COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Monday, August 28, 2017

Listen Up Assholes

24 comments:

  1. The top-ranking Kurdish commander in Syria believes that the coalition bearing down on Raqqa could take the city in just two more months of fighting. Maybe:

    The battle to oust Islamic State from its stronghold in the Syrian city of Raqqa should end within two months, a top-ranking Kurdish commander told Reuters, but said she expects the fighting to intensify.

    Nowruz Ahmed sits on the military council of the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and as one of a small number of members of its Raqqa general command is one of the most senior commanders in the offensive.

    ...

    The army took the long-established garrison of Tal Afar in an eight-day offensive:

    Seizing the city of Tal Afar district by district, Iraqi fighters would take down the Islamic State group’s black flags and hang them upside-down as they took “victory selfies”.

    But of all the areas they reclaimed, it was the historic heart of Tal Afar and its Ottoman-era citadel that was the high point.

    ...

    Unlike in Mosul and Raqqa, ISIS fighters appear to have bugged out of Tal Afar. They have regrouped in another town, al-Ayadiya, where the Iraqi army has slowly made its way:

    Iraqi forces said they faced tough resistance on Monday from Islamic State fighters driven out of the city of Tal Afar to a small town where they had “nothing to lose” by fighting to the end.

    An advance by the Iraqi army and Shi’ite paramilitary groups into al-’Ayadiya was being slowed by snipers, booby-traps and roadside bombs, military officials told Reuters.

    ReplyDelete
  2. That US Army Sgt. has got brass balls.

    ReplyDelete
  3. FLOOD OF A LIFETIME! UPDATE: RAINFALL TOTALS...
    Health Hazards in Water...
    ALL TX National Guard Deployed...
    Police Now Battling Thieves...
    REPORT: Cajun Navy met with gunfire by looters...
    300+ gators may escape as floods approach fence tops...
    'Chemical emergency' adds to catastrophe...
    'Island Of Fire Ants'...
    Joel Osteen Slammed for Not Opening Megachurch to Victims....DRUDGE


    Who's worse, the looters, or Joel Osteen ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. A CONCUSSION wave knocked Nicholas Irving’s head from side to side as a plume of smoke from the IED (improvised explosive device) engulfed the tank in front.

    ...

    Nick was already a trained killer. His first book, The Reaper, recounts the day he fired a seven-round burst into a man’s head at the age of 18, watching him explode in a cloud of “mist and chunks” in Tikrit, Iraq. That night, the ranger had a nightmare the corpse was spinning above his bed, raining down blood — but he never felt that horror again.

    ...

    “Going out into the streets of Mosul in full-on daylight was literally and figuratively eye-opening. I’d heard people say we should blow Iraqis and others into the Stone Age, and it kind of looked like we had tried,” he writes.


    Deadliest Snipers

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Basis of the Universe May Not Be Energy or Matter but Information
    August 27, 2017 by PHILIP PERRY
    Article Image
    An artist’s conception of dark energy. NASA/JPL-Caltech.

    There are lots of theories on what are the basis of the universe is. Some physicists say its subatomic particles. Others believe its energy or even space-time. One of the more radical theories suggests that information is the most basic element of the cosmos. Although this line of thinking emanates from the mid-20th century, it seems to be enjoying a bit of a Renaissance among a sliver of prominent scientists today.

    Consider that if we knew the exact composition of the universe and all of its properties and had enough energy and know-how to draw upon, theoretically, we could break the universe down into ones and zeroes and using that information, reconstruct it from the bottom up. It’s the information, purveyors1 of this view say, locked inside any singular component that allows us to manipulate matter any way we choose. Of course, it would take deity-level sophistication, a feat only achievable by a type V civilization on the Kardashev scale.

    Mid-20th century mathematician and engineer Claude Elwood Shannon, is thought the creator of classical information theory. Though few know of him outside of scientific circles, he’s being hailed today as the “father of the digital age.” Shannon’s spark of genius came in 1940 at MIT, when he noticed a relationship between Boolean algebra and telephone switching circuits.



    Claude E. Shannon with his electronic mouse. Bell Labs, 1952. Getty Images.

