Morning Ed: World {2017.05.17.W}
Switzerland and Nevada have a special trading relationship… click here to find out why.
Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick takes a look at slavery in India, and argues that we need to understand what drives the slaveholders.
Brook Larmer suggests China is the newest colonial power. Matt Stinson tweeted recently that the international flirtation with authoritarianism has more to do with China’s success than anything going on with Russia as an inspiration.
A small German town unexpectedly won the Become A Banking Powerhouse lottery.
Go Queen, go!
Turns out the lady on the Make Nippon Great Again posters is Chinese.
Looking at Pangaea, with contemporary borders (which, of course, wouldn’t exist in the same fashion but for the oceans).
Isochronic maps are GoogleMaps before there was GoogleMap. Sorta.
Eh.
This is related to the slavery link. The Atlantic published this powerful article by Alex Tizon on his family’s slave, in the United States during the 20th century.Report
Thanks Lee that was very powerfulReport
Welcome.Report
Nevada: Yah, figured it was gold. All that nice gold sitting in vaults under Zurich. Better than letting the Fed have it.
Indian Slavery: The article didn’t really talk about the particulars of “bonded servitude” so I can’t really so, but there is a big difference between that and chattel slavery. But the “excuses” were more interesting. I wonder if in the current day, people would look at company towns as “slavery”.Report
Slavery, or defacto slavery, is how most goods are made. We aren’t willing (or able) to pay the extra dosh to make sure people get a decent wage.Report
Kimmi,
It’s actually worse than that. “Either a person rules himself exclusively, or someone else rules in him completely, or in part, and the latter is called ‘slavery‘”
The vast majority of people are slaves, they just won’t or can’t acknowledge it.Report
Damon’s first comment indicated an interest in a good, solid definition, but then Kimmi’s comment and Damon’s reply seem to broaden the meaning of slavery to the point that the conversation becomes meaningless. I mean, if slavery includes whipping forced laborers and stopping at red lights, then what are we talking about?Report
Pinky,
I know people who own slaves, minors. They chose this life for themselves, preferring it to ICE. There is no right of exit, and their lives are currently endangered more by the narcostate than by the slavers (their limbs and other body parts are probably more likely to be hurt in the line of work, however.)
This is a world where fathers offer to sell their daughters into slavery.Report
I’m sure we’ve all enjoyed arguments with Marxists over the definition of “exploitation”.
“So you’re saying that *I* am exploited?”
“Yes.”
“I’m saying that I’m not exploited.”
“You’re wrong.”
Something something “false consciousness” something.
Sure, it’s not a binary toggle, but a continuum but by hammering out that it’s a continuum we get into that damn sorites problem again which means that we then have to deal with people biting the bullet and saying that one grain is a heap, dammit.Report
Did we follow the link provided?
The article had in it’s body this: “The definition of slavery from Oxford Dictionary is:
“a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.” ”
That’s a classic discussion of slavery. It certainly excludes indentured servitude, a presumably willing contractual agreement, regardless of whether you want to get into the weeds on “agency” and whether the person consenting to indentured servitude really has any choice due to their economic circumstances.
The rest of the article is a “redefinition” of slavery, one that’s actually quite accurate I think. Think of it along these lines: how many people do you have to kill to be considered a “mass murderer”?Report
Damon,
Surprisingly few, but they do need to be done all at the same time.
Assassins are generally not counted mass murderers unless they use large-scale bombs.Report
Or think of it as an exercise in the continuum fallacy.Report
So the distinction is a “you know it when you see it” sorta thing?Report
The piece blurs the difference btw/ being property and being a person, emphasizing the issue of owning property, which is not the same thing.Report
Blur? No, compare yes. Let’s use the human body as an example. Abortion and the selling of kidneys. One is permitted by the gov’t, one not, regardless of the reasons why. So the state controls one person’s body (mine ’cause I want to sell a kidney) and not the woman who wants an abortion.
