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Post by sarapen on May 8, 2017 6:12:17 GMT -5
I do find it amusing that electing a centrist is considered revolutionary in 21st century France.
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Post-Lupin
Prolific Poster 
Immanentizing the Eschaton
Posts: 5,673 
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Post by Post-Lupin on May 8, 2017 9:27:11 GMT -5
I do find it amusing that electing a centrist is considered revolutionary in 21st century France. The Overton Window shift is not an invitation to defenestration. (Not sure what I mean here, but it sounds cool as fuck.) |
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Post by ComradePig on May 8, 2017 17:01:46 GMT -5
Last week: Fucking Melenchon leftists are going to elect Le Pen!
This week: Fucking Melenchon leftists probably only turned out in significant numbers to elect Macron because they want him to fail and will now have the gall to want representation in policy!
A++ punditry, great intellectual and moral minds of our time
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Post by sarapen on May 8, 2017 20:36:55 GMT -5
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 8, 2017 21:07:03 GMT -5
The ingenuous and impercipient young arborist of La France profonde spoken to at the end, who reminds me of a character from Manon des Sources, can easily be imagined explaining how it's only fitting that he should die nobly in the recovery of Alsace-Lorraine were it 1914, having been reared on revanchist lore Ă la Albert Bettannier throughout childhood. I also like the mention of the plight of the young man unable to find work 'fixing traditional musical instruments', which is probably not amongst the tales of hardship most likely to arouse sympathy amongst the propertied classes, or indeed anyone. www.theguardian.com/world/video/2017/apr/20/marine-le-pens-rise-in-forgotten-france-video-front-national-burgundy |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 9, 2017 6:44:55 GMT -5
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Post by Desert Dweller on May 10, 2017 0:03:11 GMT -5
Saw a headline in one of the major papers relating to the USA arming Kurds and how this would damage the US relationship with Turkey. I almost clicked that open to read it.
Trump actually congratulated Erdogan on the vote which basically makes him a dictator. How long would it take Trump to notice and/or care if Erdogan was upset with the US military? Or are we about to get the story of "Erdogan called up and took 10 minutes explaining to Trump the history between Turkey and the Kurds." Trump "I didn't realize it was so complicated!"
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Post by sarapen on May 10, 2017 6:36:35 GMT -5
Man, political cartoons were rapier back in the day.
This was posted in a discussion of the New Yorker article "We Could Have Been Canada" about what if the US hadn't rebelled. Basically, one of the reasons Canada was founded was fear of the Americans, which wasn't mentioned in that article. |
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Post by Desert Dweller on May 13, 2017 22:29:17 GMT -5
Today in "Twitter Exchanges With Deplorables"
The Economist magazine tweets out a link to their piece "Dead and buried: Inheritance tax: insignificant but incendiary" with a tweet caption reading "As it stands, inheritance tax raises little revenue and adds a lot of complexity to the tax system".
I respond "The point may be to try to prevent small groups of people from consolidating wealth across generations".
@jim1deplorable responds: "Not the government's job"
Me: "It actually has been, historically. Going back many centuries, through many different cultures."
Deplorable: "I know you're slow... I am talking about today in the USA. Sorry, hon"
Me: "You seem to be the slow one, as the points being made are theoretical economic concepts not about now, today. Might be too complex for you."
Deplorable: "Seems I hit a sore spot. So sorry. You loons are a hoot"
Me: "LOL, I cited historical argument, you said I was wrong. I told you to check history. You hurled a personal insult. You did not win. LOL"
/Fin
Aw, I'm kinda sad he stopped there. Was trying to think of a perfect "The Economist is not the magazine for the poorly educated. You should try ______" response.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on May 13, 2017 22:54:58 GMT -5
Today in "Twitter Exchanges With Deplorables" The Economist magazine tweets out a link to their piece "Dead and buried: Inheritance tax: insignificant but incendiary" with a tweet caption reading "As it stands, inheritance tax raises little revenue and adds a lot of complexity to the tax system". I respond "The point may be to try to prevent small groups of people from consolidating wealth across generations". @jim1deplorable responds: "Not the government's job" Me: "It actually has been, historically. Going back many centuries, through many different cultures." Deplorable: "I know you're slow... I am talking about today in the USA. Sorry, hon" Me: "You seem to be the slow one, as the points being made are theoretical economic concepts not about now, today. Might be too complex for you." Deplorable: "Seems I hit a sore spot. So sorry. You loons are a hoot" Me: "LOL, I cited historical argument, you said I was wrong. I told you to check history. You hurled a personal insult. You did not win. LOL" /Fin
Aw, I'm kinda sad he stopped there. Was trying to think of a perfect "The Economist is not the magazine for the poorly educated. You should try ______" response.? |
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Post by Didja Heah That, T? on May 14, 2017 14:27:52 GMT -5
Deplorable is a slur.
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Post by ganews on May 14, 2017 14:33:10 GMT -5
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Post by Desert Dweller on May 14, 2017 21:42:54 GMT -5
If they have "deplorable" in their twitter handle, that's what I'm calling them.
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on May 14, 2017 23:06:57 GMT -5
Are we all actually sincerely engaging in a statement by MPC that "deplorable" is a slur and not a facetious bit?
