What stupid shit has Trump done today?

[bimble]

You could end up an Anthropologist and unable to avoid bouncing your huge pointy cranium off door frames.

 

[Idris2002]

You know what? I ain't even mad.

 

[bimble]

Well i'm converting to Unitarian Universalism.

 

[CRI]

When I was working at the Stanford campus I got a train into SF from Palo Alto with a bunch of mostly white bread liberal kids determined to protest George Bush's inauguration but that's not really what the tech people are like. They're probably working at the weekend for a start rather than being pointlessly rude to Republicans. But they not mostly rent seeking apex predators like Larry Ellison or Larry Page either. Typical Silicon Valley entrepreneur/foot soldier is a devoutly Hindu South Indian with a technical degree or PHD. These are the people who made the dot.com boom. They'll have competed for their place at university with 200 other gifted kids. They tend to be conservative but vote Dem and think they've landed in nerd Nirvana. They're as sociopathic as your average corner shop owner but they do expect everyone to work damned hard and they won't respect you if you don't. Their mercilessly driven kids may have a couple of startups in the works by they time they can drive. They love their adopted country but do often find Americans exasperatingly strange. Obsessed with sports rather than the hard grind of book learning that raised them up.

Consider this:

This is obviously a problem. I showed that to a Hindu mate of mine who lives in the Bay Area and he was outraged 23% of US Hindus don't have a college degree. His attitude was this is basically child neglect. I found such people actually pretty compassionate but there are limits. Beyond being socially conservative and perhaps flying a Stars&Stripes on the porch they don't have much in common with the Evangelicals at the bottom of that table who also are often from left areas. When you've got a lot of country very happy with a "Muslim Ban" that endangered the Green Cards of a lot of Silicon Valley types that's probably stretched real thin. However you can see who is more future proofed.

Rural area have a basic problem because they are all spread out and the sort of good technical and social infrastructure that tech rests by its nature clusters. Physical proximity still matters. On top of that you've got a changing labour market that requires more educated and highly trained workers. Actually it favours women who tend to stick to book learning better than American men who often aspired to be jocks and despised nerds.

There is an obvious thing that might be tried in left behind areas: Californication. Trying to get some nerdy foreign talent to set up shop where it's lacking instead of in California to jump start things. Take a punt on a series of startups expecting most to fail but bring in people who know how to do it and how they do things will bleed into the local population. Ideally cooperate with existing tech operation and send locals out to work with them in other states just as Japanese car companies sent US workers to Japan to learn their MO. There's a whole set of prerequisites for that. Because looking at the table above in some places you have to change the culture to one that really values education and constant training like the Germanic countries do. Perhaps not the full Hindu but at least up to Mormon levels. The best way is by example. If that doesn't happen there's just going to be more and more people whose livelihoods get swept away by automation and that's been the main blue collar job killer not trade deals and immigrants. Of course this is embracing frightening change and a tech heavy future. Having nothing to fear but fear itself. The reverse of telling people comforting fairy tales about all their problems being due to cheating foreigners and the future is bringing back a lost past were all you needed was a good pair of hands. The latter may be better politics unfortunately.

Interesting table. I actually thought the Nazarenes would be closer to the bottom. All the churches bar the Catholics (but they weren't regarded as properly Christian by the other churches) where I grew up were against things like alcohol, card games, dancing and premarital sex. The Nazarenes also frowned on tobacco, chewing gum and I think fizzy soft drinks. The brother of a school friend joined and had to quit his job at the News stand because they sold all those things - they were that strict.

Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Church of God, Disciples of Christ, Baptists (General, Free Will, First, Second, Missionary and Primitive varieties) and Methodists (also in several flavours) are the most common in the county, but in the county town, there's a Presbyterian and a small Lutheran Church. All were anti drink and sex, a few were okay with cards and dancing, or were a yes to line dancing but a no to ballroom. I know, it makes no sense.

 

[CRI]

Well i'm converting to Unitarian Universalism.

