When you repeated Pringle's characterization of the Nazi leadership's fears, you followed the victor's narrative: "that Himmler and the Nazi leadership were motivated by both horror and fear, in particular of both Jews and their putative Communist confederates. Their irrational and unwarranted fear was so powerful they felt no compunction in undertaking the horrors of the Holocaust and the extermination of “enemy races.”." Is it not clear that the Palestinians' fears were and are rather fully warranted. Should your family, or the inhabitants of Paris, fear the Sampson option? And given that Dr. Rudolph Rummel of the University of Hawaii, pursuing his lifelong research project of estimating the scale of democide (murder of citizens by their own government), gave the total number of people killed by communist regimes as 110-148 millions, fear of communism seems fully rational. And the number murdered of course does not include the greater number who led impoverished, straightjacketed lives in police states, e.g., the Cubans.
Knowing what we know of the 20th century, nothing justifies genocide, nor a genetically foreign population expelling an indigenous population, nor imposition of a police state anywhere. Those still doing such things are morally bankrupt.
That article in turns cites the precedent of the woke, but the Dem primary was won by Biden, one of the oldest and least woke candidates. Unfortuantely, he picked one of his least popular primary competitors, Kamala, as his VP, possibly to prevent people from insisting he not run for re-election (which ended up happening anyway even with her as an unpopular replacement). There isn't any similar logic for why he hired so many staffers from the poorly performing Warren campaign, but it was an avoidable error. If JD Vance does get nominated next, will he pick people trying to win or alienate voters? I don't know.
> Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs. The Slavic migration into the Balkans is historically attested, but these data imply that they’re newcomers in much of Central Europe as well, with origins in **modern Western Russia**
The highlighted part seems to be in error. Quoting the Supplemental Note 4.5:
> Using MOBEST, we infer a region spanning the South of Belarus and North of Ukraine along the Dnjepr river in present-day Polesia as the best spatial proxy for the origin of the SP individuals in our three study transects. Such an area is further consistent with the archaeological consensus which locates the formation of the Slavs as an ethnic group in the southern area of the forest zone, mostly in the upper Dnjepr basin.
The area of Polesia is, as correctly described in the passage, entirely outside modern Russia, though it was of course within the western part of either the Russian Empire or the USSR.
Razib, next time you interview someone working on ancient DNA, any chance you can ask about the Nostratic hypothesis? That's the hypothesis from linguistics that says that IE, Uralic, Altaic, Kartvelian, Dravidian, etc. language families are actually part of a "Nostratic" macrofamily, and proto-Nostratic was supposed to have been spoken 10-15K years ago, depending on whom you ask. (Also, earlier versions of the hypothesis included Afroasiatic as a branch of Nostratic, but if I understand correctly, contemporary Nostratic proponents - they are mostly Russian - don't actually include Afroasiatic in Nostratic.) Well, I've been going down some rabbit holes with the help of ChatGPT and perplexity.ai, and it would APPEAR that Nostratic is genetically implausible. However, I have to admit to being in over my head, and it would be really nice to hear what an actual geneticist has to say about it.
-interviews with people who knew and worked with him [including a colleague on Roberts fast-dial who got a call during the arrest. Pretty sure that’s a fan]
“Dr. Roberts [NYT continues to use the honorific] was a smart and ambitious educator who sought out tough assignments and earned the respect of students and colleagues, the review found. “
That sounds like it is based on interviews, possibly suggested to NYT from Roberts’s supporters
“But it also revealed a pattern of lying and embellishment that helped propel Dr. Roberts into positions of authority, and a series of oversight failures that allowed his ruse to flourish.”
That sounds like it came from neutral public records. Also, where are stats, if any, on student performance? This article would be much more convincing if the reading skills had dramatically increased during his tenure. Maybe they have and it is too soon to tell. While a doctorate is probably not necessary, honesty is essential. How else can we trust him not to fudge the data.
