We have dictators and tyrants in real-time spanning the world and yet nobody's globally protesting them. I hear the Bushmen in Africa were even protesting.
We guess that is the result of America's impact on the rest of the world. Lady cousins in Zurich marched. But I think the bushmen, well to quote Kelly Ann those are alternate facts. (they were doing their seasonal dance to bring in the wildebeest)
WHAT are the protesters so angry over? Do they even know?? Maybe it's just socially trendy to protest these days. Bring your kid and put him on your shoulders for an AP photo-op.
All political hyperbole aside is it possible that Trump may do a few good things as president? Personality aside he's never had any fixed core conservative principles so he's liable to do anything good bad or in-between. You're protesting a political shape-shifter basically.
True enough. He makes the GOP congress a bit uncomfortable as well as his more natural enemies. Voters were prompted that Obama made too many executive orders, and Donny cranks a ton out the first two days. Anybody notice that? I think being born to riches and running a vast real estate empire may make him overconfident and impatient and he may rush in where angels fear to tread. Sort of like the miracle drugs on TV: take these for hangnails, side effect include cancer, acne, leprosy and in some cases death by apoplexy. Say you tinker with trade. Then there is a trade war, excise tax increases, shortages, someplace stops selling us oil etc. The talk of drilling in natioan parks and fracking in Yongers is just dumb. Under Obama, the US made so much of its own oil we're exporting it. Degregulating banks to rase the market? It tripled under Obama, it can't go much further. IMO making America great again when it is alrady gread is a nonsensical redundancy. The one key area Trump campaigned on is good jobs and basically the draining of wealth to the top. If he can cure that alone, he will be acknowledged as a great leader. But, going SuperTrickleDown ain't gonna do it. The world women thing is a big deal and as you can guess much of it revolves around freedom of choice. There is much fever on both sides of that issue and no matter what, some bunch is going to be furious.
That last part amazes me. Trump as the hardcore RTLer! The staunchly pro-life Ronald Reagan was president for 8 years and the abortion industry is doing quite well thank you.
People seem to be confusing Trump with Pat Buchanan. Trade war? We really don't know what he's gonna do. He might be more nuanced. Is he gonna be a worse president than Jimmy Carter? WHAT are they protesting. Reality may be hard to accept but Hillary lost. Stop the global psycho-trauma already!
Like all recently elected GOP presidents, Trump on the first day signed an executive order stopping birth control and abortion in foreign aid packages to Africa. The biggest result in an increase in AIDs born babies. One of those side effect things. But you are right, at one time Trump was pro-choice. We guess running as a GOPer changes one's mind (if one isn't that concerned either way) It's like all the GOPers who once termed Trump 'unfit' for the presidency. Like breathing and eating, the global pshcho-trauma marches on. Although we may ponder how the alt-right would have reacted to a Hillary win. My guess it would involve firearms and be led by General Wayne LaPierre? We refer to Hamlet, "the lady doth protest too much methinks" when observing the millions of women marching and wonder had Hillary won, millions of men would be marching worldwide.
Abortion has no place in foreign aid packages. That all has to do with the international population control movement. Think International Planned Parenthood Federation and UNFPA. Poorer countries are held hostage to population control dictates in order to receive aid. Africans typically have large families. Poverty and starvation in African nations have more to do with corrupt African governments. Think blood diamonds.
After watching Trump rallies all Summer, with the raised fists and lock her up chants, he and his misinformed minions expect to be treated with deference and respect? No way.. sort of an alt-dimension Streisand Effect effect. Where are his tax returns? Where are the tax returns of all his billionaire appointees? He plays by his bully boy rules. We cut him no slack, Z-Man.
Reminds me of that Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report" where the pre-cogs predict potential future crime. We are protesting what Trump might do a mere three days into his Administration. A kind of political futurism imho.
Abortions; as Obama leaves office, they are at a record low. Lowest they have been since 1974. The odd thing is, the main reason is availability of birth control. Those that what that banned would love the rate soaring again..give them holier than thou crusading zeal. We wonder if the total ban will reintroduce the back ally procedure so rampant up until the fifties. Hard to get data on that, since it is illegal. Anyway, it is down, no thanks to GOP or evangelical fundies. Let's up in continues down.
Birth control is not illegal. The basic position is Joe Taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for it. Re deaths from back alley abortions - always tragic. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson in "Aborting America" (Doubleday 1979) says he and Larry Lader deliberately overinflated those figures to help the abortion cause. This was late 60's early 70's when Nathanson was co-founder of NARAL. Alt-facts.
Totally agreed but my point is you and Saty keep talking about banning bc. I'm not aware of any contraceptive factories being shut down or women being arrested with pills in their purses.
IMO protesting the entire Trump presidency on the basis of three days would be like protesting Uber flying taxis just because of something you read on the Internet.
You got your Mandela Effect, Streisand Effect, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskerville_effect , Cobra Effect , False Concensus EffectGeneration Effect and all the way through the alphabet to your own Zeeman Effect . I'm working on the Too Many Referral Link Effect here.
Nicole Kidman has kind of said some things if I understand correctly maybe we should support or get behind the new president. I wonder if it will affect her Oscar chances.
I doubt the Australian actress is typical of the few, the brave, the nutcase alt-Australian right . Maybe she is non-confrontational, a willing victim of bullies?
Our image is suffering abroad because a large swath of Americans hate the new president. One expects this to happen in a Middle Eastern country like Egypt not the USA. It can only embolden terrorists and other enemies.
You are damn right our image is suffering abroad. If a majority of Americans dislike the new pres is the cause is debatable. I see Paul Ryan announce this AM that we need the new HHC secretary because Obacare is in ruins (read being shredded by buzzards) and Trumpenstien signed another exec order freeing up the pipeline. Since we have been and are now 100% US supplied by oil, this will enable yuuuge exports of oil (and lower us supply, raising gasoline prices to an ungodly profit level. Job creation other than construction is nil. The chance of a Wounded Knee or Little Bighorn increases for the Lakota people. We also learn today that the shredding of Obamacare has taken the coal miners with black lung disease off the healthcare rolls, antithetic to creating coal mining jobs, but in line with the coal executives preferring early death once they have worn out their workers. Since there is no market for more coal (natural gas being better and plentiful) we surmise that the next exec order will be that all smartphone will be required to be charged by coal. Our image suffers here, overseas and in several alternate universes. Get used to it.
Possibly. But, I'm going with Octopus, who writes at the 'Swash Zone'- " For years, Hillary Clinton has been ridiculed for her sterling qualifications, her public service, and the indiscretions of her husband. When sensationalism and sexism conspire in the news, sleazy soundbites are amplified.
One key word is ‘projection’ — a tactic used to turn tables and malign the reputation of any challenger. Briefly defined, a bad actor blames his bad actions on an opponent. The bully belittles, berates, defames, and smears his adversary with such frequency and ferocity, the repetition of cheap shots creates a phantom reality. Horse and rider change places as projections turn an innocent person guilty and a guilty person innocent.
That Hillary chose to salvage her marriage is a personal and private choice (and none of our business). We may even argue that her forgiveness of Bill is a credit in her favor. Yet, we hold Lewd Gingrich, Rudely Giuliani, Snark Sanford, and Groper Don to a lower standard. All are infamous scoundrels untainted by their indiscretions.
Condemnations in the kangaroo court of public opinion. Suspicions and derisions. Witch hunts without merit. From Bill to Benghazi and beyond, Hillary has been blamed for misdeeds she never committed (but the taint of hearsay never goes away). “Crooked Hillary.” “Lock her up.” The words of a reprobate and Pawn of Putin confirm the double standard: American culture is steeped in misogyny and sexism.
How do partisan cheap shots stick glue-like in the minds of the public? Perhaps this tendency of people to react irrationally in binary terms: Tribe against tribe, us versus them, better him than her. Binary reasoning is the wellspring of bigotry, divisiveness, sexism, verbal abuse." -or we might observe that the electorate cannot sift the grain from the rat turds. The Trump mandate is backed by a minority, plain and simple.
He did well enough to win the electoral college and that's what counts. I'm not coming at this from a pro-Trump pov just from the conventional wisdom we should generally support the president and respect the office. The protesters would be far far better off forming a movement instead to get rid of the electoral college. Where are the liberals who usually preach to us to watch and curb our hate speech? Hate speech can and does lead to violence they usually tell us and all of this is being partly fomented by an msm that can't seem to get over the trauma of Hillary losing. We live in very politically disturbing times.
In the interest of negating a Trump induced Baskerville Effect , I saw part of a med show on PBS this morning which involved the problems of a young man suffering post-Lyme syndrome. A panel of specialists interviewed him and offered different insights. While the subject of tinnitus did not come up, it can result from Lyme, but usually gradually fades away. I've probably asked before but have forgotten. Is your tinnitus confined to one or both ears and is its intensity the same?
The tinnitus is not your typical ringing but a kind of roaring vibrating two-toned noise many times loudest in the early morning and then the evening hours. In the morning it can sound like a large truck idling outside and there's also a strong vibrating sensation. It's in both ears but not at the same time. It might be in the left ear at a certain time of day then later the right ear. The sound is coming from outside of myself high in the sky for lack of a better description. When I'm in church sitting and facing east the sound always comes from the geographical sense of NW. Don't know why. During work hours in the kitchen I'm so busy I really don't notice it at all. Doesn't really interfere with sleep but on balance it's fairly constant and quite loud to the point I would label it catastrophic tinnitus.
Re Post-Lyme Syndrome or chronic Lyme it seems most mainstream doctors treat it as a kind of fringe medical topic for some reason and don't take it seriously. Doctors tend to develop a medical herd mentality over time and tend to disparage other of their colleagues who may offer different theories. Maybe you're right and it does cause tinnitus but then again everything is said to cause tinnitus. A favorite kind of fallback default theory is the old villain Anxiety. That could well be and then the question becomes who do I blame? the boss? A common piece of advice is to see the ENT except chronic tinnitus is not curable so there's a couple more bills for you. So I can't blame Trump/Hillary although that probably doesn't help.
There is a possibility that yours is not typical tinntus, but rather a sensitivity to VLF/ELF (Very and Extremely low frequency) noise that is unheard by most people. But 2-3% of population pick it up on a more or less consistent basis. European research is outlined in an interesting article, and while the examples are from Europe, the world map data base included in it show high incidences in industrial and urbanized locations, of which Yonkers is in the middle along our east coast. Maybe of import, maybe not; but we would expect others in your area are subject to the phenomenon. If you dig into the data, come up with a solution and get the Nobel and get cured, you heard it here first. :)
That was truly one of your best links yet. Describes my experience to the letter. I heard it one morning while sitting on the couch having coffee. I leaned my head against the wall behind the couch, a relaxing habit and literally felt the wall vibrating. Droning is the perfect way to describe it. If you're thinking of an irritating subject like Trump it magnifies it tenfold.
The article assumes an industrial source for the Hum but I've heard it even in my walks through the deep woods. For Hum sufferers it's like something woven into the fabric of reality itself. Put another way it's just something that is.
As I understand it, these types of sound waves not only propagate a long ways, but bounce off and around both man made and geological structure. I picked up an error factor in the map, eg. the complaint points pretty much follow population density. In other words out in the wide open spaces there aren't many people, so few or no complaints. Certainly 'wall vibrating' is very possible with V-E/LF sounds. Natural sources like dams and waterfalls induce ground vibration, and oddly, modern windmills have cause symptoms like yours in people. Next vacation, you might want to stop in the plains of Saskatchewan or central Wyoming and see if it goes away. At a minimum to satisfy scientific curiosity, double check your last hearing test, concentrating on the area 3-30 Hz, where 98% people hear nothing. An optimistic guess, since those sounds are way down on the lower fringe, they should disappear with normal age lose of hearing. If you dig around a bit, you will also find that the military was interested at one time in weaponizing ultra low sound. (presumably it only affected the poor 2%)
I believe another word for this is RF Hearing and so a trip to the ENT would be pretty much pointless. I only developed this sometime well after 2000 so the question then becomes why don't us hummers have it going way back? Why the sudden onset like one of the guys in the link said? In some quarters of discussions of the worldwide hum it takes a cerntastic turn.
Second, US dollars do not fund abortions overseas. NO FEDERAL DOLLARS FUND ABORTION. Period. Not here, not anywhere. So this is all so much crap. But like BB said, this bill gets signed in or out of existence based on who's in office.
Alternative facts. Do they operate in an alternative universe? You want people to respect the office... they don't have any respect for it themselves. I read an article that a federal suit has already been filed against him for his conflict of interest with a foreign representative paying rent. Drain the swamp? Donald lives in the swamp.
People need to continue to protest. There will never be a time that his behaviour is okay. There will never be a time when it's normal to have 'alternative facts' or to 'disagree with the facts'. People have to continue to call him out on it, to throw his lies in his face, to hold him to his promises that he's already going back on (I hear the taxpayers are going to fund that wall) and get him the hell out of office just as fast as they can.
I don't necessarily disagree with every thing a protester throws up I'm merely looking at it from a more practical view. Trump is president, it's our new reality so unless he does something highly impeachable we have to accept that. Instead we should be seeing posters and placards like "Get Rid of the Electoral College." WHY am I not seeing that?
