Hi Jason! I giggled when I read your comment 😉 I am the co-creator of the book project and also the voiceover of the video. I grew up with Cantonese speaking parents, studied in the UK and have a Australian partner…so in short, my accent is all over the place!
all over the place is a good place to be!studied in the UK? Great. Real English. Hold on to that around here :)I’m sure there’s an obscure relic of Dutch influenced Cantonese out there somewhere. a living linguistic fossil. I’ll keep looking.And I will point out to the avc fringe that you sailed past Ship or Sheep long ago. Good presentation.
Okay, I can comment early because I was up all night checking the results of some software I wrote — three versions before I got the hard way information enough to get the logic correct, in the end a little over 2000 lines of typing — for some computer system management mud wrestling. The work was an example of unpredictable, exogenous, impacts on a startup but independent of the startup. Result: So far, the code looks fine. In places it was cute code, but still it was for absurd mud wrestling. So the code was not central, or even particular to the project, but the project code has long since been done and for more testing now is waiting on getting the system management mud wrestling done.That book project:The VideoThe video looks skillfully, professionally done. I’d believe that the intended e-book version of the project would be less in time, money, and effort than just that video. Ironic.That is, if they put the time, money, and effort of the video into the project, they’d have the e-book version done by now. The big cost hill of printing the minimum of hundreds of copies could wait until the e-book version had generated revenue.Besides, IIRC, for any book with much revenue potential, there are plenty of publishing houses eager to get the printing, marketing, and distribution done.Sore SpotsTo me, the video rubbed salt into some sore spots of mine:First the video promises propaganda about “climate change”. Pushing that misinformed, guilt-trip, medieval-style superstition, anxiety-ridden, flim-flam, fraud, scam propaganda onto children is really dirty business. Such propaganda is bad for US children but much worse for children in many foreign countries where they desperately need good energy instead of getting serious respiratory problems from doing, say, indoor cooking with dried dung — no joke.Second, the video is big on a standard hangup of Western women, that they want, should, and must dedicate themselves to solving the problems of the world and, then, help their own country, community, family, and themselves later and just as a special case. That’s a way too common but dangerously irrational, brain-dead, suicidal compulsion — part of what killed my wife. Sore spot.E.g., I really like Ivanka. She looks really sweet. But, with three of her young children at home, she’s what? Apparently, right, off to India for some effort to promote entrepreneurship for women of India, as if that would help in a country where each river is a toxic open sewer and people create huge disease problems defecating in the open.An excellent, and about the best, contribution Ivanka can make for herself, her husband, her children, her home and family, her community, the US and the world isJUSTto do the best job she can inMOTHERHOODdirectly herself with her three children and, then, have three more and do the same with them. Motherhood. Did I mention motherhood?I’m 100% solidly sure that Ivanka will make just a terrific mother, especially forHERchildren, especially from year 1 through marriage and start of their families. TERRIFIC.For Ivanka and nearly all women, anything else is a HUGE waste.Third, the video is awash in basically a lot of feminist, misinformed ill-considered, impossible sameness, some moral compulsion of some perverted equality from the sameness, some absurd, wildly destructive unisex norm, etc. nonsense. Wasteful, perverted, even dangerous nonsense.That idea that boys and girls that age can work and play together effectively is nonsense. Nope. No way. They can’t do that. Not a chance.In a word, boys and girls that age are very DIFFERENT. Nearly all feminists have a super tough time understanding this basic fact. In particular, what boys and girls of that age like, want to do, and easily learn are very DIFFERENT.Those project women are on a confused, hopeless compulsion to push their rock up that famous hill.Why? In short, the girls are interested in people, and the boys, in things. The boys want to move, do things that involve movement, e.g., with balls, wheels, rubber band windups, build things, e.g., various innovative contraptions. E.g., no doubt the boys would just love to have radio controlled car or drone races. The girls want to work with other girls in social situations and work with colors, pretty things, etc. And typically, since their mothers have children, the girls want to work with dolls. The girls have much higher verbal talent than the boys. The boys have much higher spacial relations talent than the girls. What just enthralls boys will bore girls, and similarly the other way.Fourth, the projects illustrated are hopeless, obviously made-up, make-work, junk-think, time, effort-wasting, useless, zero value, ignorant, incompetent nonsense. Children of that age are fantastic learning machines, and it’s a grand tragedy to waste that learning potential on such trivia.Lacking anything else, I’ll tell you what girls are most interested in: What women are doing. For the boys, it’s what men are doing. In all cases, it’s not what their peers are doing but what adults are doing.E.g., at that age, they could start to learn some music, voice, piano, violin, etc. How to do that? Have them with an adult who is DOING that and liking it. Then the kids will get interested. I guarantee it.Can get the boys interested in, say, painting the back porch. How? Have them with a man busy painting the back porch.Why? The children feel helpless and are driven to achieve adult competence. Make-work nonsense is no substitute.SummaryMy objections are totally obvious just from one pass of the video and what I learned the hard way about some profoundly confused women.If the women behind that project were really busy, each taking care of their own six small children, then they wouldn’t be wasting their time, money, and effort on such nonsense.But since I’m no expert, let’s hear some good ideas from some real, proven experts in pre-school child development.No, sweethearts, we are definitely NOT on the way to one-world, global unification and government with hands held around the world singing Kumbayah. Not a chance.Apparently as prosperity and standard of living improve, there can be a lot less discipline and a lot more total nonsense eating up a lot of the productivity gains.It used to be:Machines should work. People should think. Apparently now we are on the way toMachines should work. People should goof off. E.g., Japan is smart: They are not going for that mix up everyone stuff like that.Ah, off to get some sleep.
Thank you so much for the support and shout-out!
Welcome to AVC Karen I love your project
The book does look great and seems very well done. (My kids are tough customers) While I might not agree with the underlying assumptions, I think the approach for reaching young minds makes sense. Congratulations on your success so far!
And by the way, after my daughter and i watched the video, she said “Daddy, I want to create my own book?” Which lead us over to http://www.storyjumper.com – where she started the process of creating her book with her brother.So there is a network effect – even to watching the video. While you might not stop global poverty, you will encourage kids into literacy and publishing that is only now possible in this generation. So thank you!
Global Liberalism in a box. Seriously? (My daughter made it through 1 min of the video with me and asked “Is it over yet?” Looks boring.)I understand the idea, and I’m sure these folks mean well. But I get very nervous when I see terms like “inequality” fed to children. My white, American son will be taught that he grew up with special “privilege” and owes something to the rest of the kids in the world. That’s not how to solve problems.Happy Friday to everyone!
just move to China and you would instantly become a minority owed something by those around you as liberalism must be an objective and global philosophy that appies to all. no?
Good idea. I couldn’t because I have two kids and would be fined or jailed.Seriously. We have two neighbors from China – both with one child. When I asked “what would happen if you had another one?” they replied “My husband would be fired from his job.” This stuff is hard for us to imagine. But it is real. Communism is alive and well. (And yes, I am aware that they have bumped the number to two kids for certain people.)
This is true but my limited understanding is that they do that (or did that) for a reason. To curb overpopulation. Compare in this country where we are free to have as many children as we want and have little concern for who will pay for them. And what’s ironic is that some of the good things in life in this country come to people who have more kids than they can afford.
Ouch! Not sure I agree with the “good things” of Part 2. Just look at downtown Detroit and you might change that last sentence! In fact, you can trace the decline of Urban black America to that single point. Controversial, but supported by a lot of data.
I was talking about situations where how many kids you support gains you extra government aid but yes I agree with what you are saying as well. I also mean in cases where the people having the kids don’t fully understand money to know that the government will not cover the actual costs fully.
If US families had the wealth LBJ and Nixon threw away in Viet Nam and W and Obozo threw away in Iraq and Akrapistan, then a lot of US families could be really good parents for a lot more kids and much happier Thanksgiving and Christmas times. Not a joke. Instead a really big, huge point. My rough, first-cut, back of the envelope estimate is that in present value the difference would be $200,000 per US family. It would also help if US families having trouble paying for college for their kids were not being taxed to pay for the college of students from outside the US. It would also help if US college grads didn’t have to compete with essentially illegal HxB immigrants. Gee, it would help if the US government put US citizens first! Novel idea! It would help if the US didn’t rush to import cheap products and cheap workers and, instead, have good trade deals and enforce our long standing immigration laws. Naw, no chance; the MSM would throw a non-stop, 24 x 7 hissy fit shit storm. Hmm.
Anything and everything to indoctrinate as many people in my values as I can. Forever and ever.
