Posts by bohm

Well, where is Trump? You mention problems that are largely due to the failure of nation-states to engage in diplomacy and lawful behavior, then use that as an argument to say that we should do away with the UN which provides an international forum to define lawful behaviour and impose consequences for unlawful behaviour, however imperfect. The argument makes as much sense as saying that because there are still fires we should do away with the fire department.

Here is a more relevant "where is"-question: Where is Polio?

74

Why is Trump so effective???

by Coded Logic in

i think trump is an absolute idiot.

his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.

thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.

bohm

So I think the media is presenting it as chaos, when rather it’s his move to redirect money into American problems within the country, not outside.

Let's fact-check that. The state department oversees negotiation of trade and foreign negotiations including diplomacy, i.e. looking after US interests to the outside world by non-violent means including trade.

Trump is slashing state department funding (and don't rely on what you think; read what people who work with these institutions are saying) to give money to (primarily) the military, who looks after US interests abroad by violent means.

So you have to define "American problems" in some way to conform to that reality; i.e. not as having to do with trade or negotiations, but about military power.

What problems are those, exactly? Syria/ISIS is trying to be solved using an international coalition (and with considerable success), but nobody suggested that it was a matter of military power, i.e. hundreds of thousans of US troops in Iraq & Syria.

Meanwhile, which "American problems" are Trump focusing on? Surely not the problem of getting health insurance if you are above 60 and not rich (24 mil. are projected to loose insurance), or the problem of global warming, or the problem of safety regulations if you are a minor, or the problem of various environmental problems which will be made worse by the slashing of e.g. the EPA, or the problem of getting your kids educated if you are not rich.

The budget can be spun various ways, but if you just look at the numbers Trumps budget can be more fairly described as "reducing funding for domestic programs that deal with health/safety for common people, reduce funding for US diplomacy and give tax reduction to the rich and increase military spending". If you disagree please show me which items I am missing out on.

Another thing to consider is what has out state department become? It has become a “political” state department. From 1789 to about 9/11 that’s not what it was. Now it’s another bloated government agency spilling and crossing over into other departments.

I got no idea what this means and It sounds like pure opinion.

Yes, the state department has expanded, reflecting the increasing needs for diplomacy and negotiation of trade agreements in a more and more globalized world where problems aren't resolved by military. Why is that bad?

16

EU court upholds an employer's right to ban religious symbols

by careful in

first i should say that i do not like islam for multiple reasons, not the least of which is the moslem treatment of women.

still, the free exercise of anyone's peaceful observance of their religion, including moslems, trumps my personal preferences.

also, living in america, i evidently enjoy a greater degree of religious liberty than i see in recent years in continental europe, something that continues to baffle me.. today the european court of justice, the same group that has stood up for the rights of jws, has decreed that it is ok for employers to ban the wearing of religious symbols among employees.

bohm

EdenOne: That is what I was thinking...

I would hate to be the one to decide on a law such as this.

74

Why is Trump so effective???

by Coded Logic in

i think trump is an absolute idiot.

his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.

thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.

bohm

Coded logic: Very nice summary, and it shows how difficult it is to keep up. I had forgotten some of the items and the list is not even complete! Imagine this was Hillary or Obama who just, whoopsie, forgot to staff the State department...

I think in particular (1) is one of the items that are very difficult to swallow. It seems that on many fronts the US is simply removing itself from its previous role in the international community. That can potentially have great consequences when someone (Putin, etc. ) tries to fill that vacancy. Just today reports of Russian troops in Egypt near the Border of Libya is floating in. I would not be surprised if that becomes the next refugee disaster...

74

Why is Trump so effective???

by Coded Logic in

i think trump is an absolute idiot.

his tactics, however, are undeniably effective.

thought i'd just put together a short list of some of the things he does.

bohm

I think we are seeing something interesting with the Trump movement. Initially, Trump was a pure protest (anti-media, anti-establishment, anti-globalization, anti-modern culture and in particular anti-HRC). The campaign was largely substance-free but anti-Hillary. Trump was never about what he could do, but about "ehmails" or "benghazzi" or MSM or whatever.

Now Trump has won and he is doing a worse job than many (me included) expected.. like just the past two days his Obamacare replacement will remove insurance from 24M people but give tax breaks to the wealthy, or the Chinese just gave* Kushner 400M and he is basically running the state department (can anyone recall when he had his hearing? no? no hearings? well I am sure that isn't necessary because he is such a nice guy. Why else would someone just give him 400M?). Naively, I expected Trump to rebrand but largely keep Obamacare (while claiming credit) and I expected him to take a hands-off approach to foreign policy which did not include his son-in-law to be running things.

Naively, I actually expected Trump to rebrand but largely keep Obamacare (while claiming credit) and I expected him to take a hands-off approach to foreign policy which did not include his son-in-law to be running things.

Anyway, that is a digression. What you would expect to happen now is that Trump supporters (or apologists) would turn on Trump when it turned out he wasn't going to turn the clock back to how grandpa recalled the 1950s. But that is not taking cognitive dissonance into account.. a much simpler solution is to believe this is all justified and THAT requires cranking up the fear/hate of the things Trump was initially against.

So the more Trump gets his news from infowars, the worse CNN has to be.. the more Trump lies the more the MSM MUST (damn the facts!) lie and the more details of Trump/Russia which emerges the more Obama/Hillary have to be remade from regular crooks into evil geniuses who are trying to destroy Trump using the "deep state" and microwave cameras or whatever the latest spin is.

7

The Democrats respond to Trump

by glenster in

"i'm a proud democrat.

but first and foremost, i'm a proud republican...anddemocrat..and mostly american.

" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jx8padyzmc.

bohm

VI:Comprehensive review: All 266 pages are blank. Yes, literally blank.

Perhaps someone accidently mixed up the actual book and the #Trumpcare section on how people with preexisting condition will get coverage...

11

Wikileaks Vault 7...

by mikeflood in

surveillance is bigger than i thought....that thing about samsung tv's .....comments?.

bohm

Anyone remember when Wikileaks published the Panama papers? The cache of documents that showed amongst other things how top Kremlin folks pushed money around?

oh wait, they didn't... wikileaks refused to touch it and Assange came out and did damage control by implying it was a CIA hitjob.

11

Wikileaks Vault 7...

by mikeflood in

surveillance is bigger than i thought....that thing about samsung tv's .....comments?.

bohm

I think when the guy from CNN said "it's illegal to reads things on wikileaks so trust us to tell you what it says" ... bohm actually believed it.

I did? Wow. Can't say I recall saying that...

Just to put the record straight: The info is legit, likely leaked by a subcontractor. The press release by wikileaks/news reports are exaggerated.

Interesting the release comes out and immediately the Kremlin twitter-trolls begin to use this to sell the "CIA hacked the DNC story". Hmmm.

In related news, wikileaks has a server that is registered in Russia according to whois records. So:

A) Assange receives money from RU

B) Wikileaks has server space in RU

C) Wikileaks never publish anything damaging about RU but do publish things that benefit RU

D) Wikileaks receive many of their leaks from FSB

Yap, I guess I am just being paranoid...