State of the Discussion

I'm not sufficiently up on UK politics to describe their stance beyond "underwhelmed by the currently available options" among politicians and parties. They were appalled by Brexit, but then anyone with two brain cells to rub together could see that would be the fiasco that it has indeed become.

As for the US, they have the same challenge everyone else does: selecting which of each week's insanities to even talk about. They still have a bit of a libertarian lean, but rather less than a couple of decades ago. More like "Surely we can simplify and rationalize the kludge that has grown up over the years."

The Economist does manage some nice turns of phrase.

Lol, I haven't read the Economist in ages. I was to annoyed by every article ending with some call for neo-liberal deregulation as the solution to all our problems. Also, the fawning coverage of US administrations (Bush, not sure about Obama) was getting a bit ridiculous.

That said, they have some of the smartest writers and if you want to know what's going on in, say, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan or Malaysia right now, it's the right address.

What is their editorial stance now?

Further to my comment about Trump's back and forth about the Chagos deal, there have been reports in various papers that his latest condemnation of it was because Starmer refused permission for the US to launch an attack on Iran from Diego Garcia.

And today, there are reports in the Times about Politico reporting that both BoJo and Liz Truss have been lobbying Trump against the Chagos deal very recently.

O brave new world, that has such leaders (and past leaders) in't.

I recently rode in a Tesla in self-driving mode. Impressive but somewhat anticlimactic, having seen several self-driving videos. It would have been more impressive if there had been no one in the driver's seat.

novakant, I'm also very sympathetic to what you say. And for clarity's sake, although I often examine this kind of stuff for its effect on women, it is very clear that the kinds of men who can get away with it also take sexual advantage of any group that suits their taste, including children, boys and other men.

But the question of whether to judge such behaviour by today's standards, or the standards of another time, is a different and difficult one. It may, for example, have been acceptable/legal until recently to rape your wife, but if she was trying to resist and in distress that still entails a kind of lack of empathy for the suffering of a fellow human that makes it possible to judge the perpetrator harshly.

And as for whether one can or should enjoy or appreciate the intellectual or artistic work of a moral degenerate, we have discussed that on ObWi many times. There is no easy answer. And whether the French (or any other) intellectual culture makes such behaviour more likely, or more tolerated, this is above my pay grade. It is noticeable, however, that more prominent women in France have found fault with the MeToo movement than those in other countries, so that's a clue. And Macron continuing to staunchly defend Gerard Depardieu in the face of countless allegations is another one. It doesn't stop Depardieu being (or having been) a great actor, however.

A sane decision of any significance by this SCOTUS usually means that something really awful is just around the corner.
Remember, they have things like birthright citizenship on their to-do list.
OK, this is business-friendly and thus right in their lane but I would not be surprised at all, if this is not also rising the shields for some reactionary semisolid digestive final product already in the works.
Kassandra was an optimist with rose.colored glasses.

Listening to the radio (old-timey FM), right after they announced the SCOTUS decision against tariffs, they moved to an audio clip of His Orangeness saying the US has pledged $10B to the Bored of Piece (of sh*t).

The radio announcer then said, "The president offered no details on how this would be... (noticeable pause) at all legal." I LOLed in my office at that one.

F**king clown show.

SCOTUS knocks down Stinky's tariffs ?

there is some justice in the world ?

this is a freaky Friday.

They noted that before Trump, no president had ever used the statute in question “to impose any tariffs, let alone tariffs of this magnitude and scope.”

To justify the “extraordinary” tariff powers, Trump must “point to clear congressional authorization,” the court wrote. “He cannot.”

The title reference was to Crown Imperial, thought I'm happy to make the connection to nous' link.

A lot of interesting points. I had to check Foucault's dates, he died in 1984, and I wonder if one problem/challenge is that we often live in an eternal present, and we can pull people into that even though they have been long gone. There is the famous letter of Machiavelli where he says:

"When evening comes, I return home and go into my study. On the threshold, I strip off my muddy, sweaty, everyday clothes, and put on the robes of court and palace, and in this graver dress I enter the antique courts of the ancients and am welcomed by them... there I am not ashamed to speak with them and ask them the reason for their actions; and they, in their humanity, reply to me."

When we can time travel like this, it is easier to subject everyone, living and dead, to our own moral codes.

novakant - As a sidenote: interesting and shocking what has been revealed in France since MeToo. The sense of entitlement and the sheer depravity of anyone from Foucault to Duhamel is just astounding.

