Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

I can't speak to that specific issue. But my guess is, going forward, all Administration witnesses are going to stall and delay as much as possible. Grind out the clock to Election Day 2020.

Whitaker is limited in his non-compliance, as he has a license and certain ethical obligations. But I think as to most laymen in the Administration, and most document demands, they'll probably challenge Congress's ability to actually enforce the laws granting oversight. Force Congress to threaten contempt, force drawn out contempt hearings, appeal everything as far as possible, tie up Ds with competing inquiries in the Senate.

Trump may be a fool in many regards, but one thing he understands well is that a contract, or a law, is only as strong as the other side's ability to enforce it. He's used the line, "It's an LLC... And you don't have a personal guaranty. Good luck collecting any judgment" more than any other human who's walked the planet. I wouldn't be surprised to hear, "Go ahead... Hold us in contempt. What's that going to get you? More delay?" from this Administration.

Unlike Nixon, I don't think Trump has any respect for the process at all. He's going to treat this like a strip mall development loan workout.

Re: Green New Deal
 

I don't know jack about Klobuchar, but again: Is this what we decide who can run upon? That she's a lousy boss?

Patients who confuse excellent bedside manner with skill often make a grievous error.

ETA: Along these same lines, can we please retire this ludicrous platitude: "Character is destiny." John Meacham, the Peggy Noonan/Tom Friedman of historians, said this on Bill Maher the other night and I waited in vain for Maher to reply, "Really? Donald Trump is President. Stalin died of a stroke in his office. Goldman Sachs is... well, still in business. Or how about, say... Pol Pot?"

Along with belief in karma, or my favorite, "Everything happens for a reason," that comment about character is one of the greatest delusions out there. "It all comes out in the wash" also needs to go. The reason you think past sins come back to bite people in the ass is because the only time you hear about it is when it happens. What you don't hear about is the 10 trillion skeletons and past misdeeds wildly successful people keep hidden in their closets their entire lives.

And the biggest - the granddaddy of them all I'm hearing these days as the right replies to AOC is, "If you work hard enough, you make your own luck." Who made up this pile of horseshit? You can work your ass off your entire life and not get lucky. You can be a middling ne'er do well and fall into a plum position by happenstance of getting on the right elevator with the right person at the right time. (Zuckerberg's college roommate is worth billions, just for being his roommate.) Sure, you can increase your chance of getting lucky by putting yourself in situations where that elevator meeting is more likely to occur. But that's an incremental increase in likelihood barely north of a rounding error. And that luck is usually the sort that'll only put you one or two rungs up the ladder. The luck that gets you a yacht with more staff than guests is more analogous to playing the lottery.

End of rant.

Re: Green New Deal
 

I mean, this one is directly about ability to do the job. Presidents need staff.

Re: Green New Deal
 

There are stats out there that 7 of the top 10 "staff turnover" senators are women, in a senate that is not 50% women. So either:

1 Most women are bad bosses, or
2 There is some misogyny going on in the staff ranks, and here I am afraid.

You and Ty, at long last, should be ashamed of the slurs you've cast.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

Well, obviously, getting rid of any semblance of affirmative action helps all the white boys suffering from racial inequities.

Re: Green New Deal
 

The kind of skills that make you a good Senator are not necessarily the kind of skills that make you a good President. Of course, many people vote for a candidate for other reasons than qualifications.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

This is why this board is fun! Forget the main point (that one "forgives" only those of one's same beliefs/party), and focus on a reply to reply to reply to reply! Good work. But you keep proving my point- there are Rs (or libertarians?) who believe AA actually harms black people- (I don't so snarky replies will go w/o response)- to you that means a R who believes AA is bad can't prove "good since my blackface days." It is circular- the only way to repair is to lead a life following what I believe is the right way- since the other party doesn't, they haven't led the life that repairs- none of them have. just own it for goodness sake.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

Yesterday I attended a deposition in which the almost 70 year PI attorney was questioning a party witness. Not a main target. He personally claims to have recovered over $1B in his career for clients, and his firm claims to have recovered over $4B.

Why the hell is this guy still working? Why isn't someone else taking this secondary deposition? Why can't this guy provide, at the very least, a small snack like pretzels in his conference room? These kind of people drive me crazy. My brain doesn't understand it.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

Does anyone really believe that AA directly harms black people? I think a view I've heard from thoughtful conservatives (I may be going to back to law school) revolves around a commitment to formal equality under the law, out of a mistrust that any departure from formal equality is pernicious because it can be twisted to bad ends. So the idea is not that AA itself is bad for black people, but that it undermines the principle of equality and in the long run will have other bad effects.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

I recall Clarence Thomas arguing that it harms him by raising doubt that he earned his achievements rather than had them handed to him.

This seems preferable to being systematically denied opportunities, but I believe her argued it in his (one of his?) books, which I most definitely did not read.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

1 He has no one capable of handling the simplest task.
2 Fuck you. Cut a check and I’ll buy you pretzels. Until then there is vending in the break room.

Have you had Pony on ignore all these years?

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

I think this is it. It’s “why” Roshunda, the very bright clerk for a judge in one of my cases, who joined my big law, was regulated to walking to court to file documents by the GPs in the lit group. She wasn’t hired because she was capable and a former law clerk, she was only there as the firm wanted diversity. I guess the theory goes you need to play into old fucks’ biases.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

Clarence Thomas.

Re: Doesn’t Matter Who Wins the K Race; We’re All the Same
 

How thinks they can blackmail Jeff Bezos? Or that pics of his dick are going to matter at all to Amazon or his massive fortune?

Still, takes some guts to call their bluff.

Re: Northam, Warren, Fairfax...
 

Look, I only scroll back so far.

But to your point, I have one relative who firmly believes that discrimination occurs because African-Americans are, on the whole, less intelligent and less motivated because they are genetically inferior (e.g., he buys Charles Murray hood, line and sinker). He thinks AA harms "them" because it demands more of them than they can handle.

Arguing with racists is hard.