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Post by ganews on May 15, 2017 8:26:36 GMT -5
Are we all actually sincerely engaging in a statement by MPC that "deplorable" is a slur and not a facetious bit? I like to give people the benefit of the doubt that it's not always a deconstruction of the concept of a forum. |
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on May 15, 2017 13:46:47 GMT -5
?tib suoitecaf a ton dna ruls a si "elbarolped" taht CPM yb tnemetats a ni gnigagne ylerecnis yllautca lla ew erA .murof a fo tpecnoc eht fo noitcurtsnoced a syawla ton s'ti taht tbuod eht fo tifeneb eht elpoep evig ot ekil I |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 15, 2017 13:50:34 GMT -5
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on May 15, 2017 15:57:29 GMT -5
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Post by Tea Rex on May 18, 2017 18:10:34 GMT -5
There's always competitive snooker, I guess. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 18, 2017 20:13:14 GMT -5
It turns out some women would rather be exploited by foreign capital than die. |
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Post by ComradePig on May 18, 2017 20:29:38 GMT -5
It turns out some women would rather be exploited by foreign capital than die. Would you rather die of disease or starvation for free or a factory fire while getting paid? CHECKMATE SOCIALISTS |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 19, 2017 20:15:46 GMT -5
 Prescinding from any consideration of the social utility or harm of his activities, I'm confident in my impression that this is the image of a miserable charlatan. I like to be less dismissive of people I don't know, but nonetheless. |
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on May 22, 2017 15:45:24 GMT -5
An interesting snippet from this article on the Documenta art fest, being held in Athens: I’ve heard similar sentiments from my one relative in Athens—it’s odd to hear a pretty well-off relative to start describing their situation with stuff that echoes of post-colonial theory, but there’s more than an element of truth to it. The article’s also a nice exposure of the hollowness of much of the contemporary art world left-wing jargon, which has truthfully has always baffled me a bit. Certainly some of it comes from the honest hopes of artists themselves, particularly since a sort of political radicalism seemed to be in since the 1960s, but I honestly don’t think it serves the art very well and it’s a funny thing that it’s used to drive up value on the art market. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 30, 2017 10:52:10 GMT -5
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on May 30, 2017 11:01:38 GMT -5
Yeesh. Â I mean, it's not 'wrong' per se, but not even a passing mention of, I don't know, coupling it with increased drug negotiating power or price caps? |
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on May 30, 2017 16:50:34 GMT -5
Yeesh. I mean, it's not 'wrong' persay, but not even a passing mention of, I don't know, coupling it with increased drug negotiating power or price caps? Nope, just a pat "it's too expensive, stop caring about it." That’s not what he’s saying—he’s saying that health care will still be expensive (and Europe has decades of cost containment, which the US doesn’t have—the trajectory’s important, and that’s why Ted Kennedy’s big career regret was not striking a deal with Nixon instead of waiting out for single-payer) and that. He added a follow-up post noting potential savings and that single-payer would be a good deal for a lot of the country, but the main point remains—it’s still going to be expensive for the government, even if less expensive than a big private system, and there’s no getting around that. And I do think a lot on the online left are a bit glib about this—single-payer is certainly much more politically viable now, but it’s not magic (I have years of experience making northern Europeans go bug-eyed by saying that I wished the US followed their example more closely—although they generally also don’t know much about the healthcare situation here). It’s going to be a big program which will require a big political lift. |
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Post by Superb Owl 🦉 on May 30, 2017 19:06:57 GMT -5
Nope, just a pat "it's too expensive, stop caring about it." That’s not what he’s saying—he’s saying that health care will still be expensive (and Europe has decades of cost containment, which the US doesn’t have—the trajectory’s important, and that’s why Ted Kennedy’s big career regret was not striking a deal with Nixon instead of waiting out for single-payer) and that. He added a follow-up post noting potential savings and that single-payer would be a good deal for a lot of the country, but the main point remains—it’s still going to be expensive for the government, even if less expensive than a big private system, and there’s no getting around that. And I do think a lot on the online left are a bit glib about this—single-payer is certainly much more politically viable now, but it’s not magic (I have years of experience making northern Europeans go bug-eyed by saying that I wished the US followed their example more closely—although they generally also don’t know much about the healthcare situation here). It’s going to be a big program which will require a big political lift. I don't know, isn't it equally if not more glib to act like most people advocating for single-payer don't understand it'd be an expensive program? Government runs shit tons of expensive programs and it's not like they were all launched because the return on investment was optimal. People just think treating healthcare as a right is worth it regardless of price tag. We tried the half-measure low cost route with Obamacare and it was an improvement, but there were still major flaws. Sure they are being exacerbated by Trump and the congressional GOP and conservative statehouses, but they would still need fixes regardless. And most of those flaws come back to being price palatable compromise. |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on May 30, 2017 19:34:01 GMT -5
"We Have a White Nationalist-Sympathizing Sex Criminal for a President Who Is Advocating for a Hellish Healthcare 'Reform' Bill That Would Cause Tens of Millions to Lose Coverage, Who Doesn't Think Climate Change Is Real, Who Wants to Redistribute Wealth to the Ultra-Rich, And Whose Erratic Behavior Has An Outside Chance of Causing WWIII, And We and Other Center-Left Publications and the Democratic Party At Large Are Tacking Hard to the Right In A Deeply Strategically Flawed Mis-Triangulation. Deal With It." |
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Post by ganews on May 30, 2017 20:03:23 GMT -5
And I do think a lot on the online left are a bit glib about this—single-payer is certainly much more politically viable now, but it’s not magic (I have years of experience making northern Europeans go bug-eyed by saying that I wished the US followed their example more closely—although they generally also don’t know much about the healthcare situation here). It’s going to be a big program which will require a big political lift. Related, I thought this was a good post on the issues with conflating "Single Payer" with “Medicare for all”. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on May 30, 2017 22:01:33 GMT -5
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