Hump Day With KLOD

     You'll feel really bad about how FDR sold out Poland when you see Polish model KLOD.  The top

photograph was done by Wolos fotografia.  The middle photograph was done by Karolina Roszak Photography.  The bottom photograph is by Joanna Pakosinska.

Our Hulk Hogan Government

Forescript:  Rush Limbaugh does NOT deserve the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

       In February 2019, Estase wrote a blogpost comparing the Court of King's Bench to crooked NBA referee Tim Donaghy.  The blogpost argued that American politics might be as real as professional wrestling.
       Jean Jacques Rousseau posited imaginary systems of government.  That is, he did for government what Isaac Newton did for the natural world.  What is real becoming imaginary may have aided in creating republican systems of government.  But in an era where presidents from Wilson on have treated Congress as a rubber stamp, many of us see representative government in danger of becoming totally imaginary.
       The relationship between the White House and Capital Hill is so dysfunctional that we almost expected Pelosi to hit Orange Blatherskite over the head with a folding chair during the State of the Union address.
       O.B.'s respect for Paul Ryan had been even lower than it is for Pelosi.  Obviously, it's O.B.'s desire for unfettered power, rather than party, that makes him despise the Speaker.  Total domination may be a pro wrestler's goal, but it makes little sense in government.

The Great Pretenders

       Last week there was a kerfuffle over a segment on Don Lemon's show on CNN where Rick Wilson and another panelist ridiculed Trump voters as illiterate hicks.  (This, of course, plays perfectly into the hands of Trump, who has always depicted the "they-took-our-jobs!" set as being reviled by the Deep State, the GOP "establishment," and media elites.)
       This blogpost isn't about the uneducated riff-raff that backs Trump.  It's about the college-educated professionals who tell them Trump does no wrong.  These people have no excuse for not knowing this presidency is hot garbage.  Fox News has soft-pedaled the Impeachment, acting as though the President did nothing to frustrate Congress' attempts to repel the invasion of Ukraine.   Fox conveniently neglected to inform their viewers that Trump made the Ukrainians promise to keep their Javelin anti-tank missiles in parts of the Ukraine not under invasion.  It is as though FDR provided Britain with Lend-Lease on the condition that none of the ships provided left harbor.
        Back in the day (pre-2016), National Review had a story on their website about William F. Buckley's low estimation of Donald Trump.  When this story came up in Memories on my Facebook feed, Rich Lowry (now a Trumphumper) made sure the story was no longer available.
       Of course, Mark Levin is by far the worst offender.  A lawyer who fancies himself an expert on the Constitution, once targeted by Roger Stone and the alt-right cockroaches, Mr. Levin at one time promised to never support Donald Trump.  Of course, bucking the opinions of the Trumphumpers would mean no sweet radio gig, and no books sold.  Thus, Levin joins the ranks of college-educated professional "conservatives" who defend someone they know in their hearts is an incompetent con man for the almighty Dollar.
       Years ago, Estase compared the President to Cody Jarrett, the psychotic gangster in White Heat who destroyed all of his partners to save himself.  John Bolton, once the patron saint for the tough-on-Iran crowd, is now a pariah to the right.  Unsurprisingly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will pimp his mother to avoid a similar fate.

Jim Jordan Looks For Turnaround

       One of the funniest headlines of my hometown newspaper had to do with high school wrestling:  "Eagle Grapplers Look For Turnaround."  Today's first Impeachment Inquiry made both parties look stupid, as high school wrestling coach Jim Jordan tried to put Adam Schiff in a headlock.
       The most disturbing part of the testimony showed that Assistant Secretary of State George Kent and Ambassador William Taylor, providing professional expertise on foreign policy, and National Security Advisor John Bolton, providing bad-assery, were being made to take a backseat to E.U. Ambassador Gordon Sundland and traitorous pig Rudy Guliani, who provided only Trump-humpiness.
       The story starts when Oh Blah Blah refused military aid to the Ukrainians in their efforts to repel Russian invaders.  Newly elected Donald Trump was certified to release military aid by the D.O.D. in July, but apparently held up the aid until September, seeking dirt on Joe Biden from the Ukrainians.  The Ukrainian President Zelinsky was also denied a prestige-boosting White House visit.
       Both parties looked juvenile and partisan.  Democrats looked to undo an election, while Republicans personally attacked career diplomats.   Some Republicans, like Elise Stafanik, continued to act like intelligent adults.  Others, like Jim Jordan and Eric Swallwell, looked more like they were vying to guest host The Sean Hannity Show.  Such clowns hid behind a shyster in an ill-fitting suit, who tried to use Joe Biden's corruption as a Get Out of Jail Free card.
       Political hacks like Sundland and Guliani have no business being allowed to make foreign policy decisions.  This is an effect of an administration where syncophants are valued over experts.  This looks just as corrupt as Rod Blagojevich selling Obama's Senate seat.  Which probably explains why Trump wants to pardon Blagojevich.