    Soon after, he was hired by Bell Labs to devise the most efficient way to transfer information over wires. In 1948, he penned “A Mathematical Theory of Communication,” essentially laying the foundation for the digital age. Shannon was the first to show that mathematics could be used to design electrical systems and circuits.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Before him, it was done through expensive model-making, or mere trial and error. Today, Boolean algebra is used to design communication and computer systems, hardware, software, and so much more. Basically, anything that generates, stores, or transfers information electronically, is based on Shannon’s tome.

      That's not all. Shannon defined a unit of information, the binary unit or bit. Bits are a series of 0s and 1s, which help us to store and recall information electronically. Moreover, he was the first to transform data into a commodity. Its value he said was proportional to how much it surprised the consumer.

      In addition, he connected electronic communication to thermodynamics. What's now called “Shannon entropy,” measures the disorder or randomness inherent in any communications system. The greater the entropy, the less clear the message, until it becomes unintelligible. As for information theory, he developed that during World War II, while trying to solve the problem of sending an encrypted message over a static-ridden telephone or telegraph line.



      Claude E. Shannon laid the groundwork for communication technology. Getty Images.

      To look at information theory from a quantum viewpoint, the positions of particles, their movement, how they behave, and all of their properties, give us information about them and the physical forces behind them. Every aspect of a particle can be expressed as information, and put into binary code. And so subatomic particles may be the bits that the universe is processing, as a giant supercomputer. Besides quantum mechanics, since Shannon elucidated it, information theory has been applied to music, genetics, investment, and much more.

      Science writer James Gleick, author of The Information, contends that it wasn’t Shannon, but early 19th century mathematician Charles Babbage, who first called information the central component of all and everything. Babbage is credited for first conceptualizing the computer, way before anyone had the ability to even build one.

      The eminent John Archibald Wheeler in his later years was a strong proponent of information theory. Another unsung paragon of science, Wheeler was a veteran of the Manhattan Project, coined the terms “black hole” and “wormhole,” helped work out the “S-matrix” with Neils Bohr, and collaborated with Einstein on a unified theory of physics.



      Physicist John Wheeler coined the term black hole. By Deutsch: Ute Kraus, Wikimedia Commons.

      Delete
    2. Wheeler said the universe had three parts: First, “Everything is Particles,” second, “Everything is Fields,” and third, “Everything is information.”1 In the 1980s, he began exploring possible connections between information theory and quantum mechanics. It was during this period he coined the phrase “It from bit.” The idea is that the universe emanates from the information inherent within it. Each it or particle is a bit. It from bit.

      In 1989, Wheeler produced a paper to the Santa Fe institute, where he announced "every it--every particle, every field of force, even the space-time continuum itself--derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely--even if in some contexts indirectly--from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits."

      A team of physicists earlier this year announced research conclusions that would make Wheeler smile. We might be caught inside a giant hologram they state. In this view, the cosmos is a projection, much like a 3D simulation. What’s weird is that the laws of physics operate well in a 2D quantum field within a 3D gravitational one.

      It’s important to note that most physicists believe that matter is the essential unit of the universe. And information theory’s proof is limited. After all, how would you test for it?



      Is the universe a giant hologram inside a supercomputer? Getty Images.

      If the nature of reality is in fact reducible to information itself, that implies a conscious mind on the receiving end, to interpret and comprehend it. Wheeler himself believed in a participatory universe, where consciousness holds a central role. Some scientists argue that the cosmos seems to have specific properties which allow it to create and sustain life. Perhaps what it desires most is an audience captivated in awe as it whirls in prodigious splendor.

      Modern physics has hit a wall in a number of areas. Some proponents of information theory believe embracing it may help us to say, sew up the rift between general relativity and quantum mechanics. Or perhaps it’ll aid in detecting and comprehending dark matter and dark energy, which combined are thought to make up 95% of the known universe. As it stands, we have no idea what they are. Ironically, some hard data is required in order to elevate information theory. Until then, it remains theoretical.

      To learn more about information theory as the basis of the universe, click here:....

      http://bigthink.com/philip-perry/the-basis-of-the-universe-may-not-be-energy-or-matter-but-information

      Delete
  6. Australia has offered to send troops – which could include special forces – to help the Philippines army in its "pretty brutal fight" against Islamic State, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has revealed.

    ...

    Deakin University terrorism expert Greg Barton said the Philippines needed help building military capacity to contain and defeat Islamic State.

    "They can probably take back Marawi but will be left with a festering wound across the region [without help from other countries]," he said.

