"Rejoice in the Lord, always. I will say it again: rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, give your concerns to God. And the peace of the Lord, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds. in Christ Jesus."
Phil 4:4-7B
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Sunday, July 23, 2017
Japan's Shifting Power Alliances
From Zero Hedge:
The rise of nationalism in the U.S. will cause massive shifts in global trade alliances.One of the main beneficiaries will be Japan...
The rise of nationalism in the U.S. will cause massive shifts in global trade alliances.One of the main beneficiaries will be Japan...
However, this offers Japan good news for future trade and projects. Japan is well positioned to benefit both from existing alliances with the U.S. and growing ones in the rest of the world, particularly with China and the EU.
Another key agreement, called the RCEP, also excludes the U.S. but includes Japan. It represents 16 countries that account for almost half the world’s population, contribute 24% percent of global GDP and over a quarter of world exports.
The countries are Japan, Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. The economic and population growth rates of the RCEP countries far outpaces that of the U.S. and EU.
This trend of non-U.S. trade alliances is more pronounced than ever for three reasons:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-07-22/japans-shifting-power-alliances
Wednesday, July 19, 2017
History Repeats: The Continuing Threat to Freedom and Democracy
From Jesse's Cafe:
Lately it has been popular in some circles to talk about the US being a 'late stage democracy' that has 'never been more ripe for tyranny.'
Sometimes they like to drag in Plato to give their thought pieces a gleam of higher learning and a supposed grounding in history.
But their pieces fall into that trap, that very sort of temporal vanity and self-centered preoccupation to despair that Newman notes so well in saying that "every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times before it."
Would you be surprised to hear that less than one hundred years ago there was an actual plot, bankrolled by some of the most powerful and famous figures of the American one percent, to use military force to depose a sitting American President and instead install a fascist in the White House who would be more compliant with their greed and lust for power?
The model for this takeover would have been similar to Benito Mussolini's infamous 'march on Rome.'
Would you be further surprised to know that some of these unrepentant financial figures then went on to help bankroll Hitler, and continued doing business with his atrocious regime even as their most vile business partners actively fought the US, their own country, in the war?
How well does this fit the efficient markets and rational actor models that so much of economic theory, and certain factions in modern political ideology, seems to rely? If only we can get rid of government, and then people will be free to spread their natural goodness and take wing like angels. Let us free the pathological and sociopaths from external constraints, and their better natures will surely rise to the occasion. And if not, we can surely explain it to them with our economic learning.
It never ceases to amaze how many economic and social models of human behavior are based, not in history, but rather on simplistically convenient constructs and myths that serve the status quo and the power of Big Money.
A better model perhaps is to think that freedom and truth are always under threat by those who value neither more than their own obsessive lust for power and money, beyond all reason. That last is important to remember because the current liberal impulse is to simply blame bad information for some of the most outrageous abuses of power and privilege. If only we could explain the economic benefits of general prosperity rather than relying on such weak tea as 'moral arguments.'
Alas, it seems to be the duty of each generation to defend what has been given to them by their forebears against the continuing threats of the perversion of knowledge and reason that is tyranny. And what is odd about it is that it seems to catch each subsequent generation by surprise.
I am not sure that I understand why FDR and his administration did not take more dramatic action in pursuing such perfidy as the plot to overthrow the republic by the fortunate few. It certainly was not for personal gain and power, as it seems to be the case of our more recent betrayers of justice in not pursuing the indictment and public prosecution of financial crimes.
We may have arrived at that time, that rendezvous with destiny, in which we either stand for truth and justice, or fall one by one in a contemptible struggle against the forces of injustice and duplicity. But we are certainly not the first, and not even the most distantly distinctive in this challenge, as compared to our parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents.
Freedom in not a prize to be won and held forever. Rather, it is a continuing commitment and state of mind to view certain principles above others. And one of them is certainly not personal greed.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2017/07/the-continuing-threat-to-freedom-and.html
Lately it has been popular in some circles to talk about the US being a 'late stage democracy' that has 'never been more ripe for tyranny.'
