tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post4410649951661203282..comments2024-03-29T06:22:47.638-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: A prediction for the RNC... and Chapter One of the book that might've helped.David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50382377149023185302020-08-26T12:59:23.846-07:002020-08-26T12:59:23.846-07:00AH LH thanks Silly me. I only helped invent a lot ...<br /><br />AH LH thanks Silly me. I only helped invent a lot of this stuff. But I get senior moments of cluelessness. I hope you guys have been enjoying discussion under the earlie blog. I got a gist of 1st sentences in moderating. But it's onward time again.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33409965431560777912020-08-26T09:36:46.504-07:002020-08-26T09:36:46.504-07:00Intentionally double-posting on both comments sect...Intentionally double-posting on both comments sections..<br /><br />@Dr Brin,<br /><br />You never posted an "onward" to your Chapter 1 blog, so some of us were still posting there, while others were already on Chapter 2. I think the "missing" comments from jim posted on Chapter 2's comment section.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-39308159152795456152020-08-26T09:32:33.175-07:002020-08-26T09:32:33.175-07:00The new Blogger interface is weird. There were fiv...The new Blogger interface is weird. There were five comments queued including one from jim accusing me (fair enough) of falsely saying he has hand-rubbing glee over a coming collapse. Let me rephrase it. Call it sadly-resigned-wisdom-to-proclaim-the-inevitable. It is arguable tat the two can overlap in the multi-tiered minds of many people. But I suppose it was unfair for me to impute that overlap based on jim's relentless, headshaking jeremiads.<br /><br />But I clicked okay to post the comment and I don't see it here. I am not censoring you, jim. Maybe it's over-reacting to the settings that have successfully dumped all feigned IDs used by some of our past trolls.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29413039868977232242020-08-26T08:07:49.630-07:002020-08-26T08:07:49.630-07:00The police aren't allowed to attack the protes...The police aren't allowed to attack the protestors, so they stand off and let them be attacked by militias? Is that what's happening?Robertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62919764101905757852020-08-26T05:20:00.285-07:002020-08-26T05:20:00.285-07:00I see there are limits on "law and order"...I see there are limits on "law and order".<br /><br />https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/portland-police-far-right-proud-boys-094500346.html?.tsrc=daily_mail&uh_test=1_02<br /><i><br />It’s common to see far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys exchanging blows with counterprotesters in Portland. They’ve been doing that for years, often as PPB officers watched until a riot was officially declared and then police cleared the streets using tear gas and other munitions.<br /><br />But over the weekend, police took an entirely hands-off approach to the fighting, even as the demonstrations grew more violent than ever. As officers stood by on Saturday, the Proud Boys and their far-right friends attacked and intimidated anti-fascist protesters using paintball guns, mace, fireworks, aluminum bats and various firearms, according to The Washington Post.<br /><br />One of them — notorious Proud Boys organizer Alan Swinney — was seen pointing a gun at protesters, his finger on the trigger. Another Proud Boy, Tusitala “Tiny” Toese, was present, per the Post, in apparent violation of his parole over an attack at a similar demonstration in 2017 (he wasn’t apprehended on Saturday, but a judge on Monday issued a warrant for his arrest).<br /><br />Meanwhile, over a loudspeaker, police encouraged those present to “self-monitor for criminal activity.” In essence, the PPB had thrown up its hands.<br /><br />In a statement to The Washington Post, the bureau said that officers were tired from responding to ongoing demonstrations against racism and police brutality, which have kept Portland in the national spotlight for weeks. Officers wouldn’t intervene in small skirmishes between “willing participants,” even if the clashes fit the city’s definition of a riot.<br />...<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87307697532671558472020-08-25T23:21:16.588-07:002020-08-25T23:21:16.588-07:00jim,
