Look, mon, it’s a dolly house in the sky! Let’s dance a little Calypso at Carnival and call the whole controversy off.
Tag Archives: politics
Davos Koolaruckus
Can you name the top five — yes, 5 — competitive advantages, relative or absolute, that the industries and people in the geographic region called Greece have in the global economy?
Seriously.
I’d rather watch Brian/Carley Lee and Joe dancing a Pentozalli “Five Disorienting Steps” than judge that any news of Greek debt restructuring gives us the real picture of hope and prosperity for Athenians and their ilk any time soon.
Meanwhile, the ruckus in Davos…but do you really care what pompous circumstances mean to those who want to give meaning to their lives?
Observing the kids on the dance floor, such as Raymond Linton and Jenn Nye in a waltz, I ponder the future of clashing subcultures, from those who propose and adhere to strict, austere religious practice to those for whom life has no bounds other than gravitational pull and energy consumption.
Can you lift up your subculture without putting down others? Can we not all sail on a ship rising in a high tide together?
When a deputy sheriff like Steve Adkison and his beautiful partner Suzy can put the saucy in salsa in front of appreciative onlookers, we know everything is going to be all right.
Of course, with weapons of mass and minidestruction at the ready, from wooden clubs to radioactive bombs, we’re going to keep killing some of us in our seven-billion-and-growing population from now until the end of time (or perhaps until the end of the leap second).
Gotta go before I get too winded…or windy.
I’ll leave you with these gems:
Don’t get annoyed if you neighbour plays his music at two o’clock in the morning. Call him at four and tell him how much you enjoyed it.
“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes — and six months later you have to start all over again.” — Joan Rivers
“Let’s be frank, the Italians’ technological contribution to humankind stopped with the pizza oven.” — Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There, 1991
“The sport of skiing consists of wearing three thousand dollars’ worth of clothes and equipment and driving two hundred miles in the snow in order to stand around at a bar and get drunk.” — P.J. O’Rourke, Modern Manners, 1984
“If savings are below investment, foreigners are financing some of the domestic investment. The difference between savings and investment is equal to the trade (or more precisely, the current account) surplus. If savings fall short of investment, the difference is a trade deficit and is equal to the net foreign capital inflows that are used to make up the difference between investment and saving. In common-sense terms, if we sell more to other countries than we buy from them, we send back the difference as savings, and that partially finances their investment or their consumption.” — Michael Spence, The Next Convergence, 2011
You decide which one is more humorous….or needs some hummus and pita chips.
Quick! Someone just killed your family. How do you seek “justice?”
from the Washington Post:
10 reasons the U.S. is no longer the land of the free
By Jonathan Turley, Published: January 13
Even as we pass judgment on countries we consider unfree, Americans remain confident that any definition of a free nation must include their own — the land of free. Yet, the laws and practices of the land should shake that confidence. In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, this country has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state. The most recent example of this was the National Defense Authorization Act, signed Dec. 31, which allows for the indefinite detention of citizens. At what point does the reduction of individual rights in our country change how we define ourselves?
These countries also have constitutions that purport to guarantee freedoms and rights. But their governments have broad discretion in denying those rights and few real avenues for challenges by citizens — precisely the problem with the new laws in this country.
The list of powers acquired by the U.S. government since 9/11 puts us in rather troubling company.
Assassination of U.S. citizens
President Obama has claimed, as President George W. Bush did before him, the right to order the killing of any citizen considered a terrorist or an abettor of terrorism. Last year, he approved the killing of U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaqi and another citizen under this claimed inherent authority. Last month, administration officials affirmed that power, stating that the president can order the assassination of any citizen whom he considers allied with terrorists. (Nations such as Nigeria, Iran and Syria have been routinely criticized for extrajudicial killings of enemies of the state.)
Indefinite detention
Under the law signed last month, terrorism suspects are to be held by the military; the president also has the authority to indefinitely detain citizens accused of terrorism. While the administration claims that this provision only codified existing law, experts widely contest this view, and the administration has opposed efforts to challenge such authority in federal courts. The government continues to claim the right to strip citizens of legal protections based on its sole discretion. (China recently codified a more limited detention law for its citizens, while countries such as Cambodia have been singled out by the United States for “prolonged detention.”)
