2084 God Forbid: Friedman Linking to Niall Again

Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters
~Malchkeon and her Proverbs

“Basic human problems can have no final solutions.”
~Eric Hoffer, The Temper of Our Time

 'Over and over again he had hung his life on a thread between heaven and earth...
   he had learned more about people than he was fully able to understand.'

In a sweeping and engaging talk Niall Ferguson reviews and summarises the arguments and claims he’s made in over a dozen of his books as well as in numerous articles and commentaries. He reflects on the importance of history and how it can be applied to the present, the current state of the world economy, populism as a political and cultural force and what the prospect of a Trump presidency might mean

In a television interview with Phil Donahue that aired in April 1980, wearing a tan suit under the bright studio lights, Friedman had contrasted his ideal society with socialist countries like China. Donahue asked intently, “Did you ever have a moment of doubt about capitalism and whether greed is a good idea to run on?”

Friedman cocked his head to the side and grinned. “Tell me, is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? … If you want to know where the masses are worst off, it’s exactly in the kind of societies that divert from [free-market principles].” Milton Friedman's misadventures in China

Big Boss Is Watching You ...

• Washington Post – Comey asked Justice officials to refute Trump’s unproven wiretapping claims – “The FBI director’s request is the latest rebuff of Trump’s unfounded accusation that then-President Obama had ordered a wiretap of his campaign headquarters. Former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, outright denied allegations that wiretaps were authorized against Trump or his campaign.”
• Fact Checker: Trump relies on sketchy reports to back up wiretapping claims
• Debrief – Wiretapping accusation pushes Trump presidency onto a road with no guardrails – “The president’s tweets may have been an effort to distract from revelations that his associates had contact with Russian officials, but instead it invites more scrutiny and deepens doubts about his own judgment.”
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 CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: NC Attorney General Josh Stein Accused of Ethical Misconduct Before US Supreme Court.

Are These The Next Jobs To Be Taken By Robots?

Indy Star – Pence used personal email for state business – and was hacked – “Vice President Mike Pence routinely used a private email account to conduct public business as governor of Indiana, at times discussing sensitive matters and homeland security issues. Emails released to IndyStar in response to a public records request show Pence communicated via his personal AOL account with top advisers on topics ranging from security gates at the governor’s residence to the state’s response to terror attacks across the globe. In one email, Pence’s top state homeland security adviser relayed an update from the FBI regarding the arrests of several men on federal terror-related charges….Cyber-security experts say the emails raise concerns about whether such sensitive information was adequately protected from hackers, given that personal accounts like Pence’s are typically less secure than government email accounts

You know that great American novel you’ve been planning to write? Start now, before the machines take a creative writing class.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: “Here’s a simple test for detecting whether you are living in George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ If you feel free to tell everyone you’re living in ‘1984,’ you aren’t.”

Humility of positive traits

For a Society without Jobs Dissident Voice

Pope suggests ‘better to be atheist than hypocritical Catholic’ Reuters 

  In 2084 the world will appreciate the power of poetry to teach, to console and to warn, all of which will seem like essential ingredients - sense of 'What on earth was that all about?' then Mark Pajak's poem of the same title will resonate..

'A wild river of voices, where a woman
will take a teenage girl in front

by the hair and pull ahead, smooth
as a swimming stroke.

Where two men will stand
in the first aisle, the last flat-screen

between them like a saw...'

How diverse are the heroes of our stories? Popular media and messages of inclusion

This is big: Facebook trials new feature that will change how you use social media Thai Visa . The “One Ring to Rule Them All” strategy

The most recent addition to the complete review is my review of Boualem Sansal's 2084: The End of the World, out this week in English from Europa Editions. 

       With its Orwellian echoes and not-too-thinly-veiled criticism of Islam, this book got a lot of attention in Europe (and won the Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française), and it'll be interesting to see how US/UK audiences take to it.