Posts Made By: James Brown

Darian Rachal said:

...to all the Political Forum contributors on Astromart.

Thanks Darian:

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you too!

Jim

Rod Kaufman said:

Oh, and he keeps missing the intelligence meetings and briefings he's supposed to be attending...

Is that a feature or a bug? What do you think of the cabinet so far?

Jim

Russ Carroll said:

One of the greatest and most maligned assets we have in this country is found in the boardrooms of corporate American, particularly in their CEO's. These truly are some of the brightest and best that we have that many no nothing about, other than the sliming they receive routinely from the far left for political purposes.

I have served on a non-profit board with the former COO of IBM, and I was constantly in awe of this person. Not because of his former title and success, but because of his brilliant mind, unassuming personality, willingness to work with others, and truly caring about helping people from all walks of life, becoming a champion of science literacy and education.

A good deal of the quality of life and prosperity that we enjoy has been fueled by a myriad of companies led by these CEO's, from Apple to Zenith. I'm glad to see some make the enormous personal and financial sacrifice of stepping down to try and serve our country. I wish them well.

All have the common problem we all have - a human nature that can fail us all. Each of us are vulnerable to that. Many, if not most, are caring people willing to get their hands dirty to improve the lives of others while doing a difficult job. Few that I have met or know of are bad apples - it is just the opposite.

Hi Russ:

I agree - but one thing I read about Rex Tillerson gave me pause. It is not that he has a good relationship with Russia, that relationship is a feature, not a bug. It cracks me up to see the same folks who think that Fidel Castro was a swell guy bitching and moaning that the nominee for Secretary of State is friends with Russia.

The concern (that I have not fully processed yet) is that Rex Tillerson and Trump are both unfamiliar with diplomatic protocols. I doubt that Tillerson is one to run roughshod over the protocols, like his boss, but still, is it a good or bad idea to have two diplomatic "newbies" in charge of the Dept. of State?

Consider the Taiwan call. I'm not all that bent that Trump had the call, but the next time something like this comes up, it might be nice if his Secretary of State can advise the President how that sort of thing will be perceived by China, and then smooth ruffled Chinese feathers after Trump takes the call anyway. Just one example where diplomatic experience would be helpful to the administration.

On the other hand, Trump will have several experienced career diplomats on hand for this sort of advice/damage control when the need arises.

Circling back to your original point, I am very glad that Trump is selecting a cabinet having such diverse experience in government, industry and the military.

Jim

David Cotterell said:

https://imgur.com/7xHaUXf

"Don't read this!" vs "Just No!!"

Dave

Interesting graphic, I might do it a bit differently, but it is defensible, I suppose. VOX is way way too high on the Y axis and way to right on the X axis. Those guys are fools.

Did you notice this brilliant Vox headline: "Rogue One review: this is the first Star Wars movie to acknowledge the whole franchise is about war"

Who would have guessed that Star Wars was about war? Maybe any sentient being who saw the first seven installments, but not those deep Vox thinkers...

http://www.vox.com/culture/2016/12/13/13928900/rogue-one-review-star-wars

Jim

David Cotterell said:

https://imgur.com/7xHaUXf

"Don't read this!" vs "Just No!!"

Dave

By the way, this is clearly the work of a left of center author. There is simply no way a conservative or moderate would have the NTY and Washington Post right on the center line ideologically. I know that this is where the lefties at the Times and Post think they belong, but they lack any semblance of objectivity, from a center conservative perspective anyway.

Jim

Darian Rachal said:

I'm not sure whether to feel sorry for them or laugh at them. :S

http://nypost.com/2016/12/15/celebrities-beg-electors-to-be-heroes-and-vote-against-trump/

Hi Darian:

Wow, Loretta Swit looks bad. Time waits for no one I guess. The crescendo of liberal voices begging the Electoral College to negate the election has become comical. It is all the Washington Post has talked about for the last day or two. Apparently Martin Sheen and his pals don't realize that they (smug/preachy coastal celebrities) are part of the reason Trump won. They also don't realize that immature stunts like this push luke-warm Trump supporters like me further and further to the right.

