Bits Bucket for February 21, 2016
Post off-topic ideas, links, and Craigslist finds here. Please visit my Youtube channel which you can also find here:
http:tinyurl.com/http-hbb-com
The Housing Bubble
Examining the home price boom and its effect on owners, lenders, regulators, realtors and the economy as a whole.
About Me
Name:Ben Jones
Location:Northern Arizona, United States
To donate by mail, or to otherwise contact this blogger, please send emails to: thehousingbubble@gmail.com
PayPal is a secure online payment method which accepts ALL major credit cards.
Links
-
June 2025 M T W T F S S « Sep 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30
Photo Submission: hbbphotos@gmail.com
View the HBB Photo Gallery *updated 4/13/2008
People with mortgages can’t ski here:
http://imgur.com/lWnWf4n
Region VIII
People with mortgages get to ski on Bandini Mountain.
Ski DOWN Bandini Mountain (whether they are into skiing or not … bahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha)
Life is great when you don’t have debt and saved tons of Bitcoin and gold by renting.
This is where renters ski:
http://imgur.com/Ctqiw3h
Crested Butte is the best skiing in Colorado, no loanowners on this mountain.
Where’s the dog?
You didn’t forget to tie the knot did you?
Seinfeld - George Mountain Climbing - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGQSmOY3rxI - 261k -
Jeb! has left the building. Good riddance, looser.
Huffington Post real journalists provide a victory narrative on The Donald:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/56c87f72e4b041136f1725b8
And because they are real journalists, every article about The Donald has this message at the bottom of it to remind you what a racist you are if you don’t like getting raped by illegal Mexicans or having your throat slit by the ISIS:
“Editor’s Note: Donald Trump is a serial liar, rampant xenophobe, racist, misogynist, birther and bully who has repeatedly pledged to ban all Muslims — 1.6 billion members of an entire religion — from entering the U.S.”
How many points does Trump get for ending the Bush dynasty (at least for a while)? Like em or hate em, this multi generational family oligarchy isn’t what America should be about.
For rallying the Republican base against the sell-out neocon Bush dynasty with its epic incompetence, pandering to the elites and crony capitalism, Trump has already done America an enormous favor. Bush would’ve governed for the sole benefit of the .1% and the MIC, and thrown the 99% under the bus just like his idiot brother.
We have our own betters here using that same Trump is Evil boilerplate.
Truth is, none of us really knows what ANY of the candidates of either party would actually do once in office.
And that’s the real problem.
It’s also perhaps the key reason why the Federal Government needs massive cuts in size and reach.
Decisions pushed down to local and state levels are usually better because our betters are held accountable more easily.
Individualism is where it’s at. Individual liberty.
Me? I want a wall built to promote and protect the concept of individual liberty.
Individual liberty is NOT promoted at the Federal level (it cannot be should Washington wish to continue to expand its reach), nor is it promoted by letting illegals in who, in effect, prop up federal overreach.
I plan to vote for the individual who appears most like to protect the idea of individual liberty. I would never vote for Rubio, Sanders or Clinton. As for the rest, the jury is still out.
And don’t forget that all the welfare, dole, SSI, Section 8 expansion just allows the central government more power to order people around.
Federal dollars = federal strings and those strings can reach anywhere, including into a uterus or Obamaphone.
Trump has considerable black and Hispanic support.
Coastal elitists here (mainly Californians on HBB) and elsewhere live in their bubbles, insulated from that which is directly affecting 100+ million people elsewhere. Stroking one’s beard while pontificating the universe is out.
Pragmatism is in because it’s become vital. Pragmatism is the reason for the popularity of a Trump, of a Sanders, of a Cruz. It’s the reason why notable numbers of people say they’ll vote for Sanders if Trump isn’t the eventual GOP candidate (as well as vice versa).
Now, back to blacks and Hispanics. Both get screwed by open doors policy. Cheap labor hurts their ability to get higher paying jobs. Additionally, open doors policy allows for the importation of violence. Hispanics fleeing Mexico and Central America do so for better economic prospects AS WELL AS to escape violence. Hispanics who become legal, naturalized citizens abhor the import of violence.
Blacks also abhor violence. Deal with it.
Pragmatism. The natural consequence of misguided, ivory-tower thought.
The coastal elites believe the poor must be kept on their plantation and told they must vote based on skin color. Group identity is all that matters. Prof ITT tech can post hit pieces here all day but all he cares about is that Trump tried to temporarily ban Muslims. That makes Trump a bigot in the eyes of the left. Any distinction no matter how reasonable or pragmatic cannot be allowed (unless it favors their side).
Gonna be fun to watch phony pivot.
Donald Trump doesn’t need Latino voters to win
Washington Post
By Bruce Bartlett
“Sooner or later, Republicans will recognize that the party’s negative image among Hispanics will keep it out of the White House indefinitely unless a new source of non-white votes can be found to replace the declining share of whites in the population. The original idea of Republican leaders was to enact immigration reform to neutralize Hispanic hostility, but Trump’s success, as well as the endorsement of his immigration views by other GOP candidates such as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, makes that impossible for now. So if Republicans are stuck with an anti-immigrant message, they may as well use it to their advantage by reaching out to the black community, where it could resonate in an election in which the nominees of both parties will almost certainly be white.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/donald-trump-doesnt-need-latino-voters-to-win-the-nomination/2015/09/04/9fd2e40c-524f-11e5-933e-7d06c647a395_story.html
If you guys were good for anything but complaining, you wouldn’t be stuck in flyoverland.
Liberals don’t believe in diversity. If your view of the world differs from theirs, they will do what they believe necessary to stomp out your voice.
For example, a pro-Pope liberal may “reserve” the right to deride the Latter Day Saints. And yet, claim as “racist” (of all things) anyone anti-Islam.
Interestingly, I have yet to see or hear of any SJW Californian laying out the red carpet for a group of Mormons.
To be truly diverse, Californians would accept LDS with open arms. But they don’t, yet cry foul at the prospect of closed borders. Why?
Because they don’t like those who don’t share their views.
California is about 2% LDS. Most states are less then 1% LDS. I have some family members who lived in the San Jose area and became Mormons for about 10 years. They never mentioned any problems with discrimination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-day_Saints_membership_statistics_(United_States)
One of your fellow HBB posters despises the LDS. Many, many nasty comments about the LDS over the years.
That same poster is up in arms about those whom that poster believes despise Islam (i.e. Muslims).
Guess what? You don’t get to play both ends. Not without the risk of being tagged as a disingenuous fraud.
When that poster moves to Provo and becomes Mormon, then maybe I’ll consider that poster as something other than a disingenuous fraud.
Is that Professor Bear that you’re talking about? I think that he’s stated that his wife is a Mormon. Regardless, you’re apparently assuming that 35 million people agree with him because they live in the same state that he lives in.
I think that he’s stated that his wife is a Mormon.
MacBeth’s argument is so nonsensical that I’m starting to smell a tj.
Lies and treachery are just what you would expect from a poster who calls himself Macbeth.
The Trumplings are going wild with ad hominem attacks on me, because they can’t tolerate any criticism of their Dear Leader.
“…assuming that 35 million people agree with him because they live in the same state that he lives in.”
That’s black-and-white Retardican thinking for you.
Given the crushing level of poverty in CA, do you really think 35 million people have a choice?
With each passing day, you show everyone here what you really are, Bear.
Note that while I didn’t refer to you by name, others here knew who I was talking about.
How is that possible if I’m the liar?
Well Macbeth, since you attack me on a daily basis, I guess it isn’t a difficult inference to conclude that your blatant strawman mischaracterization of me was another such attack. MightyMike caught on right away.
Funny—I’ve never gotten the sense that PB “despises the LDS”. To be balanced, I’ve never gotten the sense that he is fully on board, or drank the kool-aid either.
“I want a wall built to promote and protect the concept of individual liberty.”
Sarcasm, or mental enfeeblement? So difficult to tell any more.
That you John Wayne?
“We have our own betters…”
Trump is no libertarian. Trump is an evil statist just like the rest. He will fire up the gas ovens himself.
That’s quite a statement. Proof?
Bill’s voluntaryist philosophy tends towards misanthropy mixed with a little SJW. Eating baloney sandwiches and counting gold bars and ammo.
That’s quite a statement. Proof?
1. He wants Edward Snowden executed. Snowden revealed state crimes. So Trump is defending the state and opposing individual liberty on this one.
2. He wants the government to have access to iPhone and internet - to break the encryption - our information is private and the State has no right to know who we are.
3. He pigeon holes all Muslims, just like FDR pigeon holed all Japanese. It’s collectivsm and statism, not individualism and liberty.
4. Building a wall. a) will he finance it 100% or will he rob us to finance this wall?
That monkey chant of SJW is an attempt to silence people who see wrongs by the government. I won’t be silenced by that crap.
So are you in favor of social injustice if you keep sneering SJW?
Four years ago there were a few people on this blog favorable to Ron Paul. It boggles the mind that some of the people backing Ron Paul then are now backing a severe Statist.
None of that is proof that Trump is going to fire up any gas ovens.
Seriously, Bill. That’s one hell of a reach.
You already know of my thoughts on your other points; we have talked about it before.
Toward the end of this thread you said that you wouldn’t support anyone who initiates force.
With that in mind, do you think an open borders policy serves to do? Allow in the peaceful? Really?
It is a very easy argument to make that an open border policy reduces the liberties of those in the host country. It’s astonishing that you don’t recognize that. We’ll be talking about this later. I’m done for the day.
Okay back to open border.
You guys don’t want to talk about the real solution, which is eliminate taxpayer-financed health care, education, welfare, and housing to anyone. Every conservative who is indoctrinated to say “Muh borders” is a frigging coward because they refuse to debate the left on the real solution: Abolish welfare.
Are hordes of people going to Hong Kong? Switzerland? Why not? Oh it must be that they don’t have welfare.
I am an open borders proponent. Complete open borders. But your kind always conveniently forgets that I kept saying we have to abolish all welfare at the same time.
Also Ron Paul never discussed closing the borders. How come you were for him in 2012 then?
borders
Ron Paul in no way mentioned walls nor deportation. You guys who supported Paul in 2012 are now fascists, proposing the State force on this. You never understood what Ron Paul is for: individual liberty for all. Not welfare. Not Big government deporting or interning people. Idiots.
http://www.ronpaul.com/on-the-issues/border-security/
“Illegal immigrants are a convenient scapegoat for our economic crisis. But with free markets and private property, the need for immigrant labor becomes obvious. Most immigrants, regardless of the color of their skin, are open to the ideals of liberty: private property, free markets, sound money, right to life, low taxes, less war, protection of civil liberties, and a foreign policy designed for peace.
Ron Paul proposed the following action steps for dealing with illegal immigration:
Abolish the welfare state. The incentive to take a job at whatever wage available must prevail.
Establish a generous visitor work program. Once we solve the economic crisis by introducing sound money, demand for domestic and immigrant labor will rise.
Enforce the laws on the books with more border guards. Allow states and landowners to enforce the law and provide security assistance.
Abolish birthright citizenship for children of illegal immigrants. [Current U.S. citizens will not be affected. Instead, babies born to illegals after a future cutoff date will no longer gain automatic U.S. citizenship. They will still have citizenship in their parents’ home countries.]
End all federal mandates on the states to provide free education and medical care for illegal immigrants.”
Immigrants who don’t assimilate are not Americans. We have all this money to feed, clothe, house and educate the poors from all over the uncivilized world, yet we have none to take care of the Mentally Ill, Homeless and Veterans.
Mass immigration is about furthering Globalism.
