lewrockwell--2020-05-15--We Are Not ‘All In This Together’….But Perhaps ‘We’\Should Be

There are two questions that deserve answers as the “ new normal ” is imposed on the rest of us by some of us .
The first is : At what point does an asserted risk to some no longer justify the imposition of certain harm on everyone ?
At least 33 million Americans have been forced out of their jobs and into the poorhouse ; every American has had his life diminished , basic freedoms curtailed – his peace of mind assaulted .
Well , not every American .
Which brings up the second question : Why aren ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ harm on the many required to share in the harm they insist is necessary ?
We are told that “ people are dying ” – and indeed they are .
But how did this suddenly become a blank check claim on the lives of everyone else ?
It is considered unfeeling to make cost-benefit calculations when human lives are at risk but this is nonetheless something we do all the time – without insisting on a zero-risk result , no matter the cost .
Suddenly , a virus with a mortality rate similar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s less a threat than medical malpractice has become an intolerable risk that justifies unlimited harm inflicted on almost everyone .
But not everyone .
Because we are not – as the treacly phrase has it – “ all in this together.
” Some of us – the people who ’ ve imposed the harm on the rest of us – are very much out of this .
Some go about their business uninhibited and unscathed ; these some having the power to declare their business ( and their paychecks ) “ essential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Why is this tolerated ?
If , in fact , we are “ all in this together ” ?
There is a glib congruency between those who urge harm on all for the sake of some .
The people so urging are almost axiomatically people who aren ’ t being harmed , which explains their position nicely .
The politicians and bureaucrats ; the fulsomely “ essential ” workers who continue to get paid while the rest of us continue to bleed .
The big box stores and large corporate retailers .
The @ @ @ @

There are two questions that deserve answers as the “new normal” is imposed on the rest of us by some of us.
The first is: At what point does an asserted risk to some no longer justify the imposition of certain harm on everyone? At least 33 million Americans have been forced out of their jobs and into the poorhouse; every American has had his life diminished, basic freedoms curtailed – his peace of mind assaulted.
Well, not every American. Which brings up the second question:
Car Vacuum, HOTOR Cord... Best Price: $22.48 Buy New $29.97 (as of 11:39 UTC - Details) Why aren’t the some who have imposed open-ended harm on the many required to share in the harm they insist is necessary?
We are told that “people are dying” – and indeed they are. But how did this suddenly become a blank check claim on the lives of everyone else? It is considered unfeeling to make cost-benefit calculations when human lives are at risk but this is nonetheless something we do all the time – without insisting on a zero-risk result, no matter the cost.
Until now.
Suddenly, a virus with a mortality rate similar to that of seasonal flus that’s less a threat than medical malpractice has become an intolerable risk that justifies unlimited harm inflicted on almost everyone.
But not everyone.
Because we are not – as the treacly phrase has it – “all in this together.”
Some of us – the people who’ve imposed the harm on the rest of us – are very much out of this. Some go about their business uninhibited and unscathed; these some having the power to declare their business (and their paychecks) “essential” while simultaneously declaring ours not. Seat Cushion With 3 Le... Best Price: $45.04 Buy New $48.96 (as of 11:39 UTC - Details)
Why is this tolerated?
If, in fact, we are “all in this together”?
There is a glib congruency between those who urge harm on all for the sake of some. The people so urging are almost axiomatically people who aren’t being harmed, which explains their position nicely.
The politicians and bureaucrats; the fulsomely “essential” workers who continue to get paid while the rest of us continue to bleed. The big box stores and large corporate retailers.
Their businesses are open.
Read the Whole Article
The Best of Eric Peters


lewrockwell--2020-05-15--Fauci’s Song and Dance

Fauci’s Song and Dance

Dr. Anthony Fauci has never been muzzled by President Trump , as the lamestream media often charged , but maybe he should have been and should be still .
Before his tour de farce before the Senate Health Committee , the shy , modest , and unassuming Dr. Fauci emailed a New York Times reporter with a preview of his testimony , an apocalypse now prediction if we don ’ t hang on to and follow his sage and expert advice : Dr. Anthony Fauci emailed New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg Monday night with a preview of his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in which he warns of “ needless suffering and death ” if the country opens “ prematurely ” from the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus lockdowns… “ The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely .
If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to : ‘ Open America Again , ’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country .
This will not only result in needless suffering and death , but would actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ return to normal.
” Or we could just sit here and wait for a vaccine that may or may not come and may or may not work while our economy atrophies and people turn to drugs , alcohol , child abuse , domestic violence and even suicide as their nest eggs dreams , livelihoods evaporates .
Many would argue , and I count myself among them , that Fauci ’ s consistently wrong advice using consistently wrong computer models has led to needless suffering and death .
Tucker Carlson on his Fox News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University .
what he thought of Fauci ’ s performance thus far and his assessment was not good : He ’ s a good laboratory virologist .
But you know , in terms of preparing this country , he missed it… For two months from January 15th when we had our first case confirmed walking around in the United States on U.S. oil until March 15th , with the country latching on to every word he says , he never once prepared this country with anything @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
He went on the media every day , on every show .
Never once did we hear , let ’ s get ready with more PPE .
Let ’ s build up our stockpiles .
Let ’ s stop nonessential travel .
Let ’ s get more swabs .
Let ’ s build up capacity with reagents and testing .
So , that was a big miss , and I don ’ t know whether or not to blame him because we all make mistakes , or the entire country putting their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ouch .
His pronouncements have been dangerously and consistently inaccurate , as when he asserted that the coronavirus was nothing to worry about and we should just get on with our lives .
As The Hill reported on January 26 : : Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( NIAID ) , said Sunday the American public shouldn ’ t worry about the coronavirus outbreak in China .
“ It ’ s a very , very low risk to the United States , ” Fauci said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ John Catsimatidis .
“ But it ’ s something that we as public health officials need to take very seriously… It isn ’ t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about.
” Or how about his sage advice on masks and the now-you-need-them now-you-don ’ t flip-flop on CBS ’ “ 60 Minutes ” on March 8 : When it comes to preventing coronavirus , public health officials have been clear : Healthy people do not need to wear a face mask to protect themselves from COVID-19 .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ be walking around with a mask , ” infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes .
While masks may block some droplets , Fauci said , they do not provide the level of protection people think they do .
Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences : People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them , which can spread germs from their hands .
Coronavirus was nothing to worry about .
There was no need to wear face masks .
Fauci has been the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
After he changed his mind and decided that we needed to shut down the world ’ s greatest and booming economy , he did so on the basis of bogus models .

Dr. Anthony Fauci has never been muzzled by President Trump, as the lamestream media often charged, but maybe he should have been and should be still. Before his tour de farce before the Senate Health Committee, the shy, modest, and unassuming Dr. Fauci emailed a New York Times reporter with a preview of his testimony, an apocalypse now prediction if we don’t hang on to and follow his sage and expert advice:
Dr. Anthony Fauci emailed New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg Monday night with a preview of his message for a Senate hearing on Tuesday in which he warns of “needless suffering and death” if the country opens “prematurely” from the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus lockdowns… Stolberg posted Fauci’s message to Twitter: “The major message that I wish to convey to the Senate HLP committee tomorrow is the danger of trying to open the country prematurely. If we skip over the checkpoints in the guidelines to: ‘Open America Again,’ then we risk the danger of multiple outbreaks throughout the country. This will not only result in needless suffering and death, but would actually set us back on our quest to return to normal.”
Trumpocalypse: The End... Anderson, Troy Best Price: $13.90 Buy New $15.99 (as of 04:55 UTC - Details) Or we could just sit here and wait for a vaccine that may or may not come and may or may not work while our economy atrophies and people turn to drugs, alcohol, child abuse, domestic violence and even suicide as their nest eggs dreams, livelihoods evaporates. Many would argue, and I count myself among them, that Fauci’s consistently wrong advice using consistently wrong computer models has led to needless suffering and death.
Tucker Carlson on his Fox News show recently asked Dr. Marty Makary, professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. what he thought of Fauci’s performance thus far and his assessment was not good:
He’s a good laboratory virologist. But you know, in terms of preparing this country, he missed it… For two months from January 15th when we had our first case confirmed walking around in the United States on U.S. oil until March 15th, with the country latching on to every word he says, he never once prepared this country with anything beyond simple hygiene and basic virology lessons. He went on the media every day, on every show. Never once did we hear, let’s get ready with more PPE. Let’s build up our stockpiles. Let’s stop nonessential travel. Let’s get more swabs. Let’s build up capacity with reagents and testing. Germs: Biological Weap... Engelberg, Stephen Best Price: $1.28 Buy New $15.00 (as of 11:40 UTC - Details) So, that was a big miss, and I don’t know whether or not to blame him because we all make mistakes, or the entire country putting their faith and stock in one doctor.
Ouch. His pronouncements have been dangerously and consistently inaccurate, as when he asserted that the coronavirus was nothing to worry about and we should just get on with our lives. As The Hill reported on January 26::
Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said Sunday the American public shouldn’t worry about the coronavirus outbreak in China. “It’s a very, very low risk to the United States,” Fauci said during an interview with radio show host John Catsimatidis. “But it’s something that we as public health officials need to take very seriously… It isn’t something the American public needs to worry about or be frightened about.” Lab 257: The Disturbin... Carroll, Michael C. Best Price: $3.49 Buy New $8.59 (as of 03:25 UTC - Details)
Or how about his sage advice on masks and the now-you-need-them now-you-don’t flip-flop on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on March 8:
When it comes to preventing coronavirus, public health officials have been clear: Healthy people do not need to wear a face mask to protect themselves from COVID-19. “There’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci told 60 Minutes. While masks may block some droplets, Fauci said, they do not provide the level of protection people think they do. Wearing a mask may also have unintended consequences: People who wear masks tend to touch their face more often to adjust them, which can spread germs from their hands.
Coronavirus was nothing to worry about. There was no need to wear face masks. Fauci has been the Pied Piper of economic and medical misinformation. After he changed his mind and decided that we needed to shut down the world’s greatest and booming economy, he did so on the basis of bogus models.
Read the Whole Article


lewrockwell--2020-05-15--Welcome to #Obamagate, Everybody!

