Mother, mother, mother - there's too many of you crying.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Hi friends, I have had a couple of firms reach out to me to sign me up to do short-term consulting about the industry I've been working in. What should my hourly rate be?

I'd avoid an hourly and look to a daily, perhaps with a breakout for half-days. I don't know what you've been make or what the level is, but somewhere from $2.5K per day on the low end to $5K per day on the high end would be what I see for short term professional consulting deals; if it's higher than $5K per day, you probably should be thinking about a flat fee, you know, $40K per month and you'll be available roughly quarter time.

[Hank Chinaski]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...=.4d4315abac3b

internet etiquette

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Saying he "caved" implies that he gave something up.

Meanwhile, to me this last paragraph from a WaPo story captures the essence of conservatism:

Rep. Mark Walker (R-N.C.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a key conservative bloc, tweeted that “the Budget Caps Deal is a struggle for any one with fiscal concerns. However, the longer [Pelosi] bloviates on the House Floor against the deal — the more I’m inclined to support it.”

To say that I have disappointed that previously Tea Party-affiliated congressmen being willing to spend like drunken sailors is an understatement. But Pelosi has an approval rate of 25%. Compared with her, Trump is hugely popular. I fully expect the Dems to take a bunch of seats in November, but I think a prominent Pelosi could mute the gains, because I think the GOP can successfully make local elections about her, assuming they don’t run a bunch of pedophiles.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

.... assuming they don’t run a bunch of pedophiles.

I expect a completely wild ride this election. There will be pedophiles, among other scandals, there will be smear campaigns, complete with Russian trolls, there will be voter suppression and court battles over gerrymandering, there will be October surprises, there will be white supremacists, there will be the overwrought evangelicals and prosperity preachers, and if the going gets tough for the Rs we will probably see military action against North Korea or Iran to try to rally people. And don't forget the tanks parading down a main street near you. It will be a gothic spectacle beyond anything Flannery O'Connor might have imagined.

The outcome is impossible to predict today, other than the credibility of our democracy suffering.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

To say that I have disappointed that previously Tea Party-affiliated congressmen being willing to spend like drunken sailors is an understatement. But Pelosi has an approval rate of 25%. Compared with her, Trump is hugely popular. I fully expect the Dems to take a bunch of seats in November, but I think a prominent Pelosi could mute the gains, because I think the GOP can successfully make local elections about her, assuming they don’t run a bunch of pedophiles.

As to tea partiers spending like drunken sailors, when were they ever not going to do that? It was always a question of what the spending would be on, and where the government would stick its nose, not whether there would be any. Rounding up a few million undocumented immigrants, herding them into camps, and getting them somewhere else isn't cheap, and the tea party was always pushing larger, more militarized police departments and heavier military spending and, of course, spending programs like "the wall" come right out of that crowd.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Well, they're getting their wall.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

Well, they're getting their wall.

I read a headline about that earlier today and I assumed it was an Onion type joke. How the fuck old are these people? What the ever living hell.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan

I read a headline about that earlier today and I assumed it was an Onion type joke. How the fuck old are these people? What the ever living hell.

Apparently Republican members are upset because they or their staff are under investigation for ethics breaches, and things putting a wall between themselves and the dems will lessen the risks of getting caught.

You know what else would lessen the risks? Not violating ethics rules.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I'm thinking about Christopher Steele and wondering what doing Fusion's work has meant for his life, just out of curiosity. Can he travel to Russia anymore? What can he do for living? Can he go out in public?

[SEC_Chick]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'm thinking about Christopher Steele and wondering what doing Fusion's work has meant for his life, just out of curiosity. Can he travel to Russia anymore? What can he do for living? Can he go out in public?

Since when are Americans so antagonistic toward Englishmen named Steele? He was just doing his job.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'm thinking about Christopher Steele and wondering what doing Fusion's work has meant for his life, just out of curiosity. Can he travel to Russia anymore? What can he do for living? Can he go out in public?

Not sure on the Russia thing, but I don't see why any of this would adversely impact him at home. The dossier has been criticized, but not been debunked. And most of the UK detests Trump.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by SEC_Chick

To say that I have disappointed that previously Tea Party-affiliated congressmen being willing to spend like drunken sailors is an understatement. But Pelosi has an approval rate of 25%. Compared with her, Trump is hugely popular. I fully expect the Dems to take a bunch of seats in November, but I think a prominent Pelosi could mute the gains, because I think the GOP can successfully make local elections about her, assuming they don’t run a bunch of pedophiles.

