Just remember that the crazy ideas are impossible, and he becomes more likable. As soon as he goes to implement free college for everyone, he realizes that it ain't happening. He then either starts to think about compromise or he's just a crazy, harmless uncle at the family reunion for 4 years. I see only upside to a Bernie term in office.Originally Posted by Rocker Ute
- I'd vote for Bernie, just because I wouldn't worry about him declaring martial law and suspending the constitution.
- agree on Matheson, Huntsman. One possibility: Jay Inslett, Gov of Washington state. I've heard him speak - articulate, rational, didn't seem extreme, seemed strong. I personally like Kamala Harris and understand why her stature is on the ascent among liberals, but the nation needs a uniter, not the oscliations we're seeing amplified after having the first African American president.
We're in a precarious time, and though it pains me to say it, I agree with my Indian researcher colleague (who can't vote) that the world needs a strong, healthy America, and America (right now) probably needs a white male to calm the subliminal tribalism that has been raging.
Poll: Majority say Brennan, Comey should not have security clearances
http://thehill.com/homenews/administ...learances-poll
Fascinating. I simply can no longer predict (if I ever could) how people will react to what Trump does. Yes, Brennan has acted towards Trump like the south end of a horse headed north, but I thought Trump looked petty in cancelling the guy's security clearance.
Last edited by LA Ute; 08-28-2018 at 05:21 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Devin Nunes travels to London in search of information to buttress his take on the Steele Dossier - leaders of UK Intel apparently had busy schedules. http://thehill.com/homenews/house/40...steele-dossier
Hypothetical: If the House goes to the Dems in 10 weeks, if you're Adam Schiff do you try to get Nunes off the Intel Committee? Compared to the Senate Intel Committee, the House is an unmitigated disaster. Maybe a few years of "separation of powers" remedial training would be in order for Rep Nunes.
For the good of the nation, Pelosi talking about a succession plan to younger members is a good thing, also. Time to change things up.
Never underestimate the ignorance of the population.
My guess is if you asked "Should we involve retired security personnel who actively worked for our national security interests against foreign governments in current security affairs" as the very next question, they would enthusiastically say we should. They probably wouldn't understand how the questions are interrelated.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Dowd I rarely bother with. She seems to be similar to how you characterize Rubin. Brunei seems too predictable. Krugman is very good when he writes about the economy (although the "I told you so" gets tiring. On non-economic stuff he's generally right but adds nothing to the conversation.
Maybe I'll have to try Bruni again.
I didn't see anything wrong with Rubin's column.
What I like about Bruni is that he regularly seems to acknowledge the good faith behind many opposing viewpoints. Dowd does sometimes.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I just think they are good writers. Other people care about the content; I care about the writing. Krugman's writing does nothing for me. Oh, and I am 1000% not qualified to judge writing.
The Daily Caller, which was founded by Fox's Tucker Carlson, is pushing a story that the election hacking was actually done by China.
I haven't seen anything that corroborates that, but my dad is all in on that narrative now.
Here's an article about a provocative Harvard study, based on social media data: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily...-media-in-2016
Synopsis - it's mistake to assume the Left & Right in the US have a symmetry in news sources that feed their differing perspectives on reality.
Analyzing the rise of radical news on the left and right via accompanying ripples in social media, the study's investigators find a telling/disturbing trend:
2 examples: Alex Jones' Info Wars started a story about the Clintons operating a pedophilia operation, which got fairly widespread circulation within social media, culminated in the Rocket Pizza shooting. On the left, a reporter picked up on a revived lawsuit against Trump for having sex with a 13 year old. The suit was dismissed and the story had a very muted impact within social media.
There are no comparable idea factories on the left to InfoWars, etc, that create far-fetched stories that occasionally germinate up into more respected left leaning media like happens on the Right.
Maybe the biggest example of this phenomenon occurring on the Right is the Birther movement narrative - that eventually got great traction and had to be addressed by the State of Hawaii releasing Obama's "long form" birth certificate - which lingers on, like the various moon landing conspiracies, etc.
(An obvious response from the Right would be the Steele Dossier, considered a bunch of lies cooked up by the Clintons. The irony is this view was fabricated by Rightists as a "the victim sucked the bullet out of my gun!" kind of explanation/response to the actual Dossier, which seems to be holding up fairly well under investigation, as the explanations for Russian involvement slide from "never been to Russia" to "collusion isn't a crime" to "Hillary was far worse!".)
This study also explains why Trump claims "millions" are being denied free speech by Facebook & Twitter who are clamping down on troll farms and obvious false stories. (What he means is millions of his followers are being denied access to demonstrably false stories that feed their false narratives, forming the basis of their political world views.)
Are you kidding that there is no comparable news source on the left to Infowars as far as spreading disinformation and false reports?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The notion that the problem is coming solely from the right strains credulity.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I guess I'd like to know what the data is. Of course, that would require me to read the article.
It's safe to say that the problem isn't "solely" on the right. Do you think both sides are equally culpable?
