if you think there's a real threat that trump will actually kill 6 million people based on race or religious identity, then i'm sure the comparison is sound, but i think that's a bit extreme
while i don't much like trump as a candidate to any political office, i also don't think he's hitler.
Trump is already on record saying he wants to forcibly deport 11 million people, which would be the largest ethnic cleaning operation ever attempted in human history. It's not quite gas chambers, but it's only a few steps removed. How far down that road do we really want to travel? Every neo-nazi skinhead and Klan member is already coming out of the woodwork to support Trump, and it isn't because they like his stupid reality show. My friends whose grandparents survived the Holocaust certainly seem to think the Hitler comparisons are valid.
obviously i am not a fan of trump and do not want to go down that road at all.
i think knee-jerk 'you're hitler' or 'you're a nazi' comments have become pervasive enough on the internet that it distracts from the real conversation. thus, godwin's law or, from before the internets, the theory of reductio ad hitlerum. if you're concerned about removing religious liberties from a certain group of people, then i think it's more prudent to focus on your concern for how to protect those liberties and those people, rather than dragging the conversation into the mud with ad-hominem attacks or other extremists fallacies.
we're the highly educated smart people. we can do better.
Godwin's Law is dead. It was coined as a reaction to right-wingers who shut down debate by screaming "Hitler!" whenever President Obama takes a breath. Now the same people scream "Godwin's Law!" to shut down debate when the Hitler comparisons are actually warranted.
Power serves itself. Look at how constitutional liberties have been destroyed. Look at the Patriot Act, constant universal survellience, whistleblowers jailed (or worse). Power uses fear to rule, and creates enemies - imagined and real - to fuel that fear.
Combine that with a steadily deteriorating society - unemployment, rampant poverty (defined as $19k for a family of four!), income inequality, corporate welfare, a health care system where you are a profit center, constant wars burning up the youth who volunteered because they had no other options, etc. and you end up with a large group of disaffected people desperate for change.
Now all you need is a demagog to rally the populace around some easily defined scapegoat who can be blamed for the problems (that power itself created). Not exactly Germany in the 1930's, but similar. Especially when Trump says the guy who heckled him would have been 'roughed up' in the good old days, which simply lays the groundwork for that to happen next time. Make America Great Again!
Lest we forget, rounding up Jews, herding them into cattle cars, and sending them to death camps was all learned from America. So Trump we clearly be in the American tradition, and let's be honest, deportation is expensive, while gas and Amtrak are really affordable.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama has so far deported 2.5 Million illegals, and recently started raids on families to gather up women and children. More deportations than the past 19 presidents. And lets not forget the extra judiciary assassinations by drone of US Citizens. At least at Guantanamo they get to live. But somehow its the Republicans who hate illegal immigrants but Obama is much more dangerous than Donald Trump.
The political catch here is that none of those 2.5 million vote. And those who do vote, don't need to worry about being deported, but putting up a straw man to attack as anti immigrant serves a convenient political aim of creating a wedge among Hispanics.
Illegal immigration is a real issue that affects all of us, including architects. It affects the costs of projects that our clients think they can get a project built at, and it affects our own individual industry when professionals (who deliberately come and overstay their visas) come and begin undercutting for drafting, rendering and other architectural and engineering services. Anyone who lives in Florida will know that this is the case where architectural fees and salaries are rock bottom.
Rather than blaming the immigrants you should look at the why they are. If we weren't so busy fucking up the rest of the world there would be a lot less illegal immigrants.
If you want to have a rational discussion about illegal immigration let's start by talking about US policies from NAFTA to military misadventures (in Central America, the Middle East and the Far East), economic imperialism, etc. Not to mention globalization, which of course does not apply to people, only to money and product.
No, there would be a lot less illegal immigrants if people chose to follow the law and emigrate legally. There is no justification for illegally entering the country as there is no justification for hiring an illegal alien. Try doing that in Canada. That's the rational discussion.
Globalization if anything has improved conditions for the rest of the world at the expense of American industry. Where are the furniture factories at Highpoint now or the mills in Utica? Carrier leaves to make more jobs for Mexico, but I guess that type of economic "imperialism" does not count because it will benefit Mexicans. Enough of this blame America first to justify lawlessness elsewhere. Central America has its own problems today not at all related to American intervention. The violence people are fleeing is gang violence all related to drug and narcotics trafficking and last time I checked its the corrupt Central American governments that benefit from illegal immigration via Dollar remittances and chasing the gangs back to the Mexican/US border.
Central America has its own problems today not at all related to American intervention.
With that completely ignorant statement you just lost the argument. Go study some history, but not from an American textbook.
Feb 26, 16 11:56 pm ·
·
David Cole,
Hitler didn't start out with gas chambers; he started out by spewing the same rhetoric that Trump is now spewing. Do we really have to wait until there's gas chambers before making historical comparisons? Trump doesn't yet look like the Hitler of 1945, but he sure sounds a lot like the Hitler of 1929. And people in 1929 thought Hitler was a joke candidate with no chance of getting elected, either.
There are already government operated 'institution of sorts' in place for taking care of political figures including a country's political leader such as a president that is deemed to be out of control. I will not get into details about how such things can or could be carried out. Lets just say we already have the means. It's been employed before.
