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Why Discuss Anti-Modernist and Anti-Democratic Literature? January 14, 2016 If we are willing to admit that there are social and political problems that we do not yet seem to have solved, then an examination of other-than-democratist and other-than-modernist thought may not be merely interesting to a few, but useful for the many, or even necessary.
The Argument for Reparations, and the Question of Justice January 26, 2016 Coates vs Sanders... and Lincoln
Short Bibliography/Postography on the Problem of Libertarian Praxis February 6, 2016 Preliminary list supplementing a set of posts at Ordinary Times, whose publication I expect to occur shortly, and which began as a comment on the question of a "libertarian moment" in American politics - whether it ever occurred at all and whether the decline of Rand Paul's presidential candidacy marked its passage into history - moving in discussion to the…
The Libertarian Praxis Problem: Part 1 February 13, 2016 Libertarianism and the Left, and the more general problem for metaphysically individualist liberalism.
The Coordination Solution, Property, and the Exception (Comment) February 14, 2016 The necessary transtemporal and social re-construction of the identity of the individual is a process we conventionally define as a matter of “religion,” and a common materialist explanation of religion refers precisely its utility as coordination solution, and so we’re back to where we began, with the littlest possible story, of one person and his…
Who or What Is Using "Commenter Archive" and "commenter-thread"? February 16, 2016 If any of you human beings have anything to say on the major uptick in use of these commenting features, please let me know. The spiders and robots don't answer questions directly.
The Party Deconstructs February 22, 2016 In times such as these, party loyalty raises the question of what a party is at all in America 2016 - or at least what it means to be a Republican, if Trump is one, and potentially the standard-bearer.
Addendum: What if Trump Just Subsides Instead of Exploding Trumpastrophically? February 23, 2016 I had the wayward thought last night that the Trump bubble, which many of us have been expecting to pop with an audible sound, in one typically Trumpastrophic moment, would just deflate on its own
Sow They Say February 25, 2016 As we approach the last Republican Debate before Super Tuesday, it's "reap just what you sow" day from the Left across the Center and all points beyond the movement conservative right.
The League vs Trump - Super Doomsday Open Thread and Twitter List March 1, 2016 If we need a clearer definition of our mission - as I think we do - we could do worse for a starting point than "Negation of Trump," but that thought also implies that it's significantly our fault that Trumpism is on the verge of taking over the universe...
Neo-Imperialism and the 2016 Campaigns (Reply to Marchmaine) March 7, 2016 Notes on understanding the 2016 presidential campaigns in world-historical context.
A theory of theories of Trump March 7, 2016 Trump is finance fully self-invacuated, in a full-length gilt mirror, a Medusa transfixed by its own refracted self-admiration; at the same time, he is the return of the annihilated masses, as mass nihilism.
You're Welcome and Rightbackatcha March 8, 2016 I learned a lot WordPressing at OT, and wish the best to everyone over there - a group that as a matter of fact still includes me, if in a much-reduced role. So, you're welcome, and right backatcha.
Enabling WordPress Press This for HostGator Sites March 9, 2016 Solution of a problem for bloggers who want to use WordPress Press This on their "shared hosting" accounts at HostGator and possibly at other aggressively security-conscious web hosts.
Yes, Tragically: The Pledge to Support Even Trump March 10, 2016 With the meaning and true possession the Republican Party radically in doubt, the meaning of any pledge of support from within it will likewise be put radically in doubt. The nominal nominee of the nominal Republican Party would be the actual nominee of an actually different Republican Party, or of a Republican Party revealed never…
The Pathos of the Rational Leader: Goldberg's Obama March 10, 2016 How can a nation survive, can its institutions function, can it prosper and triumph, can the People experience or aspire to satisfaction without recourse at some point to such “tribalism”? The President cannot answer, because no one can.
Plus fascistique... March 13, 2016 Trump is many ugly things, but he’s not a very developed ideologue. In a way, that might even make him more authentically fascist than the fascists, who merely talked about power for the sake of power and about the rejection of intellectualism.
On Obama Doctrine Thesis #4 (The world cannot afford...) March 13, 2016 The world cannot afford the diminution of U.S. power, but U.S. power is diminishing.
"incredibly piss poor leadership" (Obama Doctrine Notes) March 13, 2016 Obama seemed to be hoping that a legacy of American "credibility" on such threats would be sufficient to make this one work, without acknowledging - perhaps according to all the best and latest political scientific critiques of "credibility" - the possible damage to American credibility that his own policies had reinforced.
"no good options" (Obama Doctrine Notes) March 13, 2016 "No good options" at some point becomes a rule of moral abdication - a declaration of incapacity to distinguish between worse and better, or of paralysis. Obama himself seems to oscillate between the two views: On the one hand, since there is no good option, judgment has to be suspended, but on the other hand…
Understanding American Interests (Steven Heydemann in Washington Post) March 14, 2016 "It is sadly ironic that the president’s commitment to inaction has undermined his vision of an international system in which military restraint and a smaller U.S. footprint would produce a more stable and peaceful international order."
Linkback Your Xpost: A Simple WordPress Filter Function March 14, 2016 Line-by-line on how to write a WordPress filter function utilizing the "the_content" filter hook.
If Obama Had Followed Through (Hof on the Red Line) March 15, 2016 "...[H]ad it laid waste to Assad’s air force, field artillery, Scud missiles, and rockets, the strike would have emptied Assad’s victory speech of substantive content. Yes, the chemicals would have remained in place, and perhaps so too the Assad regime. But instruments of mass terror would have been neutralized, the migrant crisis afflicting Europe might…
Goodbye, Reaganism, too? March 16, 2016 The further question concerns the American Republican, or conservative, or rightwing concepts - separately or all together - in relation to the evident crisis of the Republican Party. The coalition that appears to be deconstructing itself before all of our eyes - conservative intelligentsia and base disgusted at their mirror reflections, each other - is…
The Negation of Bush to Equivalent Effect: TC Wittes on the Obama Doctrine March 17, 2016 "It is a tragic irony: A president elected and reelected on a platform of ending wars in the Middle East has reproduced, at the end of his presidency, the very situation he inherited, decried, and swore to avoid: an escalating war against a vague terrorist enemy, with no geographic boundaries, no clear military or strategic…
Federalist, Libertarian, Conservative, Republican, or Insensate? March 17, 2016 Opinions may differ as to whether "keep[-ing] options open" is not already the classic strategic sin of dividing one's forces in the face of the enemy. On the other hand, if the conservative moment already possessed the unity of command necessary to make and implement any singular and exclusive decision, or a single general or…
