Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue

Sorry Uncle Milty

Another area where Friedman and I diverge.  I think  his major philosophical blind spot was the existence of human nature, which allowed him to be a proponent of things like this.  I'm tempted by it myself (and would cash any check they sent my way, just like I take my interest deduction), but think it would be a disaster.

https://medium.com/basic-income/why-milton-friedman-supported-a-guaranteed-income-5-reasons-da6e628f6070

Violence generally begets violence

Interesting article.  What's most disturbing is the third paragraph in the snippet below.  I would contend, dear author, that promoting arson is definitely on the "intolerance" side of the "advocacy/intolerance" divide.  Perhaps an emotional college sophomore could be forgiven for not knowing the difference, but a writer for the New York times should.

In the end, violence will be met with violence until an orderly stasis is reached, or violence will lead to order without resistance - a state we will recognize to be tyranny. 

I would encourage everyone one fomenting for violence to read their history (not burn it) to find out what those swept into power through violence do to those who swept them in. They are ALWAYS the first to go because a mindless mob, fueled only by discontent and hate, is a weapon that can be wielded by anyone seeking to oust the current regime.

Meet the New Boss. Same as The Old Boss.

From the Times:

"That can play out in every aspect of student life, as William Gu, an Asian-American who writes for The Claremont Independent, found out after some of his articles showed up on conservative news sites. He received Facebook messages accusing him of “threatening marginalized communities” and was told at a party that “people are uncomfortable with you being here, please leave.”

Mr. Gu, a sophomore, said each incoming class “is getting progressively more radical.” He recalled a panel discussion during orientation at which a student said, “We should burn down Pomona” because “elite colleges represented white supremacist patriarchy.” Mr. Gu found the idea absurd. “You are going to a $60,000-a-year school and you’re either there because your parents are wealthy or the school has given you a full ride and you are saying it’s a dangerous environment for you,” he said. “There is a strange sense of entitlement.”

It can be hard to separate intense advocacy from intolerance, particularly for students who, Dr. Plaza said, arrive “empowered to feel they should have their say.”"

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/education/edlife/protests-claremont-college-student-demands.html?mc=aud_dev&mcid=fb-nytimes&mccr=AugustMC810mcdt%3D2017-08&subid=AugustMC810&ad-keywords=AudDevGate

North Korea

North Korea may gamble incorrectly and provoke a war. Let's hope not. 

That said, the jumbled thinking (ignorance?) of the author is staggering.  Yes - let's apply the template Reagan used to defeat The Soviet Union in the 80's to fight NK/China in the teens. 

Because just like China, the Soviet Union was a major trading partner of America's. And just as with China, we had tremendous cross-national investment in each other's economies. And just like the Soviet Union, China has set up dozens of satellite nations with the express purpose of wiping out the West and completely dominating the world through the global expansion of communism.  Not...

The author's reference to Chinese "adventurism" in the body of water they border reveals the hubristic foundation of his thinking.  How would an American read an article from a Chinese author that referred to "American adventurism in the Gulf of Mexico"? How about if it was literally called " The South US Sea"?

China is indeed our #1 external existential threat, but they are - ironically - winning the same way we beat the Soviets: economically. 

Pulling back in Asia, while not relinquishing our naval, air, or space superiority, would force China to deal with the reality of their aspirations: Increased tensions with their neighbors and shouldering  the cost of mitigating those tensions in a multi-lateral fashion. 

This is not to mention saving the billions spent by Americans subsidizing South Korea and Japan's economies by serving as the guarantors of their freedom (freeing those nation's to subsidize their economies in the form of lower taxes). If one doesn't see how that affects the price of electronics from Asia, U.S. employment in the manufacturing sector, and the Federal Debt, well...

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/10/how-ronald-reagan-would-have-handled-north-korea-commentary.html

Please....

I know this article is supposed to make my blood boil with self righteous indignation, but...please.  Some clerk at an Indiana Walmart put a sign up in the wrong place.  It was clearly a mistake or prank, not some attempt to suggest kids initiate a massacre. 

What is concerning is the fact many folks are quick to interpret such innocuous things through a lens of offense and puff up with outrage.  The truly chilling thing is the underlying belief that they "know what was really meant" by each trigger.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/08/10/walmart-apologizes-for-own-school-year-like-hero-gun-display-sign.html

Joy

“The pagan set out, with admirable sense, to enjoy himself. By the end of his civilization he had discovered that a man cannot enjoy himself and continue to enjoy anything else.”

G.K. Chesterton

And Yet Someone Saw the Whole

“In the famous story of the blind men and the elephant, so often quoted in the interests of religious agnosticism, the real point of the story is constantly overlooked. The story is told from the point of view of the king and his courtiers, who are not blind but can see that the blind men are unable to grasp the full reality of the elephant and are only able to get hold of part of the truth. The story is constantly told in order to neutralize the affirmation of the great religions, to suggest that they learn humility and recognize that none of them can have more than one aspect of the truth. But, of course, the real point of the story is exactly the opposite. If the king were also blind there would be no story. The story is told by the king, and it is the immensely arrogant claim of one who sees the full truth which all the world’s religions are only groping after. It embodies the claim to know the full reality which relativizes all the claims of the religions and philosophies.”

-Lesslie Newbigin