There are obvious reasons it would be insanely inappropriate to discuss how to do such. Don't ask for any details or confirmation of documentations because not only would that be dangerous for me but also for you or anyone here. That's one hot potato, you do not want your hands on.
its blaring on me speakers....have a Canadian explain it!
There's colors on the street Red, white and blue People shufflin' their feet People sleepin' in their shoes But there's a warnin' sign on the road ahead There's a lot of people sayin' we'd be better off dead Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them So I try to forget it, any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night With a baby in her hand Under an old street light Near a garbage can Now she puts the kid away, and she's gone to get a hit She hates her life, and what she's done to it There's one more kid that will never go to school Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand We got department stores and toilet paper Got styrofoam boxes for the ozone layer Got a man of the people, says keep hope alive Got fuel to burn, got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world Keep on rockin' in the free world, Keep on rockin' in the free world.
Feb 27, 16 12:11 am ·
·
To add to that, the President is not the most powerful. WE THE PEOPLE are. The President means absolutely NOTHING without the people. The President also does not have unlimited power when it comes to the United States. We have a checks and balance system that distributes the authority.
Donald Trump has more authority and dictatorship like authoratorian power running his own company than he will have running this country. There's a big difference.
Being Commander in Chief of the military does not mean he can tell the military to do whatever he wants. If the President commands something inconsciousible, the military can tell him literally to go F--- himself.
Add to that, Germany before WW II or Hitler did not have the legal structure like the United States. Germany did not have a checks & balance system like the U.S.
At some point, we the people can literally grind the entire actions of the President & Congress to a literal halt through something called referendum. We can remand anything and everything the President's or Congress to a nation wide referendum if it was necessary.
It would be unprecedented but never had we had to exercise this extreme level of power over the representatives or the president.
our buddy boy Bush (WH- the smart one) privatized the military, because you can't trust men of duty, you can trust men of capital.
sale your soul to the devil now!
Feb 27, 16 12:20 am ·
·
Miles,
They do have problems that aren't related to United States but they also have problems partly related to it. This is an interconnected global environment so geopolitical issues to intertwine but there is a threshold to where to hold blame for issues.
Feb 27, 16 12:22 am ·
·
Olaf,
you mean HW (Bush sr. the ex-CIA director)?
However, even then when it comes to private contractors, they may and will only go so far but they can't take out an entire country or globe. There are plenty of trained old boys that will come out of the wood works to take out such. There is also people who can take control of certain space borne infrastructure to take care of out of control problems if it's necessary.
There is a point where they lose as everyone loses, PERMANENTLY.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/the-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html
Good article. Interesting to think how the non-bending ideoloy esposed on an internet forum like this really is representative of the perspectives held by a large portion of peopel. No one is wiling to compromise anymore.
I think the thought that trump will be a deal maker and there fore better then the typical politician isn't really that realistic.
Hope and change vs make America great again. Hmmmm.
Sitting in airport where I can't bring a bottled water into the airport, took my sneakers off to be searched, had my entire body scanned and CCTV cameras and security everywhere. All food and consumer items are national/global corporate brands. Souvenirs are carefully vended to comically represent an official mythology of the place I'm in.
I'm pretty sure this is the sanitized model of a fascist state. And we live under an Obama presidency. Can't wait for Trump's gilded age.
A lot of people aren't willing to compromise anymore because "compromise" simply came to mean "do what we want and shut up about it when we stab you in the back."
what does that mean gwharton? if we don't allow people to compromise anymore, because we view it as a bunch of weird words that probably don't belong together, then how is the government supposed to operate? just do what trump says and don't question his wisdom? or just do what hillary says and don't question her wisdom?
so, like if congress wanted to pass a law saying they were going to jim jones themselves, perhaps the tea partiers would be justified in saying 'we will not go along with this under any circumstance, because that would constitute substantial harm to ourselves.'
whereas the tea partiers saying they will not support any compromise on a budget, and thus causing substantial harm to the government they're elected to run, would be a bad thing? i suppose the reverse is true too. supporting tea party candidates and/or tea party beliefs causes substantial harm to those of us who live in america, so we should not allow any compromise with them.
or, mitch mcconnell causing harm to the regular operations of the government and supreme court by declaring he would not allow any reasonable attempt at confirming a supreme court nominee for at least 323 days due to his unwillingness to compromise. that's a bad thing right? apparently allowing a republican majority in the senate causes substantial harm to our government, so we should not allow any compromise with those who would allow a republican majority in the senate.
If you identify your interests and well-being that strongly with the current controllers government and elite power structure, maybe so. But that's kind of the point here. Not everybody does. Most of us are on the outside of that scam and don't have cushy bureaucratic sinecures or access to the Fed's discount window. We want regime change. Now.
i was just confused by your general opposition to compromise, and what scopes the 'substantial harm' clause. your statement about fetishizing compromise, or suggesting that compromise is somehow a symptom of a degenerate, passive-aggressive culture doesn't seem to fit.
the ability to compromise and pass a budget in congress and approve supreme court nominees has actually proven very successful through most of our country's history. i understand you want regime change. i don't really know what that means, but change can certainly be good.
voting for trump certainly isn't going to help if that's what you're getting at though. doesn't his 'art of the deal' say you should walk away if you don't get what you want, like he did in one of the fox news republican debates? that's not an effective way to govern.
maybe it's not a question of voting out everyone in government. maybe we can just get rid of those who don't want to compromise, and would prefer to obstruct government process.