Control is a proxy for ownership.Report
“Control is a proxy for ownership,” sayeth the man who has never been a slave. Any regulation is a lack of freedom and since the lack of freedom is slavery, all are slaves. That’s a continuum fallacy.Report
And yet…
You are controlled. Whether it’s the speed limit on the highway, what organs you can or cannot sell, what you can or cannot ingest, who you can marry, what you can own, and a myriad of other things. “Slave” is a better name than many…like…citizenReport
Just to define parameters a bit better, which of the two freedoms is referenced? Because reading it with the ‘order is priority’ type freedom makes the statement of regulation false. The ‘freedom is the priority’ freedom makes the statement true.
If defined what does that render the continuum fallacy?Report
I guess to go a layer deeper into parameters, would be to also better define what we mean by ‘regulation’ here. Late 1775 would apply regulation against the ‘order is priority’ concept, While 2017 would apply regulation against ‘freedom is the priority’ concept.Report
Since nobody is allowed to sell their organs, everybody is a slave. Since everybody is a slave, there is no slave owner. Without a slave owner, their can be no slaves, contradicting the premise. Thus the proposition is falsified.
But if we allow just one person to sell his organs, he becomes the master who owns us, and we have to give him all our stuff and do whatever he says.
I’m going to get on the phone with Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul and have them slip a line in the next omnibus spending bill to make me the person who can sell an organ.
Then I’m going to make all of you spend the rest of your lives making giant statues of Me. All for the cost of one beat up kidney.Report
Did I click on the link to Daily Anarchist? No.Report
Anarchy is when words mean whatever I choose them to mean; tyranny is Webster’s.Report
The average Nevadian doesn’t have access to the sweet Swiss bank accounts though, much to their chagrin. ;). I have a soft spot for Nevada of sorts. When I drove across country a few years ago, I found Nevada to be something of a relief after Wyoming. Wyoming was a rather pretty state but I got annoyed in it for some reason and found driving through it tedious. The residents of Nevada reminded me a bit of people on the south shore of Nassau County, but without the liking for boats and fishing obviously, so I felt a bit at home.
I’m skeptical of Matt Stimson’s thesis tracing the rise of authoritarianism to China’s success. Its also contradictory to the China is the new colonial power thesis. The authoritarianism increasingly gaining power in the Western and Islamic worlds is about wanting to be more culturally isolated. In the West, its about racial purity and in Muslim countries, about religious purity. These are elements not really part of China’s authoritarianism because the CCP wants to be engaged in the world. Being a colonial power involves international engagement by necessity.
The men of the German town aren’t pleased that they now have to invest in three piece suits though. Leiderhousen Friday was instituted to keep the town’s residents happy.
Go, Queen Racer, Go.Report
Perhaps I didn’t load the full article, but why does Nevada export gold? Do they have some gold mines?Report
Top state for gold production in the US, which is the #4 country for gold production in the world according to the googlez.Report
PVT Bradley Manning goes free today 28 years early.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/us/politics/chelsea-manning-is-expected-to-leave-prison-28-years-early.html
How ironic, that a day after liberals chide Trump for giving Russians classified info Manning leaves prison early thanks to Obama. Way to be consistent.Report
Of course there’s no meaningful difference between an army private and the Commander in Chief of the entire frickin military, top civilian executive, and supposed leader of the Free World [tm]. But whatever.Report
If we’re going to do this, the correct ‘whataboutobama’ is how his admin wouldn’t shut up about the details of the Bin Laden raid (except for of course the most important thing, actual evidence that Bin Laden was dead). Thanks to the Obama team’s loose lips and a desire to spike the football, the Pakistani doctor that allegedly helped the CIA is still in prison on trumped up charges, and the op details gave more ammo to anti-vaxxers than everything Jenny McCarthy has done in her entire lifetime.Report
But that said, Manning, Petraeus, and Cartwright all deserved to be roommates for more than a few years.Report
Because it’s not about what actually happened. It’s about scoring points.Report
That would explain why the Dems are fussing over Trump after having done nothing about Obama doing the same things.Report
Begs the question of whether or not they were the same things.Report
So you don’t even want to admit that Obama had given the Russians any classified info? He leaked secret info the Brits gave us to his buddy Putin.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8304654/WikiLeaks-cables-US-agrees-to-tell-Russia-Britains-nuclear-secrets.html
This sounds like the same thing to me.Report
The info on Brit Trident warheads is not info the Brits gave us – it’s info on stuff we gave to the Brits.
