Thursday, August 18, 2016

The implosion of the GOP

Having gotten a taste of the right-wing blogs re Trump and his latest controversies the consensus seems to be we really can't stand the guy but Hillary is far worse for the country so let's all do the right thing. Now I wouldn't normally say this as I respect the process but I kinda lean towards those who say the rules should've been changed so as Trump doesn't represent our brand. You can make a strong case Trump should've gotten some psychiatric treatment somewhere along the line. There's his persecution complex, ego, vindictiveness and all the rest and he hasn't behaved in the least presidential or regal/dignified way after securing the nomination so you're basically dealing with a disaster if he even gets one term. I'm thinking the vaunted independents which are the key to any presidential election will easily make the decision for Hillary based on Trump's personality alone. This is one reason I'm not joining the right-wing blogosphere bandwagon on this, I see the future and it ain't good;)

143 comments:

  1. IMO, a lot of Republicans don't think Trump a team player.
    That may be a plus for the disenfranchised-the outsider, etc. but gov't usually doesn't work that way. I'm not sure
    why, but he blew out all the other GOP candidates and there was quite a spectrum of ideology among them. In particular
    I thought Kasich admirable from a moderate standpoint. Then,
    we have Karl Rove holding his money bag and scowling and who
    knows what the Tea Party has evolved into. IMO, for a rich
    guy, Trump should at least gone to finishing school at Miss
    Betty's Manners. It's like the old Chinese
    Curse is upon us "May you live in interesting times."

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  2. If you read the right-wing blogs it's obvious they're struggling. After all they have to defend this guy. If you can't defend him blame in part the left-wing media. Trump gives a good speech in Peoria latch onto that because in a day or two there's no telling what he'll say or do. Too tiresome for me. Mr. Will was right to leave the party.

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    Replies
    1. If I was one of his advisers while he was still leading her I would have told him to pop a Prozac.

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    2. When his loyal supporters see the light, they give us a new definition of disaffected .

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    3. "Political suicide bomber" pretty much sums it up.

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  3. Had to ponder your point why he blew everyone else out of the water during the primaries. I think the main reason is people want not boring. It's shallow but these are the same people who watch Bachelor and are obsessed with who Taylor Swift is going out with. Trump is not boring and espouses positions they like. It ain't saying much. Sure a mature culture would've chosen a Kasich.

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  4. I think Trump has a narcissistic crush on himself.

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    Replies
    1. Probably fair to label him as egocentric. IMO, his approach to business and politics (and maybe life in general) is that of the World Wrestling Federation:
      bluster, aggression, overpowering, simplistic, etc.
      As I recall at one event he came out through a curtain entrance to martial music and clouds of artificial smoke. I'd wager wrestling fans are among his followers. He is expert in attracting attention...
      and wallowing in it.

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    2. He has the ego of P. Diddy and Kanye combined. I'm surprised he doesn't make a rap video.

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    3. Golly gee- even the FoxNews bimbos
      are backing away.

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    4. ..meanwhile HYC has removed the naked Trump statue
      - the Emeror has no clothes
      and reportedly noted that 'the city does not permit
      an erection on public property, no matter how small'
      -ouch!-

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    5. So this Breitbart guy, Bannon, is the Barnabas Collins of politics and is now helming the Trump campaign. Never heard of him.

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  5. Trump has gone through three campaign chairmen in the last month. Its like 'The Apprentice' and "You're Fired!" are his
    greatest strengths. Still, a bit perplexing . I'm thinking the Psch
    Depts at major universities will offer Trump 101 next semester.

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    Replies
    1. Always show respect to any member of the Duck Dynasty?

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  6. One of Trump's goals (perhaps his only) is to become a household name. How's he doing? a google search lists 443 million, while Hillary stands at 249 million. Still a google
    for 'weather' nets 1,090,000,000. If we refine that a bit
    we find 'Trump's problems' at 53 million and 'Hillary's' at
    a considerably lower 613,500. Which tells us little, except
    that the populace is more interested in his (after they have
    checked the weather)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buddha is just as well known but I get more out of the Buddha.

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    2. Can you wear tennyrunners with your kasaya ?

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  7. Yonkers Police Dept. now has Coffee with a Cop days - "join your neighbors and police officers for coffee and conversation." What if you've done something vaguely illegal like having a marijuana plant growing in your yard and you don't know how it got there can you talk about it?

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    Replies
    1. Sounds like the 'kinder, more understanding' approach to law enforcement. Talking in a casual setting with professionals is disconcerting: one very early morning, my newspaper and I went into a now long closed place called the 'log cabin'. Got a coffee, ordered a western omelet and started on the national
      news when in walked the Lutheran pastor from my wife's church. I turned the conversation to his work,
      which was of course 'very satisfying' and he loved working on his sermons etc. (all well out of my ballpark) I offered that aside from being an agnostic, I would find it extremely difficult to deal
      with the parents who lost a youngster. He began with
      a number of cases which he was involved in, and the next thing, he was crying uncontrollably over his pancakes. At a loss for words, I comforted him with,
      "I can see you are very involved with your profession?
      Never did get to finish the paper, ya know?

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    2. The late Aaron Russo once posed a question: when you're driving along and you see a cop's car in your rearview mirror do you feel safe and comfortable or threatened? How 'bout coffee with a colonoscopist?

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    3. I don't feel particularly threatened, but I do check
      the speedometer. Our perception may be at least in part on context: say a gangfight breaks out next door and weapons are being fired. Would you feel better if the cops showed up? BTW, I say a bit on
      TV about some single mother with an autistic 3 yr old. She arranged a big party for him, but everyone
      copped out, worried about the antics of the odd kid.
      A police officer checked by and helped out by inviting the guys in the precinct to give the kid
      the best party he ever had. Being a law and order guy, they are IMO under paid, under appreciated,
      and equivalent in worth to teachers, first responders and preachers. Knew a guy one time, sort of a wannabbe tough. Lived in a marginal area
      of Minneapolis. He came in one morning and announced that a motorcycle gang had been drinking and swearing in the street. He grabbed his single shot .22 and went down stairs to put a stop to things. I was surprised at such bravery and asked what happened. He said 'they took my gun away'.
      Sometimes ya gotta have a plan, ya know?

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  8. How come different brands of brandy taste so different? It's all made the same way.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not only that but even when you use the same brand one bottle might be overly potent (vsop/lsd?) and the next bottle might be overly weak (when's it gonna happen?) Same proof right?

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  9. Trump's lawyer reinforces the perception
    that they are all bottom feeders.

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  10. The more I see of Trump the more I like Mitt Romney.

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  11. Late nights of angst, free-floating anxiety, existential dread, man's search for meaning, midlife crises -- Sobieski;)

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  12. At work today everyone's doctor says they need to lose weight. This one needs to be 150 etc. Ideal weights and stuff. I lost a ton of the stuff but you do gain some of it back so it's not really worth the time and effort imo. The average lifespan being so short doesn't make logical sense to me. 200-300 years and people would be more laidback about finding a soulmate, the perfect job etc. but there you have it most of us live to be only about 70 or 80 so the point of reaching our ideal weight and other obsessive health measures is what exactly? It's not my overall goal to look like Jack LaLanne in a casket ya know?

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    Replies
    1. Metallurgical engineer I know spent a couple weeks in the Nordic countries. He said he never saw a fat person. Steady diet of sardines will do that.

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    2. There's something else about sardines. I can eat them and not feel hungry most of the day.

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    3. You can smell 'lutefisk' and not feel hungry most of
      the week. We note:
      "Lutefisk is pretty much what you'd expect of jellied cod; it is a foul and odiferous goo, whose gelatinous texture and rancid oily taste are locked in spirited competition to see which can be the more responsible for rendering the whole completely inedible.
      How to describe that first bite? Its a bit like describing passing a kidney stone to the uninitiated. If you are talking to someone else who has lived through the experience, a nod will suffice to acknowledge your shared pain, but to explain it to the person who has not been there, mere words seem inadequate to the task. So it is with lutefisk. One could bandy about the time honored phrases like "nauseating sordid gunk", "unimaginably horrific", "lasting psychological damage", but these seem hollow when applied to the task at hand. I will have to resort to a recipe for a kind of metaphorical lutefisk, to describe the experience. Take marshmallows made without sugar, blend them together with overcooked Japanese noodles, and then bathe the whole liberally in acetone. Let it marinate in cod liver oil for several days at room temperature. When it has achieved the appropriate consistency (though the word "appropriate" is somewhat problematic here), heat it to just above lukewarm, sprinkle in thousands of tiny, sharp, invisible fish bones, and serve." My grandma G. loved the stuff. She had to air out the house for a week or so.

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  13. I remember at the time of the Bill Clinton scandals there was a popular t-shirt sold in the trendy hip malls: "He had an affair get over it" (take that Hannity). I've as yet to see a Weiner t-shirt along the lines of ok he sexted get over it. Strong and unequivocal societal condemnation in the latter and increased popularity in the former. Must be something in our psyche.

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    Replies
    1. They didn't have sexting when Bill was philandering.
      Abe Lincoln's wife was so jealous, she wouldn't let the general's wives come to military conferences. We
      hear that JFK was hardly a monk, though.

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    2. The thing about Weiner is he's out of office and apparently still sexting. Is that a crime?

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    3. A crime, no. But not a good hobby for a politician.
      Maybe he should be a model for Fruit Of The Loom.

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    4. He's out of politics and never going back. What has he got to lose? He's kind of retired at this point and can do what he wants. It's between him and Huma.

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  14. Ryan Lochte - for me once you reach the buzzed state you're good and should just finish the book or tv show and go to bed. I've never grasped the fun of being zonked out of your skull but that's just me. He could've lived a nice comfortable life on those endorsements.

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  15. The GOP bloodhounds have shown no interest in my 15,000 e-mails. Probably because the recipients weren't much
    interested either.

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  16. It really is a dry scandal imo and not having the usual elements of sex and other things I lose interest. It's like when you're watching a movie too long and you don't know what it's about and you're like what am I doing?

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  17. Given the politicians who served in or avoided the armed forces , we note a significant proportion of GOP types
    that got deferments. Which prompts the questions:
    1. Why most Republicans are for war?
    2. Why the majority of the military like Trump?
    For example, Saxeby Chamblis who avoided the draft beat Max Cleland, VN paraplegic by claiming Cleland was 'soft of defense'. We conclude that facts matter little among voters.
    Which prompts the second question: if voters eschew reality,
    what motivates them?

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    Replies
    1. The average American doesn't live in the real world. Drugs, alcohol, porn, video games etc.

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    2. The Greatest Generation has devolved?

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  18. Probably because I was watching HP Lovecraft's "Reanimator", that and the nightly brandy but I had this thought last night. Maybe both atheism and religion are wrong. Is it possible God made man but there's no life after death? After all you are your brain. I gotta lay off.

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    Replies
    1. Funny how brandy works. My nightly C Bros puts me to
      sleep when I go to bed and wakes up my plumbing system
      between 1-2 AM. Regarding our brains, they say in a few years they will be able to move the contents to a cloud someplace and we will live forever. Without our
      bodies of course. Not much of a turn on, huh?

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    2. They say hell is more crowded than heaven. Ya wanna meet somebody after death you go there.

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    3. The first concepts of a Hell were pretty mild: you
      go underground, cross a river and carry on in the dark. Then, in medieval times, they elaborated on all the horrid and terrible tortures, even matching them to the peasant (or Duke) lifetime guilt. So,
      while you might meet someone there, despite the place being crowded with politicians, they would
      probably assign you to the colonoscopy department for a life time of seeking out polyps. I would probably be in the TV drug commercial department
      forced to watch ads for new expensive wonder drugs
      and their deadly side effects...followed by endless commercials by law firms offering class action suits against drugs that killed my uncle. Not as boring as heaven, but still....

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    4. A typical obit I might read goes "Hal is enjoying his 4th anniversary in heaven." No hell purgatory karma or limbo you get right on a special JetBlue shuttle that takes you right to the pearly gates. I'm thinking priests need to cover this ground better.

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    5. One of the better obits I've seen is the pair in the paper: one by the ex-wife and one by the present wife. Coulda been a TV series, I tell ya.
      As for the various afterlife scenarios, it is all
      pretty much conjectural, even with the theology
      thrown in. I would hate to have karma that would
      reincarnate me as a suicide bomber, for example.

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  19. I have a chef question: last nigh we had dinner out, not
    fancy-not greasy spoon, at a place we have been to fairly often-great salad bar. Basically pizza and Italian. I ordered one of their new items, grilled salmon, sun dried
    tomatos & sauce on tortellini. My wife had finished and the waiter kept coming back saying "it's almost done". After an
    hour, he showed up with the dish. One bite, and I see the salmon is still frozen in the middle. How can that be?! I
    took the meal home and next day stirred it up in a covered
    frying pan and it was great. I sort of felt sorry for the waiter, but what the heck was going on back in the kitchen?

