The [Current Year] General Political/Salma Hayek discussion thread, part 4!!!

[Hohn]

Popularism can have overlap (Venn diagram style) with conservatism (small 'c') but won't get close to 1:1 anytime soon

It's more likely that they will part ways and never overlap at all, because popularism is closest to a 49/51 democracy, which devolves into socialism (or results from, even). In other words, the overlap is a fleeting moment when people agree on direction, not on destination.

 

[T.Lex]

Looks like the next big Dem freak out will be over separation of church and state.

They will conflate "bible literacy" with "bible study." I think there is room in public schools to teach what the bible talks about and the key points, especially since so much of the classical arts related to it. Along those same lines, I have no problem with presenting other religious documents for study, too.

Now, I do recognize there is a slippery slope. Some teachers will find it difficult to overcome their own beliefs and present the bible in that context as the Truth. That would be a mistake, IMHO. That it is the Truth is a reality independent from teaching it as a cultural reference.

ETA:
In case my post isn't clear, I agree with Trump on this issue - at least conceptually. If he starts advocating for national laws on the subject, our positions will diverge.

 

[HoughMade]

I learned about the Five Pillars of Islam, Buddhism, and Shinto in a public elementary school in the lates '70s, early '80s.

How is this different?

 

[T.Lex]

I learned about the Five Pillars of Islam, Buddhism, and Shinto in a public elementary school in the lates '70s, early '80s.

How is this different?

Less shag carpeting and no smoking lounges for teachers (and students).

 

[jamil]

It's more likely that they will part ways and never overlap at all, because popularism is closest to a 49/51 democracy, which devolves into socialism (or results from, even). In other words, the overlap is a fleeting moment when people agree on direction, not on destination.

This is probably right. I don't think populism will line up much with conservatism, per se, but some people who have conservative beliefs line up with populism for the time being.

 

[jamil]

Looks like the next big Dem freak out will be over separation of church and state.

They will conflate "bible literacy" with "bible study." I think there is room in public schools to teach what the bible talks about and the key points, especially since so much of the classical arts related to it. Along those same lines, I have no problem with presenting other religious documents for study, too.

Now, I do recognize there is a slippery slope. Some teachers will find it difficult to overcome their own beliefs and present the bible in that context as the Truth. That would be a mistake, IMHO. That it is the Truth is a reality independent from teaching it as a cultural reference.

ETA:
In case my post isn't clear, I agree with Trump on this issue - at least conceptually. If he starts advocating for national laws on the subject, our positions will diverge.

I don't mind such classes being offered by high school humanities departments, but just in the factual sense of what is written in the Bible, and what various religions and denominations believe about it.

But if the Bible is taught in public schools, it should not be a required class, should not be taught by science departments, and should not be taught objectively as "truth".

If I were a religious person, I'd really not want public schools contributing to my kid's religious education anyway.

I strongly suspect Trump is just pandering to hardcore "school prayer" type evangelicals.

 

[printcraft]

Looks like the next big Dem freak out will be over separation of church and state.......

I'm glad to see they are focusing on the important issues facing the country.

 

[Phase2]

Support for Single-Payer Healthcare Craters When Americans Discover Higher Taxes, Longer Wait Times

Short version:

national poll released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
...
The poll found that Americans initially support “Medicare-for-all,” 56 percent to 42 percent.
...
Support increased when people were told “Medicare-for-all” would guarantee health insurance as a right (71 percent) and eliminate premiums and reduce out-of-pocket costs (67 percent).
...
But if they were told that a government-run system could lead to delays in getting care or higher taxes, support plunged to 26 percent and 37 percent, respectively.

Note the difference between an informed and uninformed populace.

 

[indyblue]

Wouldn't it make more sense to get the little screws made wherever they could - yes, even china - rather than moving the whole damn plant to where the little screws are made?

Ordering from China isn't nearly as easy as you make it sound. First off you immediately incur a 6-14 weeks of additional lead time (no they aren't going to ship it by airplane except in emergency - that costs a fortune) because it takes that long to make the product and send it on a boat across the ocean. So you end up stocking a lot of unnecessary inventory to guard against supply chain disruptions. Second, you have to have people working closely with your supplier in the foreign country or else you get serious quality and delivery problems. This adds a lot of cost and hassle. Yes there are plenty of Chinese suppliers who would think not hing of screwing even mighty Apple and Apple knows this. Third, you are grossly underestimating the advantage of having your engineers and supply chain people close to the suppliers. Problems happen and fixing them from half a world away is never easy. Fourth, when you cannot get components locally you incur a lot of currency risk [wikipedia.org]. Fifth, a big part of the reason China produces so much of the world's electronics is because nearly the entire supply chain is nearby. This reduces costs tremendously.

I could keep going. If it were economically practical to assemble electronics in the US (even ignoring the labor price disparity), companies would be doing it. US companies would love to be able to buy their stuff locally but it's just not economic.

