tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post5088380976742242023..comments2024-03-29T06:22:47.638-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Fear Trump? Loathe Cruz? Not as much as the GOP lords do.David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18956096719587371702016-01-29T17:50:52.298-08:002016-01-29T17:50:52.298-08:00I have heard the the claim that Saudi Prince Al-Wa...I have heard the the claim that Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal is "co-owner" of Fox News. That was mainly debunked on MSNBC. He is a very minor owner. I also found this Snopes. article. <br /><br />http://www.snopes.com/fox-news-saudi-megyn-kelly/<br /><br /><br />I have stopped years ago watching Fox News. About useless for any real news. MSNBC is also opinionated TV but there is still quite a bit of real news mixed in. I depend on USA Today and New York Times news papers for a lot of my information.I also use Yahoo and Google news a lot. But all news sources are suspect and you have to be on guard.bigstevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06302947486142672773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84144017558370215652016-01-27T12:28:47.416-08:002016-01-27T12:28:47.416-08:00And I am done here now.
onward
onwardAnd I am done here now.<br /><br />onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-520788216956540432016-01-27T12:28:29.985-08:002016-01-27T12:28:29.985-08:00“And focusing on only the Mexican middle class you...<br />“And focusing on only the Mexican middle class you conveniently ignore the devastating effect that NAFTA had on the much larger number of small, poor Mexican farmers and the long term negative consequences of the pollution that NAFTA has brought to many Mexican communities.”<br /><br />Bull. I ignored nothing, in pointing out what YOU were ignoring, which is the elephant in the room, the utter transformation of our vital neighbor from a huge, festering sore into another Canada.<br /><br />Sorry, but I was initiating a conversation about effects beyond the solipsistic one we hear endlessly about low level US jobs lost, and no mention of other effects, whatsoever… e.g the fact that the end of net Mexican immigration to the US opened other low level jobs. Yes, that comparison isn’t net favorable… for now… till you add in the huge increase in Mexican imports of US products… and the absolutely top desideratum that globalization reflex-haters always frenetically ignore -- the spectacular importance of a middle Class Mexico.<br /><br />You raise environmental problems in Mexico? Fine! It’s complex and “yes, but…” can go on all day! But the solution to such problems is not poverty, which always harms the environment in other ways. The solution is enough economic advances so that a generation of mexican youth are educated and confident enough to march for the environment! <br /><br /> You KNOW that is the only answer. It was the answer here. Your denial that there is a rising mexican middle class is a desperate clinging to bigoted stereotypes.<br /><br />Should we do more to ensure that more benefits go to bottom and middle and fewer to oligarchic lords? Um... duh? Remember who you're talkin' to.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78994124567354123342016-01-27T12:06:25.380-08:002016-01-27T12:06:25.380-08:00Dave Bowen (again):
Good Capitalism? Yes, some go...Dave Bowen (again):<br /><i><br />Good Capitalism? Yes, some good is funneled down to the masses, our children have shoes.<br /><br />Our future has been mortgaged and is being traded on the open market. Our debt is unsustainably high and rolling downhill like a giant snowball. This debt has replaced our (outmoded) GDP as a valuation. We're good for ten percent on trillions. For how long?<br /></i><br /><br />That's the point of a revolution, whether it be of the American or French variety. To wipe the old debts off the books and start fresh.<br /><br />Of course, the debt-holders won't be happy with that idea, but a non-violent revolution partially involves getting them to understand that the paper debt they hold is a chimera that can't possibly come due to them anyway.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-42679910918493875562016-01-27T11:59:15.353-08:002016-01-27T11:59:15.353-08:00Dave Bowen:
