I just came across this post on YouTube: Chicago: Demographics, Deficits, and White Flight. I encourage you to watch it. The issue is serious. The facts are uncontested. Illinois is de facto bankrupt. The only question is how long will it take to become officially so. At this point, after Moody’s re-evaluation of its credit rating, it (the rating) is supposed to hold for a while:
When I asked a Jewish friend what he thinks of my post on Israel, he said:
“We are not on the same page, but that’s the joy of pluralism.”
So where do YOU stand? – I asked.
“On the other side, where general human rights considerations are more important than the strategic/tactical ones” – he said. Continue reading →
It is fascinating to watch disagreements where both sides are spectacularly wrong. It usually involves a fair bit of dishonesty.
Free trade is supposed to be a good thing, and trust me, it is. Any reasonable economist would tell you that it is. It brings peace and prosperity. Usually. Continue reading →
My attention was called to an article printed in the Toronto Star:
“I was Jordan Peterson’s strongest supporter. Now I think he’s dangerous” It was written by (an apparently reformed) friend of his, Bernard Schiff. But this post is not about Jordan Peterson or Schiff’s article about him. It is about assumptions and perceptions. Continue reading →
Are these people liars? Without a doubt. Are they real liars or just puppets with the long nose telling us what we want to hear?
I went to two debates in my riding and I tried to watch the leaders’ debate. I honestly tried but could not take it for more than 20 minutes. I don’t think I missed anything.
In the second local debate I went to there were six candidates present: The BORG, of course, (Blue, Orange, Red, Green) but also a Communist and a Libertarian. The conservative and the libertarian candidates were completely overwhelmed by the four statists. Continue reading →
As I was pondering the nature of our health care, some interesting questions came to my mind.
Mentioning them as part of a serious discussion could have made them look like conspiracy theories. While I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, I do believe in the power of incentives.
Incentives make the world go around. Money and power are just the most obvious ones.
So here is the scenario:
Let’s suppose that a miraculous new invention, a pill that costs pennies to manufacture would add an extra 20 years to the life of anyone who takes it.
Not every day, just once. What would happen? How would the world react? What would politicians do? What would the drug industry do? Continue reading →
The word chassé means two things. It is the past participle of the French verb ‘to chase’ and it is a noun describing a ballet step, in which one leg is sort of ‘chasing’ the other.
Watching the last Munk debate gave me a visceral demonstration of the two meanings. The CON side hopelessly chasing the pro side which was consistently chasseing away from the real subject. The subject, which was supposed to be political correctness. The resolution of the debate was:
“Be it resolved, what you call political correctness, I call progress…” Continue reading →
There were massive protests in Budapest last weekend (2018-04-14). The people were protesting the results of the election a week prior. They were asking for:
In a Facebook post before the rally, organisers called for a recount of ballots, free media, a new election law, as well as more efficient cooperation among opposition parties instead of the bickering seen in the run-up to the vote. (The Guardian)
The organisers of the anti-Orban protests have demanded a recount of all ballots, a new election law, a non-partisan public media, and better organised co-operation among parties opposed to the Fidesz government. (BBC World)
In my last post I vented my frustration with the sorry state of the left-right dialog.
I described the problem, but we are still left with a set of questions:
What is the basis of the differences? What makes them so predictable? What stands in the way of productive communication? Continue reading →
The title of this post is not a mistake. Even though it is ‘the’ autopsy of some dialogs, I would not share it with you if they were not such perfect examples of what is going on in ‘THE’ dialog between the left and the right. The dialog at this point is pretty much dead, and there are many ways to dissect it. Mine is just one attempt.
Doing it feels very much like the situation in the picture above – as if I was dissecting something from another world.
I wish I could claim authorship of the title of this post, but I shamelessly plucked it from an Economist article: “In defence of the childless.” The July 29th issue has another article (The rise of childlessness) to reinforce the “there is nothing to see here” message.
Let me share a joke with you.
News from the society pages of the Pleasantville Courier:
In the beautiful spring weekend we just had, the Corso was filled with the cream of Pleasantville society. The only unpleasant moment of the day was the discovery that Mr. Stein’s beautiful new coat was stolen while he was having dinner with his family. The police are investigating the unseemly crime.
This post is the continuation of the arguments presented in my previous posts: “Where did it go wrong?” and in “Where did it go wrong #2.”
I grew up with the idea of political permanence. I was listening to and singing songs about Lenin, the hero who “sacrificed his faithful life” for us. The heroes of the communist revolution were always pictured and talked of as mythical, heroic demi-Gods. Continue reading →
My last post trying to answer the question was a little sketchy, so this time I would like to zoom in, so to speak, on one of the possible answers: Marxism.
After he read the Prostitution Principle, a gen Xer asked me: How did we get here?
It’s a good question. How did we get to these insane situations, these crazy legal decisions? How did feminism, the civil rights and the gay rights movements go so badly overboard? How did decent ideas turned into such ridiculous demands and deplorable practices? Where did it get so out of hand?