Author Topic: The Trump Presidency  (Read 425362 times)

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #975 on: April 27, 2020, 10:18:03 AM »
I firmly believe that the best thing we could possibly do to improve politics is to make it okay to change your mind in the face of evidence.  Changing your mind doesn't make you a liar or a hypocrite.  At least, not necessarily.  It's entirely possible to say, "Oh.  I was wrong."  But every time a politician does it, that's proof that they're just one of those flip-floppers, doing whatever it takes to get votes. 

It is also somehow the only job in the world where having experience makes some people think you're bad at it.
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Offline Eventcone

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #976 on: April 27, 2020, 11:54:16 AM »
I recall, many years ago, at an interview for a promotion I was asked what I would do in a certain hypothetical situation. I gave my answer. Then the interviewer changed some of the details of 'the situation' and asked what I would do then. I gave a different answer.

Apparently that was seen as a negative - and I didn't get the promotion.

My response on getting this feedback was "well, isn't it only sensible to modify one's opinion in the light of new knowledge"?

Apparently not.

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #977 on: April 27, 2020, 02:14:18 PM »
Then there are the people who think "I don't know" is an unacceptable response to a complex question. As if we're supposed to immediately take a stance on things before giving it a proper amount of thought or doing research first.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
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Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #978 on: April 28, 2020, 08:34:23 AM »
I firmly believe that the best thing we could possibly do to improve politics is to make it okay to change your mind in the face of evidence.  Changing your mind doesn't make you a liar or a hypocrite.  At least, not necessarily.  It's entirely possible to say, "Oh.  I was wrong."  But every time a politician does it, that's proof that they're just one of those flip-floppers, doing whatever it takes to get votes. 

It is also somehow the only job in the world where having experience makes some people think you're bad at it.

At least it's an issue with pedigree. Theramenes was a politician in 5th century BC Athens who earned himself the derisive nickname Sock (the nearest understandable equivalent today) because he could go on either foot.
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Offline Eventcone

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #979 on: April 28, 2020, 10:41:49 AM »
Quote
At least it's an issue with pedigree. Theramenes was a politician in 5th century BC Athens who earned himself the derisive nickname Sock (the nearest understandable equivalent today) because he could go on either foot.

Yay Theramenes! Maybe we need more like him.

After all, if politicians were truly supposed to "go on one foot or the other" couldn't we just replace them with some computer code or algorithm?

"Gangster politics". You've got to be in one gang or the other. You can't be somewhere in between, and you can't be in both at the same time. Join a gang and toe the line.

People need to know what you stand for! (Or so they say).

Offline gillianren

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #980 on: April 28, 2020, 10:55:51 AM »
Then there are the people who think "I don't know" is an unacceptable response to a complex question. As if we're supposed to immediately take a stance on things before giving it a proper amount of thought or doing research first.

And Gods forbid you ask experts for their opinions.
"This sounds like a job for Bipolar Bear . . . but I just can't seem to get out of bed!"

"Conspiracy theories are an irresistible labour-saving device in the face of complexity."  --Henry Louis Gates

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #981 on: April 28, 2020, 11:17:56 AM »
And Gods forbid you ask experts for their opinions.

Yes, the attitude that having intelligence or experience makes someone untrustworthy is going to lead to idiocracy right when we need experts the most.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #982 on: April 28, 2020, 12:06:11 PM »
Trump cuts U.S. research on bat-human virus transmission over China ties

Quote
The Trump administration abruptly cut off funding for a project studying how coronaviruses spread from bats to people after reports linked the work to a lab in Wuhan, China, at the center of conspiracy theories about the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins.

Conspiracy theories are harmless, right? ::)
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline Bryanpoprobson

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #983 on: April 29, 2020, 08:15:11 AM »

I wonder if someone should approach Trump with this suggestion, shrink some scientists and inject them in a submarine to fight the Coronavirus inside the body.


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Offline JayUtah

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #984 on: April 29, 2020, 10:33:16 AM »
Imagine how that would work in the era of Trump.  The submarine would be sole-sourced on taxpayer money, for ten times the real cost, on a no-bid contract given to a company with one employee.  Jared and Ivanka would be the crew.  Of course we don't have shrink technology.  But that's only because Obama didn't think to have it invented, so it's all his fault.  Any pictures you saw on TV of the unshrunken submarine and crew would be held up as examples of the media's hatred of America.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline Obviousman

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #985 on: April 29, 2020, 04:34:24 PM »
^^^^^^^^^^

Gold!

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #986 on: April 29, 2020, 04:38:51 PM »
I think Trump would only be interested in a machine that could make things bigger.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline JayUtah

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #987 on: April 30, 2020, 05:15:54 PM »
Then watch to see how many of his supporters come out and repeat that line, brandishing their rifles. I have a nervous feeling many of them will act a little more aggressively than Democratic Party supporters did in 2000.

So a heavily armed mob stormed the Michigan state capitol building today and tried to gain access to the legislature floor.  You're doing a better job than many psychics.
"Facts are stubborn things." --John Adams

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #988 on: April 30, 2020, 06:17:29 PM »
A few years ago a gunman stormed the Canadian Parliament. It didn't end well for him because the Sergeant-at-Arms was armed.
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth.
I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth.
I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.
- Neil Armstrong (1930-2012)

Offline Peter B

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Re: The Trump Presidency
« Reply #989 on: April 30, 2020, 06:59:01 PM »
Then watch to see how many of his supporters come out and repeat that line, brandishing their rifles. I have a nervous feeling many of them will act a little more aggressively than Democratic Party supporters did in 2000.

So a heavily armed mob stormed the Michigan state capitol building today and tried to gain access to the legislature floor.  You're doing a better job than many psychics.

Thanks for the endorsement! :-)

From news sites I read that the protestors were wanting their freedom back. Fair enough, the right to freedom is enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, so I understand how it lies at the bedrock of what it is to be an American (plus the Governor's restrictions do seem odd). But if I remember the wording of the DoI correctly, it talks about inalienable rights to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness". So what happens when one person's right to freedom comes at the expense of someone else's right to life? Or is that too subtle an argument for these patriots?

Also, and this is something that I've been thinking about since a discussion over at UM about gun rights a year or so ago, these people brandish their firearms in order to reinforce the point that they claim to be acting against a tyrannical government. Well, at first sight that seems reasonable - the people in theory should be able to protect themselves from a tyrannical government. But it raises two questions for me. First, seeing as the government isn't threatening them with weapons, the balance of power lies with the armed protestors and not the government, meaning the armed protestors theoretically have the power to impose their will on the government. And as the government is elected and the protestors aren't, then surely that means you have tyrannical protestors and not a tyrannical government. And second, in cases where the armed protestors are in the minority, what gives them the right to impose their view of how things should be over the rest of the population?
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