Nightcap

There are other similarities, too, starting with the fact that Texas was not the only state in Mexico to try and secede from Mexico City. The self-declared republics of Rio Grande, Zacatecas, and Yucután also asserted their independence from Mexico, though Texas was the only state to actually succeed in its rebellion. Unlike the 13 North American states attempting to secede from the British Empire, the Mexican provinces did not band together to form a united front against a common enemy.

Texas itself was the northern part of a larger state called Coahuila y Tejas. When Mexico originally seceded from Spain, Coahuila y Tejas joined the new republic as its poorest, most sparsely populated member state. In addition to economic and demographic problems, Coahuila y Tejas shared a border with the Comanche and Apache Indians, who in the 1820s were still powerful players in regional geopolitics. Life in Coahuila y Tejas was nasty, brutal, and short.

Please, read the rest.

Nightcap

03/04/201903/04/2019 Brandon Christensen Links cash, immigration, inequality, neoliberalism

Economics after neoliberalism (Hayek) Corey Robin, Boston Review
Should some countries cease to exist? Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
Consider reparations Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias
(Legal) immigration into the United States Jacques Delacroix, NOL

Afternoon Tea: The Scapegoat (1854)

03/04/201903/04/2019 Brandon Christensen Culture art history, English culture, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, The Scapegoat (1854), William Holman Hunt

NOL art Holman Hunt the scapegoat — Click here to zoom

Man, I like this one. It was painted by William Holman Hunt, an English painter. Hunt belonged to a school of art that called itself the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Here is a wiki on the Brotherhood.

Nightcap

03/03/201903/03/2019 Brandon Christensen Links Brexit, Islam, Nigeria, V.S. Naipaul

VS Naipaul and the Third Worlders Fred Siegel, City Journal
Book of Genesis: Islam versus Christianity Tyler Cowen, MarginalRevolution
Brexit forever Helen Thompson, History Today
What happened to the “Factory of West Africa”? Emiliano Travieso, Decompressing History

An optimist turns pessimistic

03/03/201903/02/2019 Brandon Christensen Current Events, Politics Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, media studies, pessimism, populism, truth

I won an essay contest back in my undergraduate days for an essay on optimism. I understand that poverty worldwide is on the run. I understand that none of us have suffered through a devastating worldwide war like most of our ancestors did. In many ways, we have it good.

But Donald Trump is still President of the United States of America. I still remember waking up to the news that he had beat Hillary Clinton. It was surreal (it didn’t help that I was living Austin, where everything is a bit foggier, brain-wise).

Unlike Jacques, who seems to be so in love with Trump that he would get down on his knees and do whatever Trump wanted him to do, I don’t like Donald Trump. I don’t think he’s done a good job. I don’t even care that the left-leaning press is dishonest when it comes to reporting on his administration. I think this is the difference between libertarians like me, who lean more to the left, and libertarians like Jacques and Bruno, who lean more to the right.

Jacques and Bruno are not really defending the Trump and Bolsonaro administrations. And they’re not really speaking up for these two administrations because they hate leftists more than they like liberty. Guys like Jacques and Bruno care more about Truth than anything else, and the global mainstream media’s narrative skews left and is often dishonest.

Me? I’ve grown accustomed to dishonesty in media. I’ve also grown accustomed to ignorance. I pick and choose which dishonest or ignorant bits I want to challenge. When journalists write or say something about guys like Trump or Bolsonaro that are blatantly wrong, I make a mental note of the dishonest nature of the reporting, but that’s about it. Guys like Trump and Bolsonaro are bad for liberty, after all. I’d rather focus on the mainstream press’ dishonesty when it comes to people like Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. The fawning over her is at least as concerning as the dishonest portrayals of Trump or Bolsonaro.

Left-wing populism is just as bad as right-wing populism, and everybody in the democratic world is going to be stuck with populism for quite awhile. Truth is on its way out the door, and I don’t know if it’ll be back in my lifetime.

Nightcap

03/02/201903/02/2019 Brandon Christensen Links free speech, freedom of religion, Marxism, religious toleration

Free speech for me but not for thee Michael Koplow, Ottomans & Zionists
Religious freedom in the Islamic world Daniel Philpott, Volokh Conspiracy
Religious and other freedoms James Robinson, Cato Unbound
Why we need analytical Marxism Chris Dillow Stumbling & Mumbling

RCH: Iraq, then and now

03/02/201903/02/2019 Brandon Christensen History Iraq, national socialism, RealClearHistory

Folks, I’m still plugging away at RealClearHistory. This week’s focus was on Iraq. Here’s the link to my Tuesday column. And here’s the link to my weekend column. I’m not going to spoil anything. Just read ’em already!