The Egological: Notes on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit by Martin Heidegger March 18, 2016 "The essence of the universe, at first hidden and concealed, has no power to offer resistance to the courageous search for knowledge; it must open itself up before the seeker, set its riches and its depths before his eyes to give him pleasure."
Philip Stephens: Fatalism taints the Obama doctrine - FT.com March 18, 2016 "What is missing from the Obama doctrine is a strategic view of the role of US leadership in sustaining global order. Analysis drifts into an excuse for paralysis, but inaction carries as many dangers as intervention. Mr Obama’s realism bleeds into fatalism. To observe that the US cannot solve every problem in a disordered world…
The Melancholic Anti-Interventionist March 18, 2016 If the systematic application of the desired policy leaves even its proponents bitterly unsatisfied with and haunted by the tragedies and catastrophes it either produces or does nothing to avert, then its prospects may be dim. The main question may be which will prove intolerable first, the growing dissatisfaction, or the next catastrophe.
Add Amazon Affiliate Tags to WordPress Posts and Comments Automatically March 19, 2016 A helper function extending the WordPress Amazon Affiliate Tag (Amazify) plug-in to Comment as well as Post text.
Übertrolls - Leftwing Edition March 21, 2016 ...mounting the barricades in his mind and shouting down all within hearing - moving, in undeniable if also undeniably trivial form, by sheer necessity, from the denunciation of competing perspectives to the proscription of those about whom, as he avers with conspicuous pride, but disproves in acting to prove, he could not possibly care less.
Finding Lost WordPress Widgets after Core Upgrade March 21, 2016 Just a quick note on fixing problem affecting one of my favorite WordPress Plug-Ins in use at this site, and possibly affecting many others as well.
Defense and Defense Mechanisms March 24, 2016 Diehl assesses the Obama Doctrine, or Jeffrey Goldberg's Obama's Obama Doctrine, as, in a word, neurotic - as much a psychological construct or defense mechanism as a policy - enabling the President minimize the importance of any setbacks, the alternative being emotionally intolerable.
Conservatism and the Plainly Visible March 24, 2016 The political problem for American conservatives in this era seems to me more complex, but at the same time less intractable, than a simple juxtaposition of the visible (or "envisionable") vs. the unseen.
A Correct Answer on the Pledge to Support March 25, 2016 "Donald Trump has provided ample justification for any of us to extricate ourselves from that commitment, which was entered upon as a matter of honor between individuals devoted not just to the name of the Republican Party, but to its principles. At this point, however, the question is no longer relevant. After all I have…
Did Cruz Just (Finally) Cancel "The Pledge"? March 25, 2016 “I don’t make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family.”
Mattis: Not Ike, but the Right Shape March 27, 2016 It is perfectly normal, and beyond that it is natural and altogether archetypical, for human communities in times of crisis to look for and seek to rally behind a commanding figure. The American electoral process is in many ways already the institutionalization of crisis even in the normal course of events, and this year, with…
If the Trump Roast Is Done, Give the Crucians Some Credit March 31, 2016 Like all of the rest of us, including Trump and his voters, Cruz and his team may have underestimated how long it would take for the tectonic shift in the sub-structure of the race to occur. They likely hoped to depend on nominally "evangelical" voters to carry them through the first part of the primary,…
Citizen Trump's Path of Least Resistance to a Classy Profitable Exit April 1, 2016 Should Trump, facing unfavorable and deteriorating political prospects, seek to humiliate himself leading a fractured Republican Party to an "epic" defeat in November? Should he prefer to "do all he could to destroy Cruz and the GOP" - turning himself into a hated loser and maker of losers? How would either alternative profit him -…
Plug-In Away... and the Iron Law of Irony April 16, 2016 Seems fitting and probably should have been predictable - for a believer in the Iron Law of Irony - that an application meant to facilitate blogging, in this case by making aggregation of interesting material an easy "few clicks" operation, would annihilate my blogging. Anyway, is what happened.
Heckling Baby Hitler (Notes on a Twitter Discussion) April 18, 2016 Would-be proponents of a liberal society would cease being liberals at all at the moment they ceased their opposition to "shutting down" discussion, and to the precise extent they did so.
On Ignorocracy (Own Comment at Ordinary Times) April 23, 2016 We seem to have – or our polity or pseudo-polity in this period appears to be constituted as – an ignorocracy: rule by an ignorant majority ignorantly insisting on its own peculiarly ignorant concept, resulting in a system among whose defining characteristics is the imperviousness to criticism of the ignorocrats’ own self-serving but mostly sincere…
Or Maybe "Demopathy" April 23, 2016 The testimony of the experts has actually already been given. They identified this problem as a matter of theory, and correctly suggested that it could be solved in practice, if never securely. That remainder or gap is the same one that appears in the "discursive" problem that Dan describes, and that we are currently observing…
To o-b or not to o-b (output-buffering in WordPress) - UPDATED April 24, 2016 My general impression is that, unless I have a very good reason for using it - probably involving the kind of script in which I'm not generally interested at this time - I should avoid it.
On the matter of your moral inferiority... May 3, 2016 A self-serving moral judgment is always implicit in any political judgment, for the simple reason that a politics without morality would be the physics of randomly colliding human atoms, of no meaning to anyone, or not authentically political at all.
"described fairly" May 5, 2016 [T]hese days American self-government is indistinguishable from self-incrimination. Our domestic policy is a nest of rent-seeking corruption, our social insurance system is an act of theft against posterity. And our foreign policy, described fairly, resembles the last weeks of a bloodthirsty crime family, led to its bitter end by demented octogenarians. Source: Michael Brendan Dougherty: Trump…
Comment at American Creation on Strauss and the Problem of Belief May 6, 2016 A remark about philosophers is not the same thing as a philosophical remark, and considering it philosophically is different from considering it in terms of, say, intellectual history.
...so who are the "noble liars" now? May 7, 2016 When I asked whether the prospect of this same kind of far-reaching spin campaign being run by a different administration is something that scares him, he admitted that it does. “I mean, I’d prefer a sober, reasoned public debate, after which members of Congress reflect and take a vote,” he said, shrugging. “But that’s impossible.”…
Noble Liars 2: "Clearly the world has disappointed him" May 7, 2016 “He is a brilliant guy, but he has a real problem with what I call the assignment of bad faith,” one former senior official told me of the president. “He regards everyone on the other side at this point as being a bunch of bloodthirsty know-nothings from a different era who play by the old…
On My Grand Strategy on Grand Strategy (Interim Book Report or Tour of a Tour of Tours of Tours) May 7, 2016 I am seeking a grand strategic overview of the grand strategic field such as it is, in clear but not simplistic statements susceptible to critical consideration and re-consideration - not total occupation of the literature and victory in detail down to every last sty and hollow. All the same, if I am reluctant to add…

