Geoff > Status Update

Manny, I think Trump triggers the poetry muse in both of us.

Dante had Beatrice and we have Trump. I'm sending a complaint to the Heavenly Ombudsman.

Catherine wrote: "Nick..I am not trying to be obtuse...but seriously....you think taxes will be going down?"

For me personally? Yes.

David wrote: "Obama bailing out the banks wasn't enough for you?

At least rhetorically, Trump ran much more as the anti-finance candidate than Hillary.

Are you just counting on Paul Ryan to really be the one..."

I was actually against the bank bailouts.... but then again, I was an evil hedge funder at the time, so you'll have to forgive me.

He is against Dodd-Frank, which is the biggest abomination of regulation I've ever seen. And the people he was going to put in charge are who matter. And they are my kind - so I like them (I know you think they're (we're) evil... and destroying the world... and that's OK).

If you want to see how much an improvement Trump has signaled to expectations in the financial sector, pull up any bank's stock and see the performance since election day. Smart banker money was for him. If you were an insider and thought Hillary was beneficial for banks, you're an idiot (outsiders obviously get a pass).

And I hate Paul Ryan. Can't stand even looking at him.

David wrote: "I fucking hated Ulysses. James Joyce can kiss my ass."

But you're a silly Marxist... I can't take anything you say seriously.

:)

Geoff wrote: "Manny wrote: "In particular, you haven't read A Dance to the Music of Time. AND WHY NOT???"

Cuz it's a lame ass Proust rip-off"

As if that's a bad thing. I wish there were more Proust rip-offs out there.

It's on my list.

someone wrote:

Cuz it's a lame ass Proust rip-off"



A Dance ... is most enjoyable literary series I've ever read. I just can't get into Proust, a deadly bore. I wish I could, I may keep trying; but not sure if it's worth it,

A la recherche... is among the great reading experiences of my life. Proust is never dull to me. His subjects are, but it's not about taking interest in his subjects as subjects, but in Proust's observational skill, the fabric of language he weaves around them, and his satire of them. He encapsulated all the delicate monstrosities of the Belle Époque in one novel, and at the same time made the definitive novelistic epic of human memory. Now back to Trump bashing!

Nick wrote: "If you want to see how much an improvement Trump has signaled to expectations in the financial sector."

One should make differences clear when they appear clearly. The difference here of course is that you believe that the role of politics is to release the dynamism of the financial center (and I ask, Why?, To what end?*) and I believe the role of politics is to protect us (freedom, justice, democracy, etc etc ; Why? Well, because those values are ends in themselves, like Personhood, Respect, Dignity, etc etc) from the dynamism of the financial sector (I'm a solid Kantian about Personhood).

I do hope this has been an It-Goes-Without-Saying rather than anything controversial.


* I understand of course that the belief may be held that the dynamism is not an end in itself but is rather the means to attain those values which I ascribe to my position ;; but then a lot of missing evidence needs to be assembled to show that the dynamism of the financial sector leads to etc etc.... [again, this shouldn't be controversial ; just a spelling out]

Geoff wrote: "A la recherche... is among the great reading experiences of my life. Proust is never dull to me. His subjects are, but it's not about taking interest in his subjects as subjects, but in Proust's ob..."

How devastating is the shoe scene that closes Guermantes Way?

One of the most memorable, haunting endings in all of literature.

Would you guys shut=up about literature and shout more "Fascist!!"s?

Geoff wrote: "Now back to Trump bashing!"

Please. I'm going to go ahead and FLAG all these Proust comments.

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Now back to Trump bashing!"

Please. I'm going to go ahead and FLAG all these Proust comments."

Just leave the Powell ones! 8 )

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Now back to Trump bashing!"

Please. I'm going to go ahead and FLAG all these Proust comments."

The most horrible words I've ever read.

Nathan's right, there's plenty of reviews and comment threads out there for praising Proust - this is the thread where we trash Nick for being a soulless capitalist! (...Kidding!)

Not sure if any of you have souls!!! lol

Cover of Der Spiegel gets it right ::
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/

Apparently 100,000 travel visas were revoked in the first wave of the ban.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wash...

Geoff wrote: "Apparently 100,000 travel visas were revoked in the first wave of the ban.

Any chance in hell he'll ever match that with 100,000 jobs created?

Nathan "N.R." wrote: "Geoff wrote: "Apparently 100,000 travel visas were revoked in the first wave of the ban.

