These are from a new translation by Ken Liu: “A country teetering on the edge of a collapse is filled with patriots.” “The more people arm themselves, the more chaotic the country.” “Lords stride about in glorious clothes, carry sharp swords, eat so much good food that they’re sick of it, and hoard wealth beyond… Continue reading

One side effect of money, at least when there’s a lot of it, seems to be that the recipient often comes to believe they are special in some way other than being fortunate and (often) having superior ability in a particular area. Many, many people have superior ability in a particular area, of course, but… Continue reading

Evidently long-time windbag and vainglorious waste of space David Brooks got another piece published in The NY Times. You can’t read it without paying, and it’s almost certainly not worth it. But it does have a good title (which Brooks almost certainly didn’t come up with): We Deserve Pete Hegseth. Mitch Wagner expanded on it… Continue reading

Córy Doctorow posted a searing commentary on people with power ignoring advice, doing stupid things, and screwing LOTS of things up for everybody who’s not in the 1% — or possibly the 0.1%. Reagan is still the #1 on my list of most malevolent recent US presidents, but Doctorow’s info bumps Clinton’s position, so congratulations,… Continue reading