Foucault is a tricky one for me. It's hard to see anything at all positive about a monster like Epstein. Foucault, for all his manifest monstrosity, made important contributions to philosophy. There's also the crucial difference between people weaponizing Foucault's monstrousness in order to further demonize the LGBTQ+ community, and the elite circling-of-wagons around Epstein to protect those already well insulated by their wealth, power, and privilege.

Foucault being decades dead also takes a lot of the urgency out of the conversation. He can't do any more damage than he already has.

And on a much lighter note, the post title immediately made me think of the Kuricorder Quartet's version of the Imperial March.

It's very good that this is happening. Also, what an illustration of how deeply unfortunate it is when stupidity, ignorance, and an entitled sense of impunity collide.

The King is saying and doing all the right things about it. But it is unsettling that the country is in a rather fragile and unstable state, with uncertainty about Keir and Labour, the Tories, and the malignant Farage waiting in the wings. On the whole, as far as one can tell over many years, Charles is a perfectly decent sort, and William seems to be OK too. But the Royal Family is not as popular as it was (understandably!), and in retrospect even the admired late Queen is responsible for some of this. What a mess.

As a sidenote: interesting and shocking what has been revealed in France since MeToo. The sense of entitlement and the sheer depravity of anyone from Foucault to Duhamel is just astounding.

In my experience, nothing that is coming out anywhere in the wake of MeToo is any surprise to a large proportion of women, particularly those who've had a life and are no longer young. I don't know how much you all saw about the Gisele Pelicot case, but her husband arranged to have her raped, unconscious, by over 70 men he'd recruited online over 10 years. Of the 51 men who were identified and charged, they ALL came from a 30 mile radius around the small Provencal town the Pelicots lived in. And they were from every walk of life: journalists, firefighters, nurses, delivery drivers, labourers etc etc. Eminent thinkers and other famous and powerful men, not to mention soi-disant enlightened, decent, liberal or progressive ones, are hardly exempt from the qualities which make this possible.

It’s almost as if we are ruled by an at best amoral, unaccountable elite not governed by any law. 

I really must take serious exception. Given the behavior on display, amoral seems like sane-washing. Immoral is what we've got here; there really isn't any reason to attempt to whitewash it.

I have to say that I am still shocked by the continuous revelations emerging from the Epstein files. It's almost as if we are ruled by an at best amoral, unaccountable elite not governed by any law. Call me crazy, but I had a bit more faith in our leadership before, though I think the whole thing started with Bush I.

As a sidenote: interesting and shocking what has been revealed in France since MeToo. The sense of entitlement and the sheer depravity of anyone from Foucault to Duhamel is just astounding.

Further to russell's comment upthread about the new social media site for AI "agents" to interact, this is an NYT writer interviewing her own agent about its experiences on the site:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/upshot/moltbook-artificial-intelligence-ai.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.HHDh.MSfIxI2Jr59d&smid=url-share

Speaking of Western Civilisation, I am linking Jamelle Bouie on Rubio's speech and its implications etc:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/18/opinion/marco-rubio-is-failing-western-civ.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NFA.nGv3.IM14r16m3-M0&smid=url-share

But, while on the subject of Western Civilisation, and its American version, did you see that 12% of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/tapestry/religion-and-horror-soul-mates-in-popular-culture-1.3065296/joan-of-arc-is-not-noah-s-wife-1.3065328

It's not a consistent or cohesive or reality-based perspective because it is just egotism transformed into politics. The Vance/Trump/typicalCongressionalRepublican/etc who believe that shit do it because it gives them a feeling of superiority and entitlement and that's what they want more than anything else. They are the insiders, all others are outsiders. It's their excuse for pursuing power for its own sake. Hubris.

Europe as the Troy to the US Rome. The ancestry that gives a reputation in the face of other old powers while one can despise the effeminacy of the actual people (Phrygians then, decadent limeys and frogeaters to-day). It was the few decent ones that crossed over to build the new and better empire.

This year I skipped the Berlinale. I don't feel that well and it has become a wee bit too expensive too.
I also miss queuing for tickets in person. Now it's all online.
I have essentially switched to the Fantasy Film Festival (which also takes place around here with one or two additional shorter spinoffs at other times of the year).

Frederick Wiseman died. He was one of the great documentary filmmakers. I love his films - but then I love Rohmer, Barry Lyndon and Ceylan - i.e. long films where not much happens, lol.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/frederick-wiseman-dead-oscar-winning-documentarian-1236507046/

The Berlinale is on:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/t/berlin-film-festival/

I haven't had time to check out the program but this looks interesting:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/collapse-review-documentary-israel-gaza-palestine-1236503404/