Politics

[sgt_zim]

Very well stated @Red Leg. I spent a lot of time in DC on NEP issues. My son was a page in the senate. I have nowhere near your experience , but what I have seen endorses your statements regarding the sacrifices made by the vast majority of those serving.

I had the honor of attending the first National Prayer Breakfast under the Trump administration. There were many events of note, however the most impactful were the number of Republicans and
Democrats working together and exhibiting genuine respect and
Friendship for
One another. The media ensures that we
Don’t see that side of the story. As you have rightfully stated, the radical fringes are getting far too much press which translates to power.

With due respect to both you guys, it is never far from my mind that the percentage of Germans and Russians who were actually party members was very small, less than 10%.

It does not take a majority to prevail...but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men. -- Sam Adams

Minus the "freedom" part that's what we are seeing on the national stage.

 

[JGRaider]

98% of politicians are lower than whale dung at the bottom of the ocean, about like attorneys. Being both is the lowest form of human life on the planet. Truman was right about politicians getting rich while being politicians.

 

[Red Leg]

I don't doubt that what Bernie and Nanshy have done to enrich themselves is perfectly legal. They write the laws, after all. The missus and I make more money than they do (salary-wise). I am accumulating more and more wealth, but why am I driving an 8 year old truck and Bernie has 3 residences and drives around in a $120K Audi (or did, no idea if he still has it)? Likewise, POTUS owns (or owned) a a '67 Stingray. Prices on those are sneaking up on $200K.

I have no issues with people who legitimately earned their way to having nice things - relative to most people, I have a lot of nice things. In my view, every producer makes my life better. And every parasite, grifter, and rent-seeker makes my life worse.

As Harry Truman said,

You should try writing a book.

Here's How Bernie Sanders Earned Nearly $5 Million In The Past 10 Years

The Vermont senator has had a good decade.

www.forbes.com

I begrudge no one any legal dollar that they make (or any legal tax break for that matter). Bernie and his bride's income, regardless of their politics, seems pretty straight forward.

 

[JGRaider]

Red Leg, I respect the fact that you're not as much of a skeptic as I am. When I get ready to sell my oceanfront property in West TX I'll give you a shout .


More CDC data showing vaccine is a joke:

CDC data show 74% of people who tested positive for the virus in Massachusetts outbreak were fully vaccinated​

No deaths, few hospitalizations, but 74% of those testing positive for COVID-19 in Massachusetts outbreak were vaccinated

A federal investigation into a COVID-19 outbreak earlier this month in a Massachusetts county that's home to Cape Cod found that 74% of the 469 infections...

www.marketwatch.com

 

[sgt_zim]

You should try writing a book.

Here's How Bernie Sanders Earned Nearly $5 Million In The Past 10 Years

The Vermont senator has had a good decade.

www.forbes.com

I begrudge no one any legal dollar that they make (or any legal tax break for that matter). Bernie and his bride's income, regardless of their politics, seems pretty straight forward.

Comes as no surprise. That's where Bill, Hill, and Obama got their start in the big money world. Getting a few million as an advance on a book you don't actually have to write seems like a sweet deal.

That or the publishing house prints up a bunch, then some really wealthy benefactor buys up 100,000 copies. It is not credible that any of these books ever make the NYT best seller list. Nobody gives a sh!t about their stories.

 

[Red Leg]

Comes as no surprise. That's where Bill, Hill, and Obama got their start in the big money world. Getting a few million as an advance on a book you don't actually have to write seems like a sweet deal.

That or the publishing house prints up a bunch, then some really wealthy benefactor buys up 100,000 copies. It is not credible that any of these books ever make the NYT best seller list. Nobody gives a sh!t about their stories.

Bernie received an 800K advance. In 2016 he received 13 million votes in the primaries. I assume selling 220K+ copies would not be unreasonable among that number of supporters "feeling the Bern" at the time. Not surprisingly, his two literary efforts following the 2016 book didn't do nearly as well.