I'm not generally opposed to compromise. I AM opposed to compromise with people who seek to harm me or are negotiating in bad faith. They get scorched earth.
Trump has been advocating for a set of interests which are substantially aligned with mine pretty much from the moment he entered the race. He also has a history of negotiating very hard for what he wants, but always in good faith. And he's been brutally humiliating our shared enemies as well. So, I'm on the Trump Train as long as that continues.
The Trumpster isn't remotely interested in "good government" and, IMO, anyone who supports him has an agenda that has nothing whatsoever to do with "good government".
not seeing much for shared values or shared enemies. just a xenophobic trust fund kid who has done a lackluster job of reinvesting his inheritance into real estate and branding.
remember when that kid was on archinect saying he spent $30,000 from his grandmother to hire a pr firm to make his portfolio look better? would you say he has a similar set of shared interests?
Mar 2, 16 3:30 pm ·
·
babs,
Lets take a step back and actually look at how Trump runs business. You know as well as everyone here with a brain that Trump says a bunch of controversial statements in the most controversial way because he knows the media can't resist and it would keep attention on him. The idea is to deflect attention to the lesser candidates so they don't get public coverage. All that is FREE national advertisement for Donald Trump by making the media use THEIR money to effectively promote and spread attention on Donald Trump.
In business, that's great way to save money by making others pay for something you would otherwise have to pay for to get the results you need in a way you don't even have to pay back.
In reality, Donald Trump is a tad more serious and calmer in his business approach. He isn't necessarily so verbally flamboyant off the cameras as he has been on the camera. He is using the media to his advantage because he knows when it comes to public voting is to be successful, you need to develop an awareness factor. He is also utilizing his TV celebrity status and recognition to his advantage because the media can't resist publishing anything and everything a "CELEBRITY" says that is controversial because the money that so many SUCKERS will buy a newspaper, tabloid or whatever or turn to the news channel or go to the new media's website. Donald Trump knows how they do business and how their business works.
He knows that only candidates that are known to the national public has a remote chance of winning. Candidates have to build a national awareness. Donald Trump is ALREADY an internationally known celebrity figure and the key to keep the lesser candidates from gaining any real awareness and traction is to get them shut out by the media too interested and focused on him... the Donald Trump.
He knows how to use his assets as a celebrity figure.
Donald Trump is a hard bargaining type business man because business is war. He is from the same breed of hard core business men such as Jack Tramiel and others of that area when business is cut-throat. It still is. You don't win in business and politics in world is in many respects big business and is cut throat. You don't win by being a pansy.
However, I am not saying I am going to vote for Donald Trump but I am not going to just get all worked up over controversial statements or words used to get attention. He doesn't want the people to LOVE him like a cuddly teddy bear. In a world of wars and hard nose competition like China who will only remain in trade with us until we are no longer relevant and when that happens, the dogs of war of China will show its face and China would take us out as long as the status quo moves to their favor and U.S. is no longer relevant. They can buy their time. They are not the only ones. The leaders of terrorist organizations are cut throat. The people backing these groups including governments are cut throat. You can't win or do anything beneficial for the U.S. as country and world leader economically, militarily, etc. by being a soft, gentle, cuddly, nice guy.
It's kind of ironic that Bush Sr. was bringing that whole statement and slogan is a nicer, gentler.... my ass. He was cloak and dagger to core.
You can't negotiate with Iran by being the cuddly teddy bear. They just will manipulate the nice, gentle, cuddly teddy bear to make a negotiation in their favor.
We need a leader who isn't so cuddly and nice.
Donald Trump doesn't want that image. That gets in the way of doing necessary hard bargaining.
There are and we do have professional diplomats. They are educated and trained to do diplomacy. A President's role isn't the diplomat.
Donald Trump knows if he was elected, he can't be so rude, or controversial as he was doing in the campaign. But then, the campaign phase is over. At that point, it comes down to business and being to the point.
He knows if their was some diplomatic dinner and the Queen of England was there that he can't just nor should he call the Queen a big fat pig. He has had to deal with people he didn't find attractive. You don't insult them like that when making negotiation. The Art of the Deal would tell you that.
It doesn't mean you have to be a push over. Stand your ground and don't compromise or at least don't compromise against yourself when they aren't either. Balance compromise means, I compromise on something, they compromise on something of equal value or level.
I don't compromise on 10,000 Bagatti's and they compromise on 1,000 pintos.
The point is not to compromise on anything unless you need to to make the deal. If you compromise, the compromise is balanced on both sides. Knowing the competitor will likely want to have it in their favor, you should do likewise for your favor. At worst, it should be balanced. If you want to win, you either have it balanced OR you have the advantage of deal on your side. If you have the power and leverage on your side, don't squander it. If it means hard pressure like, telling Iran, discontinue nuclear development or eradicated from the face of the earth as we have more nukes to assure there is not a living soul in Iran.
They have to remember, we have enough to kill all life on the planet at least 1-2 or more times over. Diplomatically, if that is what you have to do to cause their leaders to cave in (crush their nuts metaphorically), they'll change their tune since they aren't all READY TO DIE to see Allah. They can't take their fancy toys with them and Allah would look at them as a bunch of morons. Somewhere common sense will click in and they would accept the deal.
