tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post7831706505674814667..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Perceptive and myopic views of our transparent future. Especially police cameras.David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-51433206604905333712017-01-12T13:13:52.140-08:002017-01-12T13:13:52.140-08:00okay then.
onward
onwardokay then.<br /><br />onward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78595994194081443962017-01-12T12:38:45.086-08:002017-01-12T12:38:45.086-08:00Jumper,
I suspect the intelligence people who mig...Jumper,<br /><br />I suspect the intelligence people who might know those answers aren't in a position to tell us. They are probably more inclined to follow those leads back to sources and develop better information about the movers behind all this.<br /><br />If someone here commits an actual crime, they might get arrested, but otherwise they might get developed.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-75025764113294032552017-01-12T10:53:07.838-08:002017-01-12T10:53:07.838-08:00I'm curious why more people don't ask how ...I'm curious why more people don't ask how long various state actors including Russia have been successful propagandizing Americans. Was Putin into the Tea Party movement? Did he and his people get a certain anti-Islamic video made and then promoted at the certain time it was? Does he have active people at Breitbart right now? What about the rest of the "alt.right?"<br />What similar stuff were they up to 15 years ago?Jumperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11794110173836133321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83441479371670729222017-01-12T09:59:29.512-08:002017-01-12T09:59:29.512-08:00raito currently all witnesses are a bit wrong. Wha...raito currently all witnesses are a bit wrong. What you ask a jury to do is interpolate. To bracket the truth as best they can by upping the credibility of some witnesses -- eg if they have solid reputes or if their story fits the physical evidence.<br /><br />Seriously, if you have dozens of secret manipulative players competing to fudge cameras, would not some of them see interest in revealing THAT other forces are doing this fudging? Since fudging cams is a crime, would not catching fudgers become the central nexus of this competition, making the act dangerous to do?David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-48805657941075304322017-01-12T09:44:40.611-08:002017-01-12T09:44:40.611-08:00Here's something I didn't expect. Can anyo...Here's something I didn't expect. Can anyone who lives in Wisconsin or the general area please explain this?<br /><br />http://www.businessinsider.com/ap-walkers-wisconsin-tuition-idea-shuffles-political-alliances-2017-1Ioannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47342526866012484072017-01-12T08:26:49.839-08:002017-01-12T08:26:49.839-08:00Dr. Brin,
I get your point. And if there were onl...Dr. Brin,<br /><br />I get your point. And if there were only one liar, I'd agree. My point is that if you can make one liar, you can make many.<br /><br />Sure, the worst case is that all the recordings are changed to tell a different story. But that's way out on the end of the spectrum, and is about the same as collusion of human witnesses.<br /><br />And the best case is that none of the recordings are altered, and all agree.<br /><br />What about a case where the recordings are altered, but so that each is different? Now the waters are muddy.<br /><br />If such becomes the case, then at least we're no worse off than we are now. Already, and has been pointed out, getting to the truth usually ends up being based on trust.<br /><br />It's just a touch amusing to see this part of the discussion going on in parallel to a discussion of faux news, don't you think?raitonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-24801019595946435502017-01-12T07:30:24.056-08:002017-01-12T07:30:24.056-08:00Back for a moment to science-fiction, and specific...Back for a moment to science-fiction, and specifically to the novel "How to Live Safely in a Science-Fictional Universe"...<br /><br />I've just reached page 101, and I see what this book is supposed to be. Way back in high school, I was astounded (in a good way) when I saw the play "Death Trap", which is a play <b>about</b> a play called "Death Trap", and as you might guess, the play within the play <b>is</b> the very play that you, the audience, is watching. I was 16 years old at the time, and the experience kinda awakened in me a sense of "This is what a good writer can do!"<br /><br />I can see that this book is aspiring to the same heights--a book <b>about</b> a book of the same title, such that the book you are reading <b>is</b> the book that that book is about. I'm anxiously waiting to see if this writer actually pulls it off.<br /><br />I can see that entertainment is going to get me through the next four years (1470 days until inauguration day 2021). Science-fiction and Lin-Manuel Miranda.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-2760356360506576212017-01-12T05:30:52.168-08:002017-01-12T05:30:52.168-08:00ChuckE Chan:
As for your prediction about Trump i...ChuckE Chan:<br /><i><br />As for your prediction about Trump inevitably going down, again I think you're underestimating him. I'm sure a year ago you were saying things like: "No way Trump wins the election. He is going down. Fairly soon." <br /></i><br /><br />Actually, Robert was surprisingly and consistently prescient about predicting that Hillary would lose to Trump.<br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53633893439009266882017-01-12T04:05:52.589-08:002017-01-12T04:05:52.589-08:00Paul SB: My read on Kuhn is that he's agnostic...Paul SB: My read on Kuhn is that he's agnostic on the existence of 'Truth' per se. To him, paradigms reflect the current state of play with respect to the 'puzzle solving' capacity of present theories. He wouldn't have used 'tribal' wording; that was me playing off your point.<br /><br /><i>"There was a time when a majority of Americans thought of themselves in very ethnic terms."</i><br />There's an interesting article on how 'vestigial' ethnic ties within 'white' Americans played during the elections season - <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/peteraldhous/trump-and-the-white-vote?utm_term=.veJYLrkO5#.kmZJRZLXO" rel="nofollow">'which white people support Trump?' </a> But even when Americans thought of themselves in very ethnic terms, they subdivided those ethnic groups (Italians tended not to trust Sicilians, Irish tended not to trust certain Irish, etc.). <br /><br /><i>"You seem to see tribalism as inevitable and unchanging,"</i><br />Not exactly. I see inevitability in how we process what we perceive: we apply differential burdens of proof, often unwittingly, particularly when judging claims by 'insiders' and 'outsiders.' What constitutes 'insiders' and 'outsiders' is dynamic - but we don't judge our own thoughts about what we perceive at the time we are perceiving.<br /><br /><i>"When times are more secure and prosperous, people feel less threatened and they become more accepting of difference, and their horizons of inclusion widen."</i><br />I don't think people perceive a 'time of prosperity' (except in hindsight). In 2016, America is significantly more prosperous than in 2008, or 1948, yet how many people perceive that? (Alfred continuously reminds us, and he always has a fair point) I also don't think people 'perceive' a threat: they perceive certain things, and then actively contribute a 'threat judgment' to what they perceive.<br /><br />Are we 'more' threatened than before? Objectively, no: no country is on the brink of a global nuclear war. Are our perceptions of threat stronger than before? Maybe, but in other eras, we had Red Scare(s), and millions of African-, Jewish-, Latino-, and homosexual Americans had much more to fear (not to mention pregnant women). I can't imagine a mechanism to easily measure a change in perceived threat. <br /><br /><i>"if millions of people look at millions of cell-phone videos wearing their tribal blinders, all those cameras won't amount to much."</i><br />I'm skeptical that we can remove our tribal blinders at all - but I'm not so sure that it will mean nothing either. <br /><br />My point isn't that sousveillance is conceptually futile, but rather, tribalism raises a line of concern that, unlike many of the transient complaints, is going to be around for years to come. Let others bemoan facial recognition software et. al. - this is a serious problem that could derail 'virtuous feedback cycles' that might otherwise limit liars and cheats.donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53067920868520885492017-01-12T03:34:07.468-08:002017-01-12T03:34:07.468-08:00Re: scramble suit. I never thought about it before...Re: scramble suit. I never thought about it before, but the best way to make one would be to bio-engineer it from the octopus, which basically is a living scramble suit. Challenge: keeping it moist.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67508207017730750162017-01-11T23:38:27.137-08:002017-01-11T23:38:27.137-08:00@ Alfred Differ (on head injury)
Traumatic brain ...@ Alfred Differ (on head injury)<br /><br />Traumatic brain injury might just be a fairly apt metaphor to describe the state of the nation. Just add some pageantry to the symptoms. <br /><br />Your story sounds like the start of a thriller. A graduate student scientist discovers a time traveling device and returns from the future to knock himself out. But why? Curious if you were aware/troubled by the change or if you reacted like me and rebooted in denial. Maybe administering regular problem solving assessments in healthcare clinic waiting rooms could be a practical way to gather baseline data to flag dysfunction, tumors, Alzheimer’s etc. <br /><br />Diverging to media:<br /><br />Today thinking about the fake news rash reminded me of the bizarre Q&A session I witnessed with Errol Morris following the screening of his documentary, Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A Leuchter, Jr. If you haven’t seen it you’ll have to look it up for context, but long story short, gullibility was in vogue that night with the MOMA audience. Well-heeled looking people in the audience were raising their hands and offering Morris suggestions with condescending tone on ways to prove that the holocaust really happened and disprove the assertions of his film’s subject, Fred Leuchter. Morris kind of lost his shit after a few of these and yelled something to the extent of, “I do not have to prove to you that holocaust f-ing happened! We know it happened! That’s not what this film is about!” Truly bizarre and disturbing. I wonder if we added the olfactory sense to the auditory and visual of the television...would the audience better recognize the lies and