I have reached the conclusion that the ongoing political process in the US is so important to the fate of all that I cannot maintain a ban on discussion of that process. I regret the necessity. pl
RSS- Nasa’s Voyager-1 sends usable data from deep space
- The Wondrous Oak
- Three Seas Summit: Vilnius 2024
- Tit for tat until it all goes boom
- Deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain detected on mainland Antarctica
- “BYD is launching its next-gen Blade EV battery soon with more range and even lower cost”
- Iran launches air attacks on Israel
- ISW on the developing Ukrainian defense industrial base and Russias strikes on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure
- Britain? Kaput! By Walrus.
- Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity
Beware the Ides of March…
Colonel Lang
You have reached a wise and fair position.
Using REASON as the common litmus test, Bernie Sanders is my personal choice. The rest fall short by some distance. I also believe until convinced otherwise, that his candidacy is the only one that can lead a movement that could gain enough traction in Congress to actually have the legislative branch and executive branch work together to effectively govern. Again, using REASON as the arbiter. The Foundinding Fathers thought REASON might want to have a say did they not?
Read a great series of sci fi books at one time. The premise is that an alien race of lizards, ruled by an Emperor, invade and try to conquer the Earth around 1942. Of course the next year 1943, the Germans get routed at Stalingrad and Al-Almaen. So, in fact they save the Germans and are interspersed b/n them and the Soviets. They deprecate democracy and voting. One phrase the Lizards use that sticks in my mind is “snout counting.” But is the alternative always worse? (Turtledove)
The Greeks had a theory that governments cycle back and forth between virtuos and corrupt forms.
“According to Polybius, who has the most fully developed version of the cycle, it rotates through the three basic forms of government, democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy and the three degenerate forms of each of these governments ochlocracy, oligarchy, and tyranny. Originally society is in anarchy but the strongest figure emerges and sets up a monarchy. The monarch’s descendants, who because of their family’s power lack virtue, become despots and the monarchy degenerates into a tyranny. Because of the excesses of the ruler the tyranny is overthrown by the leading citizens of the state who set up an aristocracy. They too quickly forget about virtue and the state becomes an oligarchy. These oligarchs are overthrown by the people who set up a democracy. Democracy soon becomes corrupt and degenerates into mob rule, beginning the cycle anew.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyklos
Col. Lang , IMO the right decission thank you
You are wonderfully erratic, Colonel, I somewhat seem to like this.
Be’st uz vurriners loud to spoke our thorts?
LeAnder
Thank you. I am an extreme INTP. pl
johnf
Yes, but learn to spell “furriners” right and the rule against personal invective still applies. pl
Good decision. Makes total sense since this site has many excellent analyses of war and peace. One really surprising development in this campaign is that the borg seems to be under major assault by the US voters. It has been true for years that the US is a one party state – the War Party – with two factions the Dems and Repubs.
But now the only clear representative for the borg is Hillary while in the Repub faction their preferred candidates like Bush, Rubio, etc seem to be blown away. Today only Trump and Cruz seem to be in position to win voter support for nomination and both have made some very threatening statements regarding war and peace which have sent the neocons into a frenzy. This is leaving the borg in the position of having to choose its own nominee in a brokered convention.
On the Dem side, Hillary is the likely choice. She is probably the most dangerous of the whole lot. I fear that her lack of intelligence and character defects could, as POTUS, lead to the one crisis nobody wants which is shooting war with Russia.
505th,
I already feel the burn in my wallet from the millennials. Why do they deserve more of my money (that the Bern is going to pass through their hands and into the wallets of collegiate administrators)
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/spring-break-police-lack-control-over-rowdy-college-students/
“I am an extreme INTP. pl”
As am I. No interest in being a follower or leader. Both are highly constrained. But I have a strong interest in understanding the different forces at play. I seek information that enhances that understanding. By definition, that is information that is more frequently in some degree of conflict with my current assessments. This is one site that offers varying, but informed, viewpoints and is much appreciated.
doug
We are an oppressed minority. I chose to be a soldier and successfully adapted to that life but it was not easy. pl
The threat of a Hilary Clinton Whitehouse is so great that it is only right and proper to try and highlight all that is wrong with the woman. As such, I’m delighted you have rescinded your ban on political dialogue as it impact the Presidential election this November.
