We have previously discussed how Democrats have rallied around their leaders despite the failure to secure the White House or the Senate. Democratic leaders engineered the primary selection of Hillary Clinton despite polls showing that voters did not want an establishment figure and had deep seated misgivings about Clinton’s honestly and integrity. One of those leaders who has been most criticized over the years has been Nancy Pelosi. Nevertheless, many Democratic members have rallied to her side while younger members are calling for new leadership. Rep. Tim Ryan stepped forward to challenge Pelosi but he is now being denounced as sexist for even daring to challenge Pelosi after years of Democratic losses.
Ian Millhiser, “justice editor” at ThinkProgress, leveled the charge that you must be a sexist to dare to challenge Pelosi even after the losses this year and in prior years by the Democrats. It appears that it is Pelosi’s gender not her record that dictates such a conclusion. Millhiser wrote:
“This thing where an obscure male backbencher thinks he deserves to replace the most accomplished woman in Congress is how sexism works. I’m genuinely curious if anyone can argue why Tim Ryan should replace Pelosi other than ‘she was in the job when something bad happened.’”
I am “genuinely curious” how labeling anyone challenging a female leaders as sexist due to her gender is not itself sexist. Pelosi has long been found to be one of the best known and least liked politicians in Washington — an obvious problem for the leader of any party. Moreover, it is precisely the younger members (or in Millhiser’s view, the “obscure” members) who are calling for change in the Democratic leadership.
Pelosi is clearly a historic figure and deserving of respect for her accomplishment as the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives. However, the dismissal of opposition as necessarily sexist is deeply troubling. There is ample reason for Democratic voters and members to want fresh leadership. After losing what was viewed as highly promising election for the Democrats (in part due to the selection of a candidate that Pelosi pushed), why would it be sexist for some to demand new leadership? After all, Democrats lost 63 seats in 2010 and, while the election of President Obama picked up seats, they were defeated again in 2014. She was retained despite polls that showed her as the least popular figure among the Democratic leadership. Many believe that Pelosi, 76, and other leaders are both unpopular and associated too closely with the ruling establishment in Washington. Some members have grumbled that Pelosi seemed clueless in blaming Comey, millennials and others after predicting on election night an easy win for Clinton, a Democratic takeover of the Senate, and a significant gain of seats in the house. One can certainly argue that Pelosi was not responsible for this defeat, but (given the long decline in the House) it is absurd to dismiss challengers as opposing Pelosi because of her gender.
That brings us back to Ryan from Ohio. I do not know Ryan but it is grossly unfair to label someone a sexist simply because they want a change in leadership.
Ryan has served for 13 years in Congress.
What do you think?
And so it goes in our politically correct society. If one challenges a “minority” in any way, they are deemed whatever bigot type that minority represents. No longer do we attempt to communicate and understand one another. Each minority has their words which “offend” and all others should know they are offensive. They would rather be offended and in a constant state of playing the victim that to sit down and converse. To do so requires listening.
Since various non sequiturs have led to Trump, as all roads do today, there’s been something on my mind. If this is too far in the weeds, or leads to unproductive quarrels, then please delete.
The typical Progressive (as opposed to Moderate Democrat) play is to ascribe subhuman or evil tendencies in various ad hominem attacks on anyone who disagrees with them on anything (including as the original post pants out, other Progressives). So the rumor got started that Donald Trump, the first sitting President with a Jewish first family, is anti semitic, as ridiculous as that sounds. It all started with a meme in which no Jewish person was even obliquely referenced, in a confusion of symbology. The 6 pointed star has multiple symbologies, including a sheriff badge and the beloved Star of David, which has a history of being used in anti semitic messaging. Even though the meme indicated that Hillary Clinton was corrupt for accepting pay to play cash from the Middle East, the Microsoft Text box used was the Sheriff Badge, a 6 pointed star. The assumption was made that it was anti semitic, and no effort whatsoever was made to discover intent, or if Donald Trump actually has any negative feelings for Jewish people, whether in his own family or elsewhere. There is the intent of whomever created the meme, and there is the intent of his campaign staff who forwarded it. The rumor took off like wildfire until it became accepted that Trump definitely was anti semitic.
Anti-semitism is such a severe charge, which can absolutely ruin someone’s life, especially if they have Jewish friends or relatives. One must be as sure as death that the charge is actually true before repeating any rumors. As we have seen, such accusations are inflammatory, bringing up intense hurt and agony over the Holocaust and centuries of deadly anti-semitism. This is why such accusations should have been very carefully assessed for validity, before they were passed on. We’ve all seen real antisemitic memes when various trolls have posted here. It’s not like you can misunderstand them, which made the original Trump meme far more ambiguous in intent.
The result has been:
1. A rash of hoaxes in which desperate people trying to avoid the death they fully expect because of all these rumors, including a Muslim woman claiming she was attacked, and various Swastikas and Nazi flags displayed, which were actually signs of protest from anti-Trump people.
2. The fringe minority of anti-semitic and racist people, universally despised, in this country, might actually believe the rumors themselves, and act out on them with bona fide Nazi slogans and other anti-Semitism. In effect, the propagation of the false anti-semitic public awareness campaign actually caused some acts of anti-semitism, both real and hoax.
3. As the above 2 unfold, the rumor gets more traction. People become hysterical and literally threaten to commit suicide on national TV while hyperventilating. Rinse, and repeat.