Welcome to #Obamagate, Everybody!

The hottest hashtag on Twitter is 12 years in the making , and frankly that ’ s far too late .
But hey , better late than never , right ?
Last week ’ s cascade of revelations that the entire Trump–Russia narrative and Mike Flynn case , among other shenanigans falling out of Washington , D.C. , over the past four years , weren ’ t just garbage but garbage cooked up and spread by the top levels of the Obama administration , to be summed up in one catchy hashtag , has the potential to change American politics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ prosecutions are afoot , and we know indictments are coming .
We know that some of those indictments will be handed down to people with famous names .
We know already that # Obamagate is the correct name for the mess unfolding before us , thanks to the summary of a meeting held on Jan. 5 , 2017 , provided by the former president ’ s National Security Adviser Susan Rice .
The Federalist ’ s Margot Cleveland follows that story : Then came the January 5 , 2017 , meeting in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yates , FBI Director James Comey , CIA Director John Brennan , and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper briefed President Obama , Vice President Joe Biden , and National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Russia-related issues .
Rice later wrote an email to herself on January 20 , 2017 — Trump ’ s inauguration day and her last day in the White House — purporting to summarize that meeting .
“ On January 5 , following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election , ” Rice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office .
Vice President Biden and I were also present.
” According to Rice , “ President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘ by the book.
’ ” But then she added a significant caveat to that “ commitment ” : “ From a national security perspective , however , President Obama said he wants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ engage with the incoming team , we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we can not share information fully as it relates to Russia.
” The next portion of the email is classified , but Rice then noted that “ the President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team .
Comey said he would.
” At the time Obama suggested to Yates and Comey — who were to keep their posts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hold-overs consider withholding information from the incoming administration , Obama knew that President Trump had named Flynn to serve as national security advisor .
Obama also knew there was an ongoing FBI investigation into Flynn premised on Flynn being a Russian agent .
Yet , rather than direct his team to provide the president-elect a briefing on the Russia investigation as it related to Flynn , Obama suggested it would be appropriate to withhold such information from the Trump administration .
That is just what Comey did .
The following day , Comey @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Russian interference efforts during the 2016 campaign , ” and then “ [ a ] fter that briefing , Comey privately briefed Trump on the most salacious and absurd ‘ pee tape ’ allegation in the Christopher Steele dossier.
” Rice ’ s memo puts to bed the question about what Obama knew and when he knew it .
The answers are , obviously , everything and all along .

The hottest hashtag on Twitter is 12 years in the making, and frankly that’s far too late.
But hey, better late than never, right?
Last week’s cascade of revelations that the entire Trump–Russia narrative and Mike Flynn case, among other shenanigans falling out of Washington, D.C., over the past four years, weren’t just garbage but garbage cooked up and spread by the top levels of the Obama administration, to be summed up in one catchy hashtag, has the potential to change American politics in fundamental ways.
We know that prosecutions are afoot, and we know indictments are coming. We know that some of those indictments will be handed down to people with famous names.
America Hijacked: How ... Carlson, S M Buy New $16.46 (as of 03:54 UTC - Details) We know already that #Obamagate is the correct name for the mess unfolding before us, thanks to the summary of a meeting held on Jan. 5, 2017, provided by the former president’s National Security Adviser Susan Rice. The Federalist’s Margot Cleveland follows that story:
Then came the January 5, 2017, meeting in the Oval Office where Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper briefed President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and National Security Advisor Susan Rice on Russia-related issues. Rice later wrote an email to herself on January 20, 2017 — Trump’s inauguration day and her last day in the White House — purporting to summarize that meeting. “On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election,” Rice wrote, “President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.” According to Rice, “President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book.’ ” But then she added a significant caveat to that “commitment”: “From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.” The next portion of the email is classified, but Rice then noted that “the President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would.” The Deep State: How an... Chaffetz, Jason Best Price: $5.03 Buy New $17.05 (as of 02:10 UTC - Details) At the time Obama suggested to Yates and Comey — who were to keep their posts under the Trump administration — that the hold-overs consider withholding information from the incoming administration, Obama knew that President Trump had named Flynn to serve as national security advisor. Obama also knew there was an ongoing FBI investigation into Flynn premised on Flynn being a Russian agent. Yet, rather than direct his team to provide the president-elect a briefing on the Russia investigation as it related to Flynn, Obama suggested it would be appropriate to withhold such information from the Trump administration. That is just what Comey did. The following day, Comey provided “an ostensibly similar briefing about Russian interference efforts during the 2016 campaign,” and then “[a]fter that briefing, Comey privately briefed Trump on the most salacious and absurd ‘pee tape’ allegation in the Christopher Steele dossier.”
Rice’s memo puts to bed the question about what Obama knew and when he knew it. The answers are, obviously, everything and all along.
Read the Whole Article
JUST IMAGINE...: A SEC... Holmes, Dr Joel S Buy New $7.95 (as of 11:28 UTC - Details)


lewrockwell--2020-05-16--Techno-Tyranny: How the US National Security State Is Using Coronavirus To Fulfill an Orwellian Visi

Techno-Tyranny: How the US National Security State Is Using Coronavirus To Fulfill an Orwellian Vision

LAST YEAR , A GOVERNMENT COMMISSION CALLED FOR THE US TO ADOPT AN AI-DRIVEN MASS SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM FAR BEYOND THAT USED IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN ORDER TO ENSURE AMERICAN HEGEMONY IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE .
NOW , MANY OF THE “ OBSTACLES ” THEY HAD CITED AS PREVENTING ITS IMPLEMENTATION ARE RAPIDLY BEING REMOVED UNDER THE GUISE OF COMBATING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS .
Last year , a U.S. government body dedicated to examining how artificial intelligence can “ address the national security and defense needs of the United States ” discussed in detail the “ structural ” changes that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to ensure a technological advantage over China , according to a recent document acquired through a FOIA request .
This document suggests that the U.S. follow China ’ s lead and even surpass them in many aspects related to AI-driven technologies , particularly their use of mass surveillance .
This perspective clearly clashes with the public rhetoric of prominent U.S. government officials and politicians on China , who have labeled the Chinese government ’ s technology investments and export of its surveillance systems and other technologies as a major “ threat ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” AI Superpowers : China , ... Lee , Kai-Fu Best Price : $ 11.99 Buy New $ 14.00 In addition , many of the steps for the implementation of such a program in the U.S. , as laid out in this newly available document , are currently being promoted and implemented as part of the government ’ s response to the current coronavirus ( Covid-19 ) crisis .
This likely due to the fact that many members of this same body have considerable overlap with the taskforces and advisors currently guiding the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economy ” and efforts to use technology to respond to the current crisis .
The FOIA document , obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center ( EPIC ) , was produced by a little-known U.S. government organization called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence ( NSCAI ) .
It was created by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act ( NDAA ) and its official purpose is “ to consider the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence ( AI ) , machine learning , and associated technologies @ @ @ @ @ @ @ defense needs of the United States.
” The NSCAI is a key part of the government ’ s response to what is often referred to as the coming “ fourth industrial revolution , ” which has been described as “ a revolution characterized by discontinuous technological development in areas like artificial intelligence ( AI ) , big data , fifth-generation telecommunications networking ( 5G ) , nanotechnology and biotechnology , robotics , the Internet of Things ( IoT ) , and quantum computing.
” However , their main focus is ensuring that “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advantage in artificial intelligence , machine learning , and other associated technologies related to national security and defense.
” The vice-chair of NSCAI , Robert Work – former Deputy Secretary of Defense and senior fellow at the hawkish Center for a New American Security ( CNAS ) , described the commission ’ s purpose as determining “ how the U.S. national security apparatus should approach artificial intelligence , including a focus on how the government can work with industry to compete with China ’ s ‘ civil-military fusion ’ concept.
” The Age @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Price : $ 19.23 Buy New $ 22.99 The recently released NSCAI document is a May 2019 presentation entitled “ Chinese Tech Landscape Overview.
” Throughout the presentation , the NSCAI promotes the overhaul of the U.S. economy and way of life as necessary for allowing the U.S. to ensure it holds a considerable technological advantage over China , as losing this advantage is currently deemed a major “ national security ” issue by the U.S. national security apparatus .
This concern about maintaining a technological advantage can be seen in several other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , several of which have warned that the U.S. ’ technological advantage is quickly eroding .
The U.S. government and establishment media outlets often blame alleged Chinese espionage or the Chinese government ’ s more explicit partnerships with private technology companies in support of their claim that the U.S. is losing this advantage over China .
For instance , Chris Darby , the current CEO of the CIA ’ s In-Q-Tel , who is also on the NSCAI , told CBS News last year that China is the U.S. ’ main competitor in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ laws were hampering the U.S. ’ capacity to counter China in this regard , stating that : In another example , Michael Dempsey – former acting Director of National Intelligence and currently a government-funded fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations – argued in The Hill that : Zucked : Waking Up to t ... McNamee , Roger Best Price : $ 11.95 Buy New $ 12.25 In fact , the national security apparatus of the United States is so concerned about losing a technological edge over China that the Pentagon recently decided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ intelligence community in order “ to get in front of Chinese advances in artificial intelligence.
” This union resulted in the creation of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center ( JAIC ) , which ties together “ the military ’ s efforts with those of the Intelligence Community , allowing them to combine efforts in a breakneck push to move government ’ s AI initiatives forward.
” It also coordinates with other government agencies , industry , academics , and U.S. allies .
Robert Work , who subsequently became the NSCAI vice-chair , said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ creation was a “ welcome first step in response to Chinese , and to a lesser extent , Russian , plans to dominate these technologies.
” Similar concerns about “ losing ” technological advantage to China have also been voiced by the NSCAI chairman , Eric Schmidt , the former head of Alphabet – Google ’ s parent company , who argued in February in the New York Times that Silicon Valley could soon lose “ the technology wars ” to China if the U.S. government doesn ’ t take action .
Thus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the NSCAI – the intelligence community , the Pentagon and Silicon Valley – all view China ’ s advancements in AI as a major national security threat ( and in Silicon Valley ’ s case , threat to their bottom lines and market shares ) that must be tackled quickly .