Partisan paralysis may be deadly, or ...Dave Bowen:<br /><i><br />Partisan paralysis may be deadly, or the only thing keeping Government from acts of staggering stupidity. Either way, the constant hectoring from both sides makes my ears bleed.<br /></i><br /><br />I understand you may disagree, but to me, this sounds like blaming Nazi Germany and Poland alike for "the constant shooting from both sides" in 1939.<br /><br />I'm also sick of the partisan hectoring, but (I feel) I know which side to blame for causing it.<br /><br />I can't say I've sat through hours of debates by either party, but I have dropped in on most of them. After watching the Republican debates, the Dem side is truly a breath of fresh air, irrespective of which of the candidates one prefers.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51284525612907030602016-01-27T11:03:27.736-08:002016-01-27T11:03:27.736-08:00Article on U.S. debt. Trivia question before readi...Article on U.S. debt. Trivia question before reading (no cheating with this article, or Google) How much does China hold?<br />http://useconomy.about.com/od/monetarypolicy/f/Who-Owns-US-National-Debt.htmJumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23996381251208208002016-01-27T10:48:57.987-08:002016-01-27T10:48:57.987-08:00It's fascinating how many Status Quo whores fo...<br />It's fascinating how many Status Quo whores forget that the interests of the Right & Left are naturally aligned. After all, (1) Rightwing Luddites were the original Trade Unionists, (2) the Laboring Left benefits most from restrictive (conservative) immigration law that boosts nativist worker compensation, and (3) Rightwing Fascists like Mussolini & Franco are virtually indistinguishable from the Fascist Leftwing variety like Stalin & Mao (excepting in ideology), while an overbearing 'Tyranny of the Masses' Status Quo sits in the middle and prattles on about the 'Win-Win' Positive Sum nature of screwing over statistical social outliers for majority benefit.<br /><br />This is what the 'Trumpinistas' desire: <br /><br />Free Speech & a reprieve from Oppressive Political Correctness; Free Association & the related right to Freely Dissociate from an Unresponsive Collective; the right to pursue Individualist Interests despite Collectivist Objections; and, a return to the Melting Pot collectivist model & a repudiation of Multiculturalism's deleterious side effects.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51783154390124465932016-01-27T10:46:19.362-08:002016-01-27T10:46:19.362-08:00On the myth of Senate Dem control:
http://sandiego...On the myth of Senate Dem control:<br />http://sandiegofreepress.org/2012/09/the-myth-of-the-filibuster-proof-democratic-senate/Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-91834920702074257512016-01-27T10:39:52.819-08:002016-01-27T10:39:52.819-08:00Dave I wasn’t calling you a monster (and you know ...Dave I wasn’t calling you a monster (and you know it). I was reminding Mr. CITOKATE it is easy to see something a positive sum if you get some of the benefits while simultaneously you don’t have to pay for the negative consequences. And focusing on only the Mexican middle class you conveniently ignore the devastating effect that NAFTA had on the much larger number of small, poor Mexican farmers and the long term negative consequences of the pollution that NAFTA has brought to many Mexican communities. Has NAFTA helped the Mexican wealthy and well educated, yes sure, but if all you do is count the positive and discount all the negatives, anything can be seen as a positive sum.occam's comicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10172372728716876422016-01-27T10:07:45.363-08:002016-01-27T10:07:45.363-08:00You can keep posting here but I have a new one up....You can keep posting here but I have a new one up.<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62117737910941714552016-01-27T10:00:47.051-08:002016-01-27T10:00:47.051-08:00Duncan what such theories need is my concept of “H...Duncan what such theories need is my concept of “Horizon Expansion” in which how you define the group that has your loyalty can VARY according to your socialization and your levels of fear. Many of our current US turmoils are over the fact that some want to expand our horizons of inclusion at very high speeds while others resent being nagged to include those they cannot swallow.<br /><br />Mr. Bowen our debt ratios are not as bad as all that and the parts of capitalism that are still competitive are delivering a whole lot more than shoes. The oligarchic putsch is bad, but it can be reformed away. Pnic is as big a threat as anything. Also the hypnotic satisfation of screaming “the parties are the same!”<br /><br />They simply are not. If one party wins big, corporations and oligarchs will lose most of their money funnels into politics and the rich will be taxed more. Um, you deem that to be “no difference?”