Progressive Ideology

[Farfromgeneva]

Funny thing is they “rank” these public schools locally and it comes in too 3 consistently but the prior principal who did her job ok was an alcoholic in told by her neighbor (apparently wasn’t well hidden issue) so it’s evident the quality has more to do with the local community than the personnel.

[kramerica.inc]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

[old salt]

It’s okay to do here if you post a lot.

it would be an ethnic slur if an ethnic slur was actually implied. As in, you're German, so I'm going to call you Goebbels, or you're Italian, so I'll call you Mussolini instead.

There's no basis to suggest that Petey is German, so no such ethnic slur implied.

Far as I know, Trump's kid isn't of Italian heritage, so it wouldn't make sense as an ethnic slur. Haven't heard Don Jr called "Fredo" though. Would make more sense for Eric, if meant as the lesser brother, but haven't heard Fredo for him either...plenty of SNL skits making fun of him though.

Is it an ethnic slur if a short, surly man with a French surname is said to have a Napoleon complex ?
...or only if there's a Corsican in his family tree ?

The Fredo analogy is to a less competent younger brother. It need not be limited to, or restricted from, someone of Italian ancestry.

[MDlaxfan76]

It’s okay to do here if you post a lot.

it would be an ethnic slur if an ethnic slur was actually implied. As in, you're German, so I'm going to call you Goebbels, or you're Italian, so I'll call you Mussolini instead.

There's no basis to suggest that Petey is German, so no such ethnic slur implied.

Far as I know, Trump's kid isn't of Italian heritage, so it wouldn't make sense as an ethnic slur. Haven't heard Don Jr called "Fredo" though. Would make more sense for Eric, if meant as the lesser brother, but haven't heard Fredo for him either...plenty of SNL skits making fun of him though.

Is it an ethnic slur if a short, surly man with a French surname is said to have a Napoleon complex ?
...or only if there's a Corsican in his family tree ?

The Fredo analogy is to a less competent younger brother. It need not be limited to, or restricted from, someone of Italian ancestry.

First of all, what makes Chris "less competent" than Andrew?
IMO, he's highly competent, both in his profession and as a person.
IMO, he's simply not the sort of toxic, entitled, control freak that his brother apparently is.
Is Andrew actually a "competent" person?
Or is Chris, relatively speaking, the actual success in life?
Why tear at him?...ohh yeah, he's not a conservative partisan.
(btw, Chris may have all sorts of flaws we don't know about...hope not.)

Second, Fredo was older than Michael, not younger. Part of Fredo's fatal law was his resentment at being passed over for his younger, indeed more "competent" and ruthless brother, flawed as he was in a different way. The oldest brother held actual power very briefly while the Godfather was incapacitated. His temper making him vulnerable.

On the Napolean complex, if the precipitating factor of calling someone that, what triggered it, was the French sounding name (or Corsican) then it would be intended as an ethnic slur, but it's a very commonly used expression to non French, short men with outsized egos. That very common usage has zero to do with the ethnicity of Napolean or the person being described.

Fredo is not commonly used, certainly not commonly with regard to non-Italians, and this particular example was indeed intended as ethnic, and specifically as an insult. As is the whole implication that Italians are synonymous with organized crime.

Have you ever heard of someone coming up to someone in a bar or restaurant and shouting at them that they're "Napolean"? I haven't.

This really shouldn't be this hard.

[MDlaxfan76]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

[cradleandshoot]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

There were some folks who got beaten up for wearing little red hats in public.

https://www.newsweek.com/criminal-acts- ... ts-1357179

That is the new American way Mr MD is it not? Intolerant, angry and hate filled people judging other people they believe to be intolerant, angry and hate filled.

[MDlaxfan76]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

There were some folks who got beaten up for wearing little red hats in public.

https://www.newsweek.com/criminal-acts- ... ts-1357179

That is the new American way Mr MD is it not? Intolerant, angry and hate filled people judging other people they believe to be intolerant, angry and hate filled.

Did airlines?

I quite agree that we have a huge problem with the angry, near demented behavior in this country.

But let me remind you my friend, that I'm the moderate between the two of us. I applaud moderation, reserve and restraint , including in our political leadership.

You have applauded the politicians (never on the left) who are most vitriolic and populist, specifically for their confrontational style, and made fun of those who exhibit moderation and reserve.

