Trump v. Biden ? No comparison beyond the all too obvious. Fact is, however, the election is not about either guy. It's about whether you like living your life as you see fit or, as the likes of Miller and Bannon see fit. It's not Orange 1 I worry about, if he's allowed to get anywhere near the White House again, it's the Himmlers, the Eichmanns and the Görings around him. And don't happen to like either guy ? A free tip: if you ever hope to get a candidate you do like --- either party --- there's only one choice come Nov. and it ain't the large, orange "grab 'em by the democracy" guy.
IMO, Garland is doing a good job overall, but he most probably will have to see a chiropractor (if he is not already) for bending over backwards to appear apolitical so often. Yes --- that's what the DOJ should be. But these are perilous times and extreme caution and judgment are required at the same time. He seems to think the disloyal opposition is rational and plays by the rules and that somehow, having worked for the DOJ, even under a pretend AG and president, Hur would be able to control his embedded partisan urges. Prosecutorial discretion doesn't extend to using loaded adjectives in what is supposed to be a sober, unadorned report which identified no guilt under the law.
I love your discussion of the horrible Hur heresy, and of course [being a political wonk] thought of Comey. I could not STAND the mini-documentary, had to quit it. I'd read his book for two reasons, to see if he had any slightly credible reason for doing what he did [no] and the goings on at Justice while this shit was happening. The effect on the election according to him makes him nauseous. Yeah, Jim, breaking the norms, legal and otherwise, and the whole country is much more than sick.
"This is all called “mild cognitive impairment,” and it is typical — almost universal — in older people." One of the scariest things that ever happened to me occurred a few decades ago, when I was in my early 40s. I was extremely stressed -- I had to make a quick drive to the grocery store because people were coming to dinner, and I had my elderly father with me (I couldn't leave him home because he had Alzheimer's), and as I got back in the car and turned on the engine, I suddenly realized I didn't know what to do next. I figured that if I wanted to go right, I should turn the steering wheel to the right, and if I wanted to go left, I should turn the steering wheel to the left -- but I wanted to go forward! And I couldn't push the wheel forward, so what should I do? After a few seconds, I decided to just step on the gas pedal very gently and see what happened. And it worked -- we went forward, and it all my driving knowledge came rushing back. I've never had an incident like that again, but I'll never forget (ha!) the fear I felt.
That IS terrifying. I had a similar incident a few years ago, and realized that I was light-headed and woozy at the time. I ate something and felt a LOT better. I wonder if something similar caused your incident, especially because of the stress you were under.
I knew the reference to the lyrics of Neil Young's "Old Man" because they used to play it a lot on the Oldies station. They don't play anything from earlier than the 1990s now.
I am back in DC after many years and constantly being reminded of how for YEARS I didn't realize that the President's cabinet of the secretaries of all the departments are actually the HEADS of those departments. I thought it was just an advisory council the president chose to give him current information on whatever they were the secretary of. I later came to realize all those secretary positions corresponded to government departments and the cabinet were the chiefs of said departments. I also concluded that it is important that teachers of government teach this because it is basic to understanding how things get done in the government.
On Trump winning 2020 election and being ineligible to run - I say we put it to the test. We send Trump back pay for the four year period, reinstate him as president too late for him to do any harm (the lame duck period) and if he cashes the check (of course he will - he gets money AND gets to be president again? He'll fall for it), he agrees to the terms of the contract that he is, indeed president from 2020 - 2024. His lawyers don't do much lawyering so they won't dare to tell him not to do it as they cash their checks and cower in their corners. His followers will be vindicated, we'll make tiny stupit changes to the way we tally votes - perhaps adding a few additional people from each side to watch the counting or added video taping of counting and storage of counted ballots - and they will party like it's 2016. We wait until he cashes the check and then BLAM! Hit them with the news. It will be the best investment in our future we've made since creating social security.
The story of the smart guy failing to drain the spaghetti reminded me of a friend's story about a houseguest who was put in charge of making mashed potatoes for dinner. Instructions: peel & boil potatoes, add some milk to the pan, use hand mixer to whip. After some time, guest plaintively asked, "When do they thicken up?" .... She didn't drain them before adding the milk.
When I was in college sharing a house with several guys, I one night made the tastiest burgers any of us had ever had - by failing to drain the grease. I’m surprised any of us graduated prior to needing a coronary.
Don’t know the derivation, but then, I’m deaf (I assume it’s from some song). (I’m the deaf guy who wrote you once about laughing at the closed-captions on an episode of Newhart; it involved the phrase good vibrations, and you asked me if I knew about the “sigar” song.) (I figured out what that meant, though I’d never seen it before, and haven’t seen it since.)
