

Apparently, these refugees are lighting cars on fire in the South-East more than in other parts of the country and the area is lawless.

Perhaps this helps explain Middle Eastern autocrats?

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

People forget that Swedes are still Vikings even if they are officially ashamed of once being so. The Normans are just Frenchified Danes/Swedes and once in a while they remember that. Of course the founders of the Kievan State which became Russia were Swedes.

China debuts J20 stealth fighter supposedly based on hacked US F22 plans

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3893126/Chinese-J-20-stealth-jet-based-military-plans-stolen-hackers-makes-public-debut.html

I wonder whose server they got those plans from.

Why Comey Did It

I’m not sure how connected the former Congressman is, but this is one of the most credible sources saying that Comey had a pile of resignation letters to deal with on this:

<.>

FBI Director James Comey reopened agency’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails last week because “almost 100” agents threatened to resign before next week’s election, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay told Newsmax TV on Tuesday.

“A few weeks ago, almost 100 agents were threatening Comey that they were going to resign — and that kind of pressure is what turned him around,” DeLay, 69, the majority leader from 2003 to 2005, told “The Steve Malzberg Show” in an interview. “It wasn’t Comey or his integrity.

“I know he made a huge mistake when he indicted Clinton — though not indicting her — but now he’s trying to turn that around.

“He had to do it now or have all these FBI agents resign,” he added.

“That would have probably been a bigger story than what Comey did.

</>

https://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/tom-delay-email-probe-fbi-agents/2016/11/01/id/756491/

Have you ever seen anything like this in your life? If true, this should be the biggest story of the year — even if they don’t resign.

This is huge.

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

My sources do not corroborate this story, although I make no doubt that there was some strong sentiment for indictment; but I suspect most of the resentment is toward the Justice lawyers and of course the White House. Comey did what he thought he had to do.

FIVE FBI probes on Clinton Associates!

In addition to the email probe and the blocked — by DOJ — Clinton Foundation probe, FBI has at least five other probes on Clinton’s inner circle:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3889994/Influence-peddling-acting-Putin-s-ally-hiding-classified-secrets-sexting-FIVE-separate-FBI-cases-probing-virtually-one-Clinton-s-inner-circle-families.html

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ◊

Most Respectfully,

Joshua Jordan, KSC

Percussa Resurgo

I wouldn’t know about this, but I do know they cannot ignore the investigation into the Clinton Foundation undertaken originally by Chelsea in good faith, and apparently leaked by vigilant hackers.

This may or may not lead somewhere. I haven’t time to do more. Some will find it interesting.

re-1Y69-4KRRS-E1NJ7H-C04HO@physicstoday-info.org

Beware Robots Bearing Beer

http://thesovereigninvestor.com/us-economy/beware-robots-bearing-beer/

“Earlier this week, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV and Uber Technologies announced that for the first time ever a self-driving truck completed a commercial delivery. The 18-wheeler truck drove more than 120 miles from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs, hauling Budweiser with the human driver kicked back in the sleeper cab.”

“…Deloitte has previously estimated that 74% of jobs in transportation, 54% in wholesale and retail, and 56% in manufacturing are facing the risk of automation.

“In September, the transportation industry in the U.S. numbered 1.5 million jobs. That’s a big chunk of jobs in danger. And let’s not forget that America’s manufacturing sector is already shrinking painfully. This economic recovery has seen mostly a swelling of low-paying jobs in sectors such as retail — not a good sign when we’re only going to hand the few jobs we’re gaining over to automation.”

Charles Brumbelow

One more move toward robots doing reasonably paying human activities. I have said that by 2024 over half the human jobs can be done by a robot coasting about a year’s salary of the worker.

Our elected officials and their bureaucrats at work

Jerry,

Look at the fees for a certificate of citizenship! Remember, these are families adopting kids from other countries. Our “betters” can’t control our boarders, we are flooded with illegals and they want to charge me 1k for a piece of paper? Tar and feathers come to mind, at least.

Phil Tharp

———- Forwarded message ———-

For parents of older children who did not receive a Certificate of Citizenship automatically when your child came home, the fee (after 12/23/2016) will be more than double what it is now.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has announced numerous fee increases that will take effect on December 23, 2016. The fee to obtain a new Certificate of Citizenship (CoC) will increase from $550 for a minor adoptee to $1,170. The fee to replace a lost CoC or to change a name on an existing CoC will increase from $345 to $555. These fee increases may not affect parents who have automatically received their children’s CoC shortly after arrival, but will most likely have a big impact on parents and adult adoptees who still need to obtain a CoC.

