Political commissars?

[islander]

Announced this morning.

"President Trump has reorganized the National Security Council by
elevating his chief strategist Steve Bannon and demoting the Director of
National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff."
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/29/512295108/with-national-security-council-shakeup-steve-bannon-gets-a-seat-at-the-table

Does this bother anyone here? What is next? Issuing gag rules on
members of government agencies? Purges of public servants who might
speak out against the Trump administration? Assignment of political
commissars to ride along on nuclear subs?

[me]

What would bother me is Trump asking permission from Democrats to form his team and administration. Democrats lost the election, after all.

[GLOBALIST]

NPR has turned into the sister station of CNN. 24 hours of attacking
the President of the United States. Their once good reputation for
giving solid news from both sides is now gone. I use to listen to it
24/7. I only listen to it when I get up in the morning until I leave the
house.
Actually all I hear is what topics they intend to attack Trump on
for the next 24 hours. Someone has to be paying their announcers
to wreck the present government.
Even when callers call it to express another view they chop
them off faster than lightening or dismiss them as ill informed.

[mg]

On Sun, 29 Jan 2017 11:42:20 -0800, islander <no...@priracy.com>
wrote:

"National Intelligence" has become a joke, but if you like what
America has been doing in the name of National Security for the last
16 years, then go ahead and kibitz. If the destruction of Libya
makes you want to hoot and cackle like Hillary, or if you believe
that Iraq really was a threat and had WMDs, or if the slaughter of
Muslim children in Yemen makes you feel more secure when you sleep
at night, or if you like the idea of a president secretly supporting
ISIS and you think that Halliburton ought to build a Saudi pipeline
through Syria, then go ahead and throw a hissy fit.

As for me, though, I'm tired of all the horseshit, and all the
killing, and it's hard for me to imagine how Trump could do any
worse.

[Josh Rosenbluth]

I did a spit take when I hear the news (Bannon!!??).

[islander]

And then there is this:
https://sunlightfoundation.com/list-of-federal-government-agencies-told-not-to-communicate-with-the-public/

and this:
http://www.upworthy.com/how-an-alternative-twitter-account-is-standing-up-to-trumps-epa-gag-order?c=upw1&u=72fa0d80be906383c892fac8190a75439371007a

and this:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/01/25/what-the-rogue-epa-nps-and-nasa-twitter-accounts-teach-us-about-the-future-of-social/#3446a82e5dc0

[islander]

Whatever happened to those here who defend Trump? Are they embarrassed
by his dictatorial acts?

Yesterday afternoon, we witnessed a profile of courage when Sally Yates,
Acting Attorney General refused to defend Trump's executive order on
immigration. Interestingly, when she was grilled by Sen. Jeff Sessions
at her confirmation hearing in 2015, he wanted to know “If the views the
president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or
the deputy attorney general say no?”

One wonders if he would pass the same test!

[rumpelstiltskin]

On Tue, 31 Jan 2017 09:32:05 -0800, islander <no...@priracy.com> wrote:

<snip>

>Whatever happened to those here who defend Trump? Are they embarrassed
>by his dictatorial acts?
>
>Yesterday afternoon, we witnessed a profile of courage when Sally Yates,
>Acting Attorney General refused to defend Trump's executive order on
>immigration. Interestingly, when she was grilled by Sen. Jeff Sessions
>at her confirmation hearing in 2015, he wanted to know “If the views the
>president wants to execute are unlawful, should the attorney general or
>the deputy attorney general say no?”
>
>One wonders if he would pass the same test!

Politics is "power" and that's all it is.

[billbowden]

"islander" <no...@priracy.com> wrote in message
news:o6qhje$6qd$1...@dont-email.me...

Most people including myself had never heard of Sally Yates before she was
fired by the president. Now, everybody knows her name. She set the whole
thing up
so she could become famous.

[islander]

Really? Why would she do that?

[El Castor]

She was probably going to be let go anyway, or required to prosecute
non-WASP criminals (gasp!), so may as well go out with a bang, become
a heroine of the Left, and get a better paying job with a DC law firm.