I applaud your commitment.The book is deep deep in the partisan philosophical woods though. I like to think of myself as a highly judgmental moderate. I was ‘pass the home made granola’ 30 secs into it.I don’t agree with indoctrinating kids.Not sure it works either.Example seems to be the best teacher of values.
I don’t agree with indoctrinating kids. Not sure it works either.100% it works. No question about that in my mind. It’s brainwashing and the basis for many of the positive and negatives today in society. Words and influences by either parents, family, people in authority positions or people that are admired. Can one book do this? No. Can the same message from many sources and over time? Absolutely.
I agree 100% but read my comment to Fred. It works when you have everyone going along, either by force or vast majority.Where it falls apart is when you have a diametrically opposed force, that then decides to indoctrinate kids the opposite way. If they have a near parity, it’s like Judo, when you push I pull and vice versa.That’s my fear. CNN is as responsible for Trump as Fox. Not saying good or bad, right or wrong, just saying.
.Freddie, you let DJL push your buttons.We can no more “indoctrinate” young people — these are very young people — than the Hitler Youth, the Madrassas, the Catholic Church.Children need to learn to think for themselves. From childhood to adulthood, there is a crying need for critical thinking.I recall when I was being confirmed in the Catholic Church. The Bishop comes before each child and asks, “Do you renounce the Devil?”It was an open book exam and the nuns had beaten the answer into us. I, however, had never seen the robes of a Bishop up close and was tardy in my answer, mesmerized as I was by his beautiful robes. I balked.The Bishop asked me a SECOND TIME, which Sister Anne de Beaupre assured me had never happened in the history of Christendom.She administered her own exam, complete with a yardstick.”Do you renounce the Devil?”Whack!”Yes, Sister Anne.”Let’s let kids be kids and stop indoctrinating them.Let’s just love them and teach by example.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Why should he stop? It’s an effective technique and achieves the goal that he wants. What am I missing?
.Actually, indoctrination is not an effective technique for developing the best thinkers. It stifles critical thinking, suggesting there is a doctrinaire answer to everything.All one has to do is go back to the indoctrinating tomes of one’s youth to find the answers. Ugh.I do not in any way suggest that Fred Wilson does not have a lofty goal. I just don’t think indoctrination — his word, mind you — is a noble way to accomplish any goal.I doubt you are missing anything, but I could be wrong.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
No. He lets me push his. I’m the convo starter here. Not you. Not him.
.Might want to double down on the meditation; it’s not, apparently, working.I don’t think anyone here is questioning that you are the convo starter. Not sure where that’s coming from.The thing about an intelligent convo is one never knows where it may go. That’s the allure of it. When ideas wrestle, the best ideas survive.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Ah, JLM, maybe the answer is that in the Tribe of NYC it is essential to fit in, recite the catechism, adopt the party platform, maybe the party uniform, drive the right car, join the herd, give the prescribed salute, push the party propaganda (awful alliteration).Uh, you believe that all those many thousands of all look alike, like tin, soldiers in China and North Korea standing there all strictly obedient really believe that their Great Democratic, Patriotic, Socialist Leader of the People for Life, son of the last GDPSLPL and the one before that who killed some hundreds of thousands or tens of millions of the citizens, is the God the GDPSLPL so claims? Nope. But the few dumb enough not to pretend for the Poo Bahs are no longer around and either starving in a slave labor camp, gut full of worms, teeth pulled out in torture sessions, soon to die or already dead. Those dead ones don’t cause a lot of trouble, e.g., never stormed the Presidential Palace of the GDPSLPL. So, maybe that’s NYC? In particular, maybe there are some secret, severe entrance requirements for the Hamptons Country Club or even to be in good standing at the Hamptons deli started by the Barefoot Contessa with her lobster salad or some such and otherwise on double secret probation?Uh, the above is all just FAKE NEWS, but what could be more appropriate for NYC?????This just in: Rumors have it that there are reports that there is gossip that there are claims that White House staffers thought they heard that Rex Tillerson said that Trump was the south end of a north bound mule. In addition are the many reports of strain between Trump and Tillerson. Lots of reports. The newsies are awash in such reports. So, it is “widely expected” (translation: The MSM hopes) that Trump will soon dump Tillerson and replace him with, say, Nancy Pelosi or Hillary???!!!Are there ways, Goldman Sachs or Vegas, to make book on some of these newsie claims????But a few hours ago, Trump Tweeted — damn how NYC hates Twitter, ironic as that might be — that the demise of Tillerson has been greatly exaggerated or some such Mark Twain stuff with a mention of FAKE NEWS.Ah, it’s all just a NYC thingy! SF and DC can also like it. Nearly all the rest of the country has tuned out!But, one more, this just in: The MSM are screaming in unison, the Russians, the Russians, the Russians!!!!! That’s why the Sweetheart of NYC-SF-DC Hillary lost the election that was rightfully hers to win!!!! After all, she deserved to win; it was her turn; and she lied, cheated, took bribes, was a US national security disaster which shows how much she wanted and deserved the job??? Shouldn’t we ask Morning Joe???
the reality is it’s never forever. we are here for but a moment, and then we are no longer here to defend any accrued legacy (for what that’s worth). it’s about the here and now.
Amen! This is the right way to start. And woe to the conservatives who aren’t thinking along these lines.
You shoulda been very Catholic and had 15 kids : ) (This is a joke)
This is an observation not a political viewpoint.This is selling Bibles to the converted. That’s great.It is not going to convert anybody just steel their viewpoints: OkNo Fox viewer turns on CNN and says: I just saw the light! And vice versaThe reason we got a reality TV, Female Abuser, Crazy Twitter Spewing (I actually wish he would use the Rod Ford defense of I was blind drunk), Non Presidential Acting President is:Because a large portion of the population thought that the best way to poke a sharp stick in the people’s eyes that didn’t care about them was to vote for him.I’m not debating if that is good or bad. I am just saying that’s what happened .Now you can just say these people are f’ing idiots not American, not Christian, etc like gets said here and nothing will change.The reason why his slogan was America First, was it meant I am going to recognize you and not say you are the only problem. Again observation not viewpoint.Let me give two examples from the opposing side’s viewpoint (I don’t need to give examples from your viewpoint)Global Warming: Yes we contribute to pollution and I don’t care whether you believe or don’t but it’s not good. But go to India, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Let’s just recognize that.This NFL debacle (talk about an un-Presential tweet): Now frankly I don’t care if you stand or you don’t and playing the National Anthem before each game gives you that opportunity. The players are saying it is because of police brutality and racial inequality. Both exist, we need to work on both.But, having worked in the inner city, actually working with kids this biggest thing to work on, the biggest inequality in order is: Totally broken family units, with kids having kids and no Dad present, A distain for education with peer pressure for those that value it by some in the “gangster culture” for lack of better term, and black on black violence (watch IceT’s movie Barbershop) But when I or even Charles Barkley says this we are viewed as racist.We have to recognize we could instantly stop all police brutality: Get rid of police. See how that ridiculous statement would work, so there needs to be recognition that most police provide an invaluable tough service and without them there would be chaos. See what happened in Baltimore when they decided to not be as aggressive: violent crime tripled.We can go on, and on, how reciprocal is our trade deal with China, etc, etc.I think there is a huge opportunity to bring things back to the middle, but it seems most are intent on pushing it away.I know this makes me unpopular, but I believe somebody needs to be out there saying it. I argue with Senator Carper, but we respect each other, and we talk even in my office, not just his. (I can send you an email that was sent back to me on the options tax treatment from the leading Democratic Finance Senator)
best way to poke a sharp stick in the people’s eyes that didn’t care about them was to vote for him.Would like to make it very very clear that it’s even more than that. For example there are people that simply voted for ‘him’ because they just got tired of all of the liberalism being shoved down their throats. So it was a ‘fuck you’ to liberals as much as anything. And these were not people out of jobs or lacking opportunity.This is similar in a way to kids who marry the completely opposite person that their parents want just to get it over on their parents as a result (often) of how they were oppressed growing up.
100% Agree.
Poverty, Inequality, climate change, etc. are real human issues with deep implications for all of us. Raising kids’ awareness of these is a noble endeavor.I would posit that your son knowing that he has access to opportunity denied to so many others is a good thing. It increases empathy and understanding.There is no politics in this except in the eyes of the beholder.
Agree, this is a noble endeavor.
