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Friday, November 01, 2024

Meme-images for your semi-sane and residually honorable MAGA

Swamped with patent disclosures, podcasts and the Great Big AI Panic of 2024. And just learned the H1N5 bird flu may be nastier soon! (😟check your supplies.) Also, I appear to be more optimistic than most... and most of you have voted already. 

Still, I gotta do what I can, offering you some final, concise leverage. Not for your hopeless MAGA-Putinist uncle. But maybe his worried wife, your residually-sane aunt.  

What leverage?  Why... punchy jpegs, of course! 


   == Ammo Images that might sway... ==


How can anyone still sway to the hypnotism...

...of a face drenched in makeup and dripping hair dye?   

But OK. Let's start with a simple question.  

             Who are his enemies and who are his friends? 

ONE sentence ought to settle everything:

                                                     

Two Defense Secretaries. Two chiefs of staff. His Attorney General. His National Security Advisor & Secretary of State. His domestic policy head. Chair of the Joint Chiefs. Two communications directors. His Vice President plus 250 more.

Make your MAGA see this jpeg! ==>


All of them were HIS choices. Whom he called "Great Guys!"... who are now denouncing him as a horror-calamity and lethal stooge of foreign enemies.

 

At minimum, he's a terrible judge of character! (Who fell 'in love' with Kim Jong Un.) 


But don't worry. In Trump II he's promised there will be no adults at all.


Examples: James Mattis, Marine General(ret), Trump’s 1st Defense Secretary: “Donald Trump is the first president in my life who didn't even pretend to try to unite the American people. He tries to divide us.”

Mark Esper, Trump’s 2nd Defense Secretary: “I believe he is a threat to democracy.”

John Kelly, Marine General(ret), Trump’s 2nd White House Chief of Staff: “He often said‘Hitler did good things, too.’”

Ask Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley +Admiral McRaven +250 other officers!  

 Ask nearly all scientists.

Ask counter insurgency experts about “ex” commissar Putin’s long puppet strings.


But Don does have friends!

Here they are!==>

Have your MAGA zoom in and explain this.



== But... but isn't Trump the agent of God? ==

Such a Christian! Though if he ever willingly chose church over golf, no one has seen it. Here's one time he had to show up. And this one image says it all.


There's a hilarious and sad video of him mouthing-along while trying to recite the famous and well-known 23rd Psalm with worshippers and giving up after "He leadeth me.."  Too lazy even to memorize a couple of passages for show, he still after all these years, refuses to name a favorite passage. 
"It's too personal."  Riiiiight.

But then... some evangelicals can see all that! So they switch to the "Cyrus" argument. Like the King of the Medes who freed the people of Judah from Babylon, Trump is a 'righteous gentile!' A pagan who serves God by actions & deeds! 

(How? By destroying America and democracy and serving Moscow? But we'll get to that.)

Huh. Some servant of God. The most opposite-to-Jesus human any of us ever saw typifies every Deadly Sin! (Have your MAGA recite them aloud and NOT see Trump as the archetype!) 

Look, I don't credit the Book of Revelation. (Though all of you should know it! See the comic book version Apocamon; I mean it. You truly need to see what some of your neighbors wish and plan for you!) 

Still, there is a recurring character in that nightmare tome who DT resembles. I'm not talking about the Lamb of God. The character's name starts with "auntie" or "the Anti --" and Trump fits every described characteristic.  To a T.


== Is it the Economy, Stupid? ==

A problem with good times... folks soon take it for granted. Unemployment was the big issue. 
But after clawing our way out of the Covid Recession and Supply Chain inflation (nearly all economists blame Trump for worsening those) the 2021 stimulus bills worked!

Infrastructure - bridges etc. - are being fixed! Unemployment has stayed at the lowest level since the early 60s. We're in the best US economy since WWII.

Inflation? What? Ask your MAGA to step up NOW with wager stakes and bet which two nations have had the LOWEST inflation in the Industrial world for 3 years! 

(Hint, it's the US and Japan.)


 


Then why so grumpy?   Because Fox rants at fools to enjoy sanctimonious grumpiness! It's more fun than accepting the truth... that you are mesmerized by an echo chamber and Nuremberg Rally, with one central goal...

