People still paid $6,600 to go to the Mooch’s Vegas Money Ball, in case anybody asks about Trump ruining careers today.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 11, 2019
“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it.” — George Carlin
In the Washington Post (which should know better by now), “Anthony Scaramucci was fired from the Trump White House after 11 days. Now, he’s convening A-listers for bipartisan healing”:
… Scaramucci, fired from the White House in 2017 after a disastrous 11-day tenure, convened a parade of other jettisoned Trump administration figures, including Chris Christie, Jeff Sessions, Corey Lewandowski and, most remarkably, Gen. John F. Kelly, the former White House chief of staff who axed him.
They mingled in the Bellagio meeting rooms with Obama-era figures such as Jarrett, former national security adviser Susan E. Rice, former CIA director David Petraeus and Adm. William McRaven, the former Special Operations chief who orchestrated the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
Scaramucci appeared onstage with Kelly, in their first public appearance together since the firing, to talk about their newfound friendship. Then he sat beside Jarrett for another panel, in which they discussed topics including climate change and gun control and agreed as much as they disagreed.
“I think what they are trying to tell us is that it’s okay to be together,” said Robert Wolf, the Fox News commentator who moderated the discussion. “It’s okay to respectfully disagree. And it’s okay to agree on things we should agree on.”
Many in the crowd of nearly 2,000 investors, hedge fund managers and entrepreneurs applauded that kind of political diversity…
Discussions ranged from the future of private equity to business opportunities in the cannabis industry to how artificial intelligence is changing investing.
But permeating much of the conference was the lament that political dysfunction in Washington was bogging down economic opportunities in the real world…
The Daily Beast, which has a better nose for the difference between business and bullshit — “The Mooch’s Hedge-Fund Festival Where MAGA Has-Beens Are Great Again”:
… In the past, SALT has drawn big names on both political and cultural planes, counting Joe Biden, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, as well as Al Pacino, Kobe Bryant and will.i.am among its guests. One night over drinks, a 10-year SALT veteran whose chest hair burst from his Hawaiian shirt, boasted it had been “the greatest hedge fund conference in the country.”
But the line-up this year reflected the degree to which Donald Trump has become the center of the cultural solar system, around which everything and everyone else orbits. Instead of titans of finance and bigwigs of industry, the conference was dominated by former Trump officials—fired and resigned: #MAGA hangers-on like TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk and almost-Federal Reserve Board appointee Stephen Moore; and an assortment of other miscellaneous politicos, like former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele and Democratic presidential contender Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI). The whole thing was MC’d, of course, by the archetypal ex-Trump official: The Mooch…
The three day MoochFest took place at the Bellagio Hotel, a sprawling, gilded complex on the strip, whose famous fountain bounces in sync with music ranging from show tunes to Tiësto. It’s a fitting venue for an event—part networking platform, part press gaggle—that embraced cartoonish signifiers of wealth and stale pop culture references, even down to the musical guest: John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival. In the mornings, attendees in head-to-toe Brooks Brothers shuffled between half-attended panels with names like “REVISITING THE 60/40 MINDSET IN A MULTI-ASSET WORLD.” Others picked at the spread of pastries or checked email by the pool, declining to trade their Brooks Brothers suits for the bathing variety. In the evening, guests munched on hamburgers at a BBQ called “An All American Affair.” …At SALT, Mooch was the maître d’, not the poster child of public disembowelment (his wife filed for divorce during his White House ordeal while nine months pregnant with their child; they later reconciled). Moore was a respected economist, not a failed Fed nominee fresh from a tirade calling his critics “stupid and evil.” Christie was a tough-talking former governor, not a neutered Trump cast-off, and Sessions was an elder statesman pondering his next move. “I haven’t decided about the Senate race,” Sessions told the Wednesday crowd, grinning.
Moore—a man who had recently called for a “statute of limitations on saying stupid things,” after losing his nomination to the Federal Reserve Board over his past writings about women, among other things—even found time in his 15-minute panel to make a racist joke. America, he quipped, would economically crush China because, “our Chinese are smarter than their Chinese.” No one laughed…
… but Jesus wept.
Baud
Huh.