We have effectively the power to will the fate of the planet, literally.
You can't be a soft and gentle pansy when negotiating. On the balance side you hold a little bit of calmness and rationale. Donald Trump has made deals where he didn't have to be hard edge so much. He wouldn't be in business today if we was totally reckless as it may seem like he would be from antics that are done deliberately because he is using the media's irresistibility to publishing controversy.
Once he is President, its down to business not all that different than running his corporation. In the real world of business, his antics he done for publicity sake on TV would have killed negotiation. In other words, the parties would terminate negotiations and go with someone else. Basically, he wouldn't have lasted any time in the business by using those antics all the time.
Turn the brain on.
This isn't a statement saying vote or not vote for Donald Trump. Just look past the nonsense of antics done deliberately for media attention and focus.
"...the pestilence that is the Trump campaign is the result of a conglomeration of political, academic, media, and cultural elites who for decades have tried to act as the arbiters of acceptable public debate and shut down any political expression from Americans with whom they disagree."
"Today, however, we have a new, more virulent political correctness that terrorizes both liberals and conservatives, old-line Democrats and Republicans, alike. This form of political correctness is distinctly illiberal; indeed, it is not liberalism at all but Maoism circa the Cultural Revolution."
"The extremist adherents of this new political correctness have essentially taken a flamethrower to the public space and annihilated its center. Topics in American life that once were the legitimate subjects of debate between liberals and conservative are now off-limits and lead to immediate attack by the cultural establishment if raised at all. Any incorrect position, any expression of the constitutional right to a different opinion, or even just a slip of the tongue can lead to public ostracism and the loss of a job. (Just ask Brendan Eich.) There is a huge vacuum left by this leftist attack on speech, and Trump is filling it."
i guess you missed this, but trump is running as a republican. in primary elections, which is what we're doing now, the democrats are voting for either bernie sanders or hillary clinton.
the 'left' may or may not have a chance to vote for trump in the general election.
Though they are very much not happy with the results
it's not the left that's getting really upset. maybe if trump starts gaining a lot of support versus hillary after the primary elections are over, then the 'left' will be worried. for now though, it's the "right' that's concerned
it's seemed you've been able to think rationally in other posts. is it fear of politically corectedness that made you stop thinking when it comes to trump?
20,000 Democrats left the party in MA and registered Republican. This "phenomenon" is a social reaction to years of the PC police imposing a restriction of liberties, freedom of thought, and a tolerance of plurality in society. For all the cries of diversity and inclusiveness we have heard for years, real power, be it in universities, government, the workplace etc. is held by those gatekeepers of "diversity". For that to work, a straw man (the white middle/lower class) has to be the target for the power structure to work against as the "protector" of diversity. If you don't believe so, next time a university pats itself on the back for its increasing student diversity, ask them about the faculty. How many women are in academia compared to men? People of color? Trump supporters know this hypocrisy. They know that they its ok for elites to be racist and classist against them and not other groups. They know it, and that's why they don't care about Trump's crassness, or lack of real ideas. They want re-assertion and to know that they have a leader who will no longer use political correctness as a means to social power.
summary of the article is that some guy (secretary of state) said lots of democrats unenrolled, and maybe trump has something to do with that. 'lots' isn't really even all that many.
it does not say democrats switched to republican. if they voted in the primaries, they could have picked up a republican or democrat ticket (or whatever else is in their state).
twice as many people voted for hillary compared to trump. 603,784 v 311,313
yes, the left does not like racism. but that's true for the right too
The left created this problem, and the Republican establishment (many of them "neoconservative" Trostkyites who are not even remotely conservative in ideology or inclination) happily went along with them for the ride. The GOPe is now getting eviscerated for doing so and are squealing like pigs. Once Trump is done with them, the Democratic power structure is next. And after that, we can hope he will take a wrecking ball to the breeding grounds of all that nonsense.
Your error in your critique above is assuming that "Republican" means "right wing." It does not.
i don't think many GOPers self-identify as trostkyites
which illustrates one of the problems republicans and right-wingers have. everybody gets to come up with their own definition of 'conservative.'
"politically correct" means:
a) it's not ok to hate people because they are black
b) it's not ok to hate people because they are mexican
c) it's not ok to hate people because they adhere to a different religion than you
d) it's not ok to believe someone is less of a person or worth less than you because they're a woman.
that's pretty much it. trump isn't a revolution. he's a spoiled rich kid who told a bunch of angry white guys it's ok to blame other people for the fucked up shit in your lives because they're different than you. that's it. that's his platform. most of us know that won't make america great again.
Mar 2, 16 7:12 pm ·
·
curtkram,
It is okay to blame the people for the fucked up shit when those are the people that are the fuck ups who fucked it up in the first place nor done anything to improve or fix the fuck ups and only fucked it up worse than it was before.
Architects for TRUMP
if you think there's a real threat that trump will actually kill 6 million people based on race or religious identity, then i'm sure the comparison is sound, but i think that's a bit extreme
while i don't much like trump as a candidate to any political office, i also don't think he's hitler.