Arbitrary justice
The president now decides whether a person will receive a trial in the federal courts or in a military tribunal, a system that has been ridiculed around the world for lacking basic due process protections. Bush claimed this authority in 2001, and Obama has continued the practice. (Egypt and China have been denounced for maintaining separate military justice systems for selected defendants, including civilians.)
The president may now order warrantless surveillance, including a new capability to force companies and organizations to turn over information on citizens’ finances, communications and associations. Bush acquired this sweeping power under the Patriot Act in 2001, and in 2011, Obama extended the power, including searches of everything from business documents to library records. The government can use “national security letters” to demand, without probable cause, that organizations turn over information on citizens — and order them not to reveal the disclosure to the affected party. (Saudi Arabia and Pakistan operate under laws that allow the government to engage in widespread discretionary surveillance.)
Secret evidence
The government now routinely uses secret evidence to detain individuals and employs secret evidence in federal and military courts. It also forces the dismissal of cases against the United States by simply filing declarations that the cases would make the government reveal classified information that would harm national security — a claim made in a variety of privacy lawsuits and largely accepted by federal judges without question. Even legal opinions, cited as the basis for the government’s actions under the Bush and Obama administrations, have been classified. This allows the government to claim secret legal arguments to support secret proceedings using secret evidence. In addition, some cases never make it to court at all. The federal courts routinely deny constitutional challenges to policies and programs under a narrow definition of standing to bring a case.
War crimes
The world clamored for prosecutions of those responsible for waterboarding terrorism suspects during the Bush administration, but the Obama administration said in 2009 that it would not allow CIA employees to be investigated or prosecuted for such actions. This gutted not just treaty obligations but the Nuremberg principles of international law. When courts in countries such as Spain moved to investigate Bush officials for war crimes, the Obama administration reportedly urged foreign officials not to allow such cases to proceed, despite the fact that the United States has long claimed the same authority with regard to alleged war criminals in other countries. (Various nations have resisted investigations of officials accused of war crimes and torture. Some, such as Serbia and Chile, eventually relented to comply with international law; countries that have denied independent investigations include Iran, Syria and China.)
Secret court
The government has increased its use of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which has expanded its secret warrants to include individuals deemed to be aiding or abetting hostile foreign governments or organizations. In 2011, Obama renewed these powers, including allowing secret searches of individuals who are not part of an identifiable terrorist group. The administration has asserted the right to ignore congressional limits on such surveillance. (Pakistan places national security surveillance under the unchecked powers of the military or intelligence services.)
Immunity from judicial review
Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration has successfully pushed for immunity for companies that assist in warrantless surveillance of citizens, blocking the ability of citizens to challenge the violation of privacy. (Similarly, China has maintained sweeping immunity claims both inside and outside the country and routinely blocks lawsuits against private companies.)
The Obama administration has successfully defended its claim that it can use GPS devices to monitor every move of targeted citizens without securing any court order or review. (Saudi Arabia has installed massive public surveillance systems, while Cuba is notorious for active monitoring of selected citizens.)
Extraordinary renditions
The government now has the ability to transfer both citizens and noncitizens to another country under a system known as extraordinary rendition, which has been denounced as using other countries, such as Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan, to torture suspects. The Obama administration says it is not continuing the abuses of this practice under Bush, but it insists on the unfettered right to order such transfers — including the possible transfer of U.S. citizens.
These new laws have come with an infusion of money into an expanded security system on the state and federal levels, including more public surveillance cameras, tens of thousands of security personnel and a massive expansion of a terrorist-chasing bureaucracy.
Some politicians shrug and say these increased powers are merely a response to the times we live in. Thus, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) could declare in an interview last spring without objection that “free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.” Of course, terrorism will never “surrender” and end this particular “war.”
Other politicians rationalize that, while such powers may exist, it really comes down to how they are used. This is a common response by liberals who cannot bring themselves to denounce Obama as they did Bush. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), for instance, has insisted that Congress is not making any decision on indefinite detention: “That is a decision which we leave where it belongs — in the executive branch.”
And in a signing statement with the defense authorization bill, Obama said he does not intend to use the latest power to indefinitely imprison citizens. Yet, he still accepted the power as a sort of regretful autocrat.
An authoritarian nation is defined not just by the use of authoritarian powers, but by the ability to use them. If a president can take away your freedom or your life on his own authority, all rights become little more than a discretionary grant subject to executive will.
