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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 26th, 2021, 11:50 pm

I like that -- although maybe the bull should be a bear.  ;)

Just got back from a short trip to sign the Recall Gavin petition. I think he's getting worried: over one million signatures so far (1.8 million needed by mid-March) to get on the ballot.
If I had time, I'd photoshop in a bear for you.  Hehe.

One note on your Yahoo article though - original source is the National Review, so one could not claim it is unbiased, although it is a high-quality right-leaning publication. As I'm sure you know, it was founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.,  a elegant old arch conservative and a great writer.

I actually met him once when I was in grad school - he came to speak at the Kremlin on the Charles. We hit it off very well and went out for a drink after his talk.

Gin and tonics and he certainly did have a gimlet eye. The dream combo would have been Buckley and Hunter Thompson at Rialto's. Hunter liked Chivas by the fifth and I would have taken notes on whatever evolved in that conversation! I would not have let either of them drive my car though.
 
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Alan
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:05 am

Wow -- fascinating meet! I liked both of those guys, but never had the pleasure. Also enjoyed Johnny Depp's portrayal.   
 
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bearish
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:13 am

Ah - a suitable Buckley quote, with just a little bit of context added.

... Buckley goes on to weigh whether such a position is kosher from a sophisticated, conservative perspective. “The central question that emerges,” he writes, “is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not predominate numerically?” His answer is clear:

The sobering answer is Yes — the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the median cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists. The question, as far as the White community is concerned, is whether the claims of civilization supersede those of universal suffrage. The British believe they do, and acted accordingly, in Kenya, where the choice was dramatically one between civilization and barbarism, and elsewhere; the South, where the conflict is by no means dramatic, as in Kenya, nevertheless perceives important qualitative differences between its culture and the Negroes’, and intends to assert its own. NATIONAL REVIEW believes that the South’s premises are correct. If the majority wills what is socially atavistic, then to thwart the majority may be, though undemocratic, enlightened. It is more important for any community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:16 am

Now, of course, compared to Trump he was an intellectual as well as a moderate.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:49 am

Well, you guys can debate such excerpts, but on the subject of journalists across the political spectrum, it is Davos time again and another one of my favorite writers is Lewis Lapham. I mentioned this book a long time ago; for anyone who wants more than the FT coverage, this is a witty, elegant and entertaining read:

The Agony of Mammon: The Imperial Global Economy Explains Itself to the Membership in Davos, Switzerland

Lapham was there the same year that I was (1998, through a weird little twist of fate) and he captured it nicely. I didn't meet him, but I did have a excellent adventure on Jakobshorn, even without skis! I remember that altitude, the laughter and intense hunger (due to thin air), and the restaurants with that rich, Swiss mountain cuisine like it was yesterday. : ) 
Jakobshorn.jpg
What goes up, must come down, one way or another!

And for a bit of WEF surfing: WEF 2021 Agenda, Live Blogs, Podcasts, Reports, and Videos, Jan 25-29. Enjoy!
We can even drop some masks and Vitamin D, B, and C advice on them via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Davos : )
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:01 pm

Will CNN be the new cheerleaders going forward?
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:02 pm

Swiss mountain cuisine like it was yesterday. : ) 
yeah, cheese fondue. 
Never again Davos..
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 12:14 pm

Will CNN be the new cheerleaders going forward?
I watched TV on November 5-6 (election) and December 5-9 and 20 (you know what).
Aside from that, I focus on reading from a pretty broad array of sources. 
The "Society of the Spectacle" is too dominant in TV coverage, pushed by overwrought anchorperson drama. (do you know of Guy Debord).

Democrats are not cannibalistic demons and no one was going to be saved by Messiah Trump.
Republicans are not scheming devils and Biden is not an angel with a golden horn to banish them back to then netherworld.

Maybe we should revive the Economics Forum - Central Banks, fiscal and monetary policy are where the demons, devils, cannibals, fallen angels, virtuous angels, and gods will be at work.

PS: I like your new avatar. Reminds me of the Velvet Underground.

**

Reference: The Society of the Spectacle - Guy Debord (1967) - Marxist stuff - woo hoo! :D
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 4:01 pm


PS: I like your new avatar. Reminds me of the Velvet Underground.
No flies on VU.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 27th, 2021, 6:31 pm

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

January 29th, 2021, 12:39 pm

As Biden staffs SCOTUS reform group, GOP senators back constitutional amendment to block expanded court

Some progressives think that it’s unlikely that the commission agenda will lead to Supreme Court expansion. They include Aaron Belkin, the director of Take Back the Court, according to Politico.


“Commissions are often places where ideas go to die,” Belkin told Politico

Let's hope so. In that case, this commission is just Biden being passive-aggressive to the far left -- he's unable to just say "no" to them. Same behavior noted in his response to the second Trump impeachment.  
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

February 4th, 2021, 8:17 pm

Biden ends US military support for Yemen war
https://www.rte.ie/news/us/2021/0204/1195138-us-yemen/

let's hop UK follows suit.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

February 5th, 2021, 8:17 pm

Wouldn't happen without Biden in the office either:
In risky move, Ukraine’s president bans pro-Russian media

In Ukrainian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8rwOh0-ImE
Not that Ukraine owes its independence to any of the talking men.

Майдан незалежностi
It's independent, even if in war, thanks to those resting in coffins, killed by snipers and armed police, and those who shut down the Ukrainian "leaders" who wanted to make deals with the enemy.
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

February 5th, 2021, 8:36 pm

BTW I can't get RT TV here in NL anymore as well. Has Ukraine so much infuence?
 
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Re: Biden and Harris - the first 100 days

February 5th, 2021, 11:57 pm

In the biggest European country, right at the borders of the EU, the government deploys armed forces against the crowd peacefully protesting against rigged elections, and kills over 100 people - Putin's order was to send the whole army and wipe out the protesters. In the US, a KGB asset - assuming it requires any effort to manipulate such an idiot and narcissistic megalomaniac - becomes a president. I know that the hell drums in your house drown out what they say on RT TV, but someone must have listened to that and give a damn ;-)