tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post7445006245140386986..comments2024-03-28T15:25:05.152-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Will Trump “veer to Center?”…and… Al Franken For 'Designated Trump!' David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger84125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-18977699323512825542016-07-28T13:27:23.914-07:002016-07-28T13:27:23.914-07:00onward
onward
onward<br /><br /><br />onward<br /><br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-44405897368678992682016-07-28T11:17:35.301-07:002016-07-28T11:17:35.301-07:00Interesting chart, although they seemed to not bot...Interesting chart, although they seemed to not bother explaining why terrorist death tolls were so much higher in the 1970s and 1980s. Or if they tried explaining it, I couldn't understand what they were saying<br /><br />https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/28/there-is-less-of-a-terrorism-threat-now-experts-put-europes-summer-of-violence-in-contextIoannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20032834766488237552016-07-28T05:09:18.098-07:002016-07-28T05:09:18.098-07:00Now let me touch on the BIG Bank vs SMALL Bank iss...Now let me touch on the BIG Bank vs SMALL Bank issue which neither Party wants to seriously address.<br /><br />In brief:<br /><br />Economists make what seems an obvious assumption.<br /><br />i.e. "Banks want to make good loans and derive no benefit from making bad loans."<br /><br />I have a little point here worth considering.<br /><br />Banks don't have wants. Only the people in them do. And those people may have different interests.<br /><br />The Larger the institution and the greater the distance of the 'loan decider' from the impact of that loan...<br /><br />And the greater the likelihood of there being interest in NOT necessarily making a good/productive loan... nor in following good practices in administering that loan.<br /><br />And this has all been made workable by the two very accommodating Parties.<br /><br />Over time this became... and will become again... a political nightmare.<br /><br /><br /><br />Tom Crowlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04444476865484424912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1910244517897674512016-07-28T04:49:05.528-07:002016-07-28T04:49:05.528-07:00RE: Trump would appoint many Bush people.
As a gu...RE: Trump would appoint many Bush people.<br /><br />As a guy who voted for Bernie... let me explain why.<br /><br />Because it wasn't about being "Left" or "Right"...<br /><br />Nor was it because I believe all his suggestions were workable.<br /><br />It's because of the mindset and 'expert class' that BOTH Parties have accepted and carried through regimes of either.<br /><br />I.e. in foreign policy, while there are differences between individuals in the Parties, both have accepted the Kissinger model which underlies our relations with other countries. I believe this policy has been catastrophic and will continue to be. And isolation is NOT the only alternative to the "Project for a New American Century" <br /><br />in domestic policy its been a bi-partisan embrace of the Greenspan/Rubin/Geithner model which has been and remains a road to wealth concentration.<br /><br />(very low interest rates and low borrowing standards was very satisfying to both Parties... and the financial sector. Easy consumer debt and those college loans...<br /><br />not only allowed the political pressure to be deferred which might have come for higher wages, higher taxes on the rich, infrastructure, education, etc...<br /><br />But created a vast expansion of the financial sector as a share of the economy (a non-productive share in any real sense)... and ultimately the transfer of vast amounts of wealth to the top.<br /><br />It is what the two Parties AGREE on that forms much of the problem we face... the same people and same ideas which have dominated Both Parties.<br /><br />Until the misuse of the fiat currency system is addressed (and I support a fiat currency system but recognize the delicacy needed to maintain one) there is no prospect for serious change.<br /><br />Neither Party has even in the vaguest way recognized and shown any interest in addressing this bi-partisan groupthink.<br /><br />How Washington's "Pragmatism" is Killing Good Government<br />http://culturalengineer.blogspot.com/2016/02/why-washingtons-pragmatism-is-killing.html<br /><br />The dependence of both Parties on large donors both in elections and the lobbying process has much to do with how this situation developed.Tom Crowlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04444476865484424912noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15743440896878893332016-07-28T04:25:39.572-07:002016-07-28T04:25:39.572-07:00"Then there's also the not-so-hidden poli..."Then there's also the not-so-hidden political cost of making underpaid, undercovered people more receptive to demagogic, or worse, revanchist rhetoric."<br /><br />Which is the root cause of Trump and BREXIT<br /><br />The government decisions to move from an aim of zero unemployment to a <br />"suitable level to increase industrial efficiency"<br />Has had the effect of saving a few dollars <br />(not very many if you compare performance before and after Thatcher/Reagan)<br /><br />While massively INJURING a lot of people - millions in total<br /><br />The 0.01% have made out like gangsters - most of us have lost a bit of ground<br />But the poor and those who have not been able to find work - they have suffered<br /><br /> duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80528253777890107712016-07-28T04:15:00.978-07:002016-07-28T04:15:00.978-07:00Laurent Weppe:
You people are still making the be...Laurent Weppe:<br /><i><br />You people are still making the beginner mistake when it comes to racism: racism is Not a belief system: it's an intent: racism is the resolve to do harm.<br /></i><br /><br />We're conflating too many things in this conversation under the umbrella term "racist".<br /><br />At first blush, I'd say racists really do believe in the superiority of one race over another, sometimes to the point where only the superior race is considered human, with all of the rights and privileges that label entails. A racist may not even truly "hate" the other races, let alone intend to do them harm, and more than you or I hate molusks or squirrels.<br /><br />Then there are the harm-intenders such as the KKK or the Nazis. Those ideologies may begin with racism, but don't end there. They use racism as an excuse to produce an "other" to bash because they don't deserve human rights or dignity. If they didn't have an "inferior race" filling this role, they'd make one up (insisting that "communist" is a separate race or some such). <br /><br />Donald Trump is something else again. Whether he really is a racist himself is as immaterial as whether he's an evangelical Christian himself. He's made it clear to these elements that he's their guy--that once in office, he'll fight for <b>their</b> positions.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58401409024973120262016-07-28T02:03:44.528-07:002016-07-28T02:03:44.528-07:00@Dr. Brin - re "slow money," e.g., spend...@Dr. Brin - re "slow money," e.g., spending on infrastructure - It's not just "what you do" - it's how you do it that matters. A lot. And most people can't/won't follow the story along.<br /><br />To a wealthy investor, the great advantage of toll roads v. freeway expansion/extension/repair is that toll roads offer the ability to muster private capital, guarantee private capital, and enrich private capital - with public investment frequently going to the private investors (in the form of guarantees and bond coverage).<br /><br />IF Congress passes a long-term freeway bill for public roads, then private toll roads lose their preferential arrangements in the financing tranches.<br /><br />Some conservative economists "get it" (yes, infrastructure is occasionally good, and sometimes benefits many people). But the paid pundits also get that delays to public finance from backing mega-projects by putting multi-year funding in place (at which point, even the public freeway projects will ultimately serve a different end of the private bankers).<br /><br />And hence, crumbling infrastructure: if it does not enrich oligarchs, it does not get fixed. Perhaps HRC can finish what Obama's started and get that through - but it's not her highest priority, and it's way off the radar for Reps, most Dems, and most Americans. Alas.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-11606240821464949692016-07-28T01:02:16.003-07:002016-07-28T01:02:16.003-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66823048287554173812016-07-28T00:55:39.877-07:002016-07-28T00:55:39.877-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-55732943507664498032016-07-27T23:39:23.384-07:002016-07-27T23:39:23.384-07:00* "there’s almost no evidence in Donald Trump...<b>*</b> "<i>there’s almost no evidence in Donald Trump’s past suggesting that this cynical, Svengali-manipulator actually believes any of the racist stuff he’s been spouting</i>"<br />Then <br /><b>*</b> "<i>There's a MOUNTAIN of evidence that he believes the racist stuff he's spouting.</i>"<br /><br />You people are still making the beginner mistake when it comes to racism: racism is <b>Not</b> a belief system: it's an <b>intent</b>: racism is the resolve to do harm: the pseudo-ideological bullshit ("<i>Whites invented everything! Blacks are lazy moochers! Arabs secretly want to rape every white little girl on Earth! Jews secretly enslaved Christians! etc, etc, etc</i> ad nauseam") is seldom genuinely believed: it's a convenient way to make the perverse look principled, because racists know that "<i>I want to protect my family from thugs</i>" won't generate the same degree of animosity than candidly saying "<i>I wish we were back in the good old days, when I could have raped with impunity my black housemaid then given the bastard daughter born from it to my legitimate son as his first fuck-toy</i>" or "<i>That Arab chick has better diplomas, a fancier car, bigger home and sexier wife than me despite her grandads being illiterate wage slaves: bring back the times when people like <b>ME</b> were guaranteed to be on top of the food chain</i>"<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>*</b> "<i>Give us a Republican president or we'll hold our breath until we turn blue</i>"<br /><br />Hint: suicide blackmail works only on people who <b>like</b> you<br /><br />***<br /><br /><b>*</b> "<i>I didn't "ignore the hidden costs" I acknowledge that some businesses will have to pay more BUT compared to the human cost of increased sickness, despair and suicide effecting literally millions of people the choice is OBVIOUS </i>"<br /><br />Then there's also the not-so-hidden political cost of making underpaid, undercovered people more receptive to demagogic, or worse, revanchist rhetoric.<br />Most businesses don't work well when caudillos are reorganizing the economy along nepotistic lines or when self-styled revolutionaries are busy genociding everyone who might have belonged to or associated with the upper-class.Laurent Weppenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-90788702800128210832016-07-27T20:36:02.666-07:002016-07-27T20:36:02.666-07:00@LarryHart
