tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post8929835693348520089..comments2023-10-30T06:31:05.501-07:00Comments on MilPub: ¡Fuera de acá!FDChiefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-61093858472083233952017-02-25T09:10:42.476-08:002017-02-25T09:10:42.476-08:00His statements on various issues suggest that Trum...His statements on various issues suggest that Trump is either remarkably dim or so ignorant as to be functionally indistinguishable from exceptional stupidity.<br /><br />Now...that said, being stupid does not preclude having certain skills. Trump IS a gifted conman and grifter. That requires a level of "shrewdity", the one-dimensional form of intelligence focused on short term acquisition. Many criminals, quite ignorant in all other respects, possess this sort of intelligence.<br /><br />But his public record demonstrates clearly that Trump lacks any semblance of the sort of ability to develop and hold onto the ideological position Bachevich attributes to him.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-45877496641797841312017-02-24T19:39:23.876-08:002017-02-24T19:39:23.876-08:00I believe that you are badly misunderstimating Tru...I believe that you are badly misunderstimating Trump and his band. I agree that he is not bound by traditional public mores and I also agree that he is a shameless self promoter, but that does not equate to stupidity.Aelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788190394672505925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-50109431263926751172017-02-23T17:17:57.983-08:002017-02-23T17:17:57.983-08:00Hmmm.
Actually, I thought that he floundered arou...Hmmm.<br /><br />Actually, I thought that he floundered around a lot in that one. His insights into Brooks are spot-on; the little bastard would sooner die a thousand flaming deaths than admit "Yep, Bush and Cheney fucked that poodle and there I was handing them the lube; I was stupid and wrong and will now go and shut the fuck up."<br /><br />But I think he's pretty far off when he tries to rope in Trump as the far side of the "Washington Rules" crowd. He does the same thing a lot of other columnists do, which is try to attribute some sort of consistent ideological position to Trump when, in fact, the grifter is just doing what grifters do; he's sliming and sliding and blowing out clouds of word-ink to confuse the marks and continue the grift.<br /><br />Trump will happily - as he was asked today by his head of CENTCOM - throw GIs at Syria and Iraq. He will gleefully bomb the shit out of places where scary brown people live. The "embarrassments of Iraq" are meaningless to him. He has the instincts of a good con man; he knows what his marks want to hear, and that's "kick their ass and take their gas". He is absolutely unintimidated by the disasters of the Bush Wars; he's the Smartest Guy In The Room and he's all about winning, so HIS wars will be won.<br /><br />I am a big Bachevich fan, but I think here he falls into the trap that it's easy to fall into with the Tangerine Toddler; he attributes actual thinking to the little bastard, when he's no more actually thinking about Middle East policy than he thinks about where the next pussy is coming from. It appears, he grabs it...that's it. Just happens.<br /><br />WASF.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-48570960480713177092017-02-23T11:27:09.386-08:002017-02-23T11:27:09.386-08:00Slightly off topic, but Andy Bacevich knocks it o...Slightly off topic, but Andy Bacevich <a href="http://www.tomdispatch.com/blog/176246/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_at_the_altar_of_american_greatness/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tomdispatch%2FesUU+%28TomDispatch%3A+The+latest+Tomgram%29" rel="nofollow"> knocks it out of the park again. </a>Aelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788190394672505925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-21768937871239821792017-02-23T07:45:15.041-08:002017-02-23T07:45:15.041-08:00I should add that:
1) My guess is that this will...I should add that:<br /><br />1) My guess is that this will quietly peter out when Big Ag starts silently screaming in the Trumpkins' ears. Until then it will cause a great deal of misery, though.<br /><br />2) Another reason I hate this personally is that it's not really being done for the reasons I listed as <i>"good reasons not to have a significant number of non-citizens semipermanently residing in your country"</i> but for stupid, mean, racist <i>"I HAAAAAATE having to press one for English!!!!"</i> reasons.<br /><br />It's one thing to do an assholish thing for good reasons. To do it just to be an asshole? That's...well, being an asshole.FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-11257786718327079262017-02-22T13:24:29.543-08:002017-02-22T13:24:29.543-08:00And when I say "nastier and far worse" t...And when I say "nastier and far worse" this (http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/alabama-considers-prison-labor-replac) is the kind of thing I'm talking about. Let's rent inmate chain-gangs to farmers who have lost immigrant stoop-labor! What could go wrong?! FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-57242730446168574132017-02-22T10:38:04.671-08:002017-02-22T10:38:04.671-08:00Canada is already seeing an influx of refugees fro...Canada is already seeing an influx of refugees from the USA. Crossing a field in mid-February in North Dakota can be perilous if you are not equipped. We had one fellow cross the border who subsequently lost his fingers. He claims that it is better to be in Canada without fingers than to be in danger in the USA.<br /><br />Needless to say, there is an active debate here on how to deal with the situation. Small towns in Manitoba or Quebec don't really have the resources to deal with a sudden flux of refugees.Aelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10788190394672505925noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-6289786076369913932017-02-22T09:08:48.034-08:002017-02-22T09:08:48.034-08:00"...militarized and expAnded its "Law en..."...militarized and <i><b>expAnded</b></i> its "Law enforcement" establishment to a ridiculous degree."<br /><br />Makes a difference, that "a"...FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-37319489642519927942017-02-22T08:28:02.459-08:002017-02-22T08:28:02.459-08:00On this issue...let's just call me "Trump...On this issue...let's just call me "Trump-curious". <br /><br />;P<br /><br />This has always been a tough discussion for me. In principle I agree that the U.S., like any nation, should be populated predominantly by citizens. Having a relatively large non-citizen minority isn't good, either for the citizens, the non-citizens, or the country as a whole.<br /><br />That said...I think that<br /><br />1) the idea of spending a huge amount of time and money pursuing non-criminal, long-term non-citizens is likely to be a ridiculous waste of both. Far better to figure out a way to integrate those people into the public life of the nation, through a path to citizenship. And<br /><br />2) that the process of pursuing these people is likely to produce some very undesirable side-effects. It will require a fairly far-reaching and intrusive (and, worse, intrusive only to some people in our society; I don't really suspect that as a gray-haired Caucasian that an ICE agent is gonna stop me in Fred Meyer's parking lot to ask <i>"Papieren, bitte!"</i> but the hispanic-looking guy parked next to me..? That's the definition of "unequal justice"...) in a society that has already militarized and expended its "Law enforcement" establishment to a ridiculous degree.<br /><br />AND, as I mentioned above...I think that the end result, for all the human misery, cost, and social disruption, will be a huge nothingburger...other than finding out in small, unpleasant ways just how many things that we take for granted our economy depends on forcing non-citizens to do low-wage tasks we don't want to pay living wages for...FDChiefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10607785969510234092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381917167978264683.post-74133897672137168862017-02-22T07:51:02.909-08:002017-02-22T07:51:02.909-08:00So Jim may be right that you are a Trumpette?So Jim may be right that you are a Trumpette?mikenoreply@blogger.com