...and help start the disastrous civil war i...jim,<br /><br /><i>...and help start the disastrous civil war in Libya.</i><br /><br />ha ha ha ha!<br /><br />Start it? Pfft!<br />Horseshit.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53456453790564113012020-08-25T20:21:07.908-07:002020-08-25T20:21:07.908-07:00I sometimes wonder how much grief this country mig...I sometimes wonder how much grief this country might have been spared had Lincoln not been assassinated. Thaddeus Stevens and his crowd all but ensured that Reconstruction would fail.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-40486390925636662152020-08-25T19:51:38.709-07:002020-08-25T19:51:38.709-07:00Either we all get to the stars or none of us do. T...Either we all get to the stars or none of us do. That's just biology. Humanity can speciate, but it can't 'self-purify'.scidatahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992209167553267488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-16055614278639371332020-08-25T19:23:09.660-07:002020-08-25T19:23:09.660-07:00"That's how we defeat Trumpism. Fair just..."That's how we defeat Trumpism. Fair justice, and a willingness to not punish the followers."<br /><br />It's the Lincoln tradition of beneficent conquest... though in that case slave owners should have forfeited 3/4 of any land they owned... 1/4 (first pick) going to the freedmen, 1/4 to an association of vertans and widows, and 1/4 to the state to fund schools & universities in lieu of taxes. How vastly better a nation...<br /><br />But the saving grace of Woodrow Wilson was his international policies with the UK and France stupidly over-ruled.<br /><br />The Japanese were stunned to be treated benevolently.<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30029492527728861682020-08-25T18:48:36.912-07:002020-08-25T18:48:36.912-07:00I don't get it. How does pardoning a convicte...I don't get it. How does pardoning a convicted bank robber speak to strength on criminal justice?<br /><br />https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/us/politics/trump-jon-ponder-pardon.html<br /><i><br />WASHINGTON — President Trump on Tuesday pardoned a man convicted of robbing a bank in Nevada who now runs a nonprofit for prisoners, shortly before the Republican National Convention entered its second night.<br /><br />The White House announced the pardon of the man, Jon Ponder, in a seven-minute video in which the president called Mr. Ponder’s life “a beautiful testament to the power of redemption.”<br /><br />As Mr. Trump’s bid for re-election enters its last stretch, the announcement appears to be an attempt by the president to draw voters’ attention to criminal justice, a subject that he has promoted as a signature initiative of his time in office.<br />...<br /></i><br /><br />I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd say this sounds <b>soft</b> on crime:<br /><i><br />...<br />“We believe that each person is made by God for a purpose,” Mr. Trump said in the video. “I will continue to give all Americans, including former inmates, the best chance to build a new life and achieve their own American dream, and a great American dream it is.”<br /><br />The president has highlighted Mr. Ponder’s story in recent years, showering praise on him for using his Christian faith as a pathway for getting out of prison.<br />...<br /></i><br /><br />Oh, I see. He's white and Christian. That means instead of the death penalty, he deserves a chance to turn his life around and be a valuable citizen. And vote, I presume. Silly me, forgetting all the time who is bound by the law.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-76361379686583978842020-08-25T17:02:17.786-07:002020-08-25T17:02:17.786-07:00@Dr. I believe I mentioned this before, but I&quo...@Dr. I believe I mentioned this before, but I"m mindful of the fact that in the event of an electoral blowout, Trump's rabid supporters will vanish, much the way the Nazis in Germany did after April 1945. The allies, the Russians in particular, feared an underground forming, a resistance similar to that in France and western Russia, with ambushes, sabotage, and general fomenting. <br /><br />Outside of a few isolated incidents, it never happened. I think a big part of it was that the truth of Hitler's crimes was shown to the general population of Germany. Most Germans didn't know about the death camps, all of which were outside of Germany, beyond horrid suspicions, most of which were dismissed as conspiracy mongering. Also, the allies brought some of the worst to trial, in fair and open cases. <br /><br />That's how we defeat Trumpism. Fair justice, and a willingness to not punish the followers.Zepp Jamiesonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16261339498383415026noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-50669489480280414122020-08-25T15:32:30.813-07:002020-08-25T15:32:30.813-07:00It's interesting how one gets to "know&qu...It's interesting how one gets to "know" a writer he "converses" with on a blog like this.