Category Archives: Politics

KILLING OPENLY.

KILLING OPENLY. It’s surprising that Stevenson takes the position that the Skripal poisoning “led back to Russia too readily….The agents involved were photographed dozens of times travelling from London to Wiltshire and both ended up with their cover blown.” The … Continue reading

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A CIA HANDBOOK ON POLITICAL ASSASSINATION.

A CIA HANDBOOK ON POLITICAL ASSASSINATION. Tom Stevenson has an article in the TLS (January 11, 2019) in connection with the Skripal poisoning which reports on “a CIA handbook for covert political murder written in 1953 and declassified in 1997.” … Continue reading

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DIPLOMATIC MURDERS—TWELVE YEARS LATER.

DIPLOMATIC MURDERS–TWELVE YEARS LATER. In the first week of this blog, I posted here on the murder by Russia of a Russian dissident in London by means of radioactive poisoning and the efforts that were being made “to prevent the … Continue reading

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TWELVE YEARS OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WAY WE NOMINATE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES.

TWELVE YEARS OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WAY WE NOMINATE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. My post on January 23, 2007 inveighed against our nomination process for presidential candidates. I said that: “there are almost a dozen other potential candidates in the two parties … Continue reading

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THE USEFULNESS OF CURSE TABLETS.

THE USEFULNESS OF CURSE TABLETS (COMMENT). Nick commented that he really enjoyed yesterday’s post. One reason I also enjoyed it is that I have always liked curse tablets from classical times. I have posted on them before (see, for example, … Continue reading

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“WHY 2018 WAS THE BEST YEAR IN HUMAN HISTORY.”

“WHY 2018 WAS THE BEST YEAR IN HUMAN HISTORY.” Nicholas Kristof had an op ed with that headline in the New York Times (January 5, 2019). Kristof has lots of support for his thesis. For one example, Kristof writes: “Until … Continue reading

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“FEEL” FOR THE UNWRITTEN RULES (COMMENT).

“FEEL” FOR THE UNWRITTEN RULES (COMMENT). Annalisa commented here that she was taken aback that reporters would lose access to players if they wrote about team chemistry issues. She posed the hypothetical: “What if “the team chemistry has anything to … Continue reading

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NONPARISIAN ACCENTS.

NONPARISIAN ACCIDENTS. Although everybody commits gaffes, I doubt that an American politician would make fun of somebody’s accent. What makes it more remarkable is that the politician represents Marseillle, which has its own important accent (Occitan). I suppose that the … Continue reading

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GLOTTOPHOBIE.

GLOTTOPHOBIE.I have posted a number of times on the French efforts to standardize their language. For example, I posted here about how it was not until the nineteenth century that France was able to establish a national language which prevailed … Continue reading

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ADAM SMITH AND THE POTATO.

ADAM SMITH AND THE POTATO. The importance of potatoes for economic growth from 1750 to 1950, as measured in the Nathan Nunn and Nancy Quian article I cited yesterday, can be traced back to Adam Smith’s campaign for the potato … Continue reading

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