Art, Truth, and Politics

What is so irritating about Varoufakis is not his radicality but his rational pragmatic modesty — if one looks closely at the proposals offered by Varoufakis, one cannot help noticing that they consist of measures which, forty years ago, were part of the standard moderate social-democratic agenda (in Sweden in the 1960s, the programme of the government was much more radical). It is a sad sign of our times that today you have to belong to a radical Left to advocate these same measures — a sign of dark times but also a chance for the Left to occupy the space that, decades ago, was that of the moderate Left centre.

—Slavoj Žižek, The Courage of Hopelessness, (London: Penguin, 2018), 51-52.

Gallup:

Americans also continue to name the government as the most important problem facing the nation, with 32% doing so, one of the higher percentages mentioning the issue in Gallup’s history.

…

Forty percent of Democrats, 36% of Republicans and 26% of independents name the government as the most important problem.

The next-most-commonly cited problems are immigration (11%) and healthcare (10%).

“Environment/Pollution/Climate change” was seen as the most important problem facing the US by 5% of respondents, “Gap between rich and poor” came in at 1%. The poll results are well worth reading.

MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likens Sanders victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany overrunning France in 1940: “It’s too late to stop him … it’s over” pic.twitter.com/6GJetLoDkq

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2020

MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace on Sanders’ Nevada win on the media’s waning influence: “The Sanders campaign, the Trump campaign, they have taken these things to dark arts.” pic.twitter.com/4QV5PTygp2

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 23, 2020

Now PBS, CNN and MSNBC are what “liberal” acquaintances in the US watch for news. That society is a madhouse.

Michèle Ray-Gavras, Christos Loulis, Costa-Gavras

The film was previously shown at the European Central Bank, where Costa-Gavras had been invited by the bank employee union, otherwise this was the German premiere. Volker Schlöndorff and Nastassja Kinski were in the audience. I got to ask the first question during Q & A. The only person missing was Ingrid Eggers.

New York Times:

“Senator Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans,” Mr. Buttigieg said, adding that Mr. Sanders wanted to “reorder the economy in ways most Democrats, not to mention most Americans, don’t support.”

Mr. Biden appeared at a Las Vegas union hall while most votes were still uncounted to claim a comeback and vowed victory in South Carolina. “Y’all did it for me,” he told supporters, trying out a new line aimed at his rivals. “I ain’t a socialist, I ain’t a plutocrat, I’m a Democrat.”

…

At a large rally in Seattle on Saturday, Ms. Warren declared there were “a lot of states to go, and right now I can feel the momentum” [the momentum of finishing 3^rd, 4^th, and 4^th again]. Declining to follow other Democrats in taking aim at Mr. Sanders, she continued deriding Mr. Bloomberg and his self-funded candidacy.

Brian Eno @dark_shark at #DontExtraditeAssange

"We are being groomed for a future in which we stop protesting about:

assassination by drone
imprisonment without charge
murdered activists
torture
violent acts on peaceful demonstrations
journalists denied access"#FreeAssangeNOW pic.twitter.com/rUOqAMfkwf

— Assange Edits 🎬 (@AssangeEdits) February 23, 2020

Spiegel:

Ihre letzte Botschaft galt den Eltern: 1943 wurden Hans und Sophie Scholl hingerichtet. Hinter den berühmten Geschwistern stand eine Familie, die sich immer wieder gegen den Krieg und Hitler gestellt hatte – und sie unterstützte die Widerstandskämpfer bis zuletzt.

BBC:

Roger Stone: ‘Disgusted’ judge jails Trump ally

What was Stone convicted of?

Stone was found guilty of lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks, the website that released damaging emails about Mr Trump’s 2016 Democratic election rival Hillary Clinton.

US intelligence officials have concluded the messages were stolen by Russian hackers.

When Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee about his attempts to contact Wikileaks what did his lie consist of? Did he deny attempts to contact Wikileaks, or did he lie about having made contacts for which there was in fact no evidence?

When Wikileaks released damaging emails about Hillary Clinton what was in the emails? Was the information released in fact all true? Were these emails from the DNC documenting the dishonest subversion of the campaigns of Clinton opponents? Did the DNC at first repeatedly insist the emails included forgeries? Were forgeries ever found?

Which US intelligence officials concluded the Wikileaks DNC messages were stolen by Russians? Did other US intelligence officials issue contradictory statements? Did US intelligence agencies ever examine the servers? What did Julian Assange consistently say about the source of the emails?

BBC:

Russia meddling to help Trump win re-election, US lawmakers hear

US intelligence agencies have warned that Russia is attempting to help President Donald Trump get re-elected in November, US media report.

…

US intelligence officials say Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election to boost Mr Trump’s campaign and cause chaos within the US electoral process.

Democrats criticised the president for appointing Mr Grenell, who has previously played down the extent of Russian interference in the last election, and has celebrated the rise of far-right politicians in Europe.

It is apparently time again for the fall fashions to strut down the catwalk. Russia is meddling. Russia is attempting. Russia interfered in 2016 to boost Trump and cause chaos. Grenell previously played down the extent of Russian interference.

What does this meddling consist of? Are the attempts successful? What evidence is there of impact? What chaos did Russian Meddling™ verifiably cause in 2016? When Grenell played down the extent what was the extent played to him as against the extent he played back?

It’s not enough to just hold hands of course: it’s important to be silent and look serious as well. It’s the silence which makes this effective.

This is a 9mm handgun. It’s a CZ, a Czech gun. It’s a nice weapon. Being all metal makes it a bit heavier than a Glock or an H&K USP (my favorite handgun). The weight makes it a little more stable meaning you’re a little quicker lining up your next shot. That’s a 9mm case on the right.

This is a handgun competition. If you look at these guys, they are all wearing special belts. Those belts hold holsters, and in the holsters there are guns. Each guy is going to send over a hundred rounds down range during this competition. To keep it safe, we all learn and strictly abide by a few simple rules. One of these rules is, if there are people standing quietly somewhere, you just can’t shoot. People standing quietly and looking serious, especially, means the guns don’t work. Those guns just won’t go off if there are people somewhere who stand in the dark holding hands and looking serious. Anyone who has a handgun knows this simple fact.