Culture may even be described simply as that which makes life worth living.
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 – 1965), Notes Towards the Definition of Culture (1943; 1948).
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T.S. Eliot
Author: Editor
On June 29, 1914, the day after the shooting of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife, Austrian interrogations confirmed that the Serbian government was behind the assassination. Serbia denied involvement.
Thus continued the series of events that led to “The Great War,” now known as “World War I.”
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Watch: Against the Mob(s)
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Kong Fu Zi
To study and not think is a waste. To think and not study is dangerous.
From The Analects of Master Kong (Kong Fu Zi, or “Confucius”), Chapter II.
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June the 28th
June 28 birthdays include that of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher, in 1712.
On this date in 1914, 19-year-old Gavril Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and the Archduke’s wife Sophie. The Archduke had earlier missed a bomb thrown at his car, which necessitated a change in the motorcade route, which the driver forgot, which is why the car paused at the precise intersection in which Princip fired his fatal shots.
The shooting began a series of events that led to “The Great War,” now known as “World War I.”
On June 28, 1992, the Constitution of Estonia was signed into law.
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T.S. Eliot
They constantly try to escape
Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888 – 1965), Choruses from “The Rock” (1934).
From the darkness outside and within
By dreaming of systems so perfect
that no one will need to be good.
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Mauser, Goldman, Keller
Paul von Mauser was born on June 27, 1838, and would go on to become a weapons designer. In 1869, Emma Goldman was born, to later become known as a feminist, anarchist, and early leftist opponent of Soviet Communism. In 1880, Helen Keller was born on this date.
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Precedented Payments
I idly wonder who cooks up the initialisms for the big federal legislative packages (“laws”) — you know, like the recent “CARES Act” that distributed $2.3 trillion conjured out of thin air . . . and the faith and credit of a wobbly reputation. CARES stands for “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security,” and I say “idly” because I am not googling this.
If I can resist searching for (as I am instructed to do daily) “any three numbers and ‘new cases,’” I can let others do that initialism research.
Whoever it is, though, does a pretty good job. Usually. Good P.R. But they missed the boat a bit on CARES. It should have been CORPSE, standing for “Coronavirus Overpayment, Relief, Prodigality, Stupidity and Eeeeek!” Act.
For, you see, $1.4 billion was sent to dead people.
More than a million of them.
At least we can be thankful that the IRS wants that money back.
Well, “wants” is a funny word to use for a bureaucracy. Especially since the IRS has no current plan “to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments.” According to the General Accounting Office.
You can read about it all at Reason.
I would say it makes for fascinating reading, but it doesn’t really. This is the same-old/same-old. The Department of Kludge and Fubar, you know, which would be a better name for most government bureaus.
The Reason piece call the CARES Act “unprecedented emergency spending,” but I think we could find plenty of precedents.
If we googled.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Thomas Jefferson
The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.
Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1774).
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Emperor Julian
On June 26, 363, Roman Emperor Julian was killed during the retreat from the Sassanid Empire.
On this same date in 1960, Madagascar gained its independence from France; in 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech.