In my pondering how things have slid so far, so badly, I tend to assume other things being equal are, in fact, equal. Perhaps there’s my mistake.
I’ve never been a fan of the FBI, but even so I find my low expectations being far exceeded in the wrong direction. Here’s a tidbit from the Federalist noting that the FBI’s budget after 9-11 tripled. That much easy money sloshing into an organization could exacerbate its worst tendencies.
_________________________________
The FBI didn’t let the crisis of 9/11 go to waste—they seized on it to dramatically increase their funding and power. They suddenly took the “lead” on terrorism all over the United States….
Once the FBI was in charge, there were lots of new GS-15 positions, offices to fill, and money to spend—and boy, did they. In 2001, the FBI wanted $1.5 billion for counterterrorism and only got $500 million. In 2002, they asked for $200 million more. In 2003, they asked for $285 more. And so on. The total FBI budget was about $3.5 billion in 2002. It’s more than $10 billion today.
Now, 20 years later, with Osama bin Laden dead and the United States leaving Afghanistan, do we think those GS-15 positions, or those Joint Terrorism Task Forces, or the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, are going to go away? No. They need work to justify those budgets, and America needs a new enemy.
The difference is that the government has begun to use the tools that were developed to fight a credible foreign threat now to fight against the political opponents of Democrats.
The California recall election will have national implications. The entry of Larry Elder has galvanized the race and will increase votes from conservatives He had to go to court to force the Democrat Secretary of State to put him on the ballot but he succeeded. The latest polls show the race pretty much even. So I urge you to direct a few dollars to his campaign:
ElectElder.com
Was that the same artist that did the Tom Brady courthouse sketches?
In a similar vein here’s a longish think piece explaining that the new generation of journalists ain’t your father’s generation of journalists.
TL;DR — The 2008 recession combined with the loss of ad-revenue for the media massively disrupted the usual path of liberal arts majors into journalism careers.
_________________________________
…liberal arts college graduates who, a generation before, would have been corralled into junior copy editing jobs suddenly found themselves qualified for positions as deskilled and casualized staff reporters and columnists, albeit at substantially eroded salaries. This new, premature generation of high-profile media professionals then imprinted upon the industry at large a worldview that had been shaped by the particular experience of their specific cohort — the experience of sudden, unexpectedly downgraded economic aspirations.
…
It was with this sensibility that they made a virtue of the necessity of their precarity. …[T]hey imagined their experience of economic alienation and unfulfilled aspiration as one of collective marginalization and oppression, and held up that misfortune as a badge of honor. They saw in their own economic and social dislocation the heroic struggles of oppressed racial minorities, as well those of women, gays, and other groups whose histories of liberation they had been taught about in college. They found dignity and pride in their relative unhappiness, and oppression and injustice in the world that had made them so unhappy.
Today I’m hosting a meet-and-greet for Jim Pillen, a candidate for NE governor. He’s called those standards ridiculous.
He’s also a University of NE Regent and has a resolution against CRT pending.
Pillen was a standout football player for the Huskers.
Good work, Cornhead!
huxley,
“America needs a new enemy.”
Only a massive amount of hubris could lead one to imagine that declaring 75-80 MILLION Americans who cherish their country, to be internal enemies of their own nation could work out well for them.
…declaring 75-80 MILLION Americans who cherish their country, to be internal enemies of their own nation could work out well for them.
Geoffrey Britain:
I agree. However, it does seem to their strategy.
Defund the FBI!
If their budget has tripled in the past 20 years, surely there is much low-hanging fruit.
@om:
“China Crackdown Makes Hong Kong Index World’s Biggest Tech Loser”
Perhaps you would like to see your government crack down on your tech overlords?
Step 1: Get a Government which doesn’t hate you.
Hint: The Chinese Government doesn’t hate the majority Han Chinese People. It might give some of them the Pimp Hand from time to time if they don’t Obey… but it doesn’t hate its own native stock. Think on that before you engage in cheap point scoring exercises.
“Getting the United States out of Afghanistan is relatively easy compared to getting Afghanistan out of America. The latest stage of the withdrawal is accompanied by frantic calls to “save Afghan interpreters” coming from the same media that also wants us out of Afghanistan.