<br /><br />The first time I read <i>Earth</i> way back in the 1990s, I wouldn't have got the significance of this line on page 377 of my paperback edition:<br /><i><br />Taking into account other case studies in his file, this series of "coincidences" had gone well beyond happenstance into the realm of enemy action.<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19753746379856867212020-08-25T13:57:42.901-07:002020-08-25T13:57:42.901-07:00While jim is wallowing in gloom-schadenfreude and ...While jim is wallowing in gloom-schadenfreude and hand-rubbing glee, I will confess that I agree with the assertion that both sides will scream if they lose.. One side out of insanity and the other with cause. But yes. Neither will accept the other's legitimacy and strife could result ... EXCEPT...that one outcome - a thorough electoral defeat for the Trumpists, up and down the ticket - would give license for a majority of Republicans to drop the cult and say "Who me? I was NEVER!"<br /><br />In that case, the raw NUMBER of enraged violence seekers will be small, if likely un-mollified. Hence, Jim, if you want actual peace for you to glower from, you ought to actually get up off your lazy, fatuous butt and help.<br /><br />Yes dems voice voted compliance with the 2006 bill. You are doing your cherrypicking thing again, ignoring the fact that they were psychotically and delusionally still trying to mollify and lure Republicans into negotiated deals. While yes, that was delusional, it is also understandable, and ignores utterly that you have never, ever, ever grappled with the facts that I presented here:<br /><br />http://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2019/08/five-devastating-rebuttals-to-use-with.html<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-25591823850671888022020-08-25T13:53:22.952-07:002020-08-25T13:53:22.952-07:00@ Jon S., the prefunding requirement was taking a ...@ Jon S., the prefunding requirement was taking a LOT Longer to kill the USPS than the Republicans expected and intended. In fact it was taking longer than ANYONE expected...<br /><br />Truth told, I didn't know the postcard rate was .35 either; it's not printed on there, and I never needed to know. I take the Albert Einstein defense that "I do not clutter my brain with things I can easily look up."<br /><br /><a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/513399-house-democrat-to-dejoy-is-your-backup-plan-to-be-pardoned-like-roger-stone" rel="nofollow">Tennessee Dem congressman Jim Cooper asking the Postmaster General at Monday's hearing: "Mr. DeJoy, is your backup plan to be pardoned like Roger Stone?"</a> Harhar, yes, if all else fails, but DeJoy doesn't admit that.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35938403884215486112020-08-25T13:43:45.816-07:002020-08-25T13:43:45.816-07:00jim:
In other news it is becoming clear to a lot ...jim:<br /><i><br />In other news it is becoming clear to a lot of people that neither side will accept the results of the election in November if they don’t win. <br /></i><br /><br />Nice attempt at bothsiderism. One side won't accept the result if it comes by obvious cheating. The other won't accept it if they're not <b>permitted</b> to cheat. Those are not equivalent positions.<br /><br /><i><br />We are trying to figure out what to do about our first non-peaceful transfer of power. <br /></i><br /><br />Considering that there is no "transfer" if Trump wins, that's the most optimistic thing I've ever heard you say. :)<br /><br /><i><br />I guess that now that we have left the Age of Abundance and entered the Time of Troubles these types of lose - lose situations are going to be much more common.<br /></i><br /><br />Today was one of my worst days of pessimism, when I was almost going to post the line from Commissioner Gordon when Mr Freeze had convinced everyone that Batman was on the take--"I never thought I'd say this, but like so many others, I'm afraid I've...lost faith in the dynamic duo." Luckily for me, jim always comes along to urge me by example how <b>not</b> to be like. Thanks.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19798190313526987532020-08-25T12:10:34.756-07:002020-08-25T12:10:34.756-07:00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK8P0vUQ4lg
