tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post1729382532345963317..comments2024-03-29T00:39:31.629-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: Mueller FundamentalsDavid Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-67738220628892878052019-04-25T13:29:58.734-07:002019-04-25T13:29:58.734-07:00onward
onwardonward<br /><br />onwardDavid Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-68564767242269515882019-04-25T13:29:22.912-07:002019-04-25T13:29:22.912-07:00TimH “I can't agree, we and the United Kingdom...TimH “I can't agree, we and the United Kingdom have both been subjected to a half-assed creative destruction, with the destruction perfected and the creation still not ready for beta. Both Nations have been subject to long term efforts to destroy the political power of organized labor.”<br /><br />I wasn’t talking policy, but Stross’s diagnosis about the political caste in Britain.<br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78385498699448156722019-04-25T13:24:54.592-07:002019-04-25T13:24:54.592-07:00For the record, I'm on board with Clinton'...For the record, I'm on board with Clinton's approach to hearings that she described in her op-ed yesterday. I'm persuaded.Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81110688581015692232019-04-25T13:22:54.544-07:002019-04-25T13:22:54.544-07:00poor locum. He knows he is jibbering loony and ins...poor locum. He knows he is jibbering loony and insists that means we must be. I skimmed, but there were no even-glancing overlaps with actual reality that could even be argued with. Every single thing was (a) opposite to true... except (b) true about what he sees in the mirror.<br /><br />Pee Wee answered him best.<br /><br />David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-1567521363800571522019-04-25T13:22:14.691-07:002019-04-25T13:22:14.691-07:00I used to think one of the women working for my em...I used to think one of the women working for my employer was such a nice person until I learned she was a hockey fan. I had to make a few adjustments to my mental model of her after that. I still like her, but I'm a bit more cautious around her. Now I have a term that helps me explain why. "skatey-punchy" Very cool.<br /><br />Early in my father's USAF career he spent some time in Alaska (before Statehood) and got to encounter the local wildlife. As a young boy, he related two stories. One involved a big brown bear where both were about equally scared of each other and backed away. The other involved the noble antler cow which wasn't a damn bit scared of anything. Pee your pants primate and then back away!<br /><br />We need good neighbors to poke fun at us. I have to wonder what the Mexican equivalents are now. 8)Alfred Differhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01170159981105973192noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62031453247894413532019-04-25T13:10:30.566-07:002019-04-25T13:10:30.566-07:00Wow, locumranch. What utter, gibbering nonsense.
...Wow, locumranch. What utter, gibbering nonsense.<br /><br />The Census is to count the number of people in our country. Period. It has practically nothing to do with "the US Democratic process."<br /><br />Yes, it helps determine how many representatives a state gets in the House. But until the Constitution specifies that only citizens get counted, then it doesn't matter if they are citizens or not. So what are you talking about?<br /><br />And, seriously, do you actually expect people who are here illegally not to lie on the form about their status (assuming they fill it out)? Or are you expecting them not to fill it out, and thus undermine the Census itself?<br /><br />It's silliness like this that has made conservatives the laughingstock of our country, if not the world.A.F. Reyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08102355714883828348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20775606635660584952019-04-25T11:58:48.720-07:002019-04-25T11:58:48.720-07:00They are absolutely insane:
Good little progressi...<br />They are absolutely insane:<br /><br /><b>Good little progressives like Larry_H & AF Rey simultaneously condemn & endorse foreign non-citizen influence on the US Democratic process, concluding (as good little progressives do) that foreign non-citizen influence is (1) evil when it involves foreign non-citizens they dislike (aka the Russia/Trump allegation) but (2) great when it involves foreign non-citizens they like (aka 'foreign non-citizens who pervert the democratic process by lying on the US census).</b><br /><br />Strictly for their own protection, they need to be placed on 72 hour psychiatric hold STAT.<br /><br /><br />Bestlocumranchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06812045410916208141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-64624301123341671652019-04-25T11:37:36.284-07:002019-04-25T11:37:36.284-07:00Bob Neinast:
