Reading

The United States Couldn’t Stop Being Stupid if It Wanted To — Stephen M. Walt

http://mikenormaneconomics.blogspot.com/2023/01/the-united-states-couldnt-stop-…
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 03:58
Is the US condemned to "doing stupid shit" (Obama) because of its Western liberalism coupled with vast power enabling interventionist policy? And is there an economic motive behind this, notably from MICIMATT aka Military-Industrial-Congressional-Intelligence-Media-Academia-Think-Tank complex (Ray McGovern) that President Eisenhower warned about but also from all those who stand to gain from the continuance and expansion of the US-controlled "rules-based international order." And is liberal interventionism the next round of crusades (as G. W. Bush let slip).

While he does not mention it, a fundamental question is this is the role that role that economic liberalism in the form of the current stage of "capitalism" plays. Are social and political liberalism just secondary factors that are used to promote economic liberalism in a world controlled by Global North and West. Many in the Global South and East thinks so. The present moment in the historical dialectic can be viewed from this perspective as chiefly about power, especially as applied to control of global wealth and natural resources.

REVIEW: Torchwood: The Empire Man – A Portmanteau of Terrors

https://www.blogtorwho.com/review-torchwood-the-empire-man-a-portmanteau-of-ter…
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 03:00

It’s another Torchwood ghost story for Christmas, with a trilogy of spooky tales that are slightly less than the sum of their parts As none other than Queen Victoria herself remarks during The Empire Man, Christmas is a time for gathering around close together and sharing ghost stories. Torchwood has developed its own yuletide tradition […]

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From the “When someone shows you who they are” files

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/08/from-the-when-someone-shows-you-who-they-are-…
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 02:30
The new Republican Congress has an agenda: revenge. Because it is who they are, they are going after the president’s son. Richard Painter, the law professor and former White House ethic lawyer tweets, “News flash: Hunter Biden is not president, does not work for the U.S. government, and does not appear to have any influence on the U.S. government.” No matter. The GOP’s idea of doing the people’s work is to distract attention from their own moral turpitude and to exact retribution for Democrats’ efforts to hold Trump accountable for malfeasance in office. They mean to get under Uncle Joe Biden’s skin by attacking his son (The Guardian, emphasis mine): “The right wing is licking its chops at the chance to go after him,” said Joshua Kendall, author of First Dads: Parenting and Politics from George Washington to Barack Obama. “The level of venom is going to be over the top and really, really dirty. The Republicans’ rhetoric might get so heated that it detracts from some of the actual behaviour.” Republicans have been waiting a long time for this moment.

Hassle

http://www.eschatonblog.com/2023/01/hassle.html
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 01:30
A friend keeps encouraging me to write this book (a book titled "Hassle"), and if anybody is willing to pay me an absurd advance I will. I have thought about this a lot over the years, and the simple example is that you can't easily get a human on customer service anymore. Anything from the IRS to your cable company. Minor problems which eat up absurd amounts of your time.

But it's so many things. Once upon a time Ward Cleaver pulled out the checkbook once per month and paid the bills, and now it's just endless ongoing... Hassle!

Coming Attractions: A Trump charging decision

https://digbysblog.net/2023/01/08/coming-attractions-a-trump-charging-decision/
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 01:00
News overlooked on Friday This news was largely obscured Friday by the Republicans’ Speaker follies: The special counsel investigating Donald Trump could decide whether to file criminal charges against him in just weeks after amassing a trove of new state documents concerning pressure to overturn the 2020 election, sources have told Bloomberg. Special Counsel Jack Smith and his team of Justice Department prosecutors are currently poring over new emails, letters and other records from battleground states. “You can tell that it’s moving quickly,” Brian Kidd, a former federal prosecutor who served under Smith at the Department of Justice, told Bloomberg. Officials in Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico and Nevada confirmed to Bloomberg that they have complied with grand jury subpoenas from Smith’s office. The material turned over by Nevada and reviewed by Bloomberg reveals that Trump representatives baselessly accused the state’s local officials of allowing election “fraud and abuse” soon after Trump lost the vote to Joe Biden. “Moving quickly” is good.

Econometric testing

https://larspsyll.wordpress.com/2023/01/08/econometric-testing-2/
Created
Mon, 09/01/2023 - 00:09
Debating econometrics and its shortcomings yours truly often gets the response from econometricians that “ok, maybe econometrics isn’t perfect, but you have to admit that it is a great technique for empirical testing of economic hypotheses.” But is econometrics — really — such a great testing instrument? Econometrics is supposed to be able to test […]