Wag
OT. Florida woMan strikes again, this time shooting her husband in the leg while grocery shopping. https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/watch-he-was-shot-while-standing-in-line-at-publix-but-how-heres-how-pasco-deputies-figured-it-out-20190510/
zhena gogolia
RIP Peggy Lipton.
Keith P.
@zhena gogolia: She’ll always be Norma Jennings to me. This was the last scene of hers that I know of, and it’s perfect.
SiubhanDuinne
Tarpley Hitt is a wonderful name.
Doug R
@Baud: #NOTYOUTULSI
Lapassionara
We need Jonathan Swift, and we need him now!
jl
Kobe Bryant?
I want Russell, Magic, Bird, Shaq and West, or I ain’t interested.
Edit: forgot Kareem. He’d have something interesting to say too.
Edit2: And goofus, what’s his name. He still dissing the Warriors? I like to hear him do that. Sir Charles Barkley.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Uttey disqualifying by itself. And morons on RationalWiki think calling Tulsi Gabbard a DINO is a smear
Cacti
Lol. Good one.
Baud
@??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??:
We’ll, it is smear. It’s just an appropriate one.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Ah, but she’s super supportive of LGBT! /s
Credit where credit is due, though, they do think her denial of Syria using chemical weapons is bizarre
Cacti
Pete Buddha-Jig (Empty suit – South Bend) gives speech to the Human Rights Campaign, and identifies the real crisis facing the country…
“Identity politics”.
Baud
@Cacti:
Yeah. Even if you want to complain about identity politics, don’t call it identity politics. That’s a term fraught with right-wing garbage.
Baud
@Cacti:
@Baud:
Here’s another perspective that emphasizes that Buttigieg focused on white identity politics on the right.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/05/12/pete-buttigieg-says-donald-trump-divides-white-identity-politics/1151265001/
I suppose people should try to see the speech for themselves.
Duane
CPAC with better snacks. Sounds to me like they’re choosing sides. There’s some identity politics for you. Good to know.
jk
@Cacti:
Buddha! Buddha! Buddha! Buddha!
I’d vote for Pete Buttigieg in a heartbeat over that useless fucking moron Joe Biden.
Baud
@jk:
Hmm. That would be an interesting matchup for me. I’d prefer Buttigieg in every way except ability to beat Trump and ability to handle the demands of the job. Both those are important things.
NotMax
Translation: Why are there still ANY regulations on ANY business? //
NotMax
@Cacti
Buddha-Judge. If one must resort to such a ‘close enough for government work’ pronunciation guide.
/pedant
karen marie
My respect for all the Democratic party members who appeared with Scaramucci just took a nosedive. 11 days working for the shitwhistle does not confer authority of any kind – in fact, working for him for 11 minutes should disqualify a person from ever showing their face in public, not engaging in public debate with people one would think would have more integrity.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud:
Those are kind of a BFD.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: Given Cacti’s last attempts at Mayor Pete’s name…baby steps, NotMax.
John Revolta
@Cacti: @Baud: This fuckin’ guy…….
who is the intended audience for this? He seems to be going for the “Bernie Lite” crowd. Is there any evidence that they exist?
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yeah, despite his polling boomlet among Democratic primary voters, I currently have a tough time thinking Buttigieg will catch on nationally.
Jay
@Cacti:
@Baud:
It’s being “played” a bunch of different ways based on the slant of which ever news report “hot takes” are the source,
The Speech can be seen here in full, if you do the book of Faces thing,
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=303814313881191&id=18813753280&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.ca%2F&_rdr
NotMax
@BillinGlendaleCA
Yeah, I guess going from 7th grader to sophomoric represents some sort of advancement.
:)
Baud
@John Revolta:
He was speaking to the Human Rights Campaign. He’s basically trying to address questions about why he’s polling so well despite not having the resume of other candidates in the race who aren’t white males. I’m just not sure that this is the right approach.
Jay
@NotMax:
Between the death watch on NAFTAII due to trade sanctions, and losing trade wars with Allies and China,
It’s getting harder to honestly steal a dollar,……
jk
@Baud:
Pete Buttigieg comes across as a quick study, someone who can think fast on his feet, and has an air of authenticity.