Sometimes they like to drag in Plato to give their thought pieces a gleam of higher learning and a supposed grounding in history.
But their pieces fall into that trap, that very sort of temporal vanity and self-centered preoccupation to despair that Newman notes so well in saying that "every century is like every other, and to those who live in it seems worse than all times before it."
Would you be surprised to hear that less than one hundred years ago there was an actual plot, bankrolled by some of the most powerful and famous figures of the American one percent, to use military force to depose a sitting American President and instead install a fascist in the White House who would be more compliant with their greed and lust for power?
The model for this takeover would have been similar to Benito Mussolini's infamous 'march on Rome.'
Would you be further surprised to know that some of these unrepentant financial figures then went on to help bankroll Hitler, and continued doing business with his atrocious regime even as their most vile business partners actively fought the US, their own country, in the war?
How well does this fit the efficient markets and rational actor models that so much of economic theory, and certain factions in modern political ideology, seems to rely? If only we can get rid of government, and then people will be free to spread their natural goodness and take wing like angels. Let us free the pathological and sociopaths from external constraints, and their better natures will surely rise to the occasion. And if not, we can surely explain it to them with our economic learning.
It never ceases to amaze how many economic and social models of human behavior are based, not in history, but rather on simplistically convenient constructs and myths that serve the status quo and the power of Big Money.
A better model perhaps is to think that freedom and truth are always under threat by those who value neither more than their own obsessive lust for power and money, beyond all reason. That last is important to remember because the current liberal impulse is to simply blame bad information for some of the most outrageous abuses of power and privilege. If only we could explain the economic benefits of general prosperity rather than relying on such weak tea as 'moral arguments.'
Alas, it seems to be the duty of each generation to defend what has been given to them by their forebears against the continuing threats of the perversion of knowledge and reason that is tyranny. And what is odd about it is that it seems to catch each subsequent generation by surprise.
I am not sure that I understand why FDR and his administration did not take more dramatic action in pursuing such perfidy as the plot to overthrow the republic by the fortunate few. It certainly was not for personal gain and power, as it seems to be the case of our more recent betrayers of justice in not pursuing the indictment and public prosecution of financial crimes.
We may have arrived at that time, that rendezvous with destiny, in which we either stand for truth and justice, or fall one by one in a contemptible struggle against the forces of injustice and duplicity. But we are certainly not the first, and not even the most distantly distinctive in this challenge, as compared to our parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents.
Freedom in not a prize to be won and held forever. Rather, it is a continuing commitment and state of mind to view certain principles above others. And one of them is certainly not personal greed.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.kr/2017/07/the-continuing-threat-to-freedom-and.html
How One Korean School Is Using Maker Share to Showcase Projects
From Makezine:
http://makezine.com/2017/07/18/how-one-korean-school-using-maker-share-showcase-projects/
The Maker Share website officially launched a couple of weeks ago. It is a neat hub for makers to share their projects, stories, and missions. So we now have a nice place to show and tell the world what we are making.
I’ve been waiting for the launch since the last Maker Faire Bay Area, where they showed the early beta of the site. I reside in Korea and thought this might be something we could use later as the platform that connects local and international makers. It would be used “later” because there are some language barriers. But I was pleasantly surprised to know there were number of Korean students already using the site.
From the projects’ information, I was able to identify that they are students at Suwon Hi-tech High School (a school for vocational education in industrial fields). It turns out that the students are in the Intel Innovation Lab program. It’s a program for middle and high schoolers to learn with hands-on experiences. There are many projects to come from this program.
It is really great to see that the platform was immediately adapted by students who live thousands of miles away from where Maker Share originated. The students are learning by making, which is a natural way of learning for everyone. So here’s to more projects to come from all over the world.
http://makezine.com/2017/07/18/how-one-korean-school-using-maker-share-showcase-projects/
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