Look, I absolutely love and appreciate the irony of an avowed socialist making a tidy royalty in our ostensibly "corrupt" capitalist system. But apart from his personal political/ economic lack of purity, I would hardly call this a non-credible deal with his publisher.

And Obama's "Promised Land" (his fourth book) sold nearly a million copies on the first day of release. I neither bought it nor read it (nor Michelle's), but a lot of people in this country look on him the way I do Ronald Reagan. If he could run again, I suspect he would be elected again. His literary advances certainly look in line with the sales generated and the popularity of the author.

I'll refrain from defending Hillary even if the numbers might work.

 

[Wheels]

 

[Cervus elaphus]

Bernie received an 800K advance. In 2016 he received 13 million votes in the primaries. I assume selling 220K+ copies would not be unreasonable among that number of supporters "feeling the Bern" at the time. Not surprisingly, his two literary efforts following the 2016 book didn't do nearly as well.

Look, I absolutely love and appreciate the irony of an avowed socialist making a tidy royalty in our ostensibly "corrupt" capitalist system. But apart from his personal political/ economic lack of purity, I would hardly call this a non-credible deal with his publisher.

And Obama's "Promised Land" (his fourth book) sold nearly a million copies on the first day of release. I neither bought it nor read it (nor Michelle's), but a lot of people in this country look on him the way I do Ronald Reagan. If he could run again, I suspect he would be elected again. His literary advances certainly look in line with the sales generated and the popularity of the author.

I'll refrain from defending Hillary even if the numbers might work.

In most countries it's called money laundering. They're crooks.

 

[Red Leg]

In most countries it's called money laundering. They're crooks.

Oh come on Cervus, this is easy to figure out and not particularly incriminating. Though perhaps things are done differently in Australia? But do please explain how people buying books in excess of the advance is "money laundering." In the US we simply call it the publishing business.

An advance is a fairly common practice in most of the rest of the Developed World when a publisher is bidding for the opportunity to - well - you know - publish. The more likely the success of the book, the greater the advance. Pretty simple economics. Ventura Press or perhaps Big Sky Publishing (they are both in Australia) would likely have sold their souls to have published "Promised Land." Crown Publishing Group won the bidding war and partnered with their international partner Viking to make a ton of money along with the former president. They still are.

There is nothing faintly improper about a hugely popular president (whatever most of us may think of him) writing an auto biographical history of his presidency. Every single living president since Calvin Coolidge, popular or not, has done so. Within the first month of publication "Promised Land" sold 3.3 million copies. That is THREE POINT THREE million real sales to real people. I would suspect the CEO of Penguin Random House is still crowing about its sales during his quarterly earnings reports. I have not looked to see what the sales are to date.

We have plenty of real issues with which to engage our political foes. Creating or imagining false ones merely makes us look ridiculous.

 

[tunatoy76]

He might be an Australian but sure sounds like a kiwi?

 

[VertigoBE]

Let me preface this by noting in a previous life I was responsible for congressional liaison for the Department of the Army for two years. I dealt with members and the congressional staff daily - particularly the oversight committee members of both houses. My comments are not what I read in a blog.

Clearly, some members have taken advantage of their station - the vast majority totally legally. Those who actually break the law, tend to go to jail. Being obnoxious or vacuous or of the "wrong" party or even having a child take advantage of a last name for personal gain is not a chargeable offense.

What may surprise many, I suspect, is how many members struggle to make ends meet - particularly in the House. Somewhere between a fourth and a third of house members actually live in their offices while Congress is in session. They utilize the showers in the congressional gym and eat in the cafeteria. J.C. Watts, a rising star within the republican party at the time, with whom I worked very closely on the Crusader program, was one of those living on a cot while trying to raise a growing family. He left a secure seat to earn an adequate living (and because of his disdain for Donald Rumsfeld).