Trump is already on record saying he wants to forcibly deport 11 million people, which would be the largest ethnic cleaning operation ever attempted in human history. It's not quite gas chambers, but it's only a few steps removed. How far down that road do we really want to travel? Every neo-nazi skinhead and Klan member is already coming out of the woodwork to support Trump, and it isn't because they like his stupid reality show. My friends whose grandparents survived the Holocaust certainly seem to think the Hitler comparisons are valid.
obviously i am not a fan of trump and do not want to go down that road at all.
i think knee-jerk 'you're hitler' or 'you're a nazi' comments have become pervasive enough on the internet that it distracts from the real conversation. thus, godwin's law or, from before the internets, the theory of reductio ad hitlerum. if you're concerned about removing religious liberties from a certain group of people, then i think it's more prudent to focus on your concern for how to protect those liberties and those people, rather than dragging the conversation into the mud with ad-hominem attacks or other extremists fallacies.
we're the highly educated smart people. we can do better.
so you want to compare Albert Speers architecture to Trumps?(which isnt really equivalent or is it?)
albert speers was a "traditionalist." i think we all know those who favor "traditionalism" in architecture are closet nazis.
Godwin's Law is dead. It was coined as a reaction to right-wingers who shut down debate by screaming "Hitler!" whenever President Obama takes a breath. Now the same people scream "Godwin's Law!" to shut down debate when the Hitler comparisons are actually warranted.
Power serves itself. Look at how constitutional liberties have been destroyed. Look at the Patriot Act, constant universal survellience, whistleblowers jailed (or worse). Power uses fear to rule, and creates enemies - imagined and real - to fuel that fear.
Combine that with a steadily deteriorating society - unemployment, rampant poverty (defined as $19k for a family of four!), income inequality, corporate welfare, a health care system where you are a profit center, constant wars burning up the youth who volunteered because they had no other options, etc. and you end up with a large group of disaffected people desperate for change.
Now all you need is a demagog to rally the populace around some easily defined scapegoat who can be blamed for the problems (that power itself created). Not exactly Germany in the 1930's, but similar. Especially when Trump says the guy who heckled him would have been 'roughed up' in the good old days, which simply lays the groundwork for that to happen next time. Make America Great Again!
godwin's law comes from usenet, before internet forums like this, long before obama took office.
reductio ad hitlerum comes from the 50's. long before obama took office, long before republicans went crazy.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Obama has so far deported 2.5 Million illegals, and recently started raids on families to gather up women and children. More deportations than the past 19 presidents. And lets not forget the extra judiciary assassinations by drone of US Citizens. At least at Guantanamo they get to live. But somehow its the Republicans who hate illegal immigrants but Obama is much more dangerous than Donald Trump.
The political catch here is that none of those 2.5 million vote. And those who do vote, don't need to worry about being deported, but putting up a straw man to attack as anti immigrant serves a convenient political aim of creating a wedge among Hispanics.
Illegal immigration is a real issue that affects all of us, including architects. It affects the costs of projects that our clients think they can get a project built at, and it affects our own individual industry when professionals (who deliberately come and overstay their visas) come and begin undercutting for drafting, rendering and other architectural and engineering services. Anyone who lives in Florida will know that this is the case where architectural fees and salaries are rock bottom.
Rather than blaming the immigrants you should look at the why they are. If we weren't so busy fucking up the rest of the world there would be a lot less illegal immigrants.
If you want to have a rational discussion about illegal immigration let's start by talking about US policies from NAFTA to military misadventures (in Central America, the Middle East and the Far East), economic imperialism, etc. Not to mention globalization, which of course does not apply to people, only to money and product.
Albert Speer wasn't a traditionalist. He was a classically-inspired fascist.
No, there would be a lot less illegal immigrants if people chose to follow the law and emigrate legally. There is no justification for illegally entering the country as there is no justification for hiring an illegal alien. Try doing that in Canada. That's the rational discussion.
Globalization if anything has improved conditions for the rest of the world at the expense of American industry. Where are the furniture factories at Highpoint now or the mills in Utica? Carrier leaves to make more jobs for Mexico, but I guess that type of economic "imperialism" does not count because it will benefit Mexicans. Enough of this blame America first to justify lawlessness elsewhere. Central America has its own problems today not at all related to American intervention. The violence people are fleeing is gang violence all related to drug and narcotics trafficking and last time I checked its the corrupt Central American governments that benefit from illegal immigration via Dollar remittances and chasing the gangs back to the Mexican/US border.
legalize drugs, problem solved.
Albert Speer vs Giuseppe Terragni vs Trump
Central America has its own problems today not at all related to American intervention.
With that completely ignorant statement you just lost the argument. Go study some history, but not from an American textbook.
David Cole,
Hitler didn't start out with gas chambers; he started out by spewing the same rhetoric that Trump is now spewing. Do we really have to wait until there's gas chambers before making historical comparisons? Trump doesn't yet look like the Hitler of 1945, but he sure sounds a lot like the Hitler of 1929. And people in 1929 thought Hitler was a joke candidate with no chance of getting elected, either.
There are already government operated 'institution of sorts' in place for taking care of political figures including a country's political leader such as a president that is deemed to be out of control. I will not get into details about how such things can or could be carried out. Lets just say we already have the means. It's been employed before.