... to hate facts and fact professions & the damn, dry statistics.

But let's make it a wager. Assert the following and demand your MAGAs step up (like men) with cash stakes on the table:


EVERY Democratic Administration was more fiscally responsible regarding debt and deficits than EVERY Republican administration. 

In fact, most Democratic administrations had by far better economic outcomes across the board, for everyone except oligarchs and inheritance brats, who ALWAYS do vastly better under the GOP. Demand wagers!

But this is the biggie. The USA is undergoing the greatest boom in MANUFACTURING since the Second World War.  

That is unambiguous. Democrats did it.


== Climate Change ==

Nothing better illustrates the agenda of the GOP masters than fostering all-out war vs ALL fact using professions, from science, teaching, medicine, law and civil service to the heroes of the FBI/Intel/Military officer corps who won the Cold War and the War on terror.  
"Hate the FBI!" is the most amazing and dangerous in the near term, but the anti-science campaign is core, over the long run.

Dig it. They're not attacking science in order to make $$ by delaying action on climate disaster. It's the reverse. They use climate denialism as one of many tools to attack all scientists and undermine trust in science

Why? Oligarchs can't restore 6000 years of insipid feudalism til they castrate all fact professions. But more on that elsewhere.

The crisis over our endangered EARTH is a vast subject! But this posting is about last minute, punchy capsules. So use this: Foxites flee in panic when you mention OCEAN ACIDIFICATION, which is unambiguously killing the seas our children will need and can only be caused by CO2 pollution. How they run from those two words.

Alas, instead of giving credit to the genius meteorologists who now predict hurricane paths within a few miles FIVE DAYS in advance, jibberers yammer: "They cause hurricanes!"

WHO is 'they?'  No, never mind that. You said it when earthquakes hit California. Recognize God's wrath when you feel it...


== Ukraine and NATO and Putin ==

Seriously? Who do you think Ronald Reagan would side with? The barely changed Kremlin and relabeled KGB, run by "ex" commissars who all grew up reciting Leninist catechisms? Who are now re-nationalizing all Russian businesses, crushing dissent and rebuilding the USSR?


Um, can anyone with a trace of fairness in their hearts not root for and support the attacked Ukrainian underdogs? And say "Damn Putin and his fellow tyrants!"

Dig it: NATO is now stronger than ever since 1946! Putin is fighting for his own murderous, richest-man-in-the-world life, desperate to get Trump into the Oval Office. It's his one hope.

LOOK at Trump's pals! At the expressions on their faces. Zoom in.


Can any of your neighbors who support Putin call anyone ELSE a 'commie'?


== Memory Lane ==


And wager NOW over the different death rates of the vaccinated vs. the un-vaccinated.  Death rates are simple. Even the reddest state suppies stats on that. And there's no ambiguity at all. Fox is trying to kill you.


== Immigration ==

But what about immigration? Well, surprise? I'll sorta half give you that one!

It's a vexing problem and the farthest left has not been helpful. They refuse to see how Putin and other tyrants have herded poor refugees into Europe and America, knowing it will push potitics in those countries to the right.  And it has even worked on U.S. Hispanics, who poll overwhelmingly wanting tighter borders.

Look, you may not like facing it, but Putin's strategy here has worked! And if you lefties want the power to do good, YOU are gonna have to prioritize. Compromise.

But this is not a Bill Maher screed aimed at woke-ist betrayals of the only coalition that can save the world. Later.

It is about far-worse MAGA lunacy. And what could be more lunatic than Trump ordering the GOP - last January - to torpedo the Immigration Bill they had just finished negotiating! 

That bill would have majorly increased the Border Patrol, plus internal tracking of refugee claimants and would have built more wall by now than the entire Trump presidency!

Now why would he do that? Simple. Going back generations before Trump & Putin took over the Republican Party, the GOP's master oligarchs loved cheap labor!

You just think about that now.

