tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67813257068748454722024-03-17T20:01:38.213-07:00"Possibly seriously reactionary"Occasional defenses of our received disorderMichael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.comBlogger118125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-81457077818712854452024-03-06T00:13:00.000-08:002024-03-06T00:13:11.183-08:00Response to Seth Tillman on proportional representation<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am an Israeli political scientist, where proportional representation (henceforth PR) has been used for legislative elections since the beginning of the state, with a slight departure for direct election of the Prime Minister. Some of <a href="https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2024/03/political-evangelism-in-todays-ireland.html">what Prof. Tillman writes</a> on his New Reform Club blog <a href="https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2024/03/political-evangelism-in-todays-ireland.html">post</a> (<a href="https://reformclub.blogspot.com/2024/03/political-evangelism-in-todays-ireland.html">archive</a>) I agree with, some of this I disagree with, some of it I don't understand</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-baac80ac-7fff-f2cc-7c4c-e6b52a0ce9c1"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">1) "Under proportional representation, the members of the governing coalition having executive power or forming the cabinet is not under the control of the voters. Rather, it depends on the bargaining positions and skills of the elected parties after the election." </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">It is true that in Israel the legislative elections do not completely determine the makeup of the postelection governing coalition. But nothing in the system stops voters from giving a majority to one party (in the 1950's Ben Gurion's party came close); factions pledging with whom they hope to enter in coalition in order to win votes; or factions uniting pre-election to form what they hope will be a majority list.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Also, in the pure Westminster system, I elect only one representative -- how much more influence, if any, does this give me over the eventual composition of government than as a PR voter?</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">2) “Proportional representation has advantages if your nation has no external enemies or has farmed out its defense to third parties.“</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Israel has PR even though it has serious and desperate external enemies and is not in NATO or an alternative formal alliance structure. It is not obvious to me what price we have paid in foreign and security matters as a result.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">3) “On the other hand, where a nation faces actual external threats, proportional representation inhibits decisive action by the executive during war time and other emergencies. Proportional representation makes decisive action during war time and other emergencies difficult because different parties within the governing coalition or cabinet have different interests, will shift blame, and will look to their position in the next poll and in the next election.“</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We haven’t seen this very much in Israel, because in fact the parties in cabinet have the same overwhelming interest in the survival of the country. While we have a lot of blame-shifting it occurs, as in the UK and other Westminster countries, mostly among members of the major coalition party. What has prevented decisive action is the absence of consensus as to means of securing peace and security.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">4) “proportional representation undermines collective cabinet responsibility”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">True, but collective responsibility is only relevant insofar as people get booted and stay booted from cabinet for failure or incompetence. When faction leaders retain power for reasons other than their performance as ministers, they will have to be appeased with cabinet seats even when they aren’t much good as cabinet ministers, and I don’t think it matters much whether the faction is a intraparty fraction or a separate party list.</span></p><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">5) "If the greatest threat your nation fears is a portion of its own citizens, then proportional representation may be the best way to organize your elections." </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am not clear on what Prof. Tillman means by this, but it is true that under PR, “extremists” have an incentive to create their own party, which can then readily be banned, as in Israel and Germany. In the US (which does not have PR), the candidates the establishment loathes can infiltrate major parties, but the institutional tools exist to ban individuals and disenfranchise their supporters -- however, their use has been infrequent and is not yet normalized. I expect that things will be different when the Democrats get simultaneous control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress.</span></span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-49290476583715844332023-07-21T00:51:00.003-07:002023-07-21T00:57:43.461-07:00Five preliminary thoughts on Nolan’s Oppenheimer<span id="docs-internal-guid-47575c80-7fff-8cda-da27-5bade20e627d"><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiORRTVCFDay-soJ5a0QO3OWmzaIHXjQqDALJ-B-WLqjSZcR_s2BnZjnLUcHNvOifH0O5_G6m-wDK9sZJrg5RW8_WV3LiSxINLXNw-53LS0R4Ylnw5Lp8KLprBwh_vfdZRD5nL_vRfFnvBYA1nyvuanUZp1jLuIoqi8zr2Lt98ns8_pg_tljshiTyE1OQq0" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiORRTVCFDay-soJ5a0QO3OWmzaIHXjQqDALJ-B-WLqjSZcR_s2BnZjnLUcHNvOifH0O5_G6m-wDK9sZJrg5RW8_WV3LiSxINLXNw-53LS0R4Ylnw5Lp8KLprBwh_vfdZRD5nL_vRfFnvBYA1nyvuanUZp1jLuIoqi8zr2Lt98ns8_pg_tljshiTyE1OQq0" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></span></div><ol style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">The movie is smoothly put together. The narration is told in multiple interweaving strands with at least two layers of retrospection, as in every Nolan movie, but it is easy enough to follow -- at least if you have been reading Manhattan Project history for four decades.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">There is a lot of atomic fanservice, with many of our favorites such as Szilard, Fermi, and Feynman shown (and in the case of Feynman, caricatured) briefly.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">There is even “Jewservice”: Oppenheimer is presented as more open about and concerned with his Jewish identity than he is usually portrayed, while his sense of his own Jewish and American identities is challenged by Rabi, by Einstein and by the film’s main antagonist, Lewis Strauss.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; font-size: 15px; text-wrap: wrap;">To understand the film one has to understand the Oppenheimer character's complex, changing, and even contradictory views of the politics and morality of nuclear arms and nuclear war. One also needs to decide whether Nolan, usually more explicitly didactic, wants us to think that his Oppenheimer is right -- and, if so, which Oppenheimer is right.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: decimal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Spoiler alert: when you see the flash, cover your ears.</span></p></li></ol><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span face="Arial, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></span></span></div></span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-23045942567628786282021-03-16T00:13:00.004-07:002021-03-16T00:13:25.145-07:00Maimonides and his Demons1. The Rambam's knowledge of the world was generally inferior to that of Chazal.<br />2. Like rationalists generally, the Rambam claimed to be open to evidence but in fact used his awesome reasoning powers to insulate his prejudices from evidence.<br />3. The evidence for the existence of demons comes from our experience of demonic possession and exorcism, both within and outside of the Jewish community, from ancient times down to the present day.<br />4. The claim that there is some connection between belief in demons and avoda zara is a claim made by contemporary scholars and pseudoscholars, most of them themselves scoffers at the tradition. There is no psak that forbids belief in demons or the practice of exorcism.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-21711869789523743752020-12-14T08:10:00.002-08:002020-12-14T22:50:35.294-08:00Robert Heinlein on the Education Doctorate (1980)<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Hilda said loudly, "Zebbie! You never told me you went to Heidelberg."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>"You never asked, Sharpie.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; text-indent: 36pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>Zebadiah, was that where you took your doctorate?" </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1933a904-7fff-655f-0ec8-c25a4c74ec55"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">My husband grinned and sat down, still wearing sword. "No, another school ."
