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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 30 to 54 of 93. Go back in thread:
Posted by beckett2 on October 5, 2018, at 13:45:36
In reply to Fun, posted by sigismund on October 1, 2018, at 3:53:31
The vote is in a few hours, and while there is a flicker of hope, I have a bad feeling, similar to election night.
Her piece, I wish, had mainstream publication because it should be read. Without going issue by hot button issue, her discussion of torture touched on all that is wrong with Kavanaugh. He is craven, self pitying, weak, a bully. I've mentioned he frightens me when he brays about reaping a whirlwind. He threatened over half the population with his partisan outbursts since over half the population vote democratically, but gerrymandering for one obscures this number.
Trump, Gina Haspel, Kavanaugh. His confirmation hearing was as she points out, a miniature of his attitude of disregard for suffering and dignity. I don't believe he once said to Blasey Ford he was sympathetic to her suffering, even if he didn't do it.
I was live streaming the senate remarks before the first vote (the vote to move to vote), and I was gobsmacked and angered by the dearth of creativity in everyone's remarks (I don't know if Kamala Harris spoke. She is a refreshing exception to this rule.) Left and right the same tired workhorses trotted forth. I muted McConnell after a minute because he is so despicable and all was a diarrhea of partisan blah blah bullsh*t.
Besides condoning torture, he aslo lied about receiving stolen emails. He claims he had no knowledge, even though he forwarded one with the subject heading 'Spying'. The emails were stolen (phished) democratic strategies from a mole within democratic headquarters.
Posted by sigismund on October 6, 2018, at 20:06:19
In reply to Re: Fun » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 5, 2018, at 13:45:36
Posted by beckett2 on October 8, 2018, at 19:51:17
In reply to Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 6, 2018, at 20:06:19
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpjHV1UQng
I missed this somehow, I guess because of my liberal tears shed over the SCOTUS. I'll look at it.
The only joy of the past few days was the shredding of Banksy's painting.
Posted by beckett2 on October 8, 2018, at 23:47:30
In reply to Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 6, 2018, at 20:06:19
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpjHV1UQng
Thank you. I understood some of this, and I figure if I listen/watch other videos, I'll understand more.
Posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 14:42:07
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 8, 2018, at 23:47:30
Well, he can speak and think quickly and some of it goes over my head.
I liked it because it suggests a way out of the divisive impasse.
Posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 15:03:40
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 14:42:07
I guess you have read this......
Posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth, posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 15:03:40
> I guess you have read this......
>
> https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/06/kavanaugh-confirmation-temperament-yale-dean-221086I haven't, but I've left it on a tab. After the confirmation, I had to back away out of self preservation. The entire process was just-- it's all about being bullied now. That's frightening.
Someone was describing the US as a rogue superpower. As example, they gave the trade agreements the US has forced out of and upon Canada.
Posted by sigismund on October 9, 2018, at 23:40:14
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
I'm not surprised you feel bad about this. Allowing for a pretty dodgy foreign policy since forever, what has become of the USA in my lifetime is one of the tragedies of the age. I remember how the USA was viewed in my parents time.
Posted by sigismund on October 17, 2018, at 16:34:16
In reply to Re: Mark Blyth » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 9, 2018, at 21:11:23
was talking to a Japanese chef (I guess) and one said
'The Grateful Dead are boring'
to which the other replied
'There isn't enough acid in the whole of Berkley to make them interesting'.But is this really the case?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmg_PALJXs
If you're up for some advice from Andrew Bacevich to Elizabeth Warren
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 1:28:52
In reply to Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by sigismund on October 17, 2018, at 16:34:16
> was talking to a Japanese chef (I guess) and one said
>
> 'The Grateful Dead are boring'
> to which the other replied
> 'There isn't enough acid in the whole of Berkley to make them interesting'.
>
> But is this really the case?
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGmg_PALJXsSome of their songs I really like. Maybe because the time in my life I heard them and the heavy rotation on NY FM radio. I dunno. Lots of folks find them the aural equivalent of paint drying, esp in CA.
>
> If you're up for some advice from Andrew Bacevich to Elizabeth Warren
>
> https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/10/16/unsolicited-advice-for-an-undeclared-presidential-candidate-a-letter-to-elizabeth-warren/Admittedly, I'm tired atm, and it's late. I've left the tab open to Bacevich to read tomorrow. Warren has been on my mind because I'm not convinced she's up for the actual battle. He's already had her produce a dna test, which, to me, means he's defining the argument as he as with others. I think Kamala Harris could kick his *ss in a debate, but she is early in her career.
