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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 12, 2018 - 10:05am PT
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Dirt, with all due respect, while the President’s propensity for self-parody is embarrassing
it doesn’t necessarily affect the meaningful issues. One of those, which seems to be flying
under the sh!thole radar currently, is the future of Social Security. I received a pre-publication
copy of Peter Diamond’s* latest paper. I can’t divulge anything but STAY TUNED cause this
IS important.
*The Nobel doyen of SS
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dirtbag
climber
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Jan 12, 2018 - 12:04pm PT
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Dirt, with all due respect, while the President’s propensity for self-parody is embarrassing
it doesn’t necessarily affect the meaningful issues.
If we had a normal president, this would be true.
But all of the president’s many defects have already greatly affected domestic and foreign policy, in addition to damaging or destroying long established democratic norms of conduct.
I shudder to think how he will react when the sh#t (whatever the sh#t may be) hits the fan.
Trump’s character and fitness are the number one issues for the next theee years, at least.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Jan 12, 2018 - 12:34pm PT
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Trump’s character and fitness are the number one issues for the next theee years, at least.
Not necessarily. I would say there is more than a 10% chance that Trump does not serve all of first term.
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Jan 12, 2018 - 12:35pm PT
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I shudder to think how he will react when the sh#t (whatever the sh#t may be) hits the fan.
On the one hand, I don't really expect the Trump administration to launch a military attack on NK, but if Trump fires Mueller, and needs a major distraction, can you really rule it out?
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Jan 12, 2018 - 05:20pm PT
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Trump can't spell North Korea let alone find it on a map...But he's very stable...
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 12, 2018 - 05:30pm PT
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Oh for fuks sake!!!
You people are insane as Trump .....
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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Jan 12, 2018 - 05:38pm PT
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I would think that the Republican party would love to get rid of Trump to avoid a bloodbath during the mid-term elections. He has caused numerous congressmen to resign. Most notable is Darrel Issa. I would love to see Trump survive long enough to destroy the Republican party
Issa was subjected to to the largest weekly protest in the country. Every Tuesday between 300 and 600 protesters would meet outside his office. he tried all sorts of ways to stop it. he tried to get the the city to revoke the permit, got deputies to ticket cars for every imaginable violation (think wheels not turned in on hill sort of thing) and even tried to rally counter-protesters. Now that he is retiring from the 49th district rumor is he is going after corrupt Duncan hunters seat in the 50th district, the protesters have promised to follow him there.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Jan 12, 2018 - 05:38pm PT
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Trump is terrible; Pence would be worse. Trump's behaviour is unacceptable, and distracts people from the damage that he and his enablers are doing, largely out of sight. These are the people who want to shrink the government, so they can drown it in a bathtub. But Trump is still less effective at doing so than would be Pence, who is ideologically far to the right.
Unfit though he is, it's in everyone's interests that Trump remain in office, preferably as a lame duck, until at least the election later this year. Overall, it will lead to less damage.
Mueller seems likely to recommend charges against at least some of Trump's inner circle/relatives, whether for perjury, income tax evasion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, or treason. The Republicans, putting party ahead of country (unlike in 1974), will do as little as they can to bring Trump to justice, or put a leash on him. (Whether there are any viable charges against Pence being an interesting question.) Although many Republican politicians are increasingly seeing Trump as a liability.
The November election will change things, if the Democrats win one or both houses of Congress. Should they win the house, an immediate motion to impeach seems a certainty. Whether there'd be strong enough grounds to get a 2/3 majority in the senate being the issue. It's possible that the Republicans would at that point cut their losses and cut Trump - if he didn't first resign out of pique.
A Trump impeached if not convicted late in 2018 or early in 2019, and one or both houses in Democratic hands, would limit damage until 2020. Successfully impeaching Trump would bring in Pence, who even facing congressional opposition would create a lot of problems in a year or two.
A wild card would be if Trump developed health problems, which given his age and lifestyle is not unlikely. Whether the cabinet would have the moral fortitude to invoke the 25th amendment being the question then. They seem unlikely to do so based on his mental condition.
The Chinese and Russians must be laughing robustly.
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Lituya
Mountain climber
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Jan 12, 2018 - 05:47pm PT
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Liberal masturbation fantasies require counseling.
I recommend "Madame Secretary" or reruns of "The West Wing."
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Jan 13, 2018 - 07:57am PT
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Trump is terrible; Pence would be worse. Trump's behaviour is unacceptable, and distracts people from the damage that he and his enablers are doing, largely out of sight. These are the people who want to shrink the government, so they can drown it in a bathtub. But Trump is still less effective at doing so than would be Pence, who is ideologically far to the right.
Spot on.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jan 13, 2018 - 11:27am PT
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DMT, interesting you bring up McClintock---previously untouchable. Perhaps not so this time.
I like Jessica Morse, a dem running against him this time.
10 years of experience as a National Security Strategist, a lifelong resident of the foothills.
An Outdoors Woman: Jessica grew up hiking, fishing, and hunting with her family throughout Northern California. An avid backpacker, Jessica has hiked the entire length of California’s 4th district - 500 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from North of Tahoe to Mt. Whitney.
My former business partner was the guy who took over McClintock's Assembly seat when he retired, and I've always thought of McC as a pretty sleazy guy.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jan 13, 2018 - 11:33am PT
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I received a pre-publication
copy of Peter Diamond’s* latest paper.
And what are we to think of what Diamond says? On June 6, 2011 he withdrew his nomination to serve on the Federal Reserve's board of governors, citing intractable Republican opposition for 14 months.
So Republicans---that's YOU---reject his expertise. And now you want everyone to pay attention?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 13, 2018 - 12:56pm PT
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Ken,
You are cordially invited to join my StuporTopo Reading Comprehension Class.
