last of 2017
Back from a vacation, and it’s a clear brisk day here at the moment. A couple of random news items, just to finish off the year:
The Year of Resistance, Inc. Jacobin — About how big business in the US denounces Trump while hugely benefitting from the control his administration and the Republican party now have of the federal government: https://jacobinmag.com/2017/12/business-leaders-trump-resistance
Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria. The Atlantic — About the legal failure of the google books project (distantly related to Google-vs-Amazon competition, copyrights, grand projects, etc): https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/the-tragedy-of-google-books/523320/
Another strange year, eh?
Politically in the US, kindof a hangover / rage-read extravaganza to follow up 2016. We got to see the circus of the Trump Administration. It’s the kind of government fitting for a society whose political discourse centers around postcard-sized messages exchanged by postcard message addicts. (We can do better!). There was another article in the Atlantic about how the latest “generation” (the cohort of kids after millennials) are growing up hooked on social media for validation – in a process whose biochemistry is not unlike the compulsion to play slot machines, for example. There’s some of that going on with the adults driving the “narrative” too, I think. Nearly all talk of “issues” is deferred for the time being – and 2016 showed there are some pretty deep ones that need attention. Hopefully 2018, with its mid-term elections, will see some improvement.
Internationally, ominous signs in the middle east, but ironically, fear of the Trump Administration’s incompetence has thus far resulted in a holding pattern consisting of mostly trash talk, with Kim Jong-un providing the appropriate foil for the President, and supplying much needed distraction from more dangerous potential conflicts. Whether that can be sustained for 4 (or if necessary 8) years is unclear.
This blog is kindof on hiatus for the time being, since I got pretty burned out on politics and IR blogging early in the year, and still am.
So with that, goodbye 2017! Cheers!
UPDATE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLNy6T3KkEc [from March, Trump and Obama autotune duet — Barbie Girl (Orig: Aqua) ]
UPDATE 2 – check out my new blog for the real musical interludes: https://loodsandvariety.wordpress.com/
Pete's Politics and Variety 