Red Army

I think I would like this movie....

At the Movies, with your host Leo Strauss

Watched "The Drop" last night with Mrs. Angus and Tyler. At its core, the film is a geo-political morality play where the US impresses China but horrifies Europe by killing Putin (and admitting to having done such killings in the past). However, the US has a very cute puppy and Europe comes back to us in the end. In his last ever role, James Gandolfini plays Japan.

Tyler seemed to think it was about the external benefits of gentrification, but what does he know? I'm pretty sure Tyrone agrees with me.

Russian Marriage "Market": Fails

Not really very surprising these folks are single.  The rubber gloves are nice, for example.

Nod to MK

More Russian Drivers

David Skarbek sends this video, on the "Crazy Russian Drivers" meme.  I started not to put it up, because it's pretty horrible.  But the cows appear to get up in pretty good shape.  The driver.... hard to say.

 

Rule of Law...NOT

Driving in Russia.  The premise is that "everybody" has a video camera to record accidents that are not their fault, because other people lie and police are corrupt.  I'm not so sure.  The point is that these are people who have video cameras on their dashboards, so whatever that implies about selection, is implied.  Caveat inspectoris!


with a nod to Mark Fey... 

The Amazing video Paul Samuelson doesn't want you to see

Pinback are back!

Excellent Point: US Becoming More Like Russia

So, an excellent point:

"Polls tell us that the teenagers who in the 1990s dreamed of becoming rich in business now aspire to be public servants. Many view public service as a source of fast and easy cash. As long as this incentive exists, purges will be useless — unmasked thieves will only be replaced by others."

Strangely, this claim was made, not in the WS Journal, but in the Washington Post.

Even more strangely, the claim was made by one V. Putin. Who ought to know how profitable public office is. (Note: I changed "oligarchs" to "rich in business," so as not to give it away...)

The layers of hypocrisy here almost cover the long sharp prickles of irony.
The disturbing thing is that in a crony capitalist system, it is the "businessmen" who make the most from "public service." Check this article on Warren Buffet, who has made a fortune by telling President Obama to invest in companies Buffet himself owns.

Excerpt: Consider Warren Buffett. Often seen as a grandfatherly figure above the rough-and-tumble of politics, Buffett appears to be immune to the folly and excess of finance as well. He lives in Omaha, Nebraska, in a house he purchased in 1958 for $31,000. He made a fortune for himself and his investors at the business conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway through the humble-sounding approach of value-based investing. He uses folksy expressions: “You don’t know who’s swimming naked,” he said during the height of the financial crisis, “until the tide goes out.” He frequently takes to the nation’s op-ed pages with populist-sounding arguments, such as his August 2010 plea in The New York Times for the government to stop “coddling” the “super-rich” and start raising their taxes.

But this image does not always reflect reality. Warren Buffett is very much a political entrepreneur; his best investments are often in political relationships. In recent years, Buffett has used taxpayer money as a vehicle to even greater profit and wealth. Indeed, the success of some of his biggest bets and the profitability of some of his largest investments rely on government largesse and “coddling” with taxpayer money.

The US is not in danger of becoming a socialist country like Russia WAS. The US is in danger of becoming a corrupt crony capitalist country like Russia IS. Warren Buffet, oligarch.

45 czars!

The Ruriks (rulers of Moscow)
Ivan I 1325-1340
Simon 1340-1353
Ivan II 1353-1359
Dimitrij Ivanovich 1359-1389
Vasilij I 1398-1425
Vasilij II 1425-1462
Ivan III 1462-1505
Vasilij III 1505-1533
Ivan IV, the terrible 1533-1584
Feodor I 1584-1598
Boris Godunov 1598-1605
Feodor II 1605
Dimitrij, the false 1605-1606
Vasilij IV Sjujsky 1606-1610

The House of Romanov
Michail III 1613-1645
Alexej Michailovich 1645-1676
Feodor III 1676-1682
Ivan V 1682-1696
Peter I, the great 1682-1725
Catherine I 1725-1727
Peter II 1727-1730
Anna Ivanova 1730-1740
Ivan VI and grand duchess Anna Leopoldovna 1740-1741
Elizabeth 1741-1762

The House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov
Peter III 1762
Catherine II, the great 1762-1796
Paul I 1796-1801
Alexander I 1801-1825
Nicholas I 1825-1855
Alexander II 1855-1881
Alexander III 1881-1894
Nicholas II 1894-1917

Just over 30. Compare that to the....czars of Obama! There are 45 of them.... all at once!

Nod to the Blonde.

He Crashed to the Earth, Crying in Rage

A sad story.

Strange in retrospect that we were afraid of them. The Soviets were really best at harming their own citizens.

Hey Coach K: go EZ on Kevin Durant!

Dude, we need him next month. I know you are somehow stuck with losers like Derrick Rose, Andre Iguadala, and Rudy (so) Gay, but 37 out of 40 minutes for KD ain't cool with us Thunderheads.

Nice to see him drop 33 on the Russkies though (on only 19 shots).

The USA is thin thin thin. Mike K ain't playin' Granger, Curry, Love, Gay or Chandler (23 total minutes for those 5) and Rose is out there but not doing anything (6 points, 2 assists and 3 boards in 35 minutes).

Gonna be tough to win it all with just Billups, Durant, Odom and Westbrook contributing.