I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

IDK, this might be worse pic.twitter.com/dfio2rqDcX

— Jacob Long (@jacobandrewlong) 21. November 2017

THIRTY YEARS AGO, nearly half of Louisiana voted for a Klansman, and the media struggled to explain why.

It was 1990 and David Duke, the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, astonished political observers when he came within striking distance of defeating incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston, earning 43 percent of the vote. If Johnston's Republican rival hadn't dropped out of the race and endorsed him at the last minute, the outcome might have been different.

Was it economic anxiety? The Washington Post reported that the state had "a large working class that has suffered through a long recession." Was it a blow against the state's hated political establishment? An editorial from United Press International explained, "Louisianans showed the nation by voting for Duke that they were mad as hell and not going to take it any more." Was it anti-Washington rage? A Loyola University pollster argued, "There were the voters who liked Duke, those who hated J. Bennett Johnston, and those who just wanted to send a message to Washington.

"What message would those voters have been trying to send by putting a Klansman into office?

"There's definitely a message bigger than Louisiana here," Susan Howell, then the director of the Survey Research Center at the University of New Orleans, told the Los Angeles Times. "There is a tremendous amount of anger and frustration among working-class whites, particularly where there is an economic downturn. These people feel left out; they feel government is not responsive to them."

A very good examination of the racism that led to Trump

keep to the Fen Causeway

"Wir wären gezwungen, unsere Grundsätze aufzugeben" - mit diesen Worten begründete Christian Lindner den Abbruch der Jamaika-Sondierungsgespräche zwischen CDU, CSU, FDP und Grünen. Einer aktuellen Umfrage des Meinungsforschungsinstituts Opinion Control zufolge zeigt sich die überwältigende Mehrheit (97,6 Prozent) der Deutschen überrascht, dass die FDP angeblich Prinzipien hat.

NO TAX is popular. But one attracts particular venom. Inheritance tax is routinely seen as the least fair by Britons and Americans. This hostility spans income brackets. Indeed, surveys suggest that opposition to inheritance and estate taxes (one levied on heirs and the other on legacies) is even stronger among the poor than the rich.

Politicians know a vote-winner when they see one. The estate of a dead adult American is 95% less likely to face tax now than in the 1960s. And Republicans want to go all the way: the House of Representatives has passed a tax-reform plan that would completely abolish "death taxes" by 2025. For a time before the second world war, Britons were more likely to pay death duties than income tax; today less than 5% of estates catch the taxman's eye. It is not just Anglo-Saxons. Revenue from these taxes in OECD countries, as a share of total government revenue, has fallen sharply since the 1960s (see article). Many other countries have gone down the same path. In 2004 even the egalitarian Swedes decided that their inheritance tax should be abolished.

Yet this trend towards trifling or zero estate taxes ought to give pause. Such levies pit two vital liberal principles against each other. One is that governments should leave people to dispose of their wealth as they see fit. The other is that a permanent, hereditary elite makes a society unhealthy and unfair. How to choose between them?

The new Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has a tendency to explode. Not to brag but we've had that technology since 1972. #SamsungGalaxyNote7

— The Mossad (@TheMossadIL) October 17, 2016

I never thought I'd live long enough to write this sentence: The most significant reform process underway anywhere in the Middle East today is in Saudi Arabia. Yes, you read that right. Though I came here at the start of Saudi winter, I found the country going through its own Arab Spring, Saudi style.

Unlike the other Arab Springs -- all of which emerged bottom up and failed miserably, except in Tunisia -- this one is led from the top down by the country's 32-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and, if it succeeds, it will not only change the character of Saudi Arabia but the tone and tenor of Islam across the globe. Only a fool would predict its success -- but only a fool would not root for it.

Alt-right Trump supporters and left-wing Bernie Sanders fans should join together to defeat capitalism

Once again pic.twitter.com/HSNaYCTzEL

— James (@MrThirds) 27. November 2017