If a childish bully is president, should he always get his way? You believe that 5 million illegal aliens voted to give Hillary her big popular vote? Me neither.
From the paintings of the homo neanderthaensis, we suspect the remnants roam among us as Sasquatches. The author's hypothesis is based on evidence of violent contacts between the species and occasional interbreeding, the rest seems a figment of his imagination. The two lived alongside each other in the Levant very early, and both species moved relatively rapidly into northern Europe, where the Neanderthal preferred cold climes and mammoths (or were driven to that by the Cro-Magnons. Physical evidence for much conflict is missing, and like many species interactions, most paleoarcheologists see a 'crowding out' termed the Competitive Exclusion Effect Which, in addition to the smaller and widespread grouping of the more primitive (it is thought they had no language ability)one way or the other led to their extinction. As you note, pre-history is not a usual topic in K1-12 education. As you suspect, all of my kids were treated to bedtime stories about paleoarcheology. And, unlike the kids next door, they did not have nightmares about Abraham sacrificing Isaac or wonder why David got the hots for Bathsheba. Little kids prefer interesting tales of where we came from, other than a daub of mud and a rib. IMO, of course.
Upper Management-my favorite villain. These pampered sociopaths have whined about taxes and regulation ever since they made their first billion. They convinced enough voters that the problem wasn't them, but the government. Keep an eye on things as the EPA and OSHA are gutted and the miniscule taxes on them triples the national dept. Perhaps I worry too much, but it is easy to see wages go down, OT never more paid and the workplace become a Dickenson darkness of drudgery and misery. Mfg jobs, if they come back will be automated and the best laid plans of the GOP will backfire so badly than trying to blame Obama will be farcial. ISIS will stand by laughing as we spiral downward. That is the bright side.
..even brighter, colonoscopies will decline as we have GOP health insurance! HHS will kill research in all areas and tinnitus studies relegated to the GOP landfill. Scientists that work in gov't (EPA, CDC, OSHA because they love their work and their country will either leave or be fired. If that segment cannot find refuge in academia there are many nations eager to take them in. (I would have hard time researching for Pat Robertson's new Department of Creation Science). We suspect cancer research will be replaced by high priced prayer groups and long stretches of the Hudson turned into a liquid landfill. As ever, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and Paul Ryan's silly triumphal grin will turn into an agonized frown. Golly, I rant like Isaiah while I linger like Methuselah. Gotta find some sackcloth....
I'm thinking both tinnitus and cancer have numerous etiologies and various manifestations. As for cures, some types of cancers such as childhood leukemia, have been quite good. Tinnitus shouldn't be that hard, the ear being localized and its structure and function pretty well understood. Consider as well, cancer research basics can be done on lab rats and understood considerabley before moving to human subjects. If rats had tinnitus, whether naturally or induced, they don't announce "hey its gone". So tinnitus research, such as it is, is sort of one on one and catch as catch can..hardly ideal. As you rightly note, there is minimal interest from the healthcare community, either not lucrative, or because it is more hidden and less lethal than cancer. For those of us who became sort of addicted to research, it would seem a perfect hobby for some retired physician; get enough interested desperate patients, divide them by symptom, gender, whatnot, and run well documented studies. Not me, though. I'm one of those lightweights that sticks q-tips in my ear (when I'm not using them to clean my pipe)
The minimal interest about tinnitus in healthcare - many doctors don't ask you such things as does it interfere with your work? The idea of tinnitus disability is even further off the table. For MDs it's like the insomnia topic, not lethal= low priority. The colon however......
You would think that if tinnitus was causing suicidal pain there would be some sort of surgery they could do. Maybe not be have to hear certain sounds, like Ted Nugent, but the catastrophic roar and pounding would be gone. Anvil/stirrup- sand down the pommel on the saddle or something.
Thing is when you explain how horrible tinnitus is or rf hearing or whatever it is people can't relate to it. The attitude is listen to some music to mask it, adapt yourself to the hellish drone and welcome it in your life. I daresay if even 50% of doctors and scientists suffered from the condition there'd be a cure by now.
You're missing a big part of the picture though. The GOP doesn't like Trump. The only reason they're keeping it on a low simmer is they respect the system too much. During the primary season Trump won enough delegates to secure the nomination. The GOP chose to honor that, that's how it works but remember how Paul Ryan and others were so hesitant initially to support him? Trump is a political Nosferatu and if the right impeachable offense came along they're quite willing to throw him under the bus. Then it's Pence and if he can't do it Paul Ryan. Am I missing something?
All true. As presidential leaders, he appears to be an outlier (as well as outright liar) Pence and Ryan are more predictable, but haven't a large base and unlike Trump would, IMO be a little more cautious, not rushing in where angels fear to tread. This executive order torrent reminds me of how awful it was when Obama did it, even though his motive was to keep government running over the eight years of stonewalling. So, while there is no need to rush into it, IMO Trump feels he needs to through red meat to the base quickly, show the GOP congress he is the boss, and most importantly massage his own ego.
Read a story today about how Silicon Valley execs are turning into survivalist preppers because they're afraid that society is heading for a collapse. They're concerned that the great unwashed masses that have had their wages stagnated for forty years are going to rise up and be heard. A French Revolution if you will. They're right to be scared, they're the reason for the unrest.
Trump. Now he's concerned about millions of illegal voters, because of course he couldn't have lost the popular vote fair and square. Funny when Jill was wanting that recount the Trump camp was all on about how voter fraud was a non-thing. His ego is bigger than the government. Even Ryan admits there's no evidence for voter fraud.
Mitt Romney, how I miss the days when he was the worst thing I had to worry about.
Colonoscopies: Scott's was free. It was a $40 copay and they ended up sending us a refund check. He had five polyps and a strong family history so he's on the three year followup plan.
Medicare covers colonoscopies very well. Cheaper in the long run compared to treating colon cancer. As for the millions of illegal aliens voting in California and NY, we suspect Z-Man of being a Costa Rican, new in town. Go with the flow, sort of.
Pondering further the Trump psychological profile not that long ago we were discussing those people who never apologize, the non-apologizer. You patiently wait for them to do the logical thing then you wonder what makes them tick. Trump fits into this category, at least I don't recall him ever issuing a mea culpa in the true sense. Building on the psychological profile......
I called one of my senators today to ask that they spend 237 days before they vote on the SCOTUS and slow way down on some of the more bizarre Trump initiatives. Had to give my name and address, and since I am too old to fight off a goon squad, you may have heard the last of me. I am still totally steamed talking to the idiot.
The more bizarre Trump initiatives assuming you mean his strokes of the pen. Building on what I said before Trump secured the Republican nomination fair and square, the GOP decided to respect the time-honored system and so they're stuck with an aberration. Think Billy Mumy/Twilight Zone. A Trump presidency never should have happened. It should have been Romney or Kasich or Any of the Others even Pat Sajak. What I'm saying is don't automatically connect everything that comes out of the mouth as reflecting GOP thinking. Now I'm hearing of some sort of religious test.
The non-apologizer provokes and then blames the situation on your perception. I watched that video of Trump mocking the disabled Times reporter, the subject of Meryl Streep's speech...oh wait alternative fact.
Heard some talking head mutter, "More Wall, more tunnels". Next Trump will ban US vacationers from Acapulco and Cozumel, all the legitimate US Latinos will close their Mexican restaurants, Trump will ban auto import and exports, etc. Next, Canada? Oh what a terrible web we weave....
But you're right. The GOP might officially adopt some of the same positions (get tough on the illegals) but push comes to shove they're far more hesitant and cautious than Trump. I wouldn't even be surprised if in the end despite their bluster they leave the ACA largely intact. Trumo apparently means what he says. Good or bad depending on your pov.
Since Trump won the presidency why is he concerned about this? He apparently thinks he won the popular vote too since in his mind the illegals gave Hillary the popular vote edge. This obviously bothers him and the root is Ego. He wants a COMPLETE victory for the history books but he ain't gonna get it.
Researchers at CERN, utilizing an array of crosslinked quantum computers, were able to locate and briefly download a snippet from a different dimension and universe. From the planet Simian in the Epsilon Betelguese system, they found an human like orangutan named Dr. Zaius. Before the muon breakdown of the window, it seems that Dr. Zaius was somehow warped into the American presidency. Go figure...
Another theory: maybe the Trump character traits reflect the character traits of many Americans. One of the biggest criticisms is he lies but so do many of the people I've come across in my travels and this isn't the corner wino lying they're professionals in all walks of life and they lie with fluidity. You know they're lying and they know you know they're lying and yet they still lie. Probably why Bill Clinton was so popular (the Maureen Dowd theory).
Dunno, lying is but one of his many character traits. BTW, I heard Yonkers is going to pay for 'The Wall'. Saw some worried economists on Charlie Rose today; all the tax cutting while building walls and infrastructure adds up to adding another few trillion to the national debt; of course many GOPpers hate that idea. Clinton was a BS-er, good natured, social happy and apparently pretty smart if you buy into Rhodes Scholars (I knew one, dang, you talk smart). Trump isn't a BS-er, he doesn't even think he is lying and when confronted with evidence is furious and wants to investigate. Arrogance, I just hate it. Where is Melania these days?
Caught the British Prime Minister, Mrs. May addressing congress this afternoon. Is it the English pronounciation, the long well chosen words or the deep understanding of recent world history that makes her seem so much smarter than our real estate mogul-in-chief...or is she actually?
Pena Nieto cancelled the meeting. Good for him. Mexico ain't payin for nothin.
I bet in his heart of hearts Paul Ryan wishes Mitt Romney were president. Mitt looks good these days, wouldn't he have been a peach compared to what we got?
Trump is now convinced that millions of people voted illegally but where were they when Jill wanted a recount? I have never seen so much ego in one person in my life. He cannot stand to lose, not even when he's really won. Just the thought that he lost the popular vote is enough to do him in.
His businesses are all already in conflicts of interest. Hopefully these will all be duly filed (some are already) and the courts can tackle the job. I wonder if it's impeachable? Though the thought of Pence isn't much better.
I think you are going to see the rank and file GOP start to move away from Trump. He's untenable. For politics' sake they will have to start the disavowing.
I see that 30 miles off Montauk they're going to build a wind farm. I think that's a positively fabulous idea and they say it will generate 90 gigawatts. Long Island is apparently a really great place for this kind of thing as the winds are so consistently strong. And since they've basically gutted the EPA it should be no trouble getting the permits.
Well Saty, they might hate EPA, but they also hate green energy; Wyoming refused to OK a 240 unit wind farm in the middle of nowhere because it competes with their huge open pit coal operations. Pity, those pits that turn out millions of tons of coal a year employee about a dozen people at each place. Trains roll in and out, a hundred a day, so there are some locomotive engineers employed. But natural gas has replaced coal as the fuel of choice at electric plants and deregulating it will help no one except possibly an already too rich owner. Trumpenomics.
Saty I love that word untenable. I haven't really checked any of the right-wing blogs of late but I'm wondering if any are starting to get that untenable feeling. A definition I came across years ago for "untenable" is "incapable of being maintained in reality" which about describes it.
BB you've always been a fan of gov't and regs but here's a libertarian thought experiment for you. Most would agree that you should be required to have a driver's license to operate a motor vehicle but does the mere fact of this legal requirement make people better drivers? You see the way people drive. Can laws be overrated? I'm only pondering here.
Driver licenses require some minimal understanding of operating a vehicle, signs and traffic regulations. The most important thing about driver licenses is you have to present the photo one to vote here in Idaho. "But lady, Mrs. Garber, I have voted here in every single election since 1978. You know darn well who I am" "The Idaho GOP is terrified that some foreign sneaky person will cast a vote, probably for a Democrat..show me your license to I can laugh at your photo" and so it goes. You suppose those 85 year old semi truck drivers from Pakistan and Uruguay zipping through the interstate lanes while dozing and texting their ivory tower boss have a license? Or the AI cars and trucks...do they even vote?
Arnold Schwarzenegger recently met Pope Francis at the Vatican. Schwarzenegger has a climate change organization? Now I know we're living in an alt-verse.
Steve Bannon, former Breitbart chief propagandist, announced that the press should "shut up". Thank you, Dr. Goebbels, we surely no longer need the 1st Amendment. Orwell nods sadly.
Mexican President Pena Nieto and President Donald J. Trump are having a Twitter war. Does every world leader have a Twitter account and are we to see the world's affairs conducted with hashtags and 140-character thoughts? Somehow seems less dignified. Again I blame the rise of the Kardashians.
