The key question about Trump hosting the G-7 summit at his golf course to enrich himself is whether the strip club golf outing will need to be moved to another weekend.
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Well, I think you're correct on both counts. And if your concern is the appearance of impropriety -- and there's something to be said for that -- then you're certainly well within the realm of the sane to complain. If your concern is actual impropriety then it's different story. As you can tell, I lean way more to the latter, but I certainly understand taking the former approach when it comes to governmental officials.
Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.
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One of the better commentaries I've recently read. It takes into account the statements of various Chinese academics and government officials, some of them disparate and contradictory, that, according to the author demonstrates there are two factions in China involved in the trade dispute between itself and the US. They are: the military and government commerce officials. The former wants a deal ASAP, the later wants a war of attrition based on their belief that the Chicoms can better withstand the negative and mostly political impact on their respective economies than the democratically elected US president. Duh.
Beyond that obvious reality is the very real wish of more moderate and liberal Chinese commerce officials who see China's future guaranteed by economic reform .... and, importantly, I read that as a willingness to undertake the structural reforms the world, led by the US, is asking it to undertake.
Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.
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This is my favorite story in awhile: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/n...mentsContainer
DeBlasio commissioned a panel to look into ways to desegregate NYC schools. The panel came back with a recommendation -- eliminate "gifted and talented" schools/programs. Apparently, in NYC students need to apply to get into various schools starting as early as kindergarten. So, you eventually end up with some very elite academic schools and some very average to below average schools. The results have been such that white kids and asian kids gobble up all the spots at the G&T schools. I believe at Stuvyvecent -- one of NYC's most famous and best High schools -- there were 7 total hispanic and black kids and the rest were asian and white. NYC isn't using race as a basis for admission -- you have to take tests and they look at truancy, as well. (Yes, you have to take a test for the G&T elementary school!).
Against this backdrop, the woke panel as recommended that NYC eliminate all G&T programs and schools in the name of desegregation. This is consistent with general progressive mantras that hold standardized testing invalid and, e.g., find phrases like "I believe the most qualified person for the job" is a microagression because it "perpetrates the myth of meritocracy" (the entire University of California system among others). The merits of these position aren't the issue -- obviously I don't share those mantras, but that's irrelevant.
What is relevant is the reaction of what I think of as a stronghold for woke progressivism. If the comments section are any indication, NYT readers oppose this recommendation by about 113% to -24%. That particular readership -- and I'm just guessing here -- is probably about as woke and progressive as you get in this country. But when it comes to their kids, sauce for middle America sure as fuck ain't sauce for the Upper West side.
What's also relevant is the politics of the thing. The city is largely black and hispanic. The policy shift is specifically designed with them in mind. I wonder how this will play out in terms of city politics. I'd assume that the white folks and asian folks would be a fairly solid and active voting block and they could peel off enough AAs and Latinos to make this a big loser issue. In particular, this recommendation seems more like "an ebb tide lowers all boats" proposal than one that actually uplifts the intended beneficiaries. I'm quite curious to see how this plays out and what they actually enact, if anything.Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.
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“Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.” - Groucho Marx
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talent, interesting post. I wonder if you can extrapolate the private views of the upper west side progressives to the wider cohort of all American progressives. Can a hypothesis be supported that the public face - how progs want to be viewed by their friends and colleagues - is very different from their private views. IOW, Americans, as a whole, are much more conservative in their political views when it comes to actually supporting a particular policy than they would have you think they are.
Rush Limbaugh had a term, NIMBY, that used to infuriate progressives when he applied it to them. "Not In My Back Yard" applied when it came to assessing how progs felt about something like funding the construction of a homeless shelter in their neighborhood by increasing their property tax rates. "I like they idea," the prog would say, "but, only if it's not next door to me." Examples of NIMBY abound.
Americans tend to view things situationally and how it affects them personally - guns, the Green New Deal, Global Warming, any number of policy issues that form the bulwark of the progressive agenda that progs claim they embrace. It seems to me progs are a hell of a lot more conservative when the rubber meets the road. The hypothesis also raises the question, how can the depiction of progressives in general and the polls that would seem to indicate their embrace, for example, of candidates like Sanders and Warren, among other Ds running for President, could be so wrong when it comes to how they might actually vote both locally and nationally?Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.
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NIMBYism is strongest when it comes to your children. For most folks, you work reasonably hard, follow rules and hope to create an environment that gives your kids a chance to succeed. This NYC recommendation or busing are things that directly interfere with your efforts and plans and responsible decision-making.
Progressives will definitely support programs that only have an abstract monetary cost. But, when it comes to actually fucking up your every day life or your kids every day life, I think we all want autonomy from the Government. So that applies to some of the examples you cited -- local zoning and things that directly affect housing values and neighborhoods. I don't think it applies to big tax increases to fund various Federal programs.
But, you raise a really good point in that we all have a "rubber meets the road" point where we want autonomy. Children are probably universal, but it's also probably considerably different for conservatives and progressives. As you noted, guns is good example.
Last edited by iam416; August 27, 2019, 11:54 AM.Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.
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Kind of fits with the ethanol story I shared yesterday. Farmers are running out of patience with Trump, particularly when he tells them to their faces how great they have it
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hourlong town-hall-style eventcutting its profit forecast
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