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    Replies
    1. WOW that's interesting. One would think they'd have salmon in the walk-in box already thawed out and ready for cooking. Apparently they didn't and took one from the freezer and thought they could get away with it. I hear this happens with crab cakes some time. Chef Ramsey would curse 'em out.

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    2. Good point. Chef Ramsay is much faster .

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  20. Installed a new tinnitus management app today. You know nice pleasant sounds like twittering in the forest and a rolling surf to mask the tinnitus. App doesn't work 100% as it should and you're still aware of your sound.

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    Replies
    1. That sounds like treating the symptom but not the cause. If you ran a jack hammer all day you wouldn't notice the tinnitus until you quit work. BTW, I get
      mild tinninus first thing in the morning...and at night after a few CB brandies.

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  21. Medical researchers work hard to come up with all sorts of
    painkillers. Street thugs work hard to come up with all sorts of heroin booster stuff.

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  22. We note that Mrs. Weiner has filed for divorce. Apparently takes a dim view of serial sexting.

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    Replies
    1. Weiner never actually follows through with the women he sexts. Imagine Bill Clinton never following through.

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  23. Don't know if Idahoans follow much NYC crime stories. The slain female jogger case in Howard Beach Queens - police have the DNA from the assailant but it doesn't match anyone in their databases and they seem to have given up their vagrant theory. My theory: it's a man with no recent criminal history, maybe an older man with a long history of being rejected by women. Also probably doesn't live in the Queens area but works in one of the boroughs all of which makes it tough on the investigators. It was a crime of extreme rage etc. NYC police are good but it's become a kind of semi-cold case.

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  24. Solitary female joggers seem to be frequent targets. So it is recommended they run in groups. Around here they often
    have a big dog who also needs the exercise. Some times the
    cases last for years then, bingo. Other times we never know.

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    Replies
    1. Logically I never understood how people can get away with the most major crimes (nobody knows or saw anything?) but take a leak behind Walgreen's and some old lady will whip out her smartphone.

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    2. Latest crime scandal in our small town. Some crooked computer genius in Houston rented out a home and received several $700 down payments from
      locals via credit card. The first of these went to
      move in and found it occupied. The owner had to put up a big sign in the yard: Not for rent-not now-not ever. You would think it an open/shut case, but the
      guy and his money are no where to be found.

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    3. Cases like the jogger case are sometimes never solved for this reason. Many of us have worked with or know someone who fits the profile, we wouldn't be surprised and yet we shelve it because we don't want to be unfair. Some people need to be ruled out in other words but instead we shelve it and get on with our lives. Somebody knows something is usually the case imo but nobody says anything thus your cold cases.

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    4. It seems that lack of evidence leads to both 'profilers' and new age types that conjure
      up the incident and the perpetrator. Had an unsolved
      triple murder here years ago. There was a suspect and some evidence and he was suspected in two other unsolved murders; the guy was hounded out of town and lives on the east coast, still under investigation. Maybe one of those deathbed confessions, who knows?

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    5. More details on our local case for your perusal.

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    6. Not really a fan of profiling per se. God knows we could all become victims of profiling. I'm more thinking of a very plausible theory but the flaw with theories is they can make sense on so many levels at least to you and still be wrong. Many people don't go with a gut theory for fear of being wrong and looking like an idiot in the end but what if a theory or impression is right and leads to the perp? So my theory in this case is the guy had sex on the brain but women didn't go for him. Let's say he became a jogger in hopes of meeting this woman as this seems to maybe be a theory of her father in a recent radio interview and she rebuffed him and that led to what happened. Bear in mind alot of rapists, I don't know if I can say most leave the victim alive as horrible as that crime is.

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    7. In the latest update the mystery jogger has been ruled out as a suspect. This is usually the phase when a psychic or two becomes involved.

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  25. Not alot of crime in Hastings-on-the-Hudson. The cops there are nice. It's not uncommon for one to walk into the local diner and ask is this anybody's car before writing a summons. Pockets of affluence and meager means in this charming riverside town. The new Super Foodtown is awesome and far surpasses the old A&P store which it replaced. They got bakery products I don't see elsewhere and a decent fish department. A good alternative to Yonkers and it's just on the border.

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    Replies
    1. Hastings-on-the-Hudson sounds like a long name. What do the locals call it? HOH?

