Enjoying the view from Limbo
A day after announcing that his administration would not take any action to “punish” Saudi Arabia for the revolting murder of a private (non-American) citizen — overall, probably the right decision for U.S. Constitutional reasons — Donald Trump, as usual, has shown himself to be the dumbest and most immoral man ever to pleasure himself as American president. Today, from the smelliest pits...
In the wake of the CIA’s assessment that Muslim Brotherhood-friendly “journalist” Jamal Khashoggi was indeed murdered on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, many were anticipating the reaction of Donald Trump (i.e., his handlers), who had promised “severe” punishment for the Saudis should the Turkish government’s allegations turn out to be true. Trump’s latest official response, however, is to prioritize...
by Daren Jonescu · Published November 18, 2018 · Last modified November 20, 2018
I received an e-mail from one of my sisters this morning, informing me that my oldest living uncle died last night, “peacefully in his sleep.” Peacefully in one’s sleep seems like a good way to go. It lacks poignancy and drama, to be sure. But the poignant and dramatic death is, it seems to me, too highly prized among humans — and only...
Marvel Comics superhero Stan Lee died recently. In response to this news, Bill Maher, an iconoclastic moron comedian who pretends to be a social commentator, took his usual contrarian stance: In a blog post to his website Saturday, the late night host wrote, “America is in mourning. Deep, deep mourning for a man who inspired millions to, I don’t know, watch a movie,...
A dear friend sent me an e-mail the other day in which he lamented the incoherence of “modern conservatives” (his well-chosen term), with their endless compromises on fundamental principles, their willingness to support politicians who contradict everything these people claim to believe in, and their unwillingness to defend free markets and property rights with consistency and clarity. His thoughts, perfectly in line with...
The Florida Democratic Party’s efforts to steal an election by breaking any and all rules that need to be broken in order to find the vote totals they need, now includes the revelation that a Democrat official actually ordered two counties to send out election forms requiring signature corrections, after the election, with the forms altered to suggest a later deadline than the...
The Republicans in the House of Representatives have elected their Minority Leader for the new congress. They have chosen current House Majority Leader, John Boehner’s underling Kevin McCarthy of California. He is not a conservative. He is not articulate. He is not a leader. He is not a statesman. He is not principled. In other words, the Republicans have chosen to stay the...
by Daren Jonescu · Published November 15, 2018 · Last modified November 18, 2018
In my recent piece, “On Freud,” I said of the “father of modern psychology”: He saw his theory as a more scientific version of Plato’s tripartite soul. He was in fact Plato for auto-mechanics. And for all his titillating and supposedly shocking nonsense about sex, he was oblivious to Eros, which is the specifically human manifestation of sexuality, and the key to mankind’s...
by Daren Jonescu · Published November 13, 2018 · Last modified November 22, 2018
During his final sane months, in a whirlwind of productivity, Nietzsche wrote three important works, the greatest of which was Twilight of the Idols, or, How to Philosophize with the Hammer, a terse but sweeping synopsis of his entire philosophy. Though in form a small book, in content, implications, and influence, it is enormous as only a handful of works have ever been....
by Daren Jonescu · Published November 10, 2018 · Last modified November 11, 2018
Recently, as sometimes happens, a friendly reader mentioned Freud and Freudian psychology in connection with a topic of mutual interest, in this case related to my essay, “Life Lived vs. Life Unlived.” As is my wont, I took this reference as a good opportunity to clarify for my friend, and also to summarize for myself, my general assessment of Sigmund Freud’s psychology. Please, in...
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