But what’s the use of leaving Afghanistan if we’re going to bring it with us to America?
The “interpreter” scam is one of the longest running immigration hoaxes on record.
Before the withdrawal, there were some 2,500 American soldiers in Afghanistan. After the withdrawal, there are around 600 soldiers left behind.
And there are 20,000 Afghan “interpreters” applying for SIVs or Special Immigrant Visas.
How can there be 20,000 interpreters for 2,500 soldiers?”
“A long-time U.S. correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons recently shared his experiences with parts shortages and price increases from previously reliable suppliers in China. Here is his account of the disruptive shift in the supply chain of essential parts from China to the U.S.”
I’ve been relying on Lenovo for laptops and a mini-PC. I’m used to ThinkPads just working.
Now I’ve got three Lenovos which are effing up. The mini-PC is dead — I’m pretty sure it needs its drive replaced. One ThinkPad’s keyboard and touchpad got iffy and unusable. So I bought another refurbed and it stopped booting. I had to reinstall the OS and now its HDMI port stopped working.
Meanwhile my T430, 6+ years old with a lot of mileage, is hanging in like a champ.
Lenovo is Chinese and bought the ThinkPad franchise from IBM. It seemed they were keeping standards up. I’ve discovered that getting ThinkPads fixed means sending them to Texas. Now I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
Everywhere I go on Amazon, I keep reading the same thing about everything. The product was really good until the Chinese took over and now it only lasts a few years, if it’s not broke from the start.
@Huxley:
I’ve had good experiences with my two 2018 vintage T480s and 2019 X1 Extreme Carbon. Had to patch a Thunderbolt bug which could have bricked the T480s units.
Neither of them have the solid feel of the T41p I purchased when it was still IBM in late 2003.
Went 100% Mac for many years after that until stuck toe in Windows 10 Pool and also wanted to run Linux on a ThinkPad in early 2020. (Mac plenty BSD Unixy enough for me.. but still more package choices with Linux) Luckily got in early and snapped up the three above before inventories disappeared.
I follow the ThinkPad Reddit and general consensus is that X and T Series are still pretty good choices for Linux on laptops enthusiasts and that they do well as corporate fleet laptops running Windows with pro-level deployment / management. Wouldn’t go near the lower tier stuff. Could be OK, just I do my own support and don’t want the aggro.
Individual Order lead times seem to be off the charts since last year. As in months for many units.
Hard to get stock too, but you can’t go past Intel NUCs for reliable little desktop machines. Or maybe something like an Asus PN50 at a pinch.
Richard Stallman swears by T420 or T430. So you’re in good company.
And I can’t think of any consumer product the Chinese have improved. Made cheaper and more available yes… More reliable no.
Thing is… For most people on Earth, their first cheap Chinese smartphone from Oppo or Huawei or Xiaomi is a giant life-changing step up. Same with their e-bike, scooter, Vespa knockoff, water purifier or solar roof panel or big screen TV from TCL.
To much of the world, Cheap Chinese Crap has done more for them than Neil Armstrong.
Most folks didn’t grow up inheriting their grandfather’s fly fishing kit and Patek Philippe pocket watch. To them.. Chinese stuff is da bomb. Asimov’s Foundation.
The objectionable thing is that American MBAs and Financial Elite decided to Strip Mine your capital and social capital and force you to buy same stuff as an Indonesian or a Brazilian. It didn’t have to be that way.
Zaphod:
Yes, I remember the T41p, he said wistfully.
I bought two T470 machines on account of the Reddit wisdom at the time preferring the T470 over T480. (I usually bought refurb because I trusted Lenovo that much. Which worked until now.)
I know a Slovakian master cabinetmaker (with a great story of how he escaped the Iron Curtain in the bad old times by living on a train for three months) who will go on a master rant about Chinese products. His favorite example was a yardstick which did not measure a true 36″.
“I keep returning to this, but where is the lawsuits against the ADL for tortious interference? When they stick their noses into the business arrangements of others, in order to harm one party, this is a tort.
Of course, getting a lawyer to take such a case is impossible, thus proving some very troubling facts about the state of our society.”