    ReplyDelete
  7. August 28, 2017
    Chicago had 14,000 more votes than voters in 2016 general election
    By Thomas Lifson

    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/chicago_had_14000_more_votes_than_voters_in_2016_general_election.html#ixzz4r7ln2izH

    "When my dad was alive and living in Chicago he always used to vote Republican. Once he died he began voting Democrat Party"

    ReplyDelete
  8. Defying international pressure, Islamic Republic of Mauritania refuses to free slaves
    By Robert Spencer on Aug 28, 2017 08:30 am
    Defying international pressure, Islamic Republic of Mauritania refuses to free slaves
    The Mauritanian agency that is supposed to be dealing with slavery is “run by the white Moor community there, and it focuses a lot on a poverty alleviation mandate and doesn’t really address the slavery issues.” Where is the international outcry? In the U.S., the Left is enraged over 100-year-old statues of slaveowners, but what […]
    Read in browser »


    Canada: Grand Prairie, Alberta denies permit for free speech rally against “anti-Islamophobia” motion
    By Robert Spencer on Aug 28, 2017 08:37 am
    Canada: Grand Prairie, Alberta denies permit for free speech rally against “anti-Islamophobia” motion
    “The event planned for Saturday was supposed to have speakers talk about free speech and M-103,” but that was not permitted in Grand Prairie. “In light of recent conflicts around similar gatherings across Canada and in the US, it’s not unreasonable to foresee that the proposed August 26th event may increase risk for participants, other […]
    Read in browser »



    Michigan: FBI blocks Muslim from flying to Middle East after discovering his weapons arsenal
    By Robert Spencer on Aug 28, 2017 06:05 pm
    Michigan: FBI blocks Muslim from flying to Middle East after discovering his weapons arsenal
    Clearly there is much more to this case than has come out so far. And there are no doubt many, many more Yousef Mohammad Ramadans. “Did FBI thwart Michigan-based terror threat?,” by Robert Snell, Detroit News, August 27, 2017 (thanks to Creeping Sharia): Detroit — The FBI’s counterterrorism team blocked an Ypsilanti man from flying […]
    Read in browser »


    Netanyahu tells UN top dog that Iran is building missile sites in Syria, Lebanon to strike Israel
    By Robert Spencer on Aug 28, 2017 05:29 pm
    Netanyahu tells UN top dog that Iran is building missile sites in Syria, Lebanon to strike Israel
    Given the UN’s track record regarding Israel, upon hearing this news, Guterres could probably scarcely contain his glee. “Netanyahu tells UN chief Iran building missile production sites in Syria, Lebanon,” by Itamar Eichner, Ynet News, August 28, 2017: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres Monday that Iran is building sites to […]
    Read in browser »


    http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?e=ed5f5d431b&u=12857896c3097382b25b80a09&id=5159a37286

    ReplyDelete
  9. August 29, 2017
    Where are the statues of the first blacks in Congress?

    By The American Civil Rights Union

    The House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi now wants to tear down all the Confederacy-related statues in the U.S. Capitol, in solidarity with the Antifa movement.

    This means yanking out lots of Democrats, a donkey-sized detail the media keeps leaving out. In fact, all Confederate statues and monuments under assault right now by the Left feature… Democrats.


    So we have to ask, where are the statues of prominent black Republican pioneers like Joseph Rainey or Hiram Revels?




    Sen. Hiram Reeves (R- MS) Rep. Joseph Rainey (R-SC)

    In 1870, Mr. Revels of Mississippi became the first black U.S. senator. Mr. Rainey, a South Carolinian and former slave, was the first black man seated in the U.S. House of Representatives, and served in totality from 1870 to 1879.

    “In all, 16 African Americans served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction; more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South,” according to The Truth about Jim Crow.

    Every black elected was a Republican, which is probably why you don’t see monuments to them in the formerly Democratic Solid South or in the nation’s Capitol building, where many statues were erected while Democrats controlled Congress.

    When Reconstruction ended in 1876, and the Democrats regained power in the South, they quickly enacted an elaborate system of Jim Crow laws designed to deprive blacks of even the most basic civil rights, especially voting. Despite being on the wrong side of history, the Democrat Party still insists they have always fought for civil rights for all.

    Mr. Revels and Mr. Rainey were accomplished men whose recognition is long overdue.