.Isn’t all politics in the eye of the beholder?We have allowed the word politics to become a four-letter, pejorative term.I see politics as being the implementation of policies which are driven by a governing philosophy or the attainment of an objective which can only be attained through a governmental process such as legislation.Take tax policy as an example. The other day, I am listening to a very smart guy. He is arguing the objectives of the tax plan in the Senate.He and this other guy both agree it is to grow the economy and to increase domestic jobs. No disagreement.Then, they go at each other as to who is going to get the benefit of the tax cuts. One says it is the wealthy and the other says it is the middle class.They ask me my opinion. I say, “You can only cut taxes of people who are actually paying taxes, right?”The top 1% pay almost half of the taxes in the US, so it is likely they will get a tax cut if taxes are actually being cut.[For the record, I think the continuation of the top tax rate coupled with the elimination of all deductions as contemplated, means it is highly unlikely this slice actually gets a tax cut, but these are capital gains guys anyway. Sorry.]This is why we should approach politics as the opportunity for all of us to put our best, well-reasoned ideas into the public square and let them fight it out with other ideas. Not talking points, real, fact-based ideas.If you are using the word “indoctrination” to discuss any exchange of ideas, you are in the wrong place.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Regardless of whether all politics is in the eye of the beholder, why is this a discussion about politics?Increasing awareness about poverty and inequality is a step toward developing empathy and understanding. That is a noble endeavor.
.Doing something about things is far more noble than talking about them.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Yes.
On this, I agree with you. Politics should be nothing but policy.But in a polarized society, people have become tribalistic.Instead of debating pros and cons of every issue through shared facts, persuasion, and reason, we are identifying deeply with party (tribe) in fear of being called out or ostracized by the tribe. This is true of both democrats and republicans.Leaders with authoritarian and vindictive tendencies who cannot take criticism do not help.
.I agree that there is a tribal feeding frenzy at play today. Each of us has the ability to decide when to act based on reason or tribal talking points.I personally don’t have sufficient respect for the intellectual rigor of the tribal leadership not to do my own thinking.There is nothing wrong with knowing what the tribes say and going one’s own way.When you say, “Leaders with authoritarian and vindictive tendencies . . . ” you add to the tribal drumbeat.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
The only thing that matters is if there is available evidence to substantiate that case. It certainly seems so from my independent understanding and reasoning.Can you say with a straight face that it is not the case?
> [For the record, I think the continuation of the top tax rate coupled with the elimination of all deductions as contemplated, means it is highly unlikely this slice actually gets a tax cut, but these are capital gains guys anyway. Sorry.]IIRC, in the campaign, at some economics club or some such, maybe in NYC, on taxes Trump just blurted out to the audience that “all you $5 million guys out there” (or some such) won’t see any reductions. Flat, blunt statement.
Yes, these are all realities and real problems. And we teach our kids to be very grateful for the USA. That way they will instinctively reject the notion that the US or they (as white people) are at fault for the plight of others. (Both of which are key tenants of Liberal politics.)These are real problems. But sadly, all of the solutions have been politicized. I cannot talk about global climate change anywhere (including this blog) without being insulted and called names. Just because I have a different opinion. So my point: Liberalism (as a tactic) is making all of these problems worse by destroying discourse.
Can’t agree with you on this one. Do we really need to be pushing the liberal agenda on 7 year olds? I’m no conservative but this is just plain indoctrination.P.S. I just saw your comment on indoctrination below. I think its sarcastic isn’t it?
One of the problems with modern Liberalism is fundamental: People (especially conservatives) are not motivated to solve problems out of guilt – but out of compassion.If you tell me: “Look, there are starving kids in Africa” – I am motivated to solve this problem, because I care. If you tell me: “Kids are starving in African because you are white and live in America and practice capitalism” – I am going to get annoyed and look the other way. All of my money, energy and talents are turned away. The Left is never going to get this point. Such a shame.
There are tenets of liberalism that are good and tenets that are bad. The same can be said for conservatism. I tend to look at things issue by issue and regard them through the lens of my midwestern upbringing. I guess you’d call me one of those folks from fly over country…
I agree 100% (being a MI boy). Perhaps I should distinguish between Liberal “ideas” versus modern Liberal “tactics”. And this is really a key point.In my experience, when it comes to ideas and concepts, there is a lot of agreement between L and C. (Many of my best friends are in the L camp.) But when it comes to tactics for solving them – and the motivation – there is a dramatic departure.
I watch Hannity and now Ingraham each week day night, but I keep Tweeting them to drop the word conservative. Just don’t use it. To me “conservative” reminds me of Nixon and Goldwater and, worst of all, the thinking that got us into the crash of 1929 and the thinking that had us suffer in the resulting Great Depression for 12 years. Similarly for 2008.
Do we really need to be pushing the liberal agenda on 7 year olds? I’m no conservative but this is just plain indoctrination.I think it’s smart for anyone to use any and all legal means to push their agenda. I fully support that regardless of whether I agree with what they are pushing or not.Fred does not claim to be either the NY Times “to be sure here is the other side of the issue” or Fox News ‘Fair and balanced’, right?
It is amazing,I love it
What about the Defense Budget? Why can’t we look at that first??
.You fail to understand the implications of the infamous PAYGO rules which mandates that beyond a certain threshold, cuts in revenue must be offset by cuts in spending. It is, of course, the law of the land and has been for a while.It has absolutely nothing to do with the Senate tax bill.This is similar to the infamous “sequester” cuts which were also signed into law and which did not happen though the triggering mechanism was met.If is a fairy tale of the first order. The same Congress which passed PAYGO will simply revise or ignore it, as they did with the similar sequester law.On the other hand, you have nothing to worry about because the tax cuts will trigger more than enough economic expansion (latest quarter revised upwards to 3.3% surpassing any annual increase during the entire Obama administration) to provide shelter from the PAYGO rules.What taxpayers should be mad about is the failure to enforce the PAYGO rules. Congress hasn’t cut a single penny nor has it decreased the planned rate of program growth.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Tax cuts have never paid for themselves and claiming this one will is pure political BS
Need references for these points. E.g., last I heard, likely on Ingraham’s interview of McConnell, your 2. is just total nonsense propaganda, FAKE NEWS, flatly not true.The $1.5 trillion is over 10 years. As McConnell explained, and Trump also, that’s pocket change compared with what we stand to get with faster GDP growth and, thus, higher tax revenues.Sure, I’d like to see the details on the claims that Reagan’s cut doubled Federal tax revenues, what the Fed thinks about inflation over the next 10 years, etc.But since the Democrats and their MSM partners in crime are shoveling BS from their great pile where millions of bulls went number 2, then in practice I’ll essentially just trust Trump and get back to making money.
Trump is a life long professional criminal and dirtbag. His first instinct is always to defraud. This bill was written by lobbyists for the benefit of a few. Trickle down is not and never has been economics. It is the cornerstone of every con run in history.
