Immorality
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“Like a business,” they said
The idea that the US should be “run like a business” has been popular with the republic party for decades. Like many of the slogans they parrot, the actual thinkers in the party almost certainly don’t agree with it, but recognize it as a convenient talking point that will convince their base. Now they’ve got… Continue reading
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Not just the Principia Mathematica
From Bertrand Russel in 1940: “The first step in a fascist movement is the combination under an energetic leader of a number of men who possess more than the average share of leisure, brutality, and stupidity. The next step is to fascinate fools and muzzle the intelligent, by emotional excitement on the one hand and… Continue reading
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There are jobs, and then there are jobs
The regime of the orange baby, and the baby itself, seem to believe (or at least say, which isn’t the same thing for it) that making products — toys, for example — arbitrarily more expensive for US consumers is a good thing. Maybe, the baby spitballs, it will mean that “the jobs” move to the… Continue reading
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Nearly all startups fail
Feckless liar and scam artist Musk has purported to be running the DOGE fake department like a tech-startup founder. Fun fact: the only reason Musk has ever been called a “founder” of a startup is because he sued the actual founders and part of his demands were to be referred to as a founder. Anyway,… Continue reading
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Did you know…
The Nobel Prize in Economics is not a Nobel prize. It’s a fake created by the Swedish central bank in 1968. It “honors” Alfred Nobel, but the Nobel committee does not award a prize in economics. I believe that’s because they do not consider economics an actual science. And neither should we. Milton Friedman, who… Continue reading
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Also “gates” and “zucky”
There’s a saying, probably old: If you can’t spot the sucker at the poker table, you’re the sucker. And there’s another saying, which I think is pretty recent, at least in regard to computer security: Defenders have to be lucky every time. Attackers only have to get lucky once. Those sayings are obliquely saying that… Continue reading
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Nice farm ya got there. Be a shame if…
In medieval England, specifically in the Norman era, the lords of manors owned all the land around them, including the land where peasants lived and farmed. The lords taxed the peasants, charging them something called “tallage.” “Tallage” was also a tax levied by the king on all the “royal towns,” which were towns located on… Continue reading
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19 and 20 and 25 Annotated
The unlinked version is here. The world is ending in death and cactus. Walking to the local hofgarten in broad daylight I can see ghosts clinging to the other people on the sidewalks; third members of each couple. T to the seashore to see tides diminished by blood and hear a screaming soaring across the… Continue reading
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It’s not just the cursed repubs
From Cory Doctorow:“Trump couldn’t have pulled this trick off without the Dem establishment’s total unwillingness to confront the hollowness of their economic policies. From Pelosi’s “We’re capitalists and that’s the way it is” to Hillary Clinton’s catastrophic campaign slogan, “America is already great,” the Dems’ answer to workers’ fear and anger was, “You are wrong,… Continue reading
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19 and 20 and 25
The linked version is here. The world is ending in death and cactus. Walking to the local hofgarten in broad daylight I can see ghosts clinging to the other people on the sidewalks; third members of each couple. T to the seashore to see tides diminished by blood and hear a screaming soaring across the… Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Recent Posts
- The NYT appears to be wrong again
- We don’t have kings because we can’t afford them
- Re-righting history
- Nonsense can get lucky
- Not Numidinae
Visitation
Research Results
i.webthings.hub
Full Moon Fiber Art
Scripting News
Balloon Juice
Empty Wheel
Kansas Reflector
Bedlam Farm Journal
Krugman Wonks Out
Daring Fireball
[citation needed]
Pluralistic
Cornerstone of Democracy
Whatever