And don't forget he's a Muslim ...@LarryHart<br />And don't forget he's a Muslim to them too. Gotta say he must be the <a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/JjSmFaT" rel="nofollow">worst Muslim EVER</a>.Berialnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81961970579335978112016-07-27T18:26:32.671-07:002016-07-27T18:26:32.671-07:00...but as to Obama coming off as arrogant, you'......but as to Obama coming off as arrogant, you'd have to work hard to convince me that they're not reacting to the n***** being "uppity". I've seen no other way to explain the fact that Republicans seem to really believe Obama is driving the partisan divide that they themselves are instigating.<br /><br />I don't want to be one of "those" liberals who blames racism for everything. But these people make it impossible to ignore. How else does one explain the belief that Obamacare and Medicaid are reparations for slavery? How else does one explain the belief that President Obama is on the side of terrorists? How else does one explain birtherism?LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1742280811329840602016-07-27T17:12:31.546-07:002016-07-27T17:12:31.546-07:00Alfred Differ:
Obama comes across as arrogant to ...Alfred Differ:<br /><i><br />Obama comes across as arrogant to many of his opponents and they become quite angry. It happened to a number of my friends. To them, an Obama led negotiation is an oxymoron.<br /><br />I have a soft spot for earned arrogance, though, and just smile at them and say “Okay. How about Clinton instead?”<br /></i><br /><br />On that point, we are in perfect agreement.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38551392360608263292016-07-27T17:10:50.331-07:002016-07-27T17:10:50.331-07:00Duncan, you took the words out of my mouth. One of...Duncan, you took the words out of my mouth. One of my hats is asphalt R&D and certified inspector. (Granted, I never used the inspector cert. They only gave it to me because I passed the test, which I passed pretty much incidentally on a broad spectrum exam because of the R&D job in the previous life.)Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10955143384356080862016-07-27T17:08:45.791-07:002016-07-27T17:08:45.791-07:00The Stratfor people haven't said anything abou...The Stratfor people haven't said anything about the DNC leak yet. Maybe they will later, but for now they are treating it as politics which is usually out-of-bounds for them.<br /><br />So Science Time-out: <br /><br />MAP technique for subcellular brain details AND long range connections<br /><br />http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-07-technique-reveal-subcellular-brain-long-range.htmlAlfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68194414642394693692016-07-27T17:06:44.879-07:002016-07-27T17:06:44.879-07:00Dr Brin:
To be clear. We TRIED a less confrontati...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />To be clear. We TRIED a less confrontational president trying to negotiate with the Hastert-Gingrich-McConnel-DeLay-Ryan pack of shills for Rupert Murdoch. His name was No Drama Obama...<br /><br />...if they could turn him into a cartoon muslim terrorist then what have we to lose by putting a fierce warrior in his place? That's why I shifted over to be with her.<br /></i><br /><br />The ridiculous Jonah Goldberg had a column in today's Chicago Tribune where he blames liberals and the mainstream media (completely conflating the two) for not taking down Trump during the primaries before it was too late. Now, he says, when the liberal MSM calls Trump a racist, people will just say "They always call Republicans racist. So what else is new?" He says that liberals have a "boy who cried wolf" problem.<br /><br />I'd retort that it's the same from the other side. When they call Hillary a socialist and "the most liberal senator ever", what else is new? They say that about every Democratic candidate for president.<br /><br />I'd go a little further than you and say that Hillary is <b>payback</b> for their treatment of Obama. We could have nominated Hillary in 2008, and she would have won, but Obama indicated a willingness to drop the partisan politics and get the work of government done. You (Republicans) won't deal fairly with him? Well, look what you get instead. Likewise, you (Republicans) refuse to consider Merick Garland for the Supreme Court? The next president will nominate justices who make Garland look like Antonin Scalia! <br /><br />And if the Democrats get the Senate back, the filibuster will be gone on day 1. What do we have to lose by fighting to win? You (Republicans) complain just as shrilly if we don't.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-82050964848559403962016-07-27T17:05:23.094-07:002016-07-27T17:05:23.094-07:00@Duncan: I’ll show you that you are missing it.
