Now, we know from a study published by Reuters that — when, as a consequence of fiscal tightening, discretionary spending fell in the Obama years — it did not fall evenly. Blue states lost 22.5%. The decline in swing states was 27% And that in red states was 40%. Pause for a moment to take that in. Pause for a moment to assess what it tells you about the government under which we live.

"miserable is that state of slavery in which the law is unknown or uncertain"

They say our laws are unknowable. 1200 pages for Obamacare alone, not to mention the reams of pages of regulations, explanations, sub-heading explanations, court findings, explanations of the judgments, etc. ad nauseam.  The Wikipedia, while explaining an arcane term of law, quotes Samuel Johnson on the subject of uncertain law:

Vicious intromission is a term of Scots law denoting the unauthorised assumption of ownership, or other interference with the rights of an estate. In 1771 James Boswell appeared before the Court of Session in Wilson vs Smith and Armour, arguing for a return to the principle that the punishment for vicious intromission should be restored to its traditional severity, of rendering the intromittor liable to pay all the debts of the estate. His attempt was unsuccessful, but led to an exchange with his friend Doctor Johnson in July 1772, recorded in his Life of Samuel Johnson, in which the latter wrote a paper on the legal principles involved, stating misera est servitus ubi jus est aut incognitum aut vagum ("miserable is that state of slavery in which the law is unknown or uncertain").

Rick Rescorla, who was the director of security for the financial services firm Morgan Stanley at the World Trade Center, “had boosted morale among his men in Vietnam by singing … songs [like "Men of Harlech"] from his youth” and he did the same in the stairwell of the doomed tower, urging the terrified hundreds down the stairwell.

Between songs, Rescorla called his wife, telling her, “Stop crying. I have to get these people out safely. If something should happen to me, I want you to know I’ve never been happier. You made my life.” After successfully evacuating most of Morgan Stanley’s 2,687 employees, he went back into the building.

He was never seen again.

--from Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club

http://pjmedia.com/richardfernandez/2015/01/14/twenty-eight-pages-of-oil/#more-41458

NHS in critical condition as A&E waiting times are worst in a decade



Sailor lad off to the wars plights troth.

c1386   Chaucer Parson's Tale ⁋813   Men oughten eschue fool largesse that men clepen wast (Folks should avoid foolish ideas of largesse that we call waste.) Source: OED