I used to be disgusted, and now I try to be amused.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

There's nothing less interesting than a deeply offended person.

You realize that you're the only one who's deeply offended, you spoiled child?

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

B. All of us do. In fact, that is a goal we can all work on together - be less of a dick to Adder.

Fuck that.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Adder

You realize that you're the only one who's deeply offended, you spoiled child?

He's gone, Adder. Your words are just whispers in the ether.

Now that he is gone, though, I have to admit that he was right about this place being a total echo chamber. I like that about this place. The same thing being said over and over in slightly different ways can be extremely soothing, kind of like ambient electronica.

Sebastian, though, he would have none of that! Like, he was the only one with the guts to say that not all Trump supporters are racist xenophobes. The rest of us sheep just kept repeating over and over, "What are you talking about, nobody here ever said that all Trump supporters are racist xenophobes." But Sebastian refused to take part in the chamber, bravely calling us all out on the words we never said. I remember once he even "quoted" me saying that all Trump supporters were racist xenophobes when all you had to do was look at the post he was responding to to know that I had not actually said that. Ha! Good times!

*sniff*

Now, I'm getting a little sentimental. Part of me wishes Thurgreed had not forced him to leave. I just have to keep reminding myself that he's with Penske now, in a better place.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by Pretty Little Flower

He's gone, Adder. Your words are just whispers in the ether.

Now that he is gone, though, I have to admit that he was right about this place being a total echo chamber. I like that about this place. The same thing being said over and over in slightly different ways can be extremely soothing, kind of like ambient electronica.

Sebastian, though, he would have none of that! Like, he was the only one with the guts to say that not all Trump supporters are racist xenophobes. The rest of us sheep just kept repeating over and over, "What are you talking about, nobody here ever said that all Trump supporters are racist xenophobes." But Sebastian refused to take part in the chamber, bravely calling us all out on the words we never said. I remember once he even "quoted" me saying that all Trump supporters were racist xenophobes when all you had to do was look at the post he was responding to to know that I had not actually said that. Ha! Good times!

*sniff*

Now, I'm getting a little sentimental. Part of me wishes Thurgreed had not forced him to leave. I just have to keep reminding myself that he's with Penske now, in a better place.

where do you think Penske is working out his demons now? I mean he can't possibly keep all that bottled up in his brain, can he?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

where do you think Penske is working out his demons now?

Pretty sure he is passed out in a little pile of Canadian ice wine boxes.

[Pretty Little Flower]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Pretty sure he is passed out in a little pile of Canadian ice wine boxes.

Um, so now what? I'll see if I can fill the void.

So, I think the complete contempt for and willingness to lie to the press is just a smokescreen to distract from the progressive policies that the Big T and his cabinet will be pushing through in the next few months. Plus, I'm pleased with the lending environment we are now enjoying. Discuss.

Today's Daily Dose is some early Fatback Band. "Let's Do It Again":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnwGBfbCUKA

[ThurgreedMarshall]

<sniff>If only we had Sebby back so he could tell us how stupid I'm being for pointing out this very clear white power symbol being made by Trump's top adviser.</sniff>



TM

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

<sniff>If only we had Sebby back so he could tell us how stupid I'm being for pointing out this very clear white power symbol being made by Trump's top adviser.</sniff>



TM

I spend a few days traveling and come back to check in and you all have driven Sebby off. What did you all do that I hadn't?

As to Miller, do we really need hand gestures to figure out that he's a damned white supremacist and misogynist? I mean, you can just listen to him.

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall

<sniff>If only we had Sebby back so he could tell us how stupid I'm being for pointing out this very clear white power symbol being made by Trump's top adviser.</sniff>



TM

Plus, the dude went to Duke.

Kidding aside, I saw this picture a couple of days ago (along with Kelly Anne Conway's tweet* saying "I love you too!" to a white nationalist, and I said what the fuck? Dog whistles so loud that the cats are complaining, but my GOP friends** just shrug in embarassment and change the subject to spring training or the Oscars while mentally calculating their Trump/Ryan tax cut.

*She said she was hacked. Please. Why can't she just admit that she didn't realized that she was replying to a Klan member? I mean, I don't always read the bios of people on Twitter, but I guess working for Trump means that one can never admit that one made a goof.

** My Trump-voting relatives, by contrast, tend not to be embarrassed while they say things like "blue lives matter" and "they're not supposed to be here in the first place, so boo-hoo that they get deported while dropping their kids off at school." I have stopped talking to several of them.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

Kidding aside, I saw this picture a couple of days ago (along with Kelly Anne Conway's tweet* saying "I love you too!" to a white nationalist, and I said what the fuck?

I'm not hearing the dog whistle -- can someone explain?

[ThurgreedMarshall]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'm not hearing the dog whistle -- can someone explain?