LAST YEAR, A GOVERNMENT COMMISSION CALLED FOR THE US TO ADOPT AN AI-DRIVEN MASS SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM FAR BEYOND THAT USED IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN ORDER TO ENSURE AMERICAN HEGEMONY IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. NOW, MANY OF THE “OBSTACLES” THEY HAD CITED AS PREVENTING ITS IMPLEMENTATION ARE RAPIDLY BEING REMOVED UNDER THE GUISE OF COMBATING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS.
Last year, a U.S. government body dedicated to examining how artificial intelligence can “address the national security and defense needs of the United States” discussed in detail the “structural” changes that the American economy and society must undergo in order to ensure a technological advantage over China, according to a recent document acquired through a FOIA request. This document suggests that the U.S. follow China’s lead and even surpass them in many aspects related to AI-driven technologies, particularly their use of mass surveillance. This perspective clearly clashes with the public rhetoric of prominent U.S. government officials and politicians on China, who have labeled the Chinese government’s technology investments and export of its surveillance systems and other technologies as a major “threat” to Americans’ “way of life.”
AI Superpowers: China,... Lee, Kai-Fu Best Price: $11.99 Buy New $14.00 (as of 04:40 UTC - Details) In addition, many of the steps for the implementation of such a program in the U.S., as laid out in this newly available document, are currently being promoted and implemented as part of the government’s response to the current coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis. This likely due to the fact that many members of this same body have considerable overlap with the taskforces and advisors currently guiding the government’s plans to “re-open the economy” and efforts to use technology to respond to the current crisis.
The FOIA document, obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), was produced by a little-known U.S. government organization called the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI). It was created by the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and its official purpose is “to consider the methods and means necessary to advance the development of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and associated technologies to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States.”
The NSCAI is a key part of the government’s response to what is often referred to as the coming “fourth industrial revolution,” which has been described as “a revolution characterized by discontinuous technological development in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), big data, fifth-generation telecommunications networking (5G), nanotechnology and biotechnology, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and quantum computing.”
However, their main focus is ensuring that “the United States … maintain a technological advantage in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other associated technologies related to national security and defense.” The vice-chair of NSCAI, Robert Work – former Deputy Secretary of Defense and senior fellow at the hawkish Center for a New American Security (CNAS), described the commission’s purpose as determining “how the U.S. national security apparatus should approach artificial intelligence, including a focus on how the government can work with industry to compete with China’s ‘civil-military fusion’ concept.”
The Age of Surveillanc... Zuboff, Shoshana Best Price: $19.23 Buy New $22.99 (as of 04:40 UTC - Details) The recently released NSCAI document is a May 2019 presentation entitled “Chinese Tech Landscape Overview.” Throughout the presentation, the NSCAI promotes the overhaul of the U.S. economy and way of life as necessary for allowing the U.S. to ensure it holds a considerable technological advantage over China, as losing this advantage is currently deemed a major “national security” issue by the U.S. national security apparatus. This concern about maintaining a technological advantage can be seen in several other U.S. military documents and think tank reports, several of which have warned that the U.S.’ technological advantage is quickly eroding.
The U.S. government and establishment media outlets often blame alleged Chinese espionage or the Chinese government’s more explicit partnerships with private technology companies in support of their claim that the U.S. is losing this advantage over China. For instance, Chris Darby, the current CEO of the CIA’s In-Q-Tel, who is also on the NSCAI, told CBS News last year that China is the U.S.’ main competitor in terms of technology and that U.S. privacy laws were hampering the U.S.’ capacity to counter China in this regard, stating that:
“[D]ata is the new oil. And China is just awash with data. And they don’t have the same restraints that we do around collecting it and using it, because of the privacy difference between our countries. This notion that they have the largest labeled data set in the world is going to be a huge strength for them.”
In another example, Michael Dempsey – former acting Director of National Intelligence and currently a government-funded fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations – argued in The Hill that: Zucked: Waking Up to t... McNamee, Roger Best Price: $11.95 Buy New $12.25 (as of 04:40 UTC - Details)
“It’s quite clear, though, that China is determined to erase our technological advantage, and is committing hundreds of billions of dollars to this effort. In particular, China is determined to be a world leader in such areas as artificial intelligence, high performance computing, and synthetic biology. These are the industries that will shape life on the planet and the military balance of power for the next several decades.”
In fact, the national security apparatus of the United States is so concerned about losing a technological edge over China that the Pentagon recently decided to join forces directly with the U.S. intelligence community in order “to get in front of Chinese advances in artificial intelligence.” This union resulted in the creation of the Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC), which ties together “the military’s efforts with those of the Intelligence Community, allowing them to combine efforts in a breakneck push to move government’s AI initiatives forward.” It also coordinates with other government agencies, industry, academics, and U.S. allies. Robert Work, who subsequently became the NSCAI vice-chair, said at the time that JAIC’s creation was a “welcome first step in response to Chinese, and to a lesser extent, Russian, plans to dominate these technologies.”
Similar concerns about “losing” technological advantage to China have also been voiced by the NSCAI chairman, Eric Schmidt, the former head of Alphabet – Google’s parent company, who argued in February in the New York Times that Silicon Valley could soon lose “the technology wars” to China if the U.S. government doesn’t take action. Thus, the three main groups represented within the NSCAI – the intelligence community, the Pentagon and Silicon Valley – all view China’s advancements in AI as a major national security threat (and in Silicon Valley’s case, threat to their bottom lines and market shares) that must be tackled quickly.
Read the Whole Article


