Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Orwellian “equity” - Why Does Vladimir Putin Want Alexei Navalny Dead?

R2-D2 and C-3PO Say “Get Vaccinated!”











The Deflationary Force of Innovation
Electric light bulb
"A minute of work in 1880 on the average wage could earn you four minutes of light from a kerosene lamp; a minute of work in 1950 could earn you more than seven hours of light from an incandescent bulb.." , How Innovation Works

Image


  Hungary didn’t leave the EU mainstream — the mainstream left sanity.


 we had a rude awakening. It turned out the so-called mainstream parties of the center right and center left paid little more than lip service — if that — to sovereignty and self-determination, the diversity of nations, the traditional family and Europe’s Judeo-Christian foundations. So long as we toed the globalist and liberal line from Brussels and Washington, we were accepted. But as soon as we democratically chose a different path, we were called “undemocratic.”



How Should Philosophers Talk to Journalists?

“Whenever a journalist interviews me about whether a certain practice is morally right or wrong I always feel like I disappoint…” (more…)



NEWS YOU CAN USE: A Quick Guide To Free Speech And Avoiding Big Tech Online.



Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four is a work of genius. But I think its greatest element of genius lies in Orwell’s basic insight about the left’s use of language as a tool for leading the public to believe a very bad thing is its opposite and a good thing. Language can’t fool all of the people all of the time, but it can go far, especially when it is wielded by a compliant media well-versed in propaganda and willing to employ it.



Why Does Vladimir Putin Want Alexei Navalny Dead?

Jason Kottke   Mar 02, 2021

After Vladimir Putin, dictatorial leader of Russia for over 20 years now, had seemingly insulated himself against losing power through control of the media, law, elections, and the wealthy allies, a lawyer named Alexei Navalny began to expose the corruption in Putin’s regime with a series of posts to his blog and on YouTube. Navalny continued his investigations, gaining public popularity and running for public office. Putin imprisoned him and tried to have him killed. This Vox video explains in more detail why Putin wants Navalny dead.

More reading on Navalny: Vox explainerMasha Gessen on recent pro-Navalny protests in Russia. (via open culture)




Why dental care was excluded from Medicare and why it should now be included (an edited repost)

In 1974, the Whitlam Government decided to exclude dental care from Medicare for two reasons.  The first was cost. The second was political. Whitlam felt that combatting the doctors would be hard enough without having to combat dentists as well. Forty-six years later, with Australia much richer and the proven success of Medicare, it is now…