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

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

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.

Given his background (as an English spy with Russia expertise), the publicity may have killed his livelihood, and I also think that the potential for press attention might scare off potential employers.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Really? I've always found right wing hatred for Pelosi bizarre.

Conservatives exist in reaction to the left. Pelosi fills the role that Obama and Kerry and Clinton all played, and none were so hated once they left power. Once Pelosi is gone, it will be someone else who prompts the visceral reaction, and the wingers will all say it's about the person.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

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

No. The key to that piece is what Trump is actually doing, not that characterization of it. By reacting to the latter, you walk away from the former.

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?

Thank you for acknowledging that what Trump is doing is new. I know it's hard for you to do that, and I appreciate the effort. But it's not just that he's lying. He said Democrats are guilty of treason and un-American for not supporting him. I don't see that as a natural expansion of the game, and you can pretend it is only by abstracting away from what he is actually doing.

The answer to your question is, we all do. It's a democracy, and we are all engaged in a constant process of agreeing on rules and norms. What Trump is doing to gratify his own ego and to advantage himself and his political party is deeply corrosive to our common challenge of trying to live in the same country together. The fact that most Republicans are going along with it should be deeply disturbing.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

No. The key to that piece is what Trump is actually doing, not that characterization of it. By reacting to the latter, you walk away from the former.

Thank you for acknowledging that what Trump is doing is new. I know it's hard for you to do that, and I appreciate the effort. But it's not just that he's lying. He said Democrats are guilty of treason and un-American for not supporting him. I don't see that as a natural expansion of the game, and you can pretend it is only by abstracting away from what he is actually doing.

The answer to your question is, we all do. It's a democracy, and we are all engaged in a constant process of agreeing on rules and norms. What Trump is doing to gratify his own ego and to advantage himself and his political party is deeply corrosive to our common challenge of trying to live in the same country together. The fact that most Republicans are going along with it should be deeply disturbing.

No, man, you just don't get it, with your cute little civics lessons about society collectively setting the rules that govern us, you stupid fucking snowflake. Fuck that tired ass shit, man. Don't you see, it's time to flip the script. Trump is all like, Ima gonna disrupt the shit outta this motherfucker. It's rational, it's the only way he can win. I mean, if you can't win by playing by the rules, it's not only o.k. to cheat, it is a moral requirement! Actually, fuck cheating, man. I don't think he's going far enough. Sebastian's totes right about this one, dude. You gotta flip the whole game upside down, pour some gas on it, and burn it. You know who really disrupted the hell out of some shit? Pol Pot, man. Pol Motherfucking Pot. Dude was like, there is no way I'm gonna win playing by the rules of these corrupt motherfuckers who came before me, some I'll just kill their asses dead. Who's gonna stop me? The motherfucking educated urban elite motherfuckers? Not when I ship their sorry glasses-wearing asses off to the country to be reeducated. What else was he supposed to do? It was entirely rational. HE HAD TO DO IT. No way he would have been able to #win if he had played by the conventional rules set up by suckers like you. So he tore the pages out of the rulebook and wiped his ass with them.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

No, man, you just don't get it, with your cute little civics lessons about society collectively setting the rules that govern us, you stupid fucking snowflake. Fuck that tired ass shit, man. Don't you see, it's time to flip the script. Trump is all like, Ima gonna disrupt the shit outta this motherfucker. It's rational, it's the only way he can win. I mean, if you can't win by playing by the rules, it's not only o.k. to cheat, it is a moral requirement! Actually, fuck cheating, man. I don't think he's going far enough. Sebastian's totes right about this one, dude. You gotta flip the whole game upside down, pour some gas on it, and burn it. You know who really disrupted the hell out of some shit? Pol Pot, man. Pol Motherfucking Pot. Dude was like, there is no way I'm gonna win playing by the rules of these corrupt motherfuckers who came before me, some I'll just kill their asses dead. Who's gonna stop me? The motherfucking educated urban elite motherfuckers? Not when I ship their sorry glasses-wearing asses off to the country to be reeducated. What else was he supposed to do? It was entirely rational. HE HAD TO DO IT. No way he would have been able to #win if he had played by the conventional rules set up by suckers like you. So he tore the pages out of the rulebook and wiped his ass with them.

This is why I don't go to suburban cocktail parties.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

No. The key to that piece is what Trump is actually doing, not that characterization of it. By reacting to the latter, you walk away from the former.