Lebedyev on Cannibalism

       "'An artful and ironical idea, insidious as a larding-needle!'  Lebedyev greedily caught up Yevgeny Pavlovitch's paradox;  'an idea expressed with the object of provoking opponents to battle--but a true idea!  For you, a worldly scoffer and cavalry officer (though not without brains), are not yourself aware how true and profound your idea is.  Yes, sir, the law of self-destruction and the law of self-preservation are equally strong in humanity!  The devil has equal dominion over humanity till the limit of time which we know not.  You laugh?  You don't believe in the devil?  Disbelief in the devil is a French idea, a frivolous idea.  Do you know who the devil is?  Do you know his name?  Without even knowing his name, you laugh at the form of him, following Voltaire's example, at his hoofs, at his tail, at his horns, which you have invented;  for the evil spirit is a mighty menacing spirit, but he has not the hoofs and horns you've invented for him.  But he's not the point now.'
       'How do you know that he's not the point now?' cried Ippolit suddenly, and laughed as though in hysterics.
       'A shrewd and insinuating thought!' Lebedyev approved.  'But again, that's not the point.  Our question is whether the 'springs of life' have not grown weaker with the increase of. . . .'
       'There must have been an idea stronger than any misery, famine, torture, plague, leprosy, and all that hell, which mankind could not have endured without that idea, which bound men together, guided their hearts, and fructified the 'springs of life.'  Show me anything like such a force in our age of vices and railways. . . .I should say of steamers and railways, but I say vices and railways, because I'm drunk but truthful.  Show me any idea binding mankind together to-day with anything like the power it had in those centuries.  And dare to tell me that the 'springs of life' have not been weakened and muddied beneath the 'star,' beneath the network in which men are enmeshed.  And don't try to frighten me with your prosperity, your wealth, the infrequency of famine, and the rapidity of the means of communication.  There is more wealth, but there is less strength.  There is no uniting idea;  everything has grown softer, everything is limp, and every one is limp!  We've all, all of us grown limp. . . .But that's enough.  That's not the point now.  The point is, honoured prince, whether we shouldn't see to getting the supper, that's being prepared for your visitors.'"  Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Idiot, Part III, Chapter 4.  

Thanks to Google

    Estase needs to thank his awesome platform, Google, for claiming that a hard-core porn site was the main source of his readers.  You people really want to drive me into the arms of WordPress, don't you?

The Incommensurability Thesis

       Is it possible for government to do more than collect garbage and punish criminals?  Is it possible for government to, without becoming a totalitarian nightmare, be a pervading force in our lives, the kind of partnership in all human things Aristotle advocated?   The Incommensurability Thesis is the idea that there are ends for which society exists to satisfy, but which are of different essential types.  There is no way of transferring or exchanging the different classes of goods for one another.  Economic goods are not the only goods.

       Aristotle lists three types of goods.  The first are goods of the body, which would cover things like food and clothing.  Second are external goods, which would include property and personal belongings.  Third are goods of the soul, which would include virtue, knowledge and friendship.  The essence of the Incommensurability Thesis is that all three types of good are valuable, but they are incapable of being exchanged.  Someone shipwrecked on a desert island with several trunks of gold bullion will still die of starvation.  And, of course, neither goods of the body nor external goods can be swapped for the goods of the soul.

       One objection moderns might raise to this theory is that external goods might pay for an education.  While external goods might pay your tuition, one still has to study and work to gain knowledge.  It might also be pointed out that students can earn degrees without gaining much actual knowledge.  Theories of justice where wealth inequality figures heavily argue that wealth redistribution helps people achieve their life goals.  Earning a college degree might be a necessary condition for a job, but it is not a sufficient condition for a job.  Completing law school does not mean that you will get to practice law, for example.

        Aristotle illustrates this thus

"Certainly no one will dispute the propriety of that partition of goods which separates them into three classes, viz. external goods, goods of the body, and goods of the soul, or deny that the happy man must have all three.  For no one would maintain that he is happy who has not in him a particle of courage or temperance or justice or prudence, who is afraid of every insect which flutters past him, and will commit any crime, however great, in order to gratify his lust of meat or drink, who will sacrifice his dearest friend for the sake of half a farthing, and is as feeble and false in mind as a child or a madman."  Politics Book VII, Paragraphs 3-5.

