Tuesday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
·
Tuesday, December 3, 2024
·
40 comments
OTB relies on its readers to support it. Please consider helping by becoming a monthly contributor through Patreon or making a one-time contribution via PayPal. Thanks for your consideration.
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a retired Professor of Political Science and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
Follow Steven on
Twitter
Is there any stupider person to ever be elected President? He doesn’t know how tariffs work, he doesn’t know how trade works, he has absolutely no desire to learn, and he makes idiotic “jokes” like this to a foreign head of state.
Trump suggests Canada become 51st state after Trudeau said tariff would kill economy: sources
An interesting piece in the NYT about President Biden’s process in deciding to pardon his son.
I had already believed he did so because he feared the pressure of the trials would cause Hunter to relapse into addiction, and the story confirms this:
I know what addiction can do to a person, to a family. This is why I am supportive of the pardon and understand why the President chose to reverse his position.
At some point when you realize the last hope is for the incoming administration to f**k things up so badly they’ll be defeated at the polls, that the definition of “hope” seems to have the ability to be stretched infinitely.
@Mikey:
More like 51st through 60th or so.
But think of all the new blue states.
Yes, I’m sure the GOP would welcome 40 million new Canadian-Americans who are pro-choice, anti-capital-punishment, pro-gun-control and love their socialized medicine all the way to the Oort Cloud and beyond.
Of course he was just yanking Trudeau’s chain, not least because PMJT is so much more attractive (that is, human-looking) than Trump.
@Not the IT Dept.:
Melania obviously thought so.
@Mikey: It would’ve been better to tell Trump to go eff himself. I also think its a mistake for these leader to make a pilgrimage to Mar A Lago. Better to “invite” him to their capitals.
Damn. I going to be cranky all day. Just listened to the news and all the handwringing about Hunter Biden. Cry me an effing river.
@Scott: Trump likely can’t get into Canada, because they don’t let convicted felons enter the country. I assume when he actually takes office, they’ll make an exception.
I am the president and CEO of not one, but two corporations. I mention this absolutely true fact apropos of comments from @Steven and @wr re: occasional commenter, @Jack.
In addition to being a CEO, I have a number of six figure accounts under management. I also manage properties worth millions. And I have income streams coming from Canada, the UK, Ireland, NZ, Australia, France, Brazil and the Netherlands, off the top of my head.
All absolutely true. The corporations are me and my wife, the assets under management are our investment and retirement accounts, the million dollar properties amount to our condo and the house our daughter lives in — and given that she lives in Marin County, a million dollar home doesn’t signify much. And of course I have international income streams from translations of my books.
I’ve ‘known’ @Jack under several names for 10 or 15 years. He represented himself as a mining engineer, IIRC, and a Mergers and Acquisitions guy. Now he claims to have six figure accounts under management. (Me too! Wait, not that MeToo.) What might that mean? It might mean he’s become a legit big-time (well…) investment manager, or it might mean he offers advice down at the club at The Villages.
I’m a CEO and yet, I am not Tim Cook. I manage investments, and yet, I am not Warren Buffet. Etc… A thing can be both true and irrelevant. Absolutely no one should be taking investment advice from me. Titles and degrees prove nothing, show your work and I’ll assess your expertise based on that.
Today’s Bible verse:
Matthew 7:15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
https://bsky.app/profile/lindsaypcohn.bsky.social/post/3lcc55vtp3s2l
https://bsky.app/profile/mjcrockett.bsky.social/post/3lcboxf37as2p
“PDF“
@Scott:
As soon as Justin signed on to visit Trump, he was toast.
The fable of the scorpion and the frog, redux.
Epilogue: Trump got another frog to rescue him and take him to Mar a Lago.
@Michael Reynolds:
Was there a point to this?
No, I am not and never have been a mining engineer. I do have a BS and MS in engineering, and worked in the extractive industries – steel and industrial gases. What used to be called Inland Steel, and British Oxygen. Both have been acquired over the past 40 years; Cleveland Cliffs and Air Liquid, respectively, now. I was a classic process engineer: cost, quality and productivity. On the shop floor. I was GM of a unit of BOC.