[billbowden]

"El Castor" <DrE...@justuschickens.com> wrote in message
news:irc29c9e2tvacqd7b...@4ax.com...

Yes, that probably looks good on a resume to say I refused to obey the
president and am here to talk about it. She could go on talk radio shows
and attract a large audience for big advertising commissions. George Noory
might even put her on for the late night Coast to Coast radio show.

[Sang Froid]

On 1/31/2017 4:21 PM, billbowden wrote:

> Most people including myself had never heard of Sally Yates before she was
> fired by the president. Now, everybody knows her name. She set the whole
> thing up
> so she could become famous.

You know what?

I hope your landlord quadruples your fucking rent.

[islander]

You guys understand nothing about what motivates people to seek a career
in government service.

[El Castor]

Ah, that is the socialist in you speaking. Trust me, we understand it
better than you do.

[islander]

Some people are motivated by service to the community. You seem to only
understand financial reward. Fortunately, we have a lot of people in
the former category.

[billbowden]

"islander" <no...@priracy.com> wrote in message

news:o6t23o$6ig$1...@dont-email.me...

> On 1/31/2017 7:06 PM, billbowden wrote:
>> "El Castor" <DrE...@justuschickens.com> wrote in message
>>>

>>> She was probably going to be let go anyway, or required to prosecute
>>> non-WASP criminals (gasp!), so may as well go out with a bang, become
>>> a heroine of the Left, and get a better paying job with a DC law firm.
>>
>> Yes, that probably looks good on a resume to say I refused to obey the
>> president and am here to talk about it. She could go on talk radio shows
>> and attract a large audience for big advertising commissions. George
>> Noory
>> might even put her on for the late night Coast to Coast radio show.
>>
>
> You guys understand nothing about what motivates people to seek a career
> in government service.
>

We understand government jobs pay the most with the best security and
benefits.
.
hhttp://freebeacon.com/issues/study-government-workers-make-78-percent-more-than-private-sector/

"Employees for the federal government earn far more than their counterparts
in the private sector, according to a new study by the Cato
Institute.Federal workers’ pay and benefits were 78 percent higher than
private employees, who earned an average of $52,688 less than public sector
workers last year.The study found that federal government workers earned an
average of $84,153 in 2014, compared to the private sector’s average of
$56,350. Cato based its findings on figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic
Analysis (BEA)."

[El Castor]

Please save your predictably pompous, egotistical name calling for
someone who gives a damn.

[islander]

This is yet another chapter in the on-going Cato propaganda campaign
over the myth that government workers are paid more than the private
sector. The reality is that it depends. Lower grade workers, those
without a college education, do earn more, especially when you take
benefits into account. But, they comprise less than 50% of the
workforce. The remaining 52% of the workforce are paid less in wages,
but do receive higher benefits, primarily because most of them enjoy
defined benefit retirement programs. Even considering total
compensation, however, those with a professional or doctorate degree
receive 18% less than those in comparable jobs in the private sector.
http://www.factcheck.org/2012/02/cbo-offers-its-two-cents-on-federal-pay/

The principal flaw in the Cato study is that they are comparing the
average earnings in the public sector with average earnings in the
private sector. There is a much higher percentage of workers with
college degrees in the federal government (52%, versus 33% in the total
work force).
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2016/demo/p20-578.pdf

The Cato study is a prime example of using average figures to spin the
result that they want to support their political agenda.

I should add that state and local governments have an even higher
percentage of employees with college degrees or above and tend to be
older. That results in a distribution of wages that is skewed toward
the top end.

[islander]

As I suspected, you don't give a damn. Too bad!

[El Castor]

Actually, I do. I am sick and tired of the left wing mantra that
conservatives are motivated by greed and liberals by generosity. From
my perspective -- they both want the best outcomes for the most people
-- conservatives being motivated by logic, and liberals by emotion.

[wolfbat359]

Conservatives want the best outcome for business owners. Whether that trickles down to the working man is not relevant.

[islander]

My impression is that conservatives measure public welfare by how
healthy the economy is and that biases their judgement in favor of
business. Liberals, by contrast, measure public welfare in many ways,
but always with a sense of empathy for those less fortunate.