       In discussing the bases for government, Aristotle weighs claims made based on wealth, nobility and ability.

"The rich claim because they have a greater share in the land, and land is the common element of the state;  also they are generally more trustworthy in contracts.  The free claim under the same title as the noble;  for they are nearly akin.  And the noble are citizens in a truer sense than the ignoble, since good birth is always valued in a man's own home and country.  Another reason is, that those who are sprung from better ancestors are likely to be better men, for nobility is excellence of race.  Virtue, too, may be truly said to have a claim, for justice has been acknowledged by us to be a social virtue, and it implies all others."  Politics Book III, Section 12, Paragraphs 2-4.

       With regards to strength, Aristotle says,

"For those who found their claims on wealth or family have no basis of justice;  on this principle, if any one person were richer than all the rest, it is clear that he ought to be the ruler of them.  In like manner he who is very distinguished by his birth ought to have the superiority over all those who claim on the ground that they are freeborn.  In an aristocracy, or government of the best, a like difficulty occurs about virtue;  for if one citizen be better than the other members of the government, however good they may be, he too, upon the same principle of justice, should rule over them.  And if the people are to be supreme because they are stronger than the few, then if one man, or more than one, but not a majority, is stronger than the many, they ought to rule, and not the many." Politics Book III, Section 13, Paragraphs 7-8.

       Aristotle makes it clear that real justice transcends class interests when he says,

"And whereas justice implies a relation to persons as well as to things, and a just distribution, as I have already said in the Ethics, embraces alike persons and things, they acknowledge the equality of the things, but dispute about the merit of the persons, chiefly for the reason which I have just given--because they are bad judges in their own affairs;  and, secondly, because both the parties to the argument are speaking of a limited and partial justice, but imagine themselves to be speaking of absolute justice." Politics Book III, Paragraph 3.

       Skill, not wealth or birth, should be the basis of external goods.

"But, surely, if this is true, the complexion or height of a man, or any other advantage, will be a reason for his obtaining a greater share of political rights.  The error here lies upon the surface, and may be illustrated from the other arts and sciences.  When a number of flute-players are equal in their art, there is no reason why those of them who are better born should have better flutes given to them;  for they will not play any better on the flute, and the superior instrument should be reserved for him who is the superior artist.  If what I am saying is still obscure, it will be made clearer as we proceed.  For if there were a superior flute player who was far inferior in birth and beauty, although either of these may be a greater good than the art of flute playing, and persons gifted with these qualities may excel the flute-player in a greater ratio than he excels them in his art, still he ought to have the best flutes given to him, unless the advantages of wealth and birth contribute to excellence in flute-playing, which they do not.  Moreover, upon this principle any good may be compared with any other.  For if a given height, then height in general is more excellent than virtue, all things will be commensurable {which is absurd};  for if a certain magnitude is greater than some other, it is clear that some other will be equal."Politics Book III, Section 12, Paragraphs 3-6.

       Great ability is a threat to both those who impose tyranny or perfect equality, both of which systems cannot abide those who are exceptional.  Aristotle tells the story of a Corinthian tyrant to illustrate this.

"The story is that Periander, when the herald was sent to ask counsel of him, said nothing, but only cut off the tallest ears of corn till he had brought the field to a level.  The herald did not know the meaning of the action, but came and reported what he had seen to Thrasybulus, who understood that he was to cut off the principal men in the state;  and this is a policy not only expedient for tyrants or in practice confined to them, but equally necessary in oligarchies and democracies." Politics Book III, Section 1284, Paragraphs 12-18.

"Thus at Athens Peistratus led a faction against the men of the plain, and Theagenes at Megara slaughtered the cattle of the wealthy, which he found by the river side where they had put them to graze.  Dionysius, again, was thought worthy of the tyranny because he denounced Daphnaeus and the rich;  his enmity to the nobles won for him the confidence of the people.  Changes also take place from the ancient to the latest form of democracy;  for where there is a popular election of the magistrates and no property qualification, the aspirants for office get hold of the people, and continue at last even to set them above the laws.  A more or less complete cure for this state of things is for the separate tribes, and not the whole people, to elect the magistrates."Politics Book V, Section 1305, Paragraphs 9-11.