The Online Double-Bind

The trap was set at least twenty-five years ago and the mice jumped at the smell of the cheese .
I am referring to the introduction of the computer as a mass necessity and the Internet that followed .
I was slow to enter the trap , “ forced ” finally in 2007 by the college where I was teaching .
Up to that point I was just a member of The Lead Pencil Club , whose motto was “ a speed bump on the information superhighway ” and whose membership list numbered twenty-three and a half people worldwide .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the cheese , the trap snapped not on my neck to finish me , but on my head that was half in and half out .
The out part kept thinking .
What follows are that half-head ’ s musings on why I didn ’ t follow my intuition , the whole damn sorry situation we are all in , and what we might do to spring the trap and run free .
I don ’ t like this trapped feeling .
And , by the way , the cheese was American , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In 1960 the sociologist C. Wright Mills said that there was far too much information for people to assimilate and make sense of and that lucid summations were needed .
He was echoing Thoreau who in 1854 said , “ If you are acquainted with the principle , what do you care for a myriad instances and applications ?
” Mills said people needed to develop what he called the sociological imagination that would allow them to condense and simplify news and to connect personal and social matters within historical and structural contexts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Wright Best Price : $ 6.00 Buy New $ 12.72 That was the long-lost era of newspapers , long-form paper magazines , the reading of books , and minimal television stations .
To think that there was far too much information then can only make one laugh , now that the digital revolution has buried us in data , information , and “ breaking news ” at warp speed , usually contradictory and lacking context .
The internet has literally made people crazy , created schizoid or split personalities who don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or what world they are in , physical or virtual .
This is the era of social schizophrenia .
It is also the era of Covid-19 lockdowns when a far greater online life is promoted as the necessary future .
If people once felt that all the information was too confusing and they were ending up thinking and doing things ass-backwards as a result , back then they might have understood it if you told them that the only way you can do anything is ass-backwards .
Today , many would probably greet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they googled it to see if there was a way to swivel their asses to the front to get adjusted to the way they feel while waiting online for clear directions to emerge .
Which way does an ass go ?
They will be waiting for a long , long time .
The Internet is a double-bind because we are damned if we do and damned if we don ’ t .
News , writing , and information of all sorts is now often not available any other way .
The era of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This was meant to be .
Other sources of fact and fiction have gradually been eliminated , while the content on the Internet has been dramatically increased and progressively censored .
The dream of an open Internet is turning into a nightmare .
If you look at the Internet ’ s creation and development by the U.S. military-intelligence-Silicon Valley network as a tool for social control , propaganda , and total spying , if you grasp this nexus and their intentions , you will come away realizing that the Internet and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tool designed to make you crazy .
To sow confusion and endless contradictory information from minute to minute .
To “ flood the zone ” ( see Event 201 ) with propaganda and disinformation .
To give you a headache , keep you agitated , and destroy your genuine human experience in the physical world .
To put you into a state of frenetic passivity while whispering in your ear that there is no escape , while allowing elements of truth to emerge to keep you addicted .
The Technological Society Jacques Ellul @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 9.99 This is the double-bind .
It is what Jacques Ellul in 1964 called the technological society that is ruled by technique in every aspect of its life .
Technique is a way of thinking that emphasizes efficiency ; it is a way of thinking that emphasizes order and standardized means to a predetermined end .
It is rational , deliberate , and focused on results .
It is a way of thinking that has penetrated deep into the psychic structures of society and opposes spontaneity and unreflective action .
Machines grow @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the computer , the internet , and artificial intelligence are the ideal manifestations of such thinking .
They are the result , not the cause .
As such , digital technology satisfies the technical mindsets that have been created over the decades , which includes regular people who have been gradually softened up to believe these machine dreams .
Efficiency , results , practicality , and speed .
The human body as a wonderful machine .
We have all been so conditioned , even those of us old enough to have lived before @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the early 1990s with the rat-a-tat electronic frenzy of the U.S. televised aggressive war against Iraq , euphemistically called the Gulf War and presented live with round-the-clock television coverage by ghoulish announcers more excited than 13-year-old boys with a porn magazine , the speed of everyday life has increased .
If you lived through those years and were sensitive to the social drift , you could feel the pace of life pick up year-to-year , as everyone was induced to get in the fast lane .
On the information superhighway , it is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a French thinker , has focused on this issue of speed in his studies of dromology , from dromos : a race , running .
While his language is perhaps too academic , his insights are profound , as with the following point : Speed and Politics ( Se ... Virilio , Paul Best Price : $ 5.58 Buy New $ 2.99 This is the world of teleconferencing and the online life , existence shorn of physical space and time and people .
A world where shaking hands is a dissident act .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and images that can appear and disappear in a nanosecond .
A magic show .
A place where , in the words of Charles Manson , you can “ get the fear , ” where fear is king .
A locus where , as we sit at home “ sheltering in place , ” we are no longer there .
Ernest Hemingway sniffed the future when in The Sun Also Rises , he has the protagonist Jake Barnes say no to Robert Cohn , who wants him to travel to South America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ All countries look like the moving pictures.
” That was 1926 .
Things have changed a wee bit since then .
But the essence of propaganda and social control remains the same .
“ All those people who seek to control the behavior of large numbers of other people work on the experiences of those other people , ” wrote R.D .
Laing , in The Politics of Experience .
“ Once people can be induced to experience a situation in a similar way , they can be expected to behave in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people can be convinced that a social construction – e.g .
the Internet and the digital life – is part of “ the natural order of things , ” like the air we breathe .
And that life online is real life , better and more real than physical existence .
I believe the digital revolution has gone a long way toward destroying our experience as persons .
It is the endless magical mystery tour that goes nowhere .
It is the ultimate psychodrama conjured by a satanic magician .
Do I exaggerate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the spell this medium has cast on billions of people worldwide ?
Did the human race suddenly get smart ?
Or are many more people crazy ?
I ask myself this question , and now I ask you .
Has the Internet and the devices to access it made your life better or worse ?
Has it made the life of humanity better or worse ?
Has its essential role in globalization made for a better world ?
Obviously , there are pluses to the Internet , just as there are pluses to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deny that .
The plus side of death is that the thought of it reminds you that you are alive .
The plus side of television is you don ’ t have to turn it on .
Like you , I could rattle off many good things about the Internet ( not cell phones , sorry ) .
But on the scale of good and bad , where do you come down ?
Where do I ?
The Sun Also Rises : Th ... Hemingway , Ernest Best Price : $ 9.99 Buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we can ’ t decide because we are too conflicted and caught in a double-bind ?
I am of two minds , or more accurately , two half-heads .
The upper part , pinned in the trap and dead to my situation , can only answer yes , sir , now that I am trapped , my life is better .
I can debate endlessly the minutiae of every issue thrown out like pieces of meat for caged lions .
I can check the weather forecast for every hour of every day of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they will probably be wrong .
I can get directions even though I know you don ’ t need a director to know which way the roads go .
I can research issues quickly and pontificate as if I were an expert on every matter from a to z. I can feel I am informed while feeling deformed by the contradictory information that appears and disappears every few minutes .
Essentially , I can feel in-touch and worthy of respect from friends and neighbors because I can exchange empty words with them about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ normal and rejoice in that .
I can feel sane .
On the negative side , well , my lower half-head , the one that ’ s still thinking lead-pencil thoughts , the slow and easy stuff , the calm cool breeze oh what a lovely day dreams – you don ’ t really need to hear what it has to bitch about the Internet .
You can probably guess .
In a fine article , “ Vicious Cycles : Theses on a philosophy of news , ” in Harper ’ s Magazine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our addiction to so-called “ news ” ( the Internet ) : The Best of Edward Curtin