P.S. If a time comes when Republicans reject the madness and corruption that skyrocketed in the GOP since Dennis 'friend to boys" Hastert, and choose instead to return to political negotiation, moderate dems will race to work out incremental steps to mix pragmatic border security with helping refugees return safely to their improved home countries... with living by the American tradition (and biblical injunction) of kindness to legitimate newcomers.


== Again  - the most-effective single sentence is... ==


"ALL of the honest adults who served under Trump now denounce him."             

Earlier I showed former Trumpists who were admirable to some degree, and now denounce him. Now gaze at some more! Though some of these weren't quite as admirable as the 1st bunch. ==>

Still, these guys at least want the USA to survive! If only because it's where they keep their best stuff. Hypocrites some of them? I prefer the first set! Still, we need all the help...

On the other hand, THIS is a Republican we can all respect! (below):



== So what about fascism? ==

Seriously? This is an issue?

My Dad beat up f--ng Nazis in Chicago in the 1930s, when they marched both for Hitler and for the spectacularly misnamed "America First."  I know f--ng Nazis when I see em! And even if Trump isn't one by strict definition*...
   ... all the current American Nazis think he is! And they love him.


* But of course... he is.


== The endless lies ==

I notoriously demand WAGERS over all the lies! e.g. ANY randomly chosen 5 minute segment of any Trump speech! Put it before a randomly-chosen panel of low-political retired, senior military officers! 

I have a long list (dropped into comments*) of wager challenges. And not one MAGA in ten years has ever had the manly guts or confidence to step up with $$$ atty-escrowed stakes. Not one, ever. Weenie no-cojone cowards.

But let's start with Trump's endless promises to prove Obama was born in Kenya, or the mythical promise of a "Great Health Plan to replace Obamacare! I'll unveil it next week!" And then the next week and the next, for year after year after year... 

...and MAGAs never ask "Um, well?"


Or releasing "My great financials!" Or "I'll proudly release my tax returns when the IRS is done auditing!" Except the audits were a myth!  Or his college transcripts. Or the bone spur xrays. Or the fecal spew of lies during covid.

What we DO have is at least 20 copies of the Honolulu Advertiser from 1962 that folks have found in attics and garages all over Hawaii, with a birth announcement for Barack Obama. But any retraction or shame from ol' Two Scoops? Never.

There's a reason...

<==Declassify the "we fell in love!" notes from Kim! 

Then there's the biggest damn lie of them all...





== And heck, let's give you some more! ==

Do I have an ulterior motive, in dumping upon you this tsunami of jpegs? I mean other than hoping that a few of you will use them to help save the nation and world?

Hey I am over 70 and pushing 'clippings' at the young is what we farts do! ;-0

 But still... I am angry at MAGA crapheads dumping on Tim Walz, a 25 year veteran who trained hundreds of young troops with patience that made him beloved... as with 20 years of high school civics students... and the teams he coached to state championships... and so much more. (The Putin servants searched for ONE former student they could bribe to denounce Walz; even one.) 

A command sergeant major whose shoes you lying bastards aren't fit to...

   Like this good man who served and still does ==>    

(Calm David. You promised 'malice toward none..." Sure, after we save America in this 8th phase of the recurring civil war.)

In contrast to real men... we have this cringing, face-painted carnival barker... zoom in!

The colors are un-altered.






== Miscellaneous Adds! ==

Okay I'll conclude by dumping in a few more. Use whatever you like! MAKE the redeemable/reachable... if you know any... zoom in and see and then snap out of the trance! 





...and a few may even hear the call of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt and even Reagan... realizing they must help rescue the Republican Party from treasonous madness. (LOOK below.)


And remember, Dems ALWAYS do better vs deficits and with almost every economic indicator...









Finally, Here's my biggest effort at supplying political tactics that might have ended this phase of the US Civil War decisively, in 2020, instead of merely getting a Gettysburg - vital(!) but requiring us to keep fighting the same monster.  May this year be Appomattox! Followed by "Malice toward none and charity for all..."

...and an America that leads a consensus-wiser world toward freedom, hope, and the stars.

Polemical Judo


.........  And in the words of Tiny Tim... God bless us, one and all...