To show the different symbology for the 6 pointed star:
Here is a link to the traditional, universally recognized Star of David, which is usually drawn with its intersecting lines: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Star_of_David.svg
And here are hundreds of examples of law enforcement badges in the shape of a 6 pointed star: https://www.google.com/search?q=lapd+badge+is+a+6+pointed+star&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQvKaZsb3QAhXBiSwKHZllDjMQsAQIGw&biw=1280&bih=739
Just something to think about if you hear this rumor. On the one hand, there are these different meanings. On the other, people expect you to believe that Trump, with a sizable number of Jewish relatives, decided to purposely post something antisemitic. Which makes more sense?
Maybe we can calm the mob down before they cause too much (more) carnage.
Pelosi seems to be emulating mid-century congressional barons who stuck around way past their sell-by date. (e.g Joseph Martin, Leslie Arends, and Robert Michel among Republicans; Sam Rayburn and John McCormick among Democrats). In the other chamber, you have these octogenarian characters like Richard Lugar and John McCain who have life expectencies of 10 years or so who seem to want to spend it fartin’ around in Congress. I have no understanding of such people.
What do you think?
Nancy Pelosi is another in a long line of tone-deaf political hacks on both sides of the aisle who have done this nation a great deal of damage by foisting their unconstitutional and delusional ideals upon American citizens for decades.
It is time to bring the trash out where it belongs — the curb (or if there is evidence in a jail cell).
What the nation needs are viable alternatives to the Republican/Democrat duopoly that has bankrupted the nation and sent our sons/daughters off to fight/torture/kill/die in their elective wars based wholly upon lies. A political party that represents Main Street above Wall Street and defense contractors.
Nancy Pelosi and her Republican/Democrat ilk = fail.
@Darren Smith and Prof. Turley
Here is a tip on a story. An excerpt, and a link to the full article:
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I realize this is an unpopular POV in the U.S., however I’m putting it out there: I don’t understand why prostitution is not legalized as it is in most Western European countries. Like it or not that profession will always be around. Regulation protects the health of the sex workers as well the “johns” to contain the spread of STDs. Sure there will always be an illicit trade in flesh, but at least those who are registered can seek medical and legal remedies.
I think it’s a plot by Nevada to maintain their tourist trade …..
Easy answer. It comes under the US Constitution Amendments 9 and 10. Powers not granted. It’s not a power granted to the federal government. As for the States take your pick, there are 50 of them. o p
The key issue is not ‘sex trade employees’ it is Citizens that haven’t looked at the basic hand book of citizenship – The Constitution or if they have looked cherry pick and that also won’t work.
It’s a whole document and includes something called Amendments. Useful portion.
Why it’s no longer taught is uncertain but then education is a power not granted under the same Bill of Rights.
To put it in modern terms, other than your State it’s ‘nobodies business.’
I find that to be peculiar with the Declaration it’s only 5,000 words. Not much longer than an average in depth article on most subjects.
So Pelosi has a hissy fit, typical of all politicians, entertainers, those with egos. The response from the dupes on this blog is appropriate for those in a state of shame, deflecting the attention. While, Trump is moving against the free speech of the media that exposes his shameful, conceited, megalomaniac, lying, cheating, self. Stay tuned as Trump goes Putin and then Erdogan. Where’s your antennae Turley.
I’m sticking with Third Eagle’s “Doom & Gloom” tour. Kanye West needs a new gig. He blew a fuse.
That was a very poor job of unsuccessfully trying to reframe. As A Lykoff/Sorista agent you need to go buy more of their books and this time read them. So having refused your radical reasoning, reframing and redefining your are left with? Nothing. How does it feel to have your own system turned against you?
Objectivism wins over Subjectivism every time.
No diversion here the subject remains the same
Prove it. Back it up, provide facts, sources, cites and sites? Or go back to crying in the safe spot sand pile
Yawn…. but free speech–that’s funny! Thanks Issac!
DONALD TRUMP PERSONALLY BLASTS THE PRESS
http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/donald-trump-personally-blasts-the-press
First came the obsessive Twitter rants directed at “Hamilton” and “Saturday Night Live.” Then came Monday’s astonishing aria of invective and resentment aimed at the media, delivered in a conference room on the twenty-fifth floor of Trump Tower. In the presence of television executives and anchors, Trump whined about everything from NBC News reporter Katy Tur’s coverage of him to a photograph the news network has used that shows him with a double chin. Why didn’t they use “nicer” pictures?
For more than twenty minutes, Trump railed about “outrageous” and “dishonest” coverage. When he was asked about the sort of “fake news” that now clogs social media, Trump replied that it was the networks that were guilty of spreading fake news. The “worst,” he said, were CNN (“liars!”) and NBC.
This is where we are. The President-elect does not care who knows how unforgiving or vain or distracted he is. This is who he is, and this is who will be running the executive branch of the United States government for four years.
The over-all impression of the meeting from the attendees I spoke with was that Trump showed no signs of having been sobered or changed by his elevation to the country’s highest office. Rather, said one, “He is the same kind of blustering, bluffing blowhard as he was during the campaign.”
That pitiful attempt at reframing was more pathetic the other one. LMAO Rejected with no change.
Three strikes your out. I hear Yoda is doing a new version of Don’t See The Elephant this time entitled Don’t See The Elephant for Dummies with a price increase. You should be first in line. Or consider attending an on campus course but bring your own dunce cap. Failed again. What is lower than an “F” grade? “S.”
Three strikes! You’re out!
