Category Archives: History

History, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

The War In The Middle East

6 Comments

…remains undeclared.

We haven’t declared war on anyone in almost eight decades, but we’ve been in almost continual fights, and lost thousands of troops. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be a voting issue for Congress. As Stephen Green says, the main two terrible things we did after 911, were the authorization of military force, and the Patriot Act. And it seems that Westphalia is dead.

[Update a few minutes later]

An interesting take on what’s going on in Syria.

It will be ironic if the Kurds finally end up with a homeland after all this.

Business, Economics, History, Media Criticism, Space, Technology and Society

A Gold Asteroid

33 Comments

Will it make us rich?

Dennis Wingo responds:

Yes, it’s impossible to predict the effects of drops in the price of previously-rare commodities. Gold is a very useful industrial metal, and this would expand its usage.

Business, Economics, History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

California’s Planned Blackouts

25 Comments

Jim Meigs explains.

I just read that they’re cutting power to the Berkeley campus, which could be a disaster for researchers who need to keep things in the fridge, if they don’t have backup generators.

And you know what isn’t the problem? Climate change. Or at least not anthropogenic climate change. Drought is the natural state of affairs for the place. The 20th century was unusually wet, and a lot of policy decisions were made on the assumption that this was a normal state of affairs.

We’re on So Cal Edison, not PG&E, but we’ve heard that SCE might be planning the same thing. Unclear if we’ll be affected if they do.

[Update Saturday morning]

Californians learn that solar panels don’t work during power blackouts. More policy idiocy, and they’re compounding it by requiring every new home to have them. I can’t believe the state I’ve lived in for four decades, with such an innovative history, has become so effing stupid.

[Bumped]

History, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Technology and Society, War Commentary

The Syrian Withdrawal

6 Comments

The place is a mess, and it does complicate China’s life for them to have to deal with it. My only concern is for the Kurds. But maybe they can cut a deal with Assad. And it is worth noting that Erdogan will be limited in his military ambitions by the need for maintenance of his NATO equipment.

[Mid-morning update]

The fate of the Kurds.

They really deserve their own country, but that never seems to be in the cards. Ignoring the Marxist PKK, they’re the only real allies, other than Israel, in the region.