================

================


Oh, I oughta give originator credit lines for every single one of these jpegs!  It's a modern problem. Almost none of the postings I took them from had credits, either!  This is one thing I expect AI to solve and soon.  May they be Machines of Loving Grace.


51 comments:

  1. I did some statistical analyses on the last 50 years of partisan control of presidency/house/senate vs the resulting change in a variety of econ variables.

    Result: The data is sparse, but the trend is that more Republicans in control lead to worse outcomes for inflation and unemployment.

    https://www.someweekendreading.blog/parties-econ/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dr Brin, in the last post you asked if anyone had a link for the 2000 Brooks Bros riot. The image at this link might be what you are looking for; it IDs the operatives in the famous photo: https://www.voluntownpeacetrust.org/a-peace-of-history-blog/disrupting-the-ballot-count-20002020
    Here's Rachel Maddow on the same event: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=ji_k0iORUZg

    I was on vacation so I wasn't able to respond to a troll who showed up a few threads back to say that Biden is old (duh) and there was a coup (bullshit). I would like to point out for the record that Joe had enough delegates to be the nominee, and those delegates were obligated to vote for him at the convention. So the ONLY person who could *force* Joe to drop out was... Joe Biden. A "coup" (as the term is usually defined) was impossible. It is a huge leap to get from "persuaded he could not win" to "there was a coup!".

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Might’ve been a bot a few threads back, though without more comments from ‘Spencer’ there’d be no way of knowing.

      Delete
  3. Perhaps DT does recite the entire Lord’s Prayer— backwards.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Not a Trump appointee but, since his time, it seems you should have been referring to SCJ Alito as 'Sir Sam', as he was made a member of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George (a German honor) in 2017.
    I gather the Constitution says this is a definite no-no.
    Not so much a hedge knight as a bench knight.

    ReplyDelete
  5. David, thank you for putting this together. I've been following your posts and your seemingly endless challenges that never get accepted. Let's hope this keeps the orange creepster our of office once and for all. It's an extremely disturbing time to be alive.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You may want to fix the James Mattis quote in your article, it seems to be missing a word (I think it is supposed to be won't even):

    Examples: James Mattis, Marine General(ret), Trump’s 1st Defense Secretary: “Donald Trump is the first president in my life who even pretend to try to unite the American people. He tries to divide us.”

    ReplyDelete
  7. Excellent! I'm sharing.
    "He leadeth me..." Is the 23rd Psalm, not the Lord's Prayer.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Arnold, David, John (Scalzi), Randall (Munro) and Taylor are all endorsing Kamala; how can we lose?

    In answer, the Wayback Machine heads to 1952 for the Eisenhower vs. Stevenson election:

    "Adlai, every thinking person in America will vote for you!"
    "Yes, but I need a majority."

    Pappenheimer

    ReplyDelete
  9. I had to look this up to ensure it wasn't from the Onion or some other satire site, but the Trump Campaign was offering (until recently) "Latter-Day Saints for Trump" coffee mugs and beer cozies.

    OK, then..

    ReplyDelete
  10. "Not a Trump appointee but ..."
    Gloria von Thurn und Taxis is another living reason why we should have disowned all nobles after 1919. At least, we tried. Sigh.

    And of course she is a Russian Propaganda outlet and has people like Steve Bannon in her circle of acquaintances.

    ReplyDelete
  11. From that article:

    "Article I, Section 9 of the United States Constitution reads, in relevant part:

    No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

    That’s why when you hear of some famous politician getting knighted or some other play title, it’s always after they retire."

    Perhaps 'Sir Sam' is preparing an announcement?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Perhaps 'Sir Sam' is preparing an announcement?

      I'm sure he'll soon instruct us that that clause is not self-executing, or some crap like that.

      Delete
    2. The obvious out is 'consent from Congress'. Maybe then Speaker Ryan gave Sir Sam the nod while attending the same ceremony?

      An entertaining pageant

      Delete
  12. Stonekettle on Threads:

    https://www.threads.net/@stonekettle

    I don't have much use for Liz Cheney and as a Iraq veteran I utterly despise her father to a degree that you likely cannot imagine. Seriously, you will never know just how much I detest that fucking despicable monster.