With the caveat that my expertise in economics consists of swiping my credit card, I have been wondering about two terms which I invented (at least they aren't on search engines yet) Trumpenomics and Trumpeldown. The first is based on big stakes real estate, at which he is no doubt an expert: Get a yuuuuge loan from Wall Street, use eminent domain to remove people from their homes on the French coast, build a Reaally Great hotel in Marseille, don't pay the illegal alien construction workers and sue the Wall Street bank that loaned the money. Complex, yet simple. Trumpeldown is a personal economics which inovles ignoring the advice of your own economic staff, dismantling the Pacific Trade Agreement and deny the trumpledown as Kansas, which voted for you 60-30, loses billions as 30% of it's export crop sits for awhile before it is used for forage. Feel free to critique and flesh these new economic systems. :)
I was researching some religious themes on YouTube just now and came across a young black female visionary who claims to have seen pop stars tortured in hell. Which ones and they might want to reconsider their hatred of the Donald. Madonna said she wants to blow up the WH but it was taken out of context like what the subtle allegorical symbolism and juxtaposition of ironic effects?
I came across a very interesting quote from the late David Bowie. "Religion is for people who fear hell. Spirituality is for those who have been there."
David Bowe quote- very philosophical. Single sentence quotes with a wealth of thoughts. "He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe "How much more suffering is caused by the thought of death than by death itself.” ― Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
Precisely. Along the lines of 'a coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave but once'. The anxiety of a vivid imagination is the source of many phobias, no?
Phobias are not always irrational. As a kid I always had this strong fear of lightning but it's kept me safe. I've seen many people casually walking from their cars with lightning zig-zagging across the sky. Not me.
St. John Bosco once had a very detailed and horrific dream about hell. The Church has treated it as a mystical vision of sorts. Many people would go "you just had a bad nightmare." A prophetic warning or too much abbey ale?
I have a Padre Pio app on my phone. His was always the image of a stern saint but his daily thoughts and words dispense gentle life advice and spiritual encouragements for the most part. You have a garden variety of saints out there.
Going through my apps before and the hard right loves Trump despite it all. A great example is the Michele Malkin app. Why does it have to be rad-fems and communists hate Trump? Why can't reasonable people of whatever stripe have a problem with Trump?
Hmmm, communists hate Trump? Hardly, they are quite fond of they guy. Almost as much as vodka. What is Michelle Malkin harping about these days...I thought she would have a WH job by now... maybe assistant chief of confusion?
My contribution so far ignored. Horror movie "Frogs" (1972) starring Sam Elliot and Ray Milland. In the original Iris the butterfly woman dies in quicksand. In the dvd she gets bit by a rattler but the trailer shows a bit of her death by quicksand and so does a google image search. Should I join reddit and get brutally debunked?
As a kid we'd be playing stickball and come 4:30 my friend would absolutely stop what he's doing and go home to watch "The Brady Bunch" even if it were a repeat of a repeat.
That's not how the dvd version sequence of events went. Iris simply got bitten by the Eastern Diamondback then died a few seconds later. The quicksand scene was big back in the day and was featured in the monster mags back then. If the director opted for two versions of the same scene you'd think it'd be in some Extras section with explanatory notes. Nothing on YouTube? look it up.
I'm thinking snopes is gonna have to have a whole subsection devoted to Trump claims alone. I think with the snopes staff they have a big rubber ink stamp with FALSE on it and they like to use it. Who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
To me the political biases of the fact-checking groups IS important. IMO if most fact-checking groups lean left and they tend to debunk most right-wing claims of various sorts then that to me is suspect. Of course the possibility exists that right-wing groups mostly lie which I'm assuming is probably your view but if you're going to be deemed an important source for debunking and fact-checking and you're always on the first page of the Google search whatever the topic then I do think political biases are important.
Of course snopes also deals largely with non-political topics so they're a little different from say Politifact. I totally accidentally came across the topic "researchers record the screams of the damned" in my web-surfing last night and prominently displayed was the snopes conclusion that this was false. I never heard of this topic before and if you google it it'd save me the time of recapping it but how was it determined the sounds were of false origin? It would seem a matter of faith imo. Dunno if snopes deals with Sasquatch topics too but I think they put a lot on their plate and maybe some things take longer to look into. I think if you already have a debunking bias ingrained in you your tendency is to debunk. It's just something to consider.
Not believing in facts seems to the the Evangelfundy way of affirming their belief that every word in the Bible was directly from God, who is old and has a white beard. We should D-wave the problem.
Anyway I listened to the audio clips again and the sounds are indeed disturbing. It's not just a fundy thing some Fatimites have also used the same Siberian audio in some of their YouTube videos. Snopes says it sounds like a bar on a bad Friday night but again things like hell and the Devil imo can't really be certified or debunked imo. D-Wave away.
No, Evangelicals and Catholics for the most part tread different paths which only cross on occasion. But within the range of each we find the usual left to right POVs. Nothing against old men with white beards. I' a bit leery of old ladies with white beards, though. It is presumptuous to think God is a old human, sort of like it is presumptuous to think of the God Poseidon lugging a trident around. Like maybe it is just a big salad fork, ya know? Spinoza sort of gave up, figuring God was ephemeral and not material, everywhere and nowhere. Fact check: ephemeral has no beard, white or otherwise.
I'm not into conservapedia, I kinda forgot about them but I don't think snopes & co. should be immune to criticism. I'm also not saying conservapedia should be the official fact-checker of the fact-checkers but if you're going to be deemed one of the bibles of political fact-checking and other topics you should be willing to be peer-reviewed I would think.
Julius Caesar said that people will believe what they want, so facts are immaterial to some. Me, I made a living off facts, so they are sort of central to my thinking. The new PC cleans up the baldfaced lie by calling it an alternate fact, and as JC noted, that makes the logic impaired happier and more self respected. BTW, I got an e-mail from House Speaker Paul Ryan this morning "A New Dawn For The Unborn" touting their full control of guv and quick action in defunding Planned Parenthood, etc. Now I have his e-mail address and was able to thank him for his letter and remind him that I support Planned Parenthood along with 62% of Americans. Maybe he will cross me off his list. As for the cretin Idaho legislature that wants the death penalty for women having abortions, I sent him my comment that maybe just castrating the fathers would work too. Gotta be hard being a politician. No wonder Sarah Palin quit to become rich and silly.
I'm not gonna rehash the whole abortion/PP subject but how'd you get that email? I generally don't get emails from liberal groups. Did PP come up with a cure for tinnitus yet?
Good question. How does an old coot in the mountains get on the House Speaker List? I haven't lived in Wisconsin since 1963 and in the shooting business was regarded as a token liberal, so his office must be using old phonebooks or something. Tinnitus: the noise no one else hears. It has to be located either in the ear physiological structure, or the in the auditory nerve system, IMO. But the practitioners don't even start with that simple bifurcated taxonomy. You would think somewhere, someplace, there is a physician with some successful ideas...maybe a retired colonoscopist or something.
Interesting concept, what if you were never born. Hard to wrap your mind around, except there have been a lot of people born the last half million years: but an infinite number that were never born. We presume the number that were aborted both naturally and artificially would be considerably lower than those who actually were born and lived and those who never even got to the blastocyte stage. We need tighten the definition of unborn to reduce the infinite possible humans ever. Plug in the quantum processers, guys.
As routine and mainstream as abortion has become it is also an act that's profound from a philosophical pov. Being so profound you would think it would become less routine. I hearken back to when Obama was campaigning for president the first time and told a PP conference the first thing he would do would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. After he became president he never even talked about it.
The main cause of aging is the gradual loss of telomere length which leads to disrupting the various protein replacement processes in our cells. So the guys that should be working on tinnitus have been looking at telomerase, the enzyme which can repair the essential 'nonsense' chains which protect the essential part of the RNA/DNA. You may get the chance to start over . A bit different than reincarnation, backwards aging, but ya get to a point where it would seem sort of fun.
If somehow we were able to do this, miraculously reverse the aging process they'd put alot of colonoscopists out of business. Turning 50 wouldn't mean a hill of beans.
Just as point of fact the abortion rate is lower than it's been since the 70s. Getting birth control out there and available and cheap really does work.
That's old news you've mentioned before. IMO it could have to do with moving away from the doctrine of hell. You're a Christian woman considering an abortion, you're ambivalent but you know Christ will forgive you down the road. On the other hand karma is much more tight as Saty has explained it. Bad karma is rigorously set in motion after a bad act so you might think twice. Just a thought.
Karma aside, IMO those seeking abortions are not frivolous, but desperate. Back to Karma- is the earthworm practicing virtue, hoping to become a gopher in the next life? Don't know about you, but when I pull back and ponder life, soul, humanity's relation to the universe (thankfully, not often), I consider the animal kingdom: like us, they are born, procreate and die. That's clearly the way it is, but why do we worry about it, while they enjoy life until they get run over by some car?
Not to sound hokey and with all due respect to snopes but when you listen to that audio clip made by those Siberian geologists it gives you pause. No I don't think the reasons for abortions are frivolous but it's always a tragic choice imo. Lena Dunham is another matter.
There is a news bias diagram that is supposedly 'viral' in some niches. I find it interesting and pretty much agree, although I have never heard of the ultra left sites depicted. Interestingly and expected, the far right blogs are incensed with it and consider it an alt-chart or fake news diagram. Your thoughts?
God that's hard on the eyes at first. Their take on HuffPo and FOX seems good ("good for confirming your existing opinions but be careful how much you hang out here") and they take a very dim view of Infowars and Breitbart. Only problem I have is under their heading Mainstream (minimal partisan bias) they list the NY Times. Now imo the Times is great for news but there's a Yuuuuuuge bias running throughout and it's no secret they hate the Donald.
And so it begins. The Muslim ban. Interesting that he has no financial ties to the countries that are on the list but does have financial ties to those that aren't.
As I understand it, Trump kicked two professionals from the security team and replaced them with Steve Bannon. I'm thinking Dick Cheney wasn't available.
I don't know how true this is but somebody told me he's going to send spies into workplaces to find out who's illegal. The companies who hired them will be in trouble and the illegals will be given only a few months to apply for the proper papers.
The Guardian, which sits next to the Wall Street Journal on the hard to read chart (centrist, complex, analytical) explains how we got into this awful mess . I cannot disagree, although they are careful not to blame the voters, which I do.
People disliked Hillary so much they voted for Trump. I know she prevailed in the popular vote but I agree with the writer that she was the wrong candidate. What law of the universe dictated it had to be her vs. him?
The rest of the world preferred Clinton by a wide majority; her time as Secretary of State reversed burgeoning hatred for Bush as his administration came to a close: "Clinton was the stand-out winner in a massive poll earlier this month of nearly 50,000 people in 45 countries, covering 75 per cent of the world, by WIN/ Gallup International Association. The survey found Clinton prevailing as favourite to win in all but one country – Russia" We observe that the people of Earth liked her/hated Trump..sort of the opposite of the Breitbart US population...and so we have the alt-president.
We are reminded of the adage- ""Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger." ...and the interesting source of such foolishness- "One example of these cases is that of Saint Ebba (sometimes called Æbbe the Younger), the Mother Superior of the monastery of Coldingham. In 867 AD, Viking pirates from Zealand and Uppsala landed in Scotland. When news of the raid reached Saint Ebba, she gathered her nuns together and urged them to disfigure themselves, so that they might be unappealing to the Vikings. In this way, they hoped to protect their chastity. She demonstrated this by cutting off her nose and upper lip, and the nuns proceeded to do the same. The Viking raiders were so disgusted that they burned the entire building to the ground with the nuns inside" ---probably just me, but I see an interesting parallel to current times.
Trump has managed to get the whole world talking about him. Makes one wonder if all his executive actions were part ego-driven. It's not out of the realm.
The Christian fundamentalists know who is going to Hell and who isn't. Woman at work said the fundies think all Jews are going to Hell which is ironic I said since they are overwhelming political supporters of the state of Israel and it's pivotal to their eschatology (watch Daystar). That'd be throwing the bull BB.
It's logical that there is a Hell. Far too many people die not feeling sorry or bad for anything they've done. It's also logical they won't be entering that peaceful tunnel of light as why would they? However what does all this have to do with whether you're a Christian or not, whether you accept Christ as your personal Savior or not? It sounds to me like Trump is already running for a second term.
Oh yeah I read that entry. Re snopes though do they have the cred to be paranormal investigators or should they just stick with politics? Maybe we should call the Yonkers Ghost Investigators.
The Y.G.I. technical team is currently working on the Banshee-Werewolf of Tibbets Brook Park. As for the logic for the existence of Hell, that is teleological, unless we specify that evil people deserve a place termed Hell. Eg. is not a proof for its existence...nor is the soundtrack from an old movie. But, we bow to the continuing influence of the Manichean cosmology vis a vis religious evolution.
I don't see the logic I proposed as proof but it's a starting point for the subject. Put another way it would seem strange if Hitler just moved through the Pearly Gates no? Also if you already have a bias against its existence you're not gonna find it likely in any related tale. Which movie? Should I Shazam it?
Hitler? I think we agree he shot himself, his further whereabouts are unknown, but I like to think he went to a place where he was surrounded by the millions who met miserable deaths in his camps. (wherever that is) The movie referenced is 'Baron Blood', which an audio engineer merged with other movie screams and moans and looped to match the Bore To Hell movie, which appeared as early as 1989. Common sense admits of drilling equipment simply melting at those temperatures, let alone a recording device. (which leaves the possibility of Hell being extremely cold too, I guess)
That's the whole point in your Hitler scenario. Point being Hell can be many things and doesn't need to be limited to our usual concepts. I never heard of that Bore to Hell movie. I used to rent movies quite a bit so will have to look into it. I linked that to draw attention to the fundie use of anything that comes in handy. In the audio what language is that woman speaking? It sounds like an extremely bad domestic conflict in some Mandarin household. Google Translate may be of some help. Have you ever thought of joining the snopes staff?