"M.I.T.?" inquired Pop.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"Hardly. Pop, this should stay in the family. I undertook to prove that a man can get a doctorate from a major university without knowing anything and without adding anything whatever to human knowledge."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "1 think you have a degree in aerospace engineering," Pop said flatly.
"I'll concede that I have the requisite hours. I hold two degrees-a baccalaureate in humane arts. . . meaning I squeaked through. . . and a doctorate from an old and prestigious school-a Ph.D. in education."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Zebadiah! You wouldn't!" (I was horrified.)</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "But I did, Deety. To prove that degrees per se are worthless. Often they are honorifics of true scientists or learned scholars or inspired teachers. Much more frequently they are false faces for overeducated jackasses."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Pop said, "You'll get no argument from me, Zeb. A doctorate is a union card to get a tenured job. It does not mean that the holder thereof is wise or learned."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Yes, sir. I was taught it at my grandfather's knee-my Grandfather Zachariah, the man responsible for the initial 'Z' in the names of his male descendants. Deety, his influence on me was so strong that I must explain him- no, that's impossible; I must tell about him in order to explain me. . . and how I happened to take a worthless degree."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[....]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>"I went to Manhattan and signed up for school again. Doctoral candidate. School of Education. Not serious at first, simply intending to use my veteran's benefits while enjoying the benefits of being a student-and devote most of my time to piling up cash to qualify for the trust.
"I knew that the stupidest students, the silliest professors, and the worst bull courses are concentrated in schools of education. By signing for large class evening lectures and the unpopular eight am. classes I figured I could spend most of my time finding out how the stock market ticked. I did, by working there, before I risked a dime.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Eventually I had to pick a research problem or give up the advantages of being a student. I was sick of a school in which the pie was all meringue and no filling but I stuck as I knew how to cope with courses in which the answers are matters of opinion and the opinion that counts is that of the professor. And how to cope with those large-class evening lectures: Buy the lecture notes. Read everything that professor ever published. Don't cut too often and when you do show up, get there early, sit front row center, be certain the prof catches your eye every time he looks your way-by never taking your eyes off him. Ask one question you know he can answer because you've picked it out of his published papers-and state your name in asking a question. Luckily 'Zebadiah Carter' is a name easy to remember. Family, I got straight 'A's' in both required courses and seminars. . . because I did not study 'education,' I studied professors of education.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "But I still had to make that 'original contribution to human knowledge' without which a candidate may not be awarded a doctor's degree in most so-called disciplines. . . and the few that don't require it are a tough row to hoe.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "I studied my faculty committee before letting myself be tied down to a research problem. . . not only reading everything each had published but also buying their publications or paying the library to make copies of out-of-print papers."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> My husband took me by my shoulders. "Dejah Thoris, here follows the title of my dissertation. You can have your divorce on your own terms."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Zebadiah, don't talk that way!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Then brace yourself. 'An Ad-Hoc Inquiry Concerning the Optimization of the Infrastructure of Primary Educational Institutions at the Interface Between Administration and Instruction, with Special Attention to Group Dynamics Desiderata."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Zebbie! What does that mean?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "It means nothing, Hilda."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Zeb, quit kidding our ladies. Such a title would never be accepted." </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Jake, it seems certain that you have never taken a course in a school of education."</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Well. . . no. Teaching credentials are not required at university level but-"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "But me no 'huts,' Pop. I have a copy of my dissertation; you can check its authenticity. While that paper totally lacks meaning it is a literary gem in the sense in which a successful forging of an 'old master' is itself a work of art. It is loaded with buzz words. The average length of sentences is eightyone words. The average word length, discounting 'of,' 'a,' 'the,' and other syntactical particles, is eleven-plus letters in slightly under four syllables. The bibliography is longer than the dissertation and cites three papers of each member of my committee and four of the chairman, and those citations are quoted in part-while avoiding any mention of matters on which I knew that members of the committee held divergent (but equally stupid) opinions.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "But the best touch was to get permission to do field work in Europe and have it count toward time on campus; half the citations were in foreign languages, ranging from Finnish to Croatian-and the translated bits invariably agreed with the prejudices of my committee. It took careful quoting out of context to achieve this, but it had the advantage that the papers were unlikely to be on campus and my committee were not likely to go to the trouble of looking them up even if they were. Most of them weren't at home in other languages, even easy ones like French, German, and Spanish.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">[....]</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> 'Five months later I was awarded the degree of doctor of philosophy, summa cum laude, And that, dear ones, is the shameful story of my life, Anyone have the energy to go swimming?"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "Son, if there is a word of truth in that, it is indeed a shameful story.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">" "Pop! That's not fair! Zebadiah used their rules-.-and outsmarted them!"</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "I didn't say that Zeb had anything to be ashamed of. It is a commentary on American higher education. What Zeb claims to have written is no worse than trash I know is accepted as dissertations these days. His case is the only one I have encountered wherein an intelligent and able scholar-you, Zeb- set out to show that an 'earned' Ph.D. could be obtained from a famous institution-I know which one!-in exchange for deliberately meaningless pseudoresearch. The cases I have encountered have involved button-counting by stupid and humorless young persons under the supervision of stupid and humorless old fools. I see no way to stop it; the rot is too deep. The only answer is to chuck the system and start over." My father shrugged. "Impossible."
