Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 5:38:34 AM

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Bloomberg: Chinese communism is awesome.

http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/michael-bloomberg-china-pbs-climate-xi-dictator.html

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 6:07:32 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 1:

When Bernie Sanders is the reasonable one, we're in serious trouble.

JCM 12/3/2019 6:13:46 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 1:

The always let their inner tyrant show.

vxbush 12/3/2019 6:18:25 AM

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In #1 Occasional Reader said: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/michael-bloomberg-china-pbs-climate-xi-dictator.html

This comment was spot on: 

In Hong Kong, brave protesters praise Trump, fight to escape communism and Chinese authoritarianism, and struggle to preserve free markets and speech.
In America, cowardly Democrats smear Trump, fight to establish communism and praise China, and oppose both free markets and free speech.
The solution is painfully clear and logical: send all U.S. Democrats over to China and give us the Hong Kong protesters in return. Both countries would be way better off.

JCM 12/3/2019 6:55:12 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 4:

We have such a history of socialism / communism, we have current events, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Cuba, North Korea.

Yet Nanny Bloomberg and survey's of college students ignore it all. Yes they are indoctrinated, I just don't get how they don't see what is in front of them. 
 

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 7:49:25 AM

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Reply to JCM in 3:

See, also, Thomas "China for a day" Friedman. 

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 8:55:25 AM

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Is anyone else having to log in every time they open the site? I keep checking Remember Me but I always have to sign in again.

I just got back from a job interview with the College of Continuing and Professional Education at my alma mater. I liked the people, and I think they liked me. I wasn't expecting much, but I'm actually kind of jazzed about the work. The downside is, since it's a state university, the pay is probably not very good, and it's a 45-minute commute.

I also got a call from a recruiter to inform me I didn't get a particular job (I already knew) but she has another one for me, a long-term contract with the state. It pays well and is about a 30-minute commute downtown, but it's not permanent and may not offer benefits. So we'll see how it goes.

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 8:56:38 AM

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In #7 doppelganglander said: Is anyone else having to log in every time they open the site?

Not quite.  For me, the site seems to time out, or something, if I don't use it actively for a while, and I need to log back in then.

JCM 12/3/2019 9:04:27 AM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 7:

Sorry to hear that!

Yeah, refresh has an incorrect URL and then have to login.

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 9:08:24 AM

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vxbush 12/3/2019 9:10:01 AM

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In #5 JCM said: Yet Nanny Bloomberg and survey's of college students ignore it all. Yes they are indoctrinated, I just don't get how they don't see what is in front of them. 

It makes me think of something I heard in Hillbilly Elegy last night (I'm listening to the audiobook while I do chores). He was describing the networking that went on in the Yale Law School when various law firms would come in, wine and dine the students, and your resume meant nothing; your schooling meant nothing; it was all based on how well you networked in these events. The idea of dropping your resume on a web site for one of these firms was laughable; it was networking and schmoozing. 

What connection am I drawing here? I think all these people who are supporting socialism/communism believe that they will still be taken care of, because the folks who are most vocal about such isms are already sufficiently wealthy even by US standards to believe they will be just fine. They already have the necessary connections to protect their interests and their needs, and frankly they don't care about flyover country or anyone else.  They like caring in the abstract; they just can't care in the particulars. They have been told the isms will make everything better for everyone, so they just accept it. 

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 9:31:39 AM

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In #11 vxbush said: He was describing the networking that went on in the Yale Law School when various law firms would come in, wine and dine the students, and your resume meant nothing; your schooling meant nothing; it was all based on how well you networked in these events. The idea of dropping your resume on a web site for one of these firms was laughable; it was networking and schmoozing. 

Perhaps things have changed, and/or are different at Yale Law School;  but that's not an accurate description of what my own experience was (Georgetown).  You had to have the grades and/or law review to get looked at by the elite firms in the first place.  The wining and dining was after that screening, to make sure you didn't sh*t the rug in person, so to speak. 

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 10:14:30 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 10:

I should send this to my son. He believes Ford 100% and is shocked that I don't. To his credit, he is a genuinely good man who finds any kind of sexual harassment or assault abhorrent. He doesn't believe women lie about such things and claims she had nothing to gain by coming forward, both of which are obviously untrue. I told him that while all allegations should initially be taken seriously, they are subject to the same test of evidence as any other claim, and this one fails. I also reminded him I'm a woman, I understand how women think, and I found nothing about her words or manner credible. (I told my BF the cop that my son thinks women rarely make false accusations - he about fell off the sofa laughing.)

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 10:45:27 AM

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Kamala is out.

vxbush 12/3/2019 10:58:43 AM

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In #14 doppelganglander said: Kamala is out.

She got a lot more press and attention than she really deserved. The question now is, who else is dropping out--and how many are doing so before the primaries actually begin? (I find that rather interesting, and somewhat different from past elections where everyone stayed in until the first round of primaries.)