Immigrants who don’t assimilate are not Americans. We have all this money to feed, clothe, house and educate the poors from all over the uncivilized world, yet we have none to take care of the Mentally Ill, Homeless and Veterans.
Mass immigration is about furthering Globalism.
Trump, Cruz popularity represents two very different Christian failures
David Gushee | Feb 21, 2016
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, on January 18, 2016.
Photo courtesy of REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
The continued popularity of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz among many conservative Christian voters demands an explanation, especially for those who shudder at the very idea that one of these two men might get within sniffing distance of the White House.
I propose that Trump and Cruz represent two very different kinds of failures for conservative Christianity, one old and longstanding, the other new and more disturbing.
Ted Cruz is the easier case. For the most part, he is following a particularly hardline version of the old Christian Right script, now operative in its tenth presidential election. You know it: Abortion bad, gay marriage really bad, liberals bad, secularism bad, Democrats bad. And: godly America, historic Christian heritage, call America back to God, take America back from the liberals, get the right judges on the Supreme Court, etc. It’s a familiar script, and it has been taught in many of America’s most conservative churches for decades. It is a message certainly not confined to Ted Cruz.
Many of us on the progressive evangelical side have been protesting this version of Christian public witness for a long time. It fails in ways we have specified, including its exceedingly narrow version of Christian moral concern and oversimplified reading of Christian history.
Still, those conservative Christians who support Ted Cruz based on that script are in many cases following the explicit teaching of their churches. They are good disciples in the terms that have been presented to them and that they believe. Their pastors have reason to be pleased with them.
Donald Trump is doing something very different and much more frightening. In his demeanor, he is violating every prior accepted standard of presidential civility. He is lathering up audiences for systematic demeaning of specific targeted groups, notably Muslims and Hispanics, through security appeals over terrorists and undocumented immigrants. He has also dismissed moral concerns about torture, and other rule-of-law considerations in war and foreign policy. He has more than once expressed respect for the leadership and toughness of foreign dictators. In sum, here is a presidential candidate frequently characterized by xenophobia, cruelty, vulgarity, and authoritarianism.
So then the question arises again: how exactly can self-identified followers of Jesus support this man?
…
Moment of truth: We must stop Trump
Presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks following his victory in the South Carolina primary on Feb. 20, 2016, in Spartanburg, S.C.
(Spencer Platt / Getty Images)
Danielle Allen
Special to The Washington Post
Like any number of us raised in the late 20th century, I have spent my life perplexed about exactly how Hitler could have come to power in Germany. Watching Donald Trump’s rise, I now understand. Leave aside whether a direct comparison of Trump to Hitler is accurate. That is not my point. My point rather is about how a demagogic opportunist can exploit a divided country.
To understand the rise of Hitler and the spread of Nazism, I have generally relied on the German-Jewish émigré philosopher Hannah Arendt and her arguments about the banality of evil. Somehow people can understand themselves as “just doing their job,” yet act as cogs in the wheel of a murderous machine. Arendt also offered a second answer in a small but powerful book called “Men in Dark Times.” In this book, she described all those who thought that Hitler’s rise was a terrible thing but chose “internal exile,” or staying invisible and out of the way as their strategy for coping with the situation. They knew evil was evil, but they too facilitated it, by departing from the battlefield out of a sense of hopelessness.
One can see both of these phenomena unfolding now. The first shows itself, for instance, when journalists cover every crude and cruel thing that comes out of Trump’s mouth and thereby help acculturate all of us to what we are hearing. Are they not just doing their jobs, they will ask, in covering the Republican front-runner? Have we not already been acculturated by 30 years of popular culture to offensive and inciting comments? Yes, both of these things are true. But that doesn’t mean journalists ought to be Trump’s megaphone. Perhaps we should just shut the lights out on offensiveness; turn off the mic when someone tries to shout down others; re-establish standards for what counts as a worthwhile contribution to the public debate. That will seem counter to journalistic norms, yes, but why not let Trump pay for his own ads when he wants to broadcast foul and incendiary ideas? He’ll still have plenty of access to freedom of expression. It is time to draw a bright line.
…
Spiegel Online International
America’s Agitator: Donald Trump Is the World’s Most Dangerous Man
By Markus Feldenkirchen, Veit Medick and Holger Stark
Photo Gallery: The Autocrat Photos
AFP
Donald Trump is the leader of a new, hate-filled authoritarian movement. Nothing would be more harmful to the idea of the West and world peace than if he were to be elected president. George W. Bush’s America would seem like a place of logic and reason in comparison.
Donald Trump recently spoke about American football. No other game more fully embodies his country’s character. The sport is about capturing territory, and players need to be tough and fearless to win. A player who is afraid of being tackled by someone from the opposing team while running has already lost the game. “I don’t even watch it as much anymore,” Trump told a crowd of his supporters in Reno, Nevada. “The whole game is all screwed up.”
A growing number of studies point to the devastating consequences of the many tackles in the game, in which players try to stop their opponents by throwing themselves at them head-first: brain trauma, depression, suicide. New rules have been created, and there are now stiffer penalties for the most glaring fouls.
On the stage in Reno, Trump said he missed “what used to be considered a great tackle, a violent head-on tackle.” He slammed his fists together and repeated himself, vulgarly pursing his lips as he said the word “violent.” “You used to see these tackles and it was incredible to watch, right?”
And today? “Bing! Flag!” Trump shouted. “The referees, they want to all throw flags so their wives see them at home.”
“Football has become soft,” he said, repeating the sentence as if it were a key hypothesis on the state of the nation. “Football has become soft like our country has become soft!” As he held up his index finger, the crowd cheered and people held signs up in the air that read: “The silent majority stands with Trump.”
Trump Wants A Ruthless America
“Believe me, I’ll change things. And again, we’re going to be so respected. I don’t want to use the word ‘feared,’” he told the audience. But that is precisely what Trump wants: to be feared. His bid for the White House, long ridiculed, is a fight for a ruthless, brutal America. Behind his campaign slogan “Make America great again!” is the vision of a country that no longer cares about international treaties, ethnic minorities or established standards of decency.
Trump wants to attack head-first again. The 69-year-old embodies a new harshness and brutality, and both a physical and emotional crudeness. Trump has launched an uprising of the indecent, one that is now much bigger than he himself, a popular movement of white, conservative America that after eight years under Democratic President Barack Obama, yearns for a leader who will usher in the counter-revolution.
Former Obama campaign manager David Axelrod wrote recently that Trump’s success is based on the same principle as the campaign victories of his former boss. In fact, he added, he had explained this recipe for success to Obama himself when he first ran for president: When a president leaves office after eight years, voters tend to prefer a candidate who is as different as possible from the incumbent, in terms of politics, character and habits.
By that logic, Obama the integrator, who fought against discrimination against blacks and gays, would be followed by a President Trump who stirs up hatred against minorities and claims that “political correctness” is the greatest threat to the United States. While Obama sought to explain complex problems, often sounding like an intellectual in the process, studies have shown that Trump speaks at a fourth-grade reading level. Problems, according to Trump, are “totally easy” to solve. And while Obama appealed to the common “we” in his campaign slogan “Yes, we can!” Trump’s version reads “Yes, I can!” — the solution of a strong leader.
…
“Jeb! has left the building.”
And this makes the latest Vegas odds look like this:
Hillary Clinton 5/6
Donald Trump 7/2
Marco Rubio 4/1
Bernie Sanders 15/2
Michael Bloomberg 25/1
Ted Cruz 33/1
John Kasich 40/1
Joe Biden 50/1
Mitt Romney 200/1
Paul Ryan 200/1
Ben Carson 200/1
How has this changed since his two victories in NH and SC?
538blog also has him as the favorite for winning the R caucuses in Nevada this Tuesday also.
I don’t place a tremendous amount of faith in electronic markets with no track record of a candidate like Trump. It very much reminds me of the models the housing pimps were selling when they knew damn well that things were different and the models didn’t apply as the market was full of 700K house buying strawberry pickers.
The winner will be NOTA and the voters who go on ignoring victimless crime laws.
Welfare is not a victimless crime. The victims are the multiple generations locked in awful blighted urban poverty or ethnic nonenglish speaking ghettos with no way out.
No, the victims are productive taxpayers who have their wealth forcibly extracted through taxes to pay for the poor decisions of the feral Democrat lifetime entitlement voters.
+1
If gop becomes lp
Both Caw and Ray are correct.
That’s it… Tell us all about your victimhood. Cry louder.
Taxpayers and productive class getting it from above and below. No wonder the Lolas love it.
The crows seemed to be calling his name, thought Caw.
Interesting gap between the odds for Cruz and for Rubio. Why does Vegas give Ted such slim odds?
Why does Vegas give Ted such slim odds?
The bettors give him slim odds, Vegas just updates the odds to reflect how people are betting.
True. Betting odds and market prices (in the Iowa Electronic Markets) represent the views of a large number of participants.
Link …
http://www.paddypower.com/bet/politics/other-politics/us-politics?ev_oc_grp_ids=791149
I think it updated.
Bernie is 8 to 1 (sorry socialists).
Trump and Little Boy Marco are tied at 7/2
Another hit piece on The Donald from NBC real journalists:
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/if-even-donald-trump-can-t-stop-donald-trump-who-n522926
Real journalists serve globalist masters.
“Jeb! has left the building. Good riddance, looser.”
Romney’s revenge. Some “real journalist” could make a name for themselves if they told that little-known back story.
“Some “real journalist” could make a name for themselves if they told that little-known back story.”
Pssssst … what is that little-known back story?
In a nutshell, Romney was being used as a placeholder for JEB! during the 2012 election cycle and was never meant to win. His campaign was scuttled by Republican campaign consultants who misadvised him and donors. Some wondered if he was complicit or oblivious, but it began to look like he was indeed oblivious, as evidenced by his shock when he lost to Obama, because the consultants were massaging his ego right down to the end.
Cut to this current election cycle, remember the stories about how Romney wanted to give it another go? Then comes JEB!’s ambition, which Romney had been led to believe was dead due to shrub. Donors and consultants who had previously “supported” Romney jumped ship for JEB! and Right to Rise. JEB! and Romney had a tense meeting, about which little is known, although the MSM made a note of it. The upshot was that no more was heard of Romney running for Pres and JEB! was the anointed one. All this is pretty much documented in the MSM. If Romney hadn’t realized what was going on before, it finally dawned on him.
Now we get to South Carolina and the political relationship between Romney and Governor Haley. Romney is a mentor of hers. You’ll recall the tragic Dylan Roof incident. There were calls to take down the Confederate flag, but Haley didn’t actually do it until Romney told her to. I think he Tweeted the order, lol.
During this primary South Carolina primary cycle, the state was touted as “Bush Country”. However, Haley endorses Rubio, the former JEB! protege, which came as something of a shock to JEB!. Now, I don’t have confirmation that Romney told her to endorse Rubio, but being familiar with the above, I’d lay odds he did.
Politics really is a dirty game, but fascinating.
What’s your best piece of evidence that the Bushes used Romney as a placeholder?
“Politics really is a dirty game, but fascinating.”
And complicated. I learned that I can’t keep up, so I don’t even try (nor do I believe that my trying will make any difference in the outcome.)
Oh, and thanks for the response.
Probably Romney’s withdrawal from this election cycle after the combo of being dumped (or denied) by donors and then meeting with JEB!
However, as you’ve correctly surmised, we’re looking at a circumstantial chain here. And since I’m not an investigative reporter, I’ll have to leave the hard evidence to them.
“And complicated. I learned that I can’t keep up, so I don’t even try (nor do I believe that my trying will make any difference in the outcome.)”
“Oh, and thanks for the response.”