In my research on this topic some offered Hell need not be in the exact core of the Earth nor it may not be 2000 degrees either. Stories get embellished like the bat creature coming out of the shaft which was not a well btw. I'm surprised there's not a little subreddit on it.
I suspect your local parish priest can debunk the EvangelaFundy Siberian bore tale. I agree that the concept of Hell can mean different things to different folks, but keep in mind that Lista (of some years back), thought I was as spiritual as a dead codfish, so the mystical stuff just confuses me. So, I'm a little surprised that the Christian Broadcast Network hasn't come up with a glitzy video of someone who pretended to be dead, went to Hell and brought back a fascinating report. Maybe starring Jimmy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart (or both, since their specialties were raising lots of money and chasing prostitutes). BTW, tell me, those two and many others like them; failures as men, as humans...but successful evanlgelists. Would Jesus Shrug? with apologies to both the Bible and Ayn Rand....
Actually there are many reports of hellish near-death experiences and they've been featured in the mainstream press as well. Trouble with the Siberian bore tale is it has that tabloid stamp to it so one can imagine the person at snopes who was assigned to it using his big FALSE ink stamp in like 20 minutes. It's not wholey a fundy thing though, a couple of Fatima and St. Faustina youtubers have picked up on it. For some reason in my searches "vision of hell michael jackson" keeps coming up and one seer claims demons were doing the moonwalk. Ah tabloid religion on the web.
Moonwalking demons? Thanks for helping me understand the mind of the Trump voter. I suspect you are leading me astray: naturally and logically I googled 'twerking angels' and found considerable semi-porn. 'Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere' -A. Einstein
Over a million in Britain signed a petition banning Trump from entering. Said it would embarrass the queen. Prime Minister says its OK if he comes. I hope he does, and stays.
I posted on another blog: "The new officeial news organ reports that people refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps it was the new one- "I pledge allegiance to Emperor Trump and to Breitbart nation, which he stole, one nation, under the EvangaFundy God, now divided, with power for the GOP, liberty for the chosen few, and to hell with the rest." ---perhaps." Will I lose my visa? Be visited by BannonThugs? Deported to Canada? Stay tuned.
They have already called for those in the media who dissed Trump to be fired. I heard a rumor that they were going to publish crimes committed by immigrants on a weekly basis (that is just a rumor and I haven't substantiated it but if it's true it harks back to Nazi Germany, who published purported crimes committed by Jews). I have to wonder what Paul Ryan is thinking, and how far they plan to let this go before something gets done. His administration is already in contempt of court concerning this Muslim ban; they disregarded the judge's order to stay. Seriously, what's next, and I don't mean that in any sort of a jokey way.
What's next? How do you predict a person drunk with newfound power? Last month I pondered impeachment and thought it might be by the GOP congress. Just think, many voters were afraid of the arch criminal Hillary!
He doesn't even seem interested in consulting his own GOP Congress. I just think he's doing his own thing. Has a Roman mindset. Maybe Melania can feed him grapes.
"Katie Richter traveled from Aspen, Colo., to Washington, D.C., to attend Trump’s inauguration as well as the Heartland States Society Ball, an inaugural ball. Wanting to frame the memories from her trip, Richter, 27, took her pictures to a company in her town called Suitable For Framing. She was denied service, something she said was a result of her political beliefs." -not nice, but sort of what goes around-comes around in the age of denying gays service. What's next? Republicans banned from Starbucks, Democrats banned from Pro Wrestling matches, Unwed mothers from churches, me from Reince Preibus' wedding? And some said Obama was divisive. heh
I think the whole way society is behaving on this is downright stupid. You're gonna hate your neighbor because he voted for Trump? Illegal immigration is technically, well illegal and the gov't does have a technical legal right to deport. That's not to say mass deportations are the way to go but the pro-illegal protesters act like they have the right to be here. There's a big difference between a right and a privilege. Just some clarity.
Re Katie Richter I guess that would be your classic libertarian loop or cul-de-sac. The freedom of the marketplace is a beautiful thing ain't it. Can a One Hour Photo place refuse to develop Al Sharpton's image gallery?
I have to admit you are probably right. My middle girl graduated HS valedictorian and spoke on the importance of kindness. A value she has kept with her in her academic career. She chewed me out over the phone the other day for being quite nasty about Trump, her argument being 'don't let him turn you into a festering pile of crap like him'. My counter argument was basically 'that's all he understands, nice is something for him to crush with a laugh'. Such are the vicissitudes of living in interesting times.
His mass deportation policy/proposal may be unwise social policy, perhaps a mean streak in him but as far as I can tell there's nothing illegal or unconstitutional about it hence nothing impeachable. Let's ask Judge Judy.
So Trump fired his AG. Before he became president I recall reading a conservative analysis of his proposed travel ban to wit there's nothing illegal or unconstitutional about it. That's not the same thing as saying it's a good or wise policy. Basically a president has the right and power to be mean up to a certain point at least in some views.
He seems just a bit impulsive. It took Nixon five years before he fired Archibald Cox (after two AGs quit, putting honor prior to obedience. Finally they got down to Robert Bork, who did the dirty work, ruining his own prospects. You think it's ugly now, just wait a bit.
Other presidents have made travel bans but just on a personal note I wouldn't want to be the leader of a nation where half the population actively hates me and that may include some pre-schoolers.
Nixon was hated after Watergate, Trump was hated from the beginning. A political Satan. In some ways the USA is beginning to resemble the political turmoil of some Middle Eastern countries: a large swath of the population would like to see him ousted. There is not the usual respecting of election results and this weakens us imo. Instead of accepting history our worldwide image continues to suffer. The danger of radical Islam is being downplayed so as not to appear hateful. How many times has our own FBI messed up?
The danger of radical Islam is exponentially increased by the travel ban. Jihadists can and will and are using it to prove to new recruits that we're out to crush the Muslim religion. Which, let's face it, we're out to do. Diplomats from all over the world have filed a memorandum of dissent, basically explaining that what they know is that this is infinitely bad for our world image and isn't going to do a thing to combat terrorism; in fact it will more than likely increase it. The fact that Christians from these countries are going to get special treatment isn't helping.
I keep waiting for Paul Ryan to wake tf up (that tf is not a typo) and come to his senses about all of this. I imagine that they all thought they were going to have a nice compliant president that they could use to rubber stamp their agenda. Instead they've gotten a fascist megalomaniac. Who is going to save us, literally, from this mess? It's watching the slow trainwreck of America right before our eyes. Dissent from the President, you get fired. A judge issues a stay of an order? It gets ignored. At what point does the madness get stopped?
It is my meager legal understanding that a president has the right to issue a travel ban and to enforce it. Other presidents have done this. Maybe the judge doesn't understand executive power. At any rate it's a temporary ban and then extreme vetting of refugees takes place. Maybe he doesn't fully trust his own FBI to do the job. They've muffed things before.
A woman at work said the other day someone is going to kill him and I had to agree the odds are higher than other presidencies and yet liberals are refusing to condemn the rhetoric but always remind Rush to watch his two cents.
I'm quite enjoying the hysteria really. The problems for progressive leftists isn't Trump. It's executive power; an executive power that they embraced during Obama's tenure. It's like walking around in Pier 1 and smashing some glassware. The principle is the same. You broke it you buy it.
They weren't part of the resistance when they could have been part of the resistance. Instead they merely wanted their particular puppet at the helm.
Well, now we got Howdy Doody. Executive power is one thing, as you note, we have had it since the Origin. One party rule has to be monitored very carefully, as demonstrated in the past; first they came for the socialists, then they came for the unions...then they came for the Jews to paraphrase Neimoller. Obama? he didn't have SCOTUS nor congress (and I daresay, a deep thinker compared to the real estate tycoon)
Four years of Trump jokes is gonna get played out. Four years of blogging about Trump both pro and con is gonna get played out. Just speaking for myself the first thing I wake up in the morning is not Trump followed by a lamentation and a growl. Liberals are walking around with a chafed ass these days a kind of existential stupor after Hillary's loss.
The last two GOP presidents lost the popular vote, so it should be understandable their lack of popularity, right? It's like the alt-right thinking they are patriotic; I well remember being called 'unpatriotic' for my views. It does chafe, ya know? Enlisted while Trump took 5 deferments, served as an Army officer, worked in the defense industry, daughter taught at West Point, son-in-law and nephew served in Iraq combat. BTW, I paid my taxes the last 10 years too. Yeah, it chafes, Z-Man. You think I should adore a man-child that cannot even color within the lines? Oh, yeah, I paid my taxes the last 10 years too. Cut the clown all the slack you want, count me out.
We guess that is the result of America's impact on the rest of the world. Lady cousins in Zurich marched. But I think the bushmen, well to quote Kelly Ann those are alternate
ReplyDeletefacts. (they were doing their seasonal dance to bring in the
wildebeest)
WHAT are the protesters so angry over? Do they even know?? Maybe it's just socially trendy to protest these days. Bring your kid and put him on your shoulders for an AP photo-op.
ReplyDeleteAll political hyperbole aside is it possible that Trump may do a few good things as president? Personality aside he's never had any fixed core conservative principles so he's liable to do anything good bad or in-between. You're protesting a political shape-shifter basically.
ReplyDeleteTrue enough. He makes the GOP congress a bit uncomfortable as well as his more natural enemies.
DeleteVoters were prompted that Obama made too many executive orders, and Donny cranks a ton out the first two days. Anybody notice that? I think being
born to riches and running a vast real estate empire
may make him overconfident and impatient and he may
rush in where angels fear to tread. Sort of like the miracle drugs on TV: take these for hangnails, side
effect include cancer, acne, leprosy and in some cases
death by apoplexy. Say you tinker with trade. Then there is a trade war, excise tax increases, shortages,
someplace stops selling us oil etc. The talk of drilling in natioan parks and fracking in Yongers is
just dumb. Under Obama, the US made so much of its own oil we're exporting it. Degregulating banks to
rase the market? It tripled under Obama, it can't go much further. IMO making America great again when it
is alrady gread is a nonsensical redundancy. The one
key area Trump campaigned on is good jobs and basically the draining of wealth to the top. If he
can cure that alone, he will be acknowledged as a
great leader. But, going SuperTrickleDown ain't gonna do it. The world women thing is a big deal and as you can guess much of it revolves around freedom of choice. There is much fever on both sides of that issue and no matter what, some bunch is going to be
furious.
That last part amazes me. Trump as the hardcore RTLer! The staunchly pro-life Ronald Reagan was president for 8 years and the abortion industry is doing quite well thank you.
DeletePeople seem to be confusing Trump with Pat Buchanan. Trade war? We really don't know what he's gonna do. He might be more nuanced. Is he gonna be a worse president than Jimmy Carter? WHAT are they protesting. Reality may be hard to accept but Hillary lost. Stop the global psycho-trauma already!
DeleteLike all recently elected GOP presidents, Trump on the first day signed an executive order stopping birth control and abortion in foreign aid packages to Africa. The biggest result in an increase in AIDs
Deleteborn babies. One of those side effect things. But you are right, at one time Trump was pro-choice. We
guess running as a GOPer changes one's mind (if one
isn't that concerned either way) It's like all the GOPers who once termed Trump 'unfit' for the presidency. Like breathing and eating, the global pshcho-trauma marches on. Although we may ponder
how the alt-right would have reacted to a Hillary win. My guess it would involve firearms and be led
by General Wayne LaPierre? We refer to Hamlet,
"the lady doth protest too much methinks" when observing the millions of women marching and wonder
had Hillary won, millions of men would be marching worldwide.
Abortion has no place in foreign aid packages. That all has to do with the international population control movement. Think International Planned Parenthood Federation and UNFPA. Poorer countries are held hostage to population control dictates in order to receive aid. Africans typically have large families. Poverty and starvation in African nations have more to do with corrupt African governments. Think blood diamonds.
DeleteAfter watching Trump rallies all Summer, with the raised fists and lock her up chants, he and his misinformed minions
ReplyDeleteexpect to be treated with deference and respect? No way..
sort of an alt-dimension Streisand Effect effect. Where are his tax returns? Where are the tax returns of all his billionaire appointees? He
plays by his bully boy rules. We cut him no slack, Z-Man.
Reminds me of that Tom Cruise movie "Minority Report" where the pre-cogs predict potential future crime. We are protesting what Trump might do a mere three days into his Administration. A kind of political futurism imho.
DeleteSo many new Effects out there. Is there a Weiner Effect?
DeleteAbortions; as Obama leaves office, they are at a
ReplyDeleterecord low. Lowest they have been since
1974. The odd thing is, the main reason is availability of
birth control. Those that what that banned would love the
rate soaring again..give them holier than thou crusading
zeal. We wonder if the total ban will reintroduce the back ally procedure so rampant up until the fifties. Hard to get data on that, since it is illegal. Anyway, it is down,
no thanks to GOP or evangelical fundies. Let's up in continues down.