Mitch McConnell had a duty to hold h...Bob Neinast:<br /><i><br />Mitch McConnell had a duty to hold hearings on Merrick Garland. We saw what he thought about his duty.<br /><br />Ought the Democrats do the same with their duty?<br /></i><br /><br />My snarky answer is "If it works as well for them as it did for McConnell, then go for it!"<br /><br />My more sober answer is that Congress's duty in this instance is to protect the country from the clear and present danger in the White House. If impeachment is the means to that end, then they should proceed that way. But if it's a known fact that impeachment will only <b>increase</b> the likelihood of a Trump re-election and/or a Republican House, then I have to ask "To what end?" and wonder how much of the pro-impeachment drumbeat is actually coming from pro-Trump trolls.<br /><br /><i><br />"It's not that I like the president. I hate him. But there's nothing I can do about him right now.<br /><br />(dramatic pause)<br /><br />He's such a long way away from here."<br /></i>Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28151507813456818262019-04-25T11:31:53.783-07:002019-04-25T11:31:53.783-07:00https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2019/Pres/Maps/A...https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2019/Pres/Maps/Apr25.html#item-1<br /><i><br />The President did not limit his Wednesday activities to the issues actually before him, either. No, he also made threats in anticipation of a hypothetical future impeachment, warning Congressional Democrats that he would take it to the Supreme Court if they tried it. If things got to that point, one wonders if Trump's lawyers would be able to keep a straight face while explaining to Chief Justice John Roberts and his colleagues that when the Constitution says that the House can impeach the president, it doesn't actually mean that they can impeach the president.<br /></i><br /><br />Yeah, I want to hear Bill Barr explain that the Justice Department doesn't believe that a sitting president may be impeached.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56351039778783184642019-04-25T11:29:46.905-07:002019-04-25T11:29:46.905-07:00Tim H. pointed us to
John Gruber on impeachment:...Tim H. pointed us to<br /><br /><i><br />John Gruber on impeachment:<br /><br />https://daringfireball.net/2019/04/the_drumbeat_of_impeachment<br /></i><br /><br />In it, Gruber says, "If the president has committed impeachable offenses it is Congress’s duty to impeach." Mitch McConnell had a duty to hold hearings on Merrick Garland. We saw what he thought about his duty.<br /><br />Ought the Democrats do the same with their duty?Ahcuahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06514651362748555460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-66613765635205310862019-04-25T11:16:46.692-07:002019-04-25T11:16:46.692-07:00A.F. Rey:
I keep wondering what happens if you ha...A.F. Rey:<br /><i><br />I keep wondering what happens if you happen to forget to fill-in the citizenship question on the census survey. Do they send someone to talk to you to get that single piece of information?<br /></i><br /><br />I keep wondering what happens if a non-citizen just answers "Yes".Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27879348529286060852019-04-25T10:51:14.383-07:002019-04-25T10:51:14.383-07:00It's clear that the Trump/Mueller Investigatio...<br />It's clear that the Trump/Mueller Investigation has driven the US liberal-progressive community insane:<br /><br />(1) Slim_M cheerfully compares the current US liberal-progressive crusade against Trump to the Spanish Inquisition in SONG; <br /><br />(2) Minority representative Larry_H declares war on Middle America by happily claiming that "about 40% of my fellow citizens are MONSTERS"; and <br /><br />(3) Our fine host complains about how easily the insufficiently educated lumpen proletariate "can be persuaded into marching and dying for its class oppressors" while failing to explain why the progressively oppressive MSM class has FAILED so thoroughly in this regard.<br /><br />As Tacitus has noted, the Left has become so self-involved that it can no longer to read (or even acknowledge) criticisms that appear to originate from the outside of their vanishingly small urban politically progressive minority bubble.<br /><br />And, like Weimar Germany, it will most certainly end badly for their vanishingly small urban, politically progressive & scientific minority.<br /><br /><br />Best<br />____<br /><br />If our fine host really understood the Marxist legacy, then he would know that it ALWAYS ends badly for the minority community -- I mean, really really bad -- as in summarily executed Killing Fields bad.locumranchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06812045410916208141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-73975042306444410432019-04-25T10:31:26.350-07:002019-04-25T10:31:26.350-07:00FiveThirtyEight also examines how the citizenship ...FiveThirtyEight also examines how the citizenship question will probably cause an undercount:<br /><br />https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-citizenship-question-could-break-the-census/<br /><br /><i>Questions related to a person’s citizenship did once appear on the census, but historians say the phrasing and intent of those earlier questions were different — and, in any case, <b>they were removed from the main head count after 1950 in a bid to improve the census’s accuracy.</b> Meanwhile, social science methods have evolved to the point that <b>high-quality citizenship data can be — and already is — collected via other Census Bureau surveys and administrative records.</b> So the Trump administration is facing an important question: Why add a question to the census that could harm the quality and credibility of the data — and also may not be necessary?</i><br /><br />I keep wondering what happens if you happen to forget to fill-in the citizenship question on the census survey. Do they send someone to talk to you to get that single piece of information? Do they do that for every single person who might forget? Depending on how careful recipients are in filling out the survey, this could be a very costly way of getting citizenship information.A.F. Reyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08102355714883828348noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-28195566901047648362019-04-25T09:57:49.913-07:002019-04-25T09:57:49.913-07:00Dr Brin:
even if it were true… so?