The framers lived under autocratic rule and understood this danger better than we do. James Madison famously warned that we needed a system that did not depend on the good intentions or motivations of our rulers: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
Benjamin Franklin was more direct. In 1787, a Mrs. Powel confronted Franklin after the signing of the Constitution and asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got — a republic or a monarchy?” His response was a bit chilling: “A republic, Madam, if you can keep it.”
Since 9/11, we have created the very government the framers feared: a government with sweeping and largely unchecked powers resting on the hope that they will be used wisely.
The indefinite-detention provision in the defense authorization bill seemed to many civil libertarians like a betrayal by Obama. While the president had promised to veto the law over that provision, Levin, a sponsor of the bill, disclosed on the Senate floor that it was in fact the White House that approved the removal of any exception for citizens from indefinite detention.
Dishonesty from politicians is nothing new for Americans. The real question is whether we are lying to ourselves when we call this country the land of the free.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro professor of public interest law at George Washington University.
Read more from Outlook, including:
“Imagining a world without Gitmo,” by Karen J. Greenberg.
“A world without 9/11: No President Obama, more China trouble, same debt crisis,” by Michael Lind.
“Five myths about Dick Cheney,” by Stephen F. Hayes.
Honestly
While the LSU and Alabama [semipro] college football teams prepare to battle for a win in Snooze Fest 2.0 (aka the BCS National Football Championship (at least it’s not named a “World” title in usual American fashion)), rumour has it that the creators/financiers of the film “Drag0nheart” have settled for 50% of all earnings, both past and future, from the estate of J.K Rowling and the creators/financiers of the Harry Potter films and associated merchandising/memorabilia for obvious ripoffs of Dragonheart’s storyline and characters.
Iran denies it has the strength of China behind it in threatening to close down Hormuz and the U.S. denies that the people onboard the ship they rescued from pirates were high-ranked members of the Iranian government seeking to escape from a country getting choked on its own oil reserves and hoping to get their hands on offshore bank accounts.
Meanwhile, the people of Bolivia have expressed strong interest in swapping places with the people of Belize and the people of New Zealand have expressed an even stronger interest in not swapping places with the people of Australia.
Miners and other of the extracting persuasion are happy to give up their operations in the bitter cold of Antarctica in exchange for developing a pipeline of extraction in the area commonly known as the country of Afghanistan.
Kurds eating their curds and whey are on their way there, too, tired of dealing with the genocidal maniacs who claim allegiance to a political entity called Turkey (which, incidentally, is full of turkey and well-stuffed with good Armenian cooks…cooked stories about Armenian natural disappearances, that is).
And no, these two news items are not related, aren’t they? [where’s a good triple-negative when you need one?]:
- Reorganisation of war management capabilities.
- Exposé on the war.
A nod to Ada Byron and the women of ENIAC, brainiacs who changed the world.
Where we spend our money…wisely?
We are…Marshall the 1% of the 1%. Where are you investing your investments?
Will Cuonzo Martin be a one-off or a longterm investment for UT men’s basketball? Can you fire a coach midseason in his first year, or…or do you think he’ll be the next Coach K and just needs some time?
Georgia (no, not Russia) and Russia (no, not Moscow, Idaho)
But can he ride a rocket out of the country?
Ракетчики останутся в заложниках у Родины Rocketeers will remain hostage to the Motherland
Руководитель Роскосмоса Владимир Поповкин запретил ездить на отдых за границу носителям государственных тайн Head of Russian Federal Space Agency Vladimir Popovkin forbidden to go on holiday abroad holders of state secrets
Руководитель Федерального космического агентства (Роскосмос) Владимир Поповкин. Head of Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) Vladimir Popovkin. Фото: РИА НОВОСТИ/Артем Житенёв Photo: RIA Novosti / Artem Zhitenev
Руководитель Manager Федерального Federal космического Space агентства Agency Владимир Vladimir Поповкин Popovkin запретил banned выезд exit за for границу border на on отдых recreation руководителям managers и and сотрудникам employees предприятий businesses Роскосмоса , осведомленных Russian Space Agency, informed о of секретных Secret сведениях . clues.
