Blogs

Shock Therapy

Could be interpreted as meaning the US is 'considering' stopping all trade with Russia, China, Iran, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and a list of other countries of lesser note.  If you interpret it as a threat of consequence, it could  have been designed to merely send a message to the biggest two-way trade partner, the People's Republic: Uncle Sam envisions extreme measures short of war, targeted at enabler nations. From another angle, the "all trade" is blufftrump, while the biggest offender s

william.scherk

william.scherk

"The Five Types of Trump Voters"

The folks at the Voter Study Group have an article from June, in which some 'types' of Trump voters have been discerned. The title and subtitle -- The Five Types of Trump Voters: Who They Are and What They Believe. It is worth a read, if only to explore the path of belief ... The five 'types' are said to be: Staunch Conservatives Free Marketeers American Preservationists Anti-Elites The Disengaged

william.scherk

william.scherk

"Inside Robert Mueller's Army"

The work history of the folks in the Robert Mueller team is reported on by the Daily Beast's Betsy Woodruff.  For those unspooked by a relatively quiet news front on the special counsel's activities, and for those who are curious about credible/non-credible implications of the activities. And maybe for those who use "Muh Russia" unironically ... (& for those who may have forgotten the details of the inquiry's frame of reference: the Rosenstein order establishing his authority) The DB ar

william.scherk

william.scherk

Falsifying Video: "Real-time Face Capture and Reenactment"

The world of video hoaxing has a relatively new tool. Technology is used to insert facial expression into a video of a person speaking, re-rendering the video to reflect a ''real time" actor's expressions ... ka-reepy implications. See also an alarmist Business Insider article, "AI and CGI will transform information warfare, boost hoaxes, and escalate revenge porn."  

william.scherk

william.scherk

"Emotions are tools of cognition."

The topic of emotion in Randland has always interested me. My very first point of contact with Objectivish things online was the place of emotion in cognition. It is interesting to find myself in rough agreement with Michael all these years later.  In the midst of a very intriguing conversation with my favourite South African Randian, this by MSK: It's not really fair to truncquote this bit, but readers can plunge back into the front porch thread to gain the flow of discussion, and t

william.scherk

william.scherk

Civil war .... Domestic Terrorism [updated]

A few perspectives on the white nationalist "road rage" incident in Charlottesville, Virginia.  US Attorney-General Jeff Sessions called the vehicular homicide a clear case of "domestic terrorism." Youtube sensation Mike Cernovich: "Civil War is here! #Charlottesville." Townhall columnist takes a swing at Presidential equivocation: "The Charlottesville Dystopia: Dark Souls, Tested Principles, and Presidential Weakness." Cernovich again: "President Trump Delivers a Statem

william.scherk

william.scherk

What do you know about psychopathy?

[Edit: this topic was "blocked" -- which I usually do when I haven't finished a topic opener, to prevent a response to a last-draft-but one. I just unblocked it, after adding my own comment below] I was thinking today about Objectivist/ish conceptions of mind, volition and 'determinism.' The context is a 2014 book called "The Psychopath Whisperer." I am about half-way through giving it a thorough read, and want to recommend it to OLers interested in the intersection of law, punishment, phil

william.scherk

william.scherk

Presidential Tweets Today

Some folks have penned breathless stories about President Trump's new Chief of Staff General Kelly -- suggesting that he will try to intercede between the president and the Twitter 'send' button.  Eg,  Yeah, well, if Kelly is with the President in New Bedford during the away-days from West Wing renovations, it looks like the ''reining in" is not actually what some folks hoped for:                     So ... what are those "ph

william.scherk

william.scherk

How Canada became an education superpower

An interesting story from August 1 at the BBC: How Canada became an education superpower -- for those who followed today's Presidential unveiling of an immigration reform, the story has a few explanations of how Canada can place high on international education ranking -- while dealing with large amounts of immigrants. Without getting into the weeds, Canada's immigration policies are more like the reforms suggested for the USA -- a "points-based" system -- except for the family-class newcome

william.scherk

william.scherk

Rich, Seth, Russians, The

Another unsavoury emission from the hoopla turbines. It looks like Sean Spicer may have been 'in the loop' when FoxNews got in trouble with an unwarranted story they published -- while deeper intrigue is found in the form of a lawsuit filing. A dumptruck of details arranged in a narrative of wrong-doing, true or not. The plaintiff feels FoxNews fucked him over and escaped accountability. To set the scene (with light editing and bolded items): I had earlier taken issue with the root o

william.scherk

william.scherk

The Trump-Russia File [updated]

A weird story that will probably continue to simmer for the remaining months of the 2106 2016 Presidential election:  what are Donald J Trump's ties to Russian interests?  How can the purported ties be established in fact? Is there any record that can be examined?  Would Trump tax returns show something hinky or surprising in this regard? The biggest headline is that experts named and un-named have found the fingerprints of the Russian state on the Wikileaked DNC emails.  That the supposedl

william.scherk

william.scherk

"The Truth About Alex Jones, Infowars, & The Trump Family"

David Seaman has had a fair bit of promotion on Objectivist Living, not that there's anything wrong with that. Here is his latest, from which you can glean a coherent narrative of his work. Seaman had a recent appearance with the dean of American 'truther' media, Alex Jones, in a short and sweet update on the dread communication platform Twitter. Truth, Truther, Truthest!  

william.scherk

william.scherk

Mann v Ball

"Have been knows" uses the passive voice and has no subject. Be that as it may, I think the lawsuit's progress is poorly reported by John O'Sullivan. There are a lot of claims made in his article at Principia (which Merlin noted was reproduced elsewhere, though not in mainstream news media). There are a lot of claims made, but some or all may prove not be true. An Objectivist approach ...?  Maybe examine the 'sides' ... and maybe examine the herald. It should be remembered that O'Sullivan i

william.scherk

william.scherk

I didn't know that Canada has a larger GDP than ...

... Russia, according to a set of figures taken from the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Output stats: Country/Economy GDP Nominal (billions of $) GDP PPP (billions of Int. $) PPP/Nom 2016 share Rank 2020 Rank 2016 share Rank 2020 Rank United States 18,

william.scherk

william.scherk