</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">---Robert A. Heinlein. The Number of the Beast (1980)</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-52466259563363135842020-11-10T02:09:00.008-08:002020-12-14T08:08:20.574-08:00A Brief History of the Quarrel of Philosophy and PoetryFrom Plato and Aristotle to the 18th century, literature submitted to the judgment of philosophy.<br /><br />We then had 140 years of Romanticism, from Rousseau to Nietzsche, with literature on top.<div><br /> Then 70 or so years of modernism: literature on top in the West, philosophy in the guise of Marxist theory on top in the Communist block.</div><div><br /> Then 40 years of postmodernism, from Foucault and Derrida to 9-11: philosophy on top once again.</div><div><br /> Since 9-11, Chaos Years, culminating in the conquest and occupation of literature by Woke Theory. </div><div>Trouble is that the best of woke contemporary stuff would have been turned down for lack of talent by the Union of Soviet Writers. </div><div><br /></div><div>{Note that who rules does not determine literary merit (pace the Romantics): </div><div>Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare and Molière were under the thumb of Plato and Aristotle; Coetzee the po-mo is the equal of both the great modernist writers and the great modernist critics}</div>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-28139722754404082442020-09-13T03:48:00.002-07:002020-09-13T03:48:32.125-07:00Five Rules for Conservative Culture Warriors<p>1. Reinforce victory (on, say, abortion, where the culture shifted a long way from Fast Times at Ridgemont High to Juno)</p><p>2. Know the other side's arguments better than they do.</p><p>3. Always challenge -- never back down -- except in the face of superior reason (my conduct in the academy since I entered college at 15).</p><p>4. When accused of something, your first impulse should be to admit it.</p><p>5. Study the abuse of power not just to protest abuse but to learn how to gain and keep power.</p>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-14466675685038431672020-07-31T08:11:00.002-07:002020-07-31T08:42:28.720-07:00Israel N. Kochin, MD on HCQ+Zinc prophylaxisI showed my brother, New York City physician Israel N. Kochin, Scott Adams's <a href="https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1288910299643273217?s=20">account</a> of HCQ+Zinc prophylaxis as a risk management strategy for COVID-19.<br />
<br />
I asked Dr. Kochin if he would prescribe HCQ+Zinc prophylaxis for a patient with no specific contraindications. Dr. Kochin said he would not, and explained why thus:<br />
<br />
I remain concerned with physicians who advocate this treatment for COVID19- the limited published data still shows harm outweighing benefit (see my earlier post on the subject) in most studies. I hope I am wrong in my concern. <br />
"WHO is actively following the ongoing clinical trials that are being conducted in response to COVID-19, including studies looking at the use of chloroquine and its derivative, hydroxychloroquine, for treatment and/or prevention. Currently, there is insufficient data to assess the efficacy of either of these medicines in treating patients with COVID-19, or in preventing them from contracting the coronavirus. In the context of the COVID-19 response, the dosage and treatment schedules for chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine that are currently under consideration do not reflect those used for treating patients with malaria. The ingestion of high doses of these medicines may be associated with adverse or seriously adverse health outcomes."<br />
<span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #444950; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><a data-lynx-mode="hover" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.who.int%2Fnews-room%2Fq-a-detail%2Fmalaria-and-the-covid-19-pandemic%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR1yRH1rpuRw0op5FoQX4j7ufHl3_ucuEWyTxHYhJShp1Zn-XwYEGXJY818&h=AT02CEMJ3hTUvpGccjkR1BcqjyOEO18PHuXFGF0WCHoizxaiwUZsbMuThehqzrL4W-evGMqrvEHAYd21hx6Vk2xX5hpDU_DykBbznpr-5vTJsaIFf4KNzRp_FvYMIXbA1EA" href="https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/malaria-and-the-covid-19-pandemic?fbclid=IwAR1yRH1rpuRw0op5FoQX4j7ufHl3_ucuEWyTxHYhJShp1Zn-XwYEGXJY818" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/malaria-and-the-covid-19-pandemic</a><br />
COVID-19: "hydroxychloroquine (200 mg three times per day for 10 days)"<br />
malaria prophylaxis: "400 mg once weekly"<br />
Malaria Rx: "800 mg once, followed by 400 mg at 6, 24, and 48 hours after initial dose (total dose: 2 g)" <br />
RA: "200 to 400 mg daily as a single daily dose or in 2 divided doses (Kumar 2013). Note: Due to the risk of retinal toxicity, most patients should not receive a daily dose >5 mg/kg/day using actual body weight or 400 mg, whichever is lower.."<br />
<a data-lynx-mode="hover" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uptodate.com%2Fcontents%2Fhydroxychloroquine-drug-information%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR10Wb8t1fWMY6RJlWW0QHz75N23bjiN9ONwgyAN2E5HeVMMPQjP3cfCBJQ&h=AT02CEMJ3hTUvpGccjkR1BcqjyOEO18PHuXFGF0WCHoizxaiwUZsbMuThehqzrL4W-evGMqrvEHAYd21hx6Vk2xX5hpDU_DykBbznpr-5vTJsaIFf4KNzRp_FvYMIXbA1EA" href="https://www.uptodate.com/contents/hydroxychloroquine-drug-information?fbclid=IwAR10Wb8t1fWMY6RJlWW0QHz75N23bjiN9ONwgyAN2E5HeVMMPQjP3cfCBJQ" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://www.uptodate.com/contents/hydroxychloroquine-drug-information</a><br />
<br style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #444950; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;" />
In my opinion, people who are considering they may take this medication if they develop COVID19 symptoms should be evaluated by their physician in advance for G6PD deficiency, which is the most common enzymatic deficiency in humans. This deficiency is particularly higher in those of African and Mediterranean (e.g. Sephardic) decent. <br />
<br />
There are those advocating a lower dose, "The total 5 day dose (400 bid x 1 day then 200 bid for 5 days)." [source: Dr Jacob Teitelbaum], but I don't know where that dose originates from, but lower is certainly safer.<br />
<br />
Some HCQ proponents are quite fanatical, it's not like they are going to let a little thing like reality dissuade them... some of them were posting in July new results about a study that was aborted in June. (Are they lying or simply willfuly ignorant?) <br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10164060891315473&set=a.69381620472&type=3&eid=ARD6fygFusWLdYASNk2W1Qw_p9vgYWCcSrrJtTgD-_X7rCPA3kMDIA8CS-E0eajEbGQ7d4a7tXQwuCwu" style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10164060891315473&set=a.69381620472&type=3&eid=ARD6fygFusWLdYASNk2W1Qw_p9vgYWCcSrrJtTgD-_X7rCPA3kMDIA8CS-E0eajEbGQ7d4a7tXQwuCwu</a><br />
Reality: This trial ended at the beginning of June due to a similar study showing "no efficacy in preventing COVID-19 for people exposed to the virus."<br />
<a href="https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/newsmd/coronavirus/6523704-South-Dakotas-trial-of-a-controversial-COVID-19-drug-has-been-discontinued?fbclid=IwAR0ts34ILeoQZprnCKIYi9YlTa34LsH10RbqNJD7MrN9tUZu82Ym3CJlnIk">https://www.mitchellrepublic.com/newsmd/coronavirus/6523704-South-Dakotas-trial-of-a-controversial-COVID-19-drug-has-been-discontinued</a><br />
<a href="https://www.keloland.com/top-stories/s-d-still-seeks-guidance-on-hydroxychloroquine/?fbclid=IwAR1T_vewCLX0Wuy_HiL3au7uXI8CooYxSi1tW2JQVtaHdg1d1SiXvTCFd9A">https://www.keloland.com/top-stories/s-d-still-seeks-guidance-on-hydroxychloroquine/</a> also see <a href="https://www.goodrx.com/blog/coronavirus-medicine-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-as-covid19-treatment?fbclid=IwAR0PrSoc3gaHnMSHC4SvLN3UNp5ZqB-z5tkiS0exvFEa0KdXtb-YGgyBjdk">https://www.goodrx.com/blog/coronavirus-medicine-chloroquine-hydroxychloroquine-as-covid19-treatment</a><br />
<br />