Overall, I think we have a horribly toxic political culture that is led by people with bad intentions on both ends of the political spectrum. There’s more of that going on on the right, because the major mainstream news media, often called the “legacy“ media, controlled the conversation for so long. The Internet unleashed new voices and greater freedom to speak, which has been widely abused. It has also enabled people to live in bubbles. I think Jeffrey Toobin lives in one of those bubbles, as evidenced by his worldview and nearly everything he writes or says. “We are right and righteous, and those terrible conservatives are a blight upon our society.“ That’s not Toobin speaking , but it’s not an exaggeration or a parody either. I have heard people say that. Anyway, to me this looks like a very depressing time in our history.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I didn't have a ton of time to explain my question yesterday, but I see so much disinformation coming from all sides, that is why I asked the question. I've seen an interesting trend on social media that we typically joke about old people doing, but is now taking place among young people. But many of the young liberal people I am friends with on social media (and by young I'm saying millennials and younger) they like to post false memes and quotes, made up facts and more at a similar pace as the conservative old people doing the same on the other side. Popular ones I see come from 'Occupy Democrats', 'The Other 98%', 'Think Progress' etc.
While there are many viable criticisms of GWB, I remember at the time many rumors akin to the birther movement about GWB being part of a secret society and that all he did being a concerted effort to overthrow democracy and that 9/11 was staged by them.
Things are escalating now in the craziness, but I don't see any immunity from this because of a political lean at all. The big change however is we have a president how who promotes these theories and propagates outright lies at a pace that is simply staggering. All politicians are liars, Trump seems to simply be unable to tell the truth no matter what it is. He exhibits all the behavior of a compulsive liar.
The internet was supposed to enlighten and inform us all, just the opposite seems to have happened. It is easy to prey on our laziness and reluctance to check the facts.
Yep.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
After Trump, what? This is an interesting piece by Joel Kotkin, who is one of the centrist Democrats who helped Bill Clinton get elected. He kind of reminds me of Scoop Jackson, for those old enough to remember him.
https://www.ocregister.com/2018/09/0...cal-socialism/
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
G Dub was a member of a secret society that is out for global control: the Yale Skull and Bones society. Of course, Daddy, HW, was a member of the Trilateralist Commission, which seeks to create a global new order and do away with nation states.
I don't think these theories started with the left.
They started with Birchers and their ilk. Those people are not conservatives. Just ask William F. Buckley, Jr.:
Goldwater, the John Birch Society, and Me
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Trump's tweets about Jeff Sessions and the Justice Department's recent indictments of two Republicans is flat out disturbing. Is he really saying that they should do nothing to Republicans until after the election or maybe nothing at all? It isn't clear, but neither is even remotely ethical.
I get that there are things that conservatives approve of with Trump or are happy about like the SCOTUS nominees, deregulation and tax cuts - fair enough. But it sure feels an awful lot like trading the nation's birthright for a mess of pottage.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If Trump resigned today and Pence took his place, I'd breathe a huge sigh of relief and would be a happy guy. Whatever else anyone might say about him, Pence is a decent man and would pursue the policies people voted for in the election. Then we could talk about policies instead of personalities. (Although the left would still make Pence out to be a horrible person who will inflict evil on the nation and wants to make "The Handmaid's Tale" a reality. That's what they do.)
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
Or, at a minimum, at least he's a regular politician. He would at least play games like a normal president without throwing poorly constructed insults out at every person he meets.
That too. It's sort of included in the "decent man" part.
Last edited by LA Ute; 09-04-2018 at 10:14 AM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
I've heard many people say they are more fearful of Pence than then are of Trump, so that narrative has already begun. Policy aside, I think people have forgotten about the necessity of stability and normalization that needs to come from the White House. At this point, minus the various celebrities now who are suggesting they'd throw their hats in the ring, just about any candidate would be a better choice than Trump for that reason.
The article about Bob Woodward's upcoming book in the WaPo right now, if even 10% true is disturbing.
I've heard many say the same thing about Pence - "he'd be worse than Trump!". I disagree. Pence has the charisma of a cardboard box, and he'd suffer worse guilt-by-association than Gerald Ford.
The video showing Pence mimicking every move by Trump in a meeting - moving his water bottle when Trump moved his, etc - is a little creepy, but like how he was befuddled by the reaction in Indiana to their freedom of religion bill being viewed as open season for discrimination, Pence isn't terribly bright.
Here's some Pence trivia nobody could have guessed: he went to college with and was a good friend of Woody Harrelson's (who agrees they've gone on separate paths from being in the same Christian college).
Woodward's book is just the last in a long line reminding us we're living in a surreal presidential era.
Isn't that a common statement about a lot of VPs? From Gerald Ford to Joe Biden to Dan Quayle?
Democrats seem to decide pretty easily on the intelligence of the Republicans they oppose. How do you guys form these opinions? Pence did manage to get a B.A. from Hanover College B.A., and a law degree from Indiana, so he must have fooled a lot of people.
Last edited by LA Ute; 09-04-2018 at 10:17 PM.
"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."
--Antoine de Saint-Exupery
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold."
--Yeats
“True, we [lawyers] build no bridges. We raise no towers. We construct no engines. We paint no pictures - unless as amateurs for our own principal amusement. There is little of all that we do which the eye of man can see. But we smooth out difficulties; we relieve stress; we correct mistakes; we take up other men's burdens and by our efforts we make possible the peaceful life of men in a peaceful state.”
--John W. Davis, founder of Davis Polk & Wardwell
The Kavanaugh hearings will be a cluster beyond all belief -- it shouldn't, as he's eminently qualified, but, that's where we're at in this country. The day Trump won the Presidency is the day all hell broke loose.
“Children and dogs are as necessary to the welfare of the country as Wall Street and the railroads.” -- Harry S. Truman
"You never soar so high as when you stoop down to help a child or an animal." -- Jewish Proverb
"Three-time Pro Bowler Eric Weddle the most versatile, and maybe most intelligent, safety in the game." -- SI, 9/7/15, p. 107.
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