We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
Medical care, unlike Legal care (for which you could make a stronger civic case because legal rights are enshrined in the Constitution), has been inching towards government takeover in the US since Medicare was begun in 1966. Medicare is a single-payer, government-controlled system. It is a popular entitlement for those over 65 (is 65 "elderly"?) for obvious reasons. Later, Medicaid took over medical care costs for the poor and the disabled. It has been 50 years of incrementalism towards total government control over a large hunk of the American economy.
It is a government sickness. It is evil. Even those road cameras are evil. America does not deserve a Big Brother surveillance state. The CIA is legally prohibited from surveillance inside the United States.
We were chatting with a couple of other people about this and that when someone she knew from the Times joined in. I then overheard him explain to her that she had to be careful about what she posted on Facebook, Twitter, etc., because anything too explicitly anti-Trump could be used against her when that glorious day came and "they" -- the conventional fraternity of groupthink scribblers -- finally took down that horrible, despicable man.
"We've got dozens of people working on it all the time," he explained, adding that it was only a matter of time before they got the goods on Trump and destroyed him.
There in a nutshell, I thought, is the existential imperative that has been so gloriously productive of fake news and its exacerbated allotrope, first delineated by Donald Trump in his famous media-bashing presser on February 16, "very fake news."
- you to have to wait 72 hrs after you go out and buy a woman to have your background investigation completed - women to be banned from entering school and college campuses? - women to be banned from any establishment selling alcohol? - women to be banned from polling places on election days - women to be banned from any official government group meetings? - all women to be banned from all airports? - you to have to pay a fee to the state before you can carry a woman on your person? - some women to be banned outright simply because they look too scary? - all women to be locked up at all times that they are not in use?
Hmmmm. And does she think that all guys should have more than one?
Rush is right. It is a remarkable and disturbing situation, and the MSM is fully on board. Time for the trumpists to bring a machine gun to the gunfight.
Doubtful. There are 60,000 pages of federal administrative law. Nobody knows those laws because it would be impossible, but they can nail you if you break one. Not only that, but Congress not only never passed those details of the laws, but has no control of them either. UNDERSTANDING THE ADMINISTRATIVE STATE.
LEONARDO DeCAPRIO's self-declared climate expertise enables him to speak on the world's environmental issues with a high-school education. He never took a college biology, chemistry, physics or climatology course, yet he knows more than most scientists. He proved that by addressing climate change before a full gathering of the UN.
SEAN PENN's quick takes on everything put him at the lofty level of an Einstein. He visited Iraq once and became an expert on that country. The same for Iran. He also became buddies with the brutal Venezuelan communist Hugo Chavez and consistently lauded that murderous thug. Now that Chavez is gone and Venezuelans are raiding dumpsters for food scraps, Penn is having a rare silent moment. Penn deserves some credit for becoming a world-affairs genius based on two years of auto mechanics classes at Santa Monica College.
Sure, there are plenty of issues to think about in the world and in the US. What Brooks misses in his condescending op-ed is that Trump was elected as a last-ditch effort to address the very things Brooks is upset about. We hope Trump can do that. Hillary would not and could not.
One thing Brooks does not suffer from is Toxic Masculinity.
... the country was at an inflection point. It desperately needed a new brand of politics that could break the deadlock and set it upon a new course toward its future and destiny. In such times, a gap inevitably emerges between the political establishment, guided by the lessons of the past (increasingly irrelevant lessons, as it happens), and the electorate, always ahead of the establishment in seeing the need for new political paradigms, new dialectical thinking, and new coalitions designed to bust up political logjams and set the country upon a new course.
The electorate is always ahead of the comfortable establishment because the electorate lives in the real world. Voters used Trump to mess up the status quo which had worked well for the wealthy, the press, the bureaucracies, the dependent class, and the politicians but not for the regular people who had been held in contempt. It was a legal insurrection, and today's protesters represent the tired old establishment. Interesting times. I wish Trump and his folks the best of luck.
If you live in the world of Facebook, Lyft, Netflix and Airbnb, crowding into airports shouting, "No Borders, No Nations, Stop The Deportations" makes sense. You don't live in a country. You live in one of a number of interchangeable megacities or their bedroom communities. Patriotism is a foreign concept. You have no more attachment to America than you do to Friendster or MySpace. The nation state is an outdated system of social organization that is being replaced by more efficient systems of global governance. The only reason anyone would cling to nations or borders is racism.
The demographic most opposed to President Trump is not a racial minority, but a cultural elite.
Every conservative I've personally heard from thought his press conference was excellent and long overdue. I've listened to those on the right for many years complaining that Republicans never fight back when they are slandered and lies and misrepresentations are spread about them. Now, we have someone who will fight back hard and not just lie down and take it.
Naturally, heavily biased, partisan, unethical "reporters" are outraged that they can't just get by with doing whatever they feel like no matter how dishonest and manipulative without getting called out for it. At the same time, they are getting so explicit with their Trump hatred that even non-partisan people couldn't avoid noticing it. It's very hard not to admire Trump's guts. He'll go right into the lion's den and antagonize the violent lions without hesitation. The "press's" refusal to recognize how millions of Americans actually view Trump (and them) is one of the reasons Trump won.
Donald, the anti-hero and anti-politician, is one heck of a politician. Finally, the news is fun again and Washington a circus again. Journalists whisper "This is insane." Wrong again. Journalists don't get it. Why should they be expected to? They are just bystanders in life, outside the arena.
In my view, climate science and weather science are interesting but not very important. If the tropospheric temps go up a degree or two per century, who cares? It's just a political hobby horse. If anybody thinks a "carbon tax" could change the earth's climate they are insane. It would enrich government, however.
Whatever causes climate variations in the present and caused drastic variations through the history of the planet, nothing can be done about it and, furthermore, who can define an ideal climate for the planet anyway? Nobody. All anybody can say for sure is that warmer is better than colder.
I see it as a sign of health that she hates the dumb job. Modern women do not want to be public ornaments to their husbands' lives or, in this case, political accessories. I think the Donald is ok with that.
Donald's new job has not enhanced her life. It has damaged her life. Where did this "first lady" idea come from, anyway? Is it like a sort of queen or something? I am glad Melania has no interest in being a celeb. She doesn't need it, and she seems shy anyway. She should live the way she wants, as best she can with the current restraints. Maybe she can trample this "first lady" thing just as Bill Clinton would have done had Hillary won.
I guess that means...
Robby Mook Can’t Really Confirm or Deny 