Biden is buffoonish, not quick on his feet, and seems deeply out of touch. I have no faith in Biden’s ability to beat Trump. Between Buttigieg, Warren, Booker, Inslee, Castro, et al, we have a very impressive field. It’s a shame that these fuckers Biden and Sanders are sucking up so much oxygen and refuse to go gently into that good night.
SiubhanDuinne
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
ZACKLY. Credit where credit is due.
HinTN
@karen marie:
The best yet, but maybe I’m out of touch.
Baud
@jk:
I generally agree with you. Like others here, I’m more partial to Harris or Warren right now, or even one of the less discussed candidates like Booker. But I think right now I would have to give Biden a better chance at winning than Buttigieg. I think the debates will help clarify things.
HinTN
@jk:
You will regret leaving Harris out of that list.
Edited twice to fix shit.
Juju
I quibble with considering Stephen Moore an economist, let alone respected economist. All things considered, I’d rather chew broken glass chips with maggots than attend that meeting.
Baud
Balloon Juice should hold a conference.
HinTN
@Baud: In Tahiti, all expenses paid.
different-church-lady
Money. Fools. Proximity. All that all that.
Jay
@Juju:
He plays one on TV and in books and papers.
Cacti
@jk:
And remember, identity politics means the 68% of US population that isn’t white male.
;-)
Mike in NC
SALT sounds like CPAC for D-listers.
Cacti
@jk:
It did take him less than 24 hours to reverse himself on his pander to anti-vaxers.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
You must be out of your fu…
Wait, that’s actually a great idea.
Jay
@Mike in NC:
SALT is where Big Money, Big Media and Big Money Politics ( sadly, both sides), give each other rub and tugs.
There’s a club and you arn’t in it.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@Baud: She coulda been a contender. She coulda had class. She coulda been somebody, instead of a bum with a one way ticket to palookaville.
Ladyraxterinok
@karen marie: Valerie Jarrett?!? Susan Rice?!? Necessary women of color attendees?!?
jk
@HinTN:
I like Harris. I was just too lazy to list all the Dem candidates besides Biden, Sanders, Gabbard, and Delaney whom I’d support with enthusiasm.
@Cacti:
Biden is more full of shit than Buttigieg will ever be. I’m fed up with his bullshit claims of being an advocate for working class voters when in reality he’s just a corporate shill.
@Baud:
I’ve heard all I need to hear from Biden and I hope he falls flat on his face in these debates. To me, he’s a selfish prick who thinks he should be handed the nomination because he was Obama’s veep. I don’t want a tired old white man as our nominee. I’m supporting Warren, although I’m impressed by her 3 female Senate colleagues as well.
Baud
@Ladyraxterinok:
I don’t know much about either of them to, but successful professionals have to network, and events such as this provide an opportunity to do that.
SiubhanDuinne
@jk:
Someone on NPR this morning pointed out the fact that everyone knows and is excited that Mayor Pete is fluent in Norwegian, while relatively few are aware that Kirsten Gillibrand is fluent in Mandarin.
The MSM absolutely prefers the male to the female. They simply don’t mention it.
And I say this as someone who, at the moment, would vote for Buttigieg over Gillibrand in the primary.*
* To be clear, I actually expect/hope to be voting for Harris or Warren — not Gillibrand or Klobuchar or Biden or Buttigieg or any of the others. But, y’know.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I didn’t know that about KG.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I know. That’s the point. The bloody MSM never mention it, whereas they cream themselves daily over Buttigieg’s “mastery” of Norwegian.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Oh, I get it. Frankly, though, they will only cover the women to tear them down, so maybe media indifference is better.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Mmmm, think I would argue with you there. It’s hard, if not impossible, for the female candidates to fight back against … NOTHING … whereas even if the stories are a pack of lies, at least there is something to grab hold of and counter with facts.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Maybe, although after 2016, I question whether our marginal voters can resist propaganda.
FWIW, Warren seems to be enjoying a bit of media attention right now.
BruceFromOhio
Meteors. Many meteors. All of the meteors.
jk
@SiubhanDuinne:
You make a great point about Gillibrand.