Dear Colonel,
I still fail to see how one can run a successful campaign when under FBI investigation for violation of security, with a likely indictment in the next month or so.
The reasons and penalties for violating classification are clearly explained to everyone and they are read the riot act. For violating security clearance, Hillary has herself labeled folk as treasonous.
I would assume that upon ascending to the presidency, Hillary would be hit with impeachment from Congress, and not the slap on the wrist her husband received.
Colonel,
I think a ban on some forms of commentary, e.g. overt “political trash-talking,” is still warranted. Reasoned analyses are much appreciated, at least by me. I trust and defer to your judgment on what constitutes which.
Lol, it is a sign of these very interesting times. Good decision but it may become somewhat uncontrollable. Still, it is impossible to avoid with so much going on.
Personally, I think the US has run the gamut to its ultimate end. No matter who is elected something is going to give. Marx clearly describes a periodic reset to any capitalistic system and we have delayed that inevitable event. But, for how long. A society with a fiat based currency, so deep in debt the debt can never be repaid, 47% of the citizenry receiving some kind of government support, a massive influx of less than desirable unskilled workers, in a country that adopted free trade agreements which advance the needs of the plutocracy at the cost of the citizens, a nearly complete wealth redistribution from the middle class to the rich, a generation which has been deliberately uneducated to the point of idiocy, yet at the same time adopting for-profit business models for health care, education, and prison, a military largely made up of citizens from the lower 30% of the socioeconomic class trying desparetly to advance out of poverty, and what do you have? Imminent disaster. Given these issues, all of the candidates are poor choices. Only one presidential candidate represents the potential for change, and not necessarily for the good, but change of any kind might be better than doing the same mistakes over and over again hoping for a different outcome, and that is Trump. If all he does is apply a profit/loss decision model to every decision then even that alone would be a vast improvement. This is his real expertise. I also think he is an expert in BS detection which goes a long way to succeeding within the US government.
Watching people defend Bernie supporters disrupting Trump’s rallies is both nauseating and dangerous. I say this as a Bernie supporter.
Only a Cherman vud find zat errrrratic.
[a sociological observation — nothing personal, of course]
{{here endeth the test}}
Is discussion here capable of influencing the fate of all? Will discussion of that fate ameliorate it’s consequences? However, resolution in the face of fate used to be regarded as admirable.
darn it. read right by this.
really did. wasn’t copying.
Gracious of you Sir, but personally I don’t hold my own opinion in as much regard on this question as that of yourself and other commenters. I will be an avid reader but I doubt I will have much to add.
Baah, that scene has been repeating itself for at least 40 years, and before FLA/Texas was the destination, in other places and forms. Surely, you can do much better than this Fred.
” the borg seems to be under major assault by the US voters.”
Well, yes, US voters seem to be in revolt against something, but neither SST nor erstwhile American revolutionaries has to date come to a focused definition of the borg.
Assault upon an adversary who is not clearly in the crosshairs = arming the cataract brigade.
The American Conservative’s foreign policy report card gives the nod to Sanders – http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/a-2016-foreign-policy-report-card/
Croesus
what is your definition? pl
If Karl Rove were running The Donald’s show he would have bus loads of Young Republicans wearing SJW sloganed tee shirts out in force disrupting Trump’s rallies.
What’s wrong with the woman is that she has the defects of her virtues plus the wrong virtues for the times.
These are a far cry from the scenes of “Where the boys are” or “Gidget” movie days. You still haven’t answered why I should subsidize “free” college when all that is obligated in return is a vote for a politician.
Matthew,
There’s always the possibility that part of this was a political false flag to tarnish two candidates. The rest just spun out of control.