Gee, I’m surprised to hear that you like Trump that much! Don’t hold back with political correctness; don’t be so diplomatic and reticent! Go ahead, tell us what you really think!The stuff from Mika and Joe sounds the same — lots of nasty accusations and no good evidence.So, Mika and Joe look like part of an organized, funded propaganda effort using the Goebbels, IIRC “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. Even you will believe it.”. So, Mika and Joe join the propaganda team, the gang-up, the pile-on and each week repeat the faked-up lie. So, the lies are just wild, outrageous, nasty, unsupported accusations against Trump, without evidence or rationality.But as Trump does well, the funders are wasting their money, and Mika, Joe, and their media team are all losing their credibility and their audiences. And as the accusations continue to have no credibility and appear to be the worst that the attackers can cook up, Trump looks better and better.For my response, I thank some of the glories of computing and the Internet as means of getting speech transcripts, of a computer with several TB of disk storage able to keep such data, of some good but simple means of indexing such data, and of a good text editor for search, slice, dice, and word whacking, and of a good spell checker!So, I can easily give a response to you that would have been a big pain before current computing and the Internet.Ah, the Internet — high potential for big progress! E.g., now we can get, store, and later find what politicians actually said! And we can convert the highly self-esteemed NYT to no competition for Charmin and, on the Internet, useless for wrapping dead fish heads.For yourHis first instinct is always to defraud. Gee, I thought Trump’s leading, early instincts were to stay serious and make money, be good to his family, set aside absurd and destructive cases of political correctness, be kind to the suffering, have the best sometimes with extravagant displays of wealth, otherwise not waste money, do exaggerate his accomplishments and use his favorite color gold.Now his “instinct” and drive really are his “Make America Great Again” — literally just that. And on this he’s making good progress, and compared with his detractors, he is doing really well. And as he continues to break down the credibility of his detractors — friend of radical Islam Obozo, crooked, disaster Hildabeast, Nasty Nancy, The San Francisco Treat, Chucky (river of tears, AWOL at WH meetings, can’t work with Trump) Schumer, sweet looking (beautiful woman) Kirsten (“Fuck No”) Gillibrand, the entitled, elitist, mostly incompetent “rags to rags in three generations” Bush family, jealous, not very insightful Romney, Bill (missed out on his opportunity) Kristol, the mainstream of the media and the Democrats — Trump stands to do much better.His detractors are really nasty, and one good consequence is that we can be sure that if Trump actually does something wrong, then we will hear about it. Since the worst his detractors have found that has any credibility at all is just something about two scoops of ice cream, we have unusually good evidence that Trump is a really good guy.The Trump detractors early in their careers in the media and politics no doubt saw the total nonsense but over time, from the money and power they had, got used to the nonsense.That’s a standard human reaction and one our Founding Fathers understood and, in response, wanted ordinary citizens in office, not career politicians. For the newsies, in Jefferson’s time it was really bad as in hisNothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. athttp://press-pubs.uchicago….Now Trump comes along, never got used to the nonsense, and speaks the mostly totally obvious truth.And the detractors are also rapidly on the way to significantly increasing the level of quality of news and political discourse as Morning Joe, Nasty Nancy, Chucky (“Running Tears”) Schumer, etc. all lose their credibility and fade from the scene!So, instead of total attack propagandists Mika and Joe, we can have quite bright, relatively rational, and well informed Ingraham and Coulter and very insightful, grand political expert Gingrich.Trump is a life long professional criminal and dirtbag. Trump is these things? Evidence? For one, he gave up his dream life at the top of his tower with his family, spent a lot of his money, e.g., during the primary flying around in his 757, risked his life, risks it everyday, to help the US.Very definitely, he doesn’t need his current job.Your “life long professional criminal and dirtbag” is right for the one Trump beat, Hillary, back to the cattle futures, White Water, and pressuring the women Bill raped, …, getting some Hispanic terrorist murderers out of jail to get some votes in NYS, taking bribes via the Clinton Foundation selling out the US (e.g., Uranium One deal with the Russians), seriously violating US national security rules on classified information, lying about her crimes, etc.This bill was written by lobbyists for the benefit of a few. The tax reductions — e.g., the doubling of the standard deduction — are big time for the working poor and middle class, and they are not “the few”.Just in anticipation of a better economy, the stock market is way up, unemployment is down, consumer confidence is up, and those changes are for the many and not just for “the few”.Last I heard, state taxes will no longer be deductible, and that will hurt “the few” the most.Trickle down is not and never has been economics. It’s not at all clear that “trickle down” is appropriate here. Generally, to cut taxes, have to cut the taxes for the people paying taxes. Besides, there is from Trump’s Detroit speech (see below)As part of this reform, we will eliminate the Carried Interest Deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers. It appears that personally and directly “the few” will gain little or nothing (as a percent of what they earn or pay in taxes) from the Trump tax overhaul.There was a Trump remark (I recall but maybe not in the usual speech transcripts, maybe ad libbed) in one of his speeches on his tax overhaul that the rich would not gain. The remark was something like “For you $5 million guys out there, you won’t gain anything.”For yourIt is the cornerstone of every con run in history. Naw, there are lots of cons without “trickle down”.In a transcript athttp://www.politico.com/sto…from near Tuesday, June 28th, 2016, of a Trump speech in Pennsylvania isIt is great to be here. I’d like to thank Alumisource and all the amazing workers here for hosting us.Today, I am going to talk about how to Make America Wealthy Again.We are thirty miles from Steel City. Pittsburgh played a central role in building our nation.The legacy of Pennsylvania steelworkers lives in the bridges, railways and skyscrapers that make up our great American landscape.But our workers’ loyalty was repaid with betrayal.Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization – moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas.Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians do nothing.For years, they watched on the sidelines as our jobs vanished and our communities were plunged into depression-level unemployment.Many of these areas have still never recovered.Our politicians took away from the people their means of making a living and supporting their families.Skilled craftsmen and tradespeople and factory workers have seen the jobs they loved shipped thousands of miles away.Many Pennsylvania towns once thriving and humming are now in a state despair.This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class. Doesn’t sound like “trickle down” to me and, instead, sounds good. And so far it looks like what he’s been doing. From the deals he got in Saudi Arabia and China, he looks like a super salesman.From Trump’s speech on the economy at Detroit Economics Club August 8th, 2016 with transcript athttps://www.donaldjtrump.co…isIf you were a foreign power looking to weaken America, you couldn’t do better than Hillary Clinton’s economic agenda.Nothing would make our foreign adversaries happier than for our country to tax and regulate our companies and our jobs out of existence.The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States. Every policy she has tilts the playing field towards other countries at our expense.That’s why she tries to distract us with tired political rhetoric that seeks to label us, divide us, and pull us apart.My campaign is about reaching out to everyone as Americans, and returning to a government that puts the American people first.Here is what an America First economic plan looks like.First, let’s talk tax reform.Taxes are one of the biggest differences in this race.Hillary Clinton – who has spent her career voting for tax increases – plans another massive job-killing $1.3 trillion-dollar tax increase. Her plan would tax many small businesses by almost fifty percent.Recently, at a campaign event, Hillary Clinton short-circuited again – to use a now famous term – when she accidentally told the truth and said she wanted to raise taxes on the middle class.I am proposing an across-the-board income tax reduction, especially for middle-income Americans. This will lead to millions of new good-paying jobs.The rich will pay their fair share, but no one will pay so much that it destroys jobs, or undermines our ability to compete.As part of this reform, we will eliminate the Carried Interest Deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers.Tax simplification will be a major feature of the plan.Our current tax code is so burdensome and complex that we waste 9 billion hours a year in tax code compliance.My plan will reduce the current number of brackets from 7 to 3, and dramatically streamline the process. We will work with House Republicans on this plan, using the same brackets they have proposed: 12, 25 and 33 percent. For many American workers, their tax rate will be zero.While we will develop our own set of assumptions and policies, agreeing in some areas but not in others, we will be focused on the same shared goals and guided by the same shared principles: jobs, growth and opportunity. From the same speech:There are now 94.3 million Americans outside the labor force. It was 80.5 million when President Obama took office, an increase of nearly 14 million people. Hillary was to be a third term of Obozo with more US citizens out of work.Uh, there are strong forces, with big money for big campaign donations who want our borders open to uncontrolled immigration and our long standing laws on immigration ignored. That’s why it’s tough to get laws out of Congress to close our borders.Those strong forces are from people making money from the new version of slave labor from the immigration.The people keeping our borders open, the illegal immigrants coming, and our immigration laws ignored are your phrase “the few”.Trump is working hard to enforce our long standing laws, policies, and procedures on immigration. Here he is doing good things for the many at the expense of the slave drivers of “the few”.His Detroit speech continues withNo one will gain more from these proposals than low-and-middle income Americans. On September 15, 2016, Trump spoke on jobs at the New York Economic Club with transcript athttps://www.donaldjtrump.co…Finally, comes trade – the foundation for everythingAmerica’s annual trade deficit with the world is now nearly $800 a billion a year – an enormous drag on growth.Between World War II and the year 2000, the United States averaged a 3.5% growth rate. But, after China joined the World Trade Organization, our average growth rate has been reduced to only 2 percent.Predatory trade practices, product dumping, currency manipulation and intellectual property theft have taken millions of jobs and trillions in wealth from our country.It is no great secret that many of the special interests funding my opponent’s campaign are the same people profiting from these terrible trade deals. The same so-called experts advising Hillary Clinton are the same people who gave us NAFTA, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the job-killing trade deal with South Korea, and now the Trans-Pacific Partnership.The verdict is in. All of the special interests that the media race to for comment have been proven wrong about every single deal they’ve promoted – every lie and every prediction has crashed upon the rocks of reality.Our manufacturing base has crumbled, communities have been hollowed out, wages have declined, and households are making less today than they were in the year 2000.I have proposed a detailed plan to reform our trade policies and bring vast new jobs and wealth to America. Sounds to me like a much higher economic growth rate than under Obozo and lots of jobs to get lots of US citizens now unemployed back to work. Doesn’t sound like it’s for “the few” to me.I know; I know: The US has the mainstream media, the NYT, WaPo, LAT, Politico, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and they are all highly determined, dedicated, devoted, deranged, delusional, deceptive, demented, destructive tools of Obozo-Hillary-Democrat Goebbels style (IIRC, “Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. Even you will believe it.”) propaganda.Ah, it’s super tough to use mere evidence and rationality to win an argument against people who are making money from their absurd positions!
You could chop the defense budget in half, re package it and give it back to the generals. They would think they got a raise.
Comments (Archived):
trying to pinpoint that accent. Dutch?