Also American College of Cardiology remains concerned about fatalities from Arrhythmia <a data-lynx-mode="hover" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.acc.org%2Flatest-in-cardiology%2Farticles%2F2020%2F03%2F27%2F14%2F00%2Fventricular-arrhythmia-risk-due-to-hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin-treatment-for-covid-19%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR12htyW_OMuuaSltbj1F7Ve22IRTbycKqZ7rwph15_9yYuKa0DyYA3NWFs&h=AT02CEMJ3hTUvpGccjkR1BcqjyOEO18PHuXFGF0WCHoizxaiwUZsbMuThehqzrL4W-evGMqrvEHAYd21hx6Vk2xX5hpDU_DykBbznpr-5vTJsaIFf4KNzRp_FvYMIXbA1EA" href="https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2020/03/27/14/00/ventricular-arrhythmia-risk-due-to-hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin-treatment-for-covid-19?fbclid=IwAR12htyW_OMuuaSltbj1F7Ve22IRTbycKqZ7rwph15_9yYuKa0DyYA3NWFs" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2020/03/27/14/00/ventricular-arrhythmia-risk-due-to-hydroxychloroquine-azithromycin-treatment-for-covid-19</a><span style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #444950; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>and they provide additional guidance here: <a data-lynx-mode="hover" data-lynx-uri="https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmayoclinicproceedings.org%2Fpb%2Fassets%2Fraw%2FHealth%2520Advance%2Fjournals%2Fjmcp%2Fjmcp_covid19.pdf%3Ffbclid%3DIwAR0dhiGE1-13knFCNexefUvMb-ciTqxDzOSGIyPlDQRS4RulZBFeYN5fhGE&h=AT02CEMJ3hTUvpGccjkR1BcqjyOEO18PHuXFGF0WCHoizxaiwUZsbMuThehqzrL4W-evGMqrvEHAYd21hx6Vk2xX5hpDU_DykBbznpr-5vTJsaIFf4KNzRp_FvYMIXbA1EA" href="https://mayoclinicproceedings.org/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/jmcp/jmcp_covid19.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0dhiGE1-13knFCNexefUvMb-ciTqxDzOSGIyPlDQRS4RulZBFeYN5fhGE" rel="nofollow noopener" style="background-color: #f1f0f0; color: #385898; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;" target="_blank">https://mayoclinicproceedings.org/pb/assets/raw/Health%20Advance/journals/jmcp/jmcp_covid19.pdf</a><br />
<br />
Furthermore, given the strong evidence for limited efficacy, research resources should probably focus on drugs with better preliminary results and/or novel pathways.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-55648346463001268412020-06-09T00:11:00.003-07:002020-07-22T04:47:07.591-07:00An Independent Empire book talk with Kochin & Taylor<br />
Book talk with <i>An Independent Empire </i>authors Michael Kochin and Michael Taylor <br />
"We are now Friends with England: Kochin and Taylor on forming An Independent Empire"<br />
<div>
on Youtube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl_C_7cVuiE">here</a>.</div>
Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-2741121641390615502020-06-09T00:07:00.001-07:002020-06-09T00:07:47.883-07:00An Independent Empire podcast with Titus Techera<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1f; font-family: "SF Pro Text", "SF Pro Icons", "Apple WebExp Icons Custom", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: -0.065px;">Titus & I discuss <i>An Independent Empire</i>--empire means domination of land and people and American politicians from the beginning were decided on dominating the vast continent, in face of hostile Indian tribes and European powers.<br />Available on Soundcloud <a href="https://soundcloud.com/user-77539699/acf-founders-4-an-independent-empire">here</a>.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d1d1f; font-family: "SF Pro Text", "SF Pro Icons", "Apple WebExp Icons Custom", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: -0.065px;">Archived <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w7N80FP6TmGSBpZ8JKL6JiQNCbeSZ5M8/view?usp=sharing">here</a>.</span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-16437109311182306992020-05-18T03:40:00.004-07:002020-05-18T03:46:22.683-07:00Jane<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: center 243.65pt; text-align: center;">
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Jane<o:p></o:p></div>
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Copyright
© 2020 Michael S. Kochin<o:p></o:p></div>
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All
Rights Reserved<o:p></o:p></div>
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Jane and I sat down at a window table in
the doctors' cafeteria.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had been up
all night, gotten through rounds, but neither of us could sleep, so we went
down for an 11:00 brunch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The food, as
usual, was unspeakable, but the winter sunlight was a welcome change from the fluorescents
in the halls or at the nurses’ station.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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Jane and I had been friends since our first year of college.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Two young women first-years, both pre-med,
though I majored in biochemistry and Jane majored in Russian Literature.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We both won early admission to the University
of Chicago medical school, and both of us had chosen to stay for our
residencies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Jane had stayed because of
her boyfriend, now her husband, a fifteenth-year graduate student in the
Committee on Social Thought.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I,
because..., well, when you are a fourth generation Hyde Parker, it just never
occurs to you to leave.<o:p></o:p></div>
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We talked about various things, rounds,
the attending physicians, most of whom had propositioned me, many more than
once.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also talked about Mr. Robardsun,
an old philosopher retired from the University, who was dying of cancer, or so
his doctors said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trouble is, at ninety-two
everything takes a long time, including dying of cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robardsun, who had nobody to take care of
him, had been admitted from the nursing home nine months ago. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every week or so he'd have a crisis, which
would keep him from being discharged, but was never quite enough to push him
over the top.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was most amazing was
that he was still working, even while groaning in mortal pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or at least, he would work when he wasn't
entubated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His magnum opus, demonstrating
finally that only mind was real, and that body and pain where only
illusions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had been working on the
page proofs since 1947, since shortly after he'd received tenure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he was still at it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As his pain had gotten worse he had taken to
adding new footnotes, trying to prove to himself ever more desperately that his
sufferings were only illusory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
struggle was no doubt what was keeping him alive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Then Jane said, "Ellen, I have the
best thing to tell you."<o:p></o:p></div>
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"What?"<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"I haven't had severe menstrual
pains in four months."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
Now you have got to realize that Jane
always had the worst periods. Heavy flow, terrible cramps before and
during.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She had started taking birth
control pills in College, even when she wasn't in a relationship.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pills had kept her from turning green and
fainting during her periods, but had done nothing for the pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And she was off the pill, because she and
Rick were trying to conceive.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
Jane's pains were bad, well beyond the
reach of Motrin or Tylenol.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"That's
great, Jane," I said, "what the trick?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Chinese herbs?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or are you trying to tell that you are four months
pregnant?" I asked, straining to see her belly from across the table.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"No," Jane said, "I'm not
pregnant, unfortunately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I have
finally found a drug that works for the pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And would you believe it, I heard about it from an ER patient, an
uneducated crack whore on welfare with three kids paid for by the state."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"You ain't smokin' crack, is you, girlfriend?"