— – Письмо « Об Letter “On the ограничении Restrictions выезда Check out из of РФ RF работников employees организаций Organizations ракетно – космической Rocket – Space промышленности » датировано 22 ноября , — рассказал « Известиям » высокопоставленный Industry “dated November 22, – told” Izvestia “senior источник source в in Роскосмосе . Roskosmos. — В – In тексте text руководитель manager рекомендует Recommends ограничить limit с 1 января 2012 года from January 1, 2012 выезд exit за for пределы limits РФ RF на on отдых recreation руководителей leaders и and работников , осведомленных employees who are aware о of сведениях DATA особой special важности the importance of или or совершенно секретных Top Secret сведениях DATA организаций. organizations.
Запрет Ban касается As for не not только only организаций Organizations и and предприятий , подведомственных enterprises under the jurisdiction of Роскосмосу . Речь Roscosmos. It также also идет is об about организациях , с organizations, with которыми which у in государства State заключен concluded договор contract о of проведении conduct работ , связанных work-related с with передачей transmission сведений Information особой special важности the importance of или or совсекретных sovsekretnyh сведений . Это довольно широкий круг лиц. of information. This is a pretty wide range of individuals. Например, провести зимний отпуск в Альпах теперь не смогут сотрудники банка, допущенные к сведениям о производстве продукции на предприятиях Роскосмоса. For example, spend winter holidays in the Alps now can not bank employees committed to information about the production process in enterprises Space Agency.
Единственная The only лазейка — здоровье . Если loophole – health. If в in период period отпуска holidays обладателю holder секретов Secrets нужно necessary лечение treatment за for рубежом Abroad и and аналогичных similar процедур procedures в in России Russia не not делают, do по on предписанию prescription врача doctor он he может can получить get разрешение resolution на on выезд . Это check-out. This единственное only исключение , предусмотренное the exception provided приказом Order Поповкина , никаких Popovkin, no других « иных Other “other случаев » в cases “in тексте text нет . no.
— – Это It служебный service документ , и document, and он he вписывается fits в in другие others действующие acting нормативные regulatory акты , касающиеся acts on вопросов issues обеспечения ensure секретности , — заявил « Известиям » руководитель Privacy – said “Izvestia” head пресс – службы Press – service Роскосмоса Russian Space Agency Алексей Alex Кузнецов . Kuznetsov.
Сам Himself Владимир Vladimir Поповкин Popovkin через through своего a пресс – секретаря Press – Secretary Анну Anna Ведищеву Vedischevu заявил « Известиям », что told “Izvestia”, which принятые adopted меры arrangements служат are не not запрету , а ban and упорядочению streamline выезда Check out за for рубеж frontier лиц , осведомленных persons knowledgeable о of секретных Secret сведениях . clues.
— Вопрос – Question о of том , почему why такие such меры arrangements не not принимались taken раньше, before, следует be адресовать address предыдущей previous администрации Administration Роскосмоса , — сказал он. Russian Space Agency, – he said.
В In подведомственных subordinate Роскосмосу Roscosmos предприятиях enterprises распоряжение disposal главы Chapter агентства Agency восприняли perceived без without энтузиазма . Невыездным of enthusiasm. restricted to travel abroad автоматически automatically становится is руководство guide всех all крупнейших the largest предприятий businesses и and холдингов holdings ракетно – космической Rocket – Space отрасли . Часто the industry. Often это it далеко far не not бедные poor люди , их people, their доходы revenue исчисляются calculated сотнями hundred тысяч thousands of долларов USD в in год . Обойти year. Getting Around новый new запрет ban им them будет will сложно , так difficult, because как as паспорта Passport сотрудников , обращающихся employees seeking с with секретами , полагается secrets, it is believed хранить store в in соответствующем appropriate отделе Department предприятия , где enterprises, where эти сотрудники работают . Выдаются these employees work. Issued паспорта Passport по on исполнении performance ряда number of формальностей, formalities и and бесконтрольно uncontrolled выехать leave за for рубеж frontier носитель carrier секретов Secrets не not сможет . can.
— – Наш Our руководитель manager имел had обыкновение habit в in январе January отдыхать rest на on островах Islands Индийского Indian океана , в Ocean, этом this году year он he был was на on Сейшелах , — рассказал « Известиям » собеседник Seychelles – told “Izvestia” interlocutor в in крупном large холдинге , выпускающем Holding, producing ракеты – носители missile – media тяжелого heavy класса . the class. — На – In следующий next год year у in него it другие others планы , но plans, but куда where конкретно specifically он he поедет , я go, I не not знаю . I know.
