Re: The Harvard Business Review article. Worth the read. And a reminder that I want to make time for Hillbilly Elegy this year. Thanks for putting it up.
Some great posts and historical analysis, loppar. Thank you.
With regard to people attempting to restore or conserve something, drafters of the Magna Carta thought as themselves as conserving something that had existed before. The idea that free people had inherent rights in ancient times, and that royal power must be constrained. That natural rights were ingrained. The rules made by the people were above the ruler. They also appealed to the rights of the common man. They talked like they thought they were conserving something old. Restoring something, not inventing something new.
Unfortunately, we know, they failed to involve the Jews in their thinking, much the way our framers failed to recognize certain groups, those who originated in Africa in particular. BUT, the idea that we are restoring something can be a step forward, not back.
I’m not making parallels to Trump here, but to looking back at history. Using the general will of the people, or the excuse of expediency to justify flauting the law is frightening indeed.
Some of you might like this. We are Americans first.
Quote from Tom Hanks in November - “This is the United States of America. We’ll go on. There’s great like-minded people out there who are Americans first and Republicans or Democrats second. I hope the president-elect does such a great job that I vote for his re-election in four years.”
Hi Ruff. Nice to see you.
I wasn’t a fan either, but there’s a difference between one political party making jokes, funny memes, political cartoons that mock the other. That’s very American. Thank goodness we have that freedom.
Still, when we see this kind of thing from Russia, it’s an attack on us all. Putin making a statement to the world about power, and his desire to be seen as strong in the face of America. I have no idea what the caption says, but I can imagine. This is about Russia dissing America.
The Chinese president at Davos last week making statements about being ready to lead the world. I about threw up when I heard about him quoting Lincoln. This is somebody who hides behind the Great Firewall of China. Who imprisons dissidents, now trying very hard to portray China as a source of stability, as the future leader.
That kind of thing, isn’t about American partisanship. I know you know all of this, and have personally sacrificed for it. This isn’t directed at you, but I find it disturbing that Americans seem to be so divided. Less likely to stand together against human rights violators like Russia and China? Heaven help us if they are more fit to lead the world.
That’s nothing - Russian state TV once hosted a panel of doctors on a talk show to give their opinion about the size of Michelle Obama’s penis and which primate she resembles the most.
Often, when referring to the former POTUS on Russian state TV the surname Obama was preceded by the n-word - which incidentally Putin used personally, not to mention blackface skits and the regular trademark fake admonition of the most popular TV host (waving an index finger) “Now, now, Barack, we’re not in a jungle”
Now the host in question calls Trump a “man’s man” and “alpha male” and hopes that he’ll lead a “crusade” against (insert the worst racial slur you can imagine)
When I mentioned this cartoonish racism to several Trump supporters the response I received was a “tee-hee-hee” or some bizarre non-sequitur how “The Russians aren’t slaves to the PC culture”
What happened to defending your President and C-in-C?
If you’re shocked by blatant institutionalized racism outside of the confines of Western Europe and the U.S. then travel more. I don’t and won’t laugh at it. I’ve lived in places where signs were posted on store fronts stating that I wasn’t allowed there, and I couldn’t rent an apartment even with a work visa. Care to guess where? It’s a democracy and an ally of the US.
Russia is and always will be an enemy of the US. Trump is making the same mistake Obama made with Putin. There’s no “reset” or way to work together over shared values. It’s not going to happen. There are no shared values. What may happen though is that Putin may become convinced that Trump is willing to kill Russians. The question we have to ask ourselves is where is that really worth the risk? If that happens then Putin will likely back down. He’s an enemy but not stupid. He’s just going to take as much as he can. China is the same. We live in a world with spheres of influence, we were foolishly optimistic at the the end of the Cold War, and we have acted naively since then. We cannot save the world. We never could. Poland post WWII and East Germany are great examples. As sick and twisted as it is we saved Japan the same fate because we used nuclear weapons. It’s a brutal world no matter how much we pretend it isn’t. We are bankrupting ourselves trying to do the impossible.
Ah, so everything is about looks to you. Again, that explains a lot. Good to know you’re bringing substance to the conversation, proceed peddling alt-right nonsense.
Me either. Veering off into the “what could have been” universe, and putting aside whether folks on this board would have supported her (we already know that answer for the most part), I do wonder what would have happened if she ran in this cycle. Wouldn’t she have been a more likable and dynamic candidate to the electorate than Hillary? Would her lack of elected-office history have been held against her, or would it have been given a pass BC of the guy running on the other side?
We’re well past primary season now, but I remember way back when during the primaries that I had a sense the Dems were treating this like it was just “Hillary’s turn” instead of figuring out which candidate would have really galvanized the electorate.
I know that some here have postulated that this election was an indictment of Obama’s eight years, and I’m not necessarily going to disagree, but he is leaving office with decent approval ratings; Gallup’s final poll had him at 57% in his last week in office; while he did have peaks and valleys as every President has, that’s not so low as to convince me it would have torpedoed a Michelle candidacy.
I have a friend in the Golan who calls picking a side in the Syrian war “50 Shades of Black.” Not a lot of valid choices.
Israel, FWIW, has been provided a “no go” kind-of safe zone basically as far as artillery and surface-to-air can reach from the Israeli border into Syria. No tanks, no planes, no big movements of soldiers into the villages 75 miles in. We’ve been providing medical care and food to locals (and probably combatants), no questions asked.
The goal is to keep those we can keep safe and hopefully sway some hearts and minds. It appears to be working.
It’s hard enough for a party to win a third term. I have to imagine it’d be even tougher if your last name was the same as the sitting Presidents. If she has political goals I think (not that my political guesses are worth much these days) it was wise for her to wait.