I went to business school at The University of Chicago. I joined a specialty (complex) lending group at a Chicago bank, making leveraged loans to private equity firms. (which, BTW, is why I commented so vigorously on the truly ridiculous suit against Trump and his commercial properties charges. Only the most ignorant or dishonest don’t understand what happened there.)
From there I joined a private equity firm who was a client. They come from PE royalty. Think KKR etc; still in business 40 years later. I guess they know something about what they are doing. I was a partner for 25 years. We managed money for some of the biggest names in the PE limited partner world. I am no longer a partner, having transitioned the firm from me and my co-managing partner to the next generation 3 years ago. But I still sit on the Investment Committee and invest alongside the LP’s today. Grey beard. If some psychological problem you have causes you to question this, so be it. Its not my concern.
I don’t believe for a second you “manage” your portfolio. You perhaps make broad asset allocation decisions. I know how difficult it is to really manage a diversified portfolio of public securities. I farm that out. My world is private investing: control of entire enterprises where we can lay our hands on the management, strategy and capital decisions.
You write. I understand you are good at it. I’d leave the investing to others who do it for a living. I know a good PE firm always willing to take a million dollar check…….
@Jack:
Yes. To provoke you into showing your cards. As you’ve now done. Thank you.
One of the things we professional writers know how to do is use words to cause emotional reactions.
And of course I don’t manage my investments. As was pretty clearly hinted (I thought) in the post.
Why are people in DC and the Democrat party aligned are terrified that someone who is not “their man” will be appointed to head departments and agencies.
Fortunately, this Leftist extremist was revealed by outside investigators just as he was moving to a phase of USSS career development that would bring him within shooting distance of those he disdains, including Trump
@JKB: being an anti fascist is a bad thing now? F’n wild in these streets.
@JKB:
Question: if Trump were to declare martial law and ‘save’ the country from Democrats/Communists, what will be your position?
@JKB:
Friendly reminder from an non-Antifa anti-fascist, there is no ‘Democrat’ Party.
There is, however, a Democratic Party.
I just love it when something presented as a conundrum contains its own solution:
Ergo, every country in the world should make data mining companies pay for news, and every country should bar teenagers under 16 from “social media.”
Meanwhile, in France.
BBC:
Meanwhile in Syria:
USAF airstrikes on targets near the Iraqi border. Targets unclear; but seems a quite high probability they were Iraqi militia allies of Iran attempting to move to reinforce Assad.
Also reports indicate HTS/SNA units are now closing in on Hama.
Isolate that, and if they can then get close to Homs, the Alawite coastal region is at risk of being cut-off by land from Damascus, and from reinforcement overland from Iraq.
A few months ago my mouse failed. I bought a cheap, no recognizable brand, wireless one as a temporary measure while I looked for anther one (I’m very particular about my mice).
Ok, the material looks cheap, but it has a back button (which I use a lot), a very comfortable ergonomic design, and the AA battery I placed on it still hasn’t run down. It helps the mouse turns off after a few minutes of non use, then it turns back on when you click on it.
I quit looking for another one. Instead bought three more. One for work, and two as backups. The grand total for all 4 mice, shipping included, was around $30.
@JohnSF:
I wonder if many Americans understand that neither side can be considered ‘the good guys.’ Scorpions in a bottle.
@JohnSF:
Didn’t Macron cause a great surge of resentment when he passed his law to raise retirement age without parliamentary approval? What made his PM think a repeat performance was called for?
@Thomm:
JKB doesn’t know the difference between “anarcho-communist” and “anarchist”. He’s got images of begoateed bomb-throwers in his head.
@Jack:
I think you have a typo there.
@Michael Reynolds:
Heh. Nice juke.
That’s odd, since there are no cards laid I haven’t laid before.
I am what I am, who I am, and speak in a straightforward, perhaps confrontational, manner. I know it pisses some people off. Its not really my intention. I’m not an oracle, but have strongly held convictions. I find this blogsite to be almost uniquely the opposite. Faux experts. And closed minded beyond belief.
But there is just enough value to coming here to keep me doing so.
@Kathy: I have been buying Microsoft Explorer Trackballs off of eBay for decades, each time the one I have breaks down. When I can no longer find them, I will be forcibly retired, I guess.
I don’t say this to recommend that you do it, but to approve of your buying a few spares of what works for you. You’re investing in your future.
@Gustopher:
Nope.