They are pretty good eggs. A Canadian friend's parents were atheists from Holland, but when they settled in a rural Alberta community, they had to pick a church because like in many American small towns, it's fairly mandatory. They chose the Unitarians!

 

[spring-peeper]

They are pretty good eggs. A Canadian friend's parents were atheists from Holland, but when they settled in a rural Alberta community, they had to pick a church because like in many American small towns, it's fairly mandatory. They chose the Unitarians!

Surely you mean many Canadian small towns, don't you?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

Well i'm converting to Unitarian Universalism.

I've always found them useful for free meeting space and warm bodies for protests.

 

[CRI]

Surely you mean many Canadian small towns, don't you?

Sorry if that wasn't clear - I meant that the situ is similar in small rural Canadian towns as in small American towns, with belonging to a Church being an important thing. Mind you, this would have been in the 1960's so it may be different now, and I was surprised to hear it, having thought Canadians weren't so hung up on belonging to a church.

 

[CRI]

I've always found them useful for free meeting space and warm bodies for protests.

I suggested them to my sister, who's fallen out with the rest of the congregation at First Christian Church (aka Disciples of Christ) who all adore Trump. Nearest one's about an hour away from them though.

 

[8den]

I am forever reminded why I stay away from the cesspool known as "Twitter." Is there anyone on there who has a mental age over 16?

The ridiculous thing is of course it would never happen because collectively the Republican Party would lose their fucking minds. Never mind tha CC has I think at least a doctorate in international relations and therefore is remotely qualified to be at that table, unlike Ivanka is a glorified sweat shop owner who doesant understand the meaning of the word complicit and keeps trying to use to use "architect" as a transitive verb.

 

[CRI]

The Revolution Is in the Projects—Grenfell Tower and the New Working Class

Interesting piece about the "forgotten" working class, drawing parallels between the UK and the US.

Those buildings go by many names around the world. “The projects,” here in the United States; “council flats” in the United Kingdom; “commie blocks” in Canada. But their residents are part of a global constituency of the new working class: multiracial, often with women-led households, who labor not in factories but in civil service jobs, sweatshops, and service industry positions.

THESE are the people the Democrats must engage to win in 2018 and 2020 (provided there will be anything like free or fair elections by then.)

 

[spring-peeper]

The Revolution Is in the Projects—Grenfell Tower and the New Working Class

"commie blocks" in Canada

What is a commie block and where is Canada are these places?

 

[CRI]

What is a commie block and where is Canada are these places?

I have no idea. The author is a Puerto Rican American from the South Bronx in New York. It's about the only reference to Canada in the piece.

 

[DotCommunist]

the light industry sector is what we would call sweatshops, when they are particularly shit employers. Thats stitching, CNC, Pick n Pack, Forklift, Machine operator and so on. Bottling, box making, food production lines. Light industry is also factory work. I've done it myself in many sectors, usually through agencies and in a post-industrial town.

 

[DotCommunist]

its nice to see an article that tells me about how I've worked among multi-ethnic and 50/50 gender split at the lower end for ever though. The scales fall from my coal-dust fouled eyes etc

 

[redsquirrel]

Pretty blistering critique of Trump from ABC ‘Uneasy, lonely, awkward figure’: Brutal Trump take-down

Makes a good point that he goes on about defending Western values/institutions but spends his time fighting the US judiciary, free press, government bodies etc.

It's a terrible smug liberal piece of shite. About as blistering as being hit by a wet lettuce leaf and utterly uncomprehending of why Trump managed to win.

Ohhh, he's not behaving presidentially enough! How terrible.

 

[ohmyliver]

Trump Jr. Was Told in Email of Russian Effort to Aid Campaign

Another incremental step. NYT are reporting ' Before arranging a meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer he believed would offer him compromising information about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. was informed in an email that the material was part of a Russian government effort to aid his father’s candidacy, according to three people with knowledge of the email.'

 

[CrabbedOne]

Interesting table. I actually thought the Nazarenes would be closer to the bottom. All the churches bar the Catholics (but they weren't regarded as properly Christian by the other churches) where I grew up were against things like alcohol, card games, dancing and premarital sex. The Nazarenes also frowned on tobacco, chewing gum and I think fizzy soft drinks. The brother of a school friend joined and had to quit his job at the News stand because they sold all those things - they were that strict.

Church of Christ, Assembly of God, Church of God, Disciples of Christ, Baptists (General, Free Will, First, Second, Missionary and Primitive varieties) and Methodists (also in several flavours) are the most common in the county, but in the county town, there's a Presbyterian and a small Lutheran Church. All were anti drink and sex, a few were okay with cards and dancing, or were a yes to line dancing but a no to ballroom. I know, it makes no sense.

Round my way Free Presbyterian's used look on line dancing as the work of Satan. I had a Plymouth Brethren grandmother. She left when they started insisting she could not break bread with non-PB kin. Her husband was a bit of a religious maniac always handing out tracts and so prone to give money to needy strangers in acts of Christian charity he could not be trusted to run a shop. It was probably PTSD. He'd been buried by shell fire on the Somme and later gassed. A devout Baptist aunt lost the last of her three kids partly because her Evangelical beliefs made her shy of modern medicine. Though these people did get great compensation from their faith in lives full of hard knocks and were never adverse to education. The pattern in N.I. is often part of the family has rampaging substance abuse problems while another is fervently Godly with occasional player swaps. That Hillbilly Elegy fella reported something similar. It makes for interesting wakes.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Politico Big in Japan: How the EU pulled off its largest trade deal

...
Talks had become so bogged down and embittered by the end of 2015 that Mauro Petriccione, the EU’s chief negotiator, warned that Brussels could face a terminal credibility crisis if negotiations dragged on much longer without a breakthrough.

Negotiations limped on through 2016 until U.S. President Donald Trump’s election in November suddenly forged an entirely new political dynamic. In January, the protectionist president pulled the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries. In an instant, the game had changed.

Trump’s rejection of the TPP was a devastating blow to Tokyo, which had long seen the U.S. as the cornerstone of its foreign policy and the guarantor of its security in the face of Chinese naval expansion and North Korean missile launches. For weeks, Japanese officials were in denial and still held out hope that the TPP might survive.

In February, Japanese Prime Minister Abe made a last-ditch attempt to cozy up to Trump by going off to play golf with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Shortly afterward, the Japanese realized it was time to switch horses and make a big push for a European deal. Free trade is a key pillar of the prime minister’s policy of “Abenomics” to jolt the economy out of decades of cryogenic stasis, and it became clear that the EU was now the most obvious partner.

“Sometimes I felt that we could never conclude this one, but sometimes the wind comes from another way and suddenly accelerates [talks],” said Japan’s foreign ministry spokesman, Norio Maruyama, after the deal was agreed at a political level on Thursday.

In March, Abe visited European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to try to breathe new life into the EU talks. Diplomats say the process was dramatically catalyzed by the intervention of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who made it clear she wanted a deal before the G20 meeting in Hamburg in July, where she could parade the Brussels-Tokyo pact as a direct rebuke to Trump‘s protectionism.
...

What a difference a Trump makes.

Also notable for the phrase: “We’re not fucking Burundi!” That could come in hand in post-Brexit talks with Trump.

 

[hash tag]

He didn't won't visit us this year because he did not want to see large scale protests. I understand that he is now planning to visit these shores in 2018 - not sure what difference a few months will make? I would like to know the dates to make sure I can book the time of work and show mt feelings for him.

 

[Idris2002]

What is a commie block and where is Canada are these places?

Anywhere they vote NDP.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On Politico On Russia, White House struggles to stick to a script

...
“What’s undeniable is that they’re burning their capital and doing so in two key places, both at home and perhaps more importantly on the international stage,” said Ned Price, who was a spokesman for the National Security Council in the Obama White House and worked for the CIA during George W. Bush’s presidency.