The trap was set at least twenty-five years ago and the mice jumped at the smell of the cheese. I am referring to the introduction of the computer as a mass necessity and the Internet that followed. I was slow to enter the trap, “forced” finally in 2007 by the college where I was teaching. Up to that point I was just a member of The Lead Pencil Club, whose motto was “a speed bump on the information superhighway” and whose membership list numbered twenty-three and a half people worldwide. When I slowly and reluctantly reached for the cheese, the trap snapped not on my neck to finish me, but on my head that was half in and half out. The out part kept thinking. What follows are that half-head’s musings on why I didn’t follow my intuition, the whole damn sorry situation we are all in, and what we might do to spring the trap and run free. I don’t like this trapped feeling. And, by the way, the cheese was American, which is not exactly real cheese.
In 1960 the sociologist C. Wright Mills said that there was far too much information for people to assimilate and make sense of and that lucid summations were needed. He was echoing Thoreau who in 1854 said, “If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” Mills said people needed to develop what he called the sociological imagination that would allow them to condense and simplify news and to connect personal and social matters within historical and structural contexts. The Power Elite Mills, C. Wright Best Price: $6.00 Buy New $12.72 (as of 12:35 UTC - Details)
That was the long-lost era of newspapers, long-form paper magazines, the reading of books, and minimal television stations. To think that there was far too much information then can only make one laugh, now that the digital revolution has buried us in data, information, and “breaking news” at warp speed, usually contradictory and lacking context. The internet has literally made people crazy, created schizoid or split personalities who don’t know whether they are coming or going or what world they are in, physical or virtual. This is the era of social schizophrenia. It is also the era of Covid-19 lockdowns when a far greater online life is promoted as the necessary future.
If people once felt that all the information was too confusing and they were ending up thinking and doing things ass-backwards as a result, back then they might have understood it if you told them that the only way you can do anything is ass-backwards. Today, many would probably greet you with a look of bewilderment as they googled it to see if there was a way to swivel their asses to the front to get adjusted to the way they feel while waiting online for clear directions to emerge. Which way does an ass go?
They will be waiting for a long, long time.
The Internet is a double-bind because we are damned if we do and damned if we don’t. News, writing, and information of all sorts is now often not available any other way. The era of paper newspapers is coming to an end. This was meant to be. Other sources of fact and fiction have gradually been eliminated, while the content on the Internet has been dramatically increased and progressively censored. The dream of an open Internet is turning into a nightmare. If you look at the Internet’s creation and development by the U.S. military-intelligence-Silicon Valley network as a tool for social control, propaganda, and total spying, if you grasp this nexus and their intentions, you will come away realizing that the Internet and the total integrated digital world is a dystopian tool designed to make you crazy. To sow confusion and endless contradictory information from minute to minute. To “flood the zone” (see Event 201) with propaganda and disinformation. To give you a headache, keep you agitated, and destroy your genuine human experience in the physical world. To put you into a state of frenetic passivity while whispering in your ear that there is no escape, while allowing elements of truth to emerge to keep you addicted. The Technological Society Jacques Ellul Best Price: $6.50 Buy New $9.99 (as of 12:52 UTC - Details)
This is the double-bind. It is what Jacques Ellul in 1964 called the technological society that is ruled by technique in every aspect of its life. Technique is a way of thinking that emphasizes efficiency; it is a way of thinking that emphasizes order and standardized means to a predetermined end. It is rational, deliberate, and focused on results. It is a way of thinking that has penetrated deep into the psychic structures of society and opposes spontaneity and unreflective action. Machines grow out of technical thinking, and today the computer, the internet, and artificial intelligence are the ideal manifestations of such thinking. They are the result, not the cause. As such, digital technology satisfies the technical mindsets that have been created over the decades, which includes regular people who have been gradually softened up to believe these machine dreams. Efficiency, results, practicality, and speed. The human body as a wonderful machine.
We have all been so conditioned, even those of us old enough to have lived before the computer era. Starting particularly in the early 1990s with the rat-a-tat electronic frenzy of the U.S. televised aggressive war against Iraq, euphemistically called the Gulf War and presented live with round-the-clock television coverage by ghoulish announcers more excited than 13-year-old boys with a porn magazine, the speed of everyday life has increased. If you lived through those years and were sensitive to the social drift, you could feel the pace of life pick up year-to-year, as everyone was induced to get in the fast lane. On the information superhighway, it is the only lane. Paul Virilio, a French thinker, has focused on this issue of speed in his studies of dromology, from dromos: a race, running. While his language is perhaps too academic, his insights are profound, as with the following point:
The speed of the new optoelectronic and electroacoustic milieu becomes the final void (the void of the quick), a vacuum that no longer depends on the interval between places or things and so on the world’s extension, but on the interface of an instantaneous transmission of remote appearances, on a geographic and geometric retention in which all volume, all relief vanishes.
Speed and Politics (Se... Virilio, Paul Best Price: $5.58 Buy New $2.99 (as of 01:25 UTC - Details) This is the world of teleconferencing and the online life, existence shorn of physical space and time and people. A world where shaking hands is a dissident act. A haunted world of specters, words, and images that can appear and disappear in a nanosecond. A magic show. A place where, in the words of Charles Manson, you can “get the fear,” where fear is king. A locus where, as we sit at home “sheltering in place,” we are no longer there. Ernest Hemingway sniffed the future when in The Sun Also Rises, he has the protagonist Jake Barnes say no to Robert Cohn, who wants him to travel to South America with him, with these words: “All countries look like the moving pictures.” That was 1926.
Things have changed a wee bit since then. But the essence of propaganda and social control remains the same. “All those people who seek to control the behavior of large numbers of other people work on the experiences of those other people,” wrote R.D. Laing, in The Politics of Experience. “Once people can be induced to experience a situation in a similar way, they can be expected to behave in similar ways.” Mystification takes place when people can be convinced that a social construction – e.g. the Internet and the digital life – is part of “the natural order of things,” like the air we breathe. And that life online is real life, better and more real than physical existence.
I believe the digital revolution has gone a long way toward destroying our experience as persons. It is the endless magical mystery tour that goes nowhere. It is the ultimate psychodrama conjured by a satanic magician.
Do I exaggerate? Perhaps. But how else explain the spell this medium has cast on billions of people worldwide? Did the human race suddenly get smart? Or are many more people crazy?
I ask myself this question, and now I ask you. Has the Internet and the devices to access it made your life better or worse? Has it made the life of humanity better or worse? Has its essential role in globalization made for a better world?
Obviously, there are pluses to the Internet, just as there are pluses to almost everything. I don’t deny that. The plus side of death is that the thought of it reminds you that you are alive. The plus side of television is you don’t have to turn it on. Like you, I could rattle off many good things about the Internet (not cell phones, sorry). But on the scale of good and bad, where do you come down? Where do I? The Sun Also Rises: Th... Hemingway, Ernest Best Price: $9.99 Buy New $11.67 (as of 04:41 UTC - Details)
Or is it possible we can’t decide because we are too conflicted and caught in a double-bind?
I am of two minds, or more accurately, two half-heads. The upper part, pinned in the trap and dead to my situation, can only answer yes, sir, now that I am trapped, my life is better. I can debate endlessly the minutiae of every issue thrown out like pieces of meat for caged lions. I can check the weather forecast for every hour of every day of the week, even though I know they will probably be wrong. I can get directions even though I know you don’t need a director to know which way the roads go. I can research issues quickly and pontificate as if I were an expert on every matter from a to z. I can feel I am informed while feeling deformed by the contradictory information that appears and disappears every few minutes. Essentially, I can feel in-touch and worthy of respect from friends and neighbors because I can exchange empty words with them about nothing. I can feel so very normal and rejoice in that. I can feel sane.
On the negative side, well, my lower half-head, the one that’s still thinking lead-pencil thoughts, the slow and easy stuff, the calm cool breeze oh what a lovely day dreams – you don’t really need to hear what it has to bitch about the Internet. You can probably guess.
In a fine article, “Vicious Cycles: Theses on a philosophy of news,” in Harper’s Magazine, Greg Jackson writes the following about our addiction to so-called “news” (the Internet):
When we turn away from the news, we will confront a startling loneliness. It is the loneliness of life. The loneliness of thinking, of having no one to think for us, and of uncertainty. It is a loneliness that was always there but that was obscured by an illusion, and we will miss the illusion…. And we will miss tuning in each day to hear that voice that cuts boredom and loneliness in its solution of the present tense, that like Scheherazade assures us the story is still unfolding and always will be. I don’t know whether we can give it up.
Nor do I.
Reprinted with the author’s permission.
The Best of Edward Curtin


lewrockwell--2020-05-16--The School Closures Are a Big Threat to the Power of Public Schools

Twenty twenty is likely to be a watershed year in the history of public schooling .
And things aren ’ t looking good for the public schools .
For decades , we ’ ve been fed a near-daily diet of claims that public schooling is one of the most important—if not the most important—institutions in America .
We ’ re also told that there ’ s not nearly enough of it , and this leads to demands for longer school hours , longer school years , and ever larger amounts of money spent on more facilities and more tech .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the panic over COVID-19 , it was gone .
It turns out that public schooling wasn ’ t actually all that important after all , and that extending the lives of the over-seventy demographic takes precedence .
Classical vs. Modern E ... Turley , Dr. Steve Best Price : $ 13.27 Buy New $ 19.50 Yes , the schools have tried to keep up the ruse that students are all diligently doing their school work at home , but by late April it was already apparent that the old model of “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t working .
In some places , class participation has collapsed by 60 percent , as students simply aren ’ t showing up for the virtual lessons .
The political repercussions of all this will be sizable .
Ironically , public schools have essentially ditched lower-income families almost completely even though school district bureaucrats have long based the political legitimacy of public schools on the idea that they are an essential resource for low-income students .
So as long as the physical schools remain closed , this claim will become increasingly unconvincing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public schooling simply doesn ’ t work for these families , since lower-income households are more likely to depend on both parents ’ incomes and parents may have less flexible job schedules .
This means less time for parents to make sure little Sally logs on to her virtual classes .
Many lower-income households don ’ t even have internet access or computing equipment beyond their smartphones .
Only 56 percent of households with incomes under $ 30,000 have access to broadband internet .
Nonetheless , working-class and lower-income parents are likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they open again .
Many believe they have no other choice .
The Triumph of Tradition Turley , Dr. Steve Best Price : $ 10.21 Buy New $ 14.95 Attitudes among the middle classes will be a little different , however , and may be more politically damaging to the future of the public schools .
Like their lower-income counterparts , middle class parents have long been happy to take advantage of the schools as a child-care service .
But the non-educational amenities didn ’ t stop there .
Middle-class parents especially have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dollars spent on school music programs , school sports , and other extracurriculars were all absolutely essential to student success .
Sports provided an important social function for both the students and the larger community .
But as the list of amenities we once associated with schooling gets shorter and shorter , households at all income levels will start to wonder what exactly they ’ re paying for .
Stripped of the non-academic side of things , public schools now must sell themselves only as providers of academic skills .
Many parents are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this will be all the more true for middle class families where the parents are able to readily adopt homeschooling as a real substitute .
The households that do have the infrastructure to do this are now far more likely to conclude that they simply don ’ t need the public schools much of the time .
There are now so many resources provided for free outside the schools—such as Khan Academy , to just name one—that those who are already savvy with online informational resources will quickly understand that the schools aren @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this , many parents who were on autopilot in terms of assuming they were getting their money ’ s worth may suddenly be realizing that public schools—even when they were physically open—weren ’ t that much of a bargain after all .
As Gary North recently observed , The New Nationalism : H ... Turley , Dr. Steve Best Price : $ 15.28 Buy New $ 14.95 Many parents may not like what they see , and as many increasingly take on the job of providing in-person instruction , school teachers won ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trained heroes they have long claimed to be .
With the image of schools as indispensable social institutions quickly fading , the political advantage they have long enjoyed will rapidly disappear as well .
It wasn ’ t long ago that schools could go back to the taxpayers again and again with with demands for more money , more resources , and higher salaries .
Teacher unions endlessly lectured the taxpayers about how getting your child into a classroom with one of their teachers was of the utmost importance .
Voters , regardless @ @ @ @ @ @ @ often amendable to the idea .
That narrative is already greatly in danger , and the longer the COVID-19 panic ensures that schools remain closed , the more distant the memory of the old narrative will become .
As school budgets contract , school districts from Las Vegas to Denver and across the nation are bracing for furloughs and layoffs .
The Abolition of Sanit ... Turley , Dr. Steve Best Price : $ 9.01 Buy New $ 7.95 With smaller staff , fewer teachers , and smaller budgets , expect virtual public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and less rewarding and engaging for students .
What Will Things Look like This Fall ?
Even if schools open this fall , the reforms currently being pushed will ensure that schools continue to lack many of the amenities many have come to expect .
If these reforms are adopted , students can forget about social events .
They can expect shorter school days , and an ongoing role for online schooling .
Team sports will be gone .
Old notions of universal mandatory attendance and long days will seem increasingly quaint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ For many parents , this will just reinforce their growing suspicions that public schools just aren ’ t worth it anymore .
Maybe they never were .
Note : The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute .
The Best of Ryan McMaken