I don’t see how Bernie being a liberal democrat from NE and a Jew from NY can have any chance in south and some MW states, if he becomes nomine of the democrats, against any republican including Trump. IMO if Trump stays on, as he has he will get the independent anti establishment and no to HRC democrat votes.
What are the chances of changes in the cloture rule in the new congress?
Well I’m surprised the allowing of political thought but then your right we have not seen this type of an election process in a long while or possibly never in my lifetime. A large majority of Americans recognize that the apple cart is on its way over its side and want it put back on a straight path. Whether they are for Bernie or Donald change is in the air. Personally I have been relegated to the back deck for the evenings (in the 80’s here in No. Fl) as my better half believes the boob tube will be broken as I yell and scream at these inane anti-Trump commercials though I do hear her yelling during commercial interruptions of her Novellas, she is a Donald fan.
As to the Chicago protests Donald has blame in that he picked a poor spot and his organization failed him in not being too selective of his crowd. Bernie has some blame in that he has raised passions in a young crowd without teaching them how to focus their energies. Small potatoes for them both as Chicago is Chicago but these professional organizers need a visit by federal authorities to lay the law down so this does not happen again. Now the big culprit is the Media. Criminal News Network had the young man that rushed the Trump podium on TV a day after his claim to fame. The man belonged in jail without bail as his actions are a threat to society but CNN thought there was value?? What we see on TV is snippets that benefit individual societal beliefs, certainly not news, but then what do I know as I write from my back deck.
I wish all success with their candidates but after seeing the Republican Establishment in action I believe the Borg has another dimension.
1) Q. Why support K-12 Public Education? A. i.It is the great leavener and tool for socio-economic mobility. ii. It is democratizing iii. The skill set to compete and be productive economically in part relies on access to training beyond k-12. iii. Free Tuition at public colleges/universities…if the people want this to be so and express this via ballot, who are you to deny them. v. What on earth is wrong with having the most educated population possible…the long term dividends for the country are immense. vi. Could it be that such a nation might take more ownership for its decisions both political and economic. I don’t know you Fred but the wallet clutching and movie/TV references bespeak a bygone group of folks looking for the good old days that really never were. This conversation is a tangential digression. REASON in a holistic sense is what I was getting at. Spring Breakers don’t concern me a lick. Most of em have some kind of a silver spoon in their upbringing anyways.
Fred, I’d also be remiss by not pointing out that he’d put a tax on Wall Street speculation to cover the costs, your wallet is probably pretty safe.
Here’s the abstract of the academic study about a year and a half ago which found that special interests have enormous influence on policy, whilst the American public has virtually none.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=9354310
“Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.”
Vote as much as you like. It won’t change anything important. Have fun.
Colonel, Thanks for the continuing ban on personal invective. When I am subjected to it by a political fanatic, I always have a lousy opinion of whomever they support. Much prefer rational explanations from electoral-vote.com or humor from The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.
Another take on Bernie supporters – http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/sanders-sends-vegan-thugs-to-attack-peace-loving-nazis
cynic
Well, my English friend, that is what the revolt is about over here. Does any of your disdain apply to the somewhat united kingdom? pl
At least here in US we don’t have any part or state seriously considering session rom the union. But In and around Europe one can’t no longer count.
505th,
You left out God, which the founders certainly did not.
I made no mention of k-12 eduction only the shifting of cost of college education entirely to the taxpayers. I disagree that a college education is not required to develop a “a skill set to compete and be productive economically in part relies on access to training beyond k-12.” There are plenty of paths to being “productive” economically that don’t rely on post K-12, i.e. “college” education.
505th,
thanks for your concern with my wallet. I look forward to when President Sanders gets the House of Representatives to do what Obama couldn’t do when the Democrats controlled it – tax wall street. BTW Trump’s going to have the same problem with Congress, but that’s another story.
cynic,
when the ballots stop mattering many people stop voting. Though of course here they’ll also eventually start shooting, which is kind of how this country came into being when you think about it.
Donald Trump tonight: paraphrased slightly “You gotta be rich to be great…..” totally without soul or REASON.