cover ups. <br /><br />On surveillance. Nobody brought up Scanner Darkly scramble suit. I’m still trying to build mine out of a digital projector, a canister of dry ice, a few laser pointers and the same vacuum cleaner motor I used to power the hover craft my buddy and I built using the plans from that Boy’s Life magazine ad. Power is an issue :) <br /><br /><br /><br />Slim Moldiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04804029818709230857noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-63978710940313073382017-01-11T22:24:25.597-08:002017-01-11T22:24:25.597-08:00ChuckE you armwave a fun story... based on absolut...ChuckE you armwave a fun story... based on absolutely nothing. Across 6000 years who oppressed people and ensured that 99% of children never got a chance to compete. In 99% of societies it was feudal inherited oligarchic aristocratic lords. They were also the ones despised by Adam Smith as destroyers of enterprise. Smith recommended civil servants and regulations to keep this greedy feudal cheating to a minimum.<br /><br />Try actually thinking, fellah. The propaganda you absorb and the koolaid you suckle gets you ranting "all givernment is evil!" But who subsidizes that propaganda? The oligarchs who want that old way of life back, when their sons will inherit ownership over your sons.<br /><br />Your "deep state" is a danger, warned of by Orwell etc and I am libertarian enough to fret about it. But historically it aint diddly squat compared to feudal oligarchy. And you march to any drumbeat those lords beat.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67721909873826379252017-01-11T22:20:44.334-08:002017-01-11T22:20:44.334-08:00Our tribes aren’t fixed features, but they are cer...Our tribes aren’t fixed features, but they are certainly resilient. A few cameras won’t be enough to break our inclination to defend those close to us, but erosion is certainly possible.<br /><br />At the risk of sounding like locumranch, it is worth parsing the different definitions of a word commonly used to refer to virtue or grace depending on one’s upbringing. <br /><br />Faith<br /><br />1: An old definition treats this as a verb describing our adherence to something to which we are bound by a pledge or duty or something generally not broken. A close synonym is Loyalty. For example, scientists in a certain field supporting a particular paradigm have faith in it. They are loyal to it. Kuhn’s paradigm shifts, therefore, describe both the loyalty and how it erodes.<br /><br />2: A newer definition treats this more as an estimate of the truthiness of a proposition. Close synonyms are Confidence, Credence, and Belief. For example, do you have faith that 2 and 2 is 4? Are you confident that the stars are other suns? Do you believe climate change is happening? Before Kuhn, we argued paradigm shifts happen when a proposition fails. He showed otherwise. Proposition failure leads to erosion of loyalty which unchecked eventually leads to research into competing paradigms which might win loyal followers. <br /><br />There are a number of other definition groups with their clouds of synonyms and antonyms, but these two are enough to get to the heart of the issue when one asks how many cameras (and microphones!) will be needed to swing opinion. In firmly loyal groups, erosion will have to occur first. We can see this happening slowly with police shootings in the US. Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-5629419314508908722017-01-11T21:03:26.725-08:002017-01-11T21:03:26.725-08:00Donzelion,
I read Kuhn quite a long time ago, but...Donzelion,<br /><br />I read Kuhn quite a long time ago, but I do remember getting the impression from him not that he was rejecting science as a "tribe" of people who value actual truth, but that paradigms can become so entrenched and institutionalized that people think that following one set of procedures rigidly actually is valuing the truth - at which point it becomes Truth, science becomes scientism (science in superficial appearance but not in actual behavior) and comes to share features of a faith. Shifting paradigms shakes up these rigid institutions and gets at least some people rethinking truth and how it is acquired. <br /><br />Our host had brought up the idea of "horizons of inclusion" here before, though I don't think you were here at the time. The idea is in some sense parallel to Kuhn's idea of the paradigm shift. There was a time when a majority of Americans thought of themselves in very ethnic terms. They were Italian-Americans or German-Americans, Irish-Americans or Mexican-Americans. Now there are still some enclaves where that thinking continues, but for much of the country that kind of thinking is just trivia - a bit of color in the family history and that's all. A great many people think of themselves as Americans, and have no problem thinking of people who look very different from themselves or come v=from very different places as their fellow citizens, and some even go beyond to count all of the human race as people worthy of equal dignity.