Yes it caused a bit of a diplomatic row with the Brits. Which was ameliorated. And it was part of a specific negotiation over a specific end goal – not a vague ‘hey we’re trying to show good faith so maybe hopefully they’ll help with ISIS’
Even stipulating we sold out the Brits (which I do not) we got a treaty out of it. What are we going to get from selling out the Israelis that we couldn’t get otherwise?Report
How’s that treaty been working out lately?Report
Once Trump’s in prison, his successor can grant clemency and let him out early.Report
Just so we’re arguing from facts, the courts have held that: (1) the President may chose what national security material to share, and with whom to share it, without regard to any secret classification; and (2) that authority derives from his power as Commander in Chief and can’t be limited by Congress (short of removing him from office, of course). What Trump did may be many things, but “illegal” is not one of them.Report
Just so we’re arguing from facts, @notme stated that granting clemency for Manning is inconsistent with what liberals are arguing with regard to Trump. I was just demonstrating my principled nonpartisan credentials by magnanimously agreeing to give Trump exactly the same treatment as Manning.
Alternatively, I’m pretty sure that no liberal in the world argued that Manning shouldn’t have lost her job over the cable leaks.Report
With minimum hyperbole, there were plenty of people in my reading circles that thought Manning should have been made General of the Armies.Report
…
Huh. How about that.Report
Good news! Chelsea’s recent tweet indicates that her rehabilitation is complete!
Report
Yep since he’s getting a dishonorable discharge no VA benefits.Report
If they really wanted to screw her up, they’d put her on Tricare.Report
Only active duty and reserves can get Tricare so he’s out of luckReport
I thought based on another nontroversy that Manning had terminal leave still to burn and so was covered for a bit longer.Report
Yes. The appellate court is also reviewng the court martial. So while this is happening manning is entitled to all military medical care and commissary privileges.Report
So there you go Jaybird, Manning is on Tricare. Mission accomplished.Report
SHE.
And you know that, so cut it the fuck out.Report
Liberals are happily criticizing Trump for his legally sharing of info with the Russians but are also happy that PVT Manning is being released early even though PVT Manning didn’t have either the right or authority to release the information that he did. Maybe there are some liberals out there that think that PVT Manning should have severed his full term but I haven’t heard of any in the news or on the net.Report
I think it’s good that Manning served some time for what she did, but that she should not have served the full term. Clemency was appropriate, but acquittal or a pardon would not have been.
It’s not hypocrisy to think some punishments fit a crime and others do not.
On the other hand, jokes aside, I don’t think Trump should go to jail for blabbing about sensitive information in the middle of a meeting with the Russians.
It’s also not hypocrisy to think a legal action is irresponsible, reckless, or even a violation of the President’s oath of office.Report
I’m curious why you think clemency was appropriate given the amount of sensitive and classified info he leaked?Report
I think there were extenuating circumstances, among them the fact that her superiors kept her in a position where she had access to the material despite the fact that she was going through an obvious breakdown.
I also think the additional deterrent benefit of a super-long sentence over a shorter one is debatable, and there was no other particularly compelling reason to make a special example of her. Finally, it seems like there were genuine humanitarian reasons for releasing her.
I know a number of people [1] who think that she should have every day of her sentence, and that, if anything, the perceived “public interest” that she acted in while leaking exacerbates her crime. I get where they’re coming from, but I obviously disagree.