You’re welcome. I never thought trying to keep up would influence the outcome, either, but I kind of enjoy delving into some of the behind the scenes stuff, in the same way I’m a dilettante ancient civ buff. All these tangled webs, and they’re nothing new.
As we’ve seen, JEB! did have presidential ambitions. He was 59 in 2012. Had Romney won, he’d have had to wait until he was 71 to give it a go and clearly, he didn’t want to wait that long.
“(nor do I believe that my trying will make any difference in the outcome.)”
The California curse: Hillary wins, no matter what
The neocons are using Trump as a placeholder for Clinton.
Is that your gripe, that Hillary will get elected?
Or is it that Trump dared to call out the open borders crowd and Islamic jihadists?
“The little-known back story”
In case you missed it on the main weekend thread, here it is:
Comment by BearCat
2016-02-21 08:26:47
…
As for Trump, you need to look past his current statements to look at his past statements and current actions. He was for getting rid of Saddam before he was against it. And he definitely knows how to get loans from Wall Street http://www.redstate.com/leon_h_wolf/2016/01/22/every-bank-wall-street-owns-donald-trump
Trumplings just trumple loudly about another subject when confronted with facts.
You mean like how redstate is the home of the Mighty Cucks? Or would that be William F. Cuckley’s National Review?
Anyway, I’ve been following the whole Mitt-JEB! dynamic since well before Trump declared. One of the writers at a website where I lurk brought the issue up when Romney went quiet on the subject of immigration restriction after starting out strong on it. His numbers started to slip, and slipped further with each consultant-recommended move.
The writer started to get suspicious and wondered if Romney wasn’t being deliberately sabotaged by “his” campaign consultants, many of whom it appears were on loan from JEB!
The campaign got more and more anemic. The question was: Why?
Anyway, the consultants don’t really care. Win or lose, Dem or Rep, they make money no matter what. They’re the parasites on the parasites.
The other thing Trumplings do when confronted with facts is to make a feeble attempt to discredit whomever posted them. They realize that factual information about who and what Trump is could sink his candidacy.
I don’t think it could. Facts are completely irrelevant to the Trump candidacy. It’s transfactual.
Is transfactual similar to transgender? We may need to add another letter to the LGBT character string to include angry old white men who secretly long to share The Donald’s bed.
While Democrats, unsurprisingly, are embracing the corrupt, crony capitalist status quo with their votes for the truly evil and malevolent Hillary Clinton, the Republican base has overwhelmingly repudiated the Oligopoly’s annointed Republicrat water carrier, the neocon, corporate statist, Constitution-trampling Jeb Bush. Buh-bye and good riddance, Jeb. The Republican base may finally be rediscovering Republican values and derailing our national march into the oligarcy’s neoliberal serfdom.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-20/jeb-bush-drops-out-us-presidential-race
The Kremlin backs Trump.
Ever wonder why?
No.
Kremlin wants a new toy reset button?
http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl2/10/104169/10_2009/78f12014f715d8db_Hillary-Clinton-Reset-Butto.jpg
That would all be grand if they hadn’t thrown Jeb away in favor of a real estate huckster with delusions of grandeur.
It Trump and Sanders are the two middle finger candidates, Sanders got a larger portion of his party’s vote yesterday than Trump did.
Would Trump even capture a majority of his party’s vote if one of his two Hispanic Republican rivals dropped out? I have to guess that most Rubio and Cruz supporters would not break for Trump if their candidate dropped out, given all the anti-Mexican hate speech.
You’re not very smart if you think the Cruz supporters will jump on Little Boy Marco’s open border bandwagon.
“Jeb! has left the building.”
Barbara needs a tissue… what will the neighbors think?
I suspect Barbara is saying “I told you so” around the family dinner table. She’s the only smart one in the bunch.
Heh, talk about eating your young, or some of them anyway.
I just watched some youtube compilations of JEB!’ campaign trail clips. Very, very painful. There was a candid Barbara moment where she put Jeb down at a small gathering. That is one twisted lady.
Aside from Barbara, there was other stuff that had to be rough for him, like getting ejected by the Rotarians in New Hampshire and the “Please Clap” incident. And I didn’t know about the little turtle figurines he handed out. Most of it was just sad and you could feel JEB’s pain as he got sadder by the minute.
It seems like the guy not only took it in the chops from his opposition, like Trump, but it looks like everyone was against him one way or another: his family, in terms of his mother and brother. Heck, his own brother wouldn’t let JEB!’s man Bill McCollum run for Senate during JEB’s time as governor and had Karl Rove’s people smear McCollum so he could get Mel Martinez in. Over JEB’s objections, when JEB! supported him to the max in Florida.
Charlie Crist, who became Florida governor by hanging on to JEB’s coattails, turned on JEB! when he decided not to run again and go for the Senate seat instead. JEB gave his blessing to Rubio for Senate and would have supported Charlie for a second term as governor, but Charlie decided to defy him and make an independent run for Senate. (Charlie lost, and lost again when he switched parties to later run for governor as a Democrat. I guess he figured if he couldn’t make Senate, governor wasn’t so bad after all, but it was too late by then).
Then there’s Rubio, Bush’s former protege, whose run for President completely blindsided JEB! That had to be a pretty stunning betrayal, topped by Nikki Haley’s endorsement of Rubio, when she had been a Bush supporter for years.
So, looks like a lot of back stabbing and betrayal, from family and “friends”.
I could almost feel deeply sorry for JEB! after reviewing those videos, but I recall him using his office to persecute Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terry Schiavo. No one should have had to face that kind of relentless persecution both legally and in the media when they’ve done nothing wrong. No governor or political figure should ever intervene in family and religious matters and take one side over the other when the law is being followed in the first place. It was horrible and lives were ruined and perhaps JEB! will reflect on it in the days to come.
Maybe he should have been more forthright with Mitt, too, although I don’t much care for Mitt. But JEB1 tends to retreat into the Bush imperiousness personified by his mother when he thinks he’s right.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. JEB! is a sad story of what might have been.
I love the fresh smell of gop getting decimated.
http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a319/fladj11/Dec%202015/RuTyDoc.gif
Now if the Establishment GOP’s back-up puppet, Marco Rubio, gets the heave-ho, the Republican base’s middle finger to the Powers that Be will complete. Oh, and the charlatan and Goldman Sachs Trojan Horse Ted Cruz needs to get jettisoned, too.
Houses are not investments, houses depreciate and rot, as reported by real journalists:
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/business/dealbook/market-for-fixer-uppers-traps-low-income-buyers.html?_r=0
Drudge Report link confirms that Twitter is silencing conservatives:
http://legalinsurrection.com/2016/02/is-twitter-silencing-conservatives/
HBB readers, also note the way that Southern Poverty Law Center trolls attempt to silence discussion here on the following topics:
Illegal immigration and the crime and poverty associated with it
Muslims are incapable of integrating into Western societies
Third wave feminism has hurt women incalculably more than it’s helped
Obama has been the worst president on race relations in modern history
Transgenderism is a logical extension of civil rights for black people
Cultural relativism is the greatest progressive lie ever told
SPLC is the (very well funded) activist wing for the Cloward-Piven strategy. You can recognize most of the SPLC troll posts by their anklebiting, devoid of content, nitpicking nature. These posts will point out inconsistencies in grammar or other things like that, but they don’t add value to the discussion. It’s straight out of the Saul Alinsky playbook.
SPLC trolls may consider themselves progressives, but they serve globalist masters.
Don’t forget the Dole, y’all. It’s all about the Dole.
It’s quite ironic that many here entirely ignore this 800 pound gorilla of an issue which does far more to drive totalitarianism and authoritarianism into the lives of citizens than any of the racial issues.
That handout, is a handcuff, and a chain.
Cloward-Piven is real.
Twitter will tell you what you are allowed to think and what point of view is proper, just like our SJWs here daily who complain about totalitarianism or authoritarianism but only on the right.
Obama = Domestic Imperialism.
As the parasitic oligarchs continue to kill off the productive, wealth-creating economy, whichever Republicrat puppet the Powers that Be annoint will soon be presented with a stark choice: rewarding their oligarch donors and keeping the payola rolling in, or throwing our ever-growing dependency classes/FSA under the bus. The one thing we have to look forward to if/when Comrade Hillary gets elected is watching her utter pitilessness when it comes to selling out the entitlement parasites in favor of the much more important (to her) bankster/Wall Street welfare queens and her other fat cat donors. The howls of outrage from the FSA will be as entertaining as they are impotent.
The howls of outrage from the FSA will be as entertaining as they are impotent.
Ha, you are truly an optimist, Hessel. My forecast is that the FSA will have zero outrage, because they will have no clue that they are being sold out. As long as the cash keeps flowing (and it will—too many connected palms are already in the till) there will be no realization that the big banks are skimming every transaction, and benefiting from every purchase.
Do a search on Morris Dees and his inappropriate relationship with a minor. Always fun to peek behind the curtain.
My betters inform that age of consent laws are probably racist.
You feel inferior to the voices in your head?
I said this once before …
It would be an interesting exercise to create a long list of obnoxious responses in your computer along the lines as …
“Once again a post from your clearly demonstrates that you are a complete idiot and your existence on this planet would best serve those who need justification and support for the argument that abortion on demand should be a rigidly enforced international law.”
… and then pick out any poster at random and program your computer to randomly drop one of these obnoxious responses each and every time your selected poster generates a post, and then … pack up your beach towel and go to the beach.
Chances are good that your selected poster will spend his day getting totally pissed (pissed by a computer that is many miles away and is controlled by a stranger) while you spend your day enjoying the surf.
But the key to good solid needling is context. And that changes hour to hour, sometimes minute to minute, so the opportunity for a good timely zinger like “how’d they get that dog up there?” is fleeting.
Make the responses generic, make them suitable to any context.
The terms “moron” and “idiot” are generic in that they will fit any response. A response such as “how’d they get that dog up there?” is not generic and hence it is not suitable as a random response.
I have far more pride in my craft sir.
Glad the Porf is sleeping in after taking a heavy does of Nytol last night.
You mean a heavy dose of Midol?
I have far more pride in my craft sir.
“They were looking for evidence that linked trolling with the “Dark Tetrad” of personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.
They found that Dark Tetrad scores were highest among people who said trolling was their favorite Internet activity. … the associations between sadism and GAIT (Global Assessment of Internet Trolling) scores were so strong that it might be said that online trolls are prototypical everyday sadists.”
Psychology Today
(Just a sorry bunch of mousy losers who’ve found a safe place to be jerks, because in the real world they’d get their butts kicked.)
My favorite thing is far from that. But I do like kicking in the teeth of hypocrite liars and giving the middle finger to leftist poverty pimp oligarchs where possible.
But I do like kicking in the teeth
There’s that dark tetrad! It’s hard to keep a personality disorder hidden, that’s what makes them personality disorders.
per·son·al·i·ty dis·or·der
nounPSYCHIATRY
a deeply ingrained and maladaptive pattern of behavior of a specified kind, typically manifest by the time one reaches adolescence and causing long-term difficulties in personal relationships or in functioning in society.
There’s the Lieb pimping pu**ydom again.
pimping pu**ydom again.
There’s that dark tetrad again! You can hardly make a post without it.
“But I do like kicking in the teeth…”
Future Trump Storm Trooper
Politics
Donald Trump calls Ted Cruz ‘pussy’ at N.H. rally
Ginger Adams Otis
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Trump Says Does not Regret Calling Cruz a ‘p***Y’
NY Daily News
Pretty catty, Donald.
Foul-mouthed GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump called his rival Sen. Ted Cruz a “p***Y” Monday night — echoing a supporter who yelled the slur during a New Hampshire rally.
“She just said a terrible thing,” Trump chortled from the stage in Manchester, where he was stumping on the eve of the Granite State primary.