Any chance in hell he'll ever match that with 100,000 jobs created?"

Heh ... Yeah, sure, keep them fingers crossed

Chilling portrait of a Trump supporter in the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...

Read this and then tell me Wolfgang Streeck's writings on the end of capitalism are in any way exaggerated.

Nick, I think you made a pact with the devil by hitching your financial self-interest to the hatred, anger, and despair of people like this.

100,000?!?! This is really beyond comprehension!! And yet he still hasn't shown us his tax returns!! Granted...if he hasn't paid any, there is nothing to show....but we are still entitled to see his income. He can't keep claiming bakruptcy! We all know his money is off-shore. And anyway....if he is so on board with fixing our economy...being this fictitious to help stimulate it!

David wrote: "Nick, I think you made a pact with the devil by hitching your financial self-interest to the hatred, anger, and despair of people like this. "

There's a lot of that on both sides nowadays... just different flavors.

On the other hand, last night I thought I had my wallet stolen at a fast food joint.

Then this morning a stranger comes to my apartment to return it, saying he found it in the parking lot. All the cash and everything was still there.

#Americaalreadyisgreat

David wrote: "On the other hand, last night I thought I had my wallet stolen at a fast food joint.

Then this morning a stranger comes to my apartment to return it, saying he found it in the parking lot. All the..."

Awesome!

David wrote: "Chilling portrait of a Trump supporter in the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...?..."

Is it despair that makes such utter divorce from reality possible? How do you get angry enough that you start believing these B-movie conspiracies?

I wonder if it's a lifetime spent in a predatory society that makes such thoughts possible as: "After a while, she tried to get a job at the local firehouse but came to believe officials were stealing money. She tried to stay on top of her anxiety medication but thought her doctor was committing Medicare fraud."

Well, you know I'm sticking with capitalism as my answer. This is what nearly forty years of neoliberalism looks like. A totally atomized society.

David wrote: "Well, you know I'm sticking with capitalism as my answer. This is what nearly forty years of neoliberalism looks like. A totally atomized society."

I think I have to agree. This is the late capitalist metastasis and it is horrible to look upon.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is dismissed as relativism, but I try to bear in mind that there are plenty of people who'd regard my / our opinions in a similar way to what's said here about hers; who find me / us equally misguided or even "chilling". It took a bit of getting used to when I realised that (maybe didn't fully hit until just after the Brexit vote?)

It's an illustration of information bubbles created by the internet; 25 years ago, it would have only been the National Enquirer and Howard Stern & other shock-jocks for the audience she's part of. The size and reach of internet sources turns it into a whole different game; the numbers mean it's no longer so possible to dismiss these tendencies.

This article is so double-edged. This woman has a helluva lot of problems (and abusive upbringings and genetic predispositions etc are far older than big capitalism, even if it exacerbates some features whilst potentially treating others) and she's found a political movement where she actually feels validated and where she belongs.
But there's also the implication underlying it that Trump supporters are mentally ill, which is the sort of slur the left badly needs to avoid (um, Soviets...?)
The US press does seem to be very low on these sorts of articles that detail what life is like for people at the sharp end, compared with the Guardian, but now they've actually written one, they are using it in a skewed way.

In a skewed way? If shit's that bad, shit's that bad.

I don't think the woman in the article is mentally ill - or rather, I think the prevalence of 'mental illness' is another product of our historical conjuncture, ie, of neoliberalism.

But yeah, I do think I'm better informed than her, have given these things more thought, have somewhat more realistic answers, etc. In that sense I guess I am incurably elitist

“If it’s time to lock me up, it’s time to lock up the world,” Melanie remembered thinking when she had heard that {chants to lock up Hillary}.

There I have to agree. That's speaking truth to power.

Agree with Ant. I'm not sure this article does much for building bridges or helping us understand Trump voters. They picked an extreme, outlandish case. Does it represent a certain slice of the Trump-voting demographic, sure. Is it the biggest slice? I doubt it. It's your neighbours and relatives and colleagues who voted Trump who you/we should be more concerned about I think. For people like this woman we should be thinking - how and why did the left fail her?

Oh, c'mon. Understanding someone as they actually are is impolite?

Just googled 'percentage of us population who thinks Obama is muslim.'

Most recent result I got is 29 percent, from last September. This lady represents something broader than herself

If you want to build bridges with Trump supporters, you're going to have to work with actual Trump supporters, not hypothetical projections.