    It’s time to tell the truth about civil rights, who played what role in our history, and maybe a new statue or two is long overdue.

    The House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi now wants to tear down all the Confederacy-related statues in the U.S. Capitol, in solidarity with the Antifa movement.

    This means yanking out lots of Democrats, a donkey-sized detail the media keeps leaving out. In fact, all Confederate statues and monuments under assault right now by the Left feature… Democrats.

    So we have to ask, where are the statues of prominent black Republican pioneers like Joseph Rainey or Hiram Revels?



    Sen. Hiram Reeves (R- MS) Rep. Joseph Rainey (R-SC)


    In 1870, Mr. Revels of Mississippi became the first black U.S. senator. Mr. Rainey, a South Carolinian and former slave, was the first black man seated in the U.S. House of Representatives, and served in totality from 1870 to 1879.

    “In all, 16 African Americans served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction; more than 600 more were elected to the state legislatures, and hundreds more held local offices across the South,” according to The Truth about Jim Crow.

    Every black elected was a Republican, which is probably why you don’t see monuments to them in the formerly Democratic Solid South or in the nation’s Capitol building, where many statues were erected while Democrats controlled Congress.

    When Reconstruction ended in 1876, and the Democrats regained power in the South, they quickly enacted an elaborate system of Jim Crow laws designed to deprive blacks of even the most basic civil rights, especially voting. Despite being on the wrong side of history, the Democrat Party still insists they have always fought for civil rights for all.

    Mr. Revels and Mr. Rainey were accomplished men whose recognition is long overdue.

    It’s time to tell the truth about civil rights, who played what role in our history, and maybe a new statue or two is long overdue.


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/where_are_the_statues_of_the_first_blacks_in_congress.html#ixzz4r8HZsX4c

    ReplyDelete
  10. I Can’t Get A Meeting With The President Anymore

    John Bolton

    Here it is. It is only five pages long, but like instant coffee, it can be readily expanded to a comprehensive, hundred-page playbook if the administration were to decide to leave the Iran agreement. There is no need to wait for the next certification deadline in October. Trump can and should free America from this execrable deal at the earliest opportunity.

    I offer the Iran nonpaper now as a public service, since staff changes at the White House have made presenting it to President Trump impossible. Although he was once kind enough to tell me “come in and see me any time,” those days are now over.


    http://hotair.com/headlines/archives/2017/08/get-iran-nuclear-deal/


    I can't get a meeting with the President either.

    ReplyDelete
  11. .

    I've been avoiding his calls.

    .

    ReplyDelete

  12. August 29, 2017
    Berkeley mayor urges surrender to antifa as smarter lefties realize they have a big problem
    By Thomas Lifson


    The blog Philadeliquency has a pointed and amusing celebration of the gift that antifa is for conservatives, Long and worth a read. Here is a sample (language warning):

    I feel sorry for leftists.
    I realize many of my readers are leftists. I have to make a distinction here, because “Democrat” and “leftist” are not synonymous terms, as the whole flap over the Rizzo statue makes obvious to people now.

    There’s a lot of them in Philadelphia and they pretty-much signal off each other like cattle moo-ing their way across a pasture. Few of you realize what is coming, but I already see the winds blowing. You will feel that wind turn gale force as the months go by.

    The people I’m feeling sorry for are you guys, gals–and other–who have been out marching in circles around City Hall hoping Trump would give a shit about your Magic Marker signs. Standing next to you in those crowds were miscreant humanities students and flunkies otherwise known as AntiFa and Black Bloc. Unfortunately for you, even though you didn’t don AntiFa garb you are going to be lumped in with them; because you’ve been winking and nodding at them and quietly accepting the normalization of extra-judicial unconstitutional violence as if it were protected speech.

    That is soon going to come to an end and it’s not because of Charlottesville. Sorry, that’s how it’s going to be spun. Own it. The backspin has already started (snip)

    You see, there are quite a number of Democratic senators in Congress who are up for re-election next year. Our very own U.S. senator Bob Casey is considered vulnerable being located in a state that voted for President Trump. One of the most vulnerable Democratic senators in Congress is Missouri senator Claire McCaskill. Her state voted for Donald Trump by 57% to Hillary Clinton’s 38%. She has to desperately look as moderate as possible, her Republican attackers will put up ads “Clare’s people think every last one of you is a racist Nazi,” and pair photos of her in ballrooms with Nancy Pelosi set to dramatic music. See how this works?