“Shout it out, because I don’t want to … I never expect to hear that from you again!” Trump said in mock disapproval.
Then he gave a gleeful grin to the crowd, which was listening to him criticize Cruz for what Trump said was his weak response to a question about waterboarding terrorists in Sunday’s debate.
…
An enterprising computer geek puke might do well by collecting (collecting = stealing) a lot of generic obnoxious responses from various places on the net and then set up a website in such a way so as to market these responses to those who are into clever responses but are not themselves clever enough to generate them on their own.
How much QE and debt issuance to buy back stock will be needed to keep the ponzi afloat till the election?
Sounds like an idea for a startup. All it needs is a catchy name.
It’s gradually dawned on me over time that some Trumplings who regularly post here are actually middle-school students. My kids behave exactly the same way when they are trying to be annoying.
It’s not cute, but it’s normal behavior, for fifteen-year old boys.
I used to play Tetrad for hours. Then I realized the background music was commie.
Middle school students wouldn’t call you out for being a lefty coastal Californian faux professor whose side piece must be driving all this racial group identity love.
“it’s normal behavior, for fifteen-year old boys…”
Sometimes we forget to thank you for being such a beacon of maturity and civil conversation.
You’re welcome.
Data my friends….. data.
Los Angeles, CA Housing Prices Collapse 33% YoY
http://www.movoto.com/los-angeles-ca/market-trends/
Comment by Seymour Kreighderin-Howezin
BEST. HANDLE. YET!!!
Seriously, I LOL’ed…
American Homes 4 Rent (AMH) … buy the dip.
https://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=AMH+Interactive#{”showArea”:false,”showLine”:false,”showOhlc”:true,”lineType”:”bar”,”allowChartStacking”:true}
The miracle that is associated with AMH allows the company to consistently pay out a dividend even though it consistently loses money.
https://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=AMH+Cash+Flow&annual
Here’s a peek at what the accounting process looks like at AMH.
https://www.google.com/search?q=and+then+a+miracle+happens+cartoon&biw=1360&bih=667&tbm=isch&imgil=1KUkZ0n_rsQW-M%253A%253BtUzll6rUjIl3hM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fcafehayek.com%25252F2014%25252F03%25252Fthen-a-miracle-occurs.html&source=iu&pf=m&fir=1KUkZ0n_rsQW-M%253A%252CtUzll6rUjIl3hM%252C_&usg=__6WzDdyrVsevMl3aSq87u-KX88zw%3D&ved=0ahUKEwiJqLb4_4jLAhUC1GMKHXyDC4AQyjcIMQ&ei=mMDJVon8OIKojwP8hq6ACA#imgrc=1KUkZ0n_rsQW-M%3A
And at the Fed.
looks like they are dumping a lot of money into the homes via capital expenditures.
Is the bush oligarchy over?
Isn’t there yet another one worming his way up through the cesspool of Texas politics?
Jorge P. Bush, yes. However, I could see it going the same way as the Kennedys, no one seems to be much interested in them these days.
“Is the bush oligarchy over?”
I’m sure the Saudi backed Carlyle Group is far from exhausted.
And I’m pretty certain the sheeple aren’t through bending over for their oligarch overlords.
I am the only candidate in many years who is self-funding his campaign. Lobbyists and money interests totally control all other candidates.
Who cares Donald? Your favorite beer is arrogant bastard isn’t it?
People who hate the persistent $hit-eating grin of Bubba Clinton hate the arrogance of you, Donald.
And remember, Mathematicians encrypt and will always encrypt. Mathematicians are decentralizing the world to rid it of leaders. Only weaklings want leaders Donald.
But boycotting Apple until they cooperate with the NSA and calling for Snowden’s execution are such giant middle fingers flipped at the establishment. Somehow.
So trash the constitution just like Bill huh? Cause they’ve got a warrant and a court order besides that. Plus the owner of the phone consents. Somehow that is cooperating with the NSA.
The Snowden thing bothers me, unfettered millions streaming across the border, and politically correct suppression of speech and ideas bother me much more.
Ready to give up some liberty for some safety, eh? We’ll see how that works out.
No Liberty is being given up. The constitution is being complied with. Same for the last several hundred years.
The constitution is being complied with.
So Obama is following all the rules, doing a good job?
Change the subject I’m talking about Apple u locking a single phone.
The Donald and his Legions just routed the oligarch toady Jeb Bush. That my libertrian anarchist friend is cause for pure joy no matter how you slice it.
The problem with mathematicians is that no matter how good they are, somebody always comes along and out-maths them.
Lol, the problem with mathematicians is that simple arithmetic is lost on them.
The other problem with mathematicians is that most of them couldn’t get laid in a women’s prison.
Any math beyond that basic amount necessary to sit at a poker table is probably an irrelevant waste of time for 99 percent of people. Another example of pouring money down the education Union drain.
There are two points that are completely irrelevant to the work that mathematicians do.
Most of the work that mathematicians do is idiopathic.
Mathematicians r dumb. I’m tired of them tellin me how to think.
Mathematicians understand your hatred, but that makes us more persistent!
Would you be able to self-fund if you hadn’t stiffed all those creditors over the years?
They pay me to run. I am not spending my money…you are.
Hillary Clinton to Young People: “It Can’t Be Just About What We’re Going To Give To You”
Posted on February 20, 2016
In her 2016 Nevada caucus victory speech, Hillary Clinton spoke directly to young people who might be disappointed by her opponent Bernie Sanders’ loss.
“It can’t be just about what we’re going to give to you,” she said. “It has to be about we’re going to build together.”
HILLARY CLINTON: I want to say this to all the young people out there. I know what you’re up against if you left college with a ton of loans, it’s not enough just to make college more affordable. You need help right now with the debt you already have.
That’s why I have a plan to cut your interest rates and cap payments so you never have to pay more than you can afford.
But I want you to think about this. It can’t be just about what we’re going to give to you. It has to be about we’re going to build together. Your generation is the most tolerant and connected our country has ever seen. In the days ahead, we will propose new ways for more Americans to get involved in national service and give back to our communities, because every one of us has a role to play in building the future we want.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/…le_it_cant_be_about_what_were_going_to_give_to_you.html - 22k -
“Your generation is the most tolerant and connected our country has ever seen.”
Got 4 Chan?
No, it’s all about what We the Taxpayers are going to involuntarily give to Hillary’s oligarch donors.
One bankster-owned dynasty down, one to go. Can we get a HALLELUJAH in the house?!!
TESTIFY, brothah!
HALLELUJAH!!
“we’re going to give to you…get involved in national service and give back…”
A generation “helped” by government that puts them into debt and then has them work it off.
Well, how else would you expect an ideologue generation (Boomers) to amass wealth other than to syphon it from the futures of others?
You cannot claim “racism” and “lack of diversity!” until you’re blue in the face unless you’re stealing money from those younger. There’s not enough time in the day to be non-productive AND wealthy. Not without considerable inter-generational theft.
My favorite is when boomers “re-sprout” their “idealism” after sucking the teat dry over 20-30+ years via cushy government/contract jobs in academia, tech, etc.
How they can spew their nonsense with a straight face is beyond me.
“cushy government/contract jobs”
Most of us do not fit your label, and government extravagance did not end with the boomer generation.
I will be live on all of the major morning talk shows.
Ask not what you can do for your country,
Ask what your country can do for Donald Trump.
Soon all of our once-grand cities will be Democrat-run dystopias like Baltimore.
http://www.acting-man.com/?p=43362
And everyone will vote democrats.
“And everyone will vote democrat” - except for the huge percentage that does not give a flying leap about rulers and ignores elections.
Don’t forget all of those ultra-liberal hellholes like Austin, Toronto, Seattle, Portland, Ann Arbor, Madison, Boulder, Ithaca, New York City, Boston, Athens, San Francisco, etc.
Somehow none of those cities you mention are in this list:
Rank City Percentage Black or African American Total Black or African American
1 Detroit, MI 82.7 590,226
2 Jackson, MS 79.4 137,716
3 Chester, PA 77.8 26,429
4 Miami Gardens, FL 76.3 81,776
5 Orangeburg, SC 75.04 13,964
6 Birmingham, AL 73.4 155,791
7 Wilkinsburg, PA 69.8 11,118
8 Baltimore, MD 63.7 395,781
9 Memphis, TN 63.3 409,687
10 New Orleans, LA 60.2 206,871
11 Baton Rouge, LA 58.5 126,250
12 Wilmington, DE 58 41,326
13 Flint, MI 56.6 57,939
14 Savannah, GA 55.4 75,507
15 Augusta, GA 54.7 107,182
16 Shreveport, LA 54.7 109,022
17 Montgomery, AL 54.5 116,524
18 Atlanta, GA 54.0 226,894
19 Cleveland, OH 53.3 211,672
20 Portsmouth, VA 53.3 50,878
21 Harrisburg, PA 52.4 25,957
22 Newark, NJ 52.4 145,085
23 Valdosta, GA 51.1 27,860
24 Washington, D.C. 50.7 305,125
25 Richmond, VA 50.6 103,342
26 Mobile, AL 50.6 98,691
27 St. Louis, MO 49.2 157,160
28 Danville, VA 48.3 43,055
29 Beaumont, TX 47.3 55,931
30 North Charleston, SC 47.2 45,964
31 Jackson, TN 45.7 29,802
32 Columbus, GA 45.5 86,398
33 Cincinnati, OH[3] 45.0 133,157
34 Saginaw, MI 44.9 23,127
35 Inglewood, CA 43.9 48,164
36 Philadelphia, PA 43.4 661,839
37 Norfolk, VA 43.1 104,672
38 Dayton, OH 42.9 60,705
39 Suffolk, VA 42.7 36,120
40 Little Rock, AR 42.3 81,889
41 Columbia, SC 42.2 54,537
42 Fayetteville, NC 41.9 84,040
43 Rochester, NY 41.7 87,897
44 Durham, NC 41.0 93,517
45 Fort Pierce, FL 40.9 17,617
46 Newport News, VA 40.7 73,514
47 Greensboro, NC 40.6 109,586
48 Milwaukee, WI 40.0 237,769
49 Hartford, CT 38.7 48,331
50 Buffalo, NY 38.6 100,774
51 Penn Hills, PA 37.1 15,688
52 McKeesport, PA 36.5 7,201
53 Bronx, NY[4] 36.5 505,200
54 New Haven, CT 35.4 45,938
55 Tallahassee, FL 35.0 63,475
56 Charlotte, NC 35.0 256,241
57 Chattanooga, TN 34.9 58,507
58 Winston-Salem, NC 34.7 79,598
59 Brooklyn, NY[4] 34.3 860,083
60 High Point, NC 33.0 34,394
61 Chicago, IL 32.9 887,608
62 Compton, CA 32.9 31,688
63 Cheltenham, PA 32.8 12,097
64 Paterson, NJ 31.7 46,314
65 Greenville, SC 31.5 18,422
66 Huntsville, AL 31.2 56,229
67 Brockton, MA 31.2 30,147
68 Jacksonville, FL 30.7 252,421
69 Kansas City, MO 29.9 137,540
70 Raleigh, NC 29.3 117,160
71 Pittsburgh, PA 28.6 87,398
72 Orlando, FL 28.1 66,876
73 Columbus, OH 28.0 220,241
74 Oakland, CA 28.0 109,471
75 Hawthorne, CA 27.7 23,385
76 Upper Darby, PA 27.5 22,769
77 Indianapolis, IN 27.2 226,671
78 Toledo, OH 27.2 78,121
79 Kansas City, KS 26.8 39,080
80 Richmond, CA 26.6 27,542
81 South Bend, IN 26.6 26,906
82 Tampa, FL 26.2 87,872
83 Charleston, SC 25.4 30,491
84 Boston, MA 24.4 150,437
85 Queens, NY[4] 20.1 446,098
86 Minneapolis, MN 18.6 71,160
87 Victorville, CA 16.8 19,483
88 Port St. Lucie, FL 16.3 27,876
89 Oklahoma City, OK 15.1 87,354
90 San Bernardino, CA 15.0 31,582
91 Sacramento, CA 14.6 68,335
Apparently those ultra liberal cities you mention are Racis.
