Warning: War, Death, Sam Harris
Here’s the part that horrifies me: when I hear “wedding party hit by air-strike” I assume that it’s notable because it’s a wedding party, and that what we’re seeing is just probability in action.
Echoes of Roméo Dallaire’s nightmares rumbled in my subconscious for years after I read his book Shake Hands With The Devil, [wc] about the Rwanda genocide. While the carnage began, Dallaire was the commander on the scene with the only professional military force; he was repeatedly ordered to steer clear of getting involved while the UN and diplomats and presidents flapped their hands on television. It was then, Dallaire reminds us, that the entire international community started using elaborate vocabulary in order to avoid uttering the word “genocide.”
This is a useful chart, if you find yourself discussing migrant arrests.
In The Year of The Pig one of the striking moments, which I focused on, [stderr] is when several of the people promoting the US’ involvement in Vietnam used the same construction for their arguments; it was clear that they were tapped into a common source – presumably what are now called “talking points memos” produced by government agencies in order to get out a consistent “message” to the public.
I believe in “the deep state” but it’s not quite what people think it is: the deep state is the combined momentum of several out-of-control government agencies; their political inertia and self-interest make their actions appear to be a behind the scenes government, but it’s mostly a desire to protect their importance and budget.
There’s a fellow on Twitter who somehow came across my path, claiming that the Japanese are playing victim regarding the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima. This moves me to want to offer a refuter for those who encounter such idiocy. It’s probably not complete – feel free to tell me what to add.
There are more cold war nuclear weapons stories that I want to tell you, before we get to the SIOP and circle back to the insanity that is about to happen, as the US attempts to establish global nuclear hegemony. That sounds dramatic, I know, but people need to understand that the US is preparing to win a nuclear war. The US has always been preparing to win a nuclear war. Most of that stuff about defensive counter-strikes, etc. – that’s all lies.
My accountant says “there are only two kinds of people in hell: those who were caught in the act, and those who kept records.”
Some of the fake news that the righteous fringe get is the Jim Bakker sort: it’s the end of days, buy our bucket of tasteless high-calorie chum. Sometimes I get really nasty stuff, like this.
When does a lifeboat look like a Scotch Terrier? It would appear that, if you’re an AI, the difference is a few pixel-shifts, and that’s got interesting implications.