Really? I've always found right wing hatred for Pelosi bizarre. She's an inoffensive, dithering old grandmother. I've never heard her say anything of consequence, or anything scandalous enough to make me consider reading anything in depth about her. (I do like some of her daughter's documentaries, however.)

I suspect most moderate voters feel the same.

I suspect most moderate voters don't give much of a shit about any Congresswoman from a district other than theirs. Pelosi hatred strikes me as something for the people who listen to Hannity or Limbaugh. And I say this as someone who's worked with GOP political operatives. YMMV, but I've never heard any normal people getting in a lather about Pelosi. Just the loons. And I don't see how congressional races around the country are going to be swayed by anger toward her.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I'd avoid an hourly and look to a daily, perhaps with a breakout for half-days. I don't know what you've been make or what the level is, but somewhere from $2.5K per day on the low end to $5K per day on the high end would be what I see for short term professional consulting deals; if it's higher than $5K per day, you probably should be thinking about a flat fee, you know, $40K per month and you'll be available roughly quarter time.

And nothing below Veuve, no brown M&Ms, and a fresh lotus on every conference room table.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Hey, Sebby. Read the first six or seven paragraphs of this. And then tell me that Trump isn't really doing anything different from what Obama did, he's just doing it moreso. Tell me you really believe that.

It's probably best to respond to the centerpiece quote there:

Trump is] basically openly mocking the idea that words in politics mean anything at all.

Agreed. I'm not going to get all Safire on you here, but this is part of a much bigger conversation of the abuses and limitations of language generally.

Say what you want about calling your opponents traitors and wanting it taken seriously, at least it’s an ethos. But then, that’s the subversive, somewhat cleansing but ultimately corrosive part of Trump’s brand of political performance art: he’s talking to people who by and large think that politicians never mean anything they say, and he’s out there telling them, you’re right.

Have you worked in politics? Half of the time, politicians are lying. There's no way to satisfy all of the public, and you have to triangulate every issue. You have to lie, constantly, to survive and get anything done.

Most of the voters shouldn't be allowed to vote. You can't give 100% of the truth to these people. Talk to ten random "everymen" on the street and ask them some questions about policy. Fuck that.... Just watch Jimmy Kimmel do it in his "man on the street" bits.

Trump is right. The question is whether it is dangerous to tell the public they're being lied to a lot of the time.

We can say anything we want and none of it matters. It’s all a racket.

This is where Trump may go too far. To be a politician gives you a limited license to lie as necessary. He grossly abuses the privilege for whatever expedient ends he desires in the moment. Much more so than his exclamations about everything being fake news, this plunges us into a vacuum where there is no way to ascertain facts from fiction. This is truly dangerous and unique -- unlike all predecessors in his office.

Hey, how ’bout you and I call each other traitors and then punch the clock at the end of the day and get a drink together? Maybe our political class really has earned being treated this way, but every time Trump does it, he makes it harder to rebuild the broken norms he inherited and has treated with such contempt.

What Trump is doing is potentially dangerous, but entirely rational. If you're faced with numerous adversaries, and at an insurmountable power disadvantage within a game, but you have the power to potentially flip the entire board, scatter the pieces, and start a new game, you have to attempt to do so.

Past Presidents have lied in limited manners, usually with plausible deniability, out of necessity. That was within the accepted rules of the game. You are correct that Trump is a new thing. He is lying with the intent of blowing up the game. You might say this is treasonous. And it might be. But from another angle, it might just be a natural expansion of the game. When the rules make winning as you desire impossible, what else is a player to do? And who gets to decide what rules may not be broken? The people who were previously winning?

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

This is where Trump may go too far. To be a politician gives you a limited license to lie as necessary. He grossly abuses the privilege for whatever expedient ends he desires in the moment. Much more so than his exclamations about everything being fake news, this plunges us into a vacuum where there is no way to ascertain facts from fiction. This is truly dangerous and unique -- unlike all predecessors in his office.

This little quote nicely encapsulates why nothing you ever write should be taken seriously by any sentient being.