Birth control is not illegal. The basic position is Joe Taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for it. Re deaths from back alley abortions - always tragic. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson in "Aborting America" (Doubleday 1979) says he and Larry Lader deliberately overinflated those figures to help the abortion cause. This was late 60's early 70's when Nathanson was co-founder of NARAL. Alt-facts.
DeleteJoe Taxpayer shouldn't have to pay for Viagra either.
DeleteTotally agreed but my point is you and Saty keep talking about banning bc. I'm not aware of any contraceptive factories being shut down or women being arrested with pills in their purses.
DeleteIMO protesting the entire Trump presidency on the basis of three days would be like protesting Uber flying taxis just because of something you read on the Internet.
ReplyDeleteDoes protesting Uber flying taxis involve antiaircraft
Deleteweapons?
You got your Mandela Effect, Streisand Effect, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baskerville_effect , Cobra Effect , False Concensus Effect Generation Effect and all the way through the alphabet to your own Zeeman Effect . I'm working on the Too Many Referral Link Effect here.
ReplyDeleteNicole Kidman has kind of said some things if I understand correctly maybe we should support or get behind the new president. I wonder if it will affect her Oscar chances.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the Australian actress is typical of the few, the brave, the nutcase alt-Australian right . Maybe she is non-confrontational, a willing victim of bullies?
DeleteOur image is suffering abroad because a large swath of Americans hate the new president. One expects this to happen in a Middle Eastern country like Egypt not the USA. It can only embolden terrorists and other enemies.
DeleteYou are damn right our image is suffering abroad.
DeleteIf a majority of Americans dislike the new pres is
the cause is debatable. I see Paul Ryan announce
this AM that we need the new HHC secretary because
Obacare is in ruins (read being shredded by buzzards) and Trumpenstien signed another exec order
freeing up the pipeline. Since we have been and are now 100% US supplied by oil, this will enable yuuuge
exports of oil (and lower us supply, raising gasoline prices to an ungodly profit level. Job
creation other than construction is nil. The chance of a Wounded Knee or Little Bighorn increases for
the Lakota people. We also learn today that the
shredding of Obamacare has taken the coal miners
with black lung disease off the healthcare rolls,
antithetic to creating coal mining jobs, but in line with the coal executives preferring early death
once they have worn out their workers. Since there
is no market for more coal (natural gas being better and plentiful) we surmise that the next exec
order will be that all smartphone will be required to be charged by coal. Our image suffers here, overseas and in several alternate universes. Get
used to it.
It weakens us and imo is caused by a lack of political maturity among the masses.
DeletePossibly. But, I'm going with Octopus, who writes at the 'Swash Zone'-
Delete" For years, Hillary Clinton has been ridiculed for her sterling qualifications, her public service, and the indiscretions of her husband. When sensationalism and sexism conspire in the news, sleazy soundbites are amplified.
One key word is ‘projection’ — a tactic used to turn tables and malign the reputation of any challenger. Briefly defined, a bad actor blames his bad actions on an opponent. The bully belittles, berates, defames, and smears his adversary with such frequency and ferocity, the repetition of cheap shots creates a phantom reality. Horse and rider change places as projections turn an innocent person guilty and a guilty person innocent.
That Hillary chose to salvage her marriage is a personal and private choice (and none of our business). We may even argue that her forgiveness of Bill is a credit in her favor. Yet, we hold Lewd Gingrich, Rudely Giuliani, Snark Sanford, and Groper Don to a lower standard. All are infamous scoundrels untainted by their indiscretions.
Condemnations in the kangaroo court of public opinion. Suspicions and derisions. Witch hunts without merit. From Bill to Benghazi and beyond, Hillary has been blamed for misdeeds she never committed (but the taint of hearsay never goes away). “Crooked Hillary.” “Lock her up.” The words of a reprobate and Pawn of Putin confirm the double standard: American culture is steeped in misogyny and sexism.
How do partisan cheap shots stick glue-like in the minds of the public? Perhaps this tendency of people to react irrationally in binary terms: Tribe against tribe, us versus them, better him than her. Binary reasoning is the wellspring of bigotry, divisiveness, sexism, verbal abuse."
-or we might observe that the electorate cannot sift the grain from the rat turds. The Trump mandate
is backed by a minority, plain and simple.
He did well enough to win the electoral college and that's what counts. I'm not coming at this from a pro-Trump pov just from the conventional wisdom we should generally support the president and respect the office. The protesters would be far far better off forming a movement instead to get rid of the electoral college. Where are the liberals who usually preach to us to watch and curb our hate speech? Hate speech can and does lead to violence they usually tell us and all of this is being partly fomented by an msm that can't seem to get over the trauma of Hillary losing. We live in very politically disturbing times.
DeleteIn the interest of negating a Trump induced Baskerville Effect , I saw part of
ReplyDeletea med show on PBS this morning which involved the problems of a young man suffering post-Lyme syndrome. A panel of specialists interviewed him and offered different insights.
While the subject of tinnitus did not come up, it can result
from Lyme, but usually gradually fades away. I've probably asked before but have forgotten. Is your tinnitus confined to one or both ears and is its intensity the same?
The tinnitus is not your typical ringing but a kind of roaring vibrating two-toned noise many times loudest in the early morning and then the evening hours. In the morning it can sound like a large truck idling outside and there's also a strong vibrating sensation. It's in both ears but not at the same time. It might be in the left ear at a certain time of day then later the right ear. The sound is coming from outside of myself high in the sky for lack of a better description. When I'm in church sitting and facing east the sound always comes from the geographical sense of NW. Don't know why. During work hours in the kitchen I'm so busy I really don't notice it at all. Doesn't really interfere with sleep but on balance it's fairly constant and quite loud to the point I would label it catastrophic tinnitus.
DeleteRe Post-Lyme Syndrome or chronic Lyme it seems most mainstream doctors treat it as a kind of fringe medical topic for some reason and don't take it seriously. Doctors tend to develop a medical herd mentality over time and tend to disparage other of their colleagues who may offer different theories. Maybe you're right and it does cause tinnitus but then again everything is said to cause tinnitus. A favorite kind of fallback default theory is the old villain Anxiety. That could well be and then the question becomes who do I blame? the boss? A common piece of advice is to see the ENT except chronic tinnitus is not curable so there's a couple more bills for you. So I can't blame Trump/Hillary although that probably doesn't help.
DeleteThere is a possibility that yours is not typical tinntus, but rather a sensitivity to VLF/ELF (Very and Extremely low frequency) noise that is unheard
Deleteby most people. But 2-3% of population pick it up on a more or less consistent basis. European research is outlined in an interesting
article, and while the examples are from Europe,
the world map data base included in it show high incidences in industrial and urbanized
locations, of which Yonkers is in the middle along
our east coast. Maybe of import, maybe not; but we would expect others in your area are subject to the phenomenon. If you dig into the data, come up with a
solution and get the Nobel and get cured, you heard it here first. :)
That was truly one of your best links yet. Describes my experience to the letter. I heard it one morning while sitting on the couch having coffee. I leaned my head against the wall behind the couch, a relaxing habit and literally felt the wall vibrating. Droning is the perfect way to describe it. If you're thinking of an irritating subject like Trump it magnifies it tenfold.
DeleteThe article assumes an industrial source for the Hum but I've heard it even in my walks through the deep woods. For Hum sufferers it's like something woven into the fabric of reality itself. Put another way it's just something that is.
DeleteAs I understand it, these types of sound waves not only propagate a long ways, but bounce off and around both man made and geological structure. I picked up an error factor in the map, eg. the complaint points pretty much follow population density. In other words out in the wide open spaces there aren't many people, so few or no complaints. Certainly 'wall vibrating' is very
Deletepossible with V-E/LF sounds. Natural sources like
dams and waterfalls induce ground vibration, and
oddly, modern windmills have cause symptoms like yours in people. Next vacation, you might want to
stop in the plains of Saskatchewan or central Wyoming and see if it goes away. At a minimum to
satisfy scientific curiosity, double check your last hearing test, concentrating on the area 3-30
Hz, where 98% people hear nothing. An optimistic guess, since those sounds are way down on the lower fringe, they should disappear with normal age lose
of hearing. If you dig around a bit, you will also
find that the military was interested at one time in
weaponizing ultra low sound. (presumably it only affected the poor 2%)
I believe another word for this is RF Hearing and so a trip to the ENT would be pretty much pointless. I only developed this sometime well after 2000 so the question then becomes why don't us hummers have it going way back? Why the sudden onset like one of the guys in the link said? In some quarters of discussions of the worldwide hum it takes a cerntastic turn.
DeleteFirst and foremost our internet is back up.
ReplyDeleteSecond, US dollars do not fund abortions overseas. NO FEDERAL DOLLARS FUND ABORTION. Period. Not here, not anywhere. So this is all so much crap. But like BB said, this bill gets signed in or out of existence based on who's in office.
Alternative facts. Do they operate in an alternative universe? You want people to respect the office... they don't have any respect for it themselves. I read an article that a federal suit has already been filed against him for his conflict of interest with a foreign representative paying rent. Drain the swamp? Donald lives in the swamp.
People need to continue to protest. There will never be a time that his behaviour is okay. There will never be a time when it's normal to have 'alternative facts' or to 'disagree with the facts'. People have to continue to call him out on it, to throw his lies in his face, to hold him to his promises that he's already going back on (I hear the taxpayers are going to fund that wall) and get him the hell out of office just as fast as they can.
I don't necessarily disagree with every thing a protester throws up I'm merely looking at it from a more practical view. Trump is president, it's our new reality so unless he does something highly impeachable we have to accept that. Instead we should be seeing posters and placards like "Get Rid of the Electoral College." WHY am I not seeing that?
DeleteAlso four years is a long time to protest. It's gotta take a toll on your health.
DeleteIf a childish bully is president, should he always get his way? You believe that 5 million illegal aliens voted to give Hillary her big popular vote?
DeleteMe neither.
Did Hillary win Florida and Ohio? Hillary is not above reproach. Let's remember what the DNC did to Bernie Sanders. They eat their own.
DeleteOn a lighter note will they start teaching this stuff in the public schools?
ReplyDeleteFrom the paintings of the homo neanderthaensis, we suspect
ReplyDeletethe remnants roam among us as Sasquatches. The author's hypothesis is based on evidence of violent contacts between the species and occasional interbreeding, the rest seems a
figment of his imagination. The two lived alongside each other in the Levant very early, and both species moved relatively rapidly into northern Europe, where the Neanderthal preferred cold climes and mammoths (or were driven to that by the Cro-Magnons. Physical evidence for
much conflict is missing, and like many species interactions, most paleoarcheologists see a 'crowding out'
termed the Competitive Exclusion Effect Which, in addition to the smaller and widespread grouping of the more primitive (it is thought they had no language ability)one
way or the other led to their extinction. As you note, pre-history is not a usual topic in K1-12 education. As you suspect, all of my kids were treated to bedtime stories about paleoarcheology. And, unlike the kids next door, they
did not have nightmares about Abraham sacrificing Isaac or
wonder why David got the hots for Bathsheba. Little kids prefer interesting tales of where we came from, other than
a daub of mud and a rib. IMO, of course.
Predatory neanderthals aka Upper Management.
DeleteUpper Management-my favorite villain. These pampered
Deletesociopaths have whined about taxes and regulation ever since they made their first billion. They convinced enough voters that the problem wasn't them, but the government. Keep an eye on things as the EPA and OSHA are gutted and the miniscule taxes on them triples the national dept. Perhaps I worry too much, but it is easy to see wages go down, OT
never more paid and the workplace become a Dickenson
darkness of drudgery and misery. Mfg jobs, if they
come back will be automated and the best laid plans
of the GOP will backfire so badly than trying to blame Obama will be farcial. ISIS will stand by laughing as we spiral downward. That is the bright side.
..even brighter, colonoscopies will decline as we
Deletehave GOP health insurance! HHS will kill research
in all areas and tinnitus studies relegated to the
GOP landfill. Scientists that work in gov't (EPA, CDC, OSHA because they love their work and their country will either leave or be fired. If that segment cannot find refuge in academia there are
many nations eager to take them in. (I would have hard time researching for Pat Robertson's new Department of Creation Science). We suspect cancer
research will be replaced by high priced prayer groups and long stretches of the Hudson turned into a liquid landfill. As ever, the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer and Paul Ryan's silly triumphal grin will turn into an agonized frown. Golly, I rant like Isaiah while I linger
like Methuselah. Gotta find some sackcloth....
Tinnitus studies - after multiple studies they haven't figured it out yet. What's the point of more studies?
DeleteRe cancer research the War on Cancer has been ongoing ever since Nixon declared it and yet too many people are still dying.
DeleteI'm thinking both tinnitus and cancer have numerous etiologies and various manifestations.
DeleteAs for cures, some types of cancers such as childhood leukemia, have been quite good. Tinnitus
shouldn't be that hard, the ear being localized and
its structure and function pretty well understood.
