The defects of the West are innumerable, its crimes and errors very real. But in the end, let’s not forget that we are the only ones to have the possibility of improvement and emancipation that lies in free genius.
Albert Camus, as quoted in Beyond Nihilism: Albert Camus’s Contribution to Political Thought, Fred H. Willhoite, Jr. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968).
On October 28, 1886, in New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated by President Grover Cleveland, despite the fact that the monument was not a federally funded project and that Cleveland was adamant in sticking to the private funding of the project.
Even bizarre, incomprehensible things, such as Saturday’s Washington Post editorial, “In defense of the White House ballroom.” In short, a defense of, ahem . . . Trump.
The paper began by noting the ballroom was something of a Rorschach test, with Trump’s opponents viewing his actions as “reckless” while his supporters see “a change agent unafraid to decisively take on the status quo.”
But the editors add that “it has become far too difficult to build anything in America,” before concluding: “Trump’s undertaking is a shot across the bow at NIMBYs everywhere.”
Wait. The Post has been virulently, unrelentingly anti-Trump, until it relented last November by not endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris for president. Was that or is this a sign the Post editorially is moving toward Trump? Is this influenced by billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos?
I don’t think so. In this lightning-strike instance, the capital’s premier newspaper is offering non-TDS thought. Believe it or not.
As editorial board explains:
For this one shining moment, The Washington Post recognizes that America’s regulatory regime does not work. So broken, in fact, that MAGA must be embraced.
If only for one dance.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* The editorial also notes that “the White House is exempt from some of the required regulations that other federal buildings must comply with.”
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Todo o homem que merece ser célebre sabe que não vale a pena sê-lo.
Every man who deserves to be famous knows it is not worth the trouble.
Fernando Pessoa, A Celebridade (1915).
On October 27, 1964, Ronald Reagan delivered a speech on behalf of Republican candidate for the United States Presidency, Barry Goldwater, thereby launching Reagan’s political career. The speech came to be known as “A Time for Choosing.”
Two years earlier, Vasili Arkhipov, a flotilla commander present on the Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine B-59 in the Caribbean sea, defied the order of the sub’s captain, Valentin Savitsky, to launch a nuclear device. The captain had concluded that war had started while the submarine had been submerged. He had inferred this from the depth charges that American ships had deployed in order to force the submarine to the surface during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Captain Savitsky, seeking the necessary approval of two others on board, ordered political officer Ivan Masslenikov and the flotilla commander Vasili Arkhipov to launch a nuclear torpedo.
Masslenikov agreed. Arkhipov refused.
The date was October 27, 1962, and World War III was prevented by this one man, Arkhipov, who held his ground while facing the increasing anger of the submarine commander, refusing to approve a nuclear torpedo launch that would most almost certainly have triggered a conflict that would have doomed civilization, perhaps most or all of humanity.
That, we can now agree, was a “time for choosing” — and the correct choice was made.
“The mystery surrounding the generous billionaire who contributed $130 million to cover US military salaries during the government shutdown has been resolved,” explains InterNewsCast.com. “The benefactor is none other than Timothy Mellon, heir to an oil fortune.”
Former President Donald Trump revealed on Thursday that this significant donation was made by a ‘friend’ as a patriotic gesture towards the military and the country.
“He called us recently and said, ‘I’d like to make up for any shortfall due to the Democrat shutdown. I want to contribute personally because I have a deep love for the military and for our nation,’” Trump shared.
Describing the donor as ‘a great American citizen’ and ‘a substantial man,’ Trump noted that the individual wished to remain anonymous, which he found remarkable given that most people in politics seek recognition.
The Pentagon later confirmed that the Department of Defense had indeed received the contribution on Thursday, ensuring that service members’ salaries would be paid. The donor had been kept anonymous, but the New York Times revealed the billionaire’s identity on Saturday.
Mellon, 83, is a member of one of America’s wealthiest families. Paul Jacob has mentioned, on this site, Timothy Mellon’s cousin Christopher Mellon (the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence) in articles related to UFO disclosure. Both are members of the extended Mellon family — a prominent Pittsburgh-based dynasty founded by 19th-century banker Thomas Mellon and including figures like Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon (grandfather to Timothy). Timothy (born 1942) is the son of Paul Mellon (1907–1999), while Chris (born 1958) is the son of Karl Negley Mellon (1938–1983).
The family’s collective net worth is estimated at around $14 billion.
And I should like to be able to love my country and still love justice. I don’t want any greatness for it, particularly a greatness born of blood and falsehood.
Albert Camus, from Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960).
On October 26, 1774, the first Continental Congress adjourned in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Exactly one year later, King George III of Great Britain went before Parliament to declare the American colonies in rebellion. And one year later yet, to the day, in 1776, septuagenerian Benjamin Franklin (pictured, above) departed from America for France, seeking financial support for the American Revolution.
A essência do universo é a contradição.
Contradiction is the essence of the universe.
Fernando Pessoa, “A Nova Poesia Portuguesa no Seu Aspecto Psicológico,” A Águia, Porto (September 1912).
On October 25, 1806, German philosopher Max Stirner was born. Stirner was known for his radical individualism, which under the name of “egoism” became culturally chic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In addition to Der Einzige und sein Eigentum, a major work that was famously attacked by Karl Marx, he translated into German Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (from its original English) and J.-B. Say’s A Treatise on Political Economy (from its original French).
Der Einzige und sein Eigentum has been translated into English as The Ego and Its Own and The Ego and His Own.
“Max Stirner” is a nom de plume, his birth name being Johann Kaspar Schmidt. He died in 1856, and his biography by John Henry Mackay, Max Stirner — sein Leben und sein Werk, was published in German in 1898 (enlarged 1910, 1914), and finally translated into English in 2005.
The only image we have of him was sketched by Karl Marx’s comrade, benefactor and abuse-buddy, Friedrich Engels. The portrait above has been adapted from that drawing.