Заместитель Deputy директора Director крупной large организации organization Роскосмоса Russian Space Agency рассказал , что said that планирует plans получить get справку Help от from медика , подтверждающую physician confirming необходимость need выезда Check out за for рубеж : abroad:
— На – In следующей the next неделе week этим this и and займусь , потому loan, because что that летом in summer у in меня me в in последние last годы years график schedule не not позволяет . Мне allows it. I хочется want to в in тепло, heat и and зимой in winter в in России Russia мне me отдыхать rest негде . no place.
Сам Himself Владимир Vladimir Поповкин Popovkin в in августе August этого it года year проводил conducted отпуск vacation в in Сочи . Источник Sochi. Source в in Роскосмосе Roskosmos рассказывает , что says that руководитель manager не not впервые first адресует addresses отраслевым industry руководителям managers сигнал вести signal to более more скромный modest образ image жизни . Так , в of life. Thus, in начале early августа August этого it года year Роскосмос Roscosmos опубликовал published официальное official сообщение message о of намерении intention изменить change систему system оплаты Payment труда Labour отраслевых industry директоров Directors таким so образом , чтобы way that оклад salary руководителя Head превышал exceeded среднюю average зарплату Salary на on предприятии Company не not более more чем than в in пять five раз . Речь time. It идет is о of довольно rather существенном significant сокращении : в reduction: a этом this году year оклад salary руководителя Head превышает than заработную payroll плату fee работника employee в 8–10 раз . at 8-10.
We hazed at our high school, too (but nobody has died): Hazing death inquiry at Florida A&M: New incident, new investigation
The Cameron and Clegg Show
A friend’s facebook status* easily sums up the Cameron screwup at the EU conference, with Sarkozy making the following comment, you can imagine:
“Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries”…Watching the French taunting of the silly English k-niggits. Gotta love me some Python!
Life imitating art, or something like that.
Tonight, while sitting with Chuck, Sharon, Janet, Steve and my wife at my wife’s office Christmas party, I pondered the universe and my place as reluctant leader of the Committee…
When my wife is too tired to dance and the room is full of lovely ladies willing to dance, why am I sitting at the table writing in my pocket Moleskine?
When senior leaders walk the crowd to show off their ties in hopes of winning the ugliest tie contest, why is the latest supercomputer output sitting unread in my home office?
Do you have your finger on the pressure valve of your subculture? Are you citizens easily placated?
Can you tell the difference between the two clones, Cameron and Clegg, the Yin and Yang of British politics?
Thanks to AC and Rachel at Walmart, the staff at the Huntsville Marriott, the Huntsville police on patrol, and the coordinator(s) of the Torch Technologies Christmas party.
A group of my work colleagues are happily celebrating the official receipt of their U.S. patent number. I’ll help them with specifications and marketing docs because I believe in their faith in themselves.
As Richard Branson said, helping others is what we do best. Profit is the aftereffect of a life well lived.
Sorry I missed Christabel and the Jons last night — my wife was too ill to dance so I stayed with her, watching a college football game while she make homemade holiday gifts for friends.
Back to the supercomputer output — time waits for no report that feeds on the report that fed on itself iteratively. Should I buy a [Flash] Gordon style supercomputer to put in the attic and displace the raccoons?
Is it just me or are the Nobel Peace Prize winners getting younger and younger? When will a newborn child, the result of genetic reengineering, receive the Nobel Peace Prize and Time IoT Object of the Year award within days of birth?
Thanks to Coleen Monroe, *Kimberly Lewis, Elexa Rose, all the new friends on facebook, and the guy at Walmart who plans to raise a flooded houseboat tomorrow (the whole thing about 12/20/2011, though, will pass in a little over a year, and society will move on to the next great prediction of doomsday, as it always has and always will, because of the need to feed our survival traits when things are generally going well for some but not others (i.e., all the time), a favourite subject for those in public (e.g., politicians) who want your attention AND your money/time/investments/labour credits).
Ever wonder why no one seems to talks about acid rain anymore?
Seven Billion People and Countless Other Beings to Talk About
What is Julia the Thanksgiving Girl or Jenn the rocket propulsion specialist doing right now?
What about John in the checkout line or Michelle in the deli at Publix?
Terrence or Mildred of Comcast, what does either one do on the weekend?
Or KK at Carson’s Grille?
Imagine a small fleet of crafts heading toward a distant habitable planet, sending and receiving reports along the journey, landing 1,000 years from now, funded by private individuals and companies on Earth that no longer exist in 3011.
What if government as we know it anywhere on Earth right now is no longer tenable in the near or distant future?
Would you trust the backers of a privately-funded, online voting or vote-matching system?
Shouldn’t our new system of cooperating with one another (what we commonly call politics or government) be more, not less, transparent?
Many business people are used to meeting in private, negotiating and signing nondisclosure agreements or other documents that prevent the average person on the street from seeing the details of average business transactions.
We call it competition, trade secrets, intellectual property and similar terms that ensure protection of privacy.
Government is that odd amalgam of public and private interfaces, where sole-source contracts and competing bids go up against marketing and advertisement campaigns.
If two ideas are competing against one another for limited resources, which of the ideas’ weak points or strengths is more important than the other’s?
I can talk about free, live, open source software (FLOSS) because there’s enough profitmaking available and excess resources for such a concept in small to medium markets.
What about on a global scale?
After all, a gaboodle of mobile phones contain Android, which contains a core, or kernel, of Linux code.
In our newly-connected global economy, which operates by and large as a supergossip network, where much of what we say to each other is superfluous but informational, we have created a citizenry that lives and loves outside the bounds of geographically-based political entities.
[Cue several paragraphs of historical comparisons to previous interconnected civilisations]
Are you interested in the status quo — government as it is and has been — or something new, something that develops from grassroot efforts, where we seamlessly become part of the Internet of Things, and transparency is commonplace but there’s room to respect the needs of profitmaking and intellectual/personal property rights?
I grew up playing board games called “Monopoly,” “Risk,” “Life,” and other cultural teaching tools centered on competition. I didn’t play boards games that directly taught cooperation. Instead, collusion of players ganging up on another was the indirect lesson I learned when one player was dominating and the others didn’t want that player to win.
It was in team sports and partner-based card games that I learned to cooperate with others in order to win against a respected opponent.
What are we teaching each other and our children about the future?
Keeping my conspiracy theory readers happy…
I get a number of readers who like what I post, a few who allow themselves to be categorised as conspiracy theorists.
Me, I have no conspiracies. Either the facts tell it like it is or there is no “is” worth writing about.
However, sometimes I skim over user comments and user forums to gauge the mood of people after major news events.
In other words, how does an event act like a pebble in a pond.
Take the following news item, for instance — DEA agents apparently admit laundering money to see how cartels launder money.
Well, the user comments and forum entries filled up quickly about that one.
My favourite:
The government finally admits laundering money to Mexican cartels! Haven’t we said that all along? The gov’t launders money to the gangs in exchange for the cartels murdering potential immigrants trying to enter the U.S., serving as an unofficial deterrent method because the U.S. can’t get caught murdering people crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. and the border fence, as we all know, is a joke! Those are the kind of death squads, not nat’l health insurance committees, that the gov’t is keeping us from knowing about.
Interesting idea, I guess. We don’t need missile defense shields against a country that is barely under the control of a central government, let alone capable of launching missiles across the southern border of the U.S. Save the missile defense systems for real threats elsewhere.
Enough about conspiracy theories, readers. Let’s move on to a different view of the future, one where facts are projections, not conjectures.
A Look Back, Translatable
Today, from the future, I take a look back at this moment and ones to come.
First of all, the missile defense shield installed in Myanmar has gone a long way toward re-establishing the balance of power.
Of course, the law of unintended consequences means that tactical flanking maneuvers allowed the continued tit-for-tat politically-correct statements for which politicians are mostly famous (excluding the usually superfluous occasional foot-in-mouth faux pas).
Freedom in appearance for popular citizens is, as always, given first priority.
The person on the street is subject to the regular forgotten and misused characteristics that a person who does not care to climb the ladder of social success succumbs.
Those who claim membership in the 99% do not realise that the 99% is a mix of conformists and nonconformists along a broad range of political affiliations and apathetic nonaffiliations.
So, with that said, let us move on to the next chapter, which, unfortunately, is indirectly translatable, but we’ll give you the best we can from 1000 years later.
treetrunkdings 