If you look again, he mentioned Boston and New York City, which are both on your list of 91 cities.
You’re right, I did miss those in my cursory inspection, especially Boston down there at 84. Sorry. I think Giuliani and the police commissioner he appointed deserve a lot of credit for the crime rate dropping like it did in NYC. He was hardly ultra liberal.
Crime rates have dropped significantly in most big American cities since the 1990s. Though we have a lot of right wingers here who are unaware of that. They never visit any big cities and what they know of them comes from shows like Kojak that they watched when they were kids.
The Harsh Truth About Progressive Cities
National anti-racist educator Tim Wise dissects what we can no longer conceal
By David Dahmer -
Sep 3, 2015
Madison, Minneapolis, Austin, Portland, San Francisco.
These are America’s most progressive, forward-thinking, open-minded, and social-justice-focused cities. They also have the worst racial disparities in the nation and some of the worst racial segregation.
It just doesn’t make sense on paper. It’s not supposed to be this way. But the statistics don’t lie. Rampant black and brown poverty within blocks of white affluence. Eye-popping racial disparity numbers in employment, education, health, housing, and more. Black and brown people of all socioeconomic backgrounds feeling uncomfortable and unwanted in progressive cities that are often segregated as bad as Jim Crow Deep South. In the end, there is very little “Coexisting” in the land of “Coexist” bumper stickers.
madison365.com/…/03/what-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-race-and-progressive-cities/ - 164k -
“The Harsh Truth About Progressive Cities”
Some of the best polar bear hunting right there!
http://politicalblindspot.com/the-food-stamp-capital-of-the-u-s-is-white-and-republican/
That same old nonsense. Liberal = multigenerational poverty trap. But race is all that matters. Thank god that’s all been healed now after the last 7 yrs.
The Food Stamp Capital of the U.S. is WHITE and REPUBLICAN
Correction
The Food Stamp Capital of the U.S. is WHITE PRIVILEGED and REPUBLICAN
No candidate has won South Carolina and New Hampshire primaries, as Donald Trump now has, without going on to win the nomination. Right about now the sellout GOP establishment and their oligarch masters must be as nervous as a six-year-old at the Neverland Ranch.
Got that right. I watched CNN’s live stream last night, it was great entertainment, with plenty of “what does it all mean?”
The Don must have touched a nerve with the media, or at least with CNN when he laughed at their ridiculous focus on who placed second and third in New Hampshire. (look, LOOK at what’s happening in second and THIRD place, wow, wow!) Because last night, they did the same thing, only this time qualifying it with “Of course, we must acknowledge that Donald Trump is the clear winner here, but look, look at Rubio and Cruz battling it out for second place. Wow, wow!”
And then all the heavy breathing about “The New Face of the Republican Party”, Rubio, Haley and Tim Scott. The virtue smoke signalling was so thick, they should have called the fire department.
Not that the RNC isn’t doing some heavy duty virtue signalling of their own. It’s like they’re trying to hang a sign on Rubio and Haley that says “We got white brown people over here! We do, we really do. And one of them is a woman!” Really condescending.
It means Hilary wins
=4 more years of sub 2% growth
Charts can be fun! Here’s some fun charts brought to you by Zillow!
(The charts are from three years ago but … hey.)
A take away: If you ask a “homeowner” if he is actually a homeowner then he probably isn’t (even though he probably thinks he is).
http://www.zillow.com/research/free-and-clear-american-mortgages-3681/
VIDEO: Hillary supporters register AFTER voting?
A video posted on YouTube by James Porter purports to show Hillary Clinton voters bypassing the registration area to cast ballots in the Nevada caucus Saturday.
American Mirror - February 21, 2016
“They’re letting them into the caucus right now without registering them,” a woman can be heard yelling as a steady line of people stream by.
“They’re going to do the count. They’re all going to be part of the count,” anther woman can be heard saying in reply.
“But they’re not registered,” a man says.
“They will register after this,” the woman can be heard saying.
“Clinton supports caught BREAKING the rules,” Porter writes in the video description. “This just happened at caucus location in Nevada. Hillary supporters were not registering to caucus, which is NOT allowed by the Democratic Party.”
Hillary Clinton Supporters Voting WITHOUT Registering - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ug9hHe_iZg - 214k - Cached - Similar pages
17 hours ago …
I just discovered the most amazing blog, courtesy of a commenter at ZH.
Mr. Mean Spirited.
http://mister-mean-spirited.blogspot.com/
I almost stopped on the smell of death, but I kept going until I hit this one.
Monday, November 16, 2015
ARM YOURSELF AGAINST THE ADVANCING REFUGEES
by Mr. Mean-Spirited
French President François Hollande vowed that the “fight will be merciless” against the Muslim terrorists. President Hollande pledged that the retaliation would be “pitiless.” Fair enough. I know how that promise can be kept in full; I’ve even seen the successful results when it was used against Marxist insurgents in Latin America.
The institutions of the state are what caused the problem of Islamic immigration in the first place. No matter how many murders the refugees might commit, you are never going to hear politicians admit that they made a mistake. Only an entity completely outside the system will be ruthless enough to correct things. Government cannot fix things; only armed vigilantes can put an end to this. The legal establishment is absolutely ineffective; only an extrajudicial movement will be able to alter the social dynamics.
Only individual citizens acting independently can put a stop against Islamic terrorism. Only a civilian militia can act with enough flexibility to destroy these Muslim invaders. The only means of striking against the Islamists will be through paramilitary death squads. The only manner that Islamic infiltration can be stopped is with right-wing death squads.
These Islamic attacks are going to continue. Whenever you hear of another Muslim massacre anywhere in the world, there is one thing that you must always do. Buy guns. If you don’t own a handgun, buy a weapon immediately. If you already own a firearm, purchase another. If you are fortunately enough to own an arsenal, then buy more ammunition. You can never have enough ammo. You will need to defend yourself soon enough.
If the Muslims are going to execute hostages one-by-one, then you need to carry a weapon everywhere. You never know when immigrants might try to assault you. If there are Muslims in the neighborhood, then you are going to want to carry a gun with you whenever you leave home.
The humanitarians are always going to tell you that Muslims are peaceful, no matter how many atrocities they commit in the name of Mohammad. You are going to need a death squad to protect yourself against the “religion of peace.”
You are going to need a death squad to protect yourself against the “religion of peace.”
Wow, a full kook web site. You’ve found some friends, phony!
The blogger doesn’t call himself Mr. Mean Spirited for nuthin’.
Just wondering Oddie
Have you ever been away from Marshmallow Ave and your all white neighborhood long enough to have a conversation with a Muslim?
I dated an Iranian chick in college, but she was more hot’n'crazy than religious. Grew up knowing a large palestinian family with a bunch of kids. Worked for an Iranian business owner for a while. Got a few muslim friends and acquaintances.
So yes. Why do you ask?
A laborer/carpenter (neither one really) worked for a company the last 2 or 3 years that we have done work for for 20 years. He is a big black dude (about six two 240 lbs.) who the guys he worked with called racist. I didn’t much care what he was as long as he didn’t screw me up on any of the jobs he was on where we were working.
I got to know him over time and helped him out with some framing and building temp doors etc. that he was over his head on. Like 99 percent of the people I have dealt with at work we became friends, other people on the job and him not so much.
Anyway, on a Friday we were on a job and talking about weekend plans when I asked him if he was going to church on Sunday. He said he didn’t go to a church he went to a mosque or whatever he called it and he worshiped Allah the only true God.
I said hey that’s cool, but tell me this… since I don’t do the Allah thing does that make me an infidel?
He looked at me and said…yes.
I asked… does that mean I have to die?
He started telling me what it said in the Koran until I stopped him and asked again… does that mean I have to die?
He said… yes.
I looked at him and said… Well that is unfortunate.
The guys standing around listening to this broke up laughing.
We remained friends on the job until this December when he had a falling out with his wife. She moved out, he went on a binge, his employer, me and a few others lent him some money. A young superintendent lent him his truck for a night to move his things, the police found the truck in Riviera Beach four days later.
Then it hit the news. He broke into his estranged wife’s apartment and stabbed her to death. She was a school bus driver so between her and her coworkers who couldn’t work it screwed up the schedules for a couple of days and kept in in the news.
Now this dude was born in West Palm Beach so I guess he’s a born again Muslim and I don’t claim to know about any teachings of the Koran beside what this guy said. Just wondering if anyone had any first hand knowledge of whether infidels have to die or not.
PS
There was a dorm full of Iranians at Milford Academy when I went there in 1978/1979 and the school was in Connecticut (they were the soccer team) but I never talked to them about any of their religious teachings or beliefs.
I just looked up the unfortunate estranged wife thing, it was in November not December.
Just wondering if anyone had any first hand knowledge of whether infidels have to die or not.
I would say with most of the ones I knew, the answer was ‘no’.
Maybe they would predict some afterlife retribution, just like many christians will assure you anyone that hasn’t accepted christ as their savior will go to hell for eternity.
Most Muslims are good folks that don’t believe any of that crazy fundamentalist jihadist stuff. But there is a significant small percentage that does, maybe 5 percent or less, with another equal percentage that covers for and shelters them.
Just wondering if anyone had any first hand knowledge of whether infidels have to die or not.
I actually had a similar conversation some years back with a friend. His answer was much more nuanced, but essentially went like this, as far as I can recall:
It’s complicated. Not every infidel has to die. They would love to see them convert instead. The ones who they are required to kill are the ones who _resist_ or oppose the spread of Islam. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean not converting right away yourself; but if you resisted it spreading in your surroundings, then you gotta go. That might mean something like trying to talk someone else out of converting.
So, to summarize: Trump definitely would have to go, based on his publicly-stated desire to temporarily ban immigration by Muslims; you and me, maybe, depending on the actions we take as Islam takes over around us.
Thank you Sarah Palin for your amazing help and support. Big win, leaving now for Atlanta and Nevada.The people of South Carolina got it.
Mitt to endorse the rube. Kiss of death?
Heh, Mitt already endorsed the rube, via Haley.
At what point will Trump ask Palin to be his running mate?
One crank on the ticket is enough, dontcha think?
Now, Nikki Haley—she would make a fine running-mate. And selecting a woman vp in a run against Hillary would be a smart move.
Palin would fit right in with The Donald’s squad of sexy strumpets.
“Nikki Haley”
She endorsed Rubio, not Trump.
She endorsed Rubio, not Trump.
Eh, politics, bedfellows, ya know. Just because she swung the other way doesn’t mean she wouldn’t take the job if/when he has the nomination sewn up; and offering it would make him magnanimous, no?
Palin is a rank idiot. Trump is too, if he asks this charlatan Palin to be his running mate.
sometimes I think the rank idiots are all on this site based upon the tenor of the posting.
If poster don’t respect the opinions of the other side of the debate then why debate at all.
If you are always right , you are never wrong, therefore you need not explain your position!