The level of disrespect that the MSM has shown towards Warrren. Harris, Gillibrand, and Klobuchar is an obscenity and a travesty. They can’t catch a break. It turns my stomach to see the contempt and mockery leveled against Warren and Harris on the one hand and how the media go out of their way to try and ignore Gillibrand and Klobuchar on the other hand.
To me, Buttigieg and Beto are clearly less qualified than Warrren. Harris, Gillibrand, and Klobuchar but sexism dies hard.
It feels like a real long shot that one of these women could actually become the Democratic nominee, but I’d love to see it happen. It looks like too many goddamn pundits are simply determined to drag clueless Uncle Joe across the finish line.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Juju: While it’s from George Mason, Moore does have an advanced degree in Econ.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
I love Warren, and I’m thrilled to see that she’s being covered. Not sure anyone is paying attention, though, apart from political junkies like us.
I stil have a very slight preference for Harris, mostly on the age thing. Bust between the two of them, I’m not st all fussy.
And the debates may bring previously unrecognised traits to light. Trying to keep a reasonably open mind at least for the next few months!
HalfAssedHomesteader
@Cacti: Well, she coulda been a contender… if she wasn’t Tulsi Gabbard.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
Right. Frankly, no one is really being pressured right now, and that part of the process should be revealing.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
It will be very interesting — not only about the candidates, but about those who cover them.
Immanentize
Before it’s over, here is a Mother’s Day song for all so positioned:
Clapton
tobie
I called my 90 year-old mother for mother’s day. She’s a reliable Dem. When I was in diapers she would bring me to Viet Nam war protests, and she attended the trials of the Weathermen when she was unemployed (and bored at home) to give them moral support. She volunteered that she would vote for anyone but Buttigieg and Sanders. Her antipathy toward Sanders didn’t surprise me but toward Buttigieg it did. I think she felt like he didn’t try to understand what it felt like to be a woman or black. All the others are fine, though she did volunteer that none in her view are as capable as Hillary and it’s a damn shame what the media did to her. I agreed with her. It was a nice chat. Next time I speak to her I’m going to ask her to poll her friends.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T, but did you ever just want to smack the snot out of every millennial on the planet? Especially when they whine incessantly about how fucking old they are?
Kay
I love how shameless they all are that everything is about them. You really almost have to admire it. The country exists to serve them. We’re just residents. Barely tolerated, and only on the condition that we remain productive and upbeat “problem solvers”.
Gross. I hope they actually all paid 6000 dollars to tell one another how wonderful they are, but I’m afraid that’s bullshit too and no one actually pays their own way.
Kay
Gun control is a safe subject for the well-heeled. I bet they all agreed on that.
What about taxes? Anyone discuss raising them? No, I thought not.
I’d like to see them discuss something that is actually contentious among wealthy people. Wages. Taxes. Labor unions. Regulation. White collar crime crackdowns, or the lack thereof. Pay to play in government. Anyone venture into that subject? Anything on the giant and insanely expensive military industrial complex? Now there’s an “entitlement” I’d like to tackle.
We’ll see the “bipartisan consensus” end quickly on those subjects.
Raven
I wrote a paper on the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) once.
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: I agree with your mother. FWIW PB’s main constituency is the journalist bros, who lurve him.
Jay
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
And Paul Krugman has written extensively about he’s been 100% wrong all the time.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nope.
Villago Delenda Est
This SALT thing sounds like a prime place for a meteor to crash to Earth.
sukabi
@BruceFromOhio: guillotines would be more precise.
CatFacts
@SiubhanDuinne: For my own part, not really. Different generations have different cultural experiences, and personally I think a lot of the generational conflict that the press likes to play up is set up as a distraction from the ways the super-rich have taken so many resources for themselves. (And, well, I’m not a millennial but I didn’t get Trump’s reference to Neuwman (sp?) either. Popular culture changes fast.)
sukabi
@jk: gotta maintain the WMP and Biden’s their man.
Jay
@Kay:
There’s a couple of the Billionaires Class who have clued in on the impacts of our Current Capitalism and it’s enivitable consequences.
They arn’t welcome at such gatherings.
