Monday, August 31, 2015
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Debt Is Good
Remember all that talk about the debt and deficit and how it was going to be the end of us?
Yeah...still not happening.
Paul Krugman is wondering that as well and he's got some hilarious points in his pondering.
Wags quickly noted that the U.S. economy has, on the whole, done pretty well these past 180 years, suggesting that having the government owe the private sector money might not be all that bad a thing. The British government, by the way, has been in debt for more than three centuries, an era spanning the Industrial Revolution, victory over Napoleon, and more.
Any day now...
After all, we’ve spent much of the past five or six years in a state of fiscal panic, with all the Very Serious People declaring that we must slash deficits and reduce debt now now now or we’ll turn into Greece, Greece I tell you.
Does anyone take them seriously anymore? Ron Paul is now setting up his retirement by fear peddling but that's about it.
So, is debt good?
I’ve already mentioned that having at least some government debt outstanding helps the economy function better. How so? The answer, according to M.I.T.’s Ricardo Caballero and others, is that the debt of stable, reliable governments provides “safe assets” that help investors manage risks, make transactions easier and avoid a destructive scramble for cash.
Yep.
Yeah...still not happening.
Paul Krugman is wondering that as well and he's got some hilarious points in his pondering.
Wags quickly noted that the U.S. economy has, on the whole, done pretty well these past 180 years, suggesting that having the government owe the private sector money might not be all that bad a thing. The British government, by the way, has been in debt for more than three centuries, an era spanning the Industrial Revolution, victory over Napoleon, and more.
Any day now...
After all, we’ve spent much of the past five or six years in a state of fiscal panic, with all the Very Serious People declaring that we must slash deficits and reduce debt now now now or we’ll turn into Greece, Greece I tell you.
Does anyone take them seriously anymore? Ron Paul is now setting up his retirement by fear peddling but that's about it.
So, is debt good?
I’ve already mentioned that having at least some government debt outstanding helps the economy function better. How so? The answer, according to M.I.T.’s Ricardo Caballero and others, is that the debt of stable, reliable governments provides “safe assets” that help investors manage risks, make transactions easier and avoid a destructive scramble for cash.
Yep.
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Friday, August 28, 2015
Thursday, August 27, 2015
I Rest My Case
From a recent conversation on Quora...
I don't know how anyone who has ever played a videogame in their life can look someone else in the eye with a straight face and say a gun can't have saved you. While a game is not reality, the basic concept of being able to end a threat with deadly force remains the same. It's obvious to most 10 year olds.
Pretty much sums up everything I have ever said about the Gun Cult.
I don't know how anyone who has ever played a videogame in their life can look someone else in the eye with a straight face and say a gun can't have saved you. While a game is not reality, the basic concept of being able to end a threat with deadly force remains the same. It's obvious to most 10 year olds.
Pretty much sums up everything I have ever said about the Gun Cult.
Trump Pulls A Palin
Donald Trump loves the Bible. It's his favorite book!!
But can he name his favorite passage or testament?
Nope.
And he's leading among evangelicals? I guess it shows how full of shit they really are...
But can he name his favorite passage or testament?
Nope.
And he's leading among evangelicals? I guess it shows how full of shit they really are...
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
We're #1!!!
A new study by sociologist Adam Lankford of the University of Alabama shows that the United States is #1 in mass shootings since 1966. I don't think we needed a study to figure that one out. This information stands in stark contrast to the declining levels of violence seen here and around the world. I think it's nice that there is less violence but it means bupkis if we have 10 or more mass shootings every fucking month.
America's "gun culture," wrote Lankford, is deeply rooted in the idea that broad gun-ownership is a bulwark against the emergence of tyranny. And those roots continue to lie close to the surface, he wrote: A national survey conducted in 2013 found that 65% of Americans believe that the purpose of their right to bear arms remains "to make sure that people are able to protect themselves from tyranny."
How exactly does that fucking work when the federal government has drones, tanks, battleships, and even bigger guns? Some fucking protection...
Of course, these same people who believe their guns are protecting themselves from "tyranny" also vociferously support increased defense spending. At least we are in agreement there. I want the government to spend a ton of money on defense in case we have to put down the Gun Cult.
This new study confirms the reality of the US today. It's become the very dystopia that the Gun Cult claims to want to avoid.
America's "gun culture," wrote Lankford, is deeply rooted in the idea that broad gun-ownership is a bulwark against the emergence of tyranny. And those roots continue to lie close to the surface, he wrote: A national survey conducted in 2013 found that 65% of Americans believe that the purpose of their right to bear arms remains "to make sure that people are able to protect themselves from tyranny."
How exactly does that fucking work when the federal government has drones, tanks, battleships, and even bigger guns? Some fucking protection...