There are obvious reasons it would be insanely inappropriate to discuss how to do such. Don't ask for any details or confirmation of documentations because not only would that be dangerous for me but also for you or anyone here. That's one hot potato, you do not want your hands on.
its blaring on me speakers....have a Canadian explain it!
There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.
To add to that, the President is not the most powerful. WE THE PEOPLE are. The President means absolutely NOTHING without the people. The President also does not have unlimited power when it comes to the United States. We have a checks and balance system that distributes the authority.
Donald Trump has more authority and dictatorship like authoratorian power running his own company than he will have running this country. There's a big difference.
Being Commander in Chief of the military does not mean he can tell the military to do whatever he wants. If the President commands something inconsciousible, the military can tell him literally to go F--- himself.
Add to that, Germany before WW II or Hitler did not have the legal structure like the United States. Germany did not have a checks & balance system like the U.S.
At some point, we the people can literally grind the entire actions of the President & Congress to a literal halt through something called referendum. We can remand anything and everything the President's or Congress to a nation wide referendum if it was necessary.
It would be unprecedented but never had we had to exercise this extreme level of power over the representatives or the president.
presidency is joke brah!
our buddy boy Bush (WH- the smart one) privatized the military, because you can't trust men of duty, you can trust men of capital.
sale your soul to the devil now!
Miles,
They do have problems that aren't related to United States but they also have problems partly related to it. This is an interconnected global environment so geopolitical issues to intertwine but there is a threshold to where to hold blame for issues.
Olaf,
you mean HW (Bush sr. the ex-CIA director)?
However, even then when it comes to private contractors, they may and will only go so far but they can't take out an entire country or globe. There are plenty of trained old boys that will come out of the wood works to take out such. There is also people who can take control of certain space borne infrastructure to take care of out of control problems if it's necessary.
There is a point where they lose as everyone loses, PERMANENTLY.
YALE
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/opinion/the-governing-cancer-of-our-time.html Good article. Interesting to think how the non-bending ideoloy esposed on an internet forum like this really is representative of the perspectives held by a large portion of peopel. No one is wiling to compromise anymore. I think the thought that trump will be a deal maker and there fore better then the typical politician isn't really that realistic.
Sitting in airport where I can't bring a bottled water into the airport, took my sneakers off to be searched, had my entire body scanned and CCTV cameras and security everywhere. All food and consumer items are national/global corporate brands. Souvenirs are carefully vended to comically represent an official mythology of the place I'm in.
I'm pretty sure this is the sanitized model of a fascist state. And we live under an Obama presidency. Can't wait for Trump's gilded age.
Olaf, nice Neil Young drop there.
A lot of people aren't willing to compromise anymore because "compromise" simply came to mean "do what we want and shut up about it when we stab you in the back."
Yeah compromise is too hard... We should give up on that and have some Totalitarianism..... Totally
It isn't compromise if it's one sided. And there are some things you don't compromise with, period.
Fetishizing compromise is also a symptom of our degenerate, passive-aggressive culture.
what does that mean gwharton? if we don't allow people to compromise anymore, because we view it as a bunch of weird words that probably don't belong together, then how is the government supposed to operate? just do what trump says and don't question his wisdom? or just do what hillary says and don't question her wisdom?
No. It means that you don't compromise over things that will substantially harm you.
That whole nonsense is why the government is dysfunctional.
so, like if congress wanted to pass a law saying they were going to jim jones themselves, perhaps the tea partiers would be justified in saying 'we will not go along with this under any circumstance, because that would constitute substantial harm to ourselves.'
whereas the tea partiers saying they will not support any compromise on a budget, and thus causing substantial harm to the government they're elected to run, would be a bad thing? i suppose the reverse is true too. supporting tea party candidates and/or tea party beliefs causes substantial harm to those of us who live in america, so we should not allow any compromise with them.
or, mitch mcconnell causing harm to the regular operations of the government and supreme court by declaring he would not allow any reasonable attempt at confirming a supreme court nominee for at least 323 days due to his unwillingness to compromise. that's a bad thing right? apparently allowing a republican majority in the senate causes substantial harm to our government, so we should not allow any compromise with those who would allow a republican majority in the senate.
If you identify your interests and well-being that strongly with the current controllers government and elite power structure, maybe so. But that's kind of the point here. Not everybody does. Most of us are on the outside of that scam and don't have cushy bureaucratic sinecures or access to the Fed's discount window. We want regime change. Now.
i was just confused by your general opposition to compromise, and what scopes the 'substantial harm' clause. your statement about fetishizing compromise, or suggesting that compromise is somehow a symptom of a degenerate, passive-aggressive culture doesn't seem to fit.
the ability to compromise and pass a budget in congress and approve supreme court nominees has actually proven very successful through most of our country's history. i understand you want regime change. i don't really know what that means, but change can certainly be good.
voting for trump certainly isn't going to help if that's what you're getting at though. doesn't his 'art of the deal' say you should walk away if you don't get what you want, like he did in one of the fox news republican debates? that's not an effective way to govern.
maybe it's not a question of voting out everyone in government. maybe we can just get rid of those who don't want to compromise, and would prefer to obstruct government process.
have you seen this?
http://www.moneytalksnews.com/why-youre-probably-better-investing-than-donald-trump/
I'm not generally opposed to compromise. I AM opposed to compromise with people who seek to harm me or are negotiating in bad faith. They get scorched earth.
all the more reason to not support trump then i assume?
