Author Archives: Richard Fernandez

Washington, city poisoned by secrets. New at the Belmont Club

Even though the news might make you think so. New at the Belmont Club

What the UK election says about the 21st century. New at the Belmont Club

Have the attempts to restore the status quo ante — go back to 2016 — damaged the political DNA? New at the Belmont Club

A long, best effort attempt to put the different pieces on the troubled state of civilization at PJMedia VIP. https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/the-future-is-coming-at-the-elites-like-a-freight-train/

Unrest is sweeping the world. Can the centuries old categories of Left vs Right, Reactionary vs Progressive still explain it? New at the Belmont Club

The reliance on classified briefings and special knowledge for news is one way to bring back the vanished age of Cronkite. New at the Belmont Club

The perverse incentives of well intentioned policy. New at the Belmont Club

Or are you doomed to lose it both to those would steal it and those who would protect you? New at the Belmont Club

The old world order is giving way to something new. But what? New at the Belmont Club

One small part of Barr’s broadside We are now in a crazy position that, if we identify a terrorist enemy on the battlefield, such as ISIS, we can kill them with drone or any other weapon.  But if we capture them and want to hold them at Guantanamo or in the United States, the military …

Continue reading “The declaration of war”

The alternative to doing time was unappealing. https://apnews.com/11ae6142bbb84af49daae80b94f1b4e2?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Maybe the way back to stability is to start from scratch. New at the Belmont Club

How to pronounce Ghislaine According to a quick survey of videos of people introducing her, American and British pronunciations are roughly the same (Maxwell was the founder of an environmental nonprofit, a philanthropic job that often took her to conferences and TedTalks, and before the U.N.). These people, who I assume confirmed how to pronounce …

Continue reading “Things you ought to know”

“The data involved in the initiative encompasses lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, among other categories, and amounts to a complete health history, including patient names and dates of birth.” https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-s-secret-project-nightingale-gathers-personal-health-data-on-millions-of-americans-11573496790

Won’t talk without union lawyers. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/nyregion/epstein-suicide-jail-investigation.html

LEO satellite Internet will disrupt 3rd world politics. https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/11/11/SpaceX-launches-Starlink-satellites-with-first-reused-rocket-nose/5081573139187/

“But to see this country sort of shrink up and turn inward and to be trying to separate yourself from Europe” https://www.scotsman.com/news/people/former-us-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-i-am-concerned-about-path-uk-is-headed-1-5043107/amp?__twitter_impression=true

After a controversial decision by the constitutional court to scrap presidential term limits, Mr Morales ran for a fourth consecutive term in office in October 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-12166905

Widespread secrecy can only survive if the institutions are trusted. The lower the level of trust, the smaller the volume of classified material that can be tolerated. Some secrecy is necessary but excess classification hurts everybody because ironically it creates a paranoid society. https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/11/the-ukraine-scandal-spreads.php