If the US were a person, I'd politely suggest that they might want to try looking for a good therapist.

howl of minerva wrote: "For people like this woman we should be thinking - how and why did the left fail her?."

Agree with you there, but I think we have to be willing to honestly face just how bad the situation really is.

I guess the question is: is this woman really a fair archetype of the Trump voter? If you're saying the answer is "yes" then yeah, things are pretty fucked. I feel they picked a fringe case but I could be wrong.

I don't think she represents all 60-some million who voted for him in the general; a lot of those were reluctant, partisan Republican, lesser-of-two-evil voters, but yeah, she represents his most ardent fans, what carried him to win the Republican primaries.

I have asked this question before, but usually all that happens is the sound of crickets:

For example - I vote for abortion rights vs. they vote for laws to make abortion criminal. I think they should not have an abortion if they don't want one, but let me have one. They believe that allowing me to have one is the same as allowing me to murder someone, which they will NEVER allow, because abortion=murder=criminal and a sin.

How do we find common ground? Where is the middle?

I think everyone has a right to believe in whatever religion they want, as long as it does not restrict my rights to behave or believe in something different. They think only Christianity is normal, sane and valid, and laws should enforce this. The opinion difference: we need a law making Christianity the only legal religion vs. a law enforcing religious freedom. My middle ground = everyone can believe in whatever religion they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone and doesn't take my rights from me to believe in something else than Christianity.

Where is the common ground? There is none.

And so on. Yet, I ALWAYS hear liberals and conservatives speak out for finding common ground. How? Where? Conservatives want laws restricting everyone's rights to one way, liberals want laws which apparently make conservatives feel unsafe for their souls and criminal (I have no idea why).

There is NO common ground, is there? What am I missing?

Well, there's not necessarily common ground with EVERYONE, but Hillary did really drop the ball on certain demographics. By not visiting Wisconsin and Michigan, for example.

It's sorta hard to believe, but there really were people who voted for both Obama and Trump.

I am delighted to see that a Federal judge has just ruled Trump's travel ban to be unconstitutional.

Well, this is where we find out whether the US still respects the rule of law or has become a de facto dictatorship. Wasn't expecting it so soon.

To win an election, you only need sway a small core of swing voters. Not everyone, not the people who are most fixed in their opinions.

David wrote: "Well, you know I'm sticking with capitalism as my answer. This is what nearly forty years of neoliberalism looks like. A totally atomized society."

This.

David wrote: "In a skewed way? If shit's that bad, shit's that bad.

I don't think the woman in the article is mentally ill - or rather, I think the prevalence of 'mental illness' is another product of our hist..."

This, too. Mental illness is, to a great degree, a symptom of capitalism.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I have asked this question before, but usually all that happens is the sound of crickets:

For example - I vote for abortion rights vs. they vote for laws to make abortion criminal. I think they sh..."

There is common ground, it's just that the analysis of the common ground is distorted. I have the same concerns as the blue collar midwestern worker betrayed by neoliberalism; however, where we seek blame for our common ills is totally divergent. To your other point, my dad believes abortion is a type of genocide, and there, yes, there can be no common ground.

They believe that allowing me to have one is the same as allowing me to murder someone, which they will NEVER allow, because abortion=murder=criminal and a sin.

Except I don't believe that they really believe that. One reason I have zero respect for the anti-choice people is their utter hypocrisy. Your quote above is the zenith (nadir?) of their rhetoric, but if they really believed that they would hand out contraception like candy at every high school, junior high, and elementary school. But they don't, in fact, EVERY anti-abortion organization in the country is also anti-contraception. They hate contraception, they want to make it as hard to obtain as possible. When they succeed, there are more abortions. When contraception is easily accessible, there are fewer abortions. A million studies have confirmed this. They don't care. What they are really against is women having autonomy over their own bodies. I think they love the idea of unplanned pregnancies, they love the idea of a 15-year-old forced to carry a fetus to term as punishment for being a slut. This is what they are about, this is what that movement is about. This is why I find them beneath contempt.

Anyway, that shit strikes a nerve. Maybe I should get back to dissing Ulysses.

New hope in the great unwashed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHRZ1...

Manny wrote: "If the US were a person, I'd politely suggest that they might want to try looking for a good therapist."

Couldn't have said it better! But will need A LOT of therapy!! Do we have insurance?

I hate Donald Trump... We need to make humanity great again...