    And I would willingly vote for Dick Cheney if he was my only alternative to Trump. I absolutely would. I'd goddamn go do it. Because that's how much I think we need to keep Trump the hell out of office forever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://www.threads.net/@stonekettle

      The Press will not save us, because there's no profit in it

      Congress will not save us, because they're the problem

      The Court will not save us, because they're bought and paid for

      The Military will not save us, because it's not their job

      The sports stars, movies stars, pop stars, will not save us

      The billionaires will not save us

      Business will not save us

      The Protestors will not save us

      The 2nd Amendment will not save us

      In the end, we're going to have to save ourselves. So show up.

      Delete
  13. Harry Chapin.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US82GS9PCIk

    "Oh, I used to have a country once, but where it's gone, I do not know."
    "Where do you think you might have lost it?"
    "And I used to raise the flag at dawn, but that was very long ago."
    "Maybe you can find it where you tossed it."

    ReplyDelete
  14. Grasping at straws.
    WaPo: Trump, Musk, and Mars.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/10/27/trump-musk-mars/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. “We will land an American astronaut on Mars,” Trump vowed at a rally Oct. 19 in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. “Get ready, Elon, get ready. We gotta land it, we gotta do it quickly.”


      Back in the 60s, JFK promised to land a man on the moon and return him safely to earth." I notice Trump doesn't care about that last part.

      I'd be happy to send a few MAGAstronauts to Mars on a one-way trip.

      Delete
    2. Maybe he meant a droid would land on Mars. Almost certainly such wasn’t what he was thinking of; but one never knows what Trump is thinking: he’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma.
      However, his Foreign Policy is so bad, there wouldn’t be enough of an America left to go to the Moon or Mars, or anywhere else.
      Is there any doubt if that?

      Delete
  15. Re stonekettle: Well, duh? Cheney robbed and killed for American oligarchs, not for the Kremlin. And he satiably wants the USA to survive, if only because it's where he keeps his stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  16. "....but one never knows what Trump is thinking: he’s a riddle wrapped in an enigma."

    To crib from S. Holmes: "Once you have eliminated the rational and logical, whatever remains, no matter how ridiculous, must be the truth."

    Id est, it's a waste of time to follow the rumpT's 'thought' processes, though I'd allow one overriding principle - whatever is done, he must profit and another must lose.

    Pappenheimer, who wasted ten minutes of his life trying to convince a co-worker that the whole "buy Greenland" thing would a) go nowhere and b) was not some 5-dimensional chess move of rumpTian genius.

    P.S. iirc, Kornbluth's "Marching Morons" ended with a 'final solution' very similar to sending MAGA to Mars, but the people who agreed to and implemented it also packed up the Madison Ave ad guy sociopathic enough to come up with the idea and sent him along for the ride to Venus. If memory serves, science had only recently discovered the true nature of the Venusian surface...

    ReplyDelete
  17. The motive for Greenland was to plant his face on the map, as well as Mt. Rushmore. The so-telling insipid stoopidity was trying to buy from Denmark. Anyone with a lick of sense would have offered to bribe 51% of the native Greenlanders with cash, jobs and promises, if they hold a referendum. It would likely have totally worked! What? $10,000 each to 40,000 people... and only $1000 in advance? He and some pals coulda swung it and stuck the USA with the rest of the obligation.

    Woulda worked. Glad he was too dumb.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Yes, that was telling - the people who actually lived there didn't count, he wanted to deal with the owners. I think there was some talk about swapping Puerto Rico for Greenland...or maybe that was for laughs - (quick, to the Google!) Oh Holy Loki, he suggested it. That might make sense if rumpT thought Greenland was full of blonde, blue-eyed Danes?

    Pappenheimer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Or if he thought Denmark would see any value in a "trash heap floating in the ocean" thousands of miles away.

      Delete
    2. Actually, the Danes already sold you some islands ...