Consider as well, cancer research basics can be
done on lab rats and understood considerabley before
moving to human subjects. If rats had tinnitus, whether naturally or induced, they don't announce
"hey its gone". So tinnitus research, such as it is,
is sort of one on one and catch as catch can..hardly ideal. As you rightly note, there is
minimal interest from the healthcare community, either not lucrative, or because it is more hidden
and less lethal than cancer. For those of us who became sort of addicted to research, it would seem a perfect hobby for some retired physician; get enough interested desperate patients, divide them
by symptom, gender, whatnot, and run well documented studies. Not me, though. I'm one of those
lightweights that sticks q-tips in my ear (when I'm not using them to clean my pipe)
The minimal interest about tinnitus in healthcare - many doctors don't ask you such things as does it interfere with your work? The idea of tinnitus disability is even further off the table. For MDs it's like the insomnia topic, not lethal= low priority. The colon however......
DeleteThere really should be a much higher priority on tinnitus research.
DeleteYou would think that if tinnitus was causing suicidal pain there would be some sort of surgery they could do. Maybe not be have to hear certain
Deletesounds, like Ted Nugent, but the catastrophic roar
and pounding would be gone. Anvil/stirrup- sand down the pommel on the saddle or something.
Thing is when you explain how horrible tinnitus is or rf hearing or whatever it is people can't relate to it. The attitude is listen to some music to mask it, adapt yourself to the hellish drone and welcome it in your life. I daresay if even 50% of doctors and scientists suffered from the condition there'd be a cure by now.
DeleteYou're missing a big part of the picture though. The GOP doesn't like Trump. The only reason they're keeping it on a low simmer is they respect the system too much. During the primary season Trump won enough delegates to secure the nomination. The GOP chose to honor that, that's how it works but remember how Paul Ryan and others were so hesitant initially to support him? Trump is a political Nosferatu and if the right impeachable offense came along they're quite willing to throw him under the bus. Then it's Pence and if he can't do it Paul Ryan. Am I missing something?
ReplyDeleteAll true. As presidential leaders, he appears to be
Deletean outlier (as well as outright liar) Pence and Ryan are more predictable, but haven't a large base and unlike Trump would, IMO be a little more cautious, not
rushing in where angels fear to tread. This executive
order torrent reminds me of how awful it was when Obama did it, even though his motive was to keep government running over the eight years of stonewalling. So, while there is no need to rush into it, IMO Trump feels he needs to through red meat to the base quickly, show the GOP congress he is the boss, and most importantly massage his own ego.
Through and throw have been giving me trouble as of late. Senior moment.
DeleteTrump's political masturbation. He's getting off on the power.
DeleteRead a story today about how Silicon Valley execs are turning into survivalist preppers because they're afraid that society is heading for a collapse. They're concerned that the great unwashed masses that have had their wages stagnated for forty years are going to rise up and be heard. A French Revolution if you will. They're right to be scared, they're the reason for the unrest.
ReplyDeleteTrump. Now he's concerned about millions of illegal voters, because of course he couldn't have lost the popular vote fair and square. Funny when Jill was wanting that recount the Trump camp was all on about how voter fraud was a non-thing. His ego is bigger than the government. Even Ryan admits there's no evidence for voter fraud.
Mitt Romney, how I miss the days when he was the worst thing I had to worry about.
Colonoscopies: Scott's was free. It was a $40 copay and they ended up sending us a refund check. He had five polyps and a strong family history so he's on the three year followup plan.
Medicare covers colonoscopies very well. Cheaper in the long run compared to treating colon cancer. As for the millions of illegal aliens voting in California and NY, we suspect Z-Man of being a Costa
DeleteRican, new in town. Go with the flow, sort of.
Pondering further the Trump psychological profile not that long ago we were discussing those people who never apologize, the non-apologizer. You patiently wait for them to do the logical thing then you wonder what makes them tick. Trump fits into this category, at least I don't recall him ever issuing a mea culpa in the true sense. Building on the psychological profile......
ReplyDeleteI called one of my senators today to ask that they spend 237 days before they vote on the SCOTUS and slow way down on some of the more bizarre Trump initiatives. Had to give my name and address, and since I am too old to fight off a goon squad, you may have heard the last of me. I am still totally steamed
Deletetalking to the idiot.
The more bizarre Trump initiatives assuming you mean his strokes of the pen. Building on what I said before Trump secured the Republican nomination fair and square, the GOP decided to respect the time-honored system and so they're stuck with an aberration. Think Billy Mumy/Twilight Zone. A Trump presidency never should have happened. It should have been Romney or Kasich or Any of the Others even Pat Sajak. What I'm saying is don't automatically connect everything that comes out of the mouth as reflecting GOP thinking. Now I'm hearing of some sort of religious test.
DeletePat Sajak? Didn't his platform allow using the Wheel of Fortune to determine tax brackets? Jeb Bush is looking very sane right now.
DeleteThe non-apologizer provokes and then blames the situation on your perception. I watched that video of Trump mocking the disabled Times reporter, the subject of Meryl Streep's speech...oh wait alternative fact.
DeleteHe's gonna build the Wall but who's going to pay for it, the Chinese?
ReplyDeleteHeard some talking head mutter, "More Wall, more tunnels". Next Trump will ban US vacationers from
DeleteAcapulco and Cozumel, all the legitimate US Latinos
will close their Mexican restaurants, Trump will ban
auto import and exports, etc. Next, Canada? Oh what a terrible web we weave....
But you're right. The GOP might officially adopt some of the same positions (get tough on the illegals) but push comes to shove they're far more hesitant and cautious than Trump. I wouldn't even be surprised if in the end despite their bluster they leave the ACA largely intact. Trumo apparently means what he says. Good or bad depending on your pov.
DeleteAs a resident, you got any idea of how many illegal aliens voted in NY?
ReplyDeleteSince Trump won the presidency why is he concerned about this? He apparently thinks he won the popular vote too since in his mind the illegals gave Hillary the popular vote edge. This obviously bothers him and the root is Ego. He wants a COMPLETE victory for the history books but he ain't gonna get it.
DeleteResearchers at CERN, utilizing an array of crosslinked quantum computers, were able to locate and briefly download a snippet from a different dimension and universe. From the planet Simian in the Epsilon Betelguese system, they found
ReplyDeletean human like orangutan named Dr. Zaius. Before the muon breakdown of the window, it seems that Dr. Zaius was somehow
warped into the American presidency. Go figure...
Lol. The Trump presidency still feels too alt-dimensiony to me. I just want to go Home.
DeleteAnother theory: maybe the Trump character traits reflect the character traits of many Americans. One of the biggest criticisms is he lies but so do many of the people I've come across in my travels and this isn't the corner wino lying they're professionals in all walks of life and they lie with fluidity. You know they're lying and they know you know they're lying and yet they still lie. Probably why Bill Clinton was so popular (the Maureen Dowd theory).
ReplyDeleteDunno, lying is but one of his many character traits.
DeleteBTW, I heard Yonkers is going to pay for 'The Wall'.
Saw some worried economists on Charlie Rose today; all
the tax cutting while building walls and infrastructure adds up to adding another few trillion to the national debt; of course many GOPpers hate that idea. Clinton was a BS-er, good natured, social
happy and apparently pretty smart if you buy into Rhodes Scholars (I knew one, dang, you talk smart).
Trump isn't a BS-er, he doesn't even think he is lying and when confronted with evidence is furious and wants to investigate. Arrogance, I just hate it.
Where is Melania these days?
Caught the British Prime Minister, Mrs. May addressing congress this afternoon. Is it the English pronounciation,
ReplyDeletethe long well chosen words or the deep understanding of recent world history that makes her seem so much smarter than our real estate mogul-in-chief...or is she actually?
Pena Nieto cancelled the meeting. Good for him. Mexico ain't payin for nothin.
ReplyDeleteI bet in his heart of hearts Paul Ryan wishes Mitt Romney were president. Mitt looks good these days, wouldn't he have been a peach compared to what we got?
Trump is now convinced that millions of people voted illegally but where were they when Jill wanted a recount? I have never seen so much ego in one person in my life. He cannot stand to lose, not even when he's really won. Just the thought that he lost the popular vote is enough to do him in.
His businesses are all already in conflicts of interest. Hopefully these will all be duly filed (some are already) and the courts can tackle the job. I wonder if it's impeachable? Though the thought of Pence isn't much better.
I think you are going to see the rank and file GOP start to move away from Trump. He's untenable. For politics' sake they will have to start the disavowing.
I see that 30 miles off Montauk they're going to build a wind farm. I think that's a positively fabulous idea and they say it will generate 90 gigawatts. Long Island is apparently a really great place for this kind of thing as the winds are so consistently strong. And since they've basically gutted the EPA it should be no trouble getting the permits.
Well Saty, they might hate EPA, but they also hate green energy; Wyoming refused to OK a 240 unit wind
Deletefarm in the middle of nowhere because it competes with their huge open pit coal operations. Pity, those
pits that turn out millions of tons of coal a year
employee about a dozen people at each place. Trains roll in and out, a hundred a day, so there are some
locomotive engineers employed. But natural gas has replaced coal as the fuel of choice at electric plants
and deregulating it will help no one except possibly an already too rich owner. Trumpenomics.
Saty I love that word untenable. I haven't really checked any of the right-wing blogs of late but I'm wondering if any are starting to get that untenable feeling. A definition I came across years ago for "untenable" is "incapable of being maintained in reality" which about describes it.
DeleteBB you've always been a fan of gov't and regs but here's a libertarian thought experiment for you. Most would agree that you should be required to have a driver's license to operate a motor vehicle but does the mere fact of this legal requirement make people better drivers? You see the way people drive. Can laws be overrated? I'm only pondering here.
DeleteDriver licenses require some minimal understanding of operating a vehicle, signs and traffic regulations. The most important thing about driver licenses is you have to present the photo one to vote here in Idaho. "But lady, Mrs. Garber, I have voted here in every single election since 1978. You
Deleteknow darn well who I am" "The Idaho GOP is terrified that some foreign sneaky person will cast a vote, probably for a Democrat..show me your license to I can laugh at your photo" and so it goes. You suppose those 85 year old semi truck drivers from Pakistan and Uruguay zipping through
the interstate lanes while dozing and texting their
ivory tower boss have a license? Or the AI cars and trucks...do they even vote?
My only thing is the actual driving test on the road. Ten years after getting your driver's license do people still drive 10MPH?
DeleteArnold Schwarzenegger recently met Pope Francis at the Vatican. Schwarzenegger has a climate change organization? Now I know we're living in an alt-verse.
ReplyDeleteHasta la vista, Francis?
DeleteHow's the Cardinal Burke thing going? Did they depose the Pope yet?
DeleteIs there a canonical process for de-pope-ing?
DeleteDoes it involve colored smoke?
Steve Bannon, former Breitbart chief propagandist, announced that the press should "shut up". Thank you,
ReplyDeleteDr. Goebbels, we surely no longer need the 1st Amendment.
Orwell nods sadly.
Telling the press to shut up, yeah that'll work. Why throw rocks at a junkyard dog?
DeleteMexican President Pena Nieto and President Donald J. Trump are having a Twitter war. Does every world leader have a Twitter account and are we to see the world's affairs conducted with hashtags and 140-character thoughts? Somehow seems less dignified. Again I blame the rise of the Kardashians.
ReplyDelete'Rise of the Kardashians'- is that a new movie with
DeleteAdam Sandler, Bette Middler and Lindsay Lohan?
With the caveat that my expertise in economics consists of
ReplyDeleteswiping my credit card, I have been wondering about two terms which I invented (at least they aren't on search engines yet) Trumpenomics and Trumpeldown. The first is based on big stakes real estate, at which he is no doubt
an expert: Get a yuuuuge loan from Wall Street, use eminent domain to remove people from their homes on the French coast, build a Reaally Great hotel in Marseille,
don't pay the illegal alien construction workers and sue
the Wall Street bank that loaned the money. Complex, yet
simple. Trumpeldown is a personal economics which inovles
ignoring the advice of your own economic staff, dismantling
the Pacific Trade Agreement and deny the trumpledown as Kansas, which voted for you 60-30, loses billions as 30% of
it's export crop sits for awhile before it is used for forage. Feel free to critique and flesh these new economic
systems. :)
I was researching some religious themes on YouTube just now and came across a young black female visionary who claims to have seen pop stars tortured in hell. Which ones and they might want to reconsider their hatred of the Donald. Madonna said she wants to blow up the WH but it was taken out of context like what the subtle allegorical symbolism and juxtaposition of ironic effects?
ReplyDeleteDante's Inferno had 9 circles of Hell. We presume that the You Tube seeress added a 10th circle for semi-washed up pop stars?
ReplyDeleteI came across a very interesting quote from the late David Bowie. "Religion is for people who fear hell. Spirituality is for those who have been there."
DeleteDavid Bowe quote- very philosophical. Single sentence quotes with a wealth of thoughts.
Delete"He who possesses art and science has religion; he who does not possess them, needs religion.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"How much more suffering is caused by the thought of death than by death itself.”
― Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
OR to paraphrase how much anxiety is caused by the thought of a colonoscopy than the colonoscopy itself.
DeletePrecisely. Along the lines of 'a coward dies a thousand deaths, a brave but once'. The anxiety
Deleteof a vivid imagination is the source of many phobias, no?
Phobias are not always irrational. As a kid I always had this strong fear of lightning but it's kept me safe. I've seen many people casually walking from their cars with lightning zig-zagging across the sky. Not me.
DeleteSt. John Bosco once had a very detailed and horrific dream about hell. The Church has treated it as a mystical vision of sorts. Many people would go "you just had a bad nightmare." A prophetic warning or too much abbey ale?
ReplyDeleteJohn Bosco? I thought he played in the line at Notre Dame.
DeleteI have a Padre Pio app on my phone. His was always the image of a stern saint but his daily thoughts and words dispense gentle life advice and spiritual encouragements for the most part. You have a garden variety of saints out there.
DeleteGoing through my apps before and the hard right loves Trump despite it all. A great example is the Michele Malkin app. Why does it have to be rad-fems and communists hate Trump? Why can't reasonable people of whatever stripe have a problem with Trump?
ReplyDeleteHmmm, communists hate Trump? Hardly, they are
Deletequite fond of they guy. Almost as much as
vodka. What is Michelle Malkin harping about these days...I thought she would have a WH job by now...
maybe assistant chief of confusion?
She's not unintelligent but extremely partisan. Ditto Shaw but extremely partisan on the other end of the spectrum. Add a snark-tipped pen...
DeleteMy Mandela Effect contribution for the week. The actress
ReplyDeleteChristine Baranski did NOT Appear as Phoebe in the Brady Bunch.
So there.
My contribution so far ignored. Horror movie "Frogs" (1972) starring Sam Elliot and Ray Milland. In the original Iris the butterfly woman dies in quicksand. In the dvd she gets bit by a rattler but the trailer shows a bit of her death by quicksand and so does a google image search. Should I join reddit and get brutally debunked?
DeleteAs a kid we'd be playing stickball and come 4:30 my friend would absolutely stop what he's doing and go home to watch "The Brady Bunch" even if it were a repeat of a repeat.
DeleteHaven't seen the movie, but could Iris have been bitten by a rattler, then stumbled into the quicksand?
DeleteThat's not how the dvd version sequence of events went. Iris simply got bitten by the Eastern Diamondback then died a few seconds later. The quicksand scene was big back in the day and was featured in the monster mags back then. If the director opted for two versions of the same scene you'd think it'd be in some Extras section with explanatory notes. Nothing on YouTube? look it up.
DeleteWe need to contact Sam Elliot.
DeleteIt's just weird and disconcerting. You're like where's the scene? "Frogs" for me is like Dolly's braces for the Redditors.
DeleteI'm thinking snopes is gonna have to have a whole subsection devoted to Trump claims alone. I think with the snopes staff they have a big rubber ink stamp with FALSE on it and they like to use it. Who fact-checks the fact-checkers?
ReplyDeleteApparently Conservapedia .
DeleteTo me the political biases of the fact-checking groups IS important. IMO if most fact-checking groups lean left and they tend to debunk most right-wing claims of various sorts then that to me is suspect. Of course the possibility exists that right-wing groups mostly lie which I'm assuming is probably your view but if you're going to be deemed an important source for debunking and fact-checking and you're always on the first page of the Google search whatever the topic then I do think political biases are important.
DeleteOf course snopes also deals largely with non-political topics so they're a little different from say Politifact. I totally accidentally came across the topic "researchers record the screams of the damned" in my web-surfing last night and prominently displayed was the snopes conclusion that this was false. I never heard of this topic before and if you google it it'd save me the time of recapping it but how was it determined the sounds were of false origin? It would seem a matter of faith imo. Dunno if snopes deals with Sasquatch topics too but I think they put a lot on their plate and maybe some things take longer to look into. I think if you already have a debunking bias ingrained in you your tendency is to debunk. It's just something to consider.
DeleteNot believing in facts seems to the the Evangelfundy
Deleteway of affirming their belief that every word in the Bible was directly from God, who is old and has a white beard. We should D-wave the problem.
Anyway I listened to the audio clips again and the sounds are indeed disturbing. It's not just a fundy thing some Fatimites have also used the same Siberian audio in some of their YouTube videos. Snopes says it sounds like a bar on a bad Friday night but again things like hell and the Devil imo can't really be certified or debunked imo. D-Wave away.
DeleteIt bears noting though Catholics are not as literal-minded as the evangelicals. Ya got something against old men with white beards?
DeleteNo, Evangelicals and Catholics for the most part tread different paths which only cross on occasion.
DeleteBut within the range of each we find the usual left
to right POVs. Nothing against old men with white beards. I' a bit leery of old ladies with white beards, though. It is presumptuous to think God is
a old human, sort of like it is presumptuous to think of the God Poseidon lugging a trident around.
Like maybe it is just a big salad fork, ya know?
Spinoza sort of gave up, figuring God was ephemeral
and not material, everywhere and nowhere. Fact check: ephemeral has no beard, white or otherwise.
I have to say evangelicals know Scripture better and take the End Times far more seriously. Catholics are more into Bingo and bake sales.
DeleteConservapedia? Are they still a thing? Whatever will they do now that they don't have Hillary and Obama to bash?
ReplyDeleteI'm not into conservapedia, I kinda forgot about them but I don't think snopes & co. should be immune to criticism. I'm also not saying conservapedia should be the official fact-checker of the fact-checkers but if you're going to be deemed one of the bibles of political fact-checking and other topics you should be willing to be peer-reviewed I would think.
DeleteJulius Caesar said that people will believe what they want, so facts are immaterial to some. Me, I made a living off facts, so they are sort of central
Deleteto my thinking. The new PC cleans up the baldfaced lie by calling it an alternate fact, and as JC noted, that makes the logic impaired happier and more self respected. BTW, I got an e-mail from
House Speaker Paul Ryan this morning "A New Dawn For
The Unborn" touting their full control of guv and quick action in defunding Planned Parenthood, etc.
Now I have his e-mail address and was able to thank him for his letter and remind him that I support Planned Parenthood along with 62% of Americans.
Maybe he will cross me off his list. As for the cretin Idaho legislature that wants the death penalty for women having abortions, I sent him my
comment that maybe just castrating the fathers would work too. Gotta be hard being a politician.
No wonder Sarah Palin quit to become rich and silly.
I'm not gonna rehash the whole abortion/PP subject but how'd you get that email? I generally don't get emails from liberal groups. Did PP come up with a cure for tinnitus yet?
DeleteOn a philosophical note though think of how poorer this blog would be had you never been born.
DeleteGood question. How does an old coot in the mountains get on the House Speaker List? I haven't lived in Wisconsin since 1963 and in the shooting business was regarded as a token liberal, so his
Deleteoffice must be using old phonebooks or something.
Tinnitus: the noise no one else hears. It has to be
located either in the ear physiological structure,
or the in the auditory nerve system, IMO. But the
practitioners don't even start with that simple bifurcated taxonomy. You would think somewhere, someplace, there is a physician with some successful
ideas...maybe a retired colonoscopist or something.
Interesting concept, what if you were never born.
DeleteHard to wrap your mind around, except there have been a lot of people born the last half million years: but an infinite number that were never born.
We presume the number that were aborted both naturally and artificially would be considerably
lower than those who actually were born and lived
and those who never even got to the blastocyte stage. We need tighten the definition of unborn
to reduce the infinite possible humans ever. Plug
in the quantum processers, guys.
As routine and mainstream as abortion has become it is also an act that's profound from a philosophical pov. Being so profound you would think it would become less routine. I hearken back to when Obama was campaigning for president the first time and told a PP conference the first thing he would do would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. After he became president he never even talked about it.
DeleteThe main cause of aging is the gradual loss of telomere length which leads to disrupting the various protein replacement processes in our cells. So the guys that should be working on tinnitus have been looking at telomerase,
ReplyDeletethe enzyme which can repair the essential 'nonsense' chains
which protect the essential part of the RNA/DNA. You may
get the chance to start over . A bit different than reincarnation, backwards
aging, but ya get to a point where it would seem sort of
fun.
You could age back to before the tinnitus and take that Wall Street job. Just saying.
DeleteIf somehow we were able to do this, miraculously reverse the aging process they'd put alot of colonoscopists out of business. Turning 50 wouldn't mean a hill of beans.
DeleteWalker and Geritol sales would decline, while the GAP would increase.
DeleteNo AARP.
DeleteJust as point of fact the abortion rate is lower than it's been since the 70s. Getting birth control out there and available and cheap really does work.
ReplyDeleteThat is true. There are various reasons for seeking an abortion and some revealing and somewhat shocking statistics.
DeleteThat's old news you've mentioned before. IMO it could have to do with moving away from the doctrine of hell. You're a Christian woman considering an abortion, you're ambivalent but you know Christ will forgive you down the road. On the other hand karma is much more tight as Saty has explained it. Bad karma is rigorously set in motion after a bad act so you might think twice. Just a thought.
DeleteKarma aside, IMO those seeking abortions are not frivolous, but desperate. Back to Karma- is the earthworm practicing virtue, hoping to become a
Deletegopher in the next life? Don't know about you, but
when I pull back and ponder life, soul, humanity's
relation to the universe (thankfully, not often),
I consider the animal kingdom: like us, they are born, procreate and die. That's clearly the way it is, but why do we worry about it, while they enjoy
life until they get run over by some car?
Not to sound hokey and with all due respect to snopes but when you listen to that audio clip made by those Siberian geologists it gives you pause. No I don't think the reasons for abortions are frivolous but it's always a tragic choice imo. Lena Dunham is another matter.
DeleteLena, yes she is. If those Siberian geologists are real scientists, they will send a guy down to see what's up (or down). Any volunteers?
DeleteIf it's a hoax it's one of the better ones.
DeleteIt's one of those things you have to judge for yourself.
DeleteThere is a news bias diagram that is
ReplyDeletesupposedly 'viral' in some niches. I find it interesting and pretty much agree, although I have never heard of the
ultra left sites depicted. Interestingly and expected, the
far right blogs are incensed with it and consider it an
alt-chart or fake news diagram. Your thoughts?
God that's hard on the eyes at first. Their take on HuffPo and FOX seems good ("good for confirming your existing opinions but be careful how much you hang out here") and they take a very dim view of Infowars and Breitbart. Only problem I have is under their heading Mainstream (minimal partisan bias) they list the NY Times. Now imo the Times is great for news but there's a Yuuuuuuge bias running throughout and it's no secret they hate the Donald.
DeleteAnd so it begins. The Muslim ban. Interesting that he has no financial ties to the countries that are on the list but does have financial ties to those that aren't.
ReplyDeleteA federal judge just put a hold on it. We don't have a president we have an oligarch.
DeleteAs I understand it, Trump kicked two professionals from the security team and replaced them with Steve Bannon. I'm thinking Dick Cheney wasn't available.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how true this is but somebody told me he's going to send spies into workplaces to find out who's illegal. The companies who hired them will be in trouble and the illegals will be given only a few months to apply for the proper papers.
ReplyDeleteThe Guardian, which sits next to the Wall Street Journal on
ReplyDeletethe hard to read chart (centrist, complex, analytical) explains how we got into this awful mess . I cannot disagree, although they
are careful not to blame the voters, which I do.
People disliked Hillary so much they voted for Trump. I know she prevailed in the popular vote but I agree with the writer that she was the wrong candidate. What law of the universe dictated it had to be her vs. him?
DeleteThe rest of the world preferred Clinton by a wide
Deletemajority; her time as Secretary of State reversed
burgeoning hatred for Bush as his administration came to a close:
"Clinton was the stand-out winner in a massive poll earlier this month of nearly 50,000 people in 45 countries, covering 75 per cent of the world, by WIN/ Gallup International Association. The survey found Clinton prevailing as favourite to win in all but one country – Russia" We observe that the people of Earth liked her/hated Trump..sort of the opposite of the Breitbart US population...and so we have the alt-president.
We are reminded of the adage-
ReplyDelete""Cutting off the nose to spite the face" is an expression used to describe a needlessly self-destructive over-reaction to a problem: "Don't cut off your nose to spite your face" is a warning against acting out of pique, or against pursuing revenge in a way that would damage oneself more than the object of one's anger." ...and the interesting source of such foolishness-
"One example of these cases is that of Saint Ebba (sometimes called Æbbe the Younger), the Mother Superior of the monastery of Coldingham. In 867 AD, Viking pirates from Zealand and Uppsala landed in Scotland. When news of the raid reached Saint Ebba, she gathered her nuns together and urged them to disfigure themselves, so that they might be unappealing to the Vikings. In this way, they hoped to protect their chastity. She demonstrated this by cutting off her nose and upper lip, and the nuns proceeded to do the same. The Viking raiders were so disgusted that they burned the entire building to the ground with the nuns inside" ---probably just me, but I see an interesting parallel to current times.
Trump has managed to get the whole world talking about him. Makes one wonder if all his executive actions were part ego-driven. It's not out of the realm.
