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#241 |
Philosopher
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 7,230
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"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi Wollen owns the stage |
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#242 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#243 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,829
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#244 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Dec 2013
Posts: 3,829
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#245 |
Philosopher
Join Date: May 2007
Posts: 7,230
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"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated." -- Mahatma Gandhi Wollen owns the stage |
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#246 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#247 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#248 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: The Great Northwet
Posts: 19,986
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You know what I find offensive about the Op-Ed?
This:
Quote:
And this:
Quote:
I kind of hope the loser gets outed. |
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Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant. |
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#249 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#250 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#251 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#252 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#253 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 31,613
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Somebody in the Trump administration, which technically covers the entire executive branch. Depending on how loose the NYT is with their definition of "senior official", it could be any agency director, assistant director, or even department head. Which makes more sense than it being one of Trump's cabinet picks.
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#254 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The smarter ones are working what's known as "the long con".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confid..._and_long_cons The smartest ones have an entire life that's a series of very long cons which are largely never detected or proven. |
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#255 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 31,613
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#256 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 71,507
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Restore checks and balances no matter your party affiliation. |
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#257 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 8,607
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#258 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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It seems axiomatic that conservatives feel that way about politicians, while progressives find that a character trait more prevelant amongst businessmen and executives.
I label myself a progressive (or liberal) perhaps because I have had more contact with businessmen than with politicians. Seems possible that we are both correct, and they are all out to screw us over ![]() |
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#259 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 4,338
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Interesting commentary in The Grauniad - "The madness is pouring out of the White House now, for all to see"
Quote:
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...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
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#260 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 71,507
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I don't know what the data shows, but I would bet that intellect and personality disorder are independent variables. A narcissist might actually be a genius, or might have a low intellect.
Trump's always been involved in corruption, conning people, various mob characters that I imagine go beyond the Russian oligarch mob. He has people around him that take care of the details like Cohen and other lawyers. Was he ever an intelligent narcissist, or always simply a narcissist with real estate connections that actually intelligent mobsters et al manipulated to their benefit? Trump was born into that real estate enterprise. If he ever was intelligent, then he's lost a lot of his skills as his brain aged. Putin and other people in the crime enterprises surrounding Trump are probably giddy over the gem they got elected. I don't see any evidence Trump is currently super-intelligent. Other people are carrying the water for him. |
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Restore checks and balances no matter your party affiliation. |
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#261 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,842
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I am skeptical about everything, but not blindly. Skepticism isn't just a matter of not accepting anything you don't have overwhelming evidence for - it also involves using logical deduction, historical and general knowledge, experience and intuition.
So when someone tells me that 'there are only a few people here who seem to be skeptical about anything' I am mildly skeptical, since it's doubtful they made any effort to quantify it. However when in the same breath they tell me that the NYT (a highly respected news organization which has been awarded 125 Pulitzer Prizes, more than any other newspaper) is fake news - based on a single article that doesn't even support their claim - I become highly skeptical. Then I review their post history and see a pattern of partisanship with many uncritical claims, and I realize they are just following the standard conservative playbook:- when you can't think of any way to denigrate or deflect an inconvenient fact, retreat into 'skepticism' and claim that anything you can't personally verify is 'fake news'. This isn't skepticism. It's rejecting evidence out of hand just because you don't like it. So what do they do to hide this lack of skepticism? Accuse others of having the same flaw they pretend to be free of. Projection - another standard tactic straight out of the conservative playbook. |
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We don't want good, sound arguments. We want arguments that sound good. |
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#262 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 71,507
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Restore checks and balances no matter your party affiliation. |
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#263 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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Trump isn't necessarily trying to 'con' or 'cheat' his customers, he just doesn't care about the truth. He'll say anything to close a sale. Whether it's true or false is irrelevant. I've heard it said what he does isn't 'lying'. They say he's BSing since he doesn't actually know if it's true or false. This may be Distracted's point. But I don't buy it. If you pulled the info out of your ass, you would know that it isn't info you can vouch for. To me, that is lying.