<br /><br />Occam show us reliable figures about NAFTA job losses, please. And as long as you are hurling “monster” at me, then let me point out it is nativist and bigoted to ignore the factor of a skyrocketing middle class in Mexico. Already it has reversed illegal immigration and that source of competition for US jobs. But as more mexican families become middle class they buy stuff from us. <br /><br /> Does it balance out? Maybe not in the short term. I am willing to compare statistics. But what is clear is this: those who conveniently write off and ignore the effect of uplifting Mexico from an open wound of bleeding poverty and resentment across a wide border, into another Canada, a middle class neighbor and customer and ally… such people are proved nativist bigots. And fools. <br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-85657056298895549312016-01-27T09:40:29.262-08:002016-01-27T09:40:29.262-08:00I believe the term "globalization" is a ...I believe the term "globalization" is a misnomer. The ending implies deliberate intent. It seems more like evolution to me.<br /><br />Consider this, after substantial thought and research I can determine only three methods of conflict resolution in recorded human history:<br /><br /><br /><b>Words</b><br /><br /><b>Wars</b><br /><br /><b>Negotiation utilizing leverage</b><br /><br />Naturally I may have missed an approach, but given these examples...<br /><br />Words clearly don't work by themselves or the United Nations would have accomplished <i>something</i> meaningful.<br /><br />War, uh...good God y'all, what is it good for?<br /><br />"Globalization" has the potential to eventually help unify the world by making the stage for conflict resolution one which is mainly economical. Financial leverage is the form a global economy rewards most highly.<br /><br />Seems like inevitable evolution to me, despite the many negative and disruptive impacts associated with such broad change.<br /><br />Anyone for "Globalution?" Sounds a little <i>off</i>, but it may be more accurate.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07857107479110994718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10675521825310182172016-01-27T09:37:20.673-08:002016-01-27T09:37:20.673-08:00* "I just don’t believe Trump is sincere in e...<b>*</b> "<i>I just don’t believe Trump is sincere in even one of his professed hatreds.</i>"<br /><br /><b>Precisely</b>: fascism, like all forms of supremacism, isn't a <i>belief</i>, it's an <i>intent</i>:<br />If I were to say "<i>John Doe and his whole family deserve to be flayed alive in public because they all are perverse criminals</i>", I wouldn't merely be expressing animosity toward the Does: I'd also be hinting that I <b>would</b> skin them if I had the power to do so with impunity. Whether I <i>sincerely believed</i> that the Does were criminals who genuinely deserved flaying would be irrelevant: what would matter here would be the murderous intent, <b>not</b> the justification<br /><br />Trump's audience wants one thing: for the state to grant them preferential access to wealth and resources and protect their privileged status by suppressing -violently if need be- aspirations for equal treatment from the <i>others</i>: by uttering heinous lies about Mexicans/Muslims/Bogeymen-du-jour in public without even blinking, he's conveying his willingness to deliberately harm them. Whether he <i>sincerely believes</i> that they deserve to be harmed is irrelevant. In fact, lack of sincerity makes him even more dangerous: a genuinely hateful man can always have a change of heart and come to reject his erstwhile hate; a man who's willing to hurt people because it's <i>expedient</i> won't have such an epiphany.<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>*</b> "<i>“The Nazis are just a gang of stupid hooligans, but they do serve a purpose,” he says. “Let them get rid of the Communists. Later we’ll be able to control them.”</i>"<br /><br />What's an useful idiot? An useful idiot is someone who fancies him or herself as so supremely intelligent that compared to him or her, extremists are akin to easily herded cattle.<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>*</b> "<i>I get the feeling that nobody on this site actually knows any Trump supporters, and seems that people think that they are a bunch of angry stupid racists, who don’t even know why they are angry.</i>"<br /><br />Trumps supporters are very similar to French Le Pens' supporters, and having lived in places filled by those, I know pretty well how they functions.<br /><br />Far-rightists aren't <i>stupid</i>: far-rightists are <b>cynics</b>, who became convinced that fair leadership is impossible and that it is therefore in their interest to support the oligarchs who promise them preferential access to the scraps.<br />The racist rhetoric itself is a defensive maneuver: there's a hard-wired human tendency to feel less animosity toward the wrongheaded bigot (the racist uncle we still invite at the family reunions) than toward the selfish me-firster (the parasitic conman who prospers at the expanse of everybody else)<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>*</b> "<i>The stupid billionaires know nothing about 1789 or 1917 etc. They actually think today's educated and tech empowered masses will blithely sink into peasantry.