    This obviously has Democratic strategists in a pickle.

    It’s very obvious what next year will be like. The worst footage from protest demonstrations will be put on display in campaign advertising and all the claims that Democratic pundits and authors have made claiming America is festooned with 64 million gas-chamber-murdering Nazis. Everyone who voted for Donald Trump is a Nazi. They’re all Nazis. Every fucking last one of them is a motherfucking Nazi.

    There are few Republicans up for re-election in 2018 who are really vulnerable. Those 64 million Trump voters still have access to ballot machines and they can still vote. Calling every Trump voter a Nazi, as so many of you have done, is not going to be forgotten. That projection is going to come back to haunt people. It terrifies people who actually do politics as part of their career; namely pundits, campaign strategists and party officials.

    The Republican platform is simple. They are going to remind everyone that leftist protestors and pundits alike cast the specter of Nazism to vast oceans of voters and they have the video footage the screenshots and the writings to validate it. They are going to remind their core base and Trump’s voter base what the rhetoric was, that leftists living in cities think all of America between the outskirts of Philadelphia to the city limits of San Francisco is a vast ocean of Nazis.

    But that’s OK. Democrats’ prospects are not that great next year. November 2018 won’t be long away. The second those returns come in you can put the masks back on and go marching again, comrade.


    http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2017/08/berkeley_mayor_urges_surrender_to_antifa_as_smarter_lefties_realize_they_have_a_big_problem.html

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bishop Berkeley would be ashamed of what has become of the town named after him in California.

      George Berkeley
      From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

      George Berkeley (/ˈbɑːrkli/;[1][2] 12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753) — known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne) — was an Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others). This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are only ideas in the minds of perceivers and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.

      Berkeley College, one of Yale University's 14 residential colleges, is named after George Berkeley.
      In 1709, Berkeley published his first major work, An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision, in which he discussed the limitations of human vision and advanced the theory that the proper objects of sight are not material objects, but light and colour.[3] This foreshadowed his chief philosophical work, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, in 1710, which, after its poor reception, he rewrote in dialogue form and published under the title Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in 1713.[4]

      In this book, Berkeley's views were represented by Philonous (Greek: "lover of mind"), while Hylas (Greek: "matter") embodies the Irish thinker's opponents, in particular John Locke. Berkeley argued against Isaac Newton's doctrine of absolute space, time and motion in De Motu[5] (On Motion), published 1721. His arguments were a precursor to the views of Mach and Einstein.[citation needed] In 1732, he published Alciphron, a Christian apologetic against the free-thinkers, and in 1734, he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of calculus, which was influential in the development of mathematics.

      His last major philosophical work, Siris (1744), begins by advocating the medicinal use of tar water and then continues to discuss a wide range of topics, including science, philosophy, and theology. Interest in Berkeley's work increased after World War II because he tackled many of the issues of paramount interest to philosophy in the 20th century, such as the problems of perception, the difference between primary and secondary qualities, and the importance of language.[6]

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Berkeley

      Delete
    2. The nation's Police will soon be back in the business of getting used military equipment.

      Antifa will soon find itself badly out armored and outgunned, if the Police are not ordered to stand down, as has been the case in a number of protest incidents, including at Berkeley.

      Delete
  13. .

    Even the leftist SPLC argues against the Antifa movement...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHFHcn8eQBw

    It would be nice if they also designated them a hate group.

    I would say designate them a domestic terrorist group but as far as I know their is no recognized 'official' list of domestic terrorist groups. Ironic but true.

    .

    ReplyDelete

  14. Teacher Training For LGBT Is Insufficient. It's Now LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP

    Now, the entire point of this LGGBDTTTIQQAAPP inclusivity training (that’s their new acronym) is to become “more familiar” with the current language of this new movement and to become more sensitive to the students in the movement. If they’re taking pointers, I’d suggest shrinking their acronym, but enough about that stupid thing.

    Here’s the main problem I have with this entire thing: the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario alleges that half of the public secretly identifies with LGBT, citing this survey:

    https://wtam.iheart.com/featured/mike-trivisonno/content/2017-08-24-teacher-training-for-lgbt-is-insufficient-its-now-lggbdtttiqqaapp/

    ReplyDelete
  15. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  18. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete