Well, all this is interesting to me, anyway, and that's what matters here. The Internet is a terrible thing for someone like me, who finds almost everything interesting.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Tsunami of lies: the week In Donald Trump
I don't normally watch MSNBC, and these round-table discussions usually drive me nuts, but I thought this was the best discussion I've heard yet of the problems journalists are having when covering Donald Trump.
They really are facing a "tsunami of lies" from Trump, and a large percentage of the American people simply don't care. What do you do about that?
And on the other side,... emails. Hillary Clinton handled emails the same way previous Secretaries of State had handled them. Careless or not, nothing happened. How can you even compare that with what comes out of Donald Trump's mouth every single day?
Trump praises Vladimir Putin, because he thinks that Putin called him "brilliant." (The word, in Russian, should actually be translated as "flamboyant.") He thinks it's natural that women are being raped in the military. I mean, you can't have men and women working together, right? (Isn't that what Islamic radicals think?)
Trump praises Putin while criticizing America's military leaders. He's long claimed to have a plan to defeat ISIS almost instantaneously,... but it's a secret. Now he says he's going to fire America's generals, get new ones, and then have them create a plan. So what happened to Trump's plan, the best plan ever? Obviously, it's like everything else he says - just bombast, self-praise, and bold-faced lying.
One of these guys, Sam Stein, started to mention the ties that the Trump campaign has with Russia, but that got brushed aside. (Admittedly, there was so much else to talk about.) But why is that not a deal-breaker for the American people? Why is the Russian government's deliberate attempt to help elect Donald Trump (hacking the Democratic Party, pushing pro-Trump messages on social media, etc.) not a deal-breaker?
And it's not just one thing, but a million of them. Any one of them would end a Democrat's campaign immediately, just no question. Any one of them. Can you imagine the howls of outrage if Trump were a Democrat? But since Trump is running as a Republican, that doesn't happen. As Mika Brzezinski asked, how can Republicans live with themselves?
Anyway, as I said, I thought the discussion about how difficult it is for journalists (starting about ten minutes in) was especially interesting. I get frustrated with Trump interviewers and debate moderators - I mean, really disgusted. But I don't suppose that it's easy to pin down a politician who simply refuses to answer their questions.
And it's especially hard when a huge number of Americans don't care that he's lying, don't care that he won't reply to questions, and don't even care about his ties to Russia. (Why doesn't he release his tax returns?)
Yeah, this election is an IQ test for American citizens. If you don't vote for Hillary Clinton, you fail.
Oh, well, you have to laugh, Jeff. Yes, some people are stupid. Some people are ignorant. And a lot of people get flustered when you stick a microphone in their face.
No matter what, a good 40% of Americans - at a minimum - are going to vote for Donald Trump. Well, 40% of those who bother to vote at all (which is another depressing issue).
A smaller percentage of Americans are going to throw away their votes on third party candidates who are (1) not worth shit and (2) not going to win, anyway (absolutely no chance whatsoever).
But this is going to be a pass/fail test. Luckily, it's graded on a curve. A majority of Americans are going to fail it, many of us by not even being smart enough to show up for the test. But luckily, we're not going to count those people.
So there's still a chance - a good chance, in fact. Note that there will be another IQ test in 2018, and we've got a lot better chance of passing this one than the one coming up in two years time. Is that encouraging?