Portrait of a Failed Presidency: "What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?" by Kevin Mattson

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November 29, 2009

Books, US HistoryBarack Obama

Portrait of a Failed Presidency: "What the Heck Are You Up To, Mr. President?" by Kevin Mattson

(20)

November 29, 2009

Books, US HistoryBarack Obama

As though to make it inescapably clear that the Carter Presidency lacked the Mandate of Heaven, even the national 4th of July celebrations in Washington DC were rained out, and a week later Skylab came crashing to Earth...

Continued

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Further on Pathos v The Drones: Conventionalizing the Unconventionalizable

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February 17, 2013

Drone as Symbol, Philosophy, The Exception, War4th Generation Warfare Battlespace Discourse Drones libertarianism

Further on Pathos v The Drones: Conventionalizing the Unconventionalizable

(8)

February 17, 2013

Drone as Symbol, Philosophy, The Exception, War4th Generation Warfare Battlespace Discourse Drones libertarianism

The overall dysfunctionality of a political discussion can be the product of countless such lesser dysfunctionalities, though the overall dysfunctionality of that discourse may in turn be what makes it manageable, or manageable enough. We dislike things the way they dysfunctionally are, and that is how we like things.

Continued

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Conservative Neo-Imperialism vs Jacksonian Neo-Isolationism

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May 10, 2016

Neo-Imperialism, PoliticsJacksonianism Neo-Isolationism Withdrawalism

Conservative Neo-Imperialism vs Jacksonian Neo-Isolationism

(3)

May 10, 2016

Neo-Imperialism, PoliticsJacksonianism Neo-Isolationism Withdrawalism

As for Trumpism vs. Bushism, one will be no less dependent on "populist nationalism" than the other, to whatever extent it is also successful: In a mass electoralist national system under popular sovereignty, the winner will always be the truest national populist, by definition, if not necessarily the purest national populist according to some external or merely intellectual standard.

Continued

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