</i>"<br /><br />No: what they believe is that modern armament technology makes genocide so easy that soon they'll be able to bluntly tell the educated masses<br />"<i>We can burn the planet down, and a world that doesn't belong <b>to us</b> is not worth existing, so it's either subjugation or extinction: your choice</i>"Laurent Weppenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-35142880993066347452016-01-27T09:19:35.827-08:002016-01-27T09:19:35.827-08:00For everyone who have been commenting on things th...For everyone who have been commenting on things they don't like about the 70's---<br />threat of nuclear war, leaded gasoline, less sophisticated computers, disco ---- it does not mean those things would still be with us if we didn't screw over the American hourly wage earners with our policies of union busting and globalization.occam's comicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-59831588252423118212016-01-27T09:17:00.407-08:002016-01-27T09:17:00.407-08:00Re your comments about money laundered through Mac...Re your comments about money laundered through Macau. From a certain Democratic Republic on the other side of China? The most oligarchic place in the world - hmmm...<br /><br />Bob P.Roberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05763643308644698795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1081195419131523852016-01-27T08:36:10.336-08:002016-01-27T08:36:10.336-08:00Want a harder working legislative branch? One that...Want a harder working legislative branch? One that will even show up for work after a bad snowstorm? Elect more women, apparently.<br /><br /><a href="http://theslot.jezebel.com/guess-who-showed-up-for-work-at-the-senate-after-the-bl-1755284783" rel="nofollow">http://theslot.jezebel.com/guess-who-showed-up-for-work-at-the-senate-after-the-bl-1755284783</a>sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-86531089968663692012016-01-27T08:12:05.653-08:002016-01-27T08:12:05.653-08:00(Oh, by the bye, apparently when I post from the l...(Oh, by the bye, apparently when I post from the laptop I'm "Jon S." Didn't realize the discrepancy until just now. Same guy, though.)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11903687674146271189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72231285331362443302016-01-27T08:10:22.335-08:002016-01-27T08:10:22.335-08:00Well, raito, partly that's because there are a...Well, raito, partly that's because there are actually charity organizations that ask for donations of T-shirts. They're very popular in some parts of the world, especially with slogans - having a T-shirt with English words on it is apparently a sort of low-level status symbol in parts of central Africa.<br /><br />Personally, I'd hate to have to be in the '70s again because I remember what it was like to live with the seeming certainty that nuclear war would inevitably come, it was just a question of when and who'd start it.<br /><br />(Or, as Queen put it:<br /><br /><i>And we who grew up tall and proud<br />In the shadow of the mushroom cloud...</i>)<br /><br />If not having that means higher gas prices, I'll make that trade happily every single day.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11903687674146271189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-57800993021736659402016-01-27T06:11:46.751-08:002016-01-27T06:11:46.751-08:00My wife also works in a chemical plant in the midw...My wife also works in a chemical plant in the midwest (chemist and chemical engineer, also MBA), though in operations rather than R&D. And unfortunately, there's been at least one incident of what I'd call racism through stupidity there. Do I think that guy was KKK-racist? No. I think he was a northern WI redneck who wasn't quite bright enough to see his own prejudice. Now he's out of a job. And there's the occasional worker who loses his job because he's just not bright enough to follow the safety rules.<br /><br />I'll also take today over the late 70's. Today, I could probably get a wage slave job if I had to. As a young man in the late 70's, there were 20 or so people interviewing for every minimum wage position. Imagine not even being able to get fast-food work for a year at a time because there were so many workers out there.<br /><br />I'll partly agree that it's the implementation of globalization that wasn't ideal, and I'll further state that I doubt that less war and more stability was the goal. I think the most important export that the US has (though it's not all good by any means) is culture. Culture as in 'see how it is here, you could have that'. And that's part of what we saw happening in China. The workers had rising expectations. Wages went up. Conditions had to improve, or the workers would go elsewhere. That's at least a glimmer of light in the trade war.