Sure, he's "extrinsic" with probably a large dollop of self-hate under that veneer of narcissism. But his real danger is in what philosopher Hannah Arendt called, the "banality of evil." A frontman buffoon performing the routine he was given. How funny and amusing he is. Just like that funny Duce fella. A real laugh riot --- until it's not funny anymore. The rising tide of fascism sinks all ships. Not just the blue ones.
This whole business of aging and memory is irrelevant and especially in relation to the far more important and complex function of decision-making ---and particularly when it comes to the leader of the free world. Yes -- like memory, other cognitive processes change with age, but what we know so far, is that apparently how we make decisions doesn't necessarily decline or degrade, it changes. For example, we tend to rely more on prior experiences, perhaps take fewer risks and come to conclusions more quickly.
Intrinsics are in shorter supply. Extrinsics, sadly, no shortage of them.
I found that Guardian discussion convincing, but am also a bit wary of it as it seems so clearly designed to make the reader feel superior. Even more superior. To the extrinsics; all Guardian readers presumably consider themselves to be intrinsics. Worth reading, anyway.
I can't decide whether George Monbiot's discussion is an extended tautology, an example of begging the question, or a dispositional attribution. Whatever Monbiot's logic may be, it gives me a nagging suspicion that his explanation is too facile. Thank you, Martha, for your reference to Erving Goffman.
I'm sure everybody considers himself to be an intrinsic, as everyone considers himself to have a great sense of humor. It reminds me of Goffman's inner-directed/ outer-directed dichotomy. Maybe that's easier to picture--people who look to others to furnish them with opinions, even if they don't realize they're doing it, and then of course they think those opinions are their own, which of course, after adoption, they are. I have a classmate in an exercise class I take who cannot tell where her body parts are (if her hips are squared toward the front or her feet are shoulder-width apart) without looking. From what I know of her background I infer this was because her mother was so punitively critical of her that she destroyed my classmate's ability to judge her own physical position. Seems impossibly extreme, but I concluded that was at least a plausible explanation. It doesn't seem to be an organic physical problem.
Trump v. Biden ? No comparison beyond the all too obvious. Fact is, however, the election is not about either guy. It's about whether you like living your life as you see fit or, as the likes of Miller and Bannon see fit. It's not Orange 1 I worry about, if he's allowed to get anywhere near the White House again, it's the Himmlers, the Eichmanns and the Görings around him. And don't happen to like either guy ? A free tip: if you ever hope to get a candidate you do like --- either party --- there's only one choice come Nov. and it ain't the large, orange "grab 'em by the democracy" guy.
IMO, Garland is doing a good job overall, but he most probably will have to see a chiropractor (if he is not already) for bending over backwards to appear apolitical so often. Yes --- that's what the DOJ should be. But these are perilous times and extreme caution and judgment are required at the same time. He seems to think the disloyal opposition is rational and plays by the rules and that somehow, having worked for the DOJ, even under a pretend AG and president, Hur would be able to control his embedded partisan urges. Prosecutorial discretion doesn't extend to using loaded adjectives in what is supposed to be a sober, unadorned report which identified no guilt under the law.
I love your discussion of the horrible Hur heresy, and of course [being a political wonk] thought of Comey. I could not STAND the mini-documentary, had to quit it. I'd read his book for two reasons, to see if he had any slightly credible reason for doing what he did [no] and the goings on at Justice while this shit was happening. The effect on the election according to him makes him nauseous. Yeah, Jim, breaking the norms, legal and otherwise, and the whole country is much more than sick.
I hope that you didn't pay for Comey's book.
It was a gift. :)
"This is all called “mild cognitive impairment,” and it is typical — almost universal — in older people." One of the scariest things that ever happened to me occurred a few decades ago, when I was in my early 40s. I was extremely stressed -- I had to make a quick drive to the grocery store because people were coming to dinner, and I had my elderly father with me (I couldn't leave him home because he had Alzheimer's), and as I got back in the car and turned on the engine, I suddenly realized I didn't know what to do next. I figured that if I wanted to go right, I should turn the steering wheel to the right, and if I wanted to go left, I should turn the steering wheel to the left -- but I wanted to go forward! And I couldn't push the wheel forward, so what should I do? After a few seconds, I decided to just step on the gas pedal very gently and see what happened. And it worked -- we went forward, and it all my driving knowledge came rushing back. I've never had an incident like that again, but I'll never forget (ha!) the fear I felt.
That sounds really awful.
That IS terrifying. I had a similar incident a few years ago, and realized that I was light-headed and woozy at the time. I ate something and felt a LOT better. I wonder if something similar caused your incident, especially because of the stress you were under.
I maintain the poll about Cruz 's mug needed Option C: "NEITHER. YEESH."
I stand by my assessment of beardless Cruz looking like a flaming asshole and bearded Cruz looking like the flames had scorched his anal hair.