Jim

Rod Kaufman said:

On tape, calling his son a "retard" while using the n-word and the c-word:
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/12/20/tom-arnold-claims-has-tapes-donald-trumps-racist-outtakes-from-apprentice.html
He should have released it...

Hi Rod:

Sadly, I am pretty sure that Trump is not an admirable person. He is crass, rude, egotistical and mysoginistic. He is petty and thin skinned. I don't have lot of confidence that he'll be a good president. But, when it came time to fill out my ballot I picked him over HRC. I am hoping that his judicial picks, his cabinet, his policies and so forth will suit me better than his opponent's would have, by a large margin. Also when it comes to moral failings, I see plenty for Mrs. Clinton too - it is a wash. So, to address your post, I wouldn't be surprised if Tom Arnold had some dirt. It would not have made any difference to me if it had been released. When faced with the choice between compromised narcissistic choice A and compromised narcissistic choice B one has to vote party and hope for the best.

Surprisingly perhaps, this is something Richard and I agree on.

J

Freaking 2004! I've wasted a lot of time on this forum. I do like the search function though...

Jim

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=249294&poll_id=&news_id=&page=

David Cotterell said:

So, according to some CNN is waaaaaay over there in its bias and, according to others, FoxNews is waaaaay over in the other direction in its bias.

Most people here, left and right, will assume a story is false simply because of the source.

So, let me ask, in all innocence, where do you get your news? What do you feel is an unbiased, give-both-sides news source?

Dave

I get my political news from the "Real Clear Politics" article aggregation web site. I like it because they tend to pair left and right perspective articles together, and they also link to both in depth sources with "pop" social media sources. For example, this morning's front page had left-biased articles from Politico, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Hill etc. and right biased articles from the National Review, The Federalist, Real Clear Politics itself, Commentary and the New York Post.

Today there are some center-ish articles from Bloomberg and USA today.

There are often in-depth articles from the Atlantic, WSJ, New Yorker and others, but none today. There is often predictable millennial-biased crap (Vox) but none today.

I also like the way perspectives are paired on RCP. For example, today a predictably irrational screaming-lefty article by Charles Blow of the NYT entitled "How Come America Isn't More Scared" is paired with a right wing slap-back from the New York Daily News tabloid entitled "Democrats, Please Control Your TDS" {Trump Derangement Syndrome}.

It's a fun source. Left/Right and High content/Low content all aggregated in one place for easy consumption.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/

Jim

David Cotterell said:

https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2017/01/30/the-white-house-just-cited-the-quebec-mosque-attack-to-justify-trumps-policies.html

The attacker in Quebec City was a white, christian, Quebec-born-and-raised, ethnically French young man. No amount of immigrant bans will stop these attacks...

From the Canadian Press: "

A vigil in Montreal on Monday for the victims of the Quebec City mosque attack. Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press via AP
Late Monday, Canadian authorities charged Alexandre Bissonnette, a white 27-year-old university student, with multiple counts of murder for an attack on a mosque in Quebec City that left six dead and many others injured. According to a report in the Globe and Mail, the 27-year-old Bissonnette "was known in the city's activist circles as a right-wing troll who frequently took anti-foreigner and anti-feminist positions and stood up for U.S. President Donald Trump." He also reportedly became a fan of far-right French leader Marine Le Pen after she visited Quebec City last March; a childhood friend and fellow student told the Globe and Mail that Bissonnette had become a xenophobe and was "enthralled" by racist nationalism."

Does the Trump admin. even think for 5 seconds before opening their pie-holes?

Dave

Hi Dave:

We are all too old and un-hip to use the "word" derp don't you think? Anyway, Spicer certainly looks pretty silly today, but I recall published stories yesterday describing two gunmen, one with a middle-eastern sounding name and reports that they were shouting Allahu Akbar as the shooting proceeded.

Obviously those initial stories were wrong, as is so often the case. Can you verify whether Spicer's comments were/were not made while we were all reading incorrect initial reports?

Not a good idea for Spicer to comment based upon initial reports of course, but hardly "derp"


Jim