[1] Including, believe it or not, some liberals.Report
PVT Manning got the opportunity to present any evidence of extenuation or mitigation during the sentencing phase of his court martial. Obama in his infinite legal wisdom decided the sentence was too harsh compared to other folks who’d leaked classified info. That is a BS standard and liberals lapped it up.Report
Uh huh.Report
@michael-cain
Agreed that the President has the legal authority to declassify whatever he wants to whoever he wants. But he doesn’t have the legal authority to engage in treason, and if I squint real hard and I can see the vague outlines of an argument to that effect regarding Trump’s actions with the Russians. I don’t think it rises to that level, of course – at least re: the evidence in front of us right now – but that’s where I think the legal side of the debate would have some bite.Report
Since we’re not actually at war with Russia, it’s not treason.
.
The folks at Lawfare put together a solid argument that, if he did this as recklessly and impulsively as it seems, he violated his oath of office, even if he didn’t commit a crime.Report
Aid and comfort to enemies of the US. Again, I can see the vague, blurry outlines of such an argument applying, but not given the evidence we have right now.
Oath of office stuff is surely in play re: potential of impeachment.Report
Vague outlines aside, I think Michael Flynn may actually have managed to commit treason, if the story about Raqqa pans out.Report
Yeah, that one’s really ramping up, and not in a good way for the Trump admin (or his defenders even tho they still maintain the delusion this is all an Obama-inspired DeepState hit job). The Flynn stuff alone – a mess which implicates McGahn and Pence at least, and of course Trump – is pretty damn serious. The vague outlines are sharpening!Report
It might be tough to make the case since Obama’s closest ally was Erdogan and he wanted to turn the battle against ISIS into a “multi-generational conflict”.
Yeah, we could wipe ISIS out in a few weeks, but he wanted to milk it for decades. Obama even had our aircraft dropping warning leaflets to ISIS forces that warned we were going to be bombing their area.Report
Uh huh.Report
The leaflets were dropped because Obama didn’t want to hit any truck drivers working to haul oil for ISIS who might not have been actual ISIS members.
For several years he wouldn’t bomb ISIS oil infrastructure, which is how they made money, because he didn’t want to hurt the “post ISIS” Syria. He was thinking far ahead. If FDR had done that we would not have bombed Germany because of a focus on the post-Nazi German economy.
Eventually the idiocy got reported in the press and Putin sent flattened the area with his long range bombers flying out of Russia.
And who was running the DIA for Obama the whole time? Flynn.Report
Amazing alt history. It’s almost like all this stuff is perfect smoke to avoid talking about the current mess with Flynn and Trump.Report
What alt history, theses things happened?Report
Yeah those warning leaflets. We never did that kind of crap in WW2 when we kicked ass. But other than that it isn’t easy to have every sentence be wrong, but you nailed it. Cripes even R pols are starting to admit Flynn was a disaster and never should have been hired.Report
George:
We all know Obama didn’t have a strategy for the JV team so he was making it up as he went along.Report
Great, we agree that Trump could declassify the info. Now tell us why it’s treason?Report
Because sharing intelligence with an ally (our co-operator on the ISS and the only means we have of getting our astronauts in oribt), when that intelligence comes from another ally (Israel), who isn’t the least upset that we shared the intelligence, so that the first ally bombs the common enemy that we all want bombed to keep civilian airliners from getting blown up, is quite obviously treason.
More seriously, the actual damaging information came from the leakers and the Washington Post and New York Times, not from Trump.Report
The problem with a treason argument, is that by definition treason requires the existence of an Enemy, and generally a state of war is required as a precondition.
I’ve always felt that those who have the ability to engage or not engage the country in a (limited) state of war should be held to a higher standard in this partucular regard. The CinC and the Congress, specifically.
Of course, before this year, that was a loophole that didn’t need closing, as the very possibility was unthinkable.Report
Of course, before this year, that was a loophole that didn’t need closing, as the very possibility was unthinkable.