...@Duncan: I’ll show you that you are missing it.<br /><br />Ignore the fact that companies will have to pay more for labor. Pretend that cost was zero. There is a cost to the employees in my field as they get jerked around from employer to employer. It’s not so bad if they go willingly, but it still isn’t rosy.<br /><br />Hidden costs are hard to see, but they still occur and tend to be shifted to the people least like to sense them. That often means potential employees.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-21641402890506375792016-07-27T16:48:37.499-07:002016-07-27T16:48:37.499-07:00Darrel E:
"Well, yeah, WWII ultimately led g...Darrel E:<br /><i><br />"Well, yeah, WWII ultimately led good things in Germany, but do we really want to go through all the steps it took to get there?"<br /><br />I certainly wouldn't and I'd suggest anyone who thinks it was/would be worth it is either very naive, intellectually challenged, ethically challenged or some combination thereof. That's why I also said,<b> "I'd rather take a slower, no disaster path towards that better future."</b><br /></i><br /><br />In case this isn't clear, I wasn't arguing with you. I was adding emphasis to your point.LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-31900141337223039082016-07-27T16:33:03.707-07:002016-07-27T16:33:03.707-07:00Hi Alfred
I didn't "ignore the hidden cos...Hi Alfred<br />I didn't "ignore the hidden costs" <br />I acknowledge that some businesses will have to pay more<br /><br />BUT compared to the human cost of increased sickness, despair and suicide effecting literally millions of people the choice is OBVIOUS <br /><br />Dr Brin<br />Youth groups doing cleanup - OK - as long as they stay off the roads<br /><br />Potholes??<br />One of my "hats" is as an STMS - Site Traffic Management Supervisor - <br />(lets me supervise the road closure for our annual Drag Race)<br />Doing work on the roadway needs to be very well controlled - it can be very dangerous<br />Some road jobs will take tens times as long to do the traffic signage as doing the job<br />And that is before we get into exactly how you fill the "pothole" - doing it wrong can and will make matters worse<br />duncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17312871239916942932016-07-27T15:42:04.585-07:002016-07-27T15:42:04.585-07:00"Give us a Republican president or we'll ..."Give us a Republican president or we'll hold our breath until we turn blue" would be one way to look at that blackmail, which it is. Just say no to blackmail, and don't negotiate with terrorists either.Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-87139464527930459482016-07-27T15:18:51.191-07:002016-07-27T15:18:51.191-07:00I truly am amazed and rather proud of this communi...I truly am amazed and rather proud of this community. Heck even our resident pro-feudalist romantics are... well... amusing from time to time. I do miss Tacitus, but I expect we'll see him again. I do not blame him for feeling miffed at recent trends and our tendency to belabor them. STill a great community of people who write actual paragraphs.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-23422343676897474832016-07-27T12:53:13.895-07:002016-07-27T12:53:13.895-07:00@jumper: My apologies. I’m still too used to other...@jumper: My apologies. I’m still too used to other community sites where it is unsafe to assume our members understand the value of skepticism. ContraryBrin really is an unusual place. The day I get used to it here is the day I’ll probably have to stop contributing at other sites. 8)<br /><br />When I was first thinking about coming out of lurker mode, I was comparing David’s response communities here, on FB, and on Google+. I chose to remain a watcher (mostly) on FB since a comment there gets consumed rapidly in the blizzard of other one-line responses. I prefer a three paragraph response style, but that ain’t FB. It only works here.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66762752755160756342016-07-27T12:40:44.679-07:002016-07-27T12:40:44.679-07:00Meh. Obama comes across as arrogant to many of his...Meh. Obama comes across as arrogant to many of his opponents and they become quite angry. It happened to a number of my friends. To them, an Obama led negotiation is an oxymoron.<br /><br />I have a soft spot for earned arrogance, though, and just smile at them and say “Okay. How about Clinton instead?”<br /><br />They wouldn’t like Johnson either. Mr Veto.<br /><br />As for the Russians, I think I’ll go check what the Stratfor people are saying. This should catch their interest.<br />DNC Hack: http://phys.org/news/2016-07-cybersecurity-experts-merit-russian-hacking.htmlAlfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28039696717550976112016-07-27T12:34:39.211-07:002016-07-27T12:34:39.211-07:00It just occurred to me that Al Franken wouldn'...It just occurred to me that Al Franken wouldn't be the Designated Trump, but the Designated Donald Trump. Which, of course, would make him the DDT.<br /><br />A more apropos acronym in my humble opinion. :)A.F. Reynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3708180662786347862016-07-27T12:34:28.780-07:002016-07-27T12:34:28.780-07:00Alfred there are components where we agree much. ...Alfred there are components where we agree much. I love the idea of youths forming contract groups to bid for those cleanup jobs. Indeed, I favor getting neighborhoods to compete, by self organizing. The neighborhood that organizes best and cleans up best gets the new playground equipment. The one that fixes its own potholes gets the new sports field.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.com