<br /><br />You seem to see tribalism as inevitable and unchanging, and I can't say I blame you. It sure looks that way, but when you closer you see that it is more flexible than that. The prime mover, though, seems to be security. When people feel unsafe, insecure, they will tend to fall back on tribal loyalties and superstitious thinking. Their horizons of inclusion shrink. When times are more secure and prosperous, people feel less threatened and they become more accepting of difference, and their horizons of inclusion widen. <br /><br />What we seem to be seeing here is essentially an end to our sense of security. The stats show that we are safer than ever, but yellow journalism and noisome politicians and business henchmen have perpetuated a false sense of insecurity. That false sense of insecurity leads people to become less inclusive, more narrow, extreme and religious. So much of the current hand-wringing over fact-free voters and fools stupid enough to fall for obvious fakes when those fakes hail from their tribe is an unsurprising result of the competition between our political parties and the businesses that profit from them. Every hellfire and brimstone preacher sets his congregation up for this effect by inuring them if fear. Fear becomes ingrained so much so that they can believe the worst without even bothering to sniff test (Pizzagate!)<br /><br />But if we can get through these times, find ways to shame the fear mongers, it will help to put people's mind more at rest, and those horizons of inclusion can start to expand again. You are right that if millions of people look at millions of cell-phone videos wearing their tribal blinders, all those cameras won't amount to much. But we are a cosmopolitan civilization, and many of our citizens have been rejecting the narrow-minded tribalism of the Grope camp for a long time. I think that the cameras can be used by those people to start shaming the narrow-minded tribalisms into at least keeping quiet. That would allow the system to start repairing some of the damage of the Reagan Era, returning to more prosperous times. <br /><br />I'm not suggesting this is inevitable, but it could happen. :) :/ :( Maybe... Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83921110795173779272017-01-11T20:41:58.407-08:002017-01-11T20:41:58.407-08:00Robert, I think you have it backwards: the night o...Robert, I think you have it backwards: the night of the long knives will be when Trump purges the Deep State neocons who have been against him from day one. That is going to be the first order of business; like they said in Star Wars, these people are too dangerous to be left alive.<br /><br />As for your prediction about Trump inevitably going down, again I think you're underestimating him. I'm sure a year ago you were saying things like: "No way Trump wins the election. He is going down. Fairly soon." The first tactical taboo is: "never underestimate your enemy." Now I may be underestimating the Deep State neocons, but based on their consistent record of failure, I doubt it. Democrats should be cheering on Trump's war to purge this gang of scumbags and criminals from our government, not siding with them, but I guess the grapes are still too sour for that.ChuckE Channoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-65742988018319413732017-01-11T20:41:13.544-08:002017-01-11T20:41:13.544-08:00But, yeah. Scenarios. Got it.But, yeah. Scenarios. Got it.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27880102903763349642017-01-11T20:40:11.143-08:002017-01-11T20:40:11.143-08:00@ Paul SB, I mentioned before that Caligula was a ...@ Paul SB, I mentioned before that Caligula was a Latin nickname which meant 'Little Boot' and so Manicula means 'Little Hand, which is nice because it also has echoes of 'manic' and 'Dracula'.<br /><br />So, Emperor Manicula.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8227544536222117592017-01-11T20:39:39.544-08:002017-01-11T20:39:39.544-08:00Guys... maybe let's have a reflex not to talk,...Guys... maybe let's have a reflex not to talk, um, violent scenarios. Just sayin'David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-10349502288554172082017-01-11T20:35:57.458-08:002017-01-11T20:35:57.458-08:00TCB,
So should we start calling him President Tru...TCB,<br /><br />So should we start calling him President Trumperius? Paul SBnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-84623820637710197892017-01-11T19:08:08.559-08:002017-01-11T19:08:08.559-08:00BTW, Dr. Brin, there's another Trump removal s...BTW, Dr. Brin, there's another Trump removal scenario: "accidentally" shot in crossfire between Secret Service, US Marines, and his sworn Academi guards; replaced (to everyone's surprise) by Emperor Claudius.TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15190385042130914162017-01-11T18:56:34.667-08:002017-01-11T18:56:34.667-08:00Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks has a good take on t...Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks has a good take on the Trump/Putin connection.<br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV0SJo8Z0Cw" rel="nofollow">Do The Russians Have Dirt On Trump?</a> Quoted below, preach it:<br /><br />Cenk Uygur: "It is obvious, that no one acknowledges it now, but they will in two to three years when all this becomes more apparent: [Exxon CEO] Rex Tillerson IS the evidence. So you're wondering, well, how do YOU know he [worked] with the Russians? The Russians had a five hundred BILLION dollar deal with Exxon/Mobil. The sanctions that Obama put into place ended that half a trillion dollar deal. Now, the idea of picking Exxon/Mobil's CEO as Secretary of State is so weird, out of place, out of the ordinary, it doesn't make any sense.