I cannot speak to God. They had their world and we have ours, and our God (s)
IMO until June the most important political fact will be who, how, and when new or old candidates for the Senate and House choose to challenge incumbents. There already seems to be a prevailing view that the Trump candidacy has put control of the U.S. Senate back in play largely because six (6) Republican Senators are again seeking new terms in States that voted in 2012 for President Obama.
cynic,
It depends on what a critical-massload of readers of these posts and comments do with the information and analytical frameworks and conclusions learned here.
It may also depend in certain cases on who in power or in semi-power over certain things is also reading these posts and threads.
cynic,
What would a President Trump do if TPP/TTIP/etc. crosses his desk?
What would a President Sanders do if TPP/TTIP/etc. crosses his desk?
We know what a President Clinton would do. She would sign them.
And given how destructive these Free Trade Agreements would be, it matters if we have a President who would sign them or veto them. And if voting in primaries one way or another can effect who becomes which nominee, then voting would offer a chance to pick one or the other outcome for or against the Free Trade Agreements. That would be a case of voting changing something important.
I continue to believe that the chances are pretty good that Joe Biden will be sworn in as President next January. There are certain powerful people who got the better of the Clintons during Bill’s Presidency, and both Bill and Hillary would like to do it right next time, and to settle some scores while they’re at it. It’s possible that the Clintons are negotiating with these people, who are very close to Obama, Biden, and others, including Kerry, but we don’t know. Bill Clinton’s anger is probably seen as one of the most important risks. Hillary might be expected to be fairly malleable if Bill were not in the picture, but of course he is in the picture. Hillary has shaped up as a very weak candidate. She would win in November if the Republicans split, with Trump running independently, but the powers behind the Democratic Party probably fear that Trump has a good chance to be elected if he is the Republican nominee. Biden is avoiding all the degradation that so many candidates, including Hillary, have suffered in the campaign, and his negatives are a lot lower than hers. The decision to indict Hillary is more or less in the hands of the same elites who would probably like to have Biden as President. Obama appointed an upstanding Republican as FBI Director and could probably stay out of the indictment loop, publicly. If Hillary is indicted, Biden will be the nominee. An escalation of military tensions in the fall, contrived or not, would help Biden to win the election, due to voter fears about the candidates’ relative levels of experience and prudence.
How is it that a limited number of geographic locations became the drivers and sustainers of the American economy? Many of those areas have have huge transportation dependent populations, as regards no POVs.
After last night’s results I think the Bern is done. It is going to be HRC verses Trump unless one or the other gets killed or indicted. How a person can be supported in a run for President with her record baffles me. It indicates the corruption now runs so deep that laws or even rules mean nothing. They aren’t even bothering with a Plan B which is extremely telling.
Of the candidates remaining which has the largest number of LOTTO players supporting him/her?
ISL – You keep falling for the idea that there is any sort of real democracy in American and that the plutocracy must live by the same laws we do. here is only one party, that of the rich. There are 2 sub-groups but the evidence (or lack thereof) is clear. The Republicans have had a majority in Congress now for almost 4 years and could have impeached Obama any time they wanted. The budget Ryan put out was 100% of what Obama wanted. and Congress supported it. Obamacare could have been defeated many times over but it benefits the rich to such a degree it is embarrassing. They gave away to this clown full ability for treaty negotiations so don’t believe for a second that there really are 2 political parties.
But, as history tells us when the wealth inequality gap becomes too large it always results in a revolution. We are arguably past the tipping point yet this ruse of a political contest and democracy seems to be keeping the citizens in check all while the federal agencies and local police forces become more and more militarized. I remind you that the NDAA authorizes indefinite detention without judicial oversight of any American citizen for any accusation. That also was voted in by Congress.
I think Trump represents an anomaly and it terrifies the Borg to such a degree they are openly uniting against him. That would be the end of it except the citizens don’t buy into the BS any more. If Trump is cheated out of candidacy there will be open revolt. This leaves them really only one option to solve the problem ala Bobby Kennedy. Blaming a muslim will be manipulative enough that the citizens will once again fall into the BS trap for yet another ME war and ensure HRC her victory. I hope I am wrong but if I were analyzing decision choices this would be the neo-con’s solution.