“So Pelosi has a hissy fit, typical of all politicians, entertainers, those with egos. The response from the dupes on this blog is appropriate for those in a state of shame, deflecting the attention. While, Trump is moving against the free speech of the media that exposes his shameful…”
~+~
Did you just goof-up your own narrative? The topic was about Pelosi and then you deflected to Trump. Who’s the dupe now?
LOL Darren! I’d say you were not supposed to notice but that would imply Issac has the capacity for self-reflection. He called it…dupe fits.
If you noticed the trend or actually only path open is to try and reframe and or redefine. The one constant and consistent result is the individual has an unbroken record of ….as you said….failures. He must have been one of Lakoffs rejects and thus joins a very large group.
All that’s needed is reject whatever return to the actual point of the conversation and demand proof of the wilder statements. After all ithey are only a reflection of what he sees in the mirror with an attempted name change.
This is my problem with Progressivism compared with moderate Democrats. The hallmark of a Progressive is ad hominem attacks. Criticize Obama’s policies? You are racist. Criticize Obamacare? You don’t care about access to healthcare for the poor. Criticize a female Democratic politician? You are sexist. Heck, they even claim that women who vote for Trump are misogynistic against themselves.
It’s a lazy habit which erodes critical thinking or discussion.
Live by the ad hominem sword, then die by it, as Tim Ryan has discovered for himself.
Any Democrat who thinks they are Progressive, ask yourself if you support Free Speech, even when it’s bad, individual rights, and tolerate conservative politics among your friends. If you answered yes to any of the above, you are not a Progressive, and in fact your views would meet violent opposition amongst Progressives.
That hits it on the head Karen. Coming from the inbred Appalachian here. Oh, and sorry I voted.
KarenS – Demoncrats with very few exceptions are NOT Progressives. they are brain dead Liberals. The Progressive Democrats such as Tulsi Gabbard and Tim Canova were shunned by the Party.
Large I not i. I am a practioner of egoism while not the slightest bit egotistical. -:)
As good as place as any to offer some observations gathered from across the media, the real media, and the various researchers such as Rasmussen and Pew.
How do citizens view a one party government?
My thought was …why not? They have had it under …at the least… Bush,Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush, Obeyme and Obeyme – emphasis on the last. eight of twenty eight years.
i call it the Government Party made up of two faces Clintonistas and Secular Progressives on the far left and Republicans in name Only as their right wing.
Have you noticed the immediate call for inclusive another name for cross partisanship or bi partisanship by the losers?
Have you noticed the immediate call for re-instituting ‘earmarking’ another name for pork politics by the RINO’s?
Have you seen the almost immediate resurgence of the RINO’s caving to the left in Congress?
Actually they never caved to the left – they are the right wing of the left.
So it’s no wonder there exists not big deal attitude to a one party system. The attitude consists of the possibility of the right wing of the left taking control of the left instead of the left wing of the left.
What’s it all about Alfie?
It means work at the grass roots level, the foundation of our two part system using the principles of representative democracy principles where the individual vote counts directly. That’s where the delegates to the second tier in State and Federal Government are found. Upholding the original idea of self government instead of government by by government. over citizens.
I suggest targets on the right side of the left, in the primaries for 2018 are those incumbents who called for re-instituting pork barrel slop trough earmarking. The 2018 primaries and general election is a key and important part of the system. I am not suggesting let an new candidate who is of the extreme left slip through the cracks -Pelosi’s replacement for example – but an honest candidate who understands the center of a Constitutional Republic is the Constitution.
Often marginalized as off year it should be treated as a second attack on the major proponents of a single party system featuring a socialist autocracy. Phase II.
In the meantime if you don’t have recall – get it. Same with the initiative. Recalls and initiatives are marvelously effective weapons in sucking drying the resources meant for regular campaigning and ‘other purposes.’ Especially until Money As Free Speech is defeated
I suggest looking at Arizona where New Yorker or Curacao citizen George Soros contributed three million dollars under that ruling. Do you think citizens are given the same courtesy as are corporations, unions, and billionaires? Bingo use it to advantage. Perhaps Koch’s or Waltons or others might contribute ten million or so to some worthy candidate in Napa County California?
It’s political judo. Use their privileges not afforded to regular folks against them. At the least deplete their savings for 2020.
But as for a one party system of government? We are not done reclaiming the two or more party system.
As pointed out so many times, Nancy knows when the pendulum starts swinging. The horror.
When all else fails, use ad hominems.
The sexist label is just that, in this case.
The writer couldn’t otherwise denounce or reason his way to convince others why Nancy over Tim.
At the risk of falling into the same category, I read Ian as an ACOA candidate. Ever experience somebody who over reacts when an outsider criticizes the adult alcoholic…parent or sibling?
As a over 50 while male who happens to live in one of those red states and for years voted democratic I changed a few years back because the democrats simply didn’t have a clue.(the republicans aren’t much better) We have been beat up for years over anytime we had question on a new social problem we got hammered over it. We get accused of everything under the sun. We are not all of those “charming ” things people call us. What we are is tired of being the scapegoat for all the problems of the country. We get hit with Roe V. Wade on a regular basis. The fact is “Roe” is not going anywhere. Being a states right person my problem with “Roe” is i have never believed that the High Court should have touched the issue. This democrats need to be real careful of how the deal with the issue of who they pick? I don’t know but I do know that if they continue down this path they will pay for it if they don’t have new leadership.
Good post Duke!