[cradleandshoot]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

There were some folks who got beaten up for wearing little red hats in public.

https://www.newsweek.com/criminal-acts- ... ts-1357179

That is the new American way Mr MD is it not? Intolerant, angry and hate filled people judging other people they believe to be intolerant, angry and hate filled.

Did airlines?

I quite agree that we have a huge problem with the angry, near demented behavior in this country.

But let me remind you my friend, that I'm the moderate between the two of us. I applaud moderation, reserve and restraint , including in our political leadership.

You have applauded the politicians (never on the left) who are most vitriolic and populist, specifically for their confrontational style, and made fun of those who exhibit moderation and reserve.

I applaud Senator Chuck Schumer all of the time. I'm guessing you have missed that. I disagree with his liberal policies but I respect him for not treating Upstate NY like all of the other democrats in our state. Senator Schumer takes the time to visit the Upstate communities on a regular basis. Senator Schumer also spoke at my sons graduation in 2012 from St John Fisher College. None of what he said had anything to do with politics. He is a very smart and gifted politician who happens to be a realistic progressive democrat. You should also remember I am a huge fan of Congressman Joe Morelle. He and my wife went to HS together and I voted for him this past election.

Let me remind you I am not as narrow minded as you think I am. If you paid closer attention you would understand that. If you also paid closer attention you would understand my distain for FAR LEFT PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS who want to shred our constitution and rewrite it altogether. I admit to you upfront i am not a big fan of most moderate folks. Can you name for me a list of famous moderates? When you stand all of the time in the middle of the road eventually your going to get run over by a truck. There is nothing wrong with being a moderate if you have core values that you will not compromise on. There is a huge problem IMO if you are a moderate who licks their finger and sticks it up in the air to determine the direction of the political winds of the day. With no core values to defend you are not a moderate your nothing more than a door mat. The first requirement for any doormat is to lie down and let people walk all over you and wipe the mud off of their shoes.

[MDlaxfan76]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

[cradleandshoot]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

[kramerica.inc]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

MAGA hats = Hate, remember? Lots of people offended by them.

https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story ... -community

https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/0 ... ich-barlow

[MDlaxfan76]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

I don't recall whether you have a mortgage or not, still, but if you did at some point, were you able to afford it?
Were you "living within your means?"

I, too, am a 'fiscal conservative', but as a business person I'm focused on optimizing risk-adjusted ROI. I need to manage cash flow in the business, and am quite conservative about such, but also recognize that we must invest in the future of the business in order to achieve the competitive position that earns outsize rewards. I've done that reasonably successfully, albeit with some failures too, throughout my business career, whether as an entrepreneur or as an investor. I've taken risks that others likely would not. But with eyes wide open, with risks managed best we could.

So, applied to fiscal politics and world stage competitiveness, I'm interested in selecting the very best policies and investments that deliver the best, risk adjusted ROI, not simply short term, but rather long term. As a moderate, I know that there are many competing perspectives and opportunities for such and that not all are equal...so as a 'conservative' moderate, I want to see testing of ideas to determine what works best and what doesn't. I don't want to rush ideas. But I also don't want things to be frozen, with a failure to invest, a failure to test and then commit.

My "principles" that probably are hardest line involve bigotry. All sorts. Probably bothers me more than any other factor in our society.

Not only do I see the immorality of bigotry, I also see enormous societal, indeed economic, costs of bigotry. The failure to optimize our very most precious resource, our human capital.

[Peter Brown]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

I don't recall whether you have a mortgage or not, still, but if you did at some point, were you able to afford it?
Were you "living within your means?"

I, too, am a 'fiscal conservative', but as a business person I'm focused on optimizing risk-adjusted ROI. I need to manage cash flow in the business, and am quite conservative about such, but also recognize that we must invest in the future of the business in order to achieve the competitive position that earns outsize rewards. I've done that reasonably successfully, albeit with some failures too, throughout my business career, whether as an entrepreneur or as an investor. I've taken risks that others likely would not. But with eyes wide open, with risks managed best we could.

So, applied to fiscal politics and world stage competitiveness, I'm interested in selecting the very best policies and investments that deliver the best, risk adjusted ROI, not simply short term, but rather long term. As a moderate, I know that there are many competing perspectives and opportunities for such and that not all are equal...so as a 'conservative' moderate, I want to see testing of ideas to determine what works best and what doesn't. I don't want to rush ideas. But I also don't want things to be frozen, with a failure to invest, a failure to test and then commit.