Have you read our dear Jeffrey’s recent Obama portrait in The Nation? TS?
I have to admit it’s interesting. Although, I cannot pretend I am a fan of Goldie. Hillary surfaces too.
Sometimes, you simply have to increase font size to make people listen. 😉
https://twitter.com/JeffreyGoldberg/status/709924404558479364
Ok. Here my two cents. I remember visiting the USSR in the middle of the eighties. A place in stagnation. You felt very strongly that something had to give. You just couldn´t imagine how. The change happened from the very top when a most unlikely person became general secretary of the CP.
Last time I was in the States three years ago. Washington DC, New York and Amherst college. Washington: a total bubble. Not only disconnected from the world, but even from the US. Visible signs of a massive health crisis. Malnourishment (obesity) on a truly unbelievable scale. Had a talk with medical researcher from Harvard. He talked of fudging of statistics on a Soviet scale. ALarm signs like the fact that kids start walking later and later simply being dismissed by hiking the average. Had long talk with policy wonk about health crisis. Best (in terms of money spent vs results)
health institution was the government run VA. Health industry in the States gobbles up nearly 20% of GDP and delivers less that government run system in Canada costing half.
Amherst College: 50 000$ tuition. Cleaners and janitors who work there make much less.Unsufferable PC atmosphere. STudents and faculty believe themselves to be oh
so liberal and progressive. They are in fact saying to the struggling rest: we are not only richer, we are also morally superior. That is spitting in the face of the rest of society.
Finally the military: it doesn´t exist the way it is because there is any need for it to be like that. It is armed in a way so that more people can make money out of it and it is being led in a way that satisfies the moral pretensions of a disconnected liberal elite. Witness the insane inclusion of women into combat units,
All of the above is just as wasteful and mad as the central planning of the by gone USSR. The USSR had oil to finance all this madness with. The US can just print Dollars by virtue of having the worlds reserve currency. It is much like the dream of medieval gold making alchemists come true.
Something has to give and something will give. In the case of the USSR change came from above. In the case of the US it seems like change will come from below. Trump is like a court jester (who traditionally were the only ones allowed to publicly tell the truth) being about to be crowned king. Same for Sanders. If both are blocked the whole system will loose legitimacy. If one of them makes it there will be chaos. Somewhere down the line the US$ will stop being the world´s reserve currency. Once that happens the whole mad edifice will come crashing down. Pity the elites. The have it coming.
I would probably be willing to pay if I thought more young people would end up being trained for a productive job. But, I see too many young people now with college educations that do not get them a job and allow them to pay off their loans. Add to that the fact that post HS education has become the playground for flimflam artists of all types (apparently including one pres candidate), and it makes the probability of a productive education even smaller. If college becomes free, is there any reason to think these problems won’t get worse?
Larry Mitchell
Sanders does not mention that the great majority of public higher educational institutions belong to the states not the federal government. Does he propose to fund the students directly or these state properties? pl
Firstly, it was not my intention to be critical of SST; rather, I was recalling the challenge to SST “Toward a “Borg” Definition.”
Next, I tried to address your question directly but had to clear my mind first — I had just read a chapter or two of Heinrich Graetz’s History of the Jews/ The Polish Jews; and also had just listened to Moshe Ya’Alon at the Wilson Center.
Graetz’s treatment of Polish Jewry is scathing:
“A love of twisting, distorting, ingenious quibbling, and a foregone antipathy to what did not lie within their field of vision, constituted the character of the Polish Jews. Pride in their knowledge of the Talmud and a spirit of dogmatism attached even to the best rabbis, and undermined their moral sense. The Polish Jews of course were extraordinarily pious, but even their piety rested on sophistry and boastfulness. Each wished to surpass the other in knowledge of what the Code prescribed for one case or another. Thus religion sank, not merely, as among Jews of other countries, to a mechanical, unintelligent ceremonial, but to a subtle art of interpretation. To know better was everything to them; but to act according to acknowledged principles of religious purity, and exemplify them in a moral life, occurred to but few. Integrity and right-mindedness they had lost as completely as simplicity and the sense of truth. The vulgar acquired the quibbling method of the schools, and employed it to outwit the less cunning. They found pleasure and6 a sort of triumphant delight in deception and cheating.”