If you haven’t submitted your child’s N-600 application for a Certificate of Citizenship yet, you might want to consider doing so as soon as possible. According to the USCIS website, these increases will not affect applications received prior to December 23, 2016.

To download the N-600 application for Certificate of Citizenship directly from USCIS, please click here. 

If you would like to read the USCIS announcement, please click here. You can also find a complete list of the fee changes by clicking here.

peter thiel gave excellent speech this morning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfYLEPRiIyE

about 12 minutes long. I think you will like it.

—

Phil Tharp

I generally prefer to read than listen. There’s a comment that tells you how to get a transcript.

Freedom is not free. Free men are not equal. Equal men are not free.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

All Saints Day

We are off to the hospital, and I haven’t read most of my mail.  I found this and was going to write more on the concentration of wealth, but this will have to do.

Roberta said several words last night, and I have hopes. She thanks you all for your prayers and good wishes. More later; we’re going to the hospital now.

* * *

2330: Spent most of the day at hospital or travelling to and from. Some critical decisions will be made tomorrow, so I won’t have much to say here now. My daughter, Dr. Jennifer Pournelle, flew in from South Carolina a couple of hours ago.  We talked by videophone with Commander Phillip Pournelle from the hospital room. Frank Pournelle went home to Palm Springs after having breakfast with his mother.

I have added a few letters below the “Trouble With Marx” essay.

  * * *

Trouble with Marx

 

 

My memory fails, and I forgot the name of my favorite economist. I racked my brain to no result. I have his books upstairs, but while going up is easy, coming back down is not, and coming down carrying things is worse. Then I remembered his book, The trouble with Marx”. The economist I had in mind was David McCord Wright.

I also remembered had written about Wright’s observation that Marx was correct in some of his projections, and I had written about that, so I googled The Trouble with Marx Pournelle, which took me to an odd page: it was a serious discussion of Marx and Marxism from a long time ago. Much of it appeared in my journal at one time, including letters to me (which had full credit to the authors but there was no mention of me, ,my journal, or the original source.

The question of concentration of wealth arises again. Wright devoted some time in his book to Marx’s predictions about concentration of wealth under Capitalism, and speculated that one thing that had served the United States well was the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, and vigorous enforcement under trust busting presidents.

I wrote the following at least a decade ago. Google doesn’t show where, and I haven’t time to do other searches for the original postings. It’s still relevant, and given the situation here, I haven’t time to write on the subject.

This was sparked by a reader’s comment or essay that Marx wasn’t a Marxist in the Marx-Lenin meaning.

 

*.*.*

 

Marx was a founder of the Communist International, and he did have some ideas about “the specter” that was haunting Europe. As you say he was cheering for one side in the ‘class war’, and it’s often hard to separate that from his economic analysis.

Some of his analysis is plain silly, like the “labor theory of value’. Fortunately that’s not required for his major analytical thought, because if it were a necessary assumption then Marx’s thought would be as unread as pre-Lavoisier theories of oxidation. In fact, though, the ‘labor theory of value’ was part of what you rightly call cheering, and unrelated to any objective analysis.

Marx did not understand production, and particularly had no notion of the power of technology. He thought anyone could operate the “tools” and “means of production” and that the control and ownership of the power plants and big machine tools was terribly important. That’s to some extent what misled Stalin and Mao, of course. They ought to have known better. Marx wasn’t imaginative enough to see that the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t stop with massive centralized machine shops (made necessary because energy distribution was difficult and expensive); but Stalin and Mao ought to have known that there was a Second Industrial Revolution characterized by the hand-carried quarter inch electric drill that made distributed production possible. Now we have the Third brought on by the small computer and once again all is changed. Marx foresaw none of this, and his economic analysis is based on a very obsolete theory of industrial production.

As in the computer business, hardware often trumps software. Ownership of the means of production is no longer an automatic key to wealth, nor is it all that hard to acquire the means of production. Particularly in the computer/intellectual property field, the means of production are available to almost anyone.

So much for the fundamental flaws in Marx.

Even so, Marx was certainly influential among German economic theorists, and through them Asian including Japanese; Karl Wittfogel being one of the more important. Wittfogel almost single-handedly converted an entire generation of Japanese economists to Marxism, which meant Communism, until his break with the Party over the Hitler/Stalin Pact. He later used his great familiarity with Marx’s theories to see a major contradiction in them.

One of the major attractions of Communism was being on the inevitably winning side. Communism claimed to be scientific, and its adherents were marching in step with the flywheel of history. That’s a powerfully attractive argument to some.

