QOTD 0
Shirley Monticue, as Girl Beatnik:
Do you believe we should give people the vote before educating them to use it wisely?
I’m so old, I can remember when public schools taught civics (at my school, the course was called “Government,” but rose by any other name etc.).
Methinks not doing so has not turned out very well.
“An Armed Society Is a Polite Society” 0
And, as we know, a polite society is a clean society.
Artificial? Yes. Intelligent? Not So Much. 0
But, as my old boss used to say, sometimes even a blind pig finds an acorn.
Afterthought:
No, that was my other old boss.
Influencer Idiocy, Reprise 0
I previously observed that the internet, particularly “social” media, is an incubator of stupid.
Here’s another example for the exhibit table.
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Misdirection Play 0
Robert Reich theorizes that Donald Trump by what I would call a misdirection play. Here’s a bit of his article (emphasis added). Follow the link for context; it’s a worthwhile read.
Wrong. Trump has been able to channel the intensifying anger of the white working class away from the real causes of working-class distress — away from the big corporations, wealthy individuals, and denizens of Wall Street whose money has rigged the game against average working people.
It was not the first time in history that a demagogue has used scapegoats to deflect public attention from the real causes of their distress, and it won’t be the last.
Aside:
Where Reich says “wrong” in the bit I quoted, I might have said “right.” The elements cited in the first paragraph above were not irrelevancies.
They were the bait.
A Cabinet of Horrors 0
Farron reviews the resumes.
Not to mention Matt Gaetz for Attorney-General.
And PoliticalProf predicts the next ones.
Campaign Promises 0
At the Colorado Sun, Mike Littwinn offers an interesting theory as to how Donald Trump garnered enough votes to win. Given the nature of dis coarse discourse, methinks he may have something.
Meaning, they voted for Trump because they figured he’d cut taxes or he’d bring down the price of eggs or because he’s on their team — and not because they believed Trump when he said, repeatedly, that he will turn American democracy on its head.
He goes on to explain why he thinks they will be proven to be, as my old boss would say, in error.
It’s the Stupid, Economy 0
Der Spiegel interviews economist Barry Eichengreen on the like effect of Donald Trump’s election. Eichengreen is not sanguine.
Here’s a tiny bit.
Eichengreen: The Silicon Valley gods will live to regret their support for Trump. Eventually, they will come to understand that tariffs hurt the economy as a whole and that their business models depend on globalization. But I’ve given up trying to understand these guys and their motives. You have to be a psychologist, not an economist, to do that.
The Party of Tax and Spin 0
Michael in Norfolk finds it somewhat–er–disquieting that many persons cited prices as their reason for voting for Donald Trump, while ignoring his plans to impose tariffs, which will lead to even higher prices. In a longer article detailing the likely consequences of Trump’s “policy,” sums up its likely effects quite succinctly:
Aside:
Methinks “little benefit” an understatement.