I’ll put you in the “seeing the vague outlines of an argument” column. 🙂Report
besides, you know, that one is the President, and the other was a private with mental health challenges, …
oh damn, scratch that.
one’s president, and the other was a private; one did it to show off to some Russian hombres, and the other out of moral outrage.
yeah, so.Report
“China is the newest colonial power [in Africa]”
I wish the inserted language was more conspicuous, as China has long been one of the most important colonial powers (Manchuria, Tibet, Turkestan, Taiwan, etc.). Mostly the article is about trade networks (neo-colonialism) abetted by dispersion of an ethnic Chinese merchant class that marries within and utilizes shared language and personal connections with the home country to become an advantaged ethnic group. This does not always work out well.Report
I think the Manchurians took over China and not the other way around.Report
I guess I’ve lumped in different things in a way that I usually try to avoid: (1) conquest; (2) settlement; and (3) trade networks. The Manchu conquered China (1), but didn’t settle it. OTOH, beginning in the late 19th century about 25.4 million Chinese migrated and settled in Manchuria (2), which makes it comparable to the American West, though a number of Chinese returned from Manchuria.(*) The piece compares Chinese settlement with the American West, and the numbers don’t suggest it, and this attitude is different: “But we’re still Chinese first and foremost.”
(*) Another complications is that a lot of the economic boom drawing Chinese into Manchuria related to trade networks with Japan (3).Report
The main targets of the violence were Chinese ethnic, however, most of the people who died in the riots were the Javanese Indonesian looters who targeted the Chinese shops, not the Chinese themselves, since the looters were burnt to death in a massive fire.
Instant karma!Report
Speaking of the Chinese merchant class, here is an old article about Chinese immigrants being the sexy underwear sellers of the Arab world.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/08/10/learning-to-speak-lingerieReport
Mizzou likely to cut hundreds of positions amid expected 7 percent enrollment drop
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/education/mizzou-likely-to-cut-hundreds-of-positions-amid-expected-percent/article_74125e87-a764-505f-872c-a454640d4205.html
I guess there is still fallout from the BLM protests.Report
I used to date a Palestinian/American woman, she would occasionally mention how her dad owned slaves when he was a child.Report
The “eh” article was good, but I was surprised it didn’t mention “huh” as one of its equivalents, as in, “pretty cold last week, huh?”.Report
Re: Slavery
There were plenty of Confederates who always talked about treating their slaves well and like family. Maybe this was true for some of them but I suspect a lot of this rhetoric is very self-serving and possibly used to psychologically justify being a slaveholder. Robert E. Lee used to say that he treated his slaves like family but he would also supervised them being whipped and then order brine be thrown on the lashes and wounds.
During the Civil Rights era, Southeners used to say that they got along just fine enough with Black people and treated Black people well until those outside agitating Northern, Communist Jews showed up.
TL/DR don’t trust the slaver’s rhetoric.Report
Just to be clear here, when you say Southerners, are you including those southern previous Confederate loyal Jews that had been peachy with owning and selling slaves, and wanted the CR era to be handled locally because “they got along just fine enough with Black people and treated Black people well until those outside agitating Northern, Communist Jews showed up.”
Or are we parsing only a specific Southerners here?Report
Joe,
Beg pardon, but I can’t think of a Jew that would DARE single out their own religion, in a part of the country where the KKK was founded to go after Jews, Catholics and Blacks…
If you can find such a person, I question their level of intelligence.Report
As long as we’re talking ‘no true angels’ here, I’m good. I wouldn’t have even asked for clarity, but Saul appears to have a general desire to sew wings on some folks and horns on others.Report
Joe,
So long as he’s not putting the horns on the Jews…
ayiyi, that’s a long story of translational fuckupery.Report
What’s the story on that one?Report
Google for it. I’m not searching for it at work.Report
The early Latin translations of the Book of Exodus describe Moses coming down from the mountain the second time with his face “horned.” You can see this depicted in Michelangelo’s Moses. Humanist antiquarians that emerged prior to the Reformation discovered the mistranslation: Moses’ face was beaming or glorified.Report
Many thanks, looking up on google was leading to a bunch of grim rabbit holes.Report
Basically one translation of the Bible (the Vulgate) implied that Moses had literal horns on his head [1], and somehow gave rise to a folk belief that all Jews have literal horns. That myth was (and for all I know, still is) remarkably persistent in places where Jews are few and far between. My mom was asked if she had horns on one occasion in Texas in the late ’60s or early ’70s.