My "principles" that probably are hardest line involve bigotry. All sorts. Probably bothers me more than any other factor in our society.

Not only do I see the immorality of bigotry, I also see enormous societal, indeed economic, costs of bigotry. The failure to optimize our very most precious resource, our human capital.

You know what’s interesting, whenever MD talks about business, has anyone else ever noticed that he never references the PEOPLE who either work for the companies or the CUSTOMER that purchases from the companies? Lots of worthless b-school jargon that could easily be typed up by a robot, but never about what actually causes a company to spin, what gets a human being out of bed, what actually matters.

It’s fascinating to me. I’m not certain I could be any different if I had a few thousand lifetimes to get to that point.

Meanwhile, we’re having a record year. Go figure.

[Peter Brown]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

I don't recall whether you have a mortgage or not, still, but if you did at some point, were you able to afford it?
Were you "living within your means?"

I, too, am a 'fiscal conservative', but as a business person I'm focused on optimizing risk-adjusted ROI. I need to manage cash flow in the business, and am quite conservative about such, but also recognize that we must invest in the future of the business in order to achieve the competitive position that earns outsize rewards. I've done that reasonably successfully, albeit with some failures too, throughout my business career, whether as an entrepreneur or as an investor. I've taken risks that others likely would not. But with eyes wide open, with risks managed best we could.

So, applied to fiscal politics and world stage competitiveness, I'm interested in selecting the very best policies and investments that deliver the best, risk adjusted ROI, not simply short term, but rather long term. As a moderate, I know that there are many competing perspectives and opportunities for such and that not all are equal...so as a 'conservative' moderate, I want to see testing of ideas to determine what works best and what doesn't. I don't want to rush ideas. But I also don't want things to be frozen, with a failure to invest, a failure to test and then commit.

My "principles" that probably are hardest line involve bigotry. All sorts. Probably bothers me more than any other factor in our society.

Not only do I see the immorality of bigotry, I also see enormous societal, indeed economic, costs of bigotry. The failure to optimize our very most precious resource, our human capital.

And yet ironically, or revealingly, the same guy is against school choice.

Make of that what you will.

[MDlaxfan76]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ress-code/

On Friday, Jenny Grondahl flew from Phoenix to San Diego, carrying a souvenir: a cardboard sign she wanted to frame when she got home to Southern California. It read “Arizonenses Con Biden” with a cactus and was made by an artist named Javier Torres.
...
When she got to the gate, Grondahl said, a Southwest Airlines employee told her, “Many customers are offended by your sign.” The agent asked her to either cover it with white paper and tape or to fold it to put underneath her seat.
...
“I’m looking around at the gate, and I’m thinking, how many of you was it — 20 out of 110 people? And how offended were you? What did you say?” she told The Washington Post several days after the incident. “How could people have such a visceral reaction to seeing the name of our president on a sign?”

How does she not understand? It's the same reaction people get from wearing a little red hat.

How many people were told by southwest they had to take their red hat off and put it away?
I don't recall airlines doing that, but perhaps they did?

MAGA hats = Hate, remember? Lots of people offended by them.

https://www.lajollalight.com/news/story ... -community

https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2019/0 ... ich-barlow

Sure, and I reacted to MAGA hats personally as well. Not the same as seeing a Confederate flag in the back of the pick-ups but that direction for sure. Told you something about the wearer (more so by 2020 than 2016). Had dinner last fall with a guy who wore the hat through dinner (take your darn hat off at the table!) who kept telling me how much Trump loved America. I tried to keep it light, for my mom's sake...

Definitely don't have a place in schools which ban, understandably, any political party campaign wear. I don't recall any airlines banning them.

I have a blue hat that has the same lettering, from a natural foods product company (swag at conference), that says "Make Earth Cool Again"...on brand for that company. I'd occasionally wear it playing golf, etc and would get some interesting looks, heads twisting. This at a place where MAGA hats were frequently seen. Got a chuckle out of that.

The MAGA hats disappeared there post Jan 6.
Not true at some other parts of Florida, but gone at our community.