      Delete
  19. Dr Brin:

    The so-telling insipid stoopidity was trying to buy [Greenland] from Denmark. Anyone with a lick of sense would have offered to bribe 51% of the native Greenlanders with cash, jobs and promises,


    Back on the old Cerebus list, I once argued something similar about 1948 Israel. In hindsight, the whole "Jewish gold for worthless land," thing blew up because Jews bought the land from (mainly) expatriate landowners and then evicted the Palestinians who lived there. Had they instead bought off the tenants to willingly relocate, history might have been kinder.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Speaking of Israel...
    Not too long after the Greenland fiasco, rumpT actually suggested offering the West Bank to Jordan, as if the West Bank was his to offer. Apparently, when King Abdullah II heard about this, he suddenly couldn't breathe and thought he was having a heart attack.

    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/09/donald-trump-greenland-puerto-rico?srsltid=AfmBOopbkw1fQAH5HKD2v5en34wgBe6r1373nfAdKwpGdUOX_hWoayUA

    And this person is polling nearly neck and neck with a normal politician.

    Pappenheimer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ...polling nearly neck and neck...
      I'm as nervous as the next guy, but more about the ways Republicans plan to cheat than about the relative popularity of the candidates.

      Polls are now a partisan tool to try to gin up support or scare off opposition. Even the betting odds--once seen as more accurate because people are risking actual money--are easily manipulated by billionaires who are willing to lose a few million to give their candidate a veneer of momentum.

      No point in asserting at this point what we'll know in a few days about the actual vote totals. But my point is, polls don't mean crap. They're a very imperfect attempt at prediction, much like all the statistical analysis to determine who will win the Super Bowl or World Series before the respective seasons even begin. The probability waveform of the election will collapse on or soon after Guy Fawkes Day, and the polls--whatever "the polls" is supposed to mean, since they are not officially conducted, organized, or regulated--are all but meaningless ahead of that.

      Delete
  21. Larry,

    No argument about polls, but it is certain that a huge swath of America is willing to vote for a racist real estate con man, adjudicated rapist/convicted felon, and (by my judgment) kleptocratic neofascist. That in itself has me worrying if I should have spent the summer getting passports for my family, particularly my trans daughter and her spouse.

    Pappenheimer

    ReplyDelete
  22. Did I post this already? Re 'emouments." --- While the Alito thing is disgusting and Trump’s tsunami of foreign emoluments is treasonous and outrageous, there is a gift-emolument loophole that ALL presidents use. When they establish a Presidential Library (worship museum), they then ‘borrow’ from the archives and Smithsonian many of the ‘gifts’ they received from foreign potentates that by law belong to the USA and not them, personally. Borrowed to be put on display for all visitors to enjoy. Saw some spectacular jewelry from the Saudis in the Bush Museum, for example.

    Sure, the Bushes ‘own’ none of it. But the distinction is kinda theoretical.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The thought of a "Donald J Trump Presidential Library" is...

      I don't know how to finish that sentence.

      Delete
  23. Just realized that, historically speaking, "kleptocratic fascist" is redundant, and that "kleptocratic neofascist" doubly so. The Nazi party upper rank was full of nest-featherers busy filling Swiss bank accounts and deposit boxes with loot.

    Pappenheimer

    ReplyDelete
  24. Pappenheimer @ 2:18

    one overriding principle - whatever is done, he must profit and another must lose

    Many years ago, I kept a tiny amateur sports club alive when a malignant narcissist tried to destroy it (by setting up a rival club, and sucking as much of the membership as he could out of ours) once the membership voted against giving him unlimited authority.

    I remember him putting a motion to the overarching association for the sport in our area, and carefully briefing our delegate with a couple of questions about possible specifics (like timeframes).

    "But that's ridiculous. No one could expect that."

    "So let's confirm, then, before voting on the motion."

    At our next Committee Meeting: "Yes. That's indeed what he intended. How could you have IMAGINED that interpretation from the draft."

    "X is a win-lose negotiator, because of his ego, and other people losing is often more important to him than his side winning. I parse everything X proposes through the lens of 'how can this hurt us (in particular), and everybody else (in general)'."

    I don't think ex-President Trump is as calculating as X, but I DO think he has the same general attitude.

    ReplyDelete
  25. When our fine host talks about 'Faith in Science', he talks nonsense as the term 'faith' is best defined as a strong, unshakeable belief in something lacking in either proof or evidence, whereas the term 'science' refers only to those things which can be empirically proven.