Hi Jason! I giggled when I read your comment 😉 I am the co-creator of the book project and also the voiceover of the video. I grew up with Cantonese speaking parents, studied in the UK and have a Australian partner…so in short, my accent is all over the place!
all over the place is a good place to be!studied in the UK? Great. Real English. Hold on to that around here :)I’m sure there’s an obscure relic of Dutch influenced Cantonese out there somewhere. a living linguistic fossil. I’ll keep looking.And I will point out to the avc fringe that you sailed past Ship or Sheep long ago. Good presentation.
Okay, I can comment early because I was up all night checking the results of some software I wrote — three versions before I got the hard way information enough to get the logic correct, in the end a little over 2000 lines of typing — for some computer system management mud wrestling. The work was an example of unpredictable, exogenous, impacts on a startup but independent of the startup. Result: So far, the code looks fine. In places it was cute code, but still it was for absurd mud wrestling. So the code was not central, or even particular to the project, but the project code has long since been done and for more testing now is waiting on getting the system management mud wrestling done.That book project:The VideoThe video looks skillfully, professionally done. I’d believe that the intended e-book version of the project would be less in time, money, and effort than just that video. Ironic.That is, if they put the time, money, and effort of the video into the project, they’d have the e-book version done by now. The big cost hill of printing the minimum of hundreds of copies could wait until the e-book version had generated revenue.Besides, IIRC, for any book with much revenue potential, there are plenty of publishing houses eager to get the printing, marketing, and distribution done.Sore SpotsTo me, the video rubbed salt into some sore spots of mine:First the video promises propaganda about “climate change”. Pushing that misinformed, guilt-trip, medieval-style superstition, anxiety-ridden, flim-flam, fraud, scam propaganda onto children is really dirty business. Such propaganda is bad for US children but much worse for children in many foreign countries where they desperately need good energy instead of getting serious respiratory problems from doing, say, indoor cooking with dried dung — no joke.Second, the video is big on a standard hangup of Western women, that they want, should, and must dedicate themselves to solving the problems of the world and, then, help their own country, community, family, and themselves later and just as a special case. That’s a way too common but dangerously irrational, brain-dead, suicidal compulsion — part of what killed my wife. Sore spot.E.g., I really like Ivanka. She looks really sweet. But, with three of her young children at home, she’s what? Apparently, right, off to India for some effort to promote entrepreneurship for women of India, as if that would help in a country where each river is a toxic open sewer and people create huge disease problems defecating in the open.An excellent, and about the best, contribution Ivanka can make for herself, her husband, her children, her home and family, her community, the US and the world isJUSTto do the best job she can inMOTHERHOODdirectly herself with her three children and, then, have three more and do the same with them. Motherhood. Did I mention motherhood?I’m 100% solidly sure that Ivanka will make just a terrific mother, especially forHERchildren, especially from year 1 through marriage and start of their families. TERRIFIC.For Ivanka and nearly all women, anything else is a HUGE waste.Third, the video is awash in basically a lot of feminist, misinformed ill-considered, impossible sameness, some moral compulsion of some perverted equality from the sameness, some absurd, wildly destructive unisex norm, etc. nonsense. Wasteful, perverted, even dangerous nonsense.That idea that boys and girls that age can work and play together effectively is nonsense. Nope. No way. They can’t do that. Not a chance.In a word, boys and girls that age are very DIFFERENT. Nearly all feminists have a super tough time understanding this basic fact. In particular, what boys and girls of that age like, want to do, and easily learn are very DIFFERENT.Those project women are on a confused, hopeless compulsion to push their rock up that famous hill.Why? In short, the girls are interested in people, and the boys, in things. The boys want to move, do things that involve movement, e.g., with balls, wheels, rubber band windups, build things, e.g., various innovative contraptions. E.g., no doubt the boys would just love to have radio controlled car or drone races. The girls want to work with other girls in social situations and work with colors, pretty things, etc. And typically, since their mothers have children, the girls want to work with dolls. The girls have much higher verbal talent than the boys. The boys have much higher spacial relations talent than the girls. What just enthralls boys will bore girls, and similarly the other way.Fourth, the projects illustrated are hopeless, obviously made-up, make-work, junk-think, time, effort-wasting, useless, zero value, ignorant, incompetent nonsense. Children of that age are fantastic learning machines, and it’s a grand tragedy to waste that learning potential on such trivia.Lacking anything else, I’ll tell you what girls are most interested in: What women are doing. For the boys, it’s what men are doing. In all cases, it’s not what their peers are doing but what adults are doing.E.g., at that age, they could start to learn some music, voice, piano, violin, etc. How to do that? Have them with an adult who is DOING that and liking it. Then the kids will get interested. I guarantee it.Can get the boys interested in, say, painting the back porch. How? Have them with a man busy painting the back porch.Why? The children feel helpless and are driven to achieve adult competence. Make-work nonsense is no substitute.SummaryMy objections are totally obvious just from one pass of the video and what I learned the hard way about some profoundly confused women.If the women behind that project were really busy, each taking care of their own six small children, then they wouldn’t be wasting their time, money, and effort on such nonsense.But since I’m no expert, let’s hear some good ideas from some real, proven experts in pre-school child development.No, sweethearts, we are definitely NOT on the way to one-world, global unification and government with hands held around the world singing Kumbayah. Not a chance.Apparently as prosperity and standard of living improve, there can be a lot less discipline and a lot more total nonsense eating up a lot of the productivity gains.It used to be:Machines should work. People should think. Apparently now we are on the way toMachines should work. People should goof off. E.g., Japan is smart: They are not going for that mix up everyone stuff like that.Ah, off to get some sleep.
Thank you so much for the support and shout-out!
Welcome to AVC Karen I love your project
The book does look great and seems very well done. (My kids are tough customers) While I might not agree with the underlying assumptions, I think the approach for reaching young minds makes sense. Congratulations on your success so far!
And by the way, after my daughter and i watched the video, she said “Daddy, I want to create my own book?” Which lead us over to http://www.storyjumper.com – where she started the process of creating her book with her brother.So there is a network effect – even to watching the video. While you might not stop global poverty, you will encourage kids into literacy and publishing that is only now possible in this generation. So thank you!
Global Liberalism in a box. Seriously? (My daughter made it through 1 min of the video with me and asked “Is it over yet?” Looks boring.)I understand the idea, and I’m sure these folks mean well. But I get very nervous when I see terms like “inequality” fed to children. My white, American son will be taught that he grew up with special “privilege” and owes something to the rest of the kids in the world. That’s not how to solve problems.Happy Friday to everyone!
just move to China and you would instantly become a minority owed something by those around you as liberalism must be an objective and global philosophy that appies to all. no?
Good idea. I couldn’t because I have two kids and would be fined or jailed.Seriously. We have two neighbors from China – both with one child. When I asked “what would happen if you had another one?” they replied “My husband would be fired from his job.” This stuff is hard for us to imagine. But it is real. Communism is alive and well. (And yes, I am aware that they have bumped the number to two kids for certain people.)
This is true but my limited understanding is that they do that (or did that) for a reason. To curb overpopulation. Compare in this country where we are free to have as many children as we want and have little concern for who will pay for them. And what’s ironic is that some of the good things in life in this country come to people who have more kids than they can afford.
Ouch! Not sure I agree with the “good things” of Part 2. Just look at downtown Detroit and you might change that last sentence! In fact, you can trace the decline of Urban black America to that single point. Controversial, but supported by a lot of data.
I was talking about situations where how many kids you support gains you extra government aid but yes I agree with what you are saying as well. I also mean in cases where the people having the kids don’t fully understand money to know that the government will not cover the actual costs fully.
If US families had the wealth LBJ and Nixon threw away in Viet Nam and W and Obozo threw away in Iraq and Akrapistan, then a lot of US families could be really good parents for a lot more kids and much happier Thanksgiving and Christmas times. Not a joke. Instead a really big, huge point. My rough, first-cut, back of the envelope estimate is that in present value the difference would be $200,000 per US family. It would also help if US families having trouble paying for college for their kids were not being taxed to pay for the college of students from outside the US. It would also help if US college grads didn’t have to compete with essentially illegal HxB immigrants. Gee, it would help if the US government put US citizens first! Novel idea! It would help if the US didn’t rush to import cheap products and cheap workers and, instead, have good trade deals and enforce our long standing immigration laws. Naw, no chance; the MSM would throw a non-stop, 24 x 7 hissy fit shit storm. Hmm.
Anything and everything to indoctrinate as many people in my values as I can. Forever and ever.
I applaud your commitment.The book is deep deep in the partisan philosophical woods though. I like to think of myself as a highly judgmental moderate. I was ‘pass the home made granola’ 30 secs into it.I don’t agree with indoctrinating kids.Not sure it works either.Example seems to be the best teacher of values.