@charontwo:
Completely unrelated to anything you wrote other than that one acronym, I was delighted to discover that on some platforms where there is a lot of censorship and shadow banning, some people are using the phrase “PDF File” instead of pedophile.
I have feelings about Adobe, which likely explains my delight.
@Jack, re @Gustopher: Rats. I thought Gus had just done a lame troll that failed. Now I have to go back and give him an upvote. 🙁
@Gustopher:
We had a laptop at work in the 90s (monochrome screen, it as that long ago), which had trackball that clipped on the side of the keyboard area. It was usable, and at the time the only pointer device I ever used. The thing ran Windows 3.11. And the only reason I used it was because Netscape was better for web browsing than any DOS alternatives.
@just nutha:
nope
@Mister Bluster:
Hm. No scandal so far, that I know about. CSK, I think, the other day said the MAGAts don’t like him. I’m beginning to suspect something might have been right with this one.
On other things, I came across a reference to former SS officer von Braun’s notions of a project to send 10 crewed ships to Mars. The project would have required 950 launches (the ships, fuel, maybe a space station, etc). Assuming a cost of $100 million per Xtarship launch, though that was not the launcher the German had in mind, naturally, this would cost $95 billion in launch costs alone.
But, “everything costs more and takes longer.” And then there’s the cost to design, build, and test the hardware, maybe also additional infrastructure. And of course training, staffing, etc. So optimistically $250 billion strikes me as a fair estimate.
And that’s why no one has gone to Mars.
@Mister Bluster: @Kathy:
The MAGAs are ecstatic that Chronister has withdrawn his name. As I said, the fact that his office busted a pastor for violating Covid lockdown regulations had them foaming at the mouth. And they weren’t happy with his stance regarding LGBTQ issues, either.
@Jack:
Dude, what I know, or a few others know, is not necessarily known to the entire audience. You just gave us a base line. Now – if we assume you’re telling something close to the truth – we know the limits of your claimed expertise. You aren’t an economist, you aren’t read-in on foreign affairs, you are an engineer and you have a prejudice in favor of extractive industries. IOW, you’re a garden variety manager just like the ones a lot of us here use. You can claim X amount of expertise, and no more. You’ve conveniently defined your limits and they are not terribly impressive.
So now you can’t really play the expert, you can’t really claim superior knowledge or experience, you’re just a guy who says, ‘buy tech!’ This leaves you to make your case without appeal to authority. You have to rely on your ability to make a case and then deal with questions. And we both know you can’t do that.
You want to know why you can’t? Because you don’t know about the dog who didn’t bark. Your silences and refusals to engage, tell a story. An absence of data is data. You show up only when you think you’ve got a slam-dunk. You’re afraid to enter the fray unless you think you can win. And then, when you fail to win, you run away. @JohnSF has never told us what he does, but we all buy him because he can advance and defend an argument using observable facts.
@Scott: Like Kim Un Jong did!
@Michael J Reynolds: He appeared in his Drew incarnation in the comments here for the first time way back in October 2008 and used the business email address of someone matching the credentials he claims for years before moving on to other incarnations. That person is connected to both Dave Schuler and former frontpager Dodd Harris on LinkedIn, so I’m reasonably confident that he is who he says he is.
If so, after a few years in the engineering field, he got a major school MBA (Chicago, as claimed above), went into banking, and has been in private equity for the last quarter-century plus.
@James Joyner:
Yeah, I knew Drew from Schuler’s blog. I knew most of what he laid out, I wanted to get him to define himself and his expertise, which he’s now done.
He annoys me because unlike RyGuy he’s not an idiot, he can do better than just jump in and cheap shot someone – Kathy IIRC most recently – and run away. He violates the spirit of debate by refusing to really engage. This is a common feature of most of the Trump fans here – they are unable to engage, which tells me they know their MAGA positions can’t be supported. Almost all the regulars here will engage honestly, and even criticize their own side at times, viz the Hunter pardon thread. I don’t like dishonesty as it corrupts an open exchange of views, and I dislike cowardice on general principles.
But I’m getting the sense that you’d rather I laid off him a bit. I can do that.
@Michael Reynolds: No, I’m fine with calling out dishonesty. There does seem to be a long-running back-and-forth over his CV, so I’m just weighing in verifying the parts of it that he’s made public.