[MDlaxfan76]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

I don't recall whether you have a mortgage or not, still, but if you did at some point, were you able to afford it?
Were you "living within your means?"

I, too, am a 'fiscal conservative', but as a business person I'm focused on optimizing risk-adjusted ROI. I need to manage cash flow in the business, and am quite conservative about such, but also recognize that we must invest in the future of the business in order to achieve the competitive position that earns outsize rewards. I've done that reasonably successfully, albeit with some failures too, throughout my business career, whether as an entrepreneur or as an investor. I've taken risks that others likely would not. But with eyes wide open, with risks managed best we could.

So, applied to fiscal politics and world stage competitiveness, I'm interested in selecting the very best policies and investments that deliver the best, risk adjusted ROI, not simply short term, but rather long term. As a moderate, I know that there are many competing perspectives and opportunities for such and that not all are equal...so as a 'conservative' moderate, I want to see testing of ideas to determine what works best and what doesn't. I don't want to rush ideas. But I also don't want things to be frozen, with a failure to invest, a failure to test and then commit.

My "principles" that probably are hardest line involve bigotry. All sorts. Probably bothers me more than any other factor in our society.

Not only do I see the immorality of bigotry, I also see enormous societal, indeed economic, costs of bigotry. The failure to optimize our very most precious resource, our human capital.

And yet ironically, or revealingly, the same guy is against school choice.

Make of that what you will.

When did I become opposed to school choice?
I'm not.

I'm quite in favor IF public schools in poor districts, whether urban or rural, aren't starved for funding for capital improvements of crumbling infrastructure and have comparable funding for teachers, books, etc, as rich districts, as well as have the necessary resources to deal with the much higher costs of kids without social structure support, traumas, learning challenges, etc that don't have the flexibility to move to other schools.

If "choice" is simply moving $ from those schools to more well off jurisdictions or private schools, leaving kids further disadvantaged and ghettoized who remain behind, then I'm opposed.

But that doesn't need to be the case.

[MDlaxfan76]

You're right...I'm not going to do a search of your posts to see the last time you mentioned Schumer positively, but yup, I missed it.

But no surprise that you'd like the more moderate D's than the furthest left D's. You really, really don't like progressivism. I get it.

However, you have repeatedly disdained the moderate R's, those who seek bi-partisan consensus, most of whom have been drummed out the party, very few left. And you've applauded the confrontational hard right wing of the GOP. "Principles".

You're clearly not alone which is why we have so much division and desire for confrontation in vitriolic terms. Gerrymandering has tremendously exacerbated the incentives for polarization, as has dark money. Add to that the fracturing of media.

No surprise that people are so divided and angry.

Your missing my main point again. Your a moderate republican. What core values that you possess that you will never compromise on or do not believe should be compromised on? That does not mean you will never accept a compromise. What is important enough to your core values that are worth fighting for? I'm a fiscal conservative who first and foremost believes as a nation we have to live within our means. You know where that puts me? Right dead square on the bottom of the totem pole.
Our nation's heading rapidly towards 30 trillion in debt and nobody in DC of either party seems to care about it.

I don't recall whether you have a mortgage or not, still, but if you did at some point, were you able to afford it?
Were you "living within your means?"

I, too, am a 'fiscal conservative', but as a business person I'm focused on optimizing risk-adjusted ROI. I need to manage cash flow in the business, and am quite conservative about such, but also recognize that we must invest in the future of the business in order to achieve the competitive position that earns outsize rewards. I've done that reasonably successfully, albeit with some failures too, throughout my business career, whether as an entrepreneur or as an investor. I've taken risks that others likely would not. But with eyes wide open, with risks managed best we could.

So, applied to fiscal politics and world stage competitiveness, I'm interested in selecting the very best policies and investments that deliver the best, risk adjusted ROI, not simply short term, but rather long term. As a moderate, I know that there are many competing perspectives and opportunities for such and that not all are equal...so as a 'conservative' moderate, I want to see testing of ideas to determine what works best and what doesn't. I don't want to rush ideas. But I also don't want things to be frozen, with a failure to invest, a failure to test and then commit.

My "principles" that probably are hardest line involve bigotry. All sorts. Probably bothers me more than any other factor in our society.

Not only do I see the immorality of bigotry, I also see enormous societal, indeed economic, costs of bigotry. The failure to optimize our very most precious resource, our human capital.