Of course, these same people who believe their guns are protecting themselves from "tyranny" also vociferously support increased defense spending. At least we are in agreement there. I want the government to spend a ton of money on defense in case we have to put down the Gun Cult.
This new study confirms the reality of the US today. It's become the very dystopia that the Gun Cult claims to want to avoid.
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
My Advice For Hillary Clinton
Hillary has been under fire a lot from the media over yet another "scandal." I say "scandal" because I liken this to movie casting. If you wanted to make a good Western (back when they still actually made them), you cast John Wayne or Clint Eastwood. If you want to tell a scandal story, nothing sells more like the Clintons.
The thing is...Hilz plays the part so well and the media knows this. She'll say and do all the things she always says and does and the media will foam at the mouth, engage in consistent fallacy, and predict a Clinton imminent demise. We've seen this film many times and everyone is pretty sick of it. But that's the point, right? The media have decided that they don't want a Hillary Clinton presidency. When she is found (once again) to have done nothing wrong, they won't report it and they will move on to something else. They are very firmly in the tank now for Donald Trump because he gets ratings. So, what should Hillary do? Here's my advice...
1. Embrace a Joe Biden run. When he announces his expected candidacy, welcome him with open arms and say you want the competition. Praise him for his experience, service and knowledge. You will be a better candidate with him in the race.
2. Lose your top advisers-YESTERDAY! Has anyone ever seen Huma Abedin smile? A google search does have a few images of her looking happy but they mostly look like this...
The thing is...Hilz plays the part so well and the media knows this. She'll say and do all the things she always says and does and the media will foam at the mouth, engage in consistent fallacy, and predict a Clinton imminent demise. We've seen this film many times and everyone is pretty sick of it. But that's the point, right? The media have decided that they don't want a Hillary Clinton presidency. When she is found (once again) to have done nothing wrong, they won't report it and they will move on to something else. They are very firmly in the tank now for Donald Trump because he gets ratings. So, what should Hillary do? Here's my advice...
1. Embrace a Joe Biden run. When he announces his expected candidacy, welcome him with open arms and say you want the competition. Praise him for his experience, service and knowledge. You will be a better candidate with him in the race.
2. Lose your top advisers-YESTERDAY! Has anyone ever seen Huma Abedin smile? A google search does have a few images of her looking happy but they mostly look like this...
Always looking like she's at a funeral...really?
And every time Jennifer Palmieri opens her mouth, she makes Hillary seem like DB fucking Cooper. With the exception of John Podesta, everyone on her campaign should be considered on the chopping block. What they are doing simply isn't working. Time for some new advisers.
3. Call a press conference. In fact, call so many that the press get sick of you. Take away the talking point that you are being elusive to the press. Take away the Trump coverage. And have them be at a circular table. That way everyone is equal. When they ask you the inevitable "how long have you been beating your wife" questions, call them on it. Be an asshole like Donald Trump. Give them the facts. Reality is on your side.
Don't prepare any statements. They make you sound guilty when you aren't. I'd also consider having some actual voters along with you who want to talk about the issues and not the email scandal. Have them chime in on what they want to hear. Show the press what is really on the mind of the American voters.
4. Be yourself. I hear all the time about how their is the Hillary that her friends love...honest, tough, compassionate, driven...and then the Hillary that the media says...controlled, evasive, prepared. Lose the second one forever and just be the first one. That's what will win you the White House.
Which is still yours to lose...
Go, Mr. President, Go!
Obama Feeling 'Feisty,' Ready to Take on the 'Crazies'
Yeah, he's not going to go gently into that good night, is he? Hee hee...
Yeah, he's not going to go gently into that good night, is he? Hee hee...
Monday, August 24, 2015
A Fair Shake?
With Hillary Clinton currently under fire for kicking a dog in Iowa and telling some kid that he wasn't good at sports in New Hampshire, the normally conservative Chicago Sun Times has an interesting piece about how she can't seem to get a fair shake in the media.
“Someone said the other day that Washington may now have reached the state-of-the-art point of having a cover-up without a crime,” pronounced the Washington Post. By failing to come clean, Hillary had managed “to make it appear as if the Clintons had something to hide.” “These clumsy efforts at suppression are feckless and self-defeating,” thundered The New York Times. Hillary’s actions, the newspaper continued, “are swiftly draining away public trust in (her) integrity.”
OK, I’m teasing. Both editorials appeared 21 years ago, in January 1994. They expressed outrage at Hillary Clinton’s turning over Whitewater documents to federal investigators rather than the press, which had conjured a make-believe scandal out of bogus reporting of a kind that’s since grown all too familiar in American journalism.
Hilarious!
Even more amusing...
Bottom line: When they start talking about narratives and perceptions, these would-be insiders, they’re talking about themselves.
Exactly right.
Prediction...