Listening to Ya’alon (and his host, Aaron David Miller), put flesh on the word. “Israel is the only island of stability in the region; that is why Israel should be supported financially and politically … If Israel were not there, and stable, imagine how many more refugees would flood into Europe …” punctuated with, “Iran is evil,” “Iran is evil,” and summed up with “the Palestinian situation is not the problem that inflames the region.”
Attempting to distill those two sources of information toward a definition of the borg, I end up with that distance between John 1: 1 — “In the beginning was the word . . .” and John 1: 14 — “and the word was made flesh.”
The borg are masterful wordsmiths; they invent reality. The most pernicious thing the borg does through wordsmithing is to demonize entire populations with a view to inciting harm to them in one way or another. We used to call that lying, and lying that caused grievous harm to people was a mortal sin in the good ‘ole days. Game theory, highly developed by the Institute for Rationality at Hebrew University, calculates the ways and extent to which the word can be used to provoke acts that will result in a powerful entity taking destructive action against a designated adversary.
The Word made flesh is reality — “Truth is the mind’s ascent (or assent?) to reality.” Reality and truth appear to be the anti-Borg.
ok — now I’m rambling.
Thanks for the forum.
The media keeps saying that voters are angry at a disfunctional government, but is that so? Democrats are certainly voting to maintain the status quo, because no one with an IQ higher than room temperature can believe that she stands for anything other than that. She embodies the establishment, specifically the corrupt establishment, and is well ahead in the popular vote of the Democratic primaries.
Republicans are certainly angry about something, but is it Washington or their party against which they are revolting? That doesn’t seem entirely clear at this point I think. Republicans, in any case, have a long history of being willing to lose elections in the short term in order to send a message to their elected legislators that the party line needs to be adhered to.
I would suggest that, with control of the Executive Branch, and a workable majority of the Legislative Branch at the outset of his first term, the facts on the ground say that Obama did not want to do anything in the least “progressive.”
PL,
I think johnf’s sentence is in west country dialect, as in Thomas Hardy’s novels.
WPFIII
Between now and the Conventions try and assess the decision-making capacities of all the candidates? Are Americans in a mood to be led and follow or just abstain from the tough issues facing the nation?
All candidates on offer are horrible. Discussions about anything worthwhile don’t seem to exist.
Trump would be such a major embarrassment as this country’s representative that it would be horrible to bear. But, I believe that resistance to the path this country is going on can only be brought about by his candidacy.
I say — Vote for the fool.
Depending on the specific school and state, the funding levels by the states have gone down – at some instances to 30% or less of the annual budget.
The difference is made through the tuition of the out-of-state students as well as any federally funded research activities that they can get hold of.
Babak,
“The difference is made through the tuition of the out-of-state students…”
This is a very good point. It’s why we have so many students from Asia. The side effect is that their enrollment prevents qualified American citizens (many being residents of the state the school is in) from being admitted. The taxpayers of the various states are thus subsidizing the collegiate level education of foreign nationals who, shock!, now have the credentials to obtain those “jobs Americans can’t do, don’t want” etc that is tossed around very time visa waiver programs are mentioned. It’s also a reason for the proliferation of internet degree programs sponsored by state universities, including the one I graduated from.
I am just as fearful of her VP choice as I am of the demon herself. She seems genuinely fragile/unstable. Who are the candidates for a mid-term swearing in?
ambrit,
That’s my take on the matter too.