When you repeated Pringle's characterization of the Nazi leadership's fears, you followed the victor's narrative: "that Himmler and the Nazi leadership were motivated by both horror and fear, in particular of both Jews and their putative Communist confederates. Their irrational and unwarranted fear was so powerful they felt no compunction in undertaking the horrors of the Holocaust and the extermination of “enemy races.”." Is it not clear that the Palestinians' fears were and are rather fully warranted. Should your family, or the inhabitants of Paris, fear the Sampson option? And given that Dr. Rudolph Rummel of the University of Hawaii, pursuing his lifelong research project of estimating the scale of democide (murder of citizens by their own government), gave the total number of people killed by communist regimes as 110-148 millions, fear of communism seems fully rational. And the number murdered of course does not include the greater number who led impoverished, straightjacketed lives in police states, e.g., the Cubans.
Knowing what we know of the 20th century, nothing justifies genocide, nor a genetically foreign population expelling an indigenous population, nor imposition of a police state anywhere. Those still doing such things are morally bankrupt.
That Hanania link has a paywall, but it's a follow-up to one that wasn't, about the next Republican presidential primary:
https://www.richardhanania.com/p/can-a-bannon-groyper-alliance-derail
That article in turns cites the precedent of the woke, but the Dem primary was won by Biden, one of the oldest and least woke candidates. Unfortuantely, he picked one of his least popular primary competitors, Kamala, as his VP, possibly to prevent people from insisting he not run for re-election (which ended up happening anyway even with her as an unpopular replacement). There isn't any similar logic for why he hired so many staffers from the poorly performing Warren campaign, but it was an avoidable error. If JD Vance does get nominated next, will he pick people trying to win or alienate voters? I don't know.
If you like ideas that merge science, consciousness, and reality itself—subscribe to mine!
https://drewponder.substack.com/
> Ancient DNA connects large-scale migration with the spread of Slavs. The Slavic migration into the Balkans is historically attested, but these data imply that they’re newcomers in much of Central Europe as well, with origins in **modern Western Russia**
The highlighted part seems to be in error. Quoting the Supplemental Note 4.5:
> Using MOBEST, we infer a region spanning the South of Belarus and North of Ukraine along the Dnjepr river in present-day Polesia as the best spatial proxy for the origin of the SP individuals in our three study transects. Such an area is further consistent with the archaeological consensus which locates the formation of the Slavs as an ethnic group in the southern area of the forest zone, mostly in the upper Dnjepr basin.
The area of Polesia is, as correctly described in the passage, entirely outside modern Russia, though it was of course within the western part of either the Russian Empire or the USSR.
Razib, next time you interview someone working on ancient DNA, any chance you can ask about the Nostratic hypothesis? That's the hypothesis from linguistics that says that IE, Uralic, Altaic, Kartvelian, Dravidian, etc. language families are actually part of a "Nostratic" macrofamily, and proto-Nostratic was supposed to have been spoken 10-15K years ago, depending on whom you ask. (Also, earlier versions of the hypothesis included Afroasiatic as a branch of Nostratic, but if I understand correctly, contemporary Nostratic proponents - they are mostly Russian - don't actually include Afroasiatic in Nostratic.) Well, I've been going down some rabbit holes with the help of ChatGPT and perplexity.ai, and it would APPEAR that Nostratic is genetically implausible. However, I have to admit to being in over my head, and it would be really nice to hear what an actual geneticist has to say about it.
Tell the kid we liked the drawing. Was he inspired by the HP 3-headed dog?
What an amazing pencil drawing at age 8.
Good recommendation. Except, I stopped paying attention to Dick Banania's sneering takes on conservatives long ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bK2c56lzc4
Re: Superintendent Roberts
The evidence:
- employment documents,
- court records
- public statements about Dr. Roberts;
-interviews with people who knew and worked with him [including a colleague on Roberts fast-dial who got a call during the arrest. Pretty sure that’s a fan]
“Dr. Roberts [NYT continues to use the honorific] was a smart and ambitious educator who sought out tough assignments and earned the respect of students and colleagues, the review found. “
That sounds like it is based on interviews, possibly suggested to NYT from Roberts’s supporters
“But it also revealed a pattern of lying and embellishment that helped propel Dr. Roberts into positions of authority, and a series of oversight failures that allowed his ruse to flourish.”
That sounds like it came from neutral public records. Also, where are stats, if any, on student performance? This article would be much more convincing if the reading skills had dramatically increased during his tenure. Maybe they have and it is too soon to tell. While a doctorate is probably not necessary, honesty is essential. How else can we trust him not to fudge the data.
p.s. put a few books on audible wish list-thanks!
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