I asked.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"No, I haven't tried that,"
Jane said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"But you see, this
patient, a thirty-two-year-old Black female with a history of drug abuse, as we
say, gets sent to me when I was covering the ER."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'What's wrong?’ I asked her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Doctor,' she said, 'I have got the
worst pains in my belly'.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"So I go through the diagnostic, and
get her to describe the pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I ask
her, 'have you ever felt pains like this before?'<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Yes Doctor, every time I get the
monthlies.'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Every time,' I said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Every time,' she said, 'since my
last little girl was born.'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Do you take anything for them?’, I
asked.'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Well, Doctor, I used to take
smack, but the Judge said, last time I was in Court, that if I tested positive
for smack again when I was picked up, she would revoke my probation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then who would take care of my babies?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I came in to see if you could give me
something.'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"I gave her some aspirin and got her
out of there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it set me to
thinking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Heroin was out of the
question, but maybe some other opiate?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So I tried codeine, but that only helped a little.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then a while later I was walking by Mr. Robardsun's
room, when I heard him shout, "Damn fucking pills, damned if I ever take
any of them!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I went in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'Is something wrong, Mr. Robardsun?' I asked."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"Robardsun's whole being was
shriveled with pain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did his best to
collect himself, then he said, 'I dropped some pills on the floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you pick them up?'<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough his morphine dose was on the
floor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I assumed that he had knocked
them off his tray, somehow, since the cup of water the nurse had given him had spilled
too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I bent down to pick up the
pills, though, I noticed that his bureau drawer had a hundred of them."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"He noticed my surprise, and
understood what I had discovered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
said, 'Mr. Robardsun, are you taking your morphine?'"<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'No,' he said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>'Mind your own business.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But since you figured things out, you just
take them all out of the drawer and throw them away.'"<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Mr. Robardsun,' I said, 'the pills
will relieve your pain.'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Pain is an illusion,' he snapped.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Mr. Robardsun,' I said, 'does your
doctor know that you aren't taking your pills?'<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"'Hell no!' He shouted. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I told him I didn't want any of his quack
"Pain"-killers he kept sending those goddamned psychiatrists to
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They kept asking me whether I wasn't
taking the pills because I was depressed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>And when I told them that I wasn't depressed, they told me I should be
depressed, since I was a ninety-two-year-old man without any family who was
dying of cancer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So I decided that I
would tell my doctor that I was willing to get the pills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But instead of taking them, I just throw them
in drawer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just happened to drop right
before you came in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But why don't you
take them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flush them down the toilet,
give them to the kids with hangnails, just get them out of here!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"So I did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And when I next got my period, I took one, as
needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pains went away immediately.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the stress too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You know, in the last year, every time I get
my period I get upset.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another chance of
getting pregnant blown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the morphine
takes the blues and sends them on an all-expenses paid weekend in Maui."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"But Jane, you are going to get
caught, and lose your license."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"Nah, nobody knows how I get
them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Robardsun doesn't know my
name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And everybody thinks he's taking
his pills.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is one thing that
worries me, though."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"What's that?"<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"If I get pregnant, I won't get my
period. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then I won't have any excuse
for taking morphine."<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12.0pt; mso-hyphenate: none; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; tab-stops: -36.0pt;">
"You are completely insane," I said,
but I could hardly conceal the admiration in my voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So U. of C., and so Jane.</div>
</div>
Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-60609519363589065632020-03-04T05:45:00.002-08:002020-03-04T05:47:48.252-08:00We don't need a "War on Coronavirus"<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">If you look back at the War on Cancer or the AIDS research boom of the 80's, you can predict with certainty that increased public or nonprofit funding of "Coronavirus research" would all be thrown away on proposals that tweaked professors' current research with the word "Coronavirus."</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The best hope for a working Coronavirus vaccine or for effective treatments is from the profit motive of Big Pharma.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">But don't worry, a single payer public option will ensure that the profit motive is eradicated, so that no evil drug companies get rich off of future epidemics</span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-82799015987875318842020-01-21T03:21:00.001-08:002020-02-13T17:06:24.314-08:00Election Prediction: Trump 349-Buttigieg 186Iowa caucus:<br />
