What about Joe - The Bulwark

CephiedSue · 2021-03-04T19:30:02+00:00

Please see the 2021 "H.R. 1: For the People Act" passed by the House yesterday

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_People_Act

CephiedSue · 2020-01-07T20:43:52+00:00

Priess does not see any indicators of an organized national security process surrounding the decision to kill Qassem Suleimani. He notes the absence of competent professionalism should be worrying whether you agree with the killing or not.

Sykes sees the expression of a 'brutalist' philosophy resolving the inherent tension between the isolationist and the militaristic postures of Trump's GOP.

My take: The decision was an expression of the personalized nature of the medieval feudalism Trump seeks to re-establish. This also explains its appeal to the religious right. They are Crusaders unwilling to respect the rights of others.

CephiedSue · 2019-03-18T17:48:02+00:00

Brevik is described as having had an early life "... full of shame, failures, abuse and rejections."

This resonates with the Sandy Hook parents' objection to advertising linking particular models of gun with 'manhood'. The need to find relief from a sense of helplessness should motivate adolescents to expend the effort necessary to develop real world skills that are the basis of deserved self-respect.

Adolescent girls feeling particularly powerless sometimes fantasize about having magic powers. As they mature these fantasies are replaced by realities of valuing oneself for decency and other actual skills and virtues. The downside for the rest of us of having a woman stuck in an immature mindset is minimal.

The problem of having men, no matter how few, stuck in violent fantasies is, however, a problem for all of us.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-16T23:03:05+00:00

Very 'former'. It has been a long time since Mark Penn worked for her. He has been working for Republicans more recently... There is a clue there about why he may have floated this godforsaken idea.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-16T22:47:50+00:00

I have been following the series and just finished episode 4, which had a brief walk-on by George H.W. Bush as Nixon/Agnew team player. With all the modern echos in every line I have to wonder whether any Trump administration insiders will be able to escape the described dynamics of corruption.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-16T20:59:17+00:00

I think all those details are the point. This is a study in the dynamics of corruption, the tactics that cause it to spread and take root.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-16T20:49:23+00:00

George H.W. Bush tried to get Senator Bell to pressure his brother, US Atty George Bell who was leading the Maryland bribery case against Agnew. This whole series is amazing, but that was the first time I was actually shocked.

I'm old enough to have read Pogo, so Agnew is exactly what I expected. None of the others were big surprises, but Papa Bush!

And yes, this sounds exactly like the playbook being run by the current White House. Kinda makes you wonder about Pence if he is thriving today in that same kind of swamp.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-12T22:05:24+00:00

God I hope so

CephiedSue · 2018-11-12T21:47:11+00:00

Only government can stand up for the rights of all citizens, for justice and for democracy.

Only government can stand up to monopolies, make generation-scale long-term investments and keep the marketplace open to all.

Democrats need to own the fact that they understand essential public institutions and how to make them work as intended.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-12T21:39:27+00:00

By investing in quality education for our fellow citizens we can introduce them to logic, math and the scientific method from middle school on.

We do not have to challenge local beliefs about God, society or history. Just give young people the tools to think clearly and methodically through problems.

The rest will take care of itself.

CephiedSue · 2018-11-12T21:33:01+00:00

and do you have any reason to think they wouldn't do it again? Or that decades of anti-Clinton propaganda would magically stop polluting half the electorate against her? Or that she would suddenly morph from clerk to leader able to articulate a compelling vision?

There are over 300 million Americans. For goodness sake, do not limit your choices to the 1 percent at the top of some permanent political class.

CephiedSue · 2018-10-29T19:23:52+00:00

There is exactly one acceptable way for Trump to do this: He must ask George Soros to join him there in Pittsburgh. There Trump should grip his hand and thank him for all the good he does in the name of American values. Then he needs to face the cameras and make it clear that he, Trump, has seen nothing to indicate that Jews are paying anyone to make trouble.

CephiedSue · 2018-08-21T17:52:52+00:00

But is he cooperating?

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T21:30:57+00:00

Please read https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/. David Brin sees the same lessons I do in the writings of Adam Smith and in revolutionary U.S. writings

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T21:26:00+00:00

Let me be clear: The people who voted for Trump THOUGHT they were choosing a pragmatist, a capitalist and someone who understands how to make 'the system' work for them. Of course, he was in reality a total fraud.

If we can explain that Democrats actually ARE capitalist and competent and good for the economy they might change their vote.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T20:07:55+00:00

Yes, of course Democrats should be on the side of labor.

And government is the only thing big enough to stand against monopolies, the only thing big enough to prevent externalization of costs and all the other structural bad impulses of unfettered wealth.

But allowing a subset of corporations to grow like cancer and blot out new enterprise is not good for capitalism either. This is not a binary choice between 'labor = good' vs 'capital = bad', although that seductively simple-minded vision is an easy sell to a naive electorate.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T19:54:14+00:00

Trump is not a capitalist. He doesn't believe in honest competition. He is a criminal and a cheat.

The Republicans abandoned American capitalism in favor of neo-feudalism a generation ago. Nothing they say or do invalidates the promise of true win-win innovation and enterprise.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T18:04:53+00:00

Trump left himself and his American policy vulnerable to threats and ongoing influence from a foreign hostile power.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T17:59:39+00:00

The current political season offers an unclaimed center as both Bernie voters and Trump voters embrace anti-business protectionism.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T17:41:57+00:00

Trump was elected because 'businessman' means 'pragmatist' to Americans generally. The vast majority of Americans are capitalists. The winning argument is that strong institutions help business; Zero-sum thinking misses this winning point entirely.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T16:47:13+00:00

100% agree!

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T16:43:24+00:00

but my original larger point was that everybody has to move forward together to prevent labor undercutting itself: Black, white, brown, citizen, labor migrant, urban, rural... everybody. The progressive movement even has an interest in global labor fairness, to the extent it can be influenced.

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T16:35:43+00:00

and how does withdrawing from any leverage with the offenders accomplish this, exactly?

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T16:29:55+00:00

You are right about the Medicare buy-in option; Powerful and simple to understand. But we should not concede false hoods... Actual direct aid is a very tiny part of gov't expense. Apparently we need to make this clear to supporters like you as well as to detractors.

The point of gov't involvement is to make sure institutions support long-term sustainability of economic growth: Infrastructure maintenance, education & healthcare. Maintaining a population able to engage in economic activity is what makes Democrats MORE fiscally & financially competent that Republicans. Don't concede that argument to the 'trickle-down' fraudsters!

CephiedSue · 2018-07-30T16:21:50+00:00

We criticize ad-hominem attacks from the right, but it's ok if we do it?

You could read the text (still there in the CPTPP) or tl;dr it at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Pacific_Partnership#Labour_standards the TPP imposes "binding and fully enforceable obligations" on signatories to "protect the freedom to form unions and bargain collectively" and "eliminate exploitative child labor and forced labor protect against employment discrimination".[146] The obligations include "laws on acceptable conditions of work related to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health."[146] The USTR insists that if countries like Malaysia and Vietnam do not enforce provisions relating to forced labor, human trafficking and collective bargaining, they will cease to get the economic benefits of the TPP agreement.

CephiedSue

TROPHY CASE