Twenty twenty is likely to be a watershed year in the history of public schooling. And things aren’t looking good for the public schools.
For decades, we’ve been fed a near-daily diet of claims that public schooling is one of the most important—if not the most important—institutions in America. We’re also told that there’s not nearly enough of it, and this leads to demands for longer school hours, longer school years, and ever larger amounts of money spent on more facilities and more tech.
And then, all of sudden, with the panic over COVID-19, it was gone.
It turns out that public schooling wasn’t actually all that important after all, and that extending the lives of the over-seventy demographic takes precedence. Classical vs. Modern E... Turley, Dr. Steve Best Price: $13.27 Buy New $19.50 (as of 04:42 UTC - Details)
Yes, the schools have tried to keep up the ruse that students are all diligently doing their school work at home, but by late April it was already apparent that the old model of “doing public school” via internet isn’t working. In some places, class participation has collapsed by 60 percent, as students simply aren’t showing up for the virtual lessons.
The political repercussions of all this will be sizable.
Changing Attitudes among the Middle Classes
Ironically, public schools have essentially ditched lower-income families almost completely even though school district bureaucrats have long based the political legitimacy of public schools on the idea that they are an essential resource for low-income students. So as long as the physical schools remain closed, this claim will become increasingly unconvincing. After all, “virtual” public schooling simply doesn’t work for these families, since lower-income households are more likely to depend on both parents’ incomes and parents may have less flexible job schedules. This means less time for parents to make sure little Sally logs on to her virtual classes. Many lower-income households don’t even have internet access or computing equipment beyond their smartphones. Only 56 percent of households with incomes under $30,000 have access to broadband internet.
Nonetheless, working-class and lower-income parents are likely to return their children to the schools when they open again. Many believe they have no other choice.
The Triumph of Tradition Turley, Dr. Steve Best Price: $10.21 Buy New $14.95 (as of 04:42 UTC - Details) Attitudes among the middle classes will be a little different, however, and may be more politically damaging to the future of the public schools.
Like their lower-income counterparts, middle class parents have long been happy to take advantage of the schools as a child-care service. But the non-educational amenities didn’t stop there. Middle-class parents especially have long embraced the idea that billions of dollars spent on school music programs, school sports, and other extracurriculars were all absolutely essential to student success. Sports provided an important social function for both the students and the larger community.
But as the list of amenities we once associated with schooling gets shorter and shorter, households at all income levels will start to wonder what exactly they’re paying for.
Stripped of the non-academic side of things, public schools now must sell themselves only as providers of academic skills. Many parents are likely to be left unimpressed, and this will be all the more true for middle class families where the parents are able to readily adopt homeschooling as a real substitute. The households that do have the infrastructure to do this are now far more likely to conclude that they simply don’t need the public schools much of the time. There are now so many resources provided for free outside the schools—such as Khan Academy, to just name one—that those who are already savvy with online informational resources will quickly understand that the schools aren’t essential.
In addition to this, many parents who were on autopilot in terms of assuming they were getting their money’s worth may suddenly be realizing that public schools—even when they were physically open—weren’t that much of a bargain after all. As Gary North recently observed, The New Nationalism: H... Turley, Dr. Steve Best Price: $15.28 Buy New $14.95 (as of 04:42 UTC - Details)
For the first time, parents can see exactly what is being taught to their children. They can see the quality of the teachers. They can learn about the content of the educational materials.
Many parents may not like what they see, and as many increasingly take on the job of providing in-person instruction, school teachers won’t look quite like like the highly trained heroes they have long claimed to be.
Budget Cuts
With the image of schools as indispensable social institutions quickly fading, the political advantage they have long enjoyed will rapidly disappear as well. It wasn’t long ago that schools could go back to the taxpayers again and again with with demands for more money, more resources, and higher salaries. Teacher unions endlessly lectured the taxpayers about how getting your child into a classroom with one of their teachers was of the utmost importance. Voters, regardless of political ideology or party, were often amendable to the idea.
That narrative is already greatly in danger, and the longer the COVID-19 panic ensures that schools remain closed, the more distant the memory of the old narrative will become. As school budgets contract, school districts from Las Vegas to Denver and across the nation are bracing for furloughs and layoffs. The Abolition of Sanit... Turley, Dr. Steve Best Price: $9.01 Buy New $7.95 (as of 04:42 UTC - Details)
With smaller staff, fewer teachers, and smaller budgets, expect virtual public learning to become even more bare bones, and less rewarding and engaging for students.
What Will Things Look like This Fall?
Even if schools open this fall, the reforms currently being pushed will ensure that schools continue to lack many of the amenities many have come to expect. If these reforms are adopted, students can forget about social events. They can expect shorter school days, and an ongoing role for online schooling. Team sports will be gone. Old notions of universal mandatory attendance and long days will seem increasingly quaint and old fashioned—or possibly even dangerous.
For many parents, this will just reinforce their growing suspicions that public schools just aren’t worth it anymore. Maybe they never were.
Note: The views expressed on Mises.org are not necessarily those of the Mises Institute.
The Best of Ryan McMaken


lewrockwell--2020-05-16--Your Facebook Friends Are Wrong About the Lockdown

If you prefer to resume living a normal life , or not see everything you ’ ve spent decades building destroyed in a matter of months , or your children not to waste away in a world of computer screens and “ virtual playdates , ” you must want to kill people ’ s grandmothers .
That ’ s what millions of your fellow Americans think .
Take a glance at social media .
Fact-free hysteria , and accusations of murder , are everywhere .
I myself was initially very concerned about COVID-19 , and my Twitter feed bears this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and I think vulnerable people should take sensible steps to protect themselves .
But when I observed how people I now call the Doomers conducted themselves , I began to wonder : if this is such a home-run case , why are they acting like this ?
How the Catholic Churc ... Thomas E. Woods Best Price : $ 8.00 Buy New $ 9.06 Wild , exaggerated predictions carried the day .
In Florida , my state , we were told we ’ d have 465,000 hospitalizations by the end of April .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ closed down the state two weeks later than the Doomers wanted , so they predicted piles of corpses .
These never materialized .
What modest numbers have been seen in Florida have been concentrated overwhelmingly in just three of the state ’ s 67 counties .
Then I noticed that good news from around the world was greeted almost angrily .
I have never seen anything like this .
It ’ s as if some people need the virus to be an apocalyptic problem .
I would ask questions and get curt answers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ d be told .
Then , I was assured , I would see that some country or state that hadn ’ t joined the lockdown cult would get what was coming to it .
Piles of corpses were supposed to appear in Japan .
Just wait two weeks , they said , and Japan will get what ’ s coming to it for not taking our advice .
You ’ ll see !
Then it was , “ Oh , the Japanese wear masks and wash their hands , ” etc @ @ @ @ @ @ @ knew they did these things before you made the ghoulish predictions .
What ’ s so hard about admitting : we ’ re not entirely sure what ’ s going on here ?
And although the news we ’ ve been hearing about declining cases in Georgia and Florida , which have been reopening , is good , “ cases ” are not primarily what should concern us .
The more we test , the more “ cases ” we find .
The point is , most “ cases ” wind up amounting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 800 “ cases ” at that South Dakota meat packing plant , and so far over 800 recoveries .
In March we got lurid reports of a doubling of “ cases ” in Hong Kong .
We ’ d better wait two weeks !
Piles of corpses !
Eight weeks later , zero additional deaths .
Meanwhile , the lockdowns are having horrific consequences on a scale most people do not realize , but which I describe in a free eBook I ’ ve just released , called Your Facebook Friends Are Wrong @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s Guide to COVID-19 .
And interestingly enough , if you plot the timing of the lockdowns in the various states against their health outcomes , the result is completely random .
More on that in the book .
Like most people , I am all for taking reasonable precautions and keeping an eye on the virus .
And we can discuss which methods more effectively preserve biological life .
But is mere biological life worth living ?
This is not a question the “ experts ” are qualified to answer .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Best Price : $ 1.51 Buy New $ 8.71 If people ’ s hopes , dreams , and aspirations are all dashed for an indefinite period of time , which purveyors of the present strategy almost flippantly propose , is that really living ?
“ Probably no large gatherings for a long time , ” we ’ ve been told .
How long ?
And what are “ large gatherings ” ?
Oh , just concerts , theater , lectures , church , sporting events , the arts in general – pretty much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The kind of “ life ” all this portends has a pulse , yes , but no soul .
If I may dwell on the “ large gatherings ” issue for a moment : for anyone who performs in front of an audience – dancers , musicians , comedians , magicians , athletes , singers , actors , whatever – the present pandemic strategy means your hopes and dreams are on indefinite hold , and may never be able to be fulfilled .
Dr. Zeke Emanuel of the ironically named Center for American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on lockdown for 18 months until there ’ s a vaccine ( as if that ’ s a guarantee , or the vaccine is effective , etc. )
.
He says : We have to be realistic , Emanuel urges us , and accept that we will be giving up cherished things for a long time , “ things like schooling and income and contact with our friends and extended family.
” You read that right .
Good-Bye Germ Theory : ... Trebing , Dr. William P Best Price : $ 36.69 Buy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ income and contact with our friends and extended family .
The response , meanwhile , has proceeded as if everyone were equally at risk .
But the extraordinary thing about this virus , an aspect we had no right to expect but which should be helping us devise an appropriate response , is that it takes a particular toll on the elderly .
The fact remains : more people over age 100 than under age 30 have died .
According to Neil Ferguson , the principal architect of the major UK model of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of all people dying from COVID-19 would have died within a matter of months even in the absence of the virus .
So how about , instead of fruitlessly trying to distribute millions of “ tests ” all over the place , we concentrate our energies on helping the most vulnerable , and giving everyone else back the one life we each get ?
For that matter , how about we avoid the approach of certain Democratic governors and not send COVID-19 patients , still contagious , back into nursing homes ?
Those @ @ @ @ @ @ @ UK , Lord Sumption just wrote : What sort of life do we think we are protecting ?
There is more to life than the avoidance of death .
Life is a drink with friends .
Life is a crowded football match or a live concert .
Life is a family celebration with children and grandchildren .
Life is companionship , an arm around one ’ s back , laughter or tears shared at less than two meters .
These things are not just optional extras .
They are life itself .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our existence as social beings .
Of course death is permanent , whereas joy may be temporarily suspended .
But the force of that point depends on how temporary it really is .
In the meantime , build up your intellectual ammunition against the lockdowners and civilization destroyers with my free book : The Best of Tom Woods