You'll be in good company so don't feel special. In the interest of
being more PC I have thought about naming it the Crankloon Faulty Assumption
Challenged Group but that doesn't roll off the tongue as easily. Perhaps I
should also start a group called Let's Label Everyone Rather Than Address
the Issues but that is also not very poetic. But I digress.
I'm not sure it is OK for me to post a few of the tidbits from said paper
but I will, even at the risk of being labeled overly non-partisan.
First, the bad news. Social Security will hit the wall sometime between
2029 and 2034, but who's counting? If yer under 50-55 you had better be.
Secondly, the good news. Oh, wait, there doesn't appear to be any because
the Democrats are so fixated on making noise than raising awareness of the
important issues that most affect their voting base. And why didn't the
Dems enact meaningful changes to SS to ensure its longevity when they had
a congressional majority? All these problems were foreseeable long ago.
We're talking like 1977 and 1983 when the last major adjustments were
legislated. Nothing happened under Clinton or Obama. Obama got his ACA,
why couldn't he have done something with SS?
Actually, there is a little good news in that there are a couple of proposals
on the table. One is by Sam Johnson, a Republican from Texas. He is the
Chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee of Ways and Means. John Larson
is the ranking Democrat there. Believe it or not they both offer sustainably
solvent solutions. Predictably, the Republican would not be as kind to
recipients as the Demo version but not so heinously as to preclude some
sort of compromise, IMHO.
What is really needed is rational and unemotional discussion (without
name calling, I might add). What I find ironic is that a minor cut in
the Pentagon's budget would go a really long way towards funding SS.
I fear that may shatter Ken M's impression of me as a Trumpite but I'll
try to live with that.
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Jan 13, 2018 - 01:38pm PT
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Remember Al Gore's "Lock Box"- the thing conservatives love to make fun of? The premise was to use our budget surplus to shore up social security and Medicare. How dare he propose holding Revenue out of the markets when it can be doled out in tax cuts for the rich?
Since 1980, Republicans have increased the national debt through tax cuts for the wealthy that have been erroneously billed as GDP steriods and revenue-neutral at worst. What a fuking lie and the theory has been completely debunked by economist. Middle class and destitute dipshits keep falling the same repackaged cat sh!t.
Obama's early years were devastating in terms of deficits- He signed a 700 billion dollar bipartisan bailout, had to pay for two wars and he increased military spending by 200 billion because our Armed forces were at a breaking point. Meanwhile, the treasury was sucking air due to the Great Recession and decreased tax revenue.
Most progressives I know are willing to make hard choices to deal with Social Security and Medicare- but not in the backs of the people who actually need it.
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Yury
Mountain climber
T.O.
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Jan 13, 2018 - 06:08pm PT
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Mighty Hiker:
The Chinese and Russians must be laughing robustly.
Yes, according to Noam Chomsky "Most of the World is Just Collapsing in Laughter on Claims that Russia Intervened in the US Election".
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/03/most-of-the-world-is-just-collapsing-in-laughter-on-claims-that-russia-intervened-in-the-us-election-an-interview-with-noam-chomsky/
"Chomsky: My guess is that most of the world is just collapsing in laughter. Suppose all the charges are true, I mean every single one, it is so amateurish by US standards that you can hardly even laugh. What the US does is the kind of thing I described in Italy in 1948. Case after case like that, not hacking or spreading rumors in the media; but saying look, we’re going to starve you to death or kill you or destroy you unless you vote the way we want. I mean that’s what we do.
Take the famous 9/11, let’s think about it for a minute. It was a pretty awful terrorist act. It could have been a lot worse. Now let’s suppose that instead of the plane being downed in Pennsylvania by passengers, suppose it had hit its target, which was probably the White House. Now suppose it had killed the president. Suppose that plans had been set for a military coup to take over the government. And right away, immediately 50,000 people were killed, 700,000 tortured. A bunch of economists were brought in from Afghanistan, let’s call them the “Kandahar Boys,” who very quickly destroyed the economy, and established a dictatorship which devastated the country. That would have been a lot worse than 9/11. It happened: the first 9/11, it happened on September 11, 1973, in Chile. We did it. Was that interfering or hacking a party? This record is all over the world, constantly overthrowing governments, invading, forcing people to follow what we call democracy, as in the cases I mentioned. As I say, if every charge is accurate, it’s a joke, and I’m sure half the world is collapsing in laughter about this, because people outside the United States know it. You don’t have to tell people in Chile about the first 9/11."
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nah000
climber
now/here
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Jan 13, 2018 - 08:47pm PT
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Yury: +1
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nah000
climber
now/here
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Jan 13, 2018 - 11:47pm PT
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^^^^
yah, i'd say it's more like straight up bigoted argumentation...
which is ironic, as given what i've seen around the political threads, Yury is one of the more thoughtful people posting and is someone who, in general, is respectful and open to discourse, even if he holds polar opposite opinions to the people he's discussing with...
what's that saying about lawyers living in glass houses?
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Jan 14, 2018 - 12:06pm PT
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That's almost a borderline racist/bigoted statement, MH.
Would that be the Russian race?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Outside the Asylum
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Jan 14, 2018 - 12:08pm PT
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So, leaving aside the amusing and ironic question as to whether someone who calls himself Yury is Russian, and whether that is relevant to what he says about Russia...
Has the USA ever influenced or attempted to influence an election in Russia, at least in any way that is proveable? Beyond the usual general vague pieties about democratic norms and such? As DMT says, the USA has often meddled in other countries' elections, sometimes clumsily. And possibly security agencies have done so in Russia, although they're probably careful to cover their tracks. But attempting to overtly influence Russian elections?
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