You know what’s interesting, whenever MD talks about business, has anyone else ever noticed that he never references the PEOPLE who either work for the companies or the CUSTOMER that purchases from the companies? Lots of worthless b-school jargon that could easily be typed up by a robot, but never about what actually causes a company to spin, what gets a human being out of bed, what actually matters.

It’s fascinating to me. I’m not certain I could be any different if I had a few thousand lifetimes to get to that point.

Meanwhile, we’re having a record year. Go figure.

What a joke, you are Petey.

I realize you can't even comprehend this stuff, or even more likely simply don't want to, but you're 100% wrong about who I think makes a company successful. Yes, it's the people who work for that company, the culture of commitment to whatever is most important to success. While we all like to spout "customer-first" sorts of jargon, and indeed culturally we want our people to be passionate about serving the customer, the reality is that if you serve your employees well, you'll very likely succeed in serving customers.

Of course, that's not all there is...you do need to understand who your target customer is and what will succeed in earning their loyalty and then build the systems and products/services to deliver on that in a way that continuously listens and adapts...all much easier to say than do...which comes back to your people...they're the ones who are best positioned to listen and adapt...as a CEO, the key is to enable and empower them to do so. To invest in those systems and processes that best position the company to be the very best at what it does.

Of course, there are other ways to "succeed" like cheating on your taxes, lying to your bankers, etc, scamming your customers, hiring illegal workers or using 'slave' or incarcerated labor, dumping your toxic waste in the river, getting government favors through political donations or bribes...but that's not my choice. Yours?

[Farfromgeneva]

Something both sides should consider when they apply narrative to acts, actions and behaviors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow' ... y_of_needs

[old salt]

Woke Film Festival Winner :

Fans of Ozark on Netflix, jonesing for their next fix of rural red state American Gothic, will enjoy this low buck indy virtue signalling instant classic. It manages to touch all the woke hot button issues. See how many you can count -- homophobia, xenophobia, human trafficking, exploitation of undocumented migrant farm workers, intolerance of the learning disabled -- did I leave any out. ?

It promotes the same negative stereotypes as Ozark. Unlike Ozark, it was actually filmed at least in, or near, the Ozarks. It is set, & was filmed, in the central Missouri River towns of New Haven & Hermann MO. A boyhood friend on mine had grandparents living there who we visited often. They were prosperous farm & river towns in the '50's & 60's. They survived by becoming touristy B&B, wine trail & antique shop getaway destinations.

The movie starts out interestingly, but becomes trite & goes downhill rapidly as the agenda becomes obvious. Irony abounds as the protagonist lovers long for a return to CA, ...the national leader in human trafficking & exploitation of migrant farm workers, culminating with the closing scene of a Pacific sunset.
Cicada Song is available on Amazon Prime or for free on the Tubi app.
Thanks for nothing, Hollywood. Maybe the title was chosen to attract the sci-fi audience during the locust plague.

[Peter Brown]

Unbelievably great article.

”America has become its own worst enemy”

https://unherd.com/2021/08/america-is-t ... iet-union/

The article is a bullseye hit on leftism in America. Here are some of the better quotes:

This new way of thinking — progressivism is probably the fairest term — is far less tolerant than liberalism. Indeed, in its hostility to freedom of speech, its Manichean worldview, its suspicion that its opponents are fascists, and the belief that politics should be inserted into everything — from science to children’s books — it is closer to the totalitarian tradition.

Thought-leaders (Democrats) are obsessed with white nationalism and regularly denounce white supremacy as a lethal danger to the nation, in what is probably history’s least ever white supremacist country

Communists saw their political beliefs as so all-encompassing that even science was political: if science contradicted the goals of communism, it wasn’t science. In today’s United States the slow death of liberalism has resulted in the blatant politicisation of science, to the extent that as in Russia, scientists teach things which are obviously untrue because it supports the prevailing ideology. Then there is the media, much of which parrots the party line with almost embarrassing, “Comrade Stalin has driven pig iron to record production” levels of conformity. Once again, if you want to hear the truth, go to the BBC (until the young people who run the website take over).

Jesus, this article is good. Such a warning to Democrats about what they’ve become, such a warning to Republicans as to what is the greatest threat to their way of life. Superb.