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    2. Far as I know the HOH gov't embarked on some deer birth control program but there's still plenty of deer. They're everywhere like you might see one in someone's living room having a cup of coffee.

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    3. Bakery dept. in any food store not easy for the opener. Gotta be there by 6AM to proof the rolls, gotta do that first before baking 'em otherwise they'll get all screwed up and some of the old-timers who rise with the sun anyway are right there when the hot rack comes out. Ya gotta get the rotisserie chickens rocking early too although not as early. Fishmonger seems allowed to come in later than the rest of the crew. So there's your supermarket scoop.

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    4. This old timer hits the grocery bakery at 6 AM once or twice a month, when I drop off recycled glass.
      One time, I thought to pick up a couple of cans of
      King Oscar kippers. Couldn't locate them, so aske
      a couple of ladies that were stocking. "Kippers?"
      They looked at each other and both said "eeeww..up
      the 8th aisle halfway" They lacked sales training,
      IMO. :)

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  26. A deer crossing sign at every stop light?

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    Replies
    1. Not at every stop light but you do have your signs here and there. Wouldn't be surprised if one comes in the new Foodtown for some fresh produce.

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  27. Not really sure how Hastings leans politically but there was a recent writeup in the NY Times about a man in Chappaqua who is vocally anti-Hillary and pro-the Donald. To say the town has ostracized him is an understatement. Even his wife is nervous.

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    Replies
    1. This election cycle is particularly vicious. My only
      sticker on the truck reads 'I liked Ike-Hell, I even liked Harry'. Pretty safe, Idahoans never heard of either, ya know? The norm here is a pickup with a gun
      rack and a sticker that is pro-life..sort of a dichotomy. We know darn well they are poachers.

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  28. Annals from the workplace. Worked with an older guy for quite some time who apparently never heard of Anita Hill. Would hit on any female co-worker who well was a female who had a heartbeat and walked. Never saw his approach have any success. Instead of say finetuning his approach and self-critiqueing he'd kind of resent the non-takers which was practically everybody. A Trumpian genetic quirk at work?

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    Replies
    1. These days the sexual harassment folks would have him
      in the office. One of my many side tasks was to give
      the obligatory department sexual harassment lecture every year. At the end I'd ask for any questions and there was always some guy in the back that would ask
      "Can you demonstrate 'elevator eyes' one more time' to
      agreeable hoots of laughter. I always preferred the live explosives demonstration..no questions asked, just big eyes and ringing ears, ya know?

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    2. My position is kind of contradictory. I'm against sexual harassment but find something disturbing about those seminars. Men should not be boorish but at the same time there's something unnatural about a totally desexualized workplace.

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    3. To put it differently for better or for worse men are wired a certain way. I think the pc'ers want to change the electronics of the whole organism. Send men back to the factory?

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    4. Viva la difference? While there is an unnatural aspect of desexualization, we note the significant
      problems of for example, the US military. Young women on a submarine..it's probably a bit tough.
      A bit tough too, when some of the better dirty jokes
      come from a coworker woman at coffee break.

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    5. Then there is the workplace misogynist. Had a guy worked for me that refused to take orders from any
      woman (biblical, he said). When my assistant, a woman chemist, visited his operation and made a suggestion, he chased her away with "I don't take orders from a woman". Word got to the VP who recommended immediate termination, but the guy was
      highly skilled and I hated turnover. So I had them
      into the office and we discussed the situation. I explained that the work hierarchy was different than
      the old testament, to forget her gender and respect her position, etc. Which worked, but betcha he ain't voting for Hillary.

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    6. Sexual harassment is a problem but I don't think the pc'ers should be in charge of policy.

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    7. Neither should accounting or marketing!

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    8. Not sure who invented PC, but the concept could as
      well be the simple old 'polite- showing good manners toward others, as in behavior, speech, etc.; courteous; civil: The term PC derives from the mid nineties as a perjorative against nascent
      liberal values like diversity, gay rights, etc.
      As some literate wag pointed out, it was NOT PC when the alt.right jumped all over the Dixie Chicks
      when they slammed Bush over the Iraq invasion. Essentially, IMO, people resist being told what
      they should think; the fuss over native American names for sports teams for example, is no big deal
      unless you are a native American. Perhaps the idea
      is that a deliberate insult (yo mamma so low she
      cain't climp da curb) is different than the accidental slur (hey babe, when ya get off work?)
      My mother told me to always be polite, so I don't really have a horse in the race (excuse me, horse
      population if you are offended) :)

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    9. In this day and age anything that smacks of pursuit is treated like a war crime but where most corporate sexual harassment policies go off track is in things like don't look at someone for 5 sec. and other niggling rules. You lose the marrow of it imo.