aroun...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK8P0vUQ4lg<br /><br />around 3:40<br /><br /><i><br />...<br />But more than that, Trump's vision for America is one in which you have an opportunity to work hard,...and express your beliefs without retribution!<br /></i><br /><br />Like the opportunity that Colin Kaepernick has, you mean?<br /><br />#ThereAreNoGoodRepublicansLarry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84613047253259557022020-08-25T11:53:15.079-07:002020-08-25T11:53:15.079-07:00Stonekettle's medical misfortunes remind me of...Stonekettle's medical misfortunes remind me of Alfred, and of the fact that he seems to have dropped off the radar. Hope that doesn't bide ill for him.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66875298900951502742020-08-25T11:52:14.904-07:002020-08-25T11:52:14.904-07:00Like Robin the Boy Wonder in the Batman tv movie, ...Like Robin the Boy Wonder in the <i>Batman</i> tv movie, I thought I could just take a tiny peek at the RNC every so often, just to see when the gun couple might make an appearance. I couldn't keep watching, even for a few minutes. It made me physically ill.<br /><br />I'm becoming convinced that we should let the Confederacy secede this time and just live with the fact that there are two Americas. Because there's no room for reasonable compromise or common ground with people who (maybe sincerely) believe that Democrats are <b>in favor</b> of crime and terrorism. Or that liberals hate America. Or that Donald Trump is capable of ignoring the comments that others make about him while valiantly forging ahead to do the right thing.<br /><br />The whole idea of democracy depends on persuasion and consensus, not on opposing forces strategically eking out just enough individual votes in the right locations to be able to run roughshod over their opponents.<br /><br />I feel that we're watching democracy die to thunderous applause.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66057316633479884622020-08-25T09:57:30.661-07:002020-08-25T09:57:30.661-07:00Sorry Jon, but the legislative hit job on the post...Sorry Jon, but the legislative hit job on the post office was bipartisan.<br /><br />Now the bill was sponsored by a Republican, but it passed in a lame duck session of congress in Dec of 2006 by voice vote. With a voice vote no one’s vote gets recorded. Any congress person could have requested “a division of the assembly” (a rising vote where each side rise in turn to be counted.) and if 20% of the members wish so they can demand a recorded voted. The democrats did not do either, they were fine with the new law. ( I would not be surprised if Biden voted for it.)<br /><br />And by the time Obama was president the problem with the post office was well known and they could have easily fixed it if they had wanted to. Now David may whine that I am being unfair to the democrats but that is his soft bigoty of low expectations that allows him to excuse both the actions and inactions taken by Obama and the congressional democrats. It is kind of like how Obama had illegal immigrant children locked in cages and help start the disastrous civil war in Libya.<br /><br />In other news it is becoming clear to a lot of people that neither side will accept the results of the election in November if they don’t win. We are trying to figure out what to do about our first non-peaceful transfer of power. I guess that now that we have left the Age of Abundance and entered the Time of Troubles these types of lose - lose situations are going to be much more common. <br />jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07865068658069680309noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38577139734425700242020-08-25T07:20:02.923-07:002020-08-25T07:20:02.923-07:00Looking through a compilation of RNC speakers, I g...Looking through a compilation of RNC speakers, I got the impression of fear mongers warning about rampant drug abuse... dealers on every corner... parks overflowing with needles... marijuana...!<br /><br />... then in floated Don Jr!Tony Fiskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14578160528746657971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15860277943922692682020-08-25T06:09:45.505-07:002020-08-25T06:09:45.505-07:00https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/opinion/rnc-bes...https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/opinion/rnc-best-worst-night-1.html<br /><i><br />There are three notable themes that emerged. One is that on the first day of the R.N.C. we witnessed a cult of personality that at times rivaled Jonestown, minus (thankfully) the mass suicide. The second was how fully the R.N.C. has embraced Trump’s inversion of reality. The bolder the deception, the better. Third, a relentless effort to portray Democrats not just as radical but malevolent, committed to destroying America and to relish doing so. The G.O.P. came across as one pissed-off party.