Staffers live four or five to an apartment trying to make ends meet while in one the most expensive areas of one of the most expensive cities in the country while working 12 and 14 hour days. Some eventually advance to the better paying senior committee and personal staff positions, but most are there for the experience of working in government. The vast majority are trying their best to do the right thing for the American people.

It is clearly more difficult now. Blue Dog Democrats and Country Club Republicans, particularly in the senate, were able to forge compromises with which the farther fringes of both parties were forced to agree up through the Bush administration. However, the continuing war, the economic collapse, accelerating cultural change, and the instant outrage afforded by social media has put enormous pressure on that middle, empowering the uncompromising wings of both parties like a squeezed balloon.

The remarkable thing to me has been the almost equal divide within the country itself even as the parties have changed their roles and strategies dramatically over the last two decades. As the Democrats walked away from their blue collar traditional base (though not all of them realize it yet), they absorbed a growingly progressive urban professional upper middle class and their dependent adult children. Republicans with a new populist message are clearly making up that lost ground with the non-dependent working classes of the country (blue and white collar).

I both hope and believe that the Democrats are walking of a cliff with their new radical "majority." I have to believe this new racism and wokeism is abhorrent to far more voters than they believe. For every white urban self-loathing homemaker, I have to believe there must be two others going through the progressive motions while being quietly appalled. I assume we'll see next fall. Vote harvesting can only work in districts where there are already significant democrat voters and will have far less effect on congressional elections.

Very well put @Red Leg . Thanks.
What democrats do not realise yet, while republicans are at least yelling in the right direction, is that this surge of wokeism is the true enemy.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

It certainly looked to me like the elevation of the far left was a Republican ploy to force the Dems to deal with this problem child and push moderat Dems towards the Republican vote. Or if that wasn't going to happen at least kick the far left hornets nest to give the Dems a headache. Way back when Fox was reporting this and that about AOC swaying Nancy, and you could figuratively see the majority mouthing'who the hell is AOC?' Then the Floyd thing happened and the far left got some wind in their sails and terms like 'woke' became household, and 'racist' was dusted off once more.
If I am right, the question is has it worked? Or is this pandoras box of tricks spreading too far to contain again? In any event sensible folks on both sides are going to have to pool their resources to pull things right.

ok, I admit, I read novels.....

 

[Red Leg]

It certainly looked to me like the elevation of the far left was a Republican ploy to force the Dems to deal with this problem child and push moderat Dems towards the Republican vote. Or if that wasn't going to happen at least kick the far left hornets nest to give the Dems a headache. Way back when Fox was reporting this and that about AOC swaying Nancy, and you could figuratively see the majority mouthing'who the hell is AOC?' Then the Floyd thing happened and the far left got some wind in their sails and terms like 'woke' became household, and 'racist' was dusted off once more.
If I am right, the question is has it worked? Or is this pandoras box of tricks spreading too far to contain again? In any event sensible folks on both sides are going to have to pool their resources to pull things right.

ok, I admit, I read novels.....

A Republican ploy?!? Now wokeism and the left's growing radicalism is the fault of Republicans !????!

 

[bowjijohn]

I see this as problem of energy

The age of oil is coming to an end - these new 'green' technologies are largely economic twaddle

So we are leaving a period of (relatively) free energy to a period of increasingly expensive energy; right at the time when we have an unsustainable world population - each member of which aspires to a US style level of consumerism - then .... If you take a step back for a mo' -

Perhaps one might conclude that is this is as likely to be successful as I am to fly to moon backwards on a broom handle

Those with their greedy grip on power are faced with two choices - a catastrophic collapse of control or a rush to a totalitarian style system of mass acceptance of a new world order

These new 'religions' therefore are about generating increased social control

If I'm right ...

then faced with a choice between bovine acceptance of a totalitarian system or social upheaval then I'd prefer the latter - not nice but I'm more likely suited to survive in that scenario than the former.

 

[Wheels]

 

[Hogpatrol]

 

[Hogpatrol]

 

[Hogpatrol]

 

[Wheels]

 

[Brent in Az]