<br />
1. Buttigieg<br />
2. Sanders<br />
3. Warren<br />
4. Biden<br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
New Hampshire:</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white;">1. Sanders</span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">2. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">Buttigieg</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">3. Warren</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">4. Biden</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: small;">After a long a bitter nomination fight, Buttigieg triumphs as corporate Democrats consolidate around him.</span></div>
<div>
<br />
In the general election, Trump beats Buttigieg 349-186 in the electoral college (holding all his 2016 states + VA-ME-MN-NV-NH)<br />
51-49 for Trump in the two-party popular vote.<br />
<br />
Method: 1. Give CA to the Dems with 2016 vote totals<br />
2. Apply <a href="https://fairmodel.econ.yale.edu/vote2020/index2.htm">Fair model</a> % to rest of country<br />
3. Move every state except CA 2% over to Trump<br />
<br />
And if you think prediction markets offer more reliable forecasts, recall that prediction markets offer <a href="https://mskochin.blogspot.com/2016/05/prediction-markets-and-understanding.html">the best information you can get <b>for free</b>.</a></div>
</div>
Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-85959356278492177702020-01-20T05:05:00.001-08:002020-01-20T05:05:13.424-08:00An Independent Empire is out!At least on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082T3MYJD/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1">Kindle</a>...Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-43427947582284339222020-01-09T07:18:00.004-08:002020-01-09T07:18:58.995-08:00Everything you wanted to know about the constitutionality of Trump's killing Suleimani but were afraid to ask<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Everything you wanted to know about the constitutionality of Trump's killing Suleimani but were afraid to ask (questions, Todd Berman, answers, Michael Kochin)</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<br />Q1. Was the POTUSs ordering the strike on a foreign general unconstitutional or within his legal rights as Commander in chief? Why?<br />A1. It was constitutional and authorized under previous legislation, as well as within the President's constitutional duty to protect American personnel stationed with congressional approv<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">al abroad.</span></div>
<div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
Q2. If it was a violation, can he be held legally responsible perhaps impeached a second time and tried in the senate? If not, why not?<br />A2. He can be impeached for it even though it was not a violation of the Constitution or the law, just as he was impeached for investigating corruption of Democratic officials and Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election, which no-one questions are within his constitutional and statutory authority.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Q3. If the order was unconstitutional, should someone along the chain of command have refused the order? If not, why not? If so can someone in that chain be held legally responsible for violating the constitution or carrying through with an illegal order? Why or why not?<br />A3. Not relevant because the actions were constitutional and lawful.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Q4. If it was constitutional, then is either the Sanders and Khanna bill or the Omar bill restricting funding for attacks against Iran w/o congressional approval in violation of separation of powers according to the constitution? Would the SCOTUS overturn such a law?<br />A4. Yes, such actions could be prevented by legal change, but such legal change would probably have to include Congress passing a law prohibiting any official US presence in Iraq or disarming the US of any ability to protect such an embassy. Congress cannot authorize a US embassy in Iraq and then deny the President the right (though they could deny the means) to protect such an embassy. I think that Congress is unlikely, however, to withdraw the embassy or defund the Navy and Air Force. The courts will not intervene in any dispute directly between the President and Congress of this kind.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Q5. If restricting the President's hand is legal, is such a law even necessary? Would it be more effective than the Constitution itself?<br />A5. Laws would be necessary because the US Embassy is in Iraq by congressional action and it would require congressional action to force the President to withdraw it.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
N.B. (MSK) Because the President has acted under direct or implied Congressional authorization, the War Powers Act, which every President since it was passed has regarded as unconstitutional, is not relevant.</div>
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Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-23396444330808852052019-07-31T14:56:00.002-07:002020-01-20T05:04:09.543-08:00Aristotle's Politics: The Film Series<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">For each book of Aristotle's politics, a movie:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vNlnAHV-uxPeICEsB0TE92VhtLmc4AImT8N9Zf8qk_BtQWupqnPYsNWVUICwixdniV9rOEvVt3mTlxC0IJcIZmd_ES3mSjeVkJa-Qmo96cv8_ZAn38JYuVVUNgI3TImgF0CJZwF7hhSc/s1600/seven+samurai.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2vNlnAHV-uxPeICEsB0TE92VhtLmc4AImT8N9Zf8qk_BtQWupqnPYsNWVUICwixdniV9rOEvVt3mTlxC0IJcIZmd_ES3mSjeVkJa-Qmo96cv8_ZAn38JYuVVUNgI3TImgF0CJZwF7hhSc/s400/seven+samurai.jpg" /></a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book I--The Seven Samurai -- the coming into being of the city, the need for a founder</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLd6VfYbwMsowz2wekweZPnoWyHloTMww70VxMT_QRAvXL7qxfSX3xbHlnhUvpP2ReNCgA3epWmVnXOMrrUDEY0SDSpMs5SH1O-PUeAODw-Iz3FSWc6_b7OFZClNXpDncj6ZKGkNTHnn11/s1600/bear.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLd6VfYbwMsowz2wekweZPnoWyHloTMww70VxMT_QRAvXL7qxfSX3xbHlnhUvpP2ReNCgA3epWmVnXOMrrUDEY0SDSpMs5SH1O-PUeAODw-Iz3FSWc6_b7OFZClNXpDncj6ZKGkNTHnn11/s320/bear.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book II--Toy Story 3 -- the critique of communism and defense of private property for the sake of liberality</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhxARAG3BPmh_mOb9UWN3Id3RhePsqq-Gmoq_UgJXoUs5lCR39oxb9d905ik611Sxo27Yt1lGeFEM1Rba-Nj52AsmugIkjc89uuzIDUK53M-40JdpVk6B0MHJ2XJoZwL4oP1k_yVM9AFi/s1600/libertyvalance.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAhxARAG3BPmh_mOb9UWN3Id3RhePsqq-Gmoq_UgJXoUs5lCR39oxb9d905ik611Sxo27Yt1lGeFEM1Rba-Nj52AsmugIkjc89uuzIDUK53M-40JdpVk6B0MHJ2XJoZwL4oP1k_yVM9AFi/s320/libertyvalance.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book III-The Man Who Shot Libert</span>y Valance -- what is a citizen?<br /><br />