“The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior? You cannot say it is profit, as there is no profit in this activity. Suddenly, ever CEO sees himself as a feudal lord, charged with watching over his people.”
“The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior?”
Old school:
Profit, products, people, fiduciary on behalf of stock holders.
New: ESG, virtue signal, use Corp money to buy up stock, drive up share price then sell your shares and get out, leave zombie company behind
The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior?
I certainly have asked it. I remember the old Silicon Valley where nothing got between a CEO and beating the hell out of the competition. Or he was Dead Man Walking.
Along with: “When was it discussed and decided that US borders shouldn’t be enforced?”
I must have missed the memo. It seemed like I awoke one morning and the borders were a quaint, archaic anachronism which no serious person took seriously.
I mentioned “The Right Stuff” movie in the FBI topic and I’ve been watching it tonight.
Wow. It’s still an incredible film. Real heroes, real heroics, real stakes plus that old-fashioned, American, gum-chewin’ self-deprecation/braggadocio.
And, dare I say it, patriotism.
I also missed the memo explaining why such movies could no longer be made.
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Pretty good follow up to “Idealized Paintings …”
“Idealized paintings” and police sketches?
Good enough for government work.
ruh rho
“China Crackdown Makes Hong Kong Index World’s Biggest Tech Loser”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-crackdown-makes-hong-kong-210000333.html
@cornhead: Outrageous “sex ed” in Nebraska schools:
https://freebeacon.com/culture/meet-the-cdc-backed-groups-that-want-to-teach-trans-ideology-to-kindergartners/
I think Hunter Biden volunteered to do that suspect sketch, Way to go, big guy !
This story is such a classic artist’s crime sketch failure, I would not want to spoil it. Highly recommended.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7394602/?ref_=tt_mv_close
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfTCrHSmDyA
It’s available for free on Comcast or Hulu, I believe.
In my pondering how things have slid so far, so badly, I tend to assume other things being equal are, in fact, equal. Perhaps there’s my mistake.
I’ve never been a fan of the FBI, but even so I find my low expectations being far exceeded in the wrong direction. Here’s a tidbit from the Federalist noting that the FBI’s budget after 9-11 tripled. That much easy money sloshing into an organization could exacerbate its worst tendencies.
_________________________________
The FBI didn’t let the crisis of 9/11 go to waste—they seized on it to dramatically increase their funding and power. They suddenly took the “lead” on terrorism all over the United States….
Once the FBI was in charge, there were lots of new GS-15 positions, offices to fill, and money to spend—and boy, did they. In 2001, the FBI wanted $1.5 billion for counterterrorism and only got $500 million. In 2002, they asked for $200 million more. In 2003, they asked for $285 more. And so on. The total FBI budget was about $3.5 billion in 2002. It’s more than $10 billion today.
Now, 20 years later, with Osama bin Laden dead and the United States leaving Afghanistan, do we think those GS-15 positions, or those Joint Terrorism Task Forces, or the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, are going to go away? No. They need work to justify those budgets, and America needs a new enemy.
The difference is that the government has begun to use the tools that were developed to fight a credible foreign threat now to fight against the political opponents of Democrats.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/07/23/the-whitmer-kidnapping-case-reveals-the-fbis-new-counterterrorism-target-is-you/
The California recall election will have national implications. The entry of Larry Elder has galvanized the race and will increase votes from conservatives He had to go to court to force the Democrat Secretary of State to put him on the ballot but he succeeded. The latest polls show the race pretty much even. So I urge you to direct a few dollars to his campaign:
ElectElder.com
Was that the same artist that did the Tom Brady courthouse sketches?
In a similar vein here’s a longish think piece explaining that the new generation of journalists ain’t your father’s generation of journalists.
TL;DR — The 2008 recession combined with the loss of ad-revenue for the media massively disrupted the usual path of liberal arts majors into journalism careers.
_________________________________
…liberal arts college graduates who, a generation before, would have been corralled into junior copy editing jobs suddenly found themselves qualified for positions as deskilled and casualized staff reporters and columnists, albeit at substantially eroded salaries. This new, premature generation of high-profile media professionals then imprinted upon the industry at large a worldview that had been shaped by the particular experience of their specific cohort — the experience of sudden, unexpectedly downgraded economic aspirations.