Since Duke is such a states rights person, I hope he will support any state that wants to ban private ownership of guns too. Think that will pass muster? The problem is that the Constitution does not allow states to take away RIGHTS that are guaranteed under it. The right to privacy is one of the most fundamental rights that is the whole point of all of the features of it. Thus allowing any state to deny the right to vote, the right to freedom of speech, or press is illegal as well. The states used to ban birth control which is where the Griswold decision decided that this right is fundamental to the Constitution. States so called rights cannot be used as a shield to destroy our freedoms as was the case when I was growing up.The call for state rights was the excuse that was used to keep black Americans as virtual slaves in the USA. It is a call to racism and oppression, NOT one of freedom, unless you think that the freedom to own another person is a good idea.
The Democrats are tone deaf. The “I’m a woman” credential was apparently not sufficient to get Hillary elected and I suspect the base of the party feels the same way towards Pelosi. The Democrats will be doing the Republicans a solid if they decide to continue with Pelosi as leader.
This is another example of Turley ignoring FAR more important things. Those are the fascist group that just held its meeting in the Reagan building, rather appropriate too I must say. Then the large increase in hate crimes against minorities, a plan to register all Muslim immigrants. The increase in attacks has grown enough so that Cuomo felt the need to establish a task force to look at the increase. While it is obvious that Pelosi needs to go, this hardly merits discussion here when there are far more important legal causes to discuss. Such as the Kansas legislature requiring impeachment of any KS Supreme Court justice who rules against the legislature. Then also in Kansas the attempt to vote out FIVE justices so that the Guv Brownbeck could pack it with his own people. Does anybody doubt that this is a REAL threat to our governmental forms? Pelosi is just a side show which has little significance to anybody other than Democratic party members of Congress. She has been called by some Republican leaders as one of the best Speakers in our history when she had the post. She is old enough to take care of herself, and what ONE or two fools say is of little consequence. This is of a kind when Turley tried to make a great noise about ONE Yale prof out of nearly one THOUSAND profs who gave his students a pass because of the election of Trump. YEAH! That sure makes it a BIG threat to academic rigor! GIVE US A BREAK!
In case you haven’t noticed, there is a slow-motion coup d’etat happening in this country. Lately, it has not been all that slow. As for Turley, he used to be something of a centrist, but he is moving farther and farther to the right, and as a result the composition of the commenters to this blog site have moved to the right as well.
Jay, It’s simply the pendulum. When I got here 4 years ago it was left of MSNBC. The left commenters currently here need some more intellectual honesty, wit and humor; like yourself, SteveG, Autumn, and a few others. Most of the left are like the Canadian and flyboy Randy, writing tedious and humorless polemics.
Autumn supports Trump and Bannon. Don’t consider that left.
Autumn is giving Trump a chance, like Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie. Autumn is a free thinker, not an ideologue.
Today Bernie said Trump’s infrastructure plan is a “scam” and will not be working with him on it.
Autumn is a Bernieorbuster. A Jill Stein voter who considers Trump to be less dangerous than HRC. Like most Progressives our motto was / is “HRC has done bad things” whereas “Trump has said bad things” So we are relieved that HRC lost and hope that Trump gets at least a few good things accomplished and continues to wreak the status quo GOPers. As far as Bannon I have no opinion. I think it is a good sign that Trump met with Tulsi – her own party treated her so horribly.
In the meantime I am watching and laughing gleefully as the Demoncrats reconstruct their house of cards built around the same craven players pushing independents even further away.
Very Breitbart friendly for a progressive…… Tulsi is a friend of Bannon’s so probably met for show. My bet is she gets nothing.
Well, I try to be polite and not call people names, even if I disagree with them.
Thanks Nick for all the kind words! I am trying to stay out of a box and read across the spectrum. This blog is one of the best IMO.
As someone here for more than 4 years, I wouldn’t say the blog was ever extreme left either in authorship or commentary. Rather, it reflected criticism of the times which were decidedly too Right-wing with free speech zones, unnecessary wars and torture. Now the national pendulum has swung too far Left with college safe areas, civil unreasonable and PC attacks on free speech and tgerefore the criticisms come from the Right. It’s a natural progression. I find the views centrist for most commenters with a few notable exceptions. Most here seem to get it and stay fact-based as opposed to ideologically driven.
Well-said Mespo. Pretty much sums it up. I am basically using the same arguments I had for the W crowd, but I don’t wear the right team jersey. Interesting.
I believe you give JT far more power than he actually has. Slow-motion, yes. However I believe this blog is more of a reflection of the world moving underneath him; kind of how the Hawaiian Islands were formed.
They used to throw virgins into the volcano, to stop the eruptions. But then they ran out of virgins…. [snark]
No they didn’t! The virgins just wised up and took themselves out of contention for the honor! You silly nene!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Hmmm. Maybe Turley is getting older, and starting to think about things in a different way. That is a natural process. As you get older, you tend to get more conservative because you get smarter, and have seen more. SJWs on the other hand, are young, and most have never raised any kids, or tried to maintain stable employment long enough to get kids thru college, or get the 30 year mortgage paid off. What seems like a wonderful idea at age 22, don’t seem too wonderful when you are 42, and even less wonderful at 52, 62, etc.
As far as the commenters becoming more “right”, no you are wrong. I first came here when many of the posters were simply partisan shills for the DNC and all things Democratic. Because of people like me and others getting in their faces and confronting them, the place stopped being a left wing echo chamber. It’s kind of hard to preach the Democratic Black Victimology stuff when people keep pointing out the 72% illegitimate birth rate, and start putting up charts showing how that stuff kicked off when the Democratic Great Society silliness began. That kind of response starts to make the shills look like what they are – – – shills.