<br /><br />One thing I've noticed in the last couple decades is that whenever I see on the TV various shows that take us into places of abject poverty, everyone seems to be wearing T-shirts. We must have hit a time in the world when even the poorest don't have to resot to making their own clothes.raitonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90654723925916535192016-01-27T05:34:23.907-08:002016-01-27T05:34:23.907-08:00Globalization is another good idea with a botched ... Globalization is another good idea with a botched execution, class warfare was as much a goal as streamlining trade, if those negotiations had happened before organized labor's decline, the effects on the rust belt might not have been as traumatic. The jobs lost were at first ones ordinary people could do, followed by the associated support jobs and businesses. The Department of Defense was complacent, as long as implements of destruction already in the pipeline were not interrupted. Industrial processes were not updated to less environmentally damaging ones, merely sent to nations with more understanding authorities, not poisoning anyone we knew personally. Acknowledgement of the downsides is important, the economy is no place for fantasy.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-77678774650936517282016-01-27T05:29:30.283-08:002016-01-27T05:29:30.283-08:00Sorry David,
But it is a lot more than "some ...Sorry David,<br />But it is a lot more than "some lost jobs". It was a hell of a lot of job loss. and hourly workers also have the loss of pensions, decent raises, job security and good health insurance (not to mention the opportunity for their kids to go to an affordable college.) The local communities also tons of jobs related to the factory jobs that were lost.<br /><br />And don't forget more than a million and a half Chinese people died from pollution and hundreds of millions of Chinese are being harmed on a daily basis by pollution.<br />Going to work in crappy working conditions, with oppressive management.<br /><br />I guess it is easy to see this as a positive sum situation if you never have had to bare any negative consequences and only have received the benefits.<br /><br />I know you like to call out monsters on the right and monsters on the left but don't forget to look in the mirror, a monster can be hiding there too. occam's comicnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-72387635929952639442016-01-27T04:35:31.581-08:002016-01-27T04:35:31.581-08:00Also to D-God Brin
I have no yearning for No Capi...Also to D-God Brin<br /><br />I have no yearning for No Capitalism, I'm just tired of Piggy Capitalism.<br /><br />Good Capitalism? Yes, <i>some</i> good is funneled down to the masses, our children have shoes. <br /><br />Our future has been mortgaged and is being traded on the open market. Our debt is unsustainably high and rolling downhill like a giant snowball. This debt has replaced our (outmoded) GDP as a valuation. We're good for ten percent on trillions. For how long?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07857107479110994718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38199119710316785382016-01-27T04:22:48.358-08:002016-01-27T04:22:48.358-08:00To D-God Brin
How did I become the new man of the...To D-God Brin<br /><br />How did I become the new man of the left? Pretty sure I said "Political parties be damned...." Partisan paralysis may be deadly, or the only thing keeping Government from acts of staggering stupidity. Either way, the constant hectoring from both sides makes my ears bleed.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07857107479110994718noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43887664954994767792016-01-26T23:16:27.852-08:002016-01-26T23:16:27.852-08:00Hi Guys
I have just read
Ultrasociety - How 10,00...Hi Guys<br />I have just read <br />Ultrasociety - How 10,000 years of war made humans the greatest cooperators on the planet <br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Ultrasociety-Years-Humans-Greatest-Cooperators-ebook/dp/B0185P69LU/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1453878503&sr=8-1<br /><br />Very impressed, I will need time to digest and do some re-reading<br /><br />He talks about cooperation inside groups and competition between groups, <br />This is part of a <br />"stick all of history into a database and use it to see how well your theory matches the data" <br />project<br /><br />What do you think??duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84457171980604934582016-01-26T22:33:10.388-08:002016-01-26T22:33:10.388-08:00Bernie Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont fo...Bernie Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont for 4 terms. I'm not sure I'd call that "zilch" administrative experience but compared to President it's pretty low level.riveratnoreply@blogger.com