I was a Bernie supporter who didn’t support his entire platform but considered him the most honest of all the candidates. His not disavowing the”mobacracy” that shut down Trump’s Chicago rally has turned me against him. Moveon.org organized this disruption that followed exactly the model outlined in in Saul Alinsky’s book RULES FOR RADICALS. I don’t want to hand more power to a mob of young punks that think democratic elections are determined by those who yell the loudest. Free college would just inflate the number of students that are taught uncivil behavior is a social justice right.
Trump is a type-a and i don’t know if he’s too much of a loose canon to lead the country. The media portrays Trump as racist but I don’t see it. Most of the illegals are from Mexico and some are criminals. He wants to stop Muslims from radicalized areas of the world from entering the country until they can be properly vetted. Protecting our borders is not racist. Trump isn’t a fool but would be good if he could self=censor and not react to every insult hurled his way.
CFN on Chicago rally”
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/bull-run/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+clusterfucknation+%28Clusterfuck+Nation%29
Babak Makkinejad,
By now the difference is also being made up by rising tuitions on in-state students as well. What I don’t know is how much of the rising tuition-price to students reflects a direct transfer of the cost from state-taxpayer-funded support for the state universities as against how much represents an actual increase in costs due to overpaid-administrator-bloat, grandiose campus building booms, etc.
Perhaps state citizen-voters in one or another state might want to see what the entire Adminisphere costed at their flagship State Universities at the end of the Golden Age of State Support . . . and see what the entire Adminisphere costs nowadays at those same Universities. And if the Adminisphere costs a higher percent of all costs at those universities than the percent it costed at those same universities at the end of the Age of State Support, the taxpayer state-citizens could offer, through their legislatures, to restore State Support to those universities which reduced the cost and staffing of the Adminisphere back to what it was in the days of State Support.
Perhaps a simple proxy for measuring that percent would be amount of faculty versus non-faculty. ( Genuinely useful non-faculty people such as mechanics, janitors, electricians, craftsmen, etc. would not be counted among the Administrative and Assistant and Assistant’s Assistant to the Assistant’s Assistant’s Assistant type personnel who should be massively attrited and removed).
Bill H,
Not in Michigan or New Hampshire she wasn’t. And New York, California and some others remain to be heard from.
Optimax,
I wonder if MoveOn co-ordinates with Sanders or if MoveOn does its own free-lance organizing. You are correct that Sanders has not disavowed any supporters he had at that rally but Sanders has also claimed that he and/or his organization did not organize it.
I wonder if Trump scheduled his appearance right next to a big University full of left wing students hoping for a mediagenic counter-Trump rally so Trump could gain sympathy and support from the broader public. He is a master of optics as well as a master of various forms of persuasion.
Free college wouldn’t inflate the number of young punks at every college and university. It wouldn’t inflate the number of Alinskyans at the Colorado School of Mines or at our ag-research cutting edge Land Grant Universities, for example.
Question on CLinton emails – I believe I read on this board, not this post, that Hillary had instructed her staff to remove classified markings from official material and then email them to her. Does anyone have the source for that? Or, was it just conjecture?
off-topic — you mentioned Ag colleges & Land Grant universities.
Penn State has been a prime example of the success of both, and its Ag college is under pressure. The Pennsylvania legislature is poised to eliminate funding for Ag programs at Penn State
” Penn State College of Ag Sciences and Penn State Extension and Ag Research programs have received no funding for Fiscal Year 2015/16 and will begin the process of shutting down operations if funding is not restored by May 1.”
“HB1801 and SB912 that legislators will be voting on today — would put funding in place.”
Call your legislators — This link will take you to the Pa Legislature site where you can find and look up the phone numbers of your legislators: http://www.legis.state.pa.us/
Poison pill.
http://fortune.com/2016/03/17/donald-trump-sheldon-adelson/?xid=gn_editorspicks&google_editors_picks=true
Different clue
I don’t think Bernie had anything to do with organizing the Trump protests but he did say (to paraphrase) he was glad his people went to the Trump rallies. Bernie is following the Democratic rule of catering to identity political groups. I find this dangerous because it is a never ending source of dissatisfaction leading our society into a de-evolutionary primitive social and primitive culture. Check out Euclid Creeks link on a previous thread to a Harvard student calling for Whites to commit suicide. This dangerous thinking brings me to my thoughts on free college for all.