 

[T.Lex]

I don't mind such classes being offered by high school humanities departments, but just in the factual sense of what is written in the Bible, and what various religions and denominations believe about it.

But if the Bible is taught in public schools, it should not be a required class, should not be taught by science departments, and should not be taught objectively as "truth".

If I were a religious person, I'd really not want public schools contributing to my kid's religious education anyway.

I strongly suspect Trump is just pandering to hardcore "school prayer" type evangelicals.

Oh yeah, this is probably a Trump pandering moment on an issue he really doesn't give 2 ****s about.

But, unlike the bumpstock ban, I agree with this one.

 

[jamil]

Oh yeah, this is probably a Trump pandering moment on an issue he really doesn't give 2 ****s about.

But, unlike the bumpstock ban, I agree with this one.

Why? Leave it up to individual school boards whether or not they want to offer such classes? What does the fed have in it but their pandering noses?

 

[nonobaddog]

Ordering from China isn't nearly as easy as you make it sound. First off you immediately incur a 6-14 weeks of additional lead time (no they aren't going to ship it by airplane except in emergency - that costs a fortune) because it takes that long to make the product and send it on a boat across the ocean. So you end up stocking a lot of unnecessary inventory to guard against supply chain disruptions. Second, you have to have people working closely with your supplier in the foreign country or else you get serious quality and delivery problems. This adds a lot of cost and hassle. Yes there are plenty of Chinese suppliers who would think not hing of screwing even mighty Apple and Apple knows this. Third, you are grossly underestimating the advantage of having your engineers and supply chain people close to the suppliers. Problems happen and fixing them from half a world away is never easy. Fourth, when you cannot get components locally you incur a lot of currency risk [wikipedia.org]. Fifth, a big part of the reason China produces so much of the world's electronics is because nearly the entire supply chain is nearby. This reduces costs tremendously.

I could keep going. If it were economically practical to assemble electronics in the US (even ignoring the labor price disparity), companies would be doing it. US companies would love to be able to buy their stuff locally but it's just not economic.

You are stating the worst case scenario and then exaggerating so you are making it sound harder than it actually is. If that little screw was the very last part they spec out then the entire lead time would be added in but that would be statistically unlikely. A container ship can go from Shanghai to San Francisco in 15 to 18 days and from Guangzhau to Los Angeles in 13 to 18 days. In the mean time they could be getting 1000 screws per day from Texas and possibly negotiating with them to tool up for higher capacity like that company used to do so they already have experience.
Then you just add in a couple years for customs and dock worker strikes and voila, you got screws.

 

[actaeon277]

Support for Single-Payer Healthcare Craters When Americans Discover Higher Taxes, Longer Wait Times

Short version:


Note the difference between an informed and uninformed populace.

Well... duh!
Too bad people can't figure that stuff would happen. On their own.

 

[BugI02]

"You have reached your quota of free viewing of the New York Times. Please send Money"

Yea, right, the check's in the mail! Freakin' Hillarious. Do you actually pay them?

.

As of one minute ago, I can still follow that link to the complete story referenced - and no, I don't pay the NYT anything, including much in the way of attention

I think you need to clear your browser caches and cookies and try again if you still want to read it

 

[T.Lex]

Why? Leave it up to individual school boards whether or not they want to offer such classes? What does the fed have in it but their pandering noses?

We are in a state of agreement.

My point was that, on the bumpstocks, I don't think he cares one way or the other. So, he's willing to let big gov intercede.

I also don't think he cares about the bible, but in that case, my expectation is that he'll just stay out of it and use it as a wedge issue.

 

[mmpsteve]

As of one minute ago, I can still follow that link to the complete story referenced - and no, I don't pay the NYT anything, including much in the way of attention

I think you need to clear your browser caches and cookies and try again if you still want to read it

Thanks, I'll try that. When I switched over to Chrome browser, I kinda got out of the habit of routine clean-up, because it doesn't seem to get clogged up like IE used to.

.

 

[BugI02]

Yeah, but the greedy ****s at the NYT probably only give you one free story, so there could be a cookie there from weeks ago

My browser cleans up what little gets thru the filters automatically everytime I shut down

 

[bwframe]

Stacey Abrams chosen to give Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union

 

[ghitch75]

Stacey Abrams chosen to give Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union

ok????.....she lost didn't she????

 

[Kutnupe14]

Ok, I haven't seen this discussed anywhere. This past Tuesday the intelligence chiefs gave their yearly briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee, indicating that North Korea is unlikely to give up it's nuclear weapons, ISIS is not defeated, Iran isn't in the process of obtaining nuclear weapons. The statements by the chiefs directly contradict the president's previous statements. What does say after the briefing? At least concerning Iran, he called the chiefs "passive and naive," and suggested that the "go back to school."
So here's my question, is the president getting his intelligence from a different place than the intel chiefs? And if so, where, and why are the people feeding him the "correct" information not in the positions currently being held by the intel chiefs?
This is just one more thing that illustrates my concerns about the fitness of this president.