Many of those people migrated to safe places where they did not have to face inconvenient truths. Which is pretty much the pattern across the Internet, which is why Twitter and FaceBook have to intervene to support the liberal narratives. IMHO.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Another way of putting it is we moved back to the Constiutional Center and away from the left wing extremist center and it’s false definitions. Color them neo feudalistic neo aristocratic establishment leadership class in what they claim is a classless society.
I am perfectly happy seeing a return to a solid foundation and base of direct vote representative democratic principles supporting duly elected delegates to a Constitutional Republic with the self governing citizens as the ultimate and supreme source of power over government.
Viva La contra revolucion.
i know retire to read your wit and wisdom…
Just to stir up the pot, I have a theory: As Squeeky says, “As you get older, you tend to get more conservative.” And as you get older, you tend to get crankier and crabbier. My theory is that this is a precursor to something like Alzheimer’s. Perhaps, long before you become forgetful, you lose your capacity for compassion….
(I hope someone will write, “I am not cranky! I am not crabby.”)
I don’t think that you lose your capacity for compassion, but I think you learn how to temper your compassion with common sense. Since you like older “films”, here is a short one!
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3g21gd
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Jay re: “And as you get older, you tend to get crankier and crabbier.” Depends on the individual. Just had lunch with my friend’s mum – she is 83, a lifelong Republican conservative. She used to be overly judgemental and dour – a Southern lady who thought I was suspect – outspoken Euro white trash in a mini skirt who threatened the virtue of her son. And I found her to be a frightening representative of the Olde Guard.
Now, 25 years later we are good friends despite our differences – we have discovered that we are both are readers, culture vultures, dislike political correctness and share a dark sense of humor.
So, people can always open their minds and change.
Squeek: re “SJWs on the other hand, are young, and most have never raised any kids, or tried to maintain stable employment long enough to get kids thru college, or get the 30 year mortgage paid off. What seems like a wonderful idea at age 22, don’t seem too wonderful when you are 42, and even less wonderful at 52, 62, etc.”
Alas I must disagree – I only wish that were true – one could excuse their misplaced zeal due to inexperience and youthfulness. I know too many SJWs – especially members of my former church – who are wearing safety pins and still crying over HRC’s loss. Age ranges from 28 to 78! =)
flyboy, You preface almost every one of your polemics telling JT how to run HIS blog. The internet is open to all. Start your own blog and quit whining.
No. Request Denied.
Objectivism wins over subjectivism and the moderate center does not allow you to describe yourself and ascribe it to another.
It is the left and right wing extremists (all 123 hermits and 321 anarchists) that need to go.
Pelosi seems to be the only female leader left even if the face she puts on the democratic party is too elitist for my taste. Pres, VP, Majority Leader and Speaker are all male republicans. With Clinton out the way, demonization of Pelosi will increase I predict.
I continued to be puzzled by the “elitist” label. Just what are the symptoms of this elitism, that bother you?
Her very wealthy San Francisco demeanor has caused many to consider her an elitist. The same obviously does not apply to a male New York billionaire. lol
You mean, being educated is elitist? Or should she talk like she is a bartender on the poor side of town?
I don’t think she is that well educated. Her image has become that of an extremely pampered woman that does not give a damn about working people.
Why are you switching the subject to Hillary? I thought we were talking about Pelosi?
Re “elitism”: I watch a lot of old movies from the 1930s and 1940s on TCM. For example, the Thin Man series with William Powell and Myrna Loy or Fred Astaire musicals. Back then, being educated and refined was considered a virtue, not a handicap or a sin. Somehow, rural Southern culture has now become the ideal. I wonder why?
Re Kate’s comment above, I think it used to be that “working people” wanted to emulate the elite. But not anymore. I wonder why?
They gave billionaire ivy league educated Trump a pass. Guess there is a deep desire to live in golden palaces.
Inspiration, maybe? I believe that most folks aspire to better themselves. Using someone at the top as inspiration, may be very healthy
I also watch those movies, and I think you are wrong about education/refinement not being portrayed as a handicap. For example, My Man Godfrey. Which you can watch in full, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiSjeLhg25w
There are many more, such as It Happened One Night, where once again the “bubbled” sophisticate is pricked. Check into “comedy of manners.” Wiki has a good blurb on it. Plays have been written for thousands of year describing the foibles of various social classes, usually the upper classes. I would submit that the whole concept of a court jester, was to act as a counterpoint to the sophistication of the ruling class.
The problem is NOT that either education or refinement is bad, but that many people who are educated and refined have an over-inflated sense of their intelligence and worth. They tend to “bubble up” and then end up saying dumb things like, “Let them eat brioche!” (Which is a bread like pastry. Not really cake.)
On top of their inflated egos, the upper classes often HATE the lower classes. I notice that in a lot of liberal Democrats, that they absolutely hate southerners, rednecks, bitter clingers, etc. Actual real live hate and disgust.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Great post Squeek!
That’s why an earlier comment referred to West Coast, East Coast, and “BubbaLand”. Total scorn for anyone not like them.
@Olly
Thanks!
@FoxtrotS
How true. They scorn us deplorables but can you imagine NYC without deplorable truck drivers bringing in food. Or deplorable plumbers keeping their water and sewage flowing. Or deplorable wood cutters providing the lumber for their Starbucks cups.
I’m starting to feel like a Morlock???)