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#264 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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I think the moon and stars just lined up in an extraordinarily fortunate way for Trump, with just enough of the American electorate being brainwashed and dumbed down by hate radio and Fox over the decades and making them ripe "easy pickings" for his particular brand of con-artistry re-tooled into an effective political campaign. That combined with decades of conservative economic neoliberalism outsourcing jobs and decreasing financial security, and making certain people more prone to desire a "strong man" leader.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#265 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#266 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 18,484
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This White House is in a constant state of stir, and every stir is described as a tempest by the media. This is a little bit bigger stir than most.
If they find out who wrote it, they'll be fired and Trump will write a couple of tweets in all caps. The fact that there's someone in the White House who would do such a thing is undoubtedly causing Trump to a slightly higher level of agitation, but the point of the editorial is that Trump goes into tirades on a regular basis, and the point of my post is that we already knew that he goes into tirades on a regular basis. I don't know. You never know what might actually cause him to lose it to the point that his public behavior is considered so far off the deep end that people who voted for him might actually come to regret it. So far, though, it's really kind of business as usual. |
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#267 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 18,484
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#268 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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__________________
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#269 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#270 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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I am sorry for causing this derail in the first place.
The only point I was making was an off-the-cuff observation to your statement that Trump was an example of "the most dishonest person you had ever,ever,ever encountered" What I was trying to express was not anything that disputed his dishonesty- it is laughably obvious. Instead, I was pointing out that we all likely encounter extremely dishonest people at some point in our lives, and come away thinking highly of them because they are so much better at being dishonest (up to and including being dishonest about their own nature). I apologize for muddying my own point. That Trump is so bad at hiding his nature, yet seems to actually believe he is clever, suggests to me that he has simply been surrounded since birth with "yes men" types and has internalized the b.s. they have fed him. They have been telling him what a stable genius he is for so long that he believes it. |
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#271 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 3,842
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It could even be the coffee boy or the janitor, someone who knows nothing about what's really going on. Yeah, that's it. We can all relax and ignore the 'fake news' now that we know it didn't come from anyone of importance.
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We don't want good, sound arguments. We want arguments that sound good. |
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#272 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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It is not impossible to conceive of a strategy wherein a low-level staffer is convinced or coerced into sending in the op-ed as "bait" with the intent to reveal him/herself later and make the whole thing seem like an overblown "tempest in a teapot". That could serve to knock the NYT down a peg or two.
Remember the Rachel Maddow hype about having Trumps' tax returns? I am offering that up as a possibility-not necessarily as a probability. I would hope an institution like the NYT would be too savvy to fall for something like that, but it is not inconceivable. |
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#273 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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I just don't believe the highlighted part. I might be impressed at how 'slick' they are, but feel desperately in need of a shower. I can dig a good storyteller and someone who knows how to charm. A skill I am always working at, because people buy from people they like. But the cheat, the con guy, the socially amoral individual, I tend to detest them with fire of 1000 suns.
And to me, this is Trump to a 'T'. I agree about your assessment of Trump. I see him as someone who is weak. Someone who is constantly puffing himself up because he really doesn't believe it. He's massively insecure and he assuages that insecurity by insulting others and puffing himself up. If he wasn't such a privileged menace, I would actually feel a little sorry for him. |
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#274 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 2,784
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The man with one watch knows what time it is, the man with two watches is never sure. |
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#275 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#276 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#277 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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I agree with you somewhat on this. But I have worked with the liars and the cheats.
Always? I dont know what that is. But my experience is there is almost always something to tip you off. Something not right. I'm more likely to not trust you when I maybe could have then get taken by you. But maybe that's because I have seen more than a few scams. So many of the new ones are just reworked versions of old ones. |
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#278 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 20,341
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“ A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence. ” ― David Hume |
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#279 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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#280 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 10,584
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People use other people for things other than money directly. Some people will flatter you, pretend to be your friend, etc just to blind you to what they're doing with something else, or to gain access to other people, etc. "Malignant social climbing" takes a lot of forms.
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The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts ~ Bertrand Russell I am proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend. |
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