Conversations with Tyler.

Not exactly Dean Moriarty (“On the Road”) but not exactly not, either.

Source: The Economic Journal.

This paper dovetails with the premise of a post I wrote in the Forum awhile back about Göbekli Tepe. The archaeological site appears to confound the standard theory that cities (civilization) emerged from agricultural communities. Göbekli Tepe was an advanced city 10,000 years ago, but there is no evidence of prior or contemporary agriculture in the area.

Here’s the paper’s abstract:

Continue reading “Urbanisation and the Onset of Modern Economic Growth” →

Source: Astral Codex Ten.

Psychiatry is fun.

Source: TV Party.

I think many people don’t appreciate the level of historical cooperation between government in Washington D.C. and the entertainment industry in Hollywood. This story documents one example in which Congress passed a law that enabled the FBI to have full creative control over a popular TV show from 1965 to 1974.

How cute and innocent, one might say, given the context of the times. I would suggest, however, that similar arrangements still exist and are more sophisticated than ever.

I believe America is dead. The constitutional experiment of our nation’s founding has failed.

All of us who live within the legal boundaries of the Union are therefore at great risk. Civil war and external aggression against us are all but certain.

The puzzle to be solved is this: How can the hypothesis of America’s death be proved or disproved?

Source: RedState.

I’ve been commenting in various forums about censorship and propaganda for many years. Usually meeting indifference, apathy and — concerning some of the more Orwellian goings on — incredulity. I wonder how this report will be greeted.

Continue reading “Biden Wants To Censor Your Text Messages For COVID ‘Misinformation’” →

Source: Wall Street Journal (behind paywall).

This relates to a story I shared the other day concerning the the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference:

Continue reading “Trump Can Win His Case Against Tech Giants” →

Source: Humans are Free.

This story from an obscure web site intrigued me enough to run some searches in my favorite search engine. The results pretty much validate the factual outline. The regular attendees since 1983 are indeed tech, media and investment moguls, plus senior federal officials, including from the intelligence community.

Whether the conference is just a “summer camp for billionaires” — as it is billed — or something more conspiratorial is hard to say. The conference event is widely reported, but the activities are not.

Being, however, inclined to conspiratorial speculation I note that the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference would be an ideal venue for coordinating private-company censorship and propaganda strategies to align with government (or deep state) interests.

Here’s a transcript, slightly edited, of something I heard on TV last night. It captures my own thinking pretty well.

Continue reading “The World According to 2020 Trump Voters” →

Back in the 1960s or 1970s I might have had a positive or at least a credulous reaction to the idea of Federal government representatives knocking on doors to educate the public on a public health initiative. Today, however, I am skeptical.

When I was young I didn’t know anything about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, or Project MKULTRA, or other Federal programs that have used the American public as unwitting guinea pigs in medical and biowafare experiments. I had no idea about Federal efforts to control media (Project Mockingbird) or NSA surveillance of every single U.S. citizen.

These things I didn’t know when I was young concern me deeply now that I am older. As a result, I do not trust Stumble Joe’s vaccine strike force.