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Very soon, the deplorable truck drivers and the deplorable plumbers and the deplorable wood cutters are going to be replaced by self-driving trucks, self-fixing pipes, and (who knows?) robotic Paul Bunyans to chop the trees.
Something that has not gotten enough press, is the extent that automation is squeezing the job market into extinction. Companies always want fewer employees, even though they want more customers. That this is a logical disconnect does not seem to occur to people.
If Trump really wants to create blue-collar jobs, he needs to find some way to coerce companies into being less efficient…..
And while we’re at it, white-collar jobs are going to go away, for the same reasons. Perhaps the company of the future will consist of a CEO with a smartphone.
Economics 101 would have helped. You sound like the wooden shoe makers, the knit and weave by hand loom crows, and the buggy whip for Studebakers set.
Exactly the opposite happens and it’s only negative is to those who live in the past. For those who are prepared for the future the job market increases and so do wages. But it requires getting a real education and living in the real world.
You completely missed the relationship between employment, wages, spending power, demands for more goods and services and the production of same. You should read Steve Jobs for one. Economics In One Lesson another and A Capitalist Manifesto for a third.
The course is offered at no charge at Hillsdale.edu along with many others.
Now let’s follow what happens when $15 minimum (except for the rise in taxes). Employer says you three are not productive enough to earn your own salary which including the whole package is actually $30 an hour. Johnny and Joannie however are producing $50 to $100 an hour. I shall add some machinery and benefit their employees to increase the output of J&J and advise them to send their children to a school which teaches something useful for jobs with a future.
You however may go to the UNemployment office and the Welfare Office. That’s run by the same people that just got you laid off. Good Luck. You are always welcome back ….as a customer. Your other choice is go to your union. We’re reducing to below 50 per dindividuall owned franchised LLC. The rules don’t apply to us nor their costs.
With the savings J&J will get full benefits and make enough to send their children to a decent school.
Thus the realistic cycle – barring government interference – prevails automatically providing as Wolfram wrote the miracle ot the exact amount of bagels needed in ‘NYC each and every morning.
It’s called Market Capitalism and is how social programs are funded.
Or we will move across the street into the next town or county or state or…..close the doors. We to have choices and working for nothing or less than nothing is not one of them.
My view is that “economics 101” is being rendered obsolete. To a degree never seen before, we do not need very many people, (and fewer still in the future) in order to manufacture all the goods and services required and desired. This is why the wooden show maker analogy breaks down. If some new product is invented, it will not take many people to produce and distribute that new product. Back in that day, a new product was not produced very efficiently, resulting in many new jobs via that inefficiency.
Not only that, the resulting economic gains will fall to fewer and fewer people. The asymptotic end state (to borrow a phrase from physics and math) is that a very few will own any significant property. This is the view laid out in Thomas Piketty’s book “Capital in the Twenty-First Century.”
Ultimately, I believe, in order to prevent mass social unrest, an increasing fraction of the population will have to be supported by direct government subsidies. If there are no manufacturing jobs, and no service jobs, what else is there?
“If Trump really wants to create blue-collar jobs, he needs to find some way to coerce companies into being less efficient…..”
Jay,
And what employer excels the most in inefficiency……..government.
Oh boy, were doomed!
Jay,
You stated “If Trump really wants to create blue-collar jobs, he needs to find some way to coerce companies into being less efficient…”
This is how a government hires more workers. A company hires more workers by having a growing call for his product which requires an economy which finds the climate right to purchase. ‘Tis the old story of supply and demand…
No, in the future companies will NOT hire more workers in order to respond to a growing product demand, unless companies are coerced into being less efficient. The old story of supply and demand will become obsolete. And so…. I predict that sometime in the future, we will all work for the government, or starve.
It’s what the War for Independence was all about. And now half the country wants to go back? Stupid is as Stupid does and wait until they start press ganging navy crews. Whoops i forgot that’s called the draft and it’s still on the books ready to go. Worse 18 year old kids sign up for it voluntarily without a thought. Hint. That signature is good until age 45 Those kids which now will include women ha ha ha change their status from potential draftee to volunteer awaiting reporting orders. As for more stupid the income tax is a fascist tax used to control what you earned.
Squeeky –
Just so you don’t LOOK like a Morlock !
Oh no. I am an Eloi in looks. They did have brunette Elois, didn’t they??? Or were they all blondes???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I looked first at photos from the movie and they were not all blonde. I have it running on computer two now to make sure.
Eloi in the book by HG Wells were descendents of the idle rich who lived the good life provided by the Morlocks – until dinner time.
Eloi is also a word in Catalan as Eloy a name for babies in Spanish and as Elon a man’s name.
And prior to that in Hebrew mean El or God (one source thinks Aramaic might have had an influence.
From it comes the Spanis El for Senor or Mr. and for religion El Dios. THE God.
Through the Catalan language which is influenced by both Spanish and French came the French Creole version of Ilois ilois currently used by descendents of former employees of the British in the Chagos Archipelago and prior to that after being freed by the British former slaves brought in from, primarily, Seychelles and Mauritius. Also used by a group of developers to claim citizenship rights for those descendents – since repatriated with both start up money and continuing aid – in an area that has and never had citizens. Now called the BIOT or British Indian Ocean Territory .
Chagos Archipelago is the last and most vast nature preserve dedicated to preservation from destruction by mankind or non native species.
The only inhabited portion is Diego Garcia which is leased to the US Government for pre-position ships of both military and human disaster relief missions. The funds to continue the main preservation mission comes from that one source.