Differing accounts of meetings with a foreign adversary is nothing new, he noted — what is new is the American side’s lack of credibility.

“It used to be the case that Americans would assume the Russians were just lying,” he said, but after Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims about everything from mass voter fraud to illegal wiretapping, that credibility is in doubt. “You are left wondering which side is more credible, and it’s not only with regard to Russia.”

On the international stage, allies are left scratching their heads. At home, the political ramifications are clear: when Russia is in the headlines, actual governing becomes a good deal more difficult.

“There’s a general frustration with the lack of message discipline — that’s putting it lightly,” said one senior GOP Capitol Hill aide. “That’s just another distraction that keeps us from being able to break through” on legislative priorities such as health care and tax reform.

The recent spree of differing accounts is hardly the first time the White House has struggled to push a cohesive message. Top aides and even Vice President Mike Pence previously declared that Trump fired FBI Director James Comey because of a recommendation from the Justice Department, only for Trump to contradict that rationale days later. And press secretary Sean Spicer once famously said the administration’s travel ban was not a “ban” — even though Trump has called it just that both before and since Spicer’s comment.

One White House official said the conflicting narratives and stories were often because people simply don’t know the truth and were just trying to stick with what Trump had said on Twitter, a potentially dangerous proposition given Trump’s penchant for contradicting statements.

For example, few White House officials were aware if Trump talked about sanctions with Putin, this person said, given the limited number of people in the room. Trump himself said on Twitter he had not, but the White House has since corrected him.
...

Actually here I tend to believe Lavrov because even a veteran abuser of truth like him is more credible than Trump. The Russians are skilled at misinformation and can at least get their story straight. The trouble is Trump can't seem to do that. Most politicians lie tactically but Trump's so deceitful even his staff are confused. This is a really terrible quality in a manager. Though it probably works well enough when flipping real estate and marketing the family brand.

 

[TomUS]

He didn't won't visit us this year because he did not want to see large scale protests. I understand that he is now planning to visit these shores in 2018 - not sure what difference a few months will make? I would like to know the dates to make sure I can book the time of work and show mt feelings for him.

Please have a huge turn out and give him a warm UK welcome....very warm.

 

[DotCommunist]

I though he wanted to skulk on his shitty scottish golf resort rather than face the wrath of the people

 

[2hats]

I though he wanted to skulk on his shitty scottish golf resort rather than face the wrath of the people

If I wanted to avoid people mocking me by baring their arses in my general direction I would definitely loiter in a locality where no one had a legitimate reason for walking around butt naked in a garment that can readily be adjusted to expose the nether regions.

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

A majority of Republicans in a new survey think colleges and universities have a negative effect on the U.S.

The Pew Research Center poll finds 58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents think colleges and universities hurt the country.

Just 36 percent of Republicans think they have a positive effect.

Poll: Most Republicans say colleges have negative impact on US

Not a good sign at all. Isn't demonizing higher education and educated people one of the steps toward totalitarianism?

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

And just for J Ed:

Ralph Nader: The Democrats Are Unable to Defend the U.S. from the “Most Vicious” Republican Party in History

 

[CrabbedOne]

Poll: Most Republicans say colleges have negative impact on US

Not a good sign at all.

That's a very revealing poll:

Note the parts on the left. Fair number of Dems rather Churchy and Banky. Both parties divided on the latter. Fair few Republicans not so down on organised labour while a not much smaller chunk of Dems dislike that. Shows how diverse the parties are internally in their views of institutions.

Hating on them pointed headed academic types definitely the new black among Republicans. That might be the dumbing down Trump effect looking at the dates.

Young and poor Republicans are more sympathetic with this book learning business; still minorities but it's not all bad. However it's a bit shocking how few Republicans in the better off and grads-post-grad groups value higher education as these are the people who benefitted most from it. This is reversed with Dems. These will be the people shaping future GOP policy. That's real bad.