I'm a skeptic. I think it makes sense to have reasons for what I believe, so I apportion my belief to the evidence. You're welcome to disagree. Please, tell me I'm wrong. I probably don't agree with anyone about everything. Why should disagreement be a problem? Check the Pages section below for series posts and links to book reviews and game posts, as well as contact info. Unfortunately, I rarely blog at all, anymore. So don't expect new posts. - Bill
We've all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare. Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true. - Robert Wilensky
It doesn't matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn't matter how smart you are. If it doesn't agree with experiment, it's wrong - Richard Feynman
The general root of superstition is that men observe when things hit, and not when they miss, and commit to memory the one, and pass over the other. - Sir Francis Bacon
When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanness of its hands and purity of its heart. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Speculation is perfectly all right, but if you stay there you've only founded a superstition. If you test it, you've started a science. - Hal Clement
No matter how many times a theory meets its tests successfully, there can be no certainty that it will not be overthrown by the next observation. This, then, is a cornerstone of modern natural philosophy. It makes no claim of attaining ultimate truth. In fact, the phrase "ultimate truth" becomes meaningless, because there is no way in which enough observations can be made to make truth certain and, therefore, "ultimate". - Isaac Asimov
The government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion. - Treaty of Tripoli, passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate and signed by President John Adams (1797)
I don't doubt the sincerity of dowsers, but even after we've demonstrated that they can't produce results that are any better than chance they'll still go away believing in their abilities... It is like the mother whose son is caught shoplifting on tape. She wonders why someone would want to frame her child by producing a fake video. - James Randi
During many ages there were witches. The Bible said so. The Bible commanded that they should not be allowed to live. Therefore the Church ... imprisoned, tortured, hanged, and burned whole hordes and armies of witches, and washed the Christian world clean with their foul blood. Then it was discovered that there was no such thing as witches, and never had been. One does not know whether to laugh or to cry. - Mark Twain
Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives' mouths. - Bertrand Russell
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends... that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. - Adlai E. Stevenson, Jr.
This is not about proof. Science does not use proof. We favor evidence, and the work consists largely of the slow accumulation of evidence in support of ideas, not magically potent proofs that establish an idea as unassailable. - PZ Myers
No, people don't expect government to solve all their problems. But they sense, deep in their bones, that with just a slight change in priorities, we can make sure that every child in America has a decent shot at life, and that the doors of opportunity remain open to all. - President Barack Obama
The formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat. - Shekhar Gupta
We are prodding, challenging, seeking contradictions or small, persistent residual errors, proposing alternative explanations, encouraging heresy. We give our highest rewards to those who convincingly disprove established beliefs. - Carl Sagan
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
120 million of us place the big bang 2,500 years after the Babylonians and Sumerians learned to brew beer. - Sam Harris
To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man. - Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in 1553
Democracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can't take root. - Thomas L. Friedman
We cannot absolutely prove that those are in error who tell us that society has reached a turning point, that we have seen our best days. But so said all who came before us and with just as much apparent reason. - Thomas Macauley, 1830
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven into an age of unreason if we dig deep into our history and remember we are not descended from fearful men. - Edward R. Murrow
The deepest sin against the human mind is to believe things without evidence. Science is simply common sense at its best - that is, rigidly accurate in observation, and merciless to fallacy in logic. - Thomas Huxley
There is no absurdity so obvious that it cannot be firmly planted in the human head if you only begin to impose it before the age of five, by constantly repeating it with an air of great solemnity. - Arthur Schopenhauer
Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. ... Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society. - President Thomas Jefferson
To be elected in America, no matter from what party, the candidates have no choice but to year after year pledge to lower taxes further and further. We have become the nation of Ken and Barbie, looking good but very poor at the math. - Rack Jite
Invisible Pink Unicorns are beings of great spiritual power. We know this because they are capable of being invisible and pink at the same time. Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them. - Steve Eley
We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. - President Franklin D. Roosevelt
I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn't actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle. - Molly Ivins
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican. - H. L. Mencken
Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. - Winston Churchill
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2 comments:
"Yeah, this election is an IQ test for American citizens. If you don't vote for Hillary Clinton, you fail."
These YouTubes don't give me much confidence:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fys3MsKMpms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7mUaKUp8Ho
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kznTqrgGV38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1kNULeNpXA
And on and on and on....
Oh, well, you have to laugh, Jeff. Yes, some people are stupid. Some people are ignorant. And a lot of people get flustered when you stick a microphone in their face.
No matter what, a good 40% of Americans - at a minimum - are going to vote for Donald Trump. Well, 40% of those who bother to vote at all (which is another depressing issue).
A smaller percentage of Americans are going to throw away their votes on third party candidates who are (1) not worth shit and (2) not going to win, anyway (absolutely no chance whatsoever).
But this is going to be a pass/fail test. Luckily, it's graded on a curve. A majority of Americans are going to fail it, many of us by not even being smart enough to show up for the test. But luckily, we're not going to count those people.
So there's still a chance - a good chance, in fact. Note that there will be another IQ test in 2018, and we've got a lot better chance of passing this one than the one coming up in two years time. Is that encouraging?
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