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    10. "alt.right" new term by the left btw. Dunno if Hillary invented it but she uses it. I think pc goes beyond simple politeness which most people support. Maybe you can call it coerced civility and that's where the problem comes in. Also other people mainly the pc'ers get to define what is polite like say you can't make a mild Richard Simmons joke. One thing I've noticed about the pc'ers is they don't seem to accept apologies when someone actually apologizes for upsetting them or upsetting society. Don Imus - said sorry endlessly but it wasn't enough. They had to set up a special meeting at some NJ school to hash out the matter and the then NJ Gov. Jon Corzine injured himself driving too fast to the meeting and got in an accident. At what point does absurdity set in? that's pc.

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  29. If you notice Donald Trump hasn't said any dickheaded things of late. Even he must realize even if I have a slim shot at this thing I have to shut my mouth.

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  30. Is Kellyanne Conway slipping something into his coffee?

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  31. I haven't heard the latest Trump controversy of the week. Pop a Prozac?

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  32. Donald Trump always finds a way to handcuff himself. He could be in heaven and find a way, bring everyone down...GOP imploding...George Will had the right idea: get off the ship;)

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    Replies
    1. He seems to have a lot of fans.

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    2. The thrice divorced paragon of greed seems to have the evangelicals
      vote too.

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    3. Enoch and Eli, Moses and Trump. Interesting take by Bachmann.

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    4. If I were an evangelical I'd be a bit skittish. It wasn't that long ago he couldn't decide whether to fund PP or not.

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    5. Yeah, he's kind of hard to figure. I suspect he is
      or has been pretty progressive and is putting on a Trumpshow to fire up the disenfranchised and dissatisfied. He seems to change his mind hourly, gotta drive his handlers and spinmeisters nuts.
      If you were an evangelical you would spend your eventings watching Duck Dynasty followed by a couple hours of re-reading the Book Of Daniel...
      brandy permissible.

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    6. It's a balancing act, appeal to the evangelical base but give a wink wink nod nod to the Log Cabin Republicans. Pat Robertson and Ranger Rick;)

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  33. I think I brought up this subject before but Trump being 60ish how many colonoscopies has he had. He's supposed to be in fairly good health overall so how is the Trump colon?

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    Replies
    1. At 70, he is a couple years older than Hillary. As for colonoscopies, based on his physician's recent report, I would guess his polyps are excellent, colon
      great again and the glossy prints available from Trump
      Medical Enterprizes LLC. They say he doesn't need much sleep...just a shot of propofol and diazepam and a quick roll in the hay with whatshername. Spends more time on hairdo than sleeping..just my guess.

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  34. Seems to be the year of hated candidates. Heck, its like
    Ted Bundy vs John Wayne Gacy. Ya picks yer poison.

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    Replies
    1. Bundy could've said he wasn't as bad as Gacy and Dahmer. Bundy changed everything. Gone are the days when a woman on the beach might have asked a stranger to help her with her Coppertone.

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  35. Thing about Bundy, he looked normal. No glazed eyes like the Aurora shooter, no wild hair and forehead swastika like
    Chucky. He had to have had some sort of split personality-
    a Jeckyll-Hyde duality like ol jack the Ripper.

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    Replies
    1. Bundy at one point worked the suicide hotlines. It'd kinda be like a deglazed Manson asking you "are you alright?" & we worry about elevator eyes.

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  36. Speaking of crime the slain Queens jogger case seems to be floundering. The NYPD has their DNA profile but no match in the state and nat'l databases. Somebody did it, it didn't not happen. This would probably massively violate civil liberties but the only way to solve this mathematically is to get the DNA of a huge number of people including those with no criminal history but who fit a certain profile.

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    Replies
    1. It could probably be done surreptitiously. Say a sting operation offering free DNA analysis to see if
      you are descended from royalty. Or, asking suspects to
      volunteer DNA, then when certain suspects refused, follow them around and capture their Mountain Dew straw from the Quicky Mart garbage bin. TV CSI stuff,
      you know.