If you prefer to resume living a normal life, or not see everything you’ve spent decades building destroyed in a matter of months, or your children not to waste away in a world of computer screens and “virtual playdates,” you must want to kill people’s grandmothers. That’s what millions of your fellow Americans think.
Think that’s an exaggeration?
Take a glance at social media. Fact-free hysteria, and accusations of murder, are everywhere.
I myself was initially very concerned about COVID-19, and my Twitter feed bears this out. I am still concerned, and I think vulnerable people should take sensible steps to protect themselves. But when I observed how people I now call the Doomers conducted themselves, I began to wonder: if this is such a home-run case, why are they acting like this? How the Catholic Churc... Thomas E. Woods Best Price: $8.00 Buy New $9.06 (as of 05:30 UTC - Details)
Wild, exaggerated predictions carried the day. In Florida, my state, we were told we’d have 465,000 hospitalizations by the end of April. We had about 5500. Our governor closed down the state two weeks later than the Doomers wanted, so they predicted piles of corpses. These never materialized.
What modest numbers have been seen in Florida have been concentrated overwhelmingly in just three of the state’s 67 counties.
Then I noticed that good news from around the world was greeted almost angrily. I have never seen anything like this. It’s as if some people need the virus to be an apocalyptic problem.
I would ask questions and get curt answers. “Wait two weeks,” I’d be told. Then, I was assured, I would see that some country or state that hadn’t joined the lockdown cult would get what was coming to it.
Piles of corpses were supposed to appear in Japan. Just wait two weeks, they said, and Japan will get what’s coming to it for not taking our advice. You’ll see!
Then…nothing. Safe and Effective?: W... McCormack, RN, BSN, PH... Buy New $15.50 (as of 04:05 UTC - Details)
Then it was, “Oh, the Japanese wear masks and wash their hands,” etc. Nice try, Bozo. You knew they did these things before you made the ghoulish predictions.
What’s so hard about admitting: we’re not entirely sure what’s going on here?
And although the news we’ve been hearing about declining cases in Georgia and Florida, which have been reopening, is good, “cases” are not primarily what should concern us. The more we test, the more “cases” we find. The point is, most “cases” wind up amounting to precisely nothing.
There were over 800 “cases” at that South Dakota meat packing plant, and so far over 800 recoveries.
In March we got lurid reports of a doubling of “cases” in Hong Kong. We’d better wait two weeks! Piles of corpses!
Eight weeks later, zero additional deaths.
Meanwhile, the lockdowns are having horrific consequences on a scale most people do not realize, but which I describe in a free eBook I’ve just released, called Your Facebook Friends Are Wrong About the Lockdown: A Non-Hysteric’s Guide to COVID-19.
And interestingly enough, if you plot the timing of the lockdowns in the various states against their health outcomes, the result is completely random. More on that in the book.
Like most people, I am all for taking reasonable precautions and keeping an eye on the virus. And we can discuss which methods more effectively preserve biological life.
But is mere biological life worth living? This is not a question the “experts” are qualified to answer. The Politically Incorr... Thomas E. Woods Jr. Best Price: $1.51 Buy New $8.71 (as of 06:15 UTC - Details)
If people’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations are all dashed for an indefinite period of time, which purveyors of the present strategy almost flippantly propose, is that really living?
“Probably no large gatherings for a long time,” we’ve been told. How long?
And what are “large gatherings”?
Oh, just concerts, theater, lectures, church, sporting events, the arts in general – pretty much everything that makes life worth living.
The kind of “life” all this portends has a pulse, yes, but no soul.
If I may dwell on the “large gatherings” issue for a moment: for anyone who performs in front of an audience – dancers, musicians, comedians, magicians, athletes, singers, actors, whatever – the present pandemic strategy means your hopes and dreams are on indefinite hold, and may never be able to be fulfilled.
Dr. Zeke Emanuel of the ironically named Center for American Progress contends that we need to be on lockdown for 18 months until there’s a vaccine (as if that’s a guarantee, or the vaccine is effective, etc.). He says:
How are people supposed to find work if this goes on in some form for a year and a half? Is all that economic pain worth trying to stop COVID-19? The truth is we have no choice…. Conferences, concerts, sporting events, religious services, dinner in a restaurant, none of that will resume until we find a vaccine, a treatment, or a cure.
We have to be realistic, Emanuel urges us, and accept that we will be giving up cherished things for a long time, “things like schooling and income and contact with our friends and extended family.”
You read that right. Good-Bye Germ Theory: ... Trebing, Dr. William P Best Price: $36.69 Buy New $14.00 (as of 04:04 UTC - Details)
Things like schooling and income and contact with our friends and extended family.
This is insanity.
The response, meanwhile, has proceeded as if everyone were equally at risk. But the extraordinary thing about this virus, an aspect we had no right to expect but which should be helping us devise an appropriate response, is that it takes a particular toll on the elderly.
The fact remains: more people over age 100 than under age 30 have died. According to Neil Ferguson, the principal architect of the major UK model of the virus, between one-half and two-thirds of all people dying from COVID-19 would have died within a matter of months even in the absence of the virus.
So how about, instead of fruitlessly trying to distribute millions of “tests” all over the place, we concentrate our energies on helping the most vulnerable, and giving everyone else back the one life we each get?
For that matter, how about we avoid the approach of certain Democratic governors and not send COVID-19 patients, still contagious, back into nursing homes?
Those would be good starts.
In the UK, Lord Sumption just wrote:
What sort of life do we think we are protecting? There is more to life than the avoidance of death. Life is a drink with friends. Life is a crowded football match or a live concert. Life is a family celebration with children and grandchildren. Life is companionship, an arm around one’s back, laughter or tears shared at less than two meters. These things are not just optional extras. They are life itself. They are fundamental to our humanity, to our existence as social beings. Of course death is permanent, whereas joy may be temporarily suspended. But the force of that point depends on how temporary it really is.
Right on.
In the meantime, build up your intellectual ammunition against the lockdowners and civilization destroyers with my free book:
http://www.WrongAboutLockdown.com
The Best of Tom Woods