Britain maintains a Governor and a protective presence to that end.
The former slaves then employees had a village area which includes a graveyard of their ancestors. Annually a ship is provided to bring family members back for religious services.
A far better outcome than the depradations of Club Med and Starkist.
As to who are Eloi and who are Morlocks? One would have to ask Mr. J. Verne.
PS Seven times there and stays of up to four months most of the time… it’s in the Indian Ocean about 7 degrees south of the equator and 76 as i recall degrees East Latitude The Archipelago is part of a geologically sometimes above sometimes below water ridge that runs from the tip of india towards Madagascar.
Thank you for the analysis!
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Kate,
I am struck by how Democrats call truth telling: “demonization”. She is a bad person who has done a lot of very evil things. If you want to call that “demonization” of course that’s your right. However, it’s really a shame that Democrats refuse to take an honest look at the “leaders” you have elected and stood up for all these years. You have stood up for murderers and torturers. That’s never been a problem to most of the people in your party. To my mind, that is both sad and destructive. If Democrats can’t be honest about what is happening in your party, you will get no where and you help drag down the rest of our nation by supporting illegal and immoral actions just because they are committed by “your” side.
What are these “evil things,” specifically? Do you have a list? Or just innuendo?
There’s a video, condemned as a blatant lie by leaders of the Catholic Church (and backed up w/a litany of documentation) where Pelosi claims the Catholic Church has OK’d abortion. This is like stating some Jewish group approved of the Judaic WW2 deaths.
Whilst traitor Bush was President, Pelosi labeled him a war monger, war criminal, torturer, hater of Mexican Immigrants, destroyer of the US economy for raising the debt, condemned for Guantanamo, etc. Once little cute Baby Black Jesus Obama is POTUS, who lied about ending the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, lied about closing Guantanamo, utterly destroyed Libya (converting it into an IS cesspool), converted Syria into rubble by arming rebels in another failed regime change (US military intervention and arms proliferation throughout Syria and Libya directly caused 6M refugees and several hundred die per week now trying to escape,,,,Germany and Netherlands are decimated by Muslim immigrants causing growth of the same type of US Nationalism), oversaw and lied about the demolition of Constitutional liberties, murdered via drone strike 16 year old American Anwar Al-Awlaki, maintains legality of his extra-judicial Private Kill List of American citizens, doubles Bush’s debt increase, Pelosi says not a peep, IOW, it’s all good! Ditto, when a Planned Parenthood executive casually converses about selling aborted fetus parts, and Pelosi totally defends this, that is pure evil and nothing else.
Pelosi is also a primary promoter of tax payer funded abortion through the third trimester, for any age female, without parental consent or knowledge, as long as no body part of the fetus is exposed beyond the vagina, which has killed about 60M fellow Americans, half of which were females. A zygote is one cell meeting the definition of a human being. Further, because a zygote comprises the 46 chromosomes common only to a human being, including male or female gender, any woman pregnant w/a male zygote carries her own female DNA and the different but partly shared male DNA of the human being zygote in her womb. If the zygote is not a separate and distinct human being, then how does the woman explain the fact that her body carries the separate and distinct (though partly shared) DNA of a human being of the opposite gender? If a zygote comprises every single quality exclusive to a human being distinct from the mother, exactly and specifically does anyone claim the right to define it as non-human?
If you fall back on the only existent crutch, being the definition of the Federal Court, then do admit that if the court repents, re-examines the scientific evidence, and claims the Right to Life of the zygote, then do please admit you shall respect this decision and confront the fact we have legally killed 60M fellow Americans.
Isn’t there something in the news today, about the Pope saying that women who have abortions can be forgiven?
(a Catholic friend of mine wants to “impeach the Pope.” Not sure how that can work ….)
Jay, you got your list. Shouldn’t you say “thank you”?
Let me demonstrate the reality of which party are the war mongers. WWi, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Kosovo, Bush II AFTER the RINOS joined the left, and of course 8 years of non stop war under Obama.
Care to add up the death toll Pelosi and Company have been responsible for causing. As any soldier knows try never to go to war under a Socialist Progressive President the odds of coming back not in a body bag are SINCE the end of WWII are 18 to 1.
Objectivism wins out over wishful thinking and fairy tail subjectivism every time and the statistics are easily found in any Times Almanac.
It’s the same party can’t live up to their oath of office.
Check out the two thirds majority of the active duty ‘combat arms’ personnel who voted against Klinton.
That is objectivism at work.
The fundamental difference here is that I don’t believe that zygotes are “persons” or “fellow Americans.” Just because you think so, and the Pope thinks so, doesn’t mean that everyone thinks so. The notion behind Roe v Wade is that personhood does not switch on like a light bulb, but develops over the full 9 month gestation. And that for the first trimester, the woman’s interests prevail. The last trimester, the fetus’ rights prevail. In the middle, open for discussion.
As for the 46 chromosome argument – so what? Is one of my sperm cells half a person?
Calling her a bad leader is one thing but calling her a “she devil” that needs to be hung or burned at the stake is another. That is what I demonizing.
I agree. The Devil would be embarassed. However since Clinton the Wicked Witch of the Left AKA WWotL or Waddle is out of action how about Wicked Witch of the West? pronounced WOTw? or What?
Not that Pelosillyni is not an embarassment to the left but then Benita would hit a double and Benita Pelosillyni-Reid a triple
Much batter than insulting religons which is bigotry.