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    2. Along those lines, my middle girl is on Fall sabbatical from the university developing a Jr-Sr
      level biology course in forensics science..and goofing off in her free time.

      Delete
    3. It seems likely that the perpetrator in the Queens
      Case must have had to wash or dispose of some bloody evidence like clothing or weapons. Then you have the Shakespearean guilt trip like Lady Macbeth..the compulsive hand washing while muttering "Out, out, damned spot...What need we
      fear who knows it, when none can call our power to
      account?" Thank you Mrs. Landphear, 12th Grade
      Advanced Literature- 1958

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    4. They're now going with a sketch which I don't think means that much. I'd still go with the crude profile of a man with sex on the brain who got rebuffed.

      Delete
    5. Whatever happened to mace? Part of the problem is everyone's glued to their smartphones and nobody's aware of their surroundings.

      Delete
  37. We note that the Donald campaign just hired another real creep .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Noting Bossie's peculiar hobby honestly BB is Hillary all that virtuous? Her side makes it sound like we're attacking Mother Theresa.

      Delete
    2. Probably more than Bossie. We note
      "The chairman of the House inquiry into President Clinton's 1996 campaign finance practices ousted his top investigator amid a furor over the aide's role in releasing edited tapes of Webster L. Hubbell's jailhouse conversations. Under pressure from Speaker Newt Gingrich, Representative Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican who heads the House Government and Reform Committee, accepted the resignation of the aide, David N. Bossie, a dogged anti-Clinton sleuth"
      -The guy he worked for, Dan Burton, we further note-
      "In 1997, Burton headed an investigation into possible Democratic Party campaign finance abuse, focusing on the 1996 presidential election. The committee investigation ran for several years and issued over 1,000 subpoenas of Clinton administration officials and cost over $7 million. The committee, and Burton's leadership, were labeled a "farce", a "travesty", a "parody", and "its own cartoon, a joke, and a deserved embarrassment" Burton furthermore investigated
      Bill C's affaire, to quote "No one, regardless of what party they serve, no one, regardless of what branch of government they serve, should be allowed to get away with these alleged sexual improprieties"
      before it was discovered that Burton had fathered a child out of wedlock. But aside from the alt.right sleaze, Bossie is the head of Citizens United, the pro business Koch outfit that brought us unlimited secret financing in politics; a situation that is,
      IMO, far for dangerous than Hillary, or possibly even Trump because it is antithetical to democracy. It is more interesting investigating the investigators, who, IMO are considerably more egregious (if not far more dangerous) than HRC.

      Delete
  38. The VRWC - I thought you're usually against conspiracy theories. Was it hatched in Hannity's basement one warm July eve?

    ReplyDelete
  39. True, I find conspiracy theories more like hypothesis, although like most things they vary from the ludicrous to
    near truth. If the generational G. Gordon Liddy, Chuck
    Colson, Lee Atwater, Karl Rove David Bossie trail isn't conspiracy, it certainly is slimy. The modus operandi is to
    plant rumor, media tease into fact and influence the naive
    sector of the population. Probably why 7% of scientists are Republican (and as Shaw notes, "why so high?") Today's
    example: area GOP congresswoman reported muslims armed with
    high powered rifles were seen in the hills above the Lower Granite dam, no doubt came from the Mosque up near the University..and a congressional investigation should be stared immediately. The sheriff reported that they were
    kids hunting rabbits, and all three Muslims at the U were
    hard at work in Grad school. Sometimes you don't even have to dig to find stupid, ya know?

    ReplyDelete
  40. Ever fished the Croton Falls reservoir?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Close. I fished a part of the lower stream there from a johnboat. I heavily ice-fished the Titicus Reservoir one season and a little of Middle Branch by Carmel. Never seemed to have much luck in winter. Trout-fished the Amawalk outlet several times with mixed success. Funny as I recall then didn't have the raging tinnitus and never googled crc screening. I was higher on the optimism scale back then too. Life hit me over the head but I still reminisce. Town I'd most like to live in: Carmel, NY. Runnerup: Ridgefield CT. Slightly pricey though.

      Delete
    2. Those outdoor adventures in our youth seem to be a highpoint. At one point, my goal was to retire on a houseboat in N WI, Lac du Flambeau or Lake Chippewa.
      Common sense prevails, but is not as much fun.