    So, F your 'faith' and give us proof instead:

    Prove that FBI/Intel/Military officer corps actually did what you say they did through blanket declassification of all those juicy top-secret documents, starting with the JFK assassination & ending with the Nord Stream pipeline;

    Prove that all those congressional 'smart people' and entrenched deep state bureaucratic operatives haven't misused their authority to enrich themselves at the taxpayer expense;

    Prove to us that our Justice Systems have not degenerated into mere Legal Systems corrupted by tribal affiliation, technicality & trivia; and

    Present to us incontrovertible evidence that Kamala's cut-rate communism will generate better results than the Donald's ferengi-style capitalism.

    In terms of so-called 'benefits' of Unrestricted Immigration, we now know that the EU & US fact-using elites have been gaslighting and lying to their citizenry from Day #1, leading to a most scientific 'loss of faith' in their leadership.

    Faith, he says, when these lying 'fact-users' tell us whopper after whopper, devaluing our currencies & issuing false jobs reports, only to piss down our backs and tell us that it's just raining.

    Forget about faith:

    It is SCIENCE that we now hate & distrust our lying leadership castes.


    Best

    ReplyDelete
  26. Because he comes seldom, I did skim L's latest. Alas, I found almost not a single sentence that is even remotely related to sapience. Each is based upon a PREMISE that is jibberingly insane at worst and at-best simply counterfactual. Most demand that I DISprove an assertion that is so incredibly insane that - well - the burden of proof is on the insane assertion.

    But I'll look at one of them at random:

    "Present to us incontrovertible evidence that Kamala's cut-rate communism will generate better results than the Donald's ferengi-style capitalism."

    Competitive market enterprise ALWAYS does better across democratic administrations. That is always, always, always, always, always, always, and always. Economic outcomes are always better (except when Carter had to cure Vietnam calamities). Dems are always, always, always better at debt and deficits. I'll bet my house.

    After 40 years of Supply Side promises that tax cuts for oligarchs would be invested in US industry (it never, ever ever happened) within a couple of MONTHS after the Pelosi Infrastructure Bill, America commenced the most rapid re-industrialization since WWII. US manufacturing is skyrocketing amid vast market competition. STEP UP AT LONG LAST WITH WAGER STAKES over any of that, at long last, you dismal coward.

    "Communism" my shiny metal ass. See the actual figures in the posting above this comments section.

    "Ferengi style capitalism"? You mean cheating/collusive market ruination by lordly looters as in a cheap Ayn Rand novel and obeisance on his knees before Putin's 5000 "ex" commissars. YOU are the commie, Kremlin boy.

    I won't deign any others. They are all raving spittle.

    ReplyDelete
  27. " "Communism" my shiny metal ass."

    Aha, the game is up. You ARE a robot sent back from the future, Dr. Brin. Except, why would they send back Bender? Oh, wait he's actually Mexican...this is a future Mexican self-defense move!

    Pappenheimer

    P.S. Should I review Loc to find out what they are on about now? I mean, this is NaNoWriMo and I should be working.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been sober for almost 13 months now.

