monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

georgeob said
You really ought not to let georgeob off so easily. Here, for example:

"It is between those who (often sincerely) believe that perfection can be achieved by the proper organization and governance of human behavior "

That's a straw man. Do you know anyone who actually thinks or claims this? The correct range of claims or suppositions here is that much can be done by way of laws, institutions, education, healthcare, regulations, etc which serve the interests of the members of a community or a nation.

And this:
(and who usually end up producing only poverty and tyranny)
Tyranny and poverty aren't even remotely the case across the western world where social democracies (featuring redistribution of wealth, vast social programs, etc) are in place, one of which is the US.

And, finally:
those who, seeing the imperfections and contradictions in human nature, prefer freedom more
Again, do you know any political theorist who denies human imperfection or contradictions in humans individually or humans in groups? And then you're left with that "freedom" claim dangling off the end of all the prior stuff that is not logically sound.

Well said. I agree.

Interesting to note that, by most conventional measures of at least physical well-being, the vast majority of people on this crowded earth have a much better, healtier and longer existence than did almost all of their predecessors - something that is true in every region of the world, including Africa and Asia.

That said, the notions attributed by Voltaire to his Dr Pangloss that this is the best of possible worlds remains laughable.

Our existence is filled with irony and apparent ( to me at least) contradictions, and I suppose this is one of them, i.e. to what degree can we effectively organize life so that both freedom and the common welfare are optimized. I believe the answer depends a great deal on the homogenity of the collective culture and values.

I have a good friend in Iceland who wrote recently decrying both the new prosperity they are enjjoying and as well the corruption of their culture , gene pool and public safety attending the influx of Senegalese, Polish, Lithuanian, Syrian and Phillippine workers now there as well as an influx of tourists from everywhere. It turns out that the egalitarian values motivating the EU policies in this area are not shared by all of the newcomers , and there is growing tension betwen the locals and their government over it. This appears in Sweden, the low countries, France and other areas as well.

We had our own dose of that 150 years ago with the "Know Nothings" whose target was (gasp !) those wonderful Irishmen who were then flooding the country. They of course were quickly followed by a flood of Poles, Italians and Ashkenazi Jews and others. Very turbulent times followed, but, thanks largely to the open, competitive nature of our society and economy, each group graduated from menial labor and crime to commerce and the professions, gaining over time the usually grudgingly given respect of others, and contributing its part to our evolving cosmopolitan culture. It's very hard for me to see how all this might have succeeded had we then been infested with all the sappy ideas of group identity, affirmative action and diversity, which would likely have driven everyone underground and made the hostility permanent. We stopped that clock on that process with African Americans with slavery and Jum Crow and I fear we will do it again with government interference.

I believe that for all of us everywhere happiness in this life is a choice. We can either live our lives joyfully working to improve our situations; or miserably, decrying the unfairness of it all. In human terms these are mutually exclusive states. There's a wonderful episode in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace (still worth reading) in which the author (or one of his characters) notes that human nature is such that there is a limit to joy and a limit to sorrow, and that those limits are soon reached. I believe it is true (or at least mostly so), and applicable here.

They do hope it will go away. And sometimes things do (lying has evolved as a human social strategy because it often works). But where I find the troubling aspects of denial is in his supporters' modern tendency to isolate themselves in their closed epistemological universe. That's really dangerous.

I'd read Dean's book on the Bush admin and he thought that it was worse than Nixon's as well. In some ways, I thought that probably accurate (mainly as regards what Cheney and Addington and Rove were up to) but Bush didn't have the malice and paranoia of Nixon or Trump.

Now that is interesting. Once again, the rhetoric or talking points coming out of the Trump camp mirror that which comes out of Putin's people and media.

There is huge difference. When confronted with the issue, Noone lied about it happening..

When Franken asked Sessions the question, Sessions fucked up by failing to answer the question directly (Which was "what would you do if someone in the admin could have met with the Russians"?)
Sessions anser was that "I didnt meet with the Russians". He set himself up. I really dont know why they declared tht this interview process was "under oath"??
Sessions is, at least, guilty of incredible stupidity as a practice lawyer. (Annswer only the question-dont provide any information beyond that)

Internationally the Russians are Trump's biggest cheerleaders.

I don't know who compiled this or what information they used — their interpretation of "wealth" and "poverty" might be defective (a "poor" person in contemporary Denmark probably lives better than many "wealthy" people did in earlier times) but I think the general trend over the past 200 years is probably fairly represented.


source

Good on ya, farmerman. That's the way I see it too~!

That's because Trump loves Russia more than he does our government.

You're clearly suggesting the existence of a comspiracy for which you have presented no evidence, and in a situation in which no conspiracy is indicaated or required. Both the European outrage and the U.S. communications monitoring which xcaused it are common knowledge.

No conspiracy needed. Trump's admiration for Putin tells all we need to know.

You're talking about the relative distribution of measurable monetary wealth over a relatively short historical period, and in a region of the world you did not specify. A very different thing. Mu point clearly was that the physical health lifespan and existence of humans everywhere is far beter today that at any earlier period. The ratios you are citing rise and fall over relatively short historical periods in different regions for a variety of different reasons.

Moreover such ratios tell only a narrow part of the story. I suspect Venezuela has a very good ratio. Monetary measures are meaningless there as their currency is worthless. Everyone is poor and most lack sufficient nutrition and basic health care, and yet the goivernment is in more or less complete control of the distribution of needed goods and services, observing the highest standards of Bolivarian equity in distributing them. It was a self proclimed egalitarian redistributive tyranny that produced this mess and did so in a country that posesses more abundant natural resources per capita than most of the nations in the world. No small achievment !

Yes. And isn't that interesting.

Wrong. I've been noting these instances of aligned statements coming out of Russia and out of the Trump camp over the last couple of months or so. I've noted them here and provided the relevant quotes and links.

I've made no claim of cooperative action because that's not known. But the mounting frequency of these corresponding narratives suggests something more than coincidence, obviously. It could be cooperative action or it could be that the Russians are continuing to support Trump for their own reasons.

Donald J. Trump, businessman, in 2012:

Source: Fact Sheet Trump Tower White Plains, NY

Trump got almost $1 million in energy-efficiency incentives and low-interest loans from New York State to fit that tower with eco-friendly fixtures, state records show. (Source)

"more than anybody"

Now that really got me laughing. How many times has he used that or a similar construction? And it is never credible.

He is such a con man, throwing out a blizzard of bullshit whenever he deems it effective. He's like the worst species of used car salesman.

The worst of it is that so many Americans support this fraud. It doesn't speak well of us Americans, even though it's "only" about 35% of Americans.
I believe the majority are the uneducated folks within our midst.

His grammar is atrocious!
Trump: "I strongly believe in clean energy, in conserving energy, all of that - more than anybody."

Apparently Sessions is going to amend his testimony from his Senate confirmation hearing.

This is inspiring. I've just written to my ex-wife and amended a bunch of stuff I said to her. Also, I've sent off an email to my high school amending a number of answers on my Math 11 exam.

Yes. That his con has worked as effectively as it has does not inspire confidence. But that is all about the level of tribal identity which has captured his supporters and how this preposterous situation has come to be.

Make America poisoned again.
Advances in Liberty huzzah