Jay
@CatFacts:
https://www.amazon.ca/Generation-Sociopaths-Boomers-Betrayed-America/dp/0316395781
Raven
Shooters rim.
tokyokie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I studied Norwegian for a couple of semesters back in the day, and outside the pronunciation, it’s the easiest language I’ve tried to learn. (Not that I remember much of it.) Verb conjugations are the same regardless of person and number, I believe it only has three verb tenses, and as a relatively young language (it was considered a dialect of Danish until nationalistic writers like Henrik Ibsen began using it in the late 19th century), it does not have nearly as many words as other European languages. And like most European languages, it is not particularly contextual.
Gabbard’s being fluent in Mandarin is far more impressive. Not much in Chinese grammar (regardless of dialect) resembles that of European languages, and meaning is always dependent upon context. And the pronunciation is a lot more difficult. And Mandarin is a lot more useful, as Norway only has about 5.25 million people, compared with China’s 1.4 billion.
And I don’t like Gabbard at all.
glory b
@SiubhanDuinne: I remember reading that Harris speaks Hindi also.
SiubhanDuinne
@Raven:
Totally different SALT. I checked the linked article. Took 17 paragraphs, but there it is.
Jay
“Previously in Part III we learned that the higher and wider the gap of inequality in the United States, the more extreme, converse abuses and crimes its population will engage and endure. America’s corporate world dabbles in, even thrives off of this inequality and distress and often yields to the temptations of the more profitable grey market which is never far removed from the black market—in several cases the two are indistinguishable. In this Part IV I want to burrow into five of at least fourteen specific markets or tentacles that comprise the insatiable beast called BU Inc.”
https://professortaboo.com/2019/05/11/black-underworld-inc-part-iv/
jk
@tokyokie:
I think you meant Gillibrand. What don’t you like about her?
schrodingers_cat
@glory b: Probably speaks Tamil and French too, since her mother is from Tamil Nadu and she went to school in Montreal, until high school.
Amir Khalid
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m a tail-end baby boomer. Do I get to whine about my age without getting smacked? (he asked timidly.)
SRW1
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
You stole that from somewhere! Or at least borrowed.
JWR
@Raven:
Yeah, it took me a minute to find out what SALT meant here. Google tells me it stands for “SkyBridge Alternatives (SALT)”.
NotMax
While speaking with step-sister when she gave me the annual birthday call, asked about her son and his girlfriend. One of the things she disclosed was that she and her husband had met the young woman’s parents (who live in Virginia) and that they were “avid Trump supporters, but otherwise nice people.”
Admit to being at an immediate loss as to how to best diplomatically respond to that.
SiubhanDuinne
@glory b:
Not surprised. But, again, try to find an over- the-top, fawning feature article about Kamala’s linguistic skills.
I mean, it shouldn’t even matter. (And FTR, I actually like Pete Buttigieg a lot.) But I’m offended that the media are constantly building him up while simultaneously ignoring the accomplishments and ideas of Warren, Harris, Klobuchar, Gillibrand, and even the unspeakable Gabbard. Our media have some major baked-in misogyny at play, and it’s an ugly thing to behold.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
And racism.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Well, you get to grouse.
;)
Kay
@Jay:
They’re modeling desirable behavior – you know, like parents do with kids. We’re the kids.
“Things we should agree on” = “things they agree on”. They agree on these things because none of the issues they discuss actually threaten or even inconvenience anyone who is powerful or wealthy. I can agree with people too. I just assemble a room full of people I choose and carefully pick out topics that don’t challenge or threaten them in any way.
Jay
@NotMax:
Polite people, not nice.
SiubhanDuinne
@tokyokie:
Whatever the NPR program was, someone there pointed out that when Buttigieg famously answered the Norwegian-speaking reporter in Norwegian a couple of months ago, the first thing he said was, essentially and apologetically, “I don’t really speak Norwegian all that well!”
Again, I in no way blame Pete himself. But the media have latched on to a non-story and have made it worse by ignoring the equally-impressive accomplishments of some of the women candidates.
NotMax
@Kay
“Raise your hand if you’re in favor of breathing. (pause) Seems to be unanimous.” //
tobie
@schrodingers_cat: Harris doesn’t speak either language. She doesn’t claim to. She grew up in the Anglophone section of Montreal, where you really can get by with English alone. She had instruction in French in school, so I’m sure she knows some. I’ve never heard her say she speaks Tamil and that’s something I would be on the look-out for.