This has to be at least the fourth time the same crowd has predicted her imminent demise, if not her indictment and conviction. All based upon partisan leaks — this Trey Gowdy joker is nothing compared to Kenneth Starr’s leak-o-matic prosecutors — and upon presumed evidence in documents nobody’s yet seen. From the Rose Law Firm billing records to Benghazi, it’s the same old story: When the evidence finally emerges, it turns out that Hillary has been diligently coloring inside the lines all along.
I doubt that uncomfortable feeling in their brains (cognitive dissonance) will allow them to admit this, though. Expect more dogs kicked and little kids feelings hurt.
“Someone said the other day that Washington may now have reached the state-of-the-art point of having a cover-up without a crime,” pronounced the Washington Post. By failing to come clean, Hillary had managed “to make it appear as if the Clintons had something to hide.” “These clumsy efforts at suppression are feckless and self-defeating,” thundered The New York Times. Hillary’s actions, the newspaper continued, “are swiftly draining away public trust in (her) integrity.”
OK, I’m teasing. Both editorials appeared 21 years ago, in January 1994. They expressed outrage at Hillary Clinton’s turning over Whitewater documents to federal investigators rather than the press, which had conjured a make-believe scandal out of bogus reporting of a kind that’s since grown all too familiar in American journalism.
Hilarious!
Even more amusing...
Bottom line: When they start talking about narratives and perceptions, these would-be insiders, they’re talking about themselves.
Exactly right.
Prediction...
This has to be at least the fourth time the same crowd has predicted her imminent demise, if not her indictment and conviction. All based upon partisan leaks — this Trey Gowdy joker is nothing compared to Kenneth Starr’s leak-o-matic prosecutors — and upon presumed evidence in documents nobody’s yet seen. From the Rose Law Firm billing records to Benghazi, it’s the same old story: When the evidence finally emerges, it turns out that Hillary has been diligently coloring inside the lines all along.
I doubt that uncomfortable feeling in their brains (cognitive dissonance) will allow them to admit this, though. Expect more dogs kicked and little kids feelings hurt.
Sunday, August 23, 2015
The Donald Trump Love Fest, The Hillary Clinton Hate Fest
The only news program I watch on the main news networks is Morning Joe. I'll always be a fan largely due to the guests they have on panel every day. Lately, however, it's been pretty frustrating to watch because they are absolutely in love with Donald Trump, letting him slide on nearly everything. The worst thing they let him get away with is his complete lack of specific policy points. Yeah, we know Trump has feelings about what should be done with our country but what are his action policies? He still hasn't answered that yet.
Mika and Joe shamelessly fawn over Donald Trump like two high school girls hoping to get asked to the formal. They might as well have a fucking hope chest on their set with Trump's head shot and lone candle burning next to it. Juxtaposed with this nauseating behavior is their absolute hated of Hillary Clinton. Critical of nearly everything that comes out of her mouth, Mika and Joe pout, pontificate and faux shake their heads at the "collapse" of Hillary Clinton. Facts don't really seem to matter as they discuss Hillary's ongoing email server problems.
Perhaps they should read Julian Epstein and Sam Sokol's recent piece in USA Today which leaves the emotion out of the equation. For example,
But a bad decision is not a crime. Using a personal email server for State Department work during Secretary Clinton’s tenure was not a crime; the statute requiring official email accounts for official business wasn’t even passed until 2014. And receiving or transmitting information that was not known to be classified at the time also was not a crime. This is true even if the information was mislabeled or misclassified. And reports that a larger number of emails are now under review don’t change this — the essential fact remains that there is no evidence that Secretary Clinton sent or received any email marked classified.
Key words being "no evidence." Everything Mika and Joe are talking about is pure speculation and innuendo. I wish they would knock it off and actually be critical thinkers for a change.
Mika and Joe shamelessly fawn over Donald Trump like two high school girls hoping to get asked to the formal. They might as well have a fucking hope chest on their set with Trump's head shot and lone candle burning next to it. Juxtaposed with this nauseating behavior is their absolute hated of Hillary Clinton. Critical of nearly everything that comes out of her mouth, Mika and Joe pout, pontificate and faux shake their heads at the "collapse" of Hillary Clinton. Facts don't really seem to matter as they discuss Hillary's ongoing email server problems.
Perhaps they should read Julian Epstein and Sam Sokol's recent piece in USA Today which leaves the emotion out of the equation. For example,
But a bad decision is not a crime. Using a personal email server for State Department work during Secretary Clinton’s tenure was not a crime; the statute requiring official email accounts for official business wasn’t even passed until 2014. And receiving or transmitting information that was not known to be classified at the time also was not a crime. This is true even if the information was mislabeled or misclassified. And reports that a larger number of emails are now under review don’t change this — the essential fact remains that there is no evidence that Secretary Clinton sent or received any email marked classified.