Jeb Bush burned through $100 million of his oligarch bankrollers’ money with nothing to show for it but the overwhelming contempt and repudiation of the Republican base. BWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!! If Plan B puppets Rubio and Cruz get the heave-ho as well, the banksters will have nothing to show for their thirty pieces of silver.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-bushs-road-to-south-carolina-a-tale-of-unforced-errors-and-miscalculations-2016-2
“”I firmly believe the American people must entrust this office to someone who understands that whoever holds it is the servant, not the master, someone who will commit to that service with honor and decency,” [Jeb Bush] said.
Fine words from a puppet of the banksters, the corporate statists, and the neocons, i.e. the Masters of the Universe.
It seems like the Trump-Clinton deal to get Trump nominated in order to assure a Clinton victory in November is proceeding according to plan.
Let Clinton be at the helm of the Titanic when it all collapses under the weight of our accumulated fraud and hubris. Let her and her scumbag Democrats take the full force of the blame. They richly deserve it.
if that’s the match up I will not be voting.
Like Bernie, Rubio, etc would be any better….
Muggy you are clearly in the tank for Hillary. Repub hater, conservative hater = Hillary voter = Porf
Nice try, but no.
Hillary is a tentacle from the Vampire Squid.
“The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405
“Clinton has earned more than $20 million for 92 paid speeches since leaving her job as U.S. secretary of state in 2013, according to records disclosed by her campaign, including $675,000 for three closed-door speeches to New York-based investment bank Goldman Sachs.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-clinton-speeches-idUSMTZSAPEC2JTJJ9EH
“Porf”
Drinking and spelling don’t mix.
Don’t make me re-post jane’s comments to you from last night.
Please feel free to repost Jane’s mousy attack if that’s what floats your boat.
We aim to please.
“Your purple prose discredits your profession, if we are to take you at face value. Personally, I have swung around to the belief that you are an imposter. Or de-robed. Whatever they do to throw out a senior academic who has discredited the institution.
Now, if you are a tenured professor at Sylvan Learning Centers, Kaplan U., or some such, I could understand. However, that is not how you have cloaked yourself.
I’ve got grad degrees from three of the top ten research universities in the country. I meet former professors regularly on the lecture circuit and at national conferences. When discussing politics, not a ONE of them devolves to the frothing incoherence in which you engage.
So - give it up, man! Is it Kaplan U or Sylvan Learning Center??”
Your posts are getting very repetitive.
Once again, if you have no interest in my views, I suggest you install the Joshua Tree Extension.
I was asked about healthcare by Anderson Cooper & have been consistent- I will repeal all of ObamaCare, including the mandate, period.
“But we will not let people die in the street.”
So it’s back to the uninsured using the emergency rooms for medical care, the most expensive and least efficient form of universal coverage.
I will repeal all of ObamaCare, including the mandate, period.
The period is incorrect. Usually the phrase is “repeal and replace”. Though with Trump, the details on the replacement are never discussed.
Then, there’s this:
http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/19/trump-on-obamacare-i-like-the-mandate/
Interestingly, health care is not mentioned on https://www.donaldjtrump.com/issues, even though health care is generally one of the top five issues in opinion polls.
Mr. Trump,
You’ll get my vote on that event alone.
The Indian capital Delhi is on the brink of a severe water crisis after a key supply was cut during protests over jobs in a neighbouring state.
Demonstrators from the Jat community damaged equipment in the Munak canal, a major source of water to Delhi.
The city has introduced strict water rationing. Some areas could run dry on Sunday, officials warned, and schools will not open on Monday.
Protesters want guaranteed jobs under India’s caste quota system.
The Jats are currently listed as upper caste.
They argue this puts them at a disadvantage in government jobs and at state-run educational institutes and are demanding job quotas similar to those granted to lower castes.
At least nine people were killed as violence continued on Saturday.
Protesters went on the rampage despite a curfew and the deployment of the army, which is reported to have opened fire on them in the districts of Rohtak and Jhajjar.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-35624547
The Jats are currently listed as upper caste.
They argue this puts them at a disadvantage in government jobs and at state-run educational institutes and are demanding job quotas similar to those granted to lower castes.
Jats = Trump Voters ?
They want a better deal.
A fire which broke out at a building planned to house migrants in eastern Germany was greeted with cheers from some onlookers, police say.
The fire in the town of Bautzen in the early hours of Sunday morning destroyed the roof of a former hotel, which was being converted into a migrant shelter.
Police said some of the crowd tried to prevent firefighters from extinguishing the blaze, which destroyed the roof.
The premier of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich, described them as “criminals”.
Police suspect arson. The investigation includes detectives who normally deal with extremist crimes. No-one was hurt.
‘Unashamed delight’
Only a few days ago, protesters in another Saxon town, Clausnitz, blocked the arrival of a bus taking migrants to accommodation.
They shouted, “We are the people”, the slogan of the 1989 peaceful uprising which led to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany.
The director of the Clausnitz migrant shelter is a member of the anti-immigrant Alternativ fuer Deutschland (AfD) party.
Police in Bautzen said many in the crowd watched the fire and commented with “unashamed delight”. Two drunken men were arrested after they refused to leave the scene.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35625595
“The director of the Clausnitz migrant shelter is a member of the anti-immigrant Alternativ fuer Deutschland (AfD) party.”
Huh? Interesting bit there, if true.
Reducing the size of government from within.
Interesting how President Obama so haltingly said I “would never be president”. This from perhaps the worst president in U.S. history,
6 dead in Kalamazoo shooting rampage; suspect in custody
By Kevin Conlon and Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Updated 10:41 AM ET, Sun February 21, 2016 | Video Source: CNN
What’s up with these white guys going on killing sprees?
Lola…. you’re only a few tricks and a couple hits away from coming unglued yourself.
Running amok, sometimes referred to as simply amok,[1] also spelled amuk, from the Malay language,[2] is “an episode of sudden mass assault against people or objects usually by a single individual following a period of brooding that has traditionally been regarded as occurring especially in Malay culture but is now increasingly viewed as psychopathological behavior occurring worldwide in numerous countries and cultures”.[3]
In a typical case of running amok, an individual (often male), having shown no previous sign of anger or any inclination to violence, will acquire a weapon (traditionally a sword or dagger, but presently any of a variety of weapons) and in a sudden frenzy, will attempt to kill or seriously injure anyone he encounters and himself.[9] Amok typically takes place in a well populated or crowded area. Amok episodes of this kind normally end with the attacker being killed by bystanders or committing suicide, eliciting theories that amok may be a form of intentional suicide in cultures where suicide is heavily stigmatized.[10]
wikipedia
Do you intentionally overlook questioning “what’s up” with the black guys on shooting sprees in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc.?
overlook questioning “what’s up” with the black guys on shooting sprees in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc.?
Their shootings are different, not really “sprees”, in that they are usually gang-related and therefore have some logic (brutal, albeit) to them. That is, they’re shooting one another for turf, money owed, etc. They aren’t just randomly shooting up schools or movie theatres or driving down a street shooting whomever happens to be there.
The white guy shooting sprees are more interesting, in that there’s no logic behind them, except perhaps the logic of amok. A wild fatalistic thrashing out against any and all. An insane adult life-ending tantrum. Signifying?
Signifying?
Nothing.
Nothing
Nihilism?
“Do you intentionally overlook questioning “what’s up” with the black guys on shooting sprees in Chicago, Detroit, Atlanta, Baltimore, etc.?”
This won’t be hitting the National news tonight.
Miami Child Killed In Drive-By While Playing Outside
February 20, 2016 4:53 PM
Filed Under: Gun Violence, Miami Crime, Miami Shooting
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — It was another case of senseless gun violence in a city that’s become all too numb with this kind of story.
On Saturday afternoon, Miami-Dade Police said 6-year-old King Carter was shot and killed as a car drove by and opened fire while they boy was tossing around a football.
Swarms of police and helicopters searched the area at 1215 N.W. 103 Lane.
The victim’s family tell CBS4’s Donna Rapado that the child’s parents worked hard for him to do well in school and keep him involved in sports.
“Innocent people losing their life over stupidity and it needs to stop, man. I don’t understand how all these kids are getting a hold of these weapons and they don’t even know how to shoot. Shooting at people and it just needs to stop,” said a bystander.
Residents and authorities alike agree it’s time to stop the violence.
“Clearly he’s not the target. He just happened to be an innocent bystander. Outside playing, doing what kids do. On a weekend. And that’s a shameful thing,” said Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez. “I’m angry. Our officers are angry. The community behind me’s angry. So hopefully they’re angry enough that they can provide some information that’ll lead to the arrest of the individuals.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Giminez is offering up his own money to help catch them, making the total $25,000.
Outside Jackson Memorial Hospital, family and friends gathered hand-in-hand for prayer and a vigil.
Police said they’re looking for three black men in a black sedan.
Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS. As always, you can stay anonymou
One kid isn’t a spree. Why are white guys running amok?
Everyone Must Check In
America is a Gun
England is a cup of tea.
France, a wheel of ripened brie.
Greece, a short, squat olive tree.
America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand.
Argentina, Maradona’s hand.
Germany, an oompah band.
America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe.
Hungary, a goulash stew.
Australia, a kangaroo.
America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring.
Scotland is a highland flnig.
Oh, better to be anything
than America as a gun.
Brian Bilston
Oh, piss off, Nancy.
Is anyone just glad to finally see some outrage coming from BOTH ends of the political spectrum? It’s about time—we have been sold out by both parties for far, far too long. So it does give me a faint tinge of hope (very faint, mind you), to see that more than the usual couple-of-percentage-points of the population is finally opening their eyes to having been sold out, and finally expressing some discontent.
I celebrate the recent successes of both Sanders and Trump for that reason.
Yes. Very much so.
There’s a great many people everywhere who are tired of being played. Otherwise, Trump and Sanders wouldn’t be in the forefront.
What’s really happening is the start of the passing of power from Boomers to Xers.
I very much enjoy listening in on Xer/Millennial conversations. There’s considerable affinity and understanding between them. They are focused on brass tacks, not platitudes. Xers seem to enjoy serving as mentors.
Keep the faith, Prime.
“Both ends of the political spectrum…”
The spectrum is anarchism on one end and Statism on the other end. The Democrats and Republicans are at the Statism end of the spectrum.
The spectrum is anarchism on one end and Statism on the other end.
Fair point, Bill; it really does depend on what variable you choose to graph as “the spectrum”.
In this case, I meant to choose the variable that perhaps you could have tolerated better if I had described it as “the false left-right dichotomy”–in other words, the traditional meaning of left-right in US politics.
The superb statesmen is unstoppable.
“Trump Steamrolls South Carolina; Hillary Barely Beats Bernie”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-02-20/live-coverage-nevada-caucus-south-carolina-primary
Politics sux. Trump really sucks, Hillary sux, Bernie sux, Cruz sux.
“Why should you desire to compel others; why should you seek to have power— that evil, bitter, mocking thing, which has been from of old, as it is today, the sorrow and curse of the world—over your fellow-men and fellow-women? Why should you desire to take from any man or woman their own will and intelligence, their free choice, their own self-guidance, their inalienable rights over themselves; why should you desire to make of them mere tools and instruments for your own advantage and interest; why should you desire to compel them to serve and follow your opinions instead of their own; why should you deny in them the soul—that suffers so deeply from all constraint—and treat them as a sheet of blank paper upon which you may write your own will and desires, of whatever kind they may happen to be? Who gave you the right, from where do you pretend to have received it, to degrade other men and women from their own true rank as human beings, taking from them their will, their conscience, and intelligence—in a word, all the best and highest part of their nature—turning them into mere empty worthless shells, mere shadows of the true man and women, mere counters in the game you are mad enough to play, and just because you are more numerous or stronger than they, to treat them as if they belonged not to themselves, but to you? Can you believe that good will ever come by morally and spiritually degrading your fellow-men? What happy and safe and permanent form of society can you hope to build on this pitiful plan of subjecting others, or being yourselves subjected by them?” —Auberon Herbert
Excellent. Thanks, Bill.