<span style="background-color: #eeeeee; color: #666666; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VaJUStD2ciUu5GKJ0-n9RFBVzs79mmt7D7xH_AmMDBx-ut9M_zDCG8oObZHTTdf5k6xhBI3YNe2x7AFD9hVVOLiS6SvaW_CcL7YmpDOP03ymvRa6jlfEgJjf0UA7DyscY17v8AzpIeU6/s1600/lincoln.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VaJUStD2ciUu5GKJ0-n9RFBVzs79mmt7D7xH_AmMDBx-ut9M_zDCG8oObZHTTdf5k6xhBI3YNe2x7AFD9hVVOLiS6SvaW_CcL7YmpDOP03ymvRa6jlfEgJjf0UA7DyscY17v8AzpIeU6/s320/lincoln.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; white-space: pre;">Book IV--Lincoln (2012) -- the choice of regimes</span><span id="docs-internal-guid-02dfe4e0-7fff-e1eb-6916-5d017e1e3ed0"></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book V--Elizabeth (1998) -- monarchy and tyranny, and how each may be preserved</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7QnM1aPI-BIcXhQAfsEx7iKQmdSvCJEh6shM1ntqhXcmxlnWzPmRHXlj0x0dW-BeZ7tUUm8gcIgC28Ct7cPSRqgnCMxw2RHV7Bq0GPnF3pWVer-l_VslwbwssZiPc06JQYFCUrXeijUM/s1600/stone1.0.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF7QnM1aPI-BIcXhQAfsEx7iKQmdSvCJEh6shM1ntqhXcmxlnWzPmRHXlj0x0dW-BeZ7tUUm8gcIgC28Ct7cPSRqgnCMxw2RHV7Bq0GPnF3pWVer-l_VslwbwssZiPc06JQYFCUrXeijUM/s320/stone1.0.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book VI-Get Me Roger Stone -- democracy and oligarchy, and how each may be preserved</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8RP7gkgGVPLLgSqyrNuszHey7JWddtWafLzESJTYDdzZ9lWml08J6xMOK5UGsDV3p2YDLqkMzZu_cVyp0oTZmYKel9YPkEHJPsJgeXmNqchpTA05bL-qeMSHxBTLaTd0qWHXprlS-Szd/s1600/truman.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW8RP7gkgGVPLLgSqyrNuszHey7JWddtWafLzESJTYDdzZ9lWml08J6xMOK5UGsDV3p2YDLqkMzZu_cVyp0oTZmYKel9YPkEHJPsJgeXmNqchpTA05bL-qeMSHxBTLaTd0qWHXprlS-Szd/s320/truman.jpg" width="320" /></a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book VII--The Truman Show -- the best city</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_517jKYP_C3vyDK5hL2dM5uAl7p3UJrjZ1tZeUWLjw3j3VJs1MTHvi3UMVsL_JMPKpUoNrfGUmKzG6VeLffaJxnJGgnbgpiAkCr4Sm2R40wu7EZ8DqhK8LrZGnSWCgMzT9etz53Erau_/s1600/accepted.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg_517jKYP_C3vyDK5hL2dM5uAl7p3UJrjZ1tZeUWLjw3j3VJs1MTHvi3UMVsL_JMPKpUoNrfGUmKzG6VeLffaJxnJGgnbgpiAkCr4Sm2R40wu7EZ8DqhK8LrZGnSWCgMzT9etz53Erau_/s320/accepted.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 10.5pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;">Book VIII--Accepted -- education for the best way of life</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Readers can add their own tips in the comments</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">{</span><span style="background-color: #f2f3f5; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">My weakest suggestions are for IV and VII. Surely there must be better choices on the variety of regimes and the best city!</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">}</span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-25951410663373196902019-02-14T13:15:00.002-08:002019-03-28T02:21:09.049-07:00Iron Dome (cocktail)Iron Dome<br />
4 parts spiced rum<br />
2 parts extra dry white vermouth<br />
1 teaspoon silan (date syrup)<br />
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Put one teaspoon of silan in a Old-Fashioned glass. Add rum and vermouth. Stir vigorously. Serve with spoon in glass.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-350446567903637472018-12-11T10:13:00.002-08:002020-01-12T10:41:09.858-08:00An Independent Empire: Diplomacy & War in the Making of the United States<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJct8WTTmUOsylaowNH8jnjNVEi41ycw8aHJJRpmIaetxORPJdH0pF64vVpOymmUgniP4k8B2t4a8CJnVMAEpxx-ncDqG_FYMRnkezWjTvA8_vLWZ9w7aS5BnfdmSX71UnkCmTF_N0NdQZ/s1600/afp+cover+july+2019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJct8WTTmUOsylaowNH8jnjNVEi41ycw8aHJJRpmIaetxORPJdH0pF64vVpOymmUgniP4k8B2t4a8CJnVMAEpxx-ncDqG_FYMRnkezWjTvA8_vLWZ9w7aS5BnfdmSX71UnkCmTF_N0NdQZ/s320/afp+cover+july+2019.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><i>An Independent Em</i></span></span></span><i style="font-family: inherit;">pire: Diplomacy & War in the Making of the United States</i><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;"><span style="vertical-align: inherit;">Michael S. Kochin and Michael Taylor, forthcoming January 2020 from University of Michigan Press. Pre-order <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Independent-Empire-Diplomacy-Making-United/dp/0472074407/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=kochin+taylor&qid=1562524417&s=gateway&sr=8-2">here.</a></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">You are alone. You are exhausted, bruised and battered. You have no real friends and you are surrounded by enemies. You have no money to pay your bills, and you have scarcely the means to defend yourself. You have no sure way put your house in order, but you have built this house in a vast wilderness of mountains, rivers, forests, jungle, and desert. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In 1781, at the moment of the British surrender at Yorktown, this was the position of the United States of America. Victory in the Revolutionary War did not guarantee lasting glory; freedom did not mean safety. One false step and this ambitious experiment in republican government would fail forever. So just how, not even fifty years later, had the United States become the undisputed master of North America and the self-proclaimed guardian of the western hemisphere? </span><span style="color: black; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">An Independent Empire</span><span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> tells that tale.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline;"></span><span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> The transformation of a string of rebellious colonies along the eastern seaboard into a military superpower is the most remarkable story of modern political history. Yet this rapid ascension was not the manifest destiny of the United States. there was nothing naturally ‘great’ about the new republic. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Time and time again, the early United States came close to disaster. What if Benjamin Franklin hadn’t brought the French into the Revolutionary War? What if the Federalists hadn’t forced through a constitution that could bind thirteen states – none of which especially liked each other – into a functioning union? What if ‘Mad’ Anthony Wayne had started a war with the British in Ohio in 1794? Or if the British had taken New Orleans in 1815?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Founding Fathers and the generation after – Monroe, Adams, Clay, and Jackson – had no safety net. This was a time when Washington, Adams, Hamilton, and Jefferson played on the global stage. At every turn, they were faced with problems that spelled life-or-death for the United States.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Somehow, the Americans got it right. How did they do it? They asked the right questions about foreign affairs, the military, taxes, and trade. With skill, wisdom, experience, and no little luck, they found the right answers too. This is the story of what made American great, the first time round.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;">“Engagingly written, a real ‘page-turner,’ clipped and energetic in its narrative, confident in its opinions, and sensible in its conclusions. Its approach is refreshingly traditional—focusing on individual statesmen and telling political history, quite adroitly—but not insensitive to modern concerns, for example about slavery or about religious and ethnic minorities. It tells the story of American growth and expansion as neither inevitable nor horrible, but as a consequence of numerous choices, some wise and just, others ill-advised or nefarious.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;">—James R Stoner, Louisiana State University</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;">“This is a fine account of American diplomacy and war in the first fifty years after independence for both undergraduates and a popular audience.”</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; text-indent: 0px; white-space: normal;">—Kevin R C Gutzman, Western Connecticut State University</span></span></div>