Students demanding increased control over their curriculum started in the sixties and has led to a meaningless grading system, feel good minority studies, demonization of Western studies and the replacement of democracy by mobacracy. There has been a recent increase in in student protests successfully ousting college administrators and teachers for not following a minority of students absurd and arbitrary guidelines of acceptable conduct. Increasing the number of students into useful and productive studies to students who otherwise couldn’t afford college is the positive side of Bernies plan. But also have to look at the negatives: many will take the easy route and shout their way to a diploma, taking courses from radical professors, and finding their opportunities only in government, NGOs or think tanks, where, as is happening today, they will create more instability on their road to utopia. The more students gain control of academics, the closer we become like the Latin American universities: graduating incompetent, radicalized and easily corruptable citizens.
US high-school students are channeled for vanished assembly line jobs. Without Algebra II, many many doors are closed to the students.
Instead of demanding mastery of Algebra II – or at least a “C” – they are wasted in useless classes in high-school and are left unprepared for their future endeavors.
Colonel,
What do you make of this one, where Trump is scheduled to speak before the AIPAC crowd?
CNN had the following article regarding it.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/politics/donald-trump-aipac-boycott-protest-rabbis-jewish-leaders/
What I wonder about are the words exchanged between Trump and Zionist Sheldon Adelson in their private December meeting that were not disclosed in the press.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-meets-with-billionaire-sheldon-adelson-2015-12
Also this article has surface in the past few hours:
http://spectator.org/blog/65821/sheldon-adelson-warming-donald-trump
J
IMO he pretends to love the Zionists and some of them pretend to believe him. pl
From the superior foreign policy expert an explanation of how what Irael really needs is a Civil war in Syria and how how a nuclear deal with Iran would never work. Horrifying reading.
https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/emailid/18328#efmADMAFf
Bob,
I am puzzled by this document. Certainly, it would not be particularly surprising to find some people in the State Department living in la-la-land.
However, the declassification does not include who the document was written by, and to whom. Moreover, there are two conflicting dates given – 31 December 2000, and 30 November 2015.
The document refers to an interview with Ehud Barak by Amanpour as having been shown ‘last week’. As the date of transmission of this interview was 19 April 2012, this would place it shortly after that date.
If you look carefully at the document, it appears to be presenting toppling Assad as a way of preventing the Israelis attacking Iran.
On 23 March 2012, Colonel Lang posted a piece of mine, discussing among other things an article by Jeffrey Goldberg, which made the apparently implausible suggestion that Netanyahu was confident that he could successfully attack Iran’s nuclear facilities on his own.
At that time, there already appeared to be reason to believe that leading figures in the U.S. military – in particular General Dempsey – were concerned that the Israelis might think that by striking Iran they could draw the overwhelming power of the United States in on their side, and determined to prevent this happening.
(See http://turcopolier.typepad.com/sic_semper_tyrannis/2012/03/goldberg-variations.html .)
From not long after this, we have evidence that influential elements in the U.S. were concerned that toppling the Assad regime might also be liable to unleash catastrophic consequences.
The date on the document circulated by the DIA – apparently originating with another intelligence agency – warning about the possibility of a ‘Salafist principality’ in Eastern Syria and the dangers that this would create is 12 August 2012.
As we know from Seymour Hersh’s work, a bit over a year later General Dempsey and the DIA – apparently with crucial evidence provided by the British defence science laboratory at Porton Down – frustrated the attempt to draw the United States into destroying the Assad regime by means of the ‘false flag’ at Ghouta.
Against this background, the insouciant view of the implications of toppling Assad in the newly declassified observations is of particular interest. It seems to me an interesting question whether their author was as naïve as he sounds, or simply pretending to be in order to make a the case for toppling Assad.
It also seems to me an interesting question whether he was simply expressing a personal view, or the ‘house view’ of the State Department.
it would be good to know if he has any critical financial vulnerabilities.