Intelligence?

1. The elite intelligencia opine one the merits of murderous thugs:
From Thomas Friedman’s famous Sept. 8 op-ed:
“One-party autocracy certainly has its drawbacks. But when it is led by a reasonably enlightened group of people, as China is today, it can also have great advantages. That one party can just impose the politically difficult but critically important policies needed to move a society forward in the 21st century.”
2. The European way and the way of American Universities: “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We just accede to their anticipated demands.”

3. From the age of 6 to 18, our kids live mostly in what I call Soft America—the part of our society where there is little competition and accountability. In contrast, most Americans in the 12 years between ages 18 and 30 live mostly in Hard America—the part of American life subject to competition and accountability.
This Hard America includes a market capitalist system that insists on competition and accountability, thus reinforcing the moderate virtues of Adam Smith.

4. How things really work (or don’t really work):
“...16 separate agencies, and unofficially more than 20. Each of these agencies is protected by strong political and bureaucratic constituencies, so that after each intelligence failure everything continues pretty much the same and usually with the same people.”