For THAT yo...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br /> even if it were true… so? <br /><br />For THAT you’d wreck the nation and planet and hand everything to plantation lords who will take us back to lordly oppression? <br /></i><br /><br />Unfortunately, yes. It's the same dynamic that makes Bernie supporters so unable to vote for Hillary that they'd allow a Trump victory instead. Vengeance upon those who you feel wronged by is a powerful drive.<br /><br />I used to ponder the question, if I had a choice between helping a loved one and hurting an enemy, but couldn't do both, which would I choose. For me, it's a no-brainer that helping a loved one is the correct choice. But for half of humanity, I gather that is not the case. And Republicans, while stiffing their own constituents and laughing at them behind their backs, have convinced those constituents that <b>we</b> are the hated enemy. They'll spend their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor in the service of hitting us back.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-19211152842343229022019-04-25T09:41:28.901-07:002019-04-25T09:41:28.901-07:00This is the part I don't get. It's a resp...This is the part I don't get. It's a response to a question about boycotting the census to protest the citizenship question:<br /><br />https://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2019/Pres/Maps/Apr24.html#item-7<br /><i><br />You never know what might happen when people get really angry, but there are four things we can think of that would make this unlikely. The first is that it's very hard to organize widespread resistance efforts like this. The second is that it's illegal to not respond to the census, and can result in a fine of as much as $5,000. The third is that the Census Bureau is really good at getting people to respond, and will send census workers to people's houses at all hours to basically hound them. ...<br /></i><br /><br />See, I remember that from 1990, when just because of procrastination, I hadn't sent in my census form after two mailings. A census taker actually knocked on my apartment door, and even though I was on the phone with a girlfriend at the time, would not take "I'll do it later" for an answer. The entire bureaucracy seems geared toward making sure everyone is counted.<br /><br />So if the Trumpists (probably Stephen Miller) think that including a question about citizenship will intimidate immigrants from responding and therefore being undercounted, they seem to be working against the tide of the census bureau itself.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-43116122721435049532019-04-25T04:12:45.741-07:002019-04-25T04:12:45.741-07:00John Gruber on impeachment:
https://daringfirebal... John Gruber on impeachment:<br /><br />https://daringfireball.net/2019/04/the_drumbeat_of_impeachment<br /><br />Be a damned shame if we got stuck with Pence, but Lading "Herr Drumph!" with some extra ballast could be worthwhile.<br />Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-34116928804499494242019-04-25T04:04:22.775-07:002019-04-25T04:04:22.775-07:00David, I can't agree, we and the United Kingdo... David, I can't agree, we and the United Kingdom have both been subjected to a half-assed creative destruction, with the destruction perfected and the creation still not ready for beta. Both Nations have been subject to long term efforts to destroy the political power of organized labor. The difference is American elites are even more phobic about any variety of socialist endeavor that can't be monetized. I say it's more true for us than the UK. Voters crave change and positive change has been demonized, until the Nation mostly works again, we're going to see more fascists, and some may be competent.Tim H.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-290005816424872872019-04-25T03:05:26.959-07:002019-04-25T03:05:26.959-07:00David Brin thought:
"America, where the two ...<br />David Brin thought:<br /><br />"<i>America, where the two parties are spectacularly different in all ways.</i>"<br /><br />Ehrmm, perhaps you miss a facet of the political viewpoint of the American middle. The duopoly, as it goes, has its perpetuation at the fore, above the interests of the people. I'm not as sure that's true, as it appeared in the last century, but plenty of folks think the orange guy is cleaving the duopoly. We both know that's not true, but there it is and it's out there.yananoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4351754035673958772019-04-25T02:39:37.187-07:002019-04-25T02:39:37.187-07:00Arizun - "This isn't a matter of strategy...Arizun - "This isn't a matter of strategy, it is a matter of right vs wrong"<br /><br />After the election, Bill Maher had Trae Crowder (aka "The Liberal Redneck") on his HBO talk show. Trae was listening to a liberal woman bemoan that fact that Hillary was the best, most experienced and intelligent choice for president.<br /><br />He just looked at her and said, "Lady, do you want to be right or do you want to win?"<br /><br />So no, it's not a matter of right vs. wrong. It's a matter of winning vs losing. Our nation and our freedoms won't survive another 4 years of Trump and McConnell.DPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07087941506162882852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-6226634067353690972019-04-24T21:05:30.873-07:002019-04-24T21:05:30.873-07:00Tim H. sorry, I like Charlie Stross and he is very...Tim H. sorry, I like Charlie Stross and he is very bright. But his screed on the natural deterioration of politics into a professional caste is a pile of dokey's bollocks.<br />http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2013/02/political-failure-modes-and-th.html#comments<br /><br />Oh, sure, I lived in Britain and recognize the phenomenon. Everything to them is about caste and class. And yes, we have our castes... the would be New Oligarchy must persuade their limpen prols in the US to wage war for them against smart people. But that's not what Charlie is talking about. He says that for all their working class pretentions, the Labor Party MPs are just as subsumed into careerism as the tories and defense of their caste is paramount to them.<br /><br />And yes, you can see this in the Brexit lockjaw, their terrified refusal to use the only way out... another referendum.<br /><br />SO no, he's not wrong about British politics. But he knows nothing about America, where the two parties are spectacularly different in all ways. At one angle, we have a Bipolar Disease, with the Dems being manic, feeling a need to REFORM! Do the next thing! The next! In California the governor's top job - and Brown and Newson are both democrats -- is to pull hard on the bridle just to keep the DP super majority sensible. And it has worked so far, wonderfully. But I remain fretful, every autumn, when the list of bills is visible.<br /><br />Republicans are depressive. They do nothing to govern or address problems, unless under direct orders from their masters. Judges. Tax cuts. And when the predicted surpluses fail and become gushers of red ink? Slash and kill all government! From R&D to elevating poor children. Otherwise, it's torpor. The last 6 RP congresses were almost the laziest in the history of the nation, by almost all metrics.<br /><br />That's one angle. Of course I alluded to the oligarchy angle, and so on.<br /><br />Mind you, Charlie Stross refers to what Jerry Pournelle called the "Iron Law of Organizations." The over time, an org will become dominated by people NOT dedicated to the organization's goals, but to preserving the organization (and their positions.) This law fails when something urgent is afoot. A war or moon mission. But it does happen a lot. And there's Charlie Stross, channeling Pournelle.<br /><br />There are other angles. Most (not all) democrats are positive sum about the future. Most republicans appear more zero sum and cynical and often obsessed with cyclical "patterns" of repeating history.<br /><br />So no, I don't accept the 2013 Stross model. US politic doesn't work because one party is under orders to never let it work. Newt negotiated important deals with Clinton and Dennis "friend to boys" Hastert was sent in to punish Newt and end all negotiation. At all. At any level and in any way. David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-83913555625273914172019-04-24T21:02:54.147-07:002019-04-24T21:02:54.147-07:00Yes Mike Will, Forbidden Planet is a good analogy,...Yes Mike Will, Forbidden Planet is a good analogy, because the monsters you're talking about are also created by people's own minds. For the last two or three years, we've watched people flail and scream at imaginary monsters—their own Shadows, if you like, brought to life by the media Krell machine. Fortunately the monsters haven't affected me at all, because I never believed in them.Treebeardnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-8008128330430044822019-04-24T20:19:33.158-07:002019-04-24T20:19:33.158-07:00“we stopped thinking of ourselves as a big tent of...