ETA: I gather Booker has been studying Spanish and is now comfortable in it. Beto’s Spanish is what’s called near native fluency. Castro apparently is also working on his Spanish. He studied Latin and Japanese in high school and college. Gillibrand studied Mandarin.
Jay
@Kay:
Yup. Meteor needed urgently.
It’s no different than the WHCD after parties where the Trumpers partied with the Beltway.
SiubhanDuinne
@Jay:
Yup. It’s so systemic, I don’t even mention it any more. I should.
NotMax
@Jay
After the fact, best i could come with without going into full-on jackal mode was “You can’t be a little bit pregnant.”
Interesting that step-sis’ husband is rabidly anti-religion and gives no ground nor leeway on that, yet seemed unfazed by this.
Jay
@NotMax:
Picking fights with potential inlaws ain’t a strategic tactic.
Kid’s are not responsible for their parents failings.
jk
@sukabi:
Fuck White Male Privilege and to Hell with Biden and Sanders.
SiubhanDuinne
@Amir Khalid:
Not at all! It’s only when people under 40* or so start carrying on about their advanced age that I begin getting annoyed.
* In fairness, people under 40 may not precisely be millennials. They might belong to a different cohort with another designation. I can’t keep up, because I am legitimately old. Unlike these whippersnappers meeping on about how they’re so old they actually remember floppy discs.
Kay
@NotMax:
Kelly would probably be less agreeable if someone raised his role in jailing refugee children, but I don’t think that means no one should ever bring it up again. That’s not “agreement”. It’s avoiding everything that’s contentious and hard. I’m glad they decided to put it behind them, though. Sadly, we have not yet located many of those children though so someone should probably be looking for them.
West of the Rockies
@Jay:
Look at the author’s face (he’s a venture capitalist). Tell me he isn’t demanding to be punched in his smug mug.
Villago Delenda Est
You know, I followed the link, and I still have no clue what SALT stands for, as in what the written out acronym means. I gather it does stand for people who need tumbrel rides, however.
Jay
@SiubhanDuinne:
40 is a bit of a dividing line for many people.
At age 45 I still rock climbed regularly with a millenial. He had youth, energy and endurance. I had age, experience, treachery and a bad back. It evened out.
SiubhanDuinne
@CatFacts:
I’m just talking about people on FB crying “OMG I AM SO OLD!!!” when they see a picture of a floppy disc and remember what it is. Or a, I dunno, toaster or something. Why not just say “Yes, I remember that” or “Yes, I do know what that appliance was used for” without doing a whole fucking song and dance about their advanced age? They just piss me the fuck off.
Barbara
@Jay: I am not sure I would go rock climbing with someone who lists treachery as one of their advantages!
SiubhanDuinne
Everybody is missing my point, so I am gathering my doll rags now and stomping off in a little brown huff. See y’all tomorrow when I am hopefully in a less pissy mood.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
It is. And if we charge enough, and get enough attendees, we could pay for the site rebuild AND the hosting fees!!!
Duane
@JWR: Pretty sure it stands for Sorry Ass Libertarian Turds.
Another Scott
@SiubhanDuinne: You wouldn’t have liked me when I turned 25. I felt so very old and mortal on that birthday…
;-)
Little did I know!
Hang in there.
Cheers,
Scott.
Jay
@West of the Rockies:
He’s one of those guys who made a fortune young from the rigged system, realized it was all rigged, and now spends his time and money trying to point out that the system is rigged, in many ways.
Some of his first political writing, was how libertarianism was destroying innovation in technology.
Some of his first economic writing was on how “entrepreneurs” started start ups with inherited money, brought in Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists through personal networking, then IPO’d the Company after the margins of growth or profitability were minimal, recouping fortunes from the gullible, pension funds and algorythms.
He has a new book out on how the Rule of Law has been corrupted in the US.
The Nonsense Factory: The Making and Breaking of the American Legal System, Library Edition Bruce Gibney
He’s one of the few billionaires aware how End State Capitalism will end.
Gin & Tonic
Way OT, but if anybody’s at all into sports, or just human performance, you need to watch this vid of this kid from Houston, Matt Boling, run the anchor leg of a 4×400 at the TX state HS track championships. Astonishing doesn’t do it justice.