Trump has been advocating for a set of interests which are substantially aligned with mine pretty much from the moment he entered the race. He also has a history of negotiating very hard for what he wants, but always in good faith. And he's been brutally humiliating our shared enemies as well. So, I'm on the Trump Train as long as that continues.
The Trumpster isn't remotely interested in "good government" and, IMO, anyone who supports him has an agenda that has nothing whatsoever to do with "good government".
I believe Donald always negotiates in bad faith...
not seeing much for shared values or shared enemies. just a xenophobic trust fund kid who has done a lackluster job of reinvesting his inheritance into real estate and branding.
remember when that kid was on archinect saying he spent $30,000 from his grandmother to hire a pr firm to make his portfolio look better? would you say he has a similar set of shared interests?
babs,
Lets take a step back and actually look at how Trump runs business. You know as well as everyone here with a brain that Trump says a bunch of controversial statements in the most controversial way because he knows the media can't resist and it would keep attention on him. The idea is to deflect attention to the lesser candidates so they don't get public coverage. All that is FREE national advertisement for Donald Trump by making the media use THEIR money to effectively promote and spread attention on Donald Trump.
In business, that's great way to save money by making others pay for something you would otherwise have to pay for to get the results you need in a way you don't even have to pay back.
In reality, Donald Trump is a tad more serious and calmer in his business approach. He isn't necessarily so verbally flamboyant off the cameras as he has been on the camera. He is using the media to his advantage because he knows when it comes to public voting is to be successful, you need to develop an awareness factor. He is also utilizing his TV celebrity status and recognition to his advantage because the media can't resist publishing anything and everything a "CELEBRITY" says that is controversial because the money that so many SUCKERS will buy a newspaper, tabloid or whatever or turn to the news channel or go to the new media's website. Donald Trump knows how they do business and how their business works.
He knows that only candidates that are known to the national public has a remote chance of winning. Candidates have to build a national awareness. Donald Trump is ALREADY an internationally known celebrity figure and the key to keep the lesser candidates from gaining any real awareness and traction is to get them shut out by the media too interested and focused on him... the Donald Trump.
He knows how to use his assets as a celebrity figure.
Donald Trump is a hard bargaining type business man because business is war. He is from the same breed of hard core business men such as Jack Tramiel and others of that area when business is cut-throat. It still is. You don't win in business and politics in world is in many respects big business and is cut throat. You don't win by being a pansy.
However, I am not saying I am going to vote for Donald Trump but I am not going to just get all worked up over controversial statements or words used to get attention. He doesn't want the people to LOVE him like a cuddly teddy bear. In a world of wars and hard nose competition like China who will only remain in trade with us until we are no longer relevant and when that happens, the dogs of war of China will show its face and China would take us out as long as the status quo moves to their favor and U.S. is no longer relevant. They can buy their time. They are not the only ones. The leaders of terrorist organizations are cut throat. The people backing these groups including governments are cut throat. You can't win or do anything beneficial for the U.S. as country and world leader economically, militarily, etc. by being a soft, gentle, cuddly, nice guy.
It's kind of ironic that Bush Sr. was bringing that whole statement and slogan is a nicer, gentler.... my ass. He was cloak and dagger to core.
You can't negotiate with Iran by being the cuddly teddy bear. They just will manipulate the nice, gentle, cuddly teddy bear to make a negotiation in their favor.
We need a leader who isn't so cuddly and nice.
Donald Trump doesn't want that image. That gets in the way of doing necessary hard bargaining.
There are and we do have professional diplomats. They are educated and trained to do diplomacy. A President's role isn't the diplomat.
Donald Trump knows if he was elected, he can't be so rude, or controversial as he was doing in the campaign. But then, the campaign phase is over. At that point, it comes down to business and being to the point.
He knows if their was some diplomatic dinner and the Queen of England was there that he can't just nor should he call the Queen a big fat pig. He has had to deal with people he didn't find attractive. You don't insult them like that when making negotiation. The Art of the Deal would tell you that.
It doesn't mean you have to be a push over. Stand your ground and don't compromise or at least don't compromise against yourself when they aren't either. Balance compromise means, I compromise on something, they compromise on something of equal value or level.
I don't compromise on 10,000 Bagatti's and they compromise on 1,000 pintos.
The point is not to compromise on anything unless you need to to make the deal. If you compromise, the compromise is balanced on both sides. Knowing the competitor will likely want to have it in their favor, you should do likewise for your favor. At worst, it should be balanced. If you want to win, you either have it balanced OR you have the advantage of deal on your side. If you have the power and leverage on your side, don't squander it. If it means hard pressure like, telling Iran, discontinue nuclear development or eradicated from the face of the earth as we have more nukes to assure there is not a living soul in Iran.
They have to remember, we have enough to kill all life on the planet at least 1-2 or more times over. Diplomatically, if that is what you have to do to cause their leaders to cave in (crush their nuts metaphorically), they'll change their tune since they aren't all READY TO DIE to see Allah. They can't take their fancy toys with them and Allah would look at them as a bunch of morons. Somewhere common sense will click in and they would accept the deal.
We have effectively the power to will the fate of the planet, literally.
