I already knew from painful experience that decrepit, miserable Britain isn't a normal, functioning Western European country governed by rudimentary principles of justice, proportionality and fairness. But this obsequious kowtowing to the Americans and flagrant abuse of state power beggars belief. Assange published some documents. All of it screams "show trial." Why don't they just fly him surreptitiously to the States and be done with it? It's not like Tory voters give a toss.

Not exactly surprising but chilling never the less:

When considering the use of nuclear weapons, the majority of Americans prioritize protecting U.S. troops and achieving American war aims, even when doing so would result in the deliberate killing of millions of foreign noncombatants. A number of individual-level traits—Republican Party identification, older age, and approval of the death penalty for convicted murderers—significantly increase support for using nuclear weapons against Iran. Women are no less willing (and, in some scenarios, more willing) than men to support nuclear weapons use. These findings highlight the limited extent to which the U.S. public has accepted the principles of just war doctrine and suggest that public opinion is unlikely to be a serious constraint on any president contemplating the use of nuclear weapons in the crucible of war.

Saw this xkcd comic and immediately thought of Wittgenstein's oh-so-modest introduction to the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus:

On the other hand the truth of the thoughts communicated here seems to me unassailable and definitive. I am, therefore, of the opinion that the problems have in essentials been finally solved. And if I am not mistaken in this, then the value of this work secondly consists in the fact that it shows how little has been done when these problems have been solved.

Fjölmennur og hávær hópur fólks, í bæði kjöt- og netheimum, er sífellt að væla yfir því hvað allt sé með hæsta móti ómögulegt og hræðilegt á Íslandi, ráðamenn allir gerspilltir og vanhæfir, viðskiptamenn óprúttnir og gráðugir, menningarsnauður almenningur haldinn þrælslund og neysluhyggju, o.s.fv. Mér finnst borðliggjandi að hér er á ferðinni gamli mikilmennskubrjálaði frónski eyjaskeggjahugsunarhátturinn, að Ísland sé svo ótrúlega spes í öllu, fallegust per capita, sterkust per capita, spilltust per capita, gráðugust per capita.

Sannleikurinn er sá að ástand mála er almennt ekkert skárra annars staðar, síður en svo. Vissulega stela sjallarnir og vinir þeirra alveg heilmiklu, en ráðandi stéttirnar, kapítalistar og stjórnmálamenn í samkurli, stela auðvitað heilum hellingi í öllum ríkjum. Restin af heiminum er engin útópía. Ef það eru einhver ríki sem standa sig betur en Ísland þá eru það helst hin Norðurlöndin, auðugustu og best reknu þjóðríki heims. En við getum þá a.m.k. státað okkur af því að tala íslensku en ekki þessa hundljótu, afbökuðu skandinavísku.