I don’t agree with indoctrinating kids. Not sure it works either.100% it works. No question about that in my mind. It’s brainwashing and the basis for many of the positive and negatives today in society. Words and influences by either parents, family, people in authority positions or people that are admired. Can one book do this? No. Can the same message from many sources and over time? Absolutely.
I agree 100% but read my comment to Fred. It works when you have everyone going along, either by force or vast majority.Where it falls apart is when you have a diametrically opposed force, that then decides to indoctrinate kids the opposite way. If they have a near parity, it’s like Judo, when you push I pull and vice versa.That’s my fear. CNN is as responsible for Trump as Fox. Not saying good or bad, right or wrong, just saying.
.Freddie, you let DJL push your buttons.We can no more “indoctrinate” young people — these are very young people — than the Hitler Youth, the Madrassas, the Catholic Church.Children need to learn to think for themselves. From childhood to adulthood, there is a crying need for critical thinking.I recall when I was being confirmed in the Catholic Church. The Bishop comes before each child and asks, “Do you renounce the Devil?”It was an open book exam and the nuns had beaten the answer into us. I, however, had never seen the robes of a Bishop up close and was tardy in my answer, mesmerized as I was by his beautiful robes. I balked.The Bishop asked me a SECOND TIME, which Sister Anne de Beaupre assured me had never happened in the history of Christendom.She administered her own exam, complete with a yardstick.”Do you renounce the Devil?”Whack!”Yes, Sister Anne.”Let’s let kids be kids and stop indoctrinating them.Let’s just love them and teach by example.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Why should he stop? It’s an effective technique and achieves the goal that he wants. What am I missing?
.Actually, indoctrination is not an effective technique for developing the best thinkers. It stifles critical thinking, suggesting there is a doctrinaire answer to everything.All one has to do is go back to the indoctrinating tomes of one’s youth to find the answers. Ugh.I do not in any way suggest that Fred Wilson does not have a lofty goal. I just don’t think indoctrination — his word, mind you — is a noble way to accomplish any goal.I doubt you are missing anything, but I could be wrong.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
No. He lets me push his. I’m the convo starter here. Not you. Not him.
.Might want to double down on the meditation; it’s not, apparently, working.I don’t think anyone here is questioning that you are the convo starter. Not sure where that’s coming from.The thing about an intelligent convo is one never knows where it may go. That’s the allure of it. When ideas wrestle, the best ideas survive.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Ah, JLM, maybe the answer is that in the Tribe of NYC it is essential to fit in, recite the catechism, adopt the party platform, maybe the party uniform, drive the right car, join the herd, give the prescribed salute, push the party propaganda (awful alliteration).Uh, you believe that all those many thousands of all look alike, like tin, soldiers in China and North Korea standing there all strictly obedient really believe that their Great Democratic, Patriotic, Socialist Leader of the People for Life, son of the last GDPSLPL and the one before that who killed some hundreds of thousands or tens of millions of the citizens, is the God the GDPSLPL so claims? Nope. But the few dumb enough not to pretend for the Poo Bahs are no longer around and either starving in a slave labor camp, gut full of worms, teeth pulled out in torture sessions, soon to die or already dead. Those dead ones don’t cause a lot of trouble, e.g., never stormed the Presidential Palace of the GDPSLPL. So, maybe that’s NYC? In particular, maybe there are some secret, severe entrance requirements for the Hamptons Country Club or even to be in good standing at the Hamptons deli started by the Barefoot Contessa with her lobster salad or some such and otherwise on double secret probation?Uh, the above is all just FAKE NEWS, but what could be more appropriate for NYC?????This just in: Rumors have it that there are reports that there is gossip that there are claims that White House staffers thought they heard that Rex Tillerson said that Trump was the south end of a north bound mule. In addition are the many reports of strain between Trump and Tillerson. Lots of reports. The newsies are awash in such reports. So, it is “widely expected” (translation: The MSM hopes) that Trump will soon dump Tillerson and replace him with, say, Nancy Pelosi or Hillary???!!!Are there ways, Goldman Sachs or Vegas, to make book on some of these newsie claims????But a few hours ago, Trump Tweeted — damn how NYC hates Twitter, ironic as that might be — that the demise of Tillerson has been greatly exaggerated or some such Mark Twain stuff with a mention of FAKE NEWS.Ah, it’s all just a NYC thingy! SF and DC can also like it. Nearly all the rest of the country has tuned out!But, one more, this just in: The MSM are screaming in unison, the Russians, the Russians, the Russians!!!!! That’s why the Sweetheart of NYC-SF-DC Hillary lost the election that was rightfully hers to win!!!! After all, she deserved to win; it was her turn; and she lied, cheated, took bribes, was a US national security disaster which shows how much she wanted and deserved the job??? Shouldn’t we ask Morning Joe???
the reality is it’s never forever. we are here for but a moment, and then we are no longer here to defend any accrued legacy (for what that’s worth). it’s about the here and now.
Amen! This is the right way to start. And woe to the conservatives who aren’t thinking along these lines.
You shoulda been very Catholic and had 15 kids : ) (This is a joke)
This is an observation not a political viewpoint.This is selling Bibles to the converted. That’s great.It is not going to convert anybody just steel their viewpoints: OkNo Fox viewer turns on CNN and says: I just saw the light! And vice versaThe reason we got a reality TV, Female Abuser, Crazy Twitter Spewing (I actually wish he would use the Rod Ford defense of I was blind drunk), Non Presidential Acting President is:Because a large portion of the population thought that the best way to poke a sharp stick in the people’s eyes that didn’t care about them was to vote for him.I’m not debating if that is good or bad. I am just saying that’s what happened .Now you can just say these people are f’ing idiots not American, not Christian, etc like gets said here and nothing will change.The reason why his slogan was America First, was it meant I am going to recognize you and not say you are the only problem. Again observation not viewpoint.Let me give two examples from the opposing side’s viewpoint (I don’t need to give examples from your viewpoint)Global Warming: Yes we contribute to pollution and I don’t care whether you believe or don’t but it’s not good. But go to India, China, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Let’s just recognize that.This NFL debacle (talk about an un-Presential tweet): Now frankly I don’t care if you stand or you don’t and playing the National Anthem before each game gives you that opportunity. The players are saying it is because of police brutality and racial inequality. Both exist, we need to work on both.But, having worked in the inner city, actually working with kids this biggest thing to work on, the biggest inequality in order is: Totally broken family units, with kids having kids and no Dad present, A distain for education with peer pressure for those that value it by some in the “gangster culture” for lack of better term, and black on black violence (watch IceT’s movie Barbershop) But when I or even Charles Barkley says this we are viewed as racist.We have to recognize we could instantly stop all police brutality: Get rid of police. See how that ridiculous statement would work, so there needs to be recognition that most police provide an invaluable tough service and without them there would be chaos. See what happened in Baltimore when they decided to not be as aggressive: violent crime tripled.We can go on, and on, how reciprocal is our trade deal with China, etc, etc.I think there is a huge opportunity to bring things back to the middle, but it seems most are intent on pushing it away.I know this makes me unpopular, but I believe somebody needs to be out there saying it. I argue with Senator Carper, but we respect each other, and we talk even in my office, not just his. (I can send you an email that was sent back to me on the options tax treatment from the leading Democratic Finance Senator)
best way to poke a sharp stick in the people’s eyes that didn’t care about them was to vote for him.Would like to make it very very clear that it’s even more than that. For example there are people that simply voted for ‘him’ because they just got tired of all of the liberalism being shoved down their throats. So it was a ‘fuck you’ to liberals as much as anything. And these were not people out of jobs or lacking opportunity.This is similar in a way to kids who marry the completely opposite person that their parents want just to get it over on their parents as a result (often) of how they were oppressed growing up.
100% Agree.
Poverty, Inequality, climate change, etc. are real human issues with deep implications for all of us. Raising kids’ awareness of these is a noble endeavor.I would posit that your son knowing that he has access to opportunity denied to so many others is a good thing. It increases empathy and understanding.There is no politics in this except in the eyes of the beholder.
Agree, this is a noble endeavor.