Thank you for acknowledging that what Trump is doing is new. I know it's hard for you to do that, and I appreciate the effort. But it's not just that he's lying. He said Democrats are guilty of treason and un-American for not supporting him. I don't see that as a natural expansion of the game, and you can pretend it is only by abstracting away from what he is actually doing.

The answer to your question is, we all do. It's a democracy, and we are all engaged in a constant process of agreeing on rules and norms. What Trump is doing to gratify his own ego and to advantage himself and his political party is deeply corrosive to our common challenge of trying to live in the same country together. The fact that most Republicans are going along with it should be deeply disturbing.

Republicans are going along with the show because a significant number of their voters don’t want to live in a nation where they compromise with Democrats.

McConnell, not Trump, proved that you could beat Democrats by simply ignoring the norms (Garland).

[ThurgreedMarshall]

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?

$800/hr, unless you can easily do a search to find out what someone else would charge. If you can, charge 20% more than them.

TM

[ThurgreedMarshall]

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?

That dude better be living as a woman in The Outback somewhere.

TM

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Conservatives exist in reaction to the left. Pelosi fills the role that Obama and Kerry and Clinton all played, and none were so hated once they left power. Once Pelosi is gone, it will be someone else who prompts the visceral reaction, and the wingers will all say it's about the person.

You’re wrong. Most conservatives just don’t want to have to engage with or pay the government. (Except when they’re contracting with Uncle Sam.)

I find this quite persuasive on why the nation is so fractured: http://www.businessinsider.com/2008-...olitics-2018-2

I’ll go to my grave saying this: Sometimes it’s not, but most times - the overwhelming majority of times – it’s all about the money.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

$800/hr, unless you can easily do a search to find out what someone else would charge. If you can, charge 20% more than them.

TM

And get a minimum and a retainer.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Conservatives exist in reaction to the left. Pelosi fills the role that Obama and Kerry and Clinton all played, and none were so hated once they left power. Once Pelosi is gone, it will be someone else who prompts the visceral reaction, and the wingers will all say it's about the person.

The "boogeyman" needs of the right are pathological, and the line goes back long before your list: Ted Kennedy played the role for a whole generation, and let's not forget the group boogeymen (currently "immigrants" but historically the gays, the blacks, the commies, etc...).

Ideologies motivated by boogeymen had had some currency on the left, but I can't think of any time when it motivated the dominant wing of the party on the left. Sometimes Democrats have even adopted the right's boogeymen as a way of grabbing the center (as with the Commies during JFK's time).

I think this comes, fundamentally, from a lack of ideas and a desire to play to the easily swayed.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You’re wrong. Most conservatives just don’t want to have to engage with or pay the government. (Except when they’re contracting with Uncle Sam.)

There are plenty of people who don't want to have to engage with or pay the government, and many of them are conservatives, but that is not what makes them conservatives, even if they sometimes say things like that. Conservatives are no more upset by paying their taxes than lefties are.

I find this quite persuasive on why the nation is so fractured: http://www.businessinsider.com/2008-...olitics-2018-2

That has little or nothing to do with the nation's fractures, which were around well before 2008.

I’ll go to my grave saying this: Sometimes it’s not, but most times - the overwhelming majority of times – it’s all about the money.

Yes, I'm sure racial and gender bias (to pick two problems) would just go away if you paid people to stop thinking that way.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

You’re wrong. Most conservatives just don’t want to have to engage with or pay the government. (Except when they’re contracting with Uncle Sam.)

I find this quite persuasive on why the nation is so fractured: http://www.businessinsider.com/2008-...olitics-2018-2

I’ll go to my grave saying this: Sometimes it’s not, but most times - the overwhelming majority of times – it’s all about the money.

Conservative don't want to government to give "their" money to groups they don't like. Black people as a first principle, but also gays, native people, immigrants and union members.

They have no objection to government that gives them the stuff they want.

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

I think this comes, fundamentally, from a lack of ideas...

You keep saying this. And I'm not criticizing. I just don't understand. As far as I can tell, the lack of ideas isn't the problem. When your ideology is "Keep everything the way it is unless we're enriching those of us who are already rich," you're not looking for ideas to improve things. You're looking for ways to keep money and the racial hierarchy in place. And those two things do not require new ideas. They require forceful application of all the same ones that have been working for centuries. Cut taxes, gut voting protections for minorities, enact voter suppression, empower police forces, jail minorities, empower corporations. Those principles are constant and holy. Everything else is lip service, which is why the right has a "lack of ideas." Hell, they don't need them to get elected. Just stick to the script.

TM