ReplyDeleteIMO, he runs guv like he ran real estate. Art Of The Deal, etc. Nothing quite like acting before you think.
Delete...but he has been great for hat sales .
DeleteCute and tastefully vulgar.
DeleteUnless I missed something I haven't heard Pope Francis condemn the Trump executive orders yet. The evangeli-fundies think he's got it going on.
ReplyDeleteWhat if Francis issued dozens of Bulls in his first few days as Pope? I'm thinking a Papal bull is sort of a Catholic executive order?
DeleteThe Christian fundamentalists know who is going to Hell and who isn't. Woman at work said the fundies think all Jews are going to Hell which is ironic I said since they are overwhelming political supporters of the state of Israel and it's pivotal to their eschatology (watch Daystar). That'd be throwing the bull BB.
DeleteYep, the old guns and bible theology. It is difficult to find Jesus meek and mild in their
Deletedogma.
The actual history of the Siberian bore is more interesting than the current alt-hell pheonom.
DeleteIt's logical that there is a Hell. Far too many people die not feeling sorry or bad for anything they've done. It's also logical they won't be entering that peaceful tunnel of light as why would they? However what does all this have to do with whether you're a Christian or not, whether you accept Christ as your personal Savior or not? It sounds to me like Trump is already running for a second term.
DeleteOh yeah I read that entry. Re snopes though do they have the cred to be paranormal investigators or should they just stick with politics? Maybe we should call the Yonkers Ghost Investigators.
DeleteThe Y.G.I. technical team is currently working on the Banshee-Werewolf of Tibbets Brook Park. As for the logic for the existence of Hell, that is teleological, unless we specify that evil people
Deletedeserve a place termed Hell. Eg. is not a proof for its existence...nor is the soundtrack from an old movie. But, we bow to the continuing influence of the Manichean cosmology vis a vis religious
evolution.
I don't see the logic I proposed as proof but it's a starting point for the subject. Put another way it would seem strange if Hitler just moved through the Pearly Gates no? Also if you already have a bias against its existence you're not gonna find it likely in any related tale. Which movie? Should I Shazam it?
DeleteHitler? I think we agree he shot himself, his further whereabouts are unknown, but I like to think he went to a place where he was surrounded by
Deletethe millions who met miserable deaths in his camps.
(wherever that is) The movie referenced is 'Baron Blood', which an audio engineer merged with other
movie screams and moans and looped to match the
Bore To Hell movie, which appeared as early as 1989.
Common sense admits of drilling equipment simply melting at those temperatures, let alone a recording device. (which leaves the possibility of
Hell being extremely cold too, I guess)
That's the whole point in your Hitler scenario. Point being Hell can be many things and doesn't need to be limited to our usual concepts. I never heard of that Bore to Hell movie. I used to rent movies quite a bit so will have to look into it. I linked that to draw attention to the fundie use of anything that comes in handy. In the audio what language is that woman speaking? It sounds like an extremely bad domestic conflict in some Mandarin household. Google Translate may be of some help. Have you ever thought of joining the snopes staff?
DeleteIn my research on this topic some offered Hell need not be in the exact core of the Earth nor it may not be 2000 degrees either. Stories get embellished like the bat creature coming out of the shaft which was not a well btw. I'm surprised there's not a little subreddit on it.
DeleteI suspect your local parish priest can debunk the
DeleteEvangelaFundy Siberian bore tale. I agree that the
concept of Hell can mean different things to different folks, but keep in mind that Lista (of some years back), thought I was as spiritual as a
dead codfish, so the mystical stuff just confuses me. So, I'm a little surprised that the Christian Broadcast Network hasn't come up with a glitzy video
of someone who pretended to be dead, went to Hell and brought back a fascinating report. Maybe starring Jimmy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart (or both,
since their specialties were raising lots of money
and chasing prostitutes). BTW, tell me, those two
and many others like them; failures as men, as humans...but successful evanlgelists. Would Jesus Shrug? with apologies to both the Bible and Ayn Rand....
Actually there are many reports of hellish near-death experiences and they've been featured in the mainstream press as well. Trouble with the Siberian bore tale is it has that tabloid stamp to it so one can imagine the person at snopes who was assigned to it using his big FALSE ink stamp in like 20 minutes. It's not wholey a fundy thing though, a couple of Fatima and St. Faustina youtubers have picked up on it. For some reason in my searches "vision of hell michael jackson" keeps coming up and one seer claims demons were doing the moonwalk. Ah tabloid religion on the web.
DeleteMoonwalking demons? Thanks for helping me understand the mind of the Trump voter. I suspect
Deleteyou are leading me astray: naturally and logically I googled 'twerking angels' and found considerable
semi-porn. 'Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere' -A. Einstein
Always something to watch on YouTube.
DeleteOver a million in Britain signed a petition banning Trump from entering. Said it would embarrass the queen. Prime Minister says its OK if he comes. I hope he does, and stays.
ReplyDeleteHe's even dividing the world itself.
DeleteAs pres in chief, he has two important codes .
DeleteAre you legitimately scared yet? On the bright side, judging how it's gone so far, he may be impeachable before this week is out.
ReplyDeleteI posted on another blog:
ReplyDelete"The new officeial news organ
reports that people refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Perhaps it was the new one-
"I pledge allegiance to Emperor Trump
and to Breitbart nation, which he stole,
one nation, under the EvangaFundy God,
now divided, with power for the GOP,
liberty for the chosen few,
and to hell with the rest." ---perhaps."
Will I lose my visa? Be visited by BannonThugs? Deported to
Canada? Stay tuned.
They have already called for those in the media who dissed Trump to be fired. I heard a rumor that they were going to publish crimes committed by immigrants on a weekly basis (that is just a rumor and I haven't substantiated it but if it's true it harks back to Nazi Germany, who published purported crimes committed by Jews). I have to wonder what Paul Ryan is thinking, and how far they plan to let this go before something gets done. His administration is already in contempt of court concerning this Muslim ban; they disregarded the judge's order to stay. Seriously, what's next, and I don't mean that in any sort of a jokey way.
ReplyDeleteWhat's next? How do you predict a person drunk with
Deletenewfound power? Last month I pondered impeachment and
thought it might be by the GOP congress. Just think,
many voters were afraid of the arch criminal Hillary!
He doesn't even seem interested in consulting his own GOP Congress. I just think he's doing his own thing. Has a Roman mindset. Maybe Melania can feed him grapes.
DeleteSaty I am heebie-jeebie-ish, have been since Day One.
DeleteHeebie-Jeebie-ish: that sounds like a new political party. Maybe in the alt-center?
Delete"Katie Richter traveled from Aspen, Colo., to Washington, D.C., to attend Trump’s inauguration as well as the Heartland States Society Ball, an inaugural ball. Wanting to frame the memories from her trip, Richter, 27, took her pictures to a company in her town called Suitable For Framing. She was denied service, something she said was a result of her political beliefs." -not nice, but sort of
ReplyDeletewhat goes around-comes around in the age of denying gays
service. What's next? Republicans banned from Starbucks,
Democrats banned from Pro Wrestling matches, Unwed mothers
from churches, me from Reince Preibus' wedding? And some
said Obama was divisive. heh
I think the whole way society is behaving on this is downright stupid. You're gonna hate your neighbor because he voted for Trump? Illegal immigration is technically, well illegal and the gov't does have a technical legal right to deport. That's not to say mass deportations are the way to go but the pro-illegal protesters act like they have the right to be here. There's a big difference between a right and a privilege. Just some clarity.
DeleteRe Katie Richter I guess that would be your classic libertarian loop or cul-de-sac. The freedom of the marketplace is a beautiful thing ain't it. Can a One Hour Photo place refuse to develop Al Sharpton's image gallery?
DeleteI have to admit you are probably right. My middle
Deletegirl graduated HS valedictorian and spoke on the importance of kindness. A value she has kept with her in her academic career. She chewed me out over
the phone the other day for being quite nasty about
Trump, her argument being 'don't let him turn you into a festering pile of crap like him'. My counter argument was basically 'that's all he understands,
nice is something for him to crush with a laugh'.
Such are the vicissitudes of living in interesting times.
His mass deportation policy/proposal may be unwise social policy, perhaps a mean streak in him but as far as I can tell there's nothing illegal or unconstitutional about it hence nothing impeachable. Let's ask Judge Judy.
DeleteSo Trump fired his AG. Before he became president I recall reading a conservative analysis of his proposed travel ban to wit there's nothing illegal or unconstitutional about it. That's not the same thing as saying it's a good or wise policy. Basically a president has the right and power to be mean up to a certain point at least in some views.
ReplyDeleteHe seems just a bit impulsive. It took Nixon five
Deleteyears before he fired Archibald Cox (after two AGs
quit, putting honor prior to obedience. Finally they got down to Robert Bork, who did the dirty work, ruining his own prospects. You think it's ugly now,
just wait a bit.
The constitutionality of his actions will be judged
Deleteby a court he packs. Only the GOP congress stands
between him and the USA.
My understanding is it's a temporary travel ban. Nobody seems to know what the law is and I ain't no scholar.
DeleteI'd never fire an acting AG that looked like Mary Tyler Moore.
DeleteAny idea of how Trump did in "Plays well with others" in pre-school?
DeleteAs a pretty decent Trump apologist , you should apply for a job.
DeleteI wouldn't have good job security. Say the wrong thing...
DeleteOther presidents have made travel bans but just on a personal note I wouldn't want to be the leader of a nation where half the population actively hates me and that may include some pre-schoolers.
DeleteMeanwhile, Asian diplomacy continues apace.
DeleteEvery night I watch the news half of the news is now devoted to Trump. It's like nothing else happened. Oh there was a fire in Brooklyn today.
ReplyDeleteNixon was hated after Watergate, Trump was hated from the beginning. A political Satan. In some ways the USA is beginning to resemble the political turmoil of some Middle Eastern countries: a large swath of the population would like to see him ousted. There is not the usual respecting of election results and this weakens us imo. Instead of accepting history our worldwide image continues to suffer. The danger of radical Islam is being downplayed so as not to appear hateful. How many times has our own FBI messed up?
ReplyDeleteThe danger of radical Islam is exponentially increased by the travel ban. Jihadists can and will and are using it to prove to new recruits that we're out to crush the Muslim religion. Which, let's face it, we're out to do. Diplomats from all over the world have filed a memorandum of dissent, basically explaining that what they know is that this is infinitely bad for our world image and isn't going to do a thing to combat terrorism; in fact it will more than likely increase it. The fact that Christians from these countries are going to get special treatment isn't helping.
ReplyDeleteI keep waiting for Paul Ryan to wake tf up (that tf is not a typo) and come to his senses about all of this. I imagine that they all thought they were going to have a nice compliant president that they could use to rubber stamp their agenda. Instead they've gotten a fascist megalomaniac. Who is going to save us, literally, from this mess? It's watching the slow trainwreck of America right before our eyes. Dissent from the President, you get fired. A judge issues a stay of an order? It gets ignored. At what point does the madness get stopped?
It is my meager legal understanding that a president has the right to issue a travel ban and to enforce it. Other presidents have done this. Maybe the judge doesn't understand executive power. At any rate it's a temporary ban and then extreme vetting of refugees takes place. Maybe he doesn't fully trust his own FBI to do the job. They've muffed things before.
ReplyDeleteA woman at work said the other day someone is going to kill him and I had to agree the odds are higher than other presidencies and yet liberals are refusing to condemn the rhetoric but always remind Rush to watch his two cents.
ReplyDeleteI'm quite enjoying the hysteria really. The problems for progressive leftists isn't Trump. It's executive power; an executive power that they embraced during Obama's tenure. It's like walking around in Pier 1 and smashing some glassware. The principle is the same. You broke it you buy it.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't part of the resistance when they could have been part of the resistance. Instead they merely wanted their particular puppet at the helm.
Well, now we got Howdy Doody. Executive power is one thing, as you note, we have had it since the Origin.
DeleteOne party rule has to be monitored very carefully, as
demonstrated in the past; first they came for the socialists, then they came for the unions...then they
came for the Jews to paraphrase Neimoller. Obama? he
didn't have SCOTUS nor congress (and I daresay, a deep thinker compared to the real estate tycoon)
Four years of Trump jokes is gonna get played out. Four years of blogging about Trump both pro and con is gonna get played out. Just speaking for myself the first thing I wake up in the morning is not Trump followed by a lamentation and a growl. Liberals are walking around with a chafed ass these days a kind of existential stupor after Hillary's loss.
DeleteThe last two GOP presidents lost the popular vote, so it should be understandable their lack of popularity, right? It's like the alt-right thinking
Deletethey are patriotic; I well remember being called
'unpatriotic' for my views. It does chafe, ya know?
Enlisted while Trump took 5 deferments, served as an
Army officer, worked in the defense industry, daughter taught at West Point, son-in-law and nephew
served in Iraq combat. BTW, I paid my taxes the last 10 years too. Yeah, it chafes, Z-Man. You
think I should adore a man-child that cannot even color within the lines? Oh, yeah, I paid my taxes the last 10 years too. Cut the clown all the slack
you want, count me out.