Some folks thought I was wasting my time reading science fiction. They never thought we’d be living it.
Kevin Drum is on the nosey here. The grip-and-grin is a time-honored tradition in marketing, and that’s all that came out of the much-ballyhooed Dotard-Lil’ Kim “summit.”
Drum’s dismissal of the official statement’s four bullet points reminds me of a scene early in “Foundation,” by Isaac Asimov. Faced with an external threat from a rogue kinglet, the Foundation’s Encyclopedists and Salvor Hardin, mayor of Terminus City, were very much at odds over how to handle the situation.
The academics were content to rely upon their memories of a robust Empire. Hardin was not so sanguine. And when Lord Dorwin, Chancellor of the Empire, paid a diplomatic call upon Terminus to reassure everyone, the mayor took the liberty of having his every word recorded and subjected to symbolic analysis.
After the analyst filtered out what Hardin described as “meaningless statements, vague gibberish, useless qualifications — in short, all the goo and dribble — he found he had nothing left. Everything canceled out.”
“Lord Dorwin, gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn’t say one damned thing, and said it so you never noticed.”
Tags: Dotard-Lil' Kim Summit, Foundation Trilogy, Il Douche, Isaac Asimov
June 12, 2018 at 7:15 am |
While I’m no fan of “Orange Hitler” at least he (as far as we know) didn’t faint or barf on anyone while in Singapore. And there was a rare moment of truth afterward when he said something about knowing whether this was all worth it in a few months, though he’d probably make up some excuse to justify it either way.
I can’t fault the guy for having the guts to go there and meet Lil’ Rocket Man face-to-face, but at this point he seems to have caved in on quite a bit in exchange for vague promises. Now we’ll wait to find out who is the bigger liar and con man. Any bets?
What worries me now is if/when “Orange Hitler” realizes he’s been conned, will he want to unleash his “fire and fury”?
THAT we don’t need!
June 12, 2018 at 8:25 am |
This was strictly for the rubes, on a pair with a magician sawing a woman in half. Their respective audiences will swallow it, but near-beer has more substance.
June 12, 2018 at 7:42 am |
Orchestrated.
June 12, 2018 at 8:26 am |
Ayuh. Il Douche needs a distraction, one of his famous deals. Kim needs … something. Not quite sure what, actually. He may simply be buying time.
June 12, 2018 at 8:27 am |
To quote the Bard, “It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
June 12, 2018 at 8:28 am |
I love that quote. It describes most of my columns.
June 12, 2018 at 8:39 am |
Issac Asimov’s science fiction comes to my frequently! Scary.
June 12, 2018 at 2:18 pm |
Sounds like many of the Andy Hardy movies. There is a crisis (need money for the prom); so Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland decide to put on a show just before the deadline. And it all happens in a week. What could go wrong?
June 12, 2018 at 2:44 pm |
To balance out something without value with something very valuable, let’s all wish Bud a speedy arrival to the parched Southwest.
https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/refresh/graphics_ep3+shtml/150216.shtml?cone#contents
June 12, 2018 at 5:30 pm |
O, yes, please, and thank you.
June 12, 2018 at 6:42 pm |
NOAA is da nazz.
June 12, 2018 at 6:44 pm |
Oh, and so is Asimov.
June 12, 2018 at 6:11 pm |
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.”. ― Isaac Asimov.
Geez…I better start reading more of his writing.