Earlier in the games, he ran a 10.13 100, breaking a three-decade-old national HS record.
ETA: Skip ahead to 2:21 in the vid if you don’t want to watch the whole race. “Copy URL at current location” doesn’t seem to work right.
NotMax
@SiubhanDuinne
Fully get your point, which is the people who whinge about what incredibly, unbelievably antique specimens they are because they can remember back to when years began with 19.
MazeDancer
In one gory, bloody, boring episode Game of Thrones made sure we are not going to miss it when its gone.
Sab
@Gin & Tonic: That was amazing.
Jay
@Barbara:
As almost every male/male sporting event inevitably becomes a competition,…….
It’s not rope cutting or bad safety placement,…….
It’s saying “yeah, that line might work,…..” when you know it won’t,
Or keeping a dyno, ( dynamic move, a leap of faith really) in your back pocket, to solve a problem.
Or a little bit of scare tactics,……..
Old Dan and Little Ann
@Gin & Tonic: I watched video of his 100 m win earlier. Your video is extra amazing. Wow.
Another Scott
@Gin & Tonic: Neat.
It would be good to see him race against the guy with the taped-up leg in the 3rd leg (who built up the huge lead that the last guy couldn’t hold). When the guy with the taped-up leg was healthy. :-)
Cheers,
Scott.
SiubhanDuinne
@J R in WV:
I am on this like a duck on a Junebug!
SiubhanDuinne
@NotMax:
Ah, you get me. I am unspeakably grateful.
Brachiator
@MazeDancer:
To the contrary, it’s become a tragedy. I enjoyed the moment when Dany had won, but sadly, stupidly decided that this was not enough. And she fixated so much on who might betray her that she became someone unworthy of loyalty.
And this shit resonates with US and British politics. The people supporting Trump don’t see what they are turning the country into. Maybe they don’t care. But loving Trump by definition means that you must hate and belittle anyone he decides is unworthy. And although people may think that they can be on the inside with Donald, the only people he really cares about are himself and his children, and he doesn’t care whether he leaves the country in a pile of rubble when everything is done.
SiubhanDuinne
@Another Scott:
I would have liked you at any point in your journey. You have long been, and remain, one of my favourite commenters here.
Everyone, no matter how many or few years they have accrued, is entitled to feel old — to look back and reminisce and take whatever wisdom may be available.
I just don’t like upstart little snips less than 1/3rd of my years preaching to me about their vast age and experience.
Kay
This is the way to do it, IMO. We already have bankruptcy courts and people will think this is more fair than Warren’s original plan.
Durbin has been good on student loans for a long time. I don’t know why he doesn’t get more attention as a senator. Liberal Democrats ignore him and he’s really quite liberal and spends a lot of time on “consumer issues”- very practical things.
JWR
@Villago Delenda Est:
SkyBridge Alternatives. (or so says the Google.) It’s one of those weird acronyms that isn’t really an acronym?
frosty
@SiubhanDuinne:
We’re not getting a “Like” button in the redesign, are we?
Cacti
@jk:
Just for you. A rough transcript of every interview with Pete Buttigieg:
Sab
@SiubhanDuinne: I was born in the 1950s. I remember when I first realized as a kid that I would be alive for the millenium change, but that, alas, I would be too old to enjoy it since I would be in my forties.
Jay
@JWR:
S(Skybridge) ALT(Alternatives).
NotMax
@Cacti
Not the first time you’ve run that up the flagpole.
Your concerned concerning concern is once more noted.
Cacti
@NotMax:
Is this where you start calling me a homophobe?
JWR
@Jay: Yeah, that’s a better way to spell it out.
Jay
@Cacti:
And this does what, Comrade ??????????
NotMax
@Cacti
Never have in the past. But I do honor requests.
tobie
@Kay: That’s an interesting way of approaching the issue. I didn’t realize till a thread at BJ a few weeks ago that it was only in 1998 that legislation passed making it impossible to discharge student loans in bankruptcy. Before then, you could. I hope that that after this 21 year experiment we can go back to the old way. Nadler is apparently sponsoring the bill in the House; Durbin and Warren in the Senate. The next time I hear someone say that Democrats are only interested in impeaching Trump, I’ll remind them of this.