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Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-14223170489731241452018-07-29T13:32:00.001-07:002018-07-29T13:32:21.334-07:00Packing and Unpacking the Supreme CourtWhen to pack? When to Unpack? I answer at <i><a href="https://amgreatness.com/2018/07/28/packing-and-unpacking-the-court/">American Greatness</a>.</i>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-57884396239750142402018-06-05T03:53:00.003-07:002018-06-22T07:51:40.406-07:00trollin' trollin' trollin'<span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">trollin trollin trollin
Though libs' heads explodin
Keep those tweets a trollin
</span><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash" style="background: rgb(245, 248, 250); color: #1da1f2; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">#MAGA</a><span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
Don't try to understand 'em
Just tweet @POTUS - an' brand 'em
Soon we'll be living high and wide
</span><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash" style="background: rgb(245, 248, 250); color: #1da1f2; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">#MAGA</a><span style="background-color: #f5f8fa; color: #14171a; font-family: "segoe ui" , "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">
My brain's calculatin
My reelection will be waitin
Be waitin at the end of my ride
</span><a class="twitter-hashtag pretty-link js-nav" data-query-source="hashtag_click" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MAGA?src=hash" style="background: rgb(245, 248, 250); color: #1da1f2; font-family: "Segoe UI", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">#MAGA</a>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-5812945830765152982018-06-01T06:52:00.000-07:002018-06-01T06:52:07.457-07:00Wisdom, Unwisdom, and Jordan PetersonThe contemporary university as a void at its center. Jordan Peterson thinks he is the man to fill it, as I explain at <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2018/06/01/wisdom-unwisdom-and-jordan-peterson/">American Greatness</a>.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-41712019056238072992018-03-20T10:53:00.001-07:002018-03-20T10:53:28.420-07:00The Whipped-Cream Boys of Affirmative ActionIn Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper" young Prince Edward had a designated courtier to receive the beatings that his Highness was too good to receive for his misdeeds. As I argue <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2018/03/19/the-whipped-cream-boys-of-affirmative-action/">in my latest at </a><i><a href="https://amgreatness.com/2018/03/19/the-whipped-cream-boys-of-affirmative-action/">American Greatness</a>, t</i>oday's affirmative action policies have created a similar kind of injustice in that they advance the interests of a different class of people than they were intended to help.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-3076901143316210332017-11-13T02:49:00.005-08:002017-11-13T02:54:21.523-08:00If Jesus ran for PresidentA Christian friend writes me--<br />
<br />
<b>If Jesus ran for President...</b><br />
<br />
The Democrats wouldn't vote for him because the Washington Post said that God is a Republican.<br />
The Tea Partiers wouldn't vote for him because he's not a native-born citizen.<br />
The NeverTrump Republicans wouldn't vote for him because he speaks a very vulgar Aramaic and has holes in his tiny little hands.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-84990723679485740352017-11-02T12:06:00.000-07:002020-04-12T01:47:44.633-07:00My favorite argument for the existence of God1. All life comes from life (Pasteur)<br />
2. Our universe was once in a state in which no life could exist within it (The Big Bang)<br />
3. Therefore life in our universe must created by some kind of life from outside our universe.<br />
4. In English, the creator of life in our universe is called "God."Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-27188872192157893332017-07-16T03:21:00.000-07:002017-07-18T13:34:17.131-07:00Impeachment before Twitter<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Since Twitter wasn't around in 1868, the President's congressional opponents <a href="http://ijr.com/the-declaration/2017/07/921064-tucker-carlson-asks-dem-whos-trying-impeach-trump-wait-youre-impeaching-hell-stop-tweeting/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Owned&utm_term=ijamerica&utm_campaign=ods&utm_content=Politics">could not impeach him for tweeting.</a> But they did their best:</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Impeachment_Johnson.htm#7"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Articles of Impeachment </span></a><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">ARTICLE 1.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">[...]</span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 18px;">ARTICLE 10.</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 18px;">That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his high office and the dignity and proprieties thereof, and of the harmony and courtesies which ought to exist and be maintained between the executive and legislative branches of the Government of the United States, designing and intending to set aside the rightful authorities and powers of Congress, did attempt to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt and reproach, the Congress of the United States, and the several branches thereof, to impair and destroy the regard and respect of all the good people of the United States for the Congress and the legislative power thereof, which all officers of the government ought inviolably to preserve and maintain, and to excite the odium and resentment of all good people of the United States against Congress and the laws by it duly and constitutionally enacted; and in pursuance of his said design and intent, openly and publicly and before divers assemblages of citizens of the United States, convened in divers parts thereof, to meet and receive said Andrew Johnson as the Chief Magistrate of the United States, did, on the eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and on divers other days and times, as well before as afterwards, make and declare, with a loud voice, certain intemperate, inflammatory and scandalous harangues, and therein utter loud threats and bitter menaces, as well against Congress as the laws of the United States duly enacted thereby, amid the cries, jeers and laughter of the multitudes then assembled in hearing....</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-size: 18px;">For an important treatment of this, see Jeffrey Tulis's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rhetorical-Presidency-Princeton-Classics-ebook/dp/B0728B3XT5/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=">The Rhetorical Presidency</a>, coming out in November in a new edition.</span></span>Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6781325706874845472.post-30735930577927633952017-07-06T12:22:00.004-07:002017-07-06T12:22:55.137-07:00Of Paper and Paper TigersWe can't ignore the threat from North Korea. Yet we also need to resist the impulse to “do something,” until we actually come up with something that is worth doing. At present, neither diplomatic engagement nor military action are worth it, as I explain in <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2017/07/06/paper-paper-tigers/">my latest piece</a> at American Greatness.Michael S. Kochinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15404906249582930111noreply@blogger.com0