[El Castor]

Obviously, we will never agree. I accept that you are genuinely
concerned for the less fortunate. I would appreciate it if you would
do me the same courtesy.

[me]

Human nature. Everybody, conservatives and liberals, wants more for less.

[me]

Empathy can only be financed with an economy. The country is bankrupt. How much empathy can a bankrupt country buy? Triage is in our future. This will lead to conflict. Conflict is hardly empathy. You can increasingly observe this in the streets around the world.

[wizardr...@msn.com]

I'm afraid some people confuse courage with insubordination. She was on the losing team. Time for her to go.

[islander]

We are all judged by our acts. Your support of Republican dogma speaks
volumes.

[me]

... as is your support of Democrat ideology.

[El Castor]

And your inability to accept facts and apply what logic and
intelligence you may possess, likewise speaks volumes. You and I are
the living essence of why liberals and conservative will never agree.

[El Castor]

On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 05:33:17 -0800 (PST), me <werner...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Empathy can only be financed with an economy. The country is bankrupt. How much empathy can a bankrupt country buy? Triage is in our future. This will lead to conflict. Conflict is hardly empathy. You can increasingly observe this in the streets around the world.

Liberal "solutions" inevitably lead to greater poverty and conflict
until failure can no longer be denied -- thus we have Trump.
Eventually liberal promises will once again be believed, and the
pendulum will swing the other way. The only hope for social evolution
is genetic manipulation that gives us all uniformly higher
intelligence.

[me]

I'm not so sure about that conclusion. I have highly intelligent children who are politically left. They have intelligent friends who are also politically left.

[El Castor]

On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 16:55:07 -0800 (PST), me <werner...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I'm not so sure about that conclusion. I have highly intelligent children who are politically left. They have intelligent friends who are also politically left.

Good point. I guess there is no hope. )8

[me]

Don't despair. There is hope. I can't vouche for my IQ but I was once politically left. Experience wore me down. This happened some decades ago. It will probably happen to increasing numbers of the more intelligent as well. Such reassessment may well become a necessary survival adaptation. Humans of all IQs can turn empathy to antipathy surprisingly easily under different conditions.

[El Castor]

On Sat, 4 Feb 2017 17:35:56 -0800 (PST), me <werner...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Don't despair. There is hope. I can't vouche for my IQ but I was once politically left. Experience wore me down. This happened some decades ago. It will probably happen to increasing numbers of the more intelligent as well. Such reassessment may well become a necessary survival adaptation. Humans of all IQs can turn empathy to antipathy surprisingly easily under different conditions.

Back in college I went to a few Young People's Socialist League
meetings. I never actually joined, but I was tentatively sold on the
idea. I majored in economics. By my junior year I had gone through a
couple of epiphanies and realized the error of my ways. Even today, I
can see the possibility of robots and AI ushering in some form of
socialism, or guaranteed annual income, in the not too far distant
future when we become little more than animals in the robot zoo, but
for now ...

[me]

I'm reminded of VietNam. I was in it, had some small part in it, observed powerful forces at work before me. What I found eerily odd was the feeling of being outside the action while in it. Hard for me to describe. But I'm getting this same feeling now. Important forces are at work all around. All I can do is take some very limited precautions and observe the march of history unfold before me in retirement. Maybe the future will be robots. Maybe the future will be short and/or dismal for a lot of people. The present is all we have. Fortunately the present is good for me. I expect it's also good for you. Let's hope that doesn't change.

[El Castor]

On Sun, 5 Feb 2017 07:30:42 -0800 (PST), me <werner...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I'm reminded of VietNam. I was in it, had some small part in it, observed powerful forces at work before me. What I found eerily odd was the feeling of being outside the action while in it. Hard for me to describe. But I'm getting this same feeling now. Important forces are at work all around. All I can do is take some very limited precautions and observe the march of history unfold before me in retirement. Maybe the future will be robots. Maybe the future will be short and/or dismal for a lot of people. The present is all we have. Fortunately the present is good for me. I expect it's also good for you. Let's hope that doesn't change.

Yup. (-8