      Delete
  28. Dropped a couple of zeros in my calculations
    Here is a corrected version
    Right
    We have a habitat (even number of starships spinning on tethers) in Mars orbit
    We have throwing machines on Phobos/Deimos supplying raw materials
    We have lots of mirrors and solar panels providing lots of solar power
    How do we turn this into a business??
    We need to be able to ship material - raw and processed - from here to Earth orbit where it can be used by the stations in earth orbit or even back on earth
    What is the cheapest way to "ship" from Mars orbit to Earth orbit - 4km/sec
    I'm thinking centrifugal throwers - at least two so they can rotate in opposite directions
    SpinLaunch is talking about 2 km/sec - and that's on earth with gravity and having to have a vacuum!
    Lets up the ante a bit - 6km/sec6 km/sec would require a mass ratio of about 5
    We use the material from Deimos/Phobos - put the good stuff to one side and turn the rest into balls - say 1kg each
    We are throwing them at 6km/sec - so 18 million Joules per ball 
    Let's have 3000 tons of vehicle and payload - 15,000 tons of balls to throw - at 180,000 million Joules per ton -
    a total energy of  2,700,000,000 Mega Joules
    We take 8 weeks to accelerate - call it four million seconds - so we need an acceleration of 1mm/second squared
    -  2,700,000,000 MegaJoules over 4 million seconds is 675 MegaWatts -
    Solar Panels - 1000,000 square meters or a square 1000 meters on a side that's quite a lot - but doable as our solar panels (and reflectors) don't have to resist high accelerations! 1/10,000th of a "G"
    Simple "ball thrower" Four arms each 100 meters long - spinning at 600 rpm - the ends are doing our 6km/sec    15,000,000 balls - over 4 million seconds is 3.75 balls per second
    Two four armed ball throwers - (need two to react against each other) - so each arm is fed with one ball every 0.5 seconds
    The balls roll to the end of the arms and are released at the correct time
    Centrifugal force - That gives 36 tons centrifugal force from each ball at the end of the arm - sounds doable
    A "Dirt Powered" rocket!
    Update rotating at 600 rpm and releasing a "ball" every half seconds sounds suboptimal!
    Each arm should release a "ball" every time it goes around
    So rather than using 1kg balls we should use 50 gram "balls" 

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  29. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/31/opinion/trump-musk-mike-johnson.html

    Do you know this widely cited meme, introduced in a 2015 tweet?

    “I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

    It’s hard to explain why this is perfect, but it is. If Donald Trump wins, there will eventually be a lot of sobbing among people who voted for him.
    ...
    If he wins, many Trump voters are likely to experience buyer’s remorse.

    Will they express their disappointment at the ballot box in 2028? They will if they can. But that assumes a free and fair election. Trump has given us plenty of reason to believe that if he wins, 2024 may be the last time America has anything resembling that.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, Lordy, let there be UN observers.

      Delete
  30. Not in TN, apparently.
    "Five states plus the District of Columbia explicitly refer to international observers in statute. All except Tennessee do so to permit international election observers; Tennessee prohibits them."

    Not that Tennessee is a swing state. This may not be a coincidence.

    Pappenheimer

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  31. Just a shout out tonight to General Braxton Bragg, for his great service in ensuring a Confederate defeat and preservation of the United States. (I should have saved this post for Nov 23-25, the dates of his most enduring contribution; the Battle of Chattanooga). Perhaps the US Army was right in naming a Fort after him....

    Pappenheimer

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  32. "for his great service in ensuring a Confederate defeat". Let us not forget John Bell Hood: the only general to destroy an army - his own (Battles of Franklin and Nashville).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not to mention his august colleague, Jubilation T Cornpone, limned musically in Lil' Abner:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wsep-_M03AA

      Delete
  33. I do agree that naming forts after Bragg & Hood must have been someone's idea of a dig. But now that l'l Abner song is in my head. dang!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now, I've got Julie Newmar in my head.

      Delete
    2. Larry, you make that sound like a bad thing.

      Delete
  34. Best explanation as to why Harris will win by an EC landslide:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVSZ9RALSjs

    We are now in the Post-Roe electorate.

    The women's vote is crushing both Trump and the GOP;

    We are basically a 40:40:20 country.

    40% Dem, 40% GOP, 20% Ind.

    The vast majority of Independents are breaking for Harris.

    So are the Nicki Haley voters.

    So are women of all ages, races and economic groups.

    With that she can win every swing state, and threaten the GOP in Iowa, Ohio, Texas and Florida. (She's ahead in Iowa!?!? WTF!?!?)

    After this election, these four states become the new battleground states, the current battle ground states become blue.

    The GOP banked everything on young men coming out to vote for Trump.

    IOW, the GOP depended on the demographic that was least likely to vote.

    They are nowhere to be found.

    They're at home playing video games and watching porn instead of voting.

    P.S. Excellent explanation by Scot Galloway as to why young men are turning conservative:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzLmznS91kM

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  35. I agree re the odds for a welcome outcome. But those are only odds and I am still deeply worried.

    onward

    onward

    ReplyDelete