When does authoritarianism shift to totalitarianism?
Politically, authoritarianism is a system in which the state asserts its supreme power over a region, then uses that power to dictate rules and behaviors. There are a variety of authoritarianisms, including Stalinism, Maoism, Putinism, Fascism, Kimism, dictatorship, tyranny, aristocracy, monarchy and so forth.
In my previous entry I described the process of front-loading and political engineering in DoD procurements. As I was writing it, I happened to look over at PZ’s blog and saw there was discussion of Ray Kurtzweil… So I thought I’d maybe Kurtzweil a bit about the DoD.
Conservatives will tell you they favor small government, reduced taxes, and traditional social values. Oddly, in the US today, that somehow translates into “there is no amount of money that is too large to spend on the military.” We’re treated to a constant barrage of pleas for financial assistance from the pentagon, particularly, and its bootlickers, in general, in spite of the pentagon’s claiming it doesn’t have any way to tell where the money is going. Basically, the taxpayers are pouring money into a bucket that has the bottom knocked out, and the crooks holding the bucket keep shouting “It’s EMPTY! Pour FASTER!”
Federal judge declares “black lives matter” from the bench. That’s Slate’s title. Then, Slate proceeds to dance the gooney bird dance around something that ought to enrage anyone with a brain.