…
It was with this sensibility that they made a virtue of the necessity of their precarity. …[T]hey imagined their experience of economic alienation and unfulfilled aspiration as one of collective marginalization and oppression, and held up that misfortune as a badge of honor. They saw in their own economic and social dislocation the heroic struggles of oppressed racial minorities, as well those of women, gays, and other groups whose histories of liberation they had been taught about in college. They found dignity and pride in their relative unhappiness, and oppression and injustice in the world that had made them so unhappy.
https://leightonwoodhouse.substack.com/p/the-generation-that-wrecked-the-media
Kate:
Today I’m hosting a meet-and-greet for Jim Pillen, a candidate for NE governor. He’s called those standards ridiculous.
He’s also a University of NE Regent and has a resolution against CRT pending.
Pillen was a standout football player for the Huskers.
Good work, Cornhead!
huxley,
“America needs a new enemy.”
Only a massive amount of hubris could lead one to imagine that declaring 75-80 MILLION Americans who cherish their country, to be internal enemies of their own nation could work out well for them.
…declaring 75-80 MILLION Americans who cherish their country, to be internal enemies of their own nation could work out well for them.
Geoffrey Britain:
I agree. However, it does seem to their strategy.
Defund the FBI!
If their budget has tripled in the past 20 years, surely there is much low-hanging fruit.
@om:
“China Crackdown Makes Hong Kong Index World’s Biggest Tech Loser”
Perhaps you would like to see your government crack down on your tech overlords?
Step 1: Get a Government which doesn’t hate you.
Hint: The Chinese Government doesn’t hate the majority Han Chinese People. It might give some of them the Pimp Hand from time to time if they don’t Obey… but it doesn’t hate its own native stock. Think on that before you engage in cheap point scoring exercises.
Here’s Dan again:
http://www.danielgreenfield.org/2021/07/saving-afghan-interpreters-is-scam-that.html
“Getting the United States out of Afghanistan is relatively easy compared to getting Afghanistan out of America. The latest stage of the withdrawal is accompanied by frantic calls to “save Afghan interpreters” coming from the same media that also wants us out of Afghanistan.
But what’s the use of leaving Afghanistan if we’re going to bring it with us to America?
The “interpreter” scam is one of the longest running immigration hoaxes on record.
Before the withdrawal, there were some 2,500 American soldiers in Afghanistan. After the withdrawal, there are around 600 soldiers left behind.
And there are 20,000 Afghan “interpreters” applying for SIVs or Special Immigrant Visas.
How can there be 20,000 interpreters for 2,500 soldiers?”
Interesting Anecdotal Story Contained Within:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2021/07/america-has-lost-trade-war-with-china.html
“A long-time U.S. correspondent who prefers to remain anonymous for obvious reasons recently shared his experiences with parts shortages and price increases from previously reliable suppliers in China. Here is his account of the disruptive shift in the supply chain of essential parts from China to the U.S.”
Monkey Lives Matter:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9828415/Rival-gangs-wild-monkeys-fight-shocked-drivers-Thailand.html
Re: China trade….
Zaphod:
I’ve been relying on Lenovo for laptops and a mini-PC. I’m used to ThinkPads just working.
Now I’ve got three Lenovos which are effing up. The mini-PC is dead — I’m pretty sure it needs its drive replaced. One ThinkPad’s keyboard and touchpad got iffy and unusable. So I bought another refurbed and it stopped booting. I had to reinstall the OS and now its HDMI port stopped working.
Meanwhile my T430, 6+ years old with a lot of mileage, is hanging in like a champ.
Lenovo is Chinese and bought the ThinkPad franchise from IBM. It seemed they were keeping standards up. I’ve discovered that getting ThinkPads fixed means sending them to Texas. Now I’m not sure what I’m going to do.
Everywhere I go on Amazon, I keep reading the same thing about everything. The product was really good until the Chinese took over and now it only lasts a few years, if it’s not broke from the start.
@Huxley:
I’ve had good experiences with my two 2018 vintage T480s and 2019 X1 Extreme Carbon. Had to patch a Thunderbolt bug which could have bricked the T480s units.
Neither of them have the solid feel of the T41p I purchased when it was still IBM in late 2003.
