18 Comments
Apr 8, 2023Liked by Grant Smith

Thanks for the mention of 'Legacy of Ashes', sounds interesting, I'm buying a copy now.

On some levels, I wish I had the mindset to exploit people like Andrew Bustamante. I don't know if I'd be happier, I suspect not, but...it's tempting. Success is tempting. But I was raised otherwise.

Likewise empathy is something that comes naturally to me, love (in a Christ way) is harder but I'm working at it. But at the same time, I can have empathy for a person but I can (or have to?) turn that off to do what I have to do. I can feel empathy for someone who's so fucked up that they decided their best plan for that day is shoot up a school, but I'm still going to drop them if I get line of sight on them.

A lot of your discussions of 'fairness' and 'justices' reminds me a lot of what C. S. Lewis wrote about such universal moral laws in 'Mere Christianity'. Interesting to see it echoed here.

Lots to think on, thanks man.

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May 17, 2023Liked by Grant Smith

re: footnote 2 "To this day I am deeply skeptical that the IC does anything to promote American national security, and am, in fact, quite convinced that the American people would be better off without it. "

Celine's First Law readeth thusly: "National security is the chief cause of national insecurity."

In part, this is the result of incompetence. But this is also because, without a Scary Enemy, the IC would no longer have jobs.

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May 17, 2023Liked by Grant Smith

"There is an assumption that these two influential men have that speaks to a weakness of character. They allow this weakness to seduce them into seeking unfair advantage over their fellow man while consoling themselves that doing so is only natural. Perhaps for beasts, but we are men, and our ability to parlay with one another in a direct and candid manner towards mutual profit is what sets us apart."

As a cat, such behavior is hardly natural for beasts. Rather, it is the province of humans.

Lena the Corporate Raider (long story, that) commented that the difference between adults and children, and or, for that matter, people and animals, is that adult humans are able to conceal their feelings.

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“proportionally resisted”

In war; WIN. proportionally resisted sounds like proportionate response, if you’re going 🦇💩 now (and you are) wait until you see ROE in real life.

In line with your wise guidance to be a better person, I will resist as long as I can the totally just impulse to not use unfair, trained advantage to castrate JAG et al, with my boot heel, although they could study anatomy and hand to hand too.

These idiots are blank as to how they sound , BTW. Lex, Bustamante, they’ll get they did something wrong too late or never.

Ashendon stories should be required reading for IC - “all we have done is destroy people weaker than ourselves.” Somerset Maughm was describing his own WW1 Secret Service. It was once understood these were regrettable and immoral necessities. To apply in business? The same level as Boeing Bombing Raytheon- we’d call that Murder.

Intelligence are the tools of war and should have the same moral thresholds.

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Excellent.

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Apr 9, 2023Liked by Grant Smith

💬 the why perpetually feeds back into how

From unorthodox—at least it strikes me as not exactly mainline, or rarely articulated as such in lucid manner—Christian perspective, the relationship is not that the why just feeds back, rather it fully & ineluctably determines the how 😵 --> apokekrummenain.substack.com/p/breaking-the-habits-of-western-thinking

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💬 let go of the idea that it is impossible to blur the lines

*possible 🤔

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