But in Oriental Despotism, Wittfogel pointed out that Marx himself was horrified to see a contradiction: that state capitalism, modeled after the old hydraulic societies (Egypt, Babylon, etc.) could be eternal, not evolving, because it had no internal contradictions as Marx claimed everything except the classless society would have. Marx called this “the Asiatic Mode of Production” and was intellectually honest enough to leave the speculation in Das Kapital, but not honest enough to pursue the implications: that there could be eternal states, never changing much, never evolving, with utterly despotic governments. Such states are vulnerable, but ONLY to OUTSIDE pressures; as an example, the Great Mogul Empire lasted until a handful of Europeans pushed it over. Wittfogel also showed that the USSR was very nearly such an Oriental Despotism, and that China always was one: it was when it ceased to be such under Sun Yat Sen that it became vulnerable, and Sun Yat Sen was able to bring about partial revolution in China only with outside help.

Wittfogel is important to understanding Marx because he took Marx seriously and dealt with Marx’s arguments. David McCord Wright does much the same. His book “The Trouble With Marx” was originally a scholarly work much unread, and because of that was something of a failure as a Conservative Book Club selection since many buyers through that club didn’t know what to make of an economist who took Marx seriously as an economic theorist: the were looking for an anti-Communist tract.

Lester Thurow of MIT sometimes takes Marx seriously, but not often. He is a great lecturer, and it’s always worthwhile listening to him, but his analyses tend to be trendy and topical; I am not sure I have heard much from or about him since Hillary Clinton’s attempt to “reform” American health care, a subject about which Thurow knows more than most, although I strongly question his assumptions.

Wright believed that the American anti-trust laws were the major defense against the kind of destruction that pure capitalism can bring. And of course Schumpeter looked into the face of the capitalist abyss and withdrew in horror.

One attempt to mitigate the effects of unrelieved capitalism is economic nationalism, as well as local control of institutions. By local control, I mean using zoning laws to prevent Wal-Mart from coming in and displacing all the local merchants. I won’t get into the desirability for a local community of placing large barriers in the way of Wal-Mart; I do question the sanity of national laws that prevent the local community from having a say in the matter.

Similarly for economic nationalism: while a global economy is inevitable in the long run, as Keynes said, in the long run we are all dead; what matters are the living; and a nation that allows a skilled worker with 25 years investment in a particular company to suddenly be put on the street while his job is exported to a foreign country may well enjoy cheap jockey shorts, but may also have created a disaffected class from among those formerly the most patriotic. “For a man to love his country, his country ought to be lovely,” said Burke; and a country that is more concerned with cheap goods than the employment stability of its work force, and which goes out of its way to make it easy to export jobs, may be in trouble.

Couple that with an education system almost guaranteed to produce many graduates with no skills whatever and not even the learning skills of acquiring skills, so that they must now compete for menial jobs not merely with local menials but with the entire world including a single mother in Thailand, and you have an even more interesting situation. It is an experiment I would not care to have run, but we are running it here.

A world economy is probably inevitable in the long run, but I am not convinced that marching in step with the flywheel of history is always the right idea; and I am certain that Marx had some deep insights into what unrestrained capitalism can and will do.

I always thought David McCord Wright and Wilhelm Roepke to be economic theorists worthy of far more attention than they receive, because I always thought one ought, a Schumpeter and those two did, to take Marx quite seriously.

State capitalism is every whit as able to pave the road to serfdom as is communism. One may say it won’t happen here, but the one who says that isn’t reading newspapers.

All of which points us back to Roepke’s Humane Economy; and I am out of time just now.

More another time.  Thanks to all.

I seem to have missed pledge week, but a number of you subscribed or renewed anyway.  Needless to say I’ve been slow in recording those the last few days, Apologies, and a great many thanks. And of course thanks to all for your kind remarks and prayers.

* * *

What the Feds Have Done to Colleges and Schools.

<http://www.mindingthecampus.org/2016/11/what-the-feds-have-done-to-colleges-and-schools/>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I always opposed Federal Aid to Education – about which the Constitution says nothing and grants Congress no powers.  If the Feds want to help education, let them build, in the District of Columbia where the Constitution gives Congress full powers, schools that are the envy of the world.  Universities, high schools, grade schools; build them and run them well.  They need not force themselves on the States. Show how they can make schools better.

For some reason they have not done this.

“It’s important to have a very large hiring pool (such as Chicago or

NYC) from which to choose enthusiastic, smart and low-paid permanent employees.”

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3895102/Clinton-s-Silicon-Valley-secrets-Google-boss-Eric-Schmidt-drew-campaign-plan-met-Uber-Airbnb-Lyft-executives-private-roundtable.html>

—————————————

Roland Dobbins

I wonder if this has anything to do with the quality of the schools?