The three fingers on his right hand represent the "W" and the pinched thumb and forefinger on his left represent "P."

Snopes doesn't buy it, but no one in the history of suits has adjusted their jacket in this clearly carefully practiced way.

TM

[Not Bob]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

I'm not hearing the dog whistle -- can someone explain?

Christian Laettner, of course. I *said* that Miller went to Duke. Jesus Christ, Ty.

ETA: Plus what TM said. And given everything else these guys have done, they really don't deserve the benefit of the doubt on this kind of thing.

[ferrets_bueller]

Good afternoon.

Since this forum's leading Malthusian Bucket o' Gloom has (mercifully)absented himself, and nature abhors a vacuum, allow me to step up to the plate to dish up The Great Pension Collapse As Seen By George Will:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.10abce11d9d2

Say what you wish about Mr. Will, I don't believe the numbers lie. The teachers and firemen and cops who are relying on public pensions have virtually no hope of getting paid in just a very few years. State and municipal governments cannot bear the burden, and no politician is going to ask taxpayers for the money needed. Domino effect when added to the other predictable factors, some of which are mentioned in the column.

I am on the Board of my Pension Plan. It is comfortably overfunded, has very low return on investment assumptions, and there are other reasons to believe it is bulletproof. But we're all going to either pay for the past promises of politicians to civil servants, or pay for the ensuing poverty programs when the well runs dry.

Dissent, anyone?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by ferrets_bueller

Good afternoon.

Since this forum's leading Malthusian Bucket o' Gloom has (mercifully)absented himself, and nature abhors a vacuum, allow me to step up to the plate to dish up The Great Pension Collapse As Seen By George Will:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...=.10abce11d9d2

Say what you wish about Mr. Will, I don't believe the numbers lie. The teachers and firemen and cops who are relying on public pensions have virtually no hope of getting paid in just a very few years. State and municipal governments cannot bear the burden, and no politician is going to ask taxpayers for the money needed. Domino effect when added to the other predictable factors, some of which are mentioned in the column.

I am on the Board of my Pension Plan. It is comfortably overfunded, has very low return on investment assumptions, and there are other reasons to believe it is bulletproof. But we're all going to either pay for the past promises of politicians to civil servants, or pay for the ensuing poverty programs when the well runs dry.

Dissent, anyone?

It's too bad that Will paints this as a problem created by Democrats. Republicans are equally capable of decisions that feel good in the short run but are bad in the long run. Hello, Bush tax cuts. But Republicans like to stick it to government unions.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Atrios:

One of my least favorite liberal tics is to grant there was some time when American conservatism was some sort wrong but noble affair, and to appeal to various horrible things as some deviation from those principled norms. The American conservative movement (which while not identical to the Republican party, it has been latched onto its face planting its eggs in its body Alien-style for decades) has carried the banner of white nationalism, bigotry, contempt for the poor, corporate immunity, environmental destruction, rigid unequal gender roles, homophobia, xenophobia, "law and order" policing, state discrimination, the military state, perpetual global war, support for worldwide dictators, American "empire" in its various manifestation, etc. That isn't to say all Republicans (or even conservatives) have been that bad, or that team D has been pure(certainly not!), but these are all things which are deeply in the DNA of the conservative movement. I mean, ok, Teddy Roosevelt started the national park system, but I don't think your appeals to "conservatism used to be about conservation!!!" are really going to win any converts.

Liberals imagine they catch conservatives in some violation of their own supposed principles all the time. This is only proof that conservatives have successfully conned a lot of liberals. They haven't conned themselves.

I mostly like the Alien line.

ETA I also liked this, from Tyler Cowen:

Much of the immigration debate has focused on assimilation rates for second and third generation Latinos. But put that aside and consider the rest of the arrivals. It is striking to me how very rapidly they assimilate, and I don’t just mean the Canadians (on a given day, could you tell which of the writers of this blog is from north of the border?). I mean the Russians, the Iranians, the Chinese, the Indians, and many others, including most of the Muslim immigrants. They don’t become culturally identical to the native-born, but in terms of economic and social indicators, you couldn’t ask for a much better performance.

The assimilation problem in fact comes from the longstanding native-born Americans, often of more traditional stock. The country around them has changed rapidly, and they do not assimilate so well to the new realities. And since they are not self-selected migrants who know they will face hardship, they are not always so inclined to internalize a “suck it up” kind of attitude. Many complain, others settle into niches of failure or mediocre careers.

In this regard, encouraging the actual arriving immigrants to assimilate better or faster can make the actual assimilation problem worse, because it will change the home culture more rapidly too.

Often, the real impact of immigration is not on wages or electoral outcomes, but it is the assimilation burdens placed on some of the longer-standing traditional natives of the home country. And the more productive and successful the immigrants are, the more serious these problems may become.