       Aristotle's theory of society is that a transcendence of interests between classes is the definition of Justice.  Justice does not mean mere survival or the prevention of injustice.
       Our good of the soul, Friendship, is the basis of society.  The end of politics is "a happy and honourable life."  For the majority to despoil the minority is a violation of justice.
       In conclusion, the problem of modern politics is assuming that the ultimate goods in society are economic.  The neglect of goods of the soul is one reason for the basic confusion of modern politics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Meritricious NBA

        When the whole kneeling for the National Anthem controversy led many to boycott the NFL.  Far more deserving of a boycott is the pusillanimous NBA, which has entirely too much sympathy for the Communist slave masters in Beijing.  When Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted out support for the people of Hong Kong in their struggle for freedom, the miserable NBA pressured Morey to delete the tweet, and sent out a bootlick to fawn to the Chinese government.  The equally pathetic ESPN acted as though Morey was an ignorant clod for recognizing totalitarian tyranny for what it is.

New Republic Conservatives

   When Estase was an undergraduate, he noticed a difference in the attitude of the Nation and New Republic towards President Clinton.  Nation saw Clinton as an unprincipled opportunist--someone who couldn't be trusted to stand on principle for anything.  Clinton's iffy environmental record and support for DOMA bear out the Nation's view of Clinton.  New Republic had the Tabitha Soren view of the Clintons.  Assuming that the antiwar generation was infallible, New Republic happily overlooked Whitewater and other signs of the Clintons' dishonesty.  Blind adulation was the New Republic's attitude toward Team Billary.
       If anyone wants to see what he Republican version of New Republic looks like, they need look no further than AM radio, Fox News, Newsmax, and One America News.  Loathe to say anything critical of Orange Blatherskite, these news sources come up with tu quoque on a scale never formerly thought possible.  Trump's inability to pick staff who hold their post for more than a year is of no concern.  While O.B. is in trouble for seeking dirt on Joe Biden from Ukraine, the oblivious Trump doubles down by repeating his impropriety with China!  The response of the New Republic right is to act as though Biden's potential abuses of power absolve Trump from misusing Executive power!
     Never before have Republicans had so low a bar for their office-holders.  Pointing to Democratic malfeasance is now a cover for open defiance of the public trust. 
       While it may be proper to pressure foreign governments for information about terrorists, this is of use of Executive power for public protection.  What O.B. is doing with Ukraine and China is entirely different.  This is use of Executive power for Trump's PERSONAL BENEFIT.
       By this time, the response of the right-wing Outrage Machine against the legitimate qualms of Mitt Romney (whose conservative bona fides go further back than 2015) are a sadly predictable response.  As are the memes claiming that attacks on our lawless president are attacks on conservative America.  This is just how much of a stranglehold New Republic Republicans have over the conservative movement.

Animo et Facto

       Francis Bacon said we believe nothing so much as that which we wish to believe.  After eight years of Oh Blah Blah, Estase yearned for a president who didn't make extensive use of executive orders and presidential fiat.  He thought Glenn Beck was like him in wanting a Frodo president--someone who would take the Ring of excessive presidential power created by Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson, and then expanded by FDR, and throw it in a volcano.  To keep the business of the Dittohead Right, Glenn Beck now sings the praises of a Gollum president--someone who sits in a darkened cave where he sees only the shadows of his imagined success, clinging to Imperial power, repeating the words, "My precious!"

       Thus, the chasm between intention and reality becomes apparent.  Republicans thought they were electing a conservative super-patriot, and have actually empowered a statist who is less conservative than George W. Bush.  But you would never know this from the corrupt conservative media;  too afraid to tell the Right the truth for fear of losing listeners or viewers, they heap adulation on the same kind of autocrat they just spent eight years condemning.

Philosophy, R.I.P.

       Those who have followed my blogs for any length of time know I quoted Allen Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind.  Bloom's book diagnosed the problems with Heidegger, Critical Theory, the Frankfurt School, and what we now know as identity politics.  These trends have now become the dominant thread in American universities.  So much so that when Estase mentioned this book on a philosophy page on Facebook, another user (no doubt one of our mandarin class, entrusted with vulnerable young minds), accused him of saying that the book claimed the Frankfurt School was making everyone gay, and called him an idiot.
         This is what our philosophy departments have devolved into.

Why Liberation Theology is Heresy

       Marxism teaches that man's brokenness can be fixed by communal property.  Augustinian Christianity teaches that man's brokenness can be fixed by Christ.  These positions are fundamentally irreconcilable.  Any Pope that recieves a crucifix where the corpus is on a hammer and sickle is a false teacher.