[1] The horns appear on Michelangelo’s statue of Moses.Report
Horns in the past eras meant different things, and the wearing of horns as headgear appeared to drift in early cultures for considerable time. I can see how that would be a tough one to translate.Report
Have we recently read Freud’s essay on the Moses of Michelangelo?
Isn’t it time to read it again? (Warning: PDF)Report
In keeping with the Biblical theme, this is where I admit I’m a philistine, because I’ve never even heard of it before.Report
A jag eh? Good for Her Majesty!Report
Ha, she is driving without a license, outlawing it.Report
She can’t get a license; she’s the Queen*.
*likewise she cannot vote or obtain a state ID.Report
Is this where we get into those fun facts about rule of law?Report
What you know…Report
http://static.politico.com/6d/e3/bdd4948d4427bd72d6d9ad68370c/trump-license-screenshot.jpgReport
But where’s the long form drivers license?Report
Let the games begin as good men bring evil men to justice.Report
You think someone’s going to be brought to justice? That’s adorable.Report
Exatly, Hillary wasn’t brought to justiceReport
For what? Give date, time, place, and crime with victims? Be as specific as possible. Use your own words and don’t link to rightist site.Report
I give you two possibilities:
She never committed a prosecutable offense, and despite having her name dragged through North Carolina pig shit for 25 years, justice is in fact exactly what she’s recieved.
She is, in fact, guilty of various crimes and misdemeanors. The fact that 25 years of investigations costing millions upon millions of dollars have failed to pin even one of them on her can imply only one thing. She is the most competent supervillain the world has ever seen. Lex Luthor to 45’s Dr. Evil. And should probably be named Empress for life – she can hardly hold the country’s interests in less regard than the current administration, after all. And at least she will be the most competent administrator in history.Report
Capone was only convicted of tax evasion, if I remember correctly. Doesn’t mean he didn’t do anything else, does it?Report
You can name nothing. Your accusations are as empty as your nym.Report
You are so right, she is pure, clean and innocent. If you look at her in the right light you will see a halo.
Besides, I have a family and a life other than answering you. So I’ll get to you. I guess you could start with whitewater, right?Report
Trump’s White House and the Republicans might be immune to optics but firing Mueller is going to look bad for them among everybody who isn’t a Trump partisan.Report
From what I understand, Trump can’t fire Mueller. Only the Deputy AG can do that. So he’d have to fire Rosenstein first and the replacement would have to fire Mueller.
It’s messy, destructive and scandal ridden, so I give it pretty good odds of happening.Report
Where is Bork buried? They may need his corpse to get the job done. He’s just the kind of constitutional expert to do the deed.Report
You mean Robert “The Kindest Most Wonderfulest Man Who Ever Lived that Liberals Railroaded Because They’re The Worst Humans Ever” Bork?Report
Yup never a more honorable and Constitutional person ever. But if you need fire a special prosecutor who is getting close and all the honorable people resign then Borky is your man.Report
And if it does happen, it will be a big case of unclean hands.Report
My bet is for Rothstein to be fired on a Saturday afternoon or evening on a three-day weekend.Report
Saturday night is traditional for that sort of thing.Report
Chanel draws criticism from indigenous Australians with thousand-dollar boomerang
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/chanel-draws-criticism-indigenous-australians-thousand-dollar-boomerang/story?id=47460265
Seems they are jealous b/c they can’t sell a boomerang for that much.Report