Key words being "no evidence." Everything Mika and Joe are talking about is pure speculation and innuendo. I wish they would knock it off and actually be critical thinkers for a change.
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Stupid And Ugly
I was all set to write a piece about Donald Trump and how it's entirely possible that he could: a) win the GOP nomination and b) win the presidency. Of course, that's the emotional side of my brain working, not the rational and more cold side. It's being a cynic. He would not be able to break the Democratic wall of 246 given his comments about Hispanics and women that any Democratic nominee would win.
But Matt Taibbi's recent article in Rolling Stone more or less beat me to it. Quite accurately, he describes the Trump voter and more.
People are tired of rules and tired of having to pay lip service to decorum. They want to stop having to watch what they say and think and just get "crazy," as Thomas Friedman would put it. Trump's campaign is giving people permission to do just that. It's hard to say this word in conjunction with such a sexually unappealing person, but his message is a powerful aphrodisiac. Fuck everything, fuck everyone. Fuck immigrants and fuck their filthy lice-ridden kids. And fuck you if you don't like me saying so.
Those of us who think polls and primaries and debates are any match for that are pretty naive. America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong, no matter who wins in 2016.
The cynic in me agrees with him yet I think he's putting this stuff out there to shock people into reality. Imagine how our country would be viewed around the world if Trump were president. We'd lose a great deal of respect and our enemies would run the table on someone so naive. In so many ways, Trump is the adolescent that is illustrative of the GOP base today.
A higher level analysis shows that the GOP is doing the same things to themselves they did in 2012. They are going as insane as insane dictates to win a primary filled with anger, hate filled fear mongers that are completely irrational. It didn't work in the general last election and it won't work now.
But Matt Taibbi's recent article in Rolling Stone more or less beat me to it. Quite accurately, he describes the Trump voter and more.
People are tired of rules and tired of having to pay lip service to decorum. They want to stop having to watch what they say and think and just get "crazy," as Thomas Friedman would put it. Trump's campaign is giving people permission to do just that. It's hard to say this word in conjunction with such a sexually unappealing person, but his message is a powerful aphrodisiac. Fuck everything, fuck everyone. Fuck immigrants and fuck their filthy lice-ridden kids. And fuck you if you don't like me saying so.
Those of us who think polls and primaries and debates are any match for that are pretty naive. America has been trending stupid for a long time. Now the stupid wants out of its cage, and Trump is urging it on. There are a lot of ways this can go wrong, no matter who wins in 2016.
The cynic in me agrees with him yet I think he's putting this stuff out there to shock people into reality. Imagine how our country would be viewed around the world if Trump were president. We'd lose a great deal of respect and our enemies would run the table on someone so naive. In so many ways, Trump is the adolescent that is illustrative of the GOP base today.
A higher level analysis shows that the GOP is doing the same things to themselves they did in 2012. They are going as insane as insane dictates to win a primary filled with anger, hate filled fear mongers that are completely irrational. It didn't work in the general last election and it won't work now.
Friday, August 21, 2015
Off-Duty U.S. Marines Stop a Terrorist in France
A terrorist attack in France was thwarted by American marines who happened to be aboard a train:
Two heroic American men, unarmed and in civilian clothing, helped overpower a 26-year-old gunman armed with an automatic rifle, knife and razor blades who brazenly opened fire in a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday evening.And somehow they did it all without guns.
Training and competence are far more important than having a gun. Had there been untrained, armed, Second-Amendment-quoting, trigger-happy "Oath-keepers" aboard instead, half the train could have been shot up.
More guns do not make us safer. Quick-thinking and heroic people do.
Thursday, August 20, 2015
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAHAHHAHAHAHHAAA!!!!!
Armed 'Patriot' Guarding 'Muslim-Free' Gun Store Accidentally Shoots Himself
Here's to hoping a whole lot more of armed "patriots" and "oathkeepers" shoot themselves
Here's to hoping a whole lot more of armed "patriots" and "oathkeepers" shoot themselves
Wednesday, August 19, 2015
More Blood On Their Hands
Take a look at these hearses...
That's one for each of the eight people killed by David Conley in Houston last week. Despite the fact that Conley had a history of domestic violence, he was still able to obtain a gun. How?
He was able to purchase the gun online.
Had Manchin-Toomey been passed in 2013, all 8 of these people would still be alive. So would others. If you advocate for gun rights and against universal background checks, these deaths are your responsibility. Their blood is on your hands.
And you need to be put away.
That's one for each of the eight people killed by David Conley in Houston last week. Despite the fact that Conley had a history of domestic violence, he was still able to obtain a gun. How?
He was able to purchase the gun online.
Had Manchin-Toomey been passed in 2013, all 8 of these people would still be alive. So would others. If you advocate for gun rights and against universal background checks, these deaths are your responsibility. Their blood is on your hands.
And you need to be put away.
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