If you’ll work to keep me in check, I’ll do the same for you.
You are welcome.
Remember there is no in between of the choice of hallucinating a tyrant to power or to not hallucinate a tyrant to power. The speeches are a clue. Anyone can turn tyrant once they get power. If the quiet ones who shout peace are not trustworthy, the loud ones who chant all the Fascist slogans of 90 years ago are blaring out their intent and should be completely ignored or put in a strait jacket.. They are like the female black widow with the red hour glass that signals grave danger.
Well at least we’re finally on the topic of hallucinating. The first step is to acknowledge the problem.
In other words, I got mines, screw the rest. And ignore what the collective efforts of others provided that would not have been possible in an every man is an island world.
Huh? Where did you read that? Suberin Herbert was writing his opposition to political power of people over other people.
Forcing pukes to give up power is old school.
The new school method of extracting power is to convince pukes to willingly give up any power that they may have and at the same time to convince pukes that any methods utilized in extracting power should be protected by utilizing the energy, the resources, and the blood of the very same group of pukes that power is being extracted from.
Pukes: Dumb ‘em down, and profit.
PBS: Trump Leads Race For GOP Nomination; Racks Up Double The Delagates Of Contenders, Combined
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CbvHZovW8AAdy8t.jpg
America Is Now Fighting A Proxy War With Itself In Syria
Confusion in the Obama administration’s Syria policy is playing out on the ground as U.S.-backed groups begin battling each other.
Mike Giglio
BuzzFeed News Middle East Correspondent
Reporting From Istanbul, Turkey
ISTANBUL — American proxies are now at war with each other in Syria.
Officials with Syrian rebel battalions that receive covert backing from one arm of the U.S. government told BuzzFeed News that they recently began fighting rival rebels supported by another arm of the U.S. government.
The infighting between American proxies is the latest setback for the Obama administration’s Syria policy and lays bare its contradictions as violence in the country gets worse.
The confusion is playing out on the battlefield — with the U.S. effectively engaged in a proxy war with itself. “It’s very strange, and I cannot understand it,” said Ahmed Othman, the commander of the U.S.-backed rebel battalion Furqa al-Sultan Murad, who said he had come under attack from U.S.-backed Kurdish militants in Aleppo this week.
Furqa al-Sultan Murad receives weapons from the U.S. and its allies as part of a covert program, overseen by the CIA, that aids rebel groups struggling to overthrow the government of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, according to rebel officials and analysts tracking the conflict.
The Kurdish militants, on the other hand, receive weapons and support from the Pentagon as part of U.S. efforts to fight ISIS. Known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, they are the centerpiece of the Obama administration’s strategy against the extremists in Syria and coordinate regularly with U.S. airstrikes.
Yet as Assad and his Russian allies have routed rebels around Aleppo in recent weeks — rolling back Islamist factions and moderate U.S. allies alike, as aid groups warn of a humanitarian catastrophe — the YPG has seized the opportunity to take ground from these groups, too.
In the face of public objections from U.S. officials and reportedly backed by Russian airstrikes, the YPG has overrun key villages in the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib. It now threatens the town of Azaz, on the border with Turkey, through which rebel groups have long received crucial supplies. Over the weekend, Turkey began shelling YPG positions around Azaz in response, raising another difficult scenario for the U.S. in which its proxy is under assault from its NATO ally.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikegiglio/america-is-now-fighting-a-proxy-war-with-itself-in-syria#.krRYO2xBD
The great extant threat to liberty is nativist authoritarianism
http://fee.org/articles/waking-up-to-the-reality-of-fascism/
Donald Trump is on a roll, breaking new ground in uses for state power.
Closing the internet? Sure. “We have to see Bill Gates and a lot of different people… We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some ways.”
Registering Muslims? Lots of people thought he misspoke. But he later clarified: “There should be a lot of systems, beyond databases. We should have a lot of systems.”
Why not just bar all Muslims at the border? Indeed, and to the massive cheers of his supporters, Trump has called for the “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.”
Internment camps? Trump cites the FDR precedent: Italians, Germans, and Japanese “couldn’t go five miles from their homes. They weren’t allowed to use radios, flashlights. I mean, you know, take a look at what FDR did many years ago and he’s one of the most highly respected presidents.”
Rounding up millions of people? He’ll create a “deportation force” to hunt down and remove 11 million illegal immigrants.
Killing wives and children? That too. “When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families.”
Political Vocabulary
This litany of ideas has finally prompted mainstream recognition of the incredibly obvious: If Donald Trump has an ideology, it is best described as fascism.
Even Republican commentators, worried that he might be unstoppable, are saying it now. Military historian and Marco Rubio adviser Max Boot tweeted that “Trump is a fascist. And that’s not a term I use loosely or often. But he’s earned it.” Bush adviser John Noonan said the same.
The mainstream press is more overt. CNN’s Chris Cuomo asked Trump point blank if he is a fascist. The Atlantic writes: “It’s hard to remember a time when a supposedly mainstream candidate had no interest in differentiating ideas he’s endorsed from those of the Nazis.”
There is a feeling of shock in the air, but anyone paying attention should have seen this last summer. Why did it take so long for the consciousness to dawn?
The word fascism has been used too often in political discourse, and almost always imprecisely. It’s a bit like the boy who cried wolf. You warn about wolves so much that no one takes you seriously when a real one actually shows up.
Lefties since the late 1930s have tended to call non-leftists fascists — which has led to a discrediting of the word itself. As time went on, the word became nothing but a vacuous political insult. It’s what people say about someone with whom they disagree. It doesn’t mean much more than that.
Then in the 1990s came Godwin’s Law: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 100 percent.” This law provided a convenient way to dismiss all talk of fascism as Internet babblings deployed in the midst of flame wars.
Godwin’s Law made worse the perception that followed the end of World War II: that fascism was a temporary weird thing that afflicted a few countries but had been vanquished from the earth thanks to the Allied war victory. It would no longer be a real problem but rather a swear word with no real substance.
Fascism Is Real
Without the term fascism as an authentic descriptor, we have a problem. We have no accurate way to identify what is in fact the most politically successful movement of the 20th century. It is a movement that still exists today, because the conditions that gave rise to it are unchanged.
The whole burden of one of the most famous pro-freedom books of the century — Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom — was to warn that fascism was a more immediate and pressing danger to the developed world than Russian-style socialism. And this is for a reason: Hayek said that “brown” fascism did not represent a polar opposite of “red” socialism. In the interwar period, it was common to see both intellectuals and politicians move fluidly from one to the other.
“The rise of Fascism and Nazism was not a reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period,” wrote Hayek, “but a necessary outcome of those tendencies.”
In Hayek’s reading, the dynamic works like this. The socialists build the state machinery, but their plans fail. A crisis arrives. The population seeks answers. Politicians claiming to be anti-socialist step up with new authoritarian plans that purport to reverse the problem. Their populist appeal taps into the lowest political instincts (nativism, racism, religious bigotry, and so on) and promises a new order of things under better, more efficient rule.
Last July, I heard Trump speak, and his talk displayed all the features of fascist rhetoric. He began with trade protectionism and held up autarky as an ideal. He moved to immigration, leading the crowd to believe that all their economic and security troubles were due to dangerous foreign elements among us. Then came the racial dog whistles: Trump demanded of a Hispanic questioner whether he was a plant sent by the government of Mexico.
There was more. He railed against the establishment that is incompetent and lacking in energy. He bragged about his lack of interest-group ties — which is another way of saying that only he can become the purest sort of dictator, with no quid pro quos to tie him down. (My article on this topic is here.)
Trump is clearly not pushing himself as a traditional American president, heading an executive branch and working with Congress and the judicial branch. He imagines himself as running to head a personal state: his will would be the one will for the country. He has no real plans beyond putting himself in charge — not only of the government but, he imagines, the entire country. It’s a difference of substance that is very serious.
The rest of the campaign has been easy to predict. He refashioned himself as pro-family, anti-PC, and even pro-religion. These traits come with the package — both a reaction to the far left and a fulfillment of its centralist ambitions.
The key to understanding fascism is this: It preserves the despotic ambitions of socialism while removing its most politically unpopular elements. In an atmosphere of fear and loathing, it assures the population that it can keep its property, religion, and faith — provided all these elements are channeled into a grand national project under a charismatic leader of high competence.
Douthat’s Analysis
As the realization has spread that Trump is the real deal, so has the quality of reflection on its implication. Most impressive so far has been Ross Douthat’s article in the New York Times. As he explains, Trump displays as least seven features of Umberto Eco’s list of fascist traits:
A cult of action, a celebration of aggressive masculinity, an intolerance of criticism, a fear of difference and outsiders, a pitch to the frustrations of the lower middle class, an intense nationalism and resentment at national humiliation, and a “popular elitism” that promises every citizen that they’re part of “the best people of the world.”
In this, Trump is different from other American politicians who have been called fascist, writes Douthat. George Wallace was a local-rights guy and hated Washington, whereas Trump loves power and thinks only in terms of centralization. Pat Buchanan’s extreme nativism was always tempered by his attachment to Catholic moral teaching that puts brakes on power ambitions.
Ross Perot was called a fascist, but actually he was a government reformer who wanted to bring business standards to government finance, which is very different from wanting to manage the entire country. And, for all his nonsense about jobs going to Mexico, Perot generally avoided racialist dog whistles.
Why Now and Not Before?
Why has genuine fascism been kept at bay in America? Why has the American right never taken the final step that might have plunged it into authoritarian, nativist aspirations?
Here Douthat is especially insightful:
Part of the explanation has to be that the American conservative tradition has always included important elements — a libertarian skepticism of state power, a stress on localism and states’ rights, a religious and particularly Protestant emphasis on the conscience of an individual over the power of the collective — that inoculated our politics against fascism’s appeal.
Douthat singles out libertarianism as an ideological brake on fascist longings. This is precisely right. Libertarianism grows out of the liberal tradition, which is about far more than merely hating the ruling-class establishment. Classical liberalism has universalist longings, embodied in its defenses of free trade, free speech, free migration, and freedom of religion. The central-planning feature of fascistic ideology is absolutely ruled out by libertarian love for spontaneous social and economic forces at work in society.
As for “energy” emanating from the executive branch, the liberal tradition can’t be clearer. No amount of intelligence, resources, or determined will from the top down can make government work. The problem is the apparatus itself, not the personalities and values of the rulers who happen to be in charge.
(I’m leaving aside the deep and bizarre irony that many self-professed libertarians have fallen for Trump, a fact which should be deeply embarrassing to anyone and everyone who has affection for human liberty. And good for Ron Paul for denouncing Trump’s authoritarianism in no uncertain terms.)
Can He Win?
Douthat seriously doubts that Trump can finally win over Republicans, due to “his lack of any real religious faith, his un-libertarian style and record, his clear disdain for the ideas that motivate many of the most engaged Republicans.”
I’m not so sure. The economic conditions that led to a rise of Hitler in Germany, Mussolini in Italy, and Franco in Spain are nowhere close to being replicated here. Even so, income growth has stagnated, middle-class social ambitions are frustrated, and many aspects of government services are failing (such as Obamacare). Add fear of terrorism to the mix, and the conditions, at least for some, are nearly right. What Trumpism represents is an attempt to address these problems through more of the same means that have failed in the past.
It’s time to dust off that copy of The Road to Serfdom and realize that the biggest threats to liberty come from unexpected places. While the rank and file are worrying themselves about the influence of progressive professors and group identity politics, they need to open their eyes to the possibility that the gravest threat to American rights and liberties exists within their own ranks.
