tinnitus photography wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:43 pm

Arizona State isn't exactly known as a fount of intellectualism.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:58 am

tinnitus photography wrote: ↑

Sun Sep 11, 2022 12:43 pm

Arizona State isn't exactly known as a fount of intellectualism.

Is your point that one needs to be an intellectual to understand that Native Americans aren't undocumented immigrants? Because I guess the unstated assumption underlying my post is that every 10th grader ought to know that. Perhaps I'm wrong about that, which would be sad, I think. But if it can't be assumed that every college student should know that Native Americans are not undocumented immigrants then it seems to me that there's really no point to anything remotely related to politics and self-government. As James Madison said, "Education is the true foundation of civil liberty." And if we are indeed uneducated ignoramuses (including the alleged educated among us) we will not be able to govern ourselves. Hmmmmm...

Of course, it may be that the ASU College Republicans United Club was intentionally baiting people like me because they really are that sophisticated and subtle, but...ummm... no.

tinnitus photography wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 14, 2022 1:03 pm

in other news, when people talk about the state of democracy and its fragility, it is because of stuff like this:

https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/re ... ion-fraud/

pearlbeer wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 19, 2022 12:55 pm

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... non-media/


Awesome. This will go well. November is going to be a complete sh*tshow.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 22, 2022 10:18 am

The Fed has raised rates significantly 3x over the past few months. Mortgage rates are now over 6%. But raise your hand if your bank is paying even 1% on savings. Mine's not. Not even close. Just as gas prices go up a lot faster than they come down, interest rates banks pay go up a hell of a lot more slowly than the rates they charge on loans. Not much mystery in either case. Can you say "oligopoly"?

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:54 pm

Paul Krugman asks,

"So why the sudden run on the pound? One answer I liked came from the City of London economist Dario Perkins, who declared that the problem with the budget wasn’t that it was inflationary but that it was “moronic,” and that an economy run by morons has to pay a risk premium."

Sounds about right, but wait, there's more! Britain has also gone in on what Krugman calls "zombie economics" aka "supply side economics" aka "a rising tide lifts all boats" aka "tax cuts for the rich are good for everyone," a consistently discredited, disproven idea that refuses to die, in both Britain and the US (thus the zombie reference).

Add morons to zombies and you get... the pound approaching parity with the dollar and a likely historically short tenure for the new PM.

Of course Republicans are promising to do the same thing here if voters give them the opportunity (to the extent anyone can tell anything about what Republican policies actually are).

Zip City wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:28 am

At least they haven’t elected Mussolini 2.0 (yet)

chuckrh wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:31 am

Zip City wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 28, 2022 8:28 am

At least they haven’t elected Mussolini 2.0 (yet)

Sadly only a matter of time.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 27, 2014 9:47 am

Cole Younger wrote:
If I may, I don't think Beebs means that a Russian invasion of Poland is exactly like what lead to WWII. I think he means an increasingly aggressive Putin bent on acquiring more territory could lead to us having to get involved. Think Putin deciding to move into Western Europe. Is it unlikely? Oh yeah. And that's the only way I could see us needing to get involved. If nothing else maybe this makes it a little less popular to hate America. Putin sure seems to want Russia to be a military power on the world's stage.

I think it's pretty likely that Putin will try to reconstruct a substantial portion of the USSR. I thought that the guy beebs was quoting was saying that Poland would try to stop him (if Russia went after certain areas) and would drag NATO w/ them. I think that's unlikely. I think it's unlikely that anyone, including the USA, will try to stop him militarily unless he tries to move West, e.g. the Baltics or Poland, which we agree doesn't seem like the most likely scenario. Or unless he turns off the gas pipeline, but it's hard to see why he'd do that.

RolanK wrote: ↑

Thu Mar 27, 2014 10:19 am

beantownbubba wrote: Fossil fuels are still the bottom line. The best thing that could ever happen to advance the possibility of peace on earth is the development of true replacements for fossil fuels, preferably from renewable resources. In the meantime, Putin's got the goods, Western Europe needs them desperately and the story will play out along some line in which that is the dominant plot/theme.

I think this is a key issue here (as allways). Just google up a picture of existing and planned oil/gas pipelines from the area around the Caspian Sea and beyond, and you will see a pretty interesting picture. Adding into the equiation that most of the key players both on the Ukrainian side as well as the Russian side in one way or another are or were involed in the Oil and Gas industry.

Involvement by the US and Western Euorpean contries I would guess are pretty much determined by how the situation influence the energy markets.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Sat Oct 01, 2022 2:15 pm

Phew! That could have been a lot worse lol.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 03, 2022 5:53 pm

The report detailing the investigation into abuses and mistreatment in women's soccer is horrifying and so disheartening. I kept repeating to myself, "but it's two thousand and twenty-two..." Clearly we're still in the dark ages. I just can't imagine being in a position of authority receiving complaints about the kinds of behavior alleged and doing nothing about it. Wait. Not just nothing but actively impeding investigations and actively hiding documented behavior. In fact I've been in that position so I'm not just talking here. There's no excuse. SMH.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 9:59 am

Between Tommy Tuberville, Ye and Herschel Walker it was a real throwback weekend. Like back to the 1950's, or maybe the 1840's.

brettac1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:04 pm

It’s been an excruciatingly awful few months and there’s still four more weeks til election day.

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:57 am

brettac1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:04 pm

It’s been an excruciatingly awful few months and there’s still four more weeks til election day.

Which reminds me: Living in the Commonwealth of my vote doesn't count for squat, I thankfully don't see many political ads. But this summer I saw plenty while I was in Florida and I do see a few now for the NH senate & governor races. OMG. If I had to be subjected to that stuff regularly as I'm sure many of you are by now I'd be well past screaming at the screen on to maybe flinging things at it. And I'm sure it's been getting worse as election day finally approaches and various races have either tightened up or unexpectedly widened. I feel sorry for y'all.

Zip City wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 11:35 am

beantownbubba wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 11, 2022 9:57 am

brettac1 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:04 pm

It’s been an excruciatingly awful few months and there’s still four more weeks til election day.

Which reminds me: Living in the Commonwealth of my vote doesn't count for squat, I thankfully don't see many political ads. But this summer I saw plenty while I was in Florida and I do see a few now for the NH senate & governor races. OMG. If I had to be subjected to that stuff regularly as I'm sure many of you are by now I'd be well past screaming at the screen on to maybe flinging things at it. And I'm sure it's been getting worse as election day finally approaches and various races have either tightened up or unexpectedly widened. I feel sorry for y'all.

We're only really getting Tim Ryan vs. JD Vance ads. They're brutal on both sides