If a foreign government had imposed this system of education on the United States we would rightfully consider it an act of war.

* * *

Customer Service

Dear Jerry,

Interesting observation you made, that capitalism concentrates on the bottom line even to the exclusion of good Customer Service. Just returned from that bastion of -relatively- unregulated capitalism named Las Vegas, and I noticed a good example of your principle in action.

In the Old Las Vegas of last century, each hotel had a buffet for when you wanted to gorge, a coffee shop for a lighter meal, and perhaps a hot dog stand on the casino floor for a quick snack. Something for every level of appetite and pocketbook.

In the New, Improved Las Vegas of these times, the buffet is still there. The coffee shop is one with the Dodo. Gone, if you don’t get that reference, which with our schools means you are under thirty. The hot dog stand is in the same “Extinct” category. Instead there is the 21st century horror familiar to all shoppers of the “Food Court”, which sounds like where you go when your order is wrong, or the bacteria level too high for human consumption, but actually is where you are given the choice of twelve different mal-cuisines, all priced at levels that ensure you cannot spend less than ten dollars for any solid food. You can get a drink for five at these monstrosities, but refills, never.

The closest thing to a cafe is some high end dinner house. So when we wanted breakfast, after arising in our comfortable and bargain priced room (got to give the rubes something to keep them coming in the doors!), We were faced with donuts and coffee, or some pink matter alleged to be eggs, on a crusty shape that might have been Torquemada’s version of a bagel if he had ever seen a bagel, or the buffet, and either way spend maybe forty bucks before they are done with you.

In a somewhat desperate move for real table service, we settled on the high end dinner house, open early for brunch. Italian themed, they “served” us a bowl of greens, a basket of bread, and two beverages. With the aid of a hotel supplied ten dollar coupon, we got out of there for not quite thirty dollars, including tip.

I can well imagine the financial analysts selling this whole idea to some MBA manager types in a corporate meeting: “We don’t have to pay staff to wait on tables, the customers do all the schlepping of food and beverage for themselves, they pick up their own trash and put it in the garbage for us, and we don’t even have to run the food operation, we just lease the space to these operators for a high dollar/square foot fee and Watch The Money Roll In!”

I noticed that almost every party in the hotel check-in line had a small ice chest on wheels, with extendable handle. Seems people are wise to this scam and are bringing their own comestibles and beverages. The Hospitality Industry has “improved” things to the point in Sin City that the “Guests” now have adopted Third World dining habits.

Ah, Sweet Idiocy, thy name is Capitalism!

Petronius

Capitalism is an economic system. It produces stuff. It is not concerned with building communities or their deterioration, or their morality. Unrestricted capitalism would result in human flesh for sale in the market place.

On the other had, too many restrictions and regulations produces depression and economic misery, and in the case of the Soviet Union, complete collapse. I foud this which also seems relevant.

On immigration, employment and welfare, 

Jerry

Our biggest problem is that we are 65% employed. That’s one third of our non-retired nation sitting on their keisters collecting welfare. We can’t afford it: look at all the things that are not getting done.

So put everyone to work. Follow the ADA. If anyone is “disabled” find them a job they can do. People who can’t walk can watch screens. Ditch-digging today is done with machines. If the labor were free, we’d have people doing the labor. We’d have people to supervise sheltered workshop for EMR. Heck, EMR could dig ditches with their peers. To the point: they’d all be employed. We could ditch welfare because there would be no unemployment.

To supply all those ditch-diggers and clothing-wearers, we would buy only American-made products, putting some people to work in the private sector.

I once talked to an inmate who once worked planting trees. One year his employer didn’t call. He called the employer. The employer told him there was no work. Then the inmate saw company trucks filled with presumably illegal aliens. Now my inmate was in jail. Under the new scheme, he, any citizen who wanted work, and legal immigrants would have work. Their companies, with free labor, would underbid companies with illegal labor.

Yes, we’d have to make something so legit companies hiring legit Americans would not have to compete with free labor; but people hiring illegals would have to have a mighty fine business model to survive.

It’s the kind of solution Fred Pohl trained us to find.

Unemployed illegals, with no welfare in existence, would deport themselves.

One more thing: exempt businesses with less than 1000 workers from all/most regulations.

Name withheld

I have always believed that simply doubling the size of businesses exempt from various regulation —  ten becomes twenty, fifty becomes one hundred. one hundred becomes two hundred, etc. – would greatly aid the economy with minimum effect on worker happiness.  They never want to try that.