Went 100% Mac for many years after that until stuck toe in Windows 10 Pool and also wanted to run Linux on a ThinkPad in early 2020. (Mac plenty BSD Unixy enough for me.. but still more package choices with Linux) Luckily got in early and snapped up the three above before inventories disappeared.
I follow the ThinkPad Reddit and general consensus is that X and T Series are still pretty good choices for Linux on laptops enthusiasts and that they do well as corporate fleet laptops running Windows with pro-level deployment / management. Wouldn’t go near the lower tier stuff. Could be OK, just I do my own support and don’t want the aggro.
Individual Order lead times seem to be off the charts since last year. As in months for many units.
Hard to get stock too, but you can’t go past Intel NUCs for reliable little desktop machines. Or maybe something like an Asus PN50 at a pinch.
Richard Stallman swears by T420 or T430. So you’re in good company.
And I can’t think of any consumer product the Chinese have improved. Made cheaper and more available yes… More reliable no.
Thing is… For most people on Earth, their first cheap Chinese smartphone from Oppo or Huawei or Xiaomi is a giant life-changing step up. Same with their e-bike, scooter, Vespa knockoff, water purifier or solar roof panel or big screen TV from TCL.
To much of the world, Cheap Chinese Crap has done more for them than Neil Armstrong.
Most folks didn’t grow up inheriting their grandfather’s fly fishing kit and Patek Philippe pocket watch. To them.. Chinese stuff is da bomb. Asimov’s Foundation.
The objectionable thing is that American MBAs and Financial Elite decided to Strip Mine your capital and social capital and force you to buy same stuff as an Indonesian or a Brazilian. It didn’t have to be that way.
Zaphod:
Yes, I remember the T41p, he said wistfully.
I bought two T470 machines on account of the Reddit wisdom at the time preferring the T470 over T480. (I usually bought refurb because I trusted Lenovo that much. Which worked until now.)
I know a Slovakian master cabinetmaker (with a great story of how he escaped the Iron Curtain in the bad old times by living on a train for three months) who will go on a master rant about Chinese products. His favorite example was a yardstick which did not measure a true 36″.
PayPal and the ADL will be on our cases soon:
https://gab.com/TheZBlog/posts/106647545492112084
“I keep returning to this, but where is the lawsuits against the ADL for tortious interference? When they stick their noses into the business arrangements of others, in order to harm one party, this is a tort.
Of course, getting a lawyer to take such a case is impossible, thus proving some very troubling facts about the state of our society.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/paypal-adl/paypal-to-research-blocking-transactions-that-fund-hate-groups-extremists-idUSL1N2OZ0GB
https://gab.com/TheZBlog/posts/106647526505310297
“The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior? You cannot say it is profit, as there is no profit in this activity. Suddenly, ever CEO sees himself as a feudal lord, charged with watching over his people.”
https://www.reuters.com/technology/exclusive-facebook-tech-giants-target-manifestos-militias-database-2021-07-26/
Seen at another blog:
Propaganda commences. Identical Covid posts on Twitter try to launch an agenda.
https://mobile.twitter.com/politibunny/status/1419759942324703235/photo/1
“Why are so many of you tweeting the same thing word for word?”
“The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior?”
Old school:
Profit, products, people, fiduciary on behalf of stock holders.
New: ESG, virtue signal, use Corp money to buy up stock, drive up share price then sell your shares and get out, leave zombie company behind
The question no one ever asks is why is it companies suddenly think they have a duty to monitor our behavior?
I certainly have asked it. I remember the old Silicon Valley where nothing got between a CEO and beating the hell out of the competition. Or he was Dead Man Walking.
Along with: “When was it discussed and decided that US borders shouldn’t be enforced?”
I must have missed the memo. It seemed like I awoke one morning and the borders were a quaint, archaic anachronism which no serious person took seriously.
I mentioned “The Right Stuff” movie in the FBI topic and I’ve been watching it tonight.
Wow. It’s still an incredible film. Real heroes, real heroics, real stakes plus that old-fashioned, American, gum-chewin’ self-deprecation/braggadocio.
And, dare I say it, patriotism.
I also missed the memo explaining why such movies could no longer be made.