“I’m not saying his face is ugly. But his phone unlocks every time he accidentally points it toward the dog’s ass.”
I don't find sparse, patchy, two-toned face fuzz attractive on anyone but a handsome, young man -- preferably Italian or French.
Even so, no, ew.
I knew the reference to the lyrics of Neil Young's "Old Man" because they used to play it a lot on the Oldies station. They don't play anything from earlier than the 1990s now.
I am back in DC after many years and constantly being reminded of how for YEARS I didn't realize that the President's cabinet of the secretaries of all the departments are actually the HEADS of those departments. I thought it was just an advisory council the president chose to give him current information on whatever they were the secretary of. I later came to realize all those secretary positions corresponded to government departments and the cabinet were the chiefs of said departments. I also concluded that it is important that teachers of government teach this because it is basic to understanding how things get done in the government.
On Trump winning 2020 election and being ineligible to run - I say we put it to the test. We send Trump back pay for the four year period, reinstate him as president too late for him to do any harm (the lame duck period) and if he cashes the check (of course he will - he gets money AND gets to be president again? He'll fall for it), he agrees to the terms of the contract that he is, indeed president from 2020 - 2024. His lawyers don't do much lawyering so they won't dare to tell him not to do it as they cash their checks and cower in their corners. His followers will be vindicated, we'll make tiny stupit changes to the way we tally votes - perhaps adding a few additional people from each side to watch the counting or added video taping of counting and storage of counted ballots - and they will party like it's 2016. We wait until he cashes the check and then BLAM! Hit them with the news. It will be the best investment in our future we've made since creating social security.
The story of the smart guy failing to drain the spaghetti reminded me of a friend's story about a houseguest who was put in charge of making mashed potatoes for dinner. Instructions: peel & boil potatoes, add some milk to the pan, use hand mixer to whip. After some time, guest plaintively asked, "When do they thicken up?" .... She didn't drain them before adding the milk.
When I was in college sharing a house with several guys, I one night made the tastiest burgers any of us had ever had - by failing to drain the grease. I’m surprised any of us graduated prior to needing a coronary.
Coals to Newcastle. Refrigerators to Savoonga. What are the chances of vacuum cleaners on the moon ?
Don’t know the derivation, but then, I’m deaf (I assume it’s from some song). (I’m the deaf guy who wrote you once about laughing at the closed-captions on an episode of Newhart; it involved the phrase good vibrations, and you asked me if I knew about the “sigar” song.) (I figured out what that meant, though I’d never seen it before, and haven’t seen it since.)
Sure, he's "extrinsic" with probably a large dollop of self-hate under that veneer of narcissism. But his real danger is in what philosopher Hannah Arendt called, the "banality of evil." A frontman buffoon performing the routine he was given. How funny and amusing he is. Just like that funny Duce fella. A real laugh riot --- until it's not funny anymore. The rising tide of fascism sinks all ships. Not just the blue ones.
One of the more ironic performances of the song "Old Man":
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/neil-young-and-jimmy-fallons-neil-young-perform-old-man-together-115924/
Those who don't understand the appeal of Trump should read. George Lakoff. He is the strict father.
This whole business of aging and memory is irrelevant and especially in relation to the far more important and complex function of decision-making ---and particularly when it comes to the leader of the free world. Yes -- like memory, other cognitive processes change with age, but what we know so far, is that apparently how we make decisions doesn't necessarily decline or degrade, it changes. For example, we tend to rely more on prior experiences, perhaps take fewer risks and come to conclusions more quickly.
Intrinsics are in shorter supply. Extrinsics, sadly, no shortage of them.
I found that Guardian discussion convincing, but am also a bit wary of it as it seems so clearly designed to make the reader feel superior. Even more superior. To the extrinsics; all Guardian readers presumably consider themselves to be intrinsics. Worth reading, anyway.
I can't decide whether George Monbiot's discussion is an extended tautology, an example of begging the question, or a dispositional attribution. Whatever Monbiot's logic may be, it gives me a nagging suspicion that his explanation is too facile. Thank you, Martha, for your reference to Erving Goffman.
I'm sure everybody considers himself to be an intrinsic, as everyone considers himself to have a great sense of humor. It reminds me of Goffman's inner-directed/ outer-directed dichotomy. Maybe that's easier to picture--people who look to others to furnish them with opinions, even if they don't realize they're doing it, and then of course they think those opinions are their own, which of course, after adoption, they are. I have a classmate in an exercise class I take who cannot tell where her body parts are (if her hips are squared toward the front or her feet are shoulder-width apart) without looking. From what I know of her background I infer this was because her mother was so punitively critical of her that she destroyed my classmate's ability to judge her own physical position. Seems impossibly extreme, but I concluded that was at least a plausible explanation. It doesn't seem to be an organic physical problem.