Re: Hi
 

Now that I think about it, how about a Negan/Lucille 2016 ticket? Half your stuff and you get to live sound like a bargain compared with Sanders' tax plan.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Damn, bro! A late Daily Dose today. Get you all amped up for the BIG game. James Brown with a version of Give It Up Or Turn It Loose that just goes into overdrive and stays there. Until he breaks it down and then starts calling them back in ("Clyde . . . Bootsy . . ." ). That ain't no weak ass shit. Damn.

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

Is Ted Cruz a Client? Discuss.
 

There's now speculation out there that Ted Cruz is on the DC Madame's list. Here's one article (as seen on Facebook this evening; which means it's probably a horrible source):

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...n-married.html

If true, how much does this hurt him, given that his base is the uber-religious wing of the republican big top? He apparently wasn't married at the time...

Re: Hi
 

Somehow I think that gets undone by Grimes/Grimes in 2017. Keep the other half of your stuff but rot in jail.

Re: Is Ted Cruz a Client? Discuss.
 

Rhetorical question, right? I mean, good Christians forgive right wing white male politicians their failings of the flesh, knowing we are all sinners.

Re: Is Ted Cruz a Client? Discuss.
 

I'm betting the $1000 a night hooker normally charged only $400, but demanded a premium for Cruz.

Re: As the choppers hover outside my window
 

The 2008 crisis didn't cause the economic problems of today. It was a symptom of us trying to paper over all the underlying longer term problems caused by globalization. That said, are you right that banker greed and overfinancialization have enormously contributed to the economic issues we have? Absolutely, and I could not agree with you more.

Wage stagnation is the result of policies you cite. We're on the same page.

It's a cycle of shit. Wage stagnation > Bubbles (tech in 90s, housing in 00s) to paper over lack of real wage growth and accrual of debt to keep up with cost of living > Bad behavior by banks (pumping shit stocks in 90s, pumping shit housing bonds and making shit loans in the 00s) > Crash = More wage stagnation = Cycle restarting.

I didn't intend that. I think unions are capitalist endeavors (the difference between capital and labor is a silly observation only relevant to academic economists) which have been wrongly painted as anti-capitalist. Loss of unions is a big part of what ails us.

Apples and oranges. I'm not saying we don't have serious issues in our education system, which need to be addressed. My only criticism is of those who claim things can all be fixed with more education. That's just naive and silly.

That should happen. But I think we all agree, the mechanism to allow that to occur - letting the investment banks fail - would have caused carnage beyond comprehension. As to criminal prosecutions, I don't think they offer much deterrent, for the reason you cite below...

If you haven't noticed, "I'll be gone, you'll be gone" thinking isn't limited to banking anymore. It's pretty much our baseline for conducting business across all levels of commerce. There are exceptions, of course, but gaming the system, or cheating, is seen as just a typical, rational way of surviving/profiting these days. Americans of all classes, in all industries, have become quite viciously rational in the way we approach things. "What should I do?" long ago gave way to "What is the most rationally sensible move to benefit my own interest?" It's no longer about retaining some level of decency. It's all about the cost/benefit. And that trend is only accelerating as we become more reliant on empirical data. The more everything is numbers, the more we are all traders.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

Hillary doesn't "change her mind." She makes the safest career decision in the moment.

I give a pass to Obama for taking a weak position on gay marriage and then, after he was politically safe, claiming he'd "evolved" and supporting it. That's just being smart, and any harm he may have contributed to by not coming out for it early was quickly undone when he later reversed his position.

Hillary, on the other hand, supported the attack and murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, and American soldiers. That cannot be undone. And while she did that, Bernie and Obama took the principled, risky stance of voting against the war.

But then, how could Hillary go against her training... She learned from the master.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

To-may-to, to-mah-to.

She and 97 of her colleagues (or whatever).

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

The Iraq war is one issue where I think Hillary has no excuse. She was wrong, she bought into the hype, and she was afraid to look weak on terror. It was this vote, more than anything, that led me to support Obama in the primaries in 2008.

If Bernie were credible as a potential President, I could support him. But he's not. And in any event, the article that led to this discussion was comparing Hillary to the Republicans, specifically Trump. On this issue, I have to say, it's nice to see Trump calling W out for lying the country into war. But that doesn't come close to overcoming his general crazy.

As for Cruz, his calls for "carpet-bombing" and the like suggest he hasn't learned the lesson about the folly of trying to remake the Middle East with troops.

Arise, ye workers from your slumber.
 

Exactly. And if I had any doubts about that, this article in Dealbreaker (using quotes from Bernie's Q&A with the Daily News) cleared them up.

I am not a fan of "gotcha" questions, but I think that if the premise of your campaign is based upon breaking up too big to fail Wall Street firms, it seems reasonable to assume that you understand Dodd-Frank et al. I mean, you may not agree with the current regulatory system, but you should know what it is. And have a plan (and at this stage it doesn't have to be realistic) for how you as president would break up Citi or JP Morgan Chase.

Disappointing, but he's authentic and stuff, so it's ok.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

If this were about Senate votes I might see your point. But it's not. It's about being an executive in a complex world.

At the time she cast that vote, I think Hillary knew more about the Middle East than most Senators - you don't spend eight years in the White House without learning about the ME. But she didn't have a foreign policy profile, she was a junior senator sworn in that year, and her entire party was going along with an idiot President as a political decision - so I walk away from it with a "meh". Demonstrated no courage, but her vote made no difference.

She is, at the point, one of the most educated political animals in Washington on the ME, and she spent four years as Secretary of State putting in place what I think is our best possible strategy: maintain the most effective military force in the ME, use it very sparingly, but do use it on occasion for limited engagements. Use the power that gives us, along with our massive economic power, to keep the lid on, but don't try to solve problems that are primarily local. Contain the problems, don't defeat them, because we can't afford to defeat them.

That requires skill and knowledge. It's way more important than one damn vote.

But if you live in a simple world, by all means vote for the simple men.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

That's a fair and well made counter.

But I'm not saying whether you should or shouldn't vote for Hillary based on her skills. She is quite skilled, and the most qualified on foreign policy.

However, if you have concerns her decisions can be bought, or that her clear lack of principles might cause her to do things that benefit her benefactors more than the country, her vote on Iraq should give you pause. That she was wrong with a mob of others who voted the easy path over the right one is no defense. Hillary is smart, able, and would be a decent President. She is also a uniquely vile form of rudderless politician it's shame to have in office.

Re: Is Ted Cruz Satan? Discuss.
 

I have not liked much about Trump this entire election cycle. However, when, over boos, he told Jeb and that room of GOP Establishment scumbags that W was a liar, and had not "kept the country safe," I wanted to hug Donald. Hell, I wanted to hold his face in my hands and kiss his combover.

Best moment of the campaign yet.