-:)
It’s a good thing that commenters on this blog don’t resort to name-calling …..
Pelosi the best thing that ever happened
To the Republican Party.
Please stay.
LOL and as a member of the real Left that’s so true. Thanks
Pelosi doesn’t need to step down. As I understand the process, the Democrat members of Congress choose their leader. Having a choice between two (or more) is a good thing. Having Pelosi retain her position because she is female is sexist. She needs to defend her position against a challenger, thereby showing that she has the support of at least a plurality of the members of her party.
“I am ‘genuinely curious’ how labeling anyone challenging a female leaders as sexist due to her gender is not itself sexist.”
Seems to hit the nail smack dab on the head.
She also hails from California. People on the West Coast and East Coast think their feces don’t stink.
They don’t ! And what’s more, we have indoor plumbing ….
Jay, I’m reading some disgruntled voters[and nonvoters like the Hamilton cast!] want to secede. I spend winters in San Diego. There is SO MUCH good about that beautiful state. Some fiscal responsibility would be in order.
Someone said this about “indoor plumbing,” and it really struck me, especially because it appears to be true: no invention has changed the course of mankind and quality of life as much as indoor plumbing.
On a related matter, approximately 50% of India’s population defecate outdoors.
Maybe that’s why some of them are “untouchable” !
More seriously, the cultural divide has deepened to such an extent that I finally have come around to the notion that the country should split into two (or three). West Coast, East Coast, and Bubbaland. Since the coasts heavily subsidize the center through government payments, it would be instructive to see how the center could manage economically. Minnesota and Chicago might have to join Canada, though.
Colorado and New Mexico are okay places too. Minnesota might gladly join Canada.
Jay,
Spoken like one who has only flown over “Bubbaland” and, like Pelosi & friends, has no clue about what makes up the vast quilt below them – flyover country. BTW, we will gladly forgo government payments for a recall of regulations and a cessation of butting into our business.
Au contraire, I was born, raised, and went to school in downstate Illinois. Many of my relatives still live there.
I have to tell this story: Many years ago, my wife and I were visiting family in Illinois. A staple of small-town life there is that every morning, especially on weekends, the local farmers get together at a long table in a restaurant for breakfast and small-talk, which mostly consists of railing against those East-Coast Liberals. One particular morning my wife and I were at the same restaurant also, off to the side, listening to the increasingly vociferous hubbub. I turned to my wife and said, “Should I or shouldn’t I?” She replied, “I don’t know you !!” I decided to do it: I got up, went over and plunked myself amidst the farmers and said, “I’m one of those East-Coast Liberals! How the hell are you?”
Well, we had a fine time!
No you won’t. You’ll be broker and more miserable. Business will flee even faster as infrastructure collapses. Your poor think things are bad now. When your (non) self supporting safety net fails, the pitchforks will come out for real.
There are all kinds of problems the in the middle of the country that stem from their long term embrace of corporatist policies and politicians. Now we are seeing a recognition that that was the wrong tack in the election of Trump who was the last man standing who claimed (he’s not) to be anti-establishment. I have admired the conservatives’ (of the vast middle country) ability to continually vote against their own interests on principles which can’t be articulated further than a slogan. That is perseverance. A solid Midwest value.
Snideness aside, there some essential realities that workers in the middle of the country have in common with workers not in the middle. If you aren’t the 1%, your security and wealth have gone down substantially since the seventies. That is true nearly everywhere. Even in booming cities. Though things seem more positive there, those of us who have been around long enough remember the same cities when there wasn’t a boom going on know that it won’t last forever. And there are huge wealth inequality problems even with robust local growth. That vast flow of wealth only to the .01% since the 70’s is what elitists of both parties would have you ignore. That is what almost got Sanders nominated and what got Trump elected.
The party that will end up in charge in four years and beyond will be the one that disavows crony capitalism in a real way and aggressively aims to get money out of politics, cutting off elite control of our government. There is a vast majority of people who support that aim. There currently isn’t a party that legitimately does. Whether one of them genuinely changes or a new one is formed, that is going to happen. Too many people are too angry about their continually falling prospects.
May I suggest The Constitutional Republic Party with the Constitution as the Center instead of the center of the left between the Republicans in Name Only and the Democrats in Name Only.
We still have two thirds of the Senate to weed out and probably the same with the Representatives.
Didn’t take long for McConnell to go sniffing for Puppy chow and line up with the left but then they are the Right Wing of the Left.
Rand may have learned a lesson. McConnell needs a swift kick in the ‘out the door ‘ position.
Jay the midland has been gutted with NAFTA, there’s not much left here….but cutting away from the socialists would be great….if only… 🙁
Hmmm, good luck with food….
It’s true, though. The poop of people on the West Coast and East Coast with sufficient disposable incomes does not stink when they use one of the following products:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKLnhuzh9uY
Here’s a true story. Friends of mine were ice fishing and had gone over their limit. Of course it made up for the day before. They saw the game warden working form ice fishing house to house.
Quickly the wife put the fish in a bucket. When the warden opened the door she was sitting on it. He turned red and quickly left.
My friends went back to fishing.
For those that don’t know the sport it requires four items. bucket, hot ashes from the fire at home, can of peas, can opener hooks and lines not required.
On the ice dump the bucket and let the ashes melt through. Turn the bucket upside down and sit on it. Open the peas and sprinkle them around the edge of the hole in the ice. When the fish comes up to take a ____ kick them in the ___hole.
You are going to have work on this one it’s a Minnesota Ufta urban true lie myth.