“we stopped thinking of ourselves as a big tent of "the little people" and went more with the intra-party fighting over which narrow interest group was more deserving than others.”<br /><br />Marx described how the lumpen proletariate - insufficiently educated and skilled and aware - can be persuaded into marching and dying for its class oppressors, especially when given someone else to hate. In the case of US redders, that is the elite poor locum rails against. People who know stuff. Smart people.<br /><br />I’ve explained repeatedly how these folks can be talked into such an absurd and self-defeating reflex. Their biggest grievance is the way we steal their smarter children. That’s an archetype trauma. Moreover, they envision us sneering down our noses, or patronizing or laughing at them. Even if it were true… and 99% of the time it simply isn’t; we have better things to do and are generally decent people, all fifty million of us… even if it were true… so? <br /><br />For THAT you’d wreck the nation and planet and hand everything to plantation lords who will take us back to lordly oppression? <br /><br />The currently planned hearing in SIX House committees should do fine, for now. They don’t need to be called “impeachment” hearings and unleash the tsunami of McVeighs early. With one exception.<br /><br />If the Roberts court… meaning Roberts… declares the committees can’t have the financial records, then the hearings MUST become “impeachment hearings.” And Congress must declare “this is our business now, not the Court’s. And we are deputizing anyone and everyone in the IRS to bring us anything and everything.”<br /><br />And yes, I can see a time when I’d push for impeachment, even given McConnell. But there was this guy at the gym today. I could see McVeigh in his eyes.<br /><br />Duncan, right. The GOP was allowed to pull an insane trick in 2016, disavowing their previous two presidents! “Bush” went unmentioned along with every GOP leader between Reagan and Ryan… except brown-nosing Newt. And I am still appalled that ZERO democrats or pundits mentioned this fact.<br /><br />When they try to do this with Trump, we must refuse to let them.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-88766845696185122162019-04-24T20:17:15.207-07:002019-04-24T20:17:15.207-07:00This drama reminds me of "Forbidden Planet&qu...This drama reminds me of "Forbidden Planet". Too late, they (Morbius/Krell) realize that their plastic plaything, their useful idiot, has become the instrument of their destruction.<br /><br />It may simply be impossible to 'un-weld' The Cheeto from the party, even by physically removing him. It's not a person, it's a boiling mass pathology. The id is the most powerful and invincible of monsters.Mike Willhttp://scidata.canoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33293973599506491252019-04-24T19:50:48.806-07:002019-04-24T19:50:48.806-07:00Larry H
Republicans can worry about support for T...Larry H<br /><br />Republicans can worry about support for Trump alienating voters.<br /><br />When Trump gets to be that bad you need to WELD him to the GOP<br /><br />Do not let them "scapegoat" him and claim that they have got rid of the problem and are now back to being the "Natural part of government"<br /><br />Too many people want to believe that - give them the slightest excuse and they WILL believe that and vote the monsters back induncan cairncrosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14153725128216947145noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-27180617807398639682019-04-24T19:26:15.345-07:002019-04-24T19:26:15.345-07:00Dr Brin:
What? You think McConnell will let the S...Dr Brin:<br /><i><br />What? You think McConnell will let the Senate convict, anyway? <br /></i><br /><br />I've softened a bit on impeachment. I used to say there was no point without the possibility of conviction. I'm starting to see the wisdom in forcing the Republicans to be obvious in <b>their</b> cowardly obedience to a con-man and thug.<br /><br />The prerequisite is not a guarantee of conviction, but a demonstration of enough smoking gun as to get the American public to understand that "This sophont is <b>dangerous</b>", and to view his <b>defenders</b> rather than his opponents as the partisan hacks they are. Then, instead of Democrats worrying about impeachment alienating voters, Republicans can worry about support for Trump alienating voters.Larry Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01058877428309776731noreply@blogger.com