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 11:17:43 AM

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NASA spacecraft finds crash site of Indian lunar lander

So I'll meet 'im later on, in the place where 'e has gone
Where the gravity's around one-sixth of G
'E'll be squattin' in his crater
(T'wasn't always there - 'e made 'er)
And I'll get a feeble "ping" from Vikram Din

lucius septimius 12/3/2019 11:53:46 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 16:

Bravissimo!  Archibravo!

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 12:01:16 PM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 17:

[bows]

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 12:02:14 PM

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In #14 doppelganglander said: Kamala is out.

Had you asked me even two weeks ago, I'd have ranked her as one of the Klown Kar Krew that would have the greatest staying power.  

As usual, I'm dead wrong in predicting POTUS election-related things. 

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 12:09:57 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 16:

+++++++

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 12:12:11 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:

I thought she had an excellent shot, based purely on identity politics and her hounding of Bret Kavenaugh at his confirmation hearings. Apparently, the more people got to know her, the less they liked her, as is often the case with liberals.

vxbush 12/3/2019 12:22:55 PM

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In #21 doppelganglander said: Apparently, the more people got to know her, the less they liked her, as is often the case with liberals.

Not specifically about her, but going back to J.D. Vance's book Hillbilly Elegy, he noted a situation where he was going out with some fellow Yale law students for dinner and as he was leaving he realized they had trashed the table. He couldn't in good conscience leave it like that, so he went back and cleaned it up along with a fellow student. He realized that the two of them had worked in service positions cleaning up after others, and he was pretty sure no one else in that dinner had. A small but notable divide. 

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 12:32:10 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 22:

That's such a great book. It's true, you can always tell someone who's worked in the service industry. I think everyone should do it, at least for a few months. I was never in food service, but I worked retail in my youth, and my daughter was a waitress for years. I always try to be polite and tip well where appropriate. 

buzzsawmonkey 12/3/2019 12:42:23 PM

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In #7 doppelganglander said: Is anyone else having to log in every time they open the site? I keep checking Remember Me but I always have to sign in again.

Same thing happens to me.

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 12:51:38 PM

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In #22 vxbush said: A small but notable divide. 

I'm not sure you meant to reply to the line you quote about Harris, but anyway...

Anecdotally, at least, it seems to me that the American tradition of college-and-beyond-bound kids having at least some experience working at "menial" jobs before and/or during college is fading away; and that's too bad.  Kids who start doing "internships" in white-collar environments at age 16 will have a very narrow view of the world, and little appreciation for how things get made and done, and what truly, physically-taxing work is like. 

revobob 12/3/2019 12:52:49 PM

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In #16 Occasional Reader said: So I'll meet 'im later on, in the place where 'e has gone Where the gravity's around one-sixth of G 'E'll be squattin' in his crater (T'wasn't always there - 'e made 'er) And I'll get a feeble "ping" from Vikram Din

Was just lurking and checking on all y'all, but had to log in to give this forty-eleven uptwinkles!

buzzsawmonkey 12/3/2019 12:54:15 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 16:

Bravo, indeed!

revobob 12/3/2019 12:55:07 PM

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In #25 Occasional Reader said: Kids who start doing "internships" in white-collar environments at age 16 will have a very narrow view of the world, and little appreciation for how things get made and done, and what truly, physically-taxing work is like. 

AMEN!!!

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 1:15:47 PM

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PaladinPhil 12/3/2019 1:17:28 PM

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Reply to JCM in 5:

Justin Trudeau said before he was elected prime minister the first time that he admired China's "basic dictatorship". Nobody really called him out on it from the left just applauded his shiny hair.

doppelganglander 12/3/2019 1:28:45 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 25:

Agree completely. When I worked at a temp agency, one of my proudest moments was placing a Johns Hopkins philosophy student in a summer warehouse job. My older daughter worked retail as a teenager, and my son spent a summer as a movie theater usher before he joined the Navy
(boot camp definitely qualifies as physically demanding work). I think a lot of affluent parents want their kids to focus on their studies and extracurriculars, and perhaps colleges don't value employment experience as much as, say, working for an NGO in Guatemala. Meanwhile, unskilled immigrant labor is filling a lot of traditional teenage jobs. I don't think it's a change for the better.

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 1:34:28 PM

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In #31 doppelganglander said: a Johns Hopkins philosophy student in a summer warehouse job

I kant carry this heavy crate on my back!  Wait, maybe if I use descartes... 

vxbush 12/3/2019 2:22:00 PM

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In #32 Occasional Reader said: I kant carry this heavy crate on my back!  Wait, maybe if I use descartes... 

Heh. Now, use Wittgenstein as a pun.....

Occasional Reader 12/3/2019 2:41:13 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 33:

I'll defer to buzz on that one.  I'm out for now... 

buzzsawmonkey 12/3/2019 4:51:50 PM

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