.Isn’t all politics in the eye of the beholder?We have allowed the word politics to become a four-letter, pejorative term.I see politics as being the implementation of policies which are driven by a governing philosophy or the attainment of an objective which can only be attained through a governmental process such as legislation.Take tax policy as an example. The other day, I am listening to a very smart guy. He is arguing the objectives of the tax plan in the Senate.He and this other guy both agree it is to grow the economy and to increase domestic jobs. No disagreement.Then, they go at each other as to who is going to get the benefit of the tax cuts. One says it is the wealthy and the other says it is the middle class.They ask me my opinion. I say, “You can only cut taxes of people who are actually paying taxes, right?”The top 1% pay almost half of the taxes in the US, so it is likely they will get a tax cut if taxes are actually being cut.[For the record, I think the continuation of the top tax rate coupled with the elimination of all deductions as contemplated, means it is highly unlikely this slice actually gets a tax cut, but these are capital gains guys anyway. Sorry.]This is why we should approach politics as the opportunity for all of us to put our best, well-reasoned ideas into the public square and let them fight it out with other ideas. Not talking points, real, fact-based ideas.If you are using the word “indoctrination” to discuss any exchange of ideas, you are in the wrong place.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Regardless of whether all politics is in the eye of the beholder, why is this a discussion about politics?Increasing awareness about poverty and inequality is a step toward developing empathy and understanding. That is a noble endeavor.
.Doing something about things is far more noble than talking about them.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Yes.
On this, I agree with you. Politics should be nothing but policy.But in a polarized society, people have become tribalistic.Instead of debating pros and cons of every issue through shared facts, persuasion, and reason, we are identifying deeply with party (tribe) in fear of being called out or ostracized by the tribe. This is true of both democrats and republicans.Leaders with authoritarian and vindictive tendencies who cannot take criticism do not help.
.I agree that there is a tribal feeding frenzy at play today. Each of us has the ability to decide when to act based on reason or tribal talking points.I personally don’t have sufficient respect for the intellectual rigor of the tribal leadership not to do my own thinking.There is nothing wrong with knowing what the tribes say and going one’s own way.When you say, “Leaders with authoritarian and vindictive tendencies . . . ” you add to the tribal drumbeat.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
The only thing that matters is if there is available evidence to substantiate that case. It certainly seems so from my independent understanding and reasoning.Can you say with a straight face that it is not the case?
> [For the record, I think the continuation of the top tax rate coupled with the elimination of all deductions as contemplated, means it is highly unlikely this slice actually gets a tax cut, but these are capital gains guys anyway. Sorry.]IIRC, in the campaign, at some economics club or some such, maybe in NYC, on taxes Trump just blurted out to the audience that “all you $5 million guys out there” (or some such) won’t see any reductions. Flat, blunt statement.
Yes, these are all realities and real problems. And we teach our kids to be very grateful for the USA. That way they will instinctively reject the notion that the US or they (as white people) are at fault for the plight of others. (Both of which are key tenants of Liberal politics.)These are real problems. But sadly, all of the solutions have been politicized. I cannot talk about global climate change anywhere (including this blog) without being insulted and called names. Just because I have a different opinion. So my point: Liberalism (as a tactic) is making all of these problems worse by destroying discourse.
Can’t agree with you on this one. Do we really need to be pushing the liberal agenda on 7 year olds? I’m no conservative but this is just plain indoctrination.P.S. I just saw your comment on indoctrination below. I think its sarcastic isn’t it?
One of the problems with modern Liberalism is fundamental: People (especially conservatives) are not motivated to solve problems out of guilt – but out of compassion.If you tell me: “Look, there are starving kids in Africa” – I am motivated to solve this problem, because I care. If you tell me: “Kids are starving in African because you are white and live in America and practice capitalism” – I am going to get annoyed and look the other way. All of my money, energy and talents are turned away. The Left is never going to get this point. Such a shame.
There are tenets of liberalism that are good and tenets that are bad. The same can be said for conservatism. I tend to look at things issue by issue and regard them through the lens of my midwestern upbringing. I guess you’d call me one of those folks from fly over country…
I agree 100% (being a MI boy). Perhaps I should distinguish between Liberal “ideas” versus modern Liberal “tactics”. And this is really a key point.In my experience, when it comes to ideas and concepts, there is a lot of agreement between L and C. (Many of my best friends are in the L camp.) But when it comes to tactics for solving them – and the motivation – there is a dramatic departure.
I watch Hannity and now Ingraham each week day night, but I keep Tweeting them to drop the word conservative. Just don’t use it. To me “conservative” reminds me of Nixon and Goldwater and, worst of all, the thinking that got us into the crash of 1929 and the thinking that had us suffer in the resulting Great Depression for 12 years. Similarly for 2008.
Do we really need to be pushing the liberal agenda on 7 year olds? I’m no conservative but this is just plain indoctrination.I think it’s smart for anyone to use any and all legal means to push their agenda. I fully support that regardless of whether I agree with what they are pushing or not.Fred does not claim to be either the NY Times “to be sure here is the other side of the issue” or Fox News ‘Fair and balanced’, right?
It is amazing,I love it
What about the Defense Budget? Why can’t we look at that first??
.You fail to understand the implications of the infamous PAYGO rules which mandates that beyond a certain threshold, cuts in revenue must be offset by cuts in spending. It is, of course, the law of the land and has been for a while.It has absolutely nothing to do with the Senate tax bill.This is similar to the infamous “sequester” cuts which were also signed into law and which did not happen though the triggering mechanism was met.If is a fairy tale of the first order. The same Congress which passed PAYGO will simply revise or ignore it, as they did with the similar sequester law.On the other hand, you have nothing to worry about because the tax cuts will trigger more than enough economic expansion (latest quarter revised upwards to 3.3% surpassing any annual increase during the entire Obama administration) to provide shelter from the PAYGO rules.What taxpayers should be mad about is the failure to enforce the PAYGO rules. Congress hasn’t cut a single penny nor has it decreased the planned rate of program growth.JLMwww.themusingsofthebigredca…
Tax cuts have never paid for themselves and claiming this one will is pure political BS
Need references for these points. E.g., last I heard, likely on Ingraham’s interview of McConnell, your 2. is just total nonsense propaganda, FAKE NEWS, flatly not true.The $1.5 trillion is over 10 years. As McConnell explained, and Trump also, that’s pocket change compared with what we stand to get with faster GDP growth and, thus, higher tax revenues.Sure, I’d like to see the details on the claims that Reagan’s cut doubled Federal tax revenues, what the Fed thinks about inflation over the next 10 years, etc.But since the Democrats and their MSM partners in crime are shoveling BS from their great pile where millions of bulls went number 2, then in practice I’ll essentially just trust Trump and get back to making money.
Trump is a life long professional criminal and dirtbag. His first instinct is always to defraud. This bill was written by lobbyists for the benefit of a few. Trickle down is not and never has been economics. It is the cornerstone of every con run in history.