Cacti
@NotMax:
It seems to be the default response of Mayor McCheese’s pom pom squad.
chopper
@SiubhanDuinne:
unless she speaks mandarin every day all the time i wouldn’t call gillibrand fluent. /s
Lyrebird
I needed something nice.
Here is something nice: Police officer playing dolls w/children on his beat, after asking parents’ permission, after he heard that they were afraid of cops.
chopper
@Cacti:
it is when you say homophobic shit.
Kattails
@SiubhanDuinne: I have to ID people at my job, if they appear to be under 30. If I’m being cautious & check someone 35 and they hand over their license saying Oh I’m old, and seem to mean it in a negative way, I look straight at them and say NO you’re not. They look at my gray hair & the fact that I’m still on my feet, and realize they’ve just been politely dope-slapped.
SiubhanDuinne
@Kattails:
Exactly. I like your style.
Cacti
@chopper:
And here’s one now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Kattails: I was IDed well into my 30s. At this point, while I may not look my age, it has been years since I looked as though I was under 21.
OTOH, seeing jk and Cacti hitting their one not arias of this season is aging me rapidly.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Baud: Baud, the man is willfully white and male. There is no polite way to say it.
Kattails
@SiubhanDuinne: (caught this after my other reply) So sorry, you’ve probably gone off to bed. Otherwise, please sit over here on this nice comfy chair and let me get you something, go ahead and vent. I get it. These kids are bitching that they’re old. They don’t have the joint aches or wrinkles; at the same time they want credit for time and experience they haven’t served. That about right?
jk
@Cacti:
Buttigieg is not my first choice, Warren is, but I believe that Mayor Pete, as well as Harris, Inslee, Booker, Klobuchar, Gillibrand, Castro, Bennet, and Beto are preferable to those ratfuckers Biden and Sanders.
chopper
@Cacti:
why don’t you tell us all about your feelings on “Obongo”? hey, it’s just a funny joke about a guy’s name amirite?
Cacti
@jk:
Cool. Me neither.
Jay
@Cacti:
You’ve said homophobic shit, enough that you are tarred with it.
Some people would learn from that.
And your trashing of Democratic Party Cantidates helps how?
a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@SiubhanDuinne: Punch cards or go home.
Cacti
@Jay:
I get the worst groupies.
Jay
@Cacti:
Buttigieg isn’t that hard to spell.
Cacti
@Jay:
Have a good cry, hon. Get it all out.
rikyrah
@Kay:
Wanted Durbin over Schumer as Minority Leader
Lyrebird
@Cacti: Your reply is at best puzzling from someone trying to show a lack of homophobia.
I think I need to learn to use the pie filter.
Cacti
@Lyrebird:
Stop, person I’ve never seen before. You’re breaking my heart.
Lyrebird
@rikyrah: iirc Durbin was both gracious and supportive to one junior Senator from his state…
Maybe he (Durbin, not the forever my President) is glad Schumer’s the one having to hold meetings with the ball of orange slime.
Jay
@Lyrebird:
Cacti has decided to go full troll,……
Jay
“Over two dozen former students in West Virginia are pursuing a lawsuit, arguing that Mined Minds was a fraud. Out of the 10 or so people who made it to the final weeks of Ms. Frame’s class in Beckley, only one formally graduated. He is now delivering takeout.
“It was a too-good-to-be-true kind of deal,” said Billyjack Buzzard, 33, who attended another class and was the only former West Virginia coal miner to finish classes and get a job with the program. He was fired after 14 months and went back underground. “Just false hope.”
http://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2019/05/learn-to-code
Jay
@Cacti:
Mayor Pete Buttigieg isn’t that hard to spell.
wenchacha
@Sab: I remember having that exact regret!
Amir Khalid
@Jay:
And who is better qualified to lecture others about their spelling than you?
ruemara
@Baud: I think his downplaying of civil rights and his constant denigration of civil rights, plus chasing those poor lost Trump voters, have made him the undesirable person he is today.
Fair Economist
@CatFacts:
schrodingers_cat
@tobie: I would bet anything that her knowledge of French and Tamil exceed PB’s knowledge of Norwegian.