You can't be a soft and gentle pansy when negotiating. On the balance side you hold a little bit of calmness and rationale. Donald Trump has made deals where he didn't have to be hard edge so much. He wouldn't be in business today if we was totally reckless as it may seem like he would be from antics that are done deliberately because he is using the media's irresistibility to publishing controversy.
Once he is President, its down to business not all that different than running his corporation. In the real world of business, his antics he done for publicity sake on TV would have killed negotiation. In other words, the parties would terminate negotiations and go with someone else. Basically, he wouldn't have lasted any time in the business by using those antics all the time.
Turn the brain on.
This isn't a statement saying vote or not vote for Donald Trump. Just look past the nonsense of antics done deliberately for media attention and focus.
Speaking of bad faith, the left is simply reaping what it has sown. Though they are very much not happy with the results:
How the PC Police Propelled Donald Trump
"...the pestilence that is the Trump campaign is the result of a conglomeration of political, academic, media, and cultural elites who for decades have tried to act as the arbiters of acceptable public debate and shut down any political expression from Americans with whom they disagree."
"Today, however, we have a new, more virulent political correctness that terrorizes both liberals and conservatives, old-line Democrats and Republicans, alike. This form of political correctness is distinctly illiberal; indeed, it is not liberalism at all but Maoism circa the Cultural Revolution."
"The extremist adherents of this new political correctness have essentially taken a flamethrower to the public space and annihilated its center. Topics in American life that once were the legitimate subjects of debate between liberals and conservative are now off-limits and lead to immediate attack by the cultural establishment if raised at all. Any incorrect position, any expression of the constitutional right to a different opinion, or even just a slip of the tongue can lead to public ostracism and the loss of a job. (Just ask Brendan Eich.) There is a huge vacuum left by this leftist attack on speech, and Trump is filling it."
the left is simply reaping what it has sown
i guess you missed this, but trump is running as a republican. in primary elections, which is what we're doing now, the democrats are voting for either bernie sanders or hillary clinton.
the 'left' may or may not have a chance to vote for trump in the general election.
Though they are very much not happy with the results
it's not the left that's getting really upset. maybe if trump starts gaining a lot of support versus hillary after the primary elections are over, then the 'left' will be worried. for now though, it's the "right' that's concerned
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/28/us/politics/donald-trump-republican-party.html?_r=0
it's seemed you've been able to think rationally in other posts. is it fear of politically corectedness that made you stop thinking when it comes to trump?
20,000 Democrats left the party in MA and registered Republican. This "phenomenon" is a social reaction to years of the PC police imposing a restriction of liberties, freedom of thought, and a tolerance of plurality in society. For all the cries of diversity and inclusiveness we have heard for years, real power, be it in universities, government, the workplace etc. is held by those gatekeepers of "diversity". For that to work, a straw man (the white middle/lower class) has to be the target for the power structure to work against as the "protector" of diversity. If you don't believe so, next time a university pats itself on the back for its increasing student diversity, ask them about the faculty. How many women are in academia compared to men? People of color? Trump supporters know this hypocrisy. They know that they its ok for elites to be racist and classist against them and not other groups. They know it, and that's why they don't care about Trump's crassness, or lack of real ideas. They want re-assertion and to know that they have a leader who will no longer use political correctness as a means to social power.
If you don't believe me about the 20k democrats in MA http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2016/02/nearly_20k_left_massachusetts.html
did you read the article you linked maestro?
summary of the article is that some guy (secretary of state) said lots of democrats unenrolled, and maybe trump has something to do with that. 'lots' isn't really even all that many.
it does not say democrats switched to republican. if they voted in the primaries, they could have picked up a republican or democrat ticket (or whatever else is in their state).
twice as many people voted for hillary compared to trump. 603,784 v 311,313
yes, the left does not like racism. but that's true for the right too
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/03/01/paul-ryan-rebukes-trumps-remarks-on-kkk-david-duke/
your use of the term "politically correct" is far more of a straw man that "white middle/lower class people."
curtkram:
The left created this problem, and the Republican establishment (many of them "neoconservative" Trostkyites who are not even remotely conservative in ideology or inclination) happily went along with them for the ride. The GOPe is now getting eviscerated for doing so and are squealing like pigs. Once Trump is done with them, the Democratic power structure is next. And after that, we can hope he will take a wrecking ball to the breeding grounds of all that nonsense.
Your error in your critique above is assuming that "Republican" means "right wing." It does not.
i don't think many GOPers self-identify as trostkyites
which illustrates one of the problems republicans and right-wingers have. everybody gets to come up with their own definition of 'conservative.'
"politically correct" means:
a) it's not ok to hate people because they are black
b) it's not ok to hate people because they are mexican
c) it's not ok to hate people because they adhere to a different religion than you
d) it's not ok to believe someone is less of a person or worth less than you because they're a woman.
that's pretty much it. trump isn't a revolution. he's a spoiled rich kid who told a bunch of angry white guys it's ok to blame other people for the fucked up shit in your lives because they're different than you. that's it. that's his platform. most of us know that won't make america great again.
curtkram,
It is okay to blame the people for the fucked up shit when those are the people that are the fuck ups who fucked it up in the first place nor done anything to improve or fix the fuck ups and only fucked it up worse than it was before.
How about that.
shut up RB
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