Let’s assume — purely for the sake of discussion since no evidence has been made public — that the Russians did it. Note, first, that the “it” looks like the product of the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. I’m not going to do what Johnstone, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Maté, and the late Robert Parry have done so well so many times, namely, catalog all the inane acts the Putin-guided Russian intel agencies are said to have committed in order to bring down America. (Start here.) Suffice it to say that if that’s the best Putin can come up with, we have little to worry about.
Tag: evidence
Sexual Harassment: A Keyhole Solution
Firms should adopt the speed dating paradigm. Let everyone secretly record their feelings, if any, for their co-workers. If the feelings are unrequited, no one ever finds out. If the feelings are mutual, however, both parties receive official confirmation. And unless they edit their recorded preferences, they waive their right to complain about (or sue over) unwanted attention from whoever they explicitly approved.
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Russiagate
In case anyone’s forgotten, Russia is a nuclear power. Throwing around the phrase “act of war” is over-the-top insanity. It’s a call for the transformation of some Facebook ads into burning cities and piles of body bags, all because an election didn’t come out the way some people wanted and expected it to.
“Daddy, What’s a Citizen?”
This question is not as easy to answer for me as it once was. Before understanding the facts about government, I would have answered to the effect of , “A citizen is someone who is a recognized subject of the government.” *almost vomits* (My apologies, but that was very difficult to write.) Or rather, in a way understandable to an 8-year-old. Today, that’s not the answer that I can honestly give. So at first, I resisted, and made a few jokes. I needed to time to think on it. While we were brushing our teeth, the following ensued.
Is Education Worth It? My Opening Statement
Is the education system really a waste of time and money, as my new book claims right on the cover? This is a strange topic to debate with Eric Hanushek. Why? Because if Hanushek had absolute power to fix the education system, education might actually be worth every penny. Hanushek is famous for focusing on what schools teach rather than what they spend – and documenting the vast disconnect between the two. If you haven’t already read his dissection of “input-based education policies,” you really ought to. Hanushek, more than any other economist, has taught us that measured literacy and numeracy are socially valuable – but just making kids spend long years in well-funded schools is not.
Influences IV
This is another disparate group of influences, R. Buckminster Fuller, Edward Tufte, Douglas Hofstadter. The first is from the 60s, the second from the 90s, and the third from the first decade of the 21st Century, in the order that they came into my life. But all three think outside of the boxes which have contained so many of us.
Nonsense on Stilts
An English proverb holds that a lie can be halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on. It also appears to be the case that a government can be shot through with corruption before the ink is dried on its Constitution.
Tyranny Spotlight: Cheril Hardy Tarrant County Judge
Cheril had no evidence of jurisdiction, no evidence even suggesting Bao was psychologically unsound; she imprisoned Bao as a punishment for daring to challenge the prosecution’s claims and the proceedings against him. Cheril is a criminal whose actions clearly demonstrate that she has psychological issues such as anti-social behavior.
Raining on the Parade
Some people have proposed that Trump’s parade be postponed until all the wars the U.S. government is waging are finished and the troops are back home. That would indeed be an indefinite postponement, and I wouldn’t want to see a parade even then. But if that’s the price for ending those imperial wars, I’ll take it.
The Nunes Memo Only Partially “Vindicates” Trump, But it Fully Indicts the FBI and the FISA Court
Did Trump and/or his campaign team “collude” with the Russian government to manipulate the 2016 presidential election? I don’t know. But I do know that disguising a circus as an investigation isn’t likely to shed real light on the matter.