Gee, I’m surprised to hear that you like Trump that much! Don’t hold back with political correctness; don’t be so diplomatic and reticent! Go ahead, tell us what you really think!The stuff from Mika and Joe sounds the same — lots of nasty accusations and no good evidence.So, Mika and Joe look like part of an organized, funded propaganda effort using the Goebbels, IIRC “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. Even you will believe it.”. So, Mika and Joe join the propaganda team, the gang-up, the pile-on and each week repeat the faked-up lie. So, the lies are just wild, outrageous, nasty, unsupported accusations against Trump, without evidence or rationality.But as Trump does well, the funders are wasting their money, and Mika, Joe, and their media team are all losing their credibility and their audiences. And as the accusations continue to have no credibility and appear to be the worst that the attackers can cook up, Trump looks better and better.For my response, I thank some of the glories of computing and the Internet as means of getting speech transcripts, of a computer with several TB of disk storage able to keep such data, of some good but simple means of indexing such data, and of a good text editor for search, slice, dice, and word whacking, and of a good spell checker!So, I can easily give a response to you that would have been a big pain before current computing and the Internet.Ah, the Internet — high potential for big progress! E.g., now we can get, store, and later find what politicians actually said! And we can convert the highly self-esteemed NYT to no competition for Charmin and, on the Internet, useless for wrapping dead fish heads.For yourHis first instinct is always to defraud. Gee, I thought Trump’s leading, early instincts were to stay serious and make money, be good to his family, set aside absurd and destructive cases of political correctness, be kind to the suffering, have the best sometimes with extravagant displays of wealth, otherwise not waste money, do exaggerate his accomplishments and use his favorite color gold.Now his “instinct” and drive really are his “Make America Great Again” — literally just that. And on this he’s making good progress, and compared with his detractors, he is doing really well. And as he continues to break down the credibility of his detractors — friend of radical Islam Obozo, crooked, disaster Hildabeast, Nasty Nancy, The San Francisco Treat, Chucky (river of tears, AWOL at WH meetings, can’t work with Trump) Schumer, sweet looking (beautiful woman) Kirsten (“Fuck No”) Gillibrand, the entitled, elitist, mostly incompetent “rags to rags in three generations” Bush family, jealous, not very insightful Romney, Bill (missed out on his opportunity) Kristol, the mainstream of the media and the Democrats — Trump stands to do much better.His detractors are really nasty, and one good consequence is that we can be sure that if Trump actually does something wrong, then we will hear about it. Since the worst his detractors have found that has any credibility at all is just something about two scoops of ice cream, we have unusually good evidence that Trump is a really good guy.The Trump detractors early in their careers in the media and politics no doubt saw the total nonsense but over time, from the money and power they had, got used to the nonsense.That’s a standard human reaction and one our Founding Fathers understood and, in response, wanted ordinary citizens in office, not career politicians. For the newsies, in Jefferson’s time it was really bad as in hisNothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day. athttp://press-pubs.uchicago….Now Trump comes along, never got used to the nonsense, and speaks the mostly totally obvious truth.And the detractors are also rapidly on the way to significantly increasing the level of quality of news and political discourse as Morning Joe, Nasty Nancy, Chucky (“Running Tears”) Schumer, etc. all lose their credibility and fade from the scene!So, instead of total attack propagandists Mika and Joe, we can have quite bright, relatively rational, and well informed Ingraham and Coulter and very insightful, grand political expert Gingrich.Trump is a life long professional criminal and dirtbag. Trump is these things? Evidence? For one, he gave up his dream life at the top of his tower with his family, spent a lot of his money, e.g., during the primary flying around in his 757, risked his life, risks it everyday, to help the US.Very definitely, he doesn’t need his current job.Your “life long professional criminal and dirtbag” is right for the one Trump beat, Hillary, back to the cattle futures, White Water, and pressuring the women Bill raped, …, getting some Hispanic terrorist murderers out of jail to get some votes in NYS, taking bribes via the Clinton Foundation selling out the US (e.g., Uranium One deal with the Russians), seriously violating US national security rules on classified information, lying about her crimes, etc.This bill was written by lobbyists for the benefit of a few. The tax reductions — e.g., the doubling of the standard deduction — are big time for the working poor and middle class, and they are not “the few”.Just in anticipation of a better economy, the stock market is way up, unemployment is down, consumer confidence is up, and those changes are for the many and not just for “the few”.Last I heard, state taxes will no longer be deductible, and that will hurt “the few” the most.Trickle down is not and never has been economics. It’s not at all clear that “trickle down” is appropriate here. Generally, to cut taxes, have to cut the taxes for the people paying taxes. Besides, there is from Trump’s Detroit speech (see below)As part of this reform, we will eliminate the Carried Interest Deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers. It appears that personally and directly “the few” will gain little or nothing (as a percent of what they earn or pay in taxes) from the Trump tax overhaul.There was a Trump remark (I recall but maybe not in the usual speech transcripts, maybe ad libbed) in one of his speeches on his tax overhaul that the rich would not gain. The remark was something like “For you $5 million guys out there, you won’t gain anything.”For yourIt is the cornerstone of every con run in history. Naw, there are lots of cons without “trickle down”.In a transcript athttp://www.politico.com/sto…from near Tuesday, June 28th, 2016, of a Trump speech in Pennsylvania isIt is great to be here. I’d like to thank Alumisource and all the amazing workers here for hosting us.Today, I am going to talk about how to Make America Wealthy Again.We are thirty miles from Steel City. Pittsburgh played a central role in building our nation.The legacy of Pennsylvania steelworkers lives in the bridges, railways and skyscrapers that make up our great American landscape.But our workers’ loyalty was repaid with betrayal.Our politicians have aggressively pursued a policy of globalization – moving our jobs, our wealth and our factories to Mexico and overseas.Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy. But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians do nothing.For years, they watched on the sidelines as our jobs vanished and our communities were plunged into depression-level unemployment.Many of these areas have still never recovered.Our politicians took away from the people their means of making a living and supporting their families.Skilled craftsmen and tradespeople and factory workers have seen the jobs they loved shipped thousands of miles away.Many Pennsylvania towns once thriving and humming are now in a state despair.This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class. Doesn’t sound like “trickle down” to me and, instead, sounds good. And so far it looks like what he’s been doing. From the deals he got in Saudi Arabia and China, he looks like a super salesman.From Trump’s speech on the economy at Detroit Economics Club August 8th, 2016 with transcript athttps://www.donaldjtrump.co…isIf you were a foreign power looking to weaken America, you couldn’t do better than Hillary Clinton’s economic agenda.Nothing would make our foreign adversaries happier than for our country to tax and regulate our companies and our jobs out of existence.The one common feature of every Hillary Clinton idea is that it punishes you for working and doing business in the United States. Every policy she has tilts the playing field towards other countries at our expense.That’s why she tries to distract us with tired political rhetoric that seeks to label us, divide us, and pull us apart.My campaign is about reaching out to everyone as Americans, and returning to a government that puts the American people first.Here is what an America First economic plan looks like.First, let’s talk tax reform.Taxes are one of the biggest differences in this race.Hillary Clinton – who has spent her career voting for tax increases – plans another massive job-killing $1.3 trillion-dollar tax increase. Her plan would tax many small businesses by almost fifty percent.Recently, at a campaign event, Hillary Clinton short-circuited again – to use a now famous term – when she accidentally told the truth and said she wanted to raise taxes on the middle class.I am proposing an across-the-board income tax reduction, especially for middle-income Americans. This will lead to millions of new good-paying jobs.The rich will pay their fair share, but no one will pay so much that it destroys jobs, or undermines our ability to compete.As part of this reform, we will eliminate the Carried Interest Deduction and other special interest loopholes that have been so good for Wall Street investors, and people like me, but unfair to American workers.Tax simplification will be a major feature of the plan.Our current tax code is so burdensome and complex that we waste 9 billion hours a year in tax code compliance.My plan will reduce the current number of brackets from 7 to 3, and dramatically streamline the process. We will work with House Republicans on this plan, using the same brackets they have proposed: 12, 25 and 33 percent. For many American workers, their tax rate will be zero.While we will develop our own set of assumptions and policies, agreeing in some areas but not in others, we will be focused on the same shared goals and guided by the same shared principles: jobs, growth and opportunity. From the same speech:There are now 94.3 million Americans outside the labor force. It was 80.5 million when President Obama took office, an increase of nearly 14 million people. Hillary was to be a third term of Obozo with more US citizens out of work.Uh, there are strong forces, with big money for big campaign donations who want our borders open to uncontrolled immigration and our long standing laws on immigration ignored. That’s why it’s tough to get laws out of Congress to close our borders.Those strong forces are from people making money from the new version of slave labor from the immigration.The people keeping our borders open, the illegal immigrants coming, and our immigration laws ignored are your phrase “the few”.Trump is working hard to enforce our long standing laws, policies, and procedures on immigration. Here he is doing good things for the many at the expense of the slave drivers of “the few”.His Detroit speech continues withNo one will gain more from these proposals than low-and-middle income Americans. On September 15, 2016, Trump spoke on jobs at the New York Economic Club with transcript athttps://www.donaldjtrump.co…Finally, comes trade – the foundation for everythingAmerica’s annual trade deficit with the world is now nearly $800 a billion a year – an enormous drag on growth.Between World War II and the year 2000, the United States averaged a 3.5% growth rate. But, after China joined the World Trade Organization, our average growth rate has been reduced to only 2 percent.Predatory trade practices, product dumping, currency manipulation and intellectual property theft have taken millions of jobs and trillions in wealth from our country.It is no great secret that many of the special interests funding my opponent’s campaign are the same people profiting from these terrible trade deals. The same so-called experts advising Hillary Clinton are the same people who gave us NAFTA, China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the job-killing trade deal with South Korea, and now the Trans-Pacific Partnership.The verdict is in. All of the special interests that the media race to for comment have been proven wrong about every single deal they’ve promoted – every lie and every prediction has crashed upon the rocks of reality.Our manufacturing base has crumbled, communities have been hollowed out, wages have declined, and households are making less today than they were in the year 2000.I have proposed a detailed plan to reform our trade policies and bring vast new jobs and wealth to America. Sounds to me like a much higher economic growth rate than under Obozo and lots of jobs to get lots of US citizens now unemployed back to work. Doesn’t sound like it’s for “the few” to me.I know; I know: The US has the mainstream media, the NYT, WaPo, LAT, Politico, ABC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, NBC, and they are all highly determined, dedicated, devoted, deranged, delusional, deceptive, demented, destructive tools of Obozo-Hillary-Democrat Goebbels style (IIRC, “Tell a lie often enough and people will believe it. Even you will believe it.”) propaganda.Ah, it’s super tough to use mere evidence and rationality to win an argument against people who are making money from their absurd positions!
You could chop the defense budget in half, re package it and give it back to the generals. They would think they got a raise.