I also note that Republicans are falling back in love with banks. Little bit extra love for unions as well.

That opens up some interesting lines of attack on swing voters. Trump's been strongly anti-union but something stirring in the GOP base. I'd be pushing on plutocrats weakening unions being at the root of Blue Collar woes not least because this is true and unions may be key to wider mobilisation. Though it looks like bashing Wall St may be slowly running out of steam after 08. Tea Party anger perhaps dissipating as faith in capitalism surges back; till the next crash that is. Might explain why all the Goldman critters in Trump's cabinet haven't upset GOP folk much.

 

[ohmyliver]

Russian Dirt on Clinton? ‘I Love It,’ Donald Trump Jr. Said

The NYT has the email thread setting up the meeting, The references to Russia's crown prosecutor does give it a bit of a 419 tinge.

 

[CrabbedOne]

On The Hill The county that gave Clinton only 5 votes

...
The widening divide has changed the way both Democrats and Republicans run their political campaigns. Presidential campaigns in recent years have become more negative, bent on either depressing a rival’s vote or inspiring one’s own base to show up.

Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign team buried Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) under more negative advertisements than any previous campaign in history — until his 2012 campaign eclipsed them in the race to define Mitt Romney and until 2016, when Clinton’s team ran an almost entirely negative campaign against Trump.

Said another way: Mobilizing voters has become more politically profitable than persuading those in the middle to join a side.

The vastly different experiences of Red America and Blue America since the end of the recession have contributed to a political sort as well, said Tom Bonier, a Democratic demographics analyst. While big cities and suburban areas have recovered and grown, rural America is struggling just to return to pre-recession levels.

“The best predictor for how you were going to vote in this election was how you felt about the economy,” Bonier said. “If you felt like the economy was in fair, excellent or good condition, you were overwhelmingly likely to vote Clinton.”
...

And Clinton did smash it in mostly thriving California taking even Orange County. Losing by fine margins in swing states some of which she neglected to even campaign in while Trump crafted an ambiguous message designed to appeal widely there and held his big old fashioned rallies. Clinton read the polls while Trump played to the crowd and tuned his message. Forget all the data analytics Clinton had that as well. I'd credit his instincts and luck.

The other thing is it's the perception of the economy that mattered as much as the reality. That's also partisan and driven by the media. It's basically much the same now as under Obama but GOP voters think it's much improved as Fox etc tell them it is and will get better while Dems are pessimistic and not as impressed as they were.

Article explores the partisan divide in the US with the two parties supporters generally very alienated from each other. People simply don't mix with the other side or have any understanding of them. The example county in the headline is an hour and a half East of Lubbock Texas which says a lot. Increasing successful multi-cultural cities where liberals cluster like Austin versus more homogenous rural counties. A lot of which in Texas are turning Latino majority and often leaving some both feeling swamped and not doing so well. Rural votes carry more weight proportionally especially as Texas was cunningly redistricted. The Lone Star state ended up in loopy Freedom Caucus hands. That long New Yorker piece above by Lawrence Wright goes into it in detail. This is a problem for liberals as they may increasingly outnumber conservatives but their demographic advantage is not well distributed across electoral districts.

Progressive policy preferences that play well in the cities also can mobilise rural voters against them. The culture wars, higher taxes to support services and things like gun control provide obvious own goals. Even policies that we now see actually helped large numbers of rural voters like Obamacare didn't come with a focus on selling the idea to them. Actually that was sometimes sold as a Civil Rights issue aimed at helping minority communities which in retrospect probably did get Dem voters out but was in some ways this was blinkered. Rural voters in fact face far higher healthcare costs and often have low incomes. For example premiums in Alaska are extortionate +30K PA. Yet this wasn't front and centre to counter visceral GOP agitprop that the AHA was about redistributing to poor urban folks or worse reparations for slavery.