      Delete
  41. Stuck in a debate with my doctor at the moment. Last fall had some procedure done. It has a SNOMED Code and is called "screening for malignant neoplasm of colon" and was listed on the sheet under diagnosis. Cost me a few hundred. Doctor keeps pushing colonoscopy though. Frustrating.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm guessing Saty is looking into her crystal ball and sees a Z-Man colonoscopy in the not too distant future?

      Delete
    2. Main motivation to keep the doctor quiet, stop the harassment. Do it discreetly say on your week off so as it not to become a topic at work. Watch it become a trend like I'll have to get 4 or 5 of them like you.

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    3. Dunno why the prep sheet instructions are so overly complicated. Also after a hard night of crapping it would only seem polite to take an early morning shower before going in.

      Delete
  42. I know I'm late to the party but...

    I think what we are seeing is the implosion of politics here in America. At least the kind that brought us real statesmen and folks who truly valued public service as a career.

    Who in the right mind would want to go into government service these days? It's incredibly toxic.

    Maybe our style of democracy is not suited for open elections and an internet fueled explosion of information and 24/7 campaigning.

    Can anyone imagine WWII under the eyes of a 24 hour news cycle?

    The Allies are bombing Berlin, and civilians are dying! Film at 11!

    Patton's tank are winning the battles but losing the war for the hearts of the German people.

    Pentagon caught flatfooted in Pearl Harbor. Calls for FDR to resign as he is not seen as a strong leader.

    Ike caught cheating on his wife. Still wants to be president.

    Maybe we are in that classic Pogo moment...

    ReplyDelete
  43. For me Trump vs. Hillary is like Godzilla vs. Mothra, we're doomed either way.

    ReplyDelete
  44. WWII reporters in the frontlines, in bombers, parachuting into enemy territory: Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite,
    Eric Severeid, Ernie Pyle & Andy Rooney: paragons of the press. Today's 'reporters': Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Breitbart, Rush Limbaugh & Dinesh d'Sousa: heroes in their
    own minds.

    ReplyDelete
  45. BB, let's not forget about William Shirer... what a great one he was. Even Dan Rather and Roger Mudd are light years beyond most of todays folks. Just look at your list... perhaps only richard Engel could make that list...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your point, Dave, brings to mind the beginning of the
      alt.right. Despite their patriotism and brilliance, both Shirer and J. Robert Oppenheimer (father of the bomb) were victims of finger-pointing, libel and baseless innuendo, among the many post-WWII who were
      persecuted in the infamous blacklisting . I have a long memory and Joe McCarthy represented the ugly and recurring problem of the GOP.

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    2. I loved Shirer's writing... wonderful stuff.

      Delete
  46. The anti-porn stance seems to be resurfacing in social conservatism. Pamela Anderson is now a reformed anti-porn crusader and recently penned an op-ed with a rabbi in the WSJ. Porn can serve different purposes for men - escapism, entertainment, salving emotional wounds etc. IMO it, s a social ill but not at the top of the list. Her piece heavily hints at censorship so while giving food for thought it's a mistake to involve the heavy hand of guv't imho.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As paleoanthropologists claim, nothing has changed in 40,000 years.

      Delete
    2. Which begs the question if Pam Anderson and Rabbi Boteach are left in charge how are they gonna define the stuff?

      Delete
    3. Dunno...Pam & Rabbi Do Dallas?

      Delete
  47. Good news if you're a zika virus. alt.congress considers it
    a hopeless a pathogenic scourge . Too much other really
    important GOP crap to worry about.

    ReplyDelete
  48. There is a shrine, now mostly abandoned, near Lyons, France.
    Medieval women would take their sick infants there to be cured. Not sure if St. Guinefort can heal tinnitus, but he
    can wag his tail . The deal with the middle ages: little or no science and a whole lot of miracles.

    ReplyDelete
  49. Where ya been Z-Man? Did you land that dream job up by
    Carmel?

    ReplyDelete
  50. Can't come up with anything major to rap about. Preoccupied with health insurance snarls. Maybe you have minimal coverage but the doctor wants to send you here and there what do you do? Christian Bros. - not a heavy drinker but find when you cut back insomnia or premature waking sets in. Defying conventional wisdom maybe it's best to go back to old habits. Just waiting for the next big topic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Knew a guy would only drink some expensive Portuguese
      brandy. At the going price, he only had a small shot
      each night. Me, I figure the buzz to dollar ratio a feature of economic science.

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    2. A shot does nothing and imo might even cause insomnia.

      Delete