<br /></i><br /><br />I know that political correctness (the Republican kind) requires the insertion of the parenthetical "(thankfully)" above, but I would have used "(if only!)" instead.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-29226306639712959292020-08-25T05:23:21.404-07:002020-08-25T05:23:21.404-07:00Please explain to me again how "You have to b...Please explain to me again how "You have to be <b>for</b> something, not just <b>against</b> something." Running <b>against</b> the dystopia sure to be ushered in by Democrats seems to be enough, with the ironic twist that that dystopia we're supposed to fear if Democrats get control looks very much like Donald Trump's (and Mitch McConnell's) America does today. Their message seems to be "Four More Years, or else you'll get more of the same!"<br /><br />https://www.chicagotribune.com/election-2020/ct-nw-rnc-night-1-takeaways-20200825-emjrels6qzg3pikjgqesphumz4-story.html<br /><i><br />Trump complained last week that Democrats “held the darkest and angriest and gloomiest convention in American history.” But on opening night of their convention, Republicans are doing their share, spreading fear of a Biden victory on Nov. 3.<br /><br />“Make no mistake: No matter where you live, your family will not be safe in the radical Democrats’ America,” Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who pointed firearms at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their house in June, were to say.<br /><br />Conservative activist Charlie Kirk warned the convention that a Trump victory was imperative to “ensure that our kids are raised to love America, not taught to hate our beautiful country.”<br /><br />Trump, he added, “is the bodyguard of Western civilization.”<br /><br />Tanya Weinreis, a small business owner, warned of “the terrifying prospect of Joe Biden.”<br /><br />South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was to argue Democrats are campaigning on a “cultural revolution” for a “fundamentally different America.”<br />...<br /></i><br />Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33076845540907742122020-08-24T20:46:38.735-07:002020-08-24T20:46:38.735-07:00On the lighter side...
Dr Brin:
Dublin the speed...On the lighter side...<br /><br />Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />Dublin the speed of light makes you a Dubliner so the ship's name should give you Joyce.<br /></i><br /><br />"Ich Bin Ein Dubliner"?Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3399774628357230942020-08-24T20:45:53.838-07:002020-08-24T20:45:53.838-07:00The one bit I wanted to see from the Republican Co...The one bit I wanted to see from the Republican Convention--the St Louis gun couple:<br /><br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK8P0vUQ4lg<br /><i><br />...<br />"It seems as if the Democrats no longer view the government's job as protecting honest citizens from criminals, but rather protecting criminals from honest citizens."<br />...<br /></i><br /><br />Since by "criminals" he means those who exercise their First Amendment right to protest injustice, it would be more accurate to point out that it seems as if the <b>Republicans</b> no longer view the public's job as protecting innocent victims from injustice, but rather protecting the unjust from being called out by the public. Except that the "seems as if" is way too polite.<br /><br />Also, don't miss the too-cute self-depreciating humor around 0:20 seconds in. The reason so many people offer her free advice on how to use a gun is that she obviously didn't have a clue and would have broken her wrist had she fired it. "Yay Second Amendment! Right to bear deadly arms without understanding them!"<br /><br />#ThereAreNoGoodRepublicans<br />Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48192813783003180582020-08-24T20:44:06.660-07:002020-08-24T20:44:06.660-07:00The USPS is in fact amazingly efficient; look how ...The USPS is in fact amazingly efficient; look how well it was able to perform even after the GOP insisted on prefunding the pensions for 75 years.<br /><br />(Or ask our northern neighbors if they'd prefer their own mail system, or ours.)Jon S.https://www.blogger.com/profile/13585842845661267920noreply@blogger.com