<br /><br />"If you want to put him as, for example, Secretary of the Treasury, that would make, eh, MORE sense because he's a business person and maybe he could help there. Secretary of Commerce... Maybe you wanna, you know, really screw over workers, Secretary of Labor. But Secretary of State, Secretary of State is a 'Thank you very much, Russia, we really appreciate your help, so in return we will give you your favorite person'. The guy who runs Russia's oil, largest oil company, says because of the sanctions he's banned from America, he says his main wish is to come back to America and ride motorcycles on our highways with-- Rex Tillerson. He said that before the election.<br /><br />"So Rex Tillerson got an Order, got a medal from Putin! So when you give the guy who has a half a trillion dolar contract with Putin, and whom Putin has given a medal to, the position of Secretary of State when he has NO qualifications and no one would have ever thought of that, that is your evidence that that is a giant thank you gift to the Russians who clearly helped you."<br /><br />"Now, that's not the only reason Hillary Clinton lost the election, I don't think we should redo the election, I'm not..."<br /><br />John Iadarola: "I don't understand why that's even part of the conversation."<br /><br />Cenk Uygur: "I don't engage, people drive me crazy with that stuff. But if you think that the Russians didn't help Trump-- 'And there's no evidence, WHY? Pfft I dunno what you're talk, I never!' and all these intelligence officials are all making it up, they're all part of some global conspiracy, then why the hell did he put Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State? Wakey wakey!"TCBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08153506222271955110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-77077597117525066892017-01-11T18:30:11.465-08:002017-01-11T18:30:11.465-08:00Dr Brin:
Jumper: "There are two most-likely ...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />Jumper: "There are two most-likely ways Trump will exit the stage. One is resignation"<br /><br />Three. Impeachment ...<br />Resignation ...<br />and<br />The 25th amendment...<br /></i><br /><br />I took Jumper's other most-likely way to be along the lines of "Will no one rid me of this troublesome president?!"<br /><br /><br />LarryHartnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-53764716854743372542017-01-11T18:22:02.537-08:002017-01-11T18:22:02.537-08:00Dr. Brin: "But knowing Trump, is it really im...Dr. Brin: <i>"But knowing Trump, is it really impossible [that he's blackmailing Pence]?"</i>'<br /><br />Hmmm, which part of that is sci-fi? Don't we need some alien/android overlords pulling the strings somewhere? (Or am I being naive by assuming Koch & Friends are part of 'my tribe' - even if they're not exactly a part I care much for...) ;-)donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-52629565908692335812017-01-11T18:13:03.190-08:002017-01-11T18:13:03.190-08:00LarryHart: "When the "other" tribes...LarryHart: <i>"When the "other" tribes are perceived to be an existential threat to your own, then obstruction of the other's goal becomes paramount--actually becomes more important (to your own survival) than pursuit of truth. This is a completely rational way of perceiving the world."</i><br /><br />Perhaps, and if so, how can sousveillance help us? If I see a million cameras showing people on the streets, doing their own thing with their families, pretty much the same way my family is doing it - I'm as likely to ignore all of that and look at the one passage in the one textbook that suggests it's all a lie, or part of some plot. Notwithstanding what I can see of their behavior, I can interpret an existential threat and take action to protect myself from it (by expelling people, and thereby creating new facts, which others see and respond to in turn...).<br />donzelionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05991849781932619746noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62509685304299485422017-01-11T17:56:46.381-08:002017-01-11T17:56:46.381-08:00donzelion the scenarios in which the GOP removes D...donzelion the scenarios in which the GOP removes DT are all assuming that Pence -- an eager Koch-Murdoch shill -- would step in. My sci fi thriller plot twist (that's very unlikely in real life) is that DT has protected himself by having blackmail on Pence. Perhaps even very recently as in: "Step in the next room for some pictures, Mike, and I'll make you my VP." Sure, it's a silly story! But knowing Trump, is it really impossible?<br /><br />Jumper: "There are two most-likely ways Trump will exit the stage. One is resignation"<br /><br />Three. Impeachment if he acts crazy ==> Pence<br />Resignation if he acts crazy ==> Pence<br />and<br />The 25th amendment in which all the Koch-Murdoch-Bush-Cheney boys DT has appointed turn on him and make Pence Acting President. Read the 25th! It does not take into account an adversarial situation! The Prez and VP can send alternating letters to Congress once per day, or hour or even minute!<br /><br />DT might only appoint SC justices he can blackmail, too!<br /><br />====<br />BTW Chuck... and any GOP lurkers, can you name one of the apocalyptic predictions about president Obama that came true? DHS internment camps? UN black helicopters? Swarms of henchmen confiscating guns? Forced abortions?<br /><br />nd there's no embarrassment over there? None at all?David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.com