Bill, once again your state college education is wearing holes through the elbows of your cheap suit.
In rigorous terms, fascism is a political structure wherein corporations funnel payola through the legislative and executive branch in order to ensure their policy doctrine becomes the law of the land.
It is, in short, government by the puppet-masters, where the prez and congress are the puppets of the corporatists.
Trump has his own dough. He doesn’t need theirs, and will not be a puppet. I’d like to see the PTB squirm while they huddle in cabal, sweating bullets in order to figure out a way to pull Mr. Trump’s strings.
Trump has his own dough. He doesn’t need theirs, and will not be a puppet.
Being rich makes you incorruptible? Did they teach you that at your fancy schools, Jane? Because it’s a rather laughable notion, believable only to a rube.
To answer your question: IMHO he could give a hoot about backroom agendas. Most Senators who come into office, if they last 20 years, leave with $300 million from stashed “campaign contributions” which - contrary to conventional wisdom - does not have to be spent.
Who are they selling down the river? We all know, well and good.
Mr. Trump is as disgusted as we are at the rank corruption in our legislative and executive branches of government. Look at the man! Whatever else you may think of him, he does not appear to me to be a subtle conniver. He wears his opinions right out in the open, untainted by politesse.
His words come from his gut. He is vigorous in his convictions and in his positions! - quite the refreshing change from the synthetic wonks to whom we have become accustomed.
I like the guy. Anybody who is looking to parse out the fine details of his “policies” at this stage is barking up the wrong tree.
The people who have truly been phucked in this country over the past thirty years are the young white working class males, whose former aspirational entry level jobs are now in China and India. Whose heads explode at the idea of competing in the female and minority ghettos of pink collar work and government bureaucracies. Who have been deemed superfluous not only by the formerly mighty economic engine of this country, but also by every female with whom they speak.
Put yourselves in their shoes, you ignoramuses. You have declared war on your sons.
Mr. Trump gets it.
She’s an out-of-touch academic. Cut her some slack!
“Trump has his own dough.”
Just like the deadbeats who stiffed their creditors by defaulting on their mortgages?
Congressman Lieu has it right for once.
https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-lieu-statement-apple-court-order
Word is that little Morty Zuckerman’s NYDailyNews loses more than $50 million per year. Can that be possible?
You should advise him on how to most successfully go bankrupt- your expertise.
Lola… From your empty skull, directly to the Whitehouse, Mr. Trump lives rent free.
LEAVE
Say please Az_Donk.
Declining ethics/morals = Statism (I’m working on it).
Good post. Thanks, Bill. I’ll read up.
Please be sure you are as non-biased as possible. You MUST maintain that (whether you like it or not) if you pledge adherence to individual liberty. And if you know you don’t know an answer, fess up. Admitting it when you’re wrong is part of the pledge.
Obama = Domestic Imperialism. Obama has been a disaster for the USA, especially structurally. Executive orders/fiat have opened the door for all sorts of onerous possibilities, be it from the Left or Right.
Obama IS a socialist. (Call him a statist if you want.) He has deliberately subverted The Constitution, removed much power from the legislative and judicial branches. Concurrently, his lack of action is an endorsement of Goldman Sachs in the US Cabinet. He’s a racist. He’s classist.
Under Obama, the People serve the Government.
As I’ve said elsewhere, no one here really knows what any of these candidates (including Trump) would actually do if elected.
Currently, I like Ben Carson best, and not for his obvious lack of political skill and entrenchment. I like him because of his stance on (and continued strong promotion of) morals and ethics.
He’s closest to the fundamental truth: that morals and ethics trump law. Lack of understanding among the citizenry is why I think Carson is largely ignored/written off.
Until US citizens become driven by civic morals and ethics, liberty for individuals will continue to decline.
his stance on (and continued strong promotion of) morals and ethics.
Aha! I knew it was you, my young friend. Loosening your morals and ethics to post under another name.
Morals and ethics aren’t your winning hand Lola. Stick with your strength like men wearing dresses.
“Morals and ethics aren’t your winning hand Lola. Stick with your strength like men wearing dresses.”
I was trying to remember when I had seen something served on a platter like that to be hit out of the park outside of a real journalist asking President Obama a softball question and I remembered this…
Bull Durham | “Man, that ball got outta here in a hurry” - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBUS3vQtDCA - 254k -
I am biased because one either initiates force or one is peaceful (and retaliates with force when his life and liberty and those he loves are at stake).
Tell me when it is justified to initiate force against those who do not violate anyone’s rights. You can’t. There is NO middle ground on this.
Agreed.
And you decide who has what rights and ignore your fellow Californians’ determination that their right to safety is violated by the guns you own.
You violate their rights by being a menace to their society.
“their right to safety is violated by the guns you own.”
Such crap. I have as much right to own firearms FOR MY FRIGGING SAFETY as I do to own knives and cars.
Self defense is a right.
a right…
Well, if you are not participating in forming a more perfect government, you really don’t have any rights, except by accident.
Sarasota, FL Housing Market Craters; Prices Nosedive 16% YoY As Foreign Buyers Default
http://www.movoto.com/sarasota-fl/market-trends/
When a dream house becomes a money pit.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/21/realestate/when-a-dream-house-becomes-a-money-pit.html
They either ignored their home inspector or should sue him. I suspect they ignored him.
Why is the oligarch-owned media trying so desperately to dissuade retail investors from abandoning Wall Street’s rigged casino for the safe haven of precious metals?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-gold-has-utterly-failed-as-a-safe-haven-2016-02-16?mod=MW_story_recommended_default&Link=obnetwork
It loses a little something not being in poster format with the words over a drawing of a traffic cop.
From James Tracy’s blog
Looks like you’ve had a bit too much to think!
Support your local
THOUGHT POLICE
Don’t speak out or question
Closed minds STOP thought crimes
A GOPtroll warning us about the thought police?
Puh-leaze.
(What up, phony? ; )
You’re backpedalling Lola.
“A GOPtroll warning us about the thought police?”
Once again you have wandered out of your comfort zone where men wear dresses.
Do you know who James Tracy is?
I don’t remember where I found this blogspot but some of you pukes just might get a kick out of it …
http://mister-mean-spirited.blogspot.com
Remember… A house is a depreciating asset that empties your wallet every day you own it.
Is Trump “political chemotherapy”?
Donald Trump Is “Political Chemo,” Says This Former White House Director
Theo Wargo/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Claire Elizabeth Felter
a day ago News
There are a lot of ways to describe frontrunner GOP presidential candidate and billionaire Donald Trump. The man himself is pretty big on referring to himself as a winner. Some Americans — presumably those who are not on team Trump — for a time took to comparing the Republican candidate to Adolf Hitler. And just about anyone is willing to admit that “loud” is a pretty apt Trump descriptor. Broadcast coverage of the South Carolina primary election brought a whole new Trump analogy to the table, though. Why did Nicolle Wallace compare Donald Trump to cancer treatment? The Republican strategist said the GOP candidate is “political chemo,” and her line of reasoning is well worth hearing.
Joining in on MSNBC’s coverage of Saturday evening’s two big primary events, Wallace provided insight after insight on the political careers of candidates like Jeb Bush and Donald Trump. Wallace gave viewers some real food for thought when, just after officials projected Trump to be the winner of the South Carolina primary, the commentator stated that Trump is like “political chemo” for the Republican party.
The statement may be the strangest back-handed compliment ever to be made during a presidential election cycle. So all these Americans voting for Trump in the state primaries are backing him because they think he’ll destroy everything, including the bad stuff?
It turns out Wallace actually wasn’t the first to use the chemo analogy to describe Trump’s presence within the Republican party and on the presidential campaign trail. More than one social media user made the comparison weeks earlier, commenting on Trump’s candidacy being something akin to the lesser of several evils.
…
ft dot com
February 21, 2016 5:02 am
Trump’s hostile takeover gains pace
ED Luce Edward Luce
Property magnate’s bid to control the Republican party takes a step closer to fruition
Much like Donald Trump, facts are stubborn things. No Republican has ever won both New Hampshire and South Carolina and failed to win the nomination. Yet two earth-shattering victories later, swaths of the Republican establishment continue to think Mr Trump will prove an exception to that rule.
As it happens, they thought his campaign would implode six months ago. The last to know are always those in charge. This is how C-suites react to hostile bids. First there is denial. Then anger. Then bargaining. Eventually they succumb to depression.
In the case of Mr Trump, Republicans might as well jump straight to the latter. It is hard to overstate how emphatically the party’s rank and file have repudiated their leaders in the past two weeks.
It is likely to get worse. On Tuesday, Mr Trump will almost certainly sweep Nevada, according to the polls. A week later most of the Bible Belt will vote in the Super Tuesday primaries on March 1 that will select a huge slate of delegates. With almost three-quarters of voters declaring themselves evangelical, South Carolina was about as biblical as a primary could be.
Not only did Mr Trump win 43 per cent of evangelical voters, according to exit polls. He won many more than his scripture-quoting rival, Ted Cruz. The portents for Texas, the most important state on Super Tuesday, look ominous.
To underline, the overtly Christian Mr Cruz lost hands down among socially conservative voters to a thrice-married, Pope-insulting, profanity-spewing, casino-owning mogul from New York.
…
Big spike in the Iowa Electronic Market predicted probability of a Democrat win based on the latest election results…
This Is Why Donald Trump Sounds and Acts Like Adolf Hitler
By Rmuse on Sun, Dec 13th, 2015 at 5:44 pm
It is not unusual for a politician, especially one running for a national office, to study carefully highly successful political leaders’ campaign speeches and rhetoric. It should surprise no American that Republican frontrunner for the presidential nomination, Donald Trump, also carefully studied a highly-successful politician, except it was not an American and not the kind of monster any decent American should emulate. Donald Trump is not remotely a decent American, and based on his embrace of Adolf Hitler’s volume of speeches he made between 1918 and 1941, he intends on being an effective Nazi instead of a good American.
It is not like it was a secret that Trump’s hateful speeches, and more troubling, his policy proposals are very close to those instituted in Nazi Germany; even some conservatives have cited his “fascism.” However, the idea that he has studied, at least since prior to 1990, a book of speeches Hitler used in his rise to power should put an end to complaints about comparing him to Hitler or Godwin’s law.
The not surprising revelation is that prior to becoming a World Wrestling Entertainment or reality show celebrity, Trump kept a volume of Hitler’s speeches close at hand. Donald Trump’s ex-wife Ivana related in a 1990 interview with Vanity Fair that “from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed.” Trump confirmed that the former Mrs. Trump’s 1990 assertion is true.
The Hitler volume, “My New Order” not only contains 23 years’ worth of Hitler’s speeches, “it is profusely indexed and filled with details about the speeches’ impact on the media and the political establishment.” According to a literary periodical, Kirkus Review, Trump’s collection of Hitler speeches contains “actual quotations from Hitler’s own utterances, including corresponding data showing the effect on the world press. Section after section follows pattern-background, speech, press;” and Donald Trump faithfully follows Hitler’s model.
The way Trump rages like a madman, responds aggressively in public and argues closely follows Hitler’s instructions in “My New Order.” Trump successfully learned about targeting the audience’s lowest common denominator, how scare-propaganda works, and how to structure an emotional speech for effect and to incite rage. Trump has succeeded up to now in emulating his apparent Nazi hero because a recent analysis in the New York Times concludes that Trump is as proficient at hateful demagoguery as any 20th Century monster; they stopped short of naming Hitler…Godwin and all.
According to a recent profile of Hitler in the scholarly journal, Psychiatric Quarterly, all of Trump’s tactics are modeled in Hitler speech book the Donald kept close by his bed.
…
+1 PB