Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Wild Hoss]

Crooked Nordstrom is terrible! They kill a deal with Ivana because of jealousy! Horrible! Her products are the best! None better!

There is apparently a movement out there for people to boycott Nordstom's, and buy Ivanka's products online or through other retailers. So a failing product line owned by a (supposed) billionare's daughter, with products manufactured overseas and sold at an overpriced store that most voters don't shop at anyway, is getting increased sales, and a nationwide employer is being damaged, because because of a tweet by the President.

[Wild Hoss]

https://twitter.com/Sarah_Boxer/stat...71500282228736

Ben Sasse can shove his faux bravado up his ass...he's voted for every Trump cabinet nominee so far.

[hack]

Shit's insane. The Clintons never came close to reaching this level of corruption. Probably quite envious. But the country has to enforce its laws. Trump has correctly identified the loopholes in them, but not all of them. Either that or further descend into Banana Republicanism in which conflict-of-interest laws exist solely as a way to prosecute enemies of the state.

[AlabamAlum]

There is apparently a movement out there for people to boycott Nordstom's, and buy Ivanka's products online or through other retailers. So a failing product line owned by a (supposed) billionare's daughter, with products manufactured overseas and sold at an overpriced store that most voters don't shop at anyway, is getting increased sales, and a nationwide employer is being damaged, because because of a tweet by the President.

Lying Hoss is terrible! He lies and lies! Nordstrom is losing customers left and right! Ivanka fired Nordstrom! It's a sinking ship! Sad!

[Da Geezer]

And in actual news, three IT employees of the House of Representatives, all brothers, fired for hacking members of the Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees. Abid Awan, Iman Awan, and Jamal Awan, have not been charged. Speculation is that they might have been responsible for the Debbie Blabbermouth Schultz hack during the campaign. The youngest, age 22, was making $ 160,000, oldest was making $ 165,000.

http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/04/exclusive-house-intelligence-it-staffers-fired-in-computer-security-probe/

What is remarkable is the virtual blackout of news about these three fellows.

[Da Geezer]

Shit's insane. The Clintons never came close to reaching this level of corruption.

Hey, you might be from a foreign country, but statements like this make me wonder if there is hope for you at all. Of course, the Clintons have never turned a profit, so they must be righteous.....

There is no way Trump can defend himself from the fact that his enterprise value will rise or fall in conjunction with his success as President. The Clintons flat out took bribes, and with her failure to become President, they are shutting down the CGI. "Donations" have also fallen dramatically. That is called corruption.

[hack]

I have seen enough foreign countries to know what corruption is, how it works, and to understand the expanding scope of corruption here. Neither Clinton has been in public office since 2012. If there were a pay-to-play scheme in place when one or the other were in office, that would be corruption. As you know, since you read the thread, I need no convincing that those were dirty people. But pay-to-play on behalf of a charity is pretty low on the scale, in particular compared to Trump basically challenging the GSA to terminate his lease on the Old Post office, which they are legally entitled to do. Is open/shut, as far as I can see. Again: corruption starts with influence peddling, which the Clintons are probably guilty of doing. As is almost every single other person in Washington. You'd have to prosecute all of Washington if you wanted to eliminate that. If you only wanted to prosecute Clintons, or pretend that what they did is exceptional, then you are in support of the selective enforcement of laws in order to persecute a political enemy. You know better.

Moving on from the mundane stuff, corruption gets worse as you get to direct into self-enrichment through graft, procurement bullshit, and policy outcomes. Like I said about Cheney, at least he gave himself plausible deniability and crafted a cover story. Trump is just saying he doesn't give a fuck and will get away with whatever he can.

[Da Geezer]

Hack: I just read this article and would appreciate your reaction to it. It involves something called "Davos Man" and the rethinking of free trade. I'm not trying to argue, just would appreciate a reaction from you and the whole forum, if interested.

http://acton.org/pub/commentary/2017/02/08/Davos-Man-globalism-and-the-case-for-free-trade

[hack]

Well it's either that or do some invoicing and tax prep. You asked at the right time...

[iam416]

Congratulations to AlabamAlum and his new Senator, the erstwhile badass, Luther Campbell Strangelove. Though the The Nick was the obvious choice, it was wise of the Gubner to allow The Nick to continue to focus all his efforts on the continued obliteration of all SEC foes and pitiless razing of all others who would dare defy his Pachyderm War Machine.

[AlabamAlum]

The Nick would never take a cut in power or cash to be a senator.

I'm not a fan of Strange....wait, that sounds...inaccurate.

[iam416]

I think it's also a very good sign that Gorsuch correctly assessed the merits, or lack thereof, of the Executive branch openly calling into the question the credentials of a member of the Judiciary. It's one thing to call the decision horrible!! -- President Obama, e.g., made it a point to talk about Citizens United including in a SotU. It's another thing to call the judge horrible!!! or unfair!!!

[Da Geezer]

Again: corruption starts with influence peddling, which the Clintons are probably guilty of doing. As is almost every single other person in Washington. You'd have to prosecute all of Washington if you wanted to eliminate that. If you only wanted to prosecute Clintons, or pretend that what they did is exceptional, then you are in support of the selective enforcement of laws in order to persecute a political enemy. You know better.

1.) The Clintons are (probably) guilty of influence peddling, which is corruption.
2.) Everyone in Washington does the same thing, ie, is corrupt.
3.) Therefore, the Clintons should not be prosecuted since to do so would be selective enforcement of laws and persecution of a political adversary.

Do you really believe that?

[hack]

This is my favorite paragraph:

Fourth, free traders should point out that many Davos-types are not, deep-down, enthusiastic about genuinely free trade. One reason why many people attend Davos-like summits is to network, lobby, and stitch-up deals. That includes trade deals, many of which involve writing provisions into trade agreements that protect and promote their interests rather than advance free trade.

He doesn't say Davos Men there. He says people. I would hope that's an on-purpose distinction. Davos Man, IMO, isn't always soulless in the way he describes. Many are naive or earnest. The soulless version uses the ethos as a fig leaf to obscure harmful forms of capitalism (as opposed to not harmful).

Here's what I don't agree with:


One positive step would be to acknowledge publicly that opening up markets brings with it real disruption that not everyone is well-equipped to cope with. The 56 year-old manufacturing worker who loses his job because of automation or foreign competition can’t just pick up and move to Silicon Valley to find a tech job.


They may not be able to go to Silicon Valley specifically, but they can go SOMEWHERE and do SOMETHING. The notion that people can stay in over-the-hill economies and demand that opportunity come to them is a historical anomaly. People go to where the jobs are, and, right or wrong, that's what they always have donpe. Save for here, today, in America. To me that's an astonishing degree of entitlement. And, well, here's a story today that says you don't have to work in Silicon Valley to work in tech, and that coding is the new blue-collar job. https://www.wired.com/2017/02/progra...ue-collar-job/. So it's more complicated than the caricatured scenario presented.

Anyhow, the whole thing is a bit odd, which may be expected from a think tank based in Grand Rapids and with one other satellite office in Rome. Davos Man and international organizations are recruited to be the bad guys and free traders can put distance between them and Davos Man? Seems like someone arguing on behalf of the continued situation in which the benefits of free trade go disproportionately to a small group. Basically a rebranding of something to keep it going.

[hack]

1.) The Clintons are (probably) guilty of influence peddling, which is corruption.
2.) Everyone in Washington does the same thing, ie, is corrupt.
3.) Therefore, the Clintons should not be prosecuted since to do so would be selective enforcement of laws and persecution of a political adversary.

Do you really believe that?

Of all the ways I could think of for a person to interpret what I said, that stands out as a pretty sneaky one.