— Franz Kafka, born in July 1883
Almanac: John Adams on democracy
“Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy. It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.”Binging on Greyzone and Condor
Condor is described by DirecTV as following "young CIA analyst Joe Imrich aka Turner, whose idealism is tested when he stumbles onto a terrible but brilliant plan that threatens the lives of millions. Turner is an idealistic millennial who secretly joins the CIA hoping to reform it from within. But when everyone in his office is massacred by professional killers, this brilliant analyst is forced out of his ivory tower think tank and into battle with the most dangerous elements in the military-industrial complex. If he is to have any chance of surviving, Joe will have to do things he never imagined himself capable of – and discover that no one knows their true character until they’ve been tested under fire."
“Condor,” Reviewed: A Classic Paranoid Thriller, Rewired for the Contemporary Nervous System | The New Yorker
Greyzone:
Borgen’s Birgitte Hjort Sorrensen stars in this gripping new Scandi techno-thriller as the developer of a state-of-the-art drone (intended for peaceful, world-enhancing purposes) who finds herself in deep espionage waters.
There’s a great cast of tough female characters, some fascinating villains, and a pacey, complex plot centering around an imminent terrorist threat to Sweden that keeps you well and truly hooked.
There’s a great cast of tough female characters, some fascinating villains, and a pacey, complex plot centering around an imminent terrorist threat to Sweden that keeps you well and truly hooked.
Sure, it has the believability factor of Homeland or 24. But with all 10 episodes available to view, it’s also perfect binge material.
It’s time for the press to suspend normal relations with the Trump presidency
That is my recommendation
It sometimes happens in diplomacy that one country has to say to another: “This is extreme. We cannot accept this. You have gone too far.” And so it suspends diplomatic relations.
In 2012 the government of Canada announced that it would suspend diplomatic relations with Iran. “Canada views the government of Iran as the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today,” said the foreign minister.
Journalists charged with covering him should suspend normal relations with the presidency of Donald Trump, which is the most significant threat to an informed public in the United States today.
UK counter-terrorism police confirm couple poisoned by nerve agent Novichok Abc.net.au. Kevin W: “Just in time for that NATO Summit next week.”The Amesbury Mystery Craig Murray
Revealed: the financiers invited to dine with Donald Trump Financial News
Trump’s Goals in Helsinki Valdai Discussion Club
If the novichok was planted by Russia, where’s the evidence? Guardian. The new novichok mystery, not the old one.
Debunking the First Piece of Nonsense in Skripal 2.0 The Blogmire
No Fifth Column in the Kremlin? Think again!, by The Saker The Unz Review. Chuck L: “A money quote”:Now let’s connect all the dots: there is a pro-western (in realty, western-controlled) faction inside the government which is financing those who are attempting to overthrow Putin by making him unpopular with the Russian general public (which overwhelmingly opposes “liberal” economic policies and which despises the Russian liberal elites) by constantly forcing him into liberal economic policies which he clearly does not like (he declared himself categorically opposed to such policies in 2005) and the so-called “patriotic media” is covering it all up. And Putin cannot change this without shedding blood.
That is a new and important paper by Sergei M. Guriev and Daniel Treisman, here is the abstract:
In recent decades, dictatorships based on mass repression have largely given way to a new model based on the manipulation of information. Instead of terrorizing citizens into submission, “informational autocrats” artificially boost their popularity by convincing the public they are competent. To do so, they use propaganda and silence informed members of the elite by co-optation or censorship. Using several sources–including a newly created dataset of authoritarian control techniques–we document a range of trends in recent autocracies that fit the theory: a decline in violence, efforts to conceal state repression, rejection of official ideologies, imitation of democracy, a perceptions gap between masses and elite, and the adoption by leaders of a rhetoric of performance rather than one aimed at inspiring fear.
Again, here is my related Bloomberg column from June 18.
Why it matters: 23% of Americans have no emergency savings Axios. This is less dire than other data I’ve seen.If a job guarantee is “not crazy” than Krugman has been an incredibly unethical scholar for almost a decade. The negative social effects of unemployment are too important for scholars of Krugman’s prominence to not promote research into potential solutions. https://t.co/PEOfphOusH— Nathan “Fight for 15 $ and Justices” Tankus (@NathanTankus) July 3, 2018Is it great to be a worker in the U.S.? Not compared with the rest of the developed world. Washington Post (Kevin W)The Alt-Right, the Ctrl-Left, and the Esc-Center Ecosophia. UserFriendy: “Also wanted to highlight this comment. It’s spot on.”
Social Demand Philosopher (Anthony L). From 2016, still very much germane. I only gave it a quick skim and hope to have time to read it carefully
The George Soros philosophy – and its fatal flaw Guardian
The George Soros philosophy – and its fatal flaw Guardian