Totalitarianism for Dummies

The genius of America ’ s totalitarian system of government is that it is not totally total , and sometimes not very totalitarian at all .
It is just total enough .
Truly total government– “ Your papers , citizen , ” stop-and-frisk , permission needed to travel from city to city–might spark revolt .
By contrast , a sufficiency of totalitarianism , but not an excess , keeps the populace in adequate torpidity .
Thus done astutely , totalitarianism is hardly noticed .
The founder of this philosophy was that rascal , Abe Lincoln .
As we have all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cliche , he said , “ You can fool some of the people all of the time , and all of the people some of the time , but you can ’ t fool all of the people all of the time.
” He wisely did not add , “ …but you can fool enough of the people enough of the time.
” Lincoln ’ s Principle of Sufficiency is the First Pillar of Practical Totalitarianism .
The Second Pillar is reliance on the private sector for effectuation .
This gives the government @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has all your email for decades back , This is annoying but not truly alarming .
If the federal government ( openly ) collected emails , conservatives would shriek about…totalitarianism .
But Google isn ’ t the government–is it ?
United States of Socia ... D'Souza , Dinesh Buy New $ 25.93 The Third pillar : A press not too noticeably controlled , with enough apparent difference of opinion to simulate savage debate of ideas–without touching on any important ones .
For example , Rachel Maddow rattles that Trump is a Russian agent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Right , demurs furiously .
This allows people to be excited and engaged without endangering either Wall Street or the military budget .
Hermetic control of information isn ’ t needed , and would be noticed .
Most people get most of their news from the lobotomy box .
Anything that doesn ’ t appear on the flickering screen doesn ’ t exist for most , and these are enough .
It is thus possible to suppress information not by suppressing it , but by ignoring it .
We have now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Now let us examine the use and intersection of these principles here and abroad .
China is typically offered as practicing the blackest totalitarianism , the implicit contrast being with the enlightened democracy enjoyed by Americans .
For example , we are told that In China , everything you say or do is monitored .
Obviously China is a most terrible place .
Who could doubt it ?
By contrast , in America , cameras are everywhere , all email is recorded , every bank transaction , credit-card purchase , who you called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ course criminal records .
Depending on location , traffic lights photograph your license number if you run a light ( and for all you know , if you don ’ t ) , license-plate readers check for stolen vehicles and ( perhaps ) delete legal plates .
Cell towers know approximately where you and Google Maps knows to within a few feet .
Locations can be cross-checked with those of other phones to see who you were with .
Now face-recognition comes along .
Hate Inc. : Why Todayu2 ... Taibbi , Matt @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 14.99 Since little of this is directly done by the federal government , we do not live in a surveillance state .
After all , none of the entities involved would share their information with the feds–would they ?
In China , we are told , there is no freedom of expression .
Well , actually there is , as long as you don ’ t say the wrong things about the wrong things .
In America we have freedom of speech .
It says so in the Constitution .
Well , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as we don ’ t say the wrong things about the wrong things .
We all know what we can ’ t say and who we can ’ t say it about .
In many places , certainly in the media where you might influence others , you can lose your job for saying things that upset blacks , Jews , feminists , homosexuals , LBGQXYZs , Hispanics , or Muslims .
In the media you can not say anything if favor of the Second Amendment , against abortion , about black crime @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wars .
You can not doubt accounts of such events as the Trayvon Martin adventure .
On the web , sites can be and increasingly are “ deplatformed ” by the social media .
But as these are not formally part of government , we have freedom of speech .
See ?
No unelected dictator decides what we are permitted to know or say .
Mark Zuckerberg does .
This is very different from China in that…in that…wait .
I ’ ll think of something .
Guilt by Accusation : T ... Dershowitz @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Buy New $ 19.17 Here we come to the Fourth Pillar of Sufficient Totalitarianism : Repetition , repetition , repetition .
In Mein Kampf ( now removed from Amazon ) Adolf said that propaganda should not be entrusted to.intellectuals They are , he said , easily bored , like sophisticated ideas , and constantly want to change the message .
Instead , he said , keep it simple enough for the masses to understand , and say it over and over and over , and they will come to believe it .
More @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it .
The rest don ’ t matter .
This is much cheaper than kicking in doors at three a.m. and doesn ’ t arouse potentially dangerous resentment We are told , over and over and over , that America is a democracy and virtually choking on freedoms .
We are told three times in a half hour during the Super Bowl , that we need to buy a sandwich from Subway .
Same principle , exactly .
It works .
The Coddling of the Am ... Haidt , Jonathan Best Price : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so , unlike China where democracy does not exist and people have no influence , we have democracy but no influence .
This is much slicker .
For example , if you oppose the interminable wars , what party do you vote for ?
There are neither antiwar parties nor serious candidates .
Who do you vote for if you want to cut the goiterous military budget ?
If you are against torture ?
If you oppose a militarily aggressive foreign policy ?
Can you influence what your children are taught in school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If you are against the ongoing enstupidation of education , or against the pulling down of statues ?
Against affirmative action ?
The list could go on .
Thank God we don ’ t live in China .
Their government works , ours doesn ’ t , but at least we have our freedoms .
Reprinted with permission from The Unz Review .
The Best of Fred Reed

The genius of America’s totalitarian system of government is that it is not totally total, and sometimes not very totalitarian at all. It is just total enough. Truly total government–“Your papers, citizen,” stop-and-frisk, permission needed to travel from city to city–might spark revolt. By contrast, a sufficiency of totalitarianism, but not an excess, keeps the populace in adequate torpidity. Thus done astutely, totalitarianism is hardly noticed.
The founder of this philosophy was that rascal, Abe Lincoln. As we have all heard in what has become almost a cliche, he said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” He wisely did not add, “…but you can fool enough of the people enough of the time.”
Lincoln’s Principle of Sufficiency is the First Pillar of Practical Totalitarianism. The Second Pillar is reliance on the private sector for effectuation. This gives the government plausible deniability. For example, Google has all your email for decades back, This is annoying but not truly alarming. If the federal government (openly) collected emails, conservatives would shriek about…totalitarianism. But Google isn’t the government–is it? United States of Socia... D'Souza, Dinesh Buy New $25.93 (as of 11:38 UTC - Details)
The Third pillar: A press not too noticeably controlled, with enough apparent difference of opinion to simulate savage debate of ideas–without touching on any important ones. For example, Rachel Maddow rattles that Trump is a Russian agent while Rush Limbaugh, the Rachel Maddow of the Right, demurs furiously. This allows people to be excited and engaged without endangering either Wall Street or the military budget.
Hermetic control of information isn’t needed, and would be noticed. Most people get most of their news from the lobotomy box. Anything that doesn’t appear on the flickering screen doesn’t exist for most, and these are enough. It is thus possible to suppress information not by suppressing it, but by ignoring it.
We have now listed the fundamentals of American government. Now let us examine the use and intersection of these principles here and abroad.
China is typically offered as practicing the blackest totalitarianism, the implicit contrast being with the enlightened democracy enjoyed by Americans. For example, we are told that In China, everything you say or do is monitored. Obviously China is a most terrible place. Who could doubt it?
By contrast, in America, cameras are everywhere, all email is recorded, every bank transaction, credit-card purchase, who you called by telephone and when, and of course criminal records. Depending on location, traffic lights photograph your license number if you run a light (and for all you know, if you don’t), license-plate readers check for stolen vehicles and (perhaps) delete legal plates. Cell towers know approximately where you and Google Maps knows to within a few feet. Locations can be cross-checked with those of other phones to see who you were with. Now face-recognition comes along. Hate Inc.: Why Todayu2... Taibbi, Matt Best Price: $15.95 Buy New $14.99 (as of 05:05 UTC - Details)
Since little of this is directly done by the federal government, we do not live in a surveillance state. After all, none of the entities involved would share their information with the feds–would they?
In China,we are told, there is no freedom of expression. Well, actually there is, as long as you don’t say the wrong things about the wrong things. In America we have freedom of speech. It says so in the Constitution.
Well, we have freedom of speech as long as we don’t say the wrong things about the wrong things. We all know what we can’t say and who we can’t say it about. In many places, certainly in the media where you might influence others, you can lose your job for saying things that upset blacks, Jews, feminists, homosexuals, LBGQXYZs, Hispanics, or Muslims. In the media you cannot say anything if favor of the Second Amendment, against abortion, about black crime, against the military budget or the wars. You cannot doubt accounts of such events as the Trayvon Martin adventure. On the web, sites can be and increasingly are “deplatformed” by the social media.
But as these are not formally part of government, we have freedom of speech. See? No unelected dictator decides what we are permitted to know or say. Mark Zuckerberg does.
This is very different from China in that…in that…wait. I’ll think of something. Guilt by Accusation: T... Dershowitz, Alan Best Price: $16.63 Buy New $19.17 (as of 03:14 UTC - Details)
Here we come to the Fourth Pillar of Sufficient Totalitarianism: Repetition, repetition, repetition. In Mein Kampf (now removed from Amazon) Adolf said that propaganda should not be entrusted to.intellectuals They are, he said, easily bored, like sophisticated ideas, and constantly want to change the message.
Instead, he said, keep it simple enough for the masses to understand, and say it over and over and over, and they will come to believe it. More precisely, enough will come to believe it. The rest don’t matter. This is much cheaper than kicking in doors at three a.m. and doesn’t arouse potentially dangerous resentment
RussiaGateRussiaGateRussiaGateChinaDidItChinaDidItChinaDidItIranIsEvilIranIsEvilIranIsEvilGoYoBeginningAndRepeat
We are told, over and over and over, that America is a democracy and virtually choking on freedoms. We are told three times in a half hour during the Super Bowl, that we need to buy a sandwich from Subway. Same principle, exactly. It works. The Coddling of the Am... Haidt, Jonathan Best Price: $12.68 Buy New $13.39 (as of 02:43 UTC - Details)
And so, unlike China where democracy does not exist and people have no influence, we have democracy but no influence. This is much slicker.
For example, if you oppose the interminable wars, what party do you vote for? There are neither antiwar parties nor serious candidates. Who do you vote for if you want to cut the goiterous military budget? If you are against torture? If you oppose a militarily aggressive foreign policy?
Can you influence what your children are taught in school, what is in their textbooks? If you are against the ongoing enstupidation of education, or against the pulling down of statues? Against affirmative action? The list could go on.
Thank God we don’t live in China. Their government works, ours doesn’t, but at least we have our freedoms.
Reprinted with permission from The Unz Review.
The Best of Fred Reed