I did read the first paragraph, and so Bacevich will likely discuss the military further. But I believe trump loves war because he's enchanted by power, It's to him as blood to a tick. I don't doubt that if he's up against the wall, he'll create a distraction w/o caring the death his cover would cause. Maybe I'm wrong, but this is something that keeps me awake some nights.
Today he threatened to send the military to our southern border. More and more people are held in immigrant detention where they are now working for nothing and without medical care. Yes, snakes whisper in his ear but only music to which he is susceptible.
I'm beginning to rant. Apologies for the drama :/
What do you think about trump and military conflict?
Posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 4:52:10
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 1:28:52
>What do you think about trump and military conflict?
Send him in to lead the army. Honestly, I don't know what to make of him. The only time I could say I almost but not quite liked him (I was at least amused) was when he got Steffanny/Strormy (bloody English spelling) to spank him with a rolled up copy of Forbes Magazine with the family on the cover. (It made me laugh.) Many racists are not prime examples of the breeding they profess. You would know the list with the Nazis.
I imagine he is wanting to do Iran after the midterms, depending on how that goes. Rephrasing Chairman Mao, political power grows out of narcissism. Well, some sort of power. The West is cactus. (I was reading about General George Marshall in China.) I am not more uncomfortable with Trump than CNN. Should I have to stoop to say that?
I will write later when less tired. That version of Morning Dew has some lovely guitar playing, like swallows in flight.
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 16:08:40
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 4:52:10
I used to be very optimistic in an odd way for someone with chronic depression and personal pessimism. Now I write horrible, angry, bitter comments like above. Sure, I was angry over injustice, esp environmental injustices, but now I can barely shut off how obsessed and bitter I feel. Bitterness stings. It robs. However, when I thought my heart would break again over Kavanaugh, I was able to spin (on my wheel). So that's progress.
Posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 16:08:40
Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
But is it appropriate?
If not now, when?
The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
He replied 'Only 28?'
I think he understood.
Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:54:19
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
> Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
>
> It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
>
> But is it appropriate?
>
> If not now, when?
>
> The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
>
> I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
>
> He replied 'Only 28?'
>
> I think he understood.
>
> Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.What? Like ok to use the word white?
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:56:08
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 19, 2018, at 19:44:40
> Well, I was thinking about my bitterness today.
>
> It's not helpful. (Be the change you want to see.)
>
> But is it appropriate?
>
> If not now, when?
>
> The Australian parliament just had a vote on a motion about whether it was OK to be white.
>
> I told my friend here that 28 members had voted in favour.
>
> He replied 'Only 28?'
>
> I think he understood.
>
> Just as well we have no serious problems (other than this) ahead of us.I think your bitterness is softer. Maybe sadder?
Posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:59:44
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:56:08
There's this from today's Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/oct/18/stunned-then-shocked-race-adviser-tasered-by-police-is-targeted-again
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:25:45
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » sigismund, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:54:19
I am just making this up, but some people feel that cultural marxism has threatened the identity of white people who are now subject to the same discrimination as everyone else. So cultural Marxism has replaced the Politics of Envy as the Get Out of jail Free card.
I might even hazard a guess that all those coloured people threaten us by socialising together (talking together in groups!), thus the Sudanese gangs. in Melbourne that Dutton, backed by Murdoch and company, were using to get rid of Turnbull. Why should decent Mums and Dads feel threatened by groups of black (really black) young (probably handsome) young men in the streets. The movements of the politics of envy over they years is interesting.
Fortunately all Australian political parties have passed motions declaring themselves non-racist. So that fixes that. This is like King Canute.
I wouldn't call my tone here bitter. Scornful is more like it.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by beckett2 on October 19, 2018, at 19:59:44
In the US a 93 yo woman was at a demonstration. There must have been a disturbance. She faced a police officer. 'Come on! Tazer me, you bastard! I dare you.'
So he did.Where we live a 16 yo boy ran naked into the street at 3 in the morning yelling for water. Acid? Meth? He refused to obey (couldn't hear or make sense of?) a reasonable police order (Stay still? Stop asking for water?) so they (four of them, I think) tazered him 16 times and beat him up with their batons. All captured on cctv. If I say 'This is the price of freedom', is that bitter? That's what Bill O'Reilly said after Las Vegas. What about 'tough love'? (a concept popularised in a book from the Reagan years, although in his defence I should mention the words from Crimmond (sp?) 'For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff me comfort still'.
'We go to great efforts to avoid violence, using the least injurious methods of control.' Irony?
When I was a kid some police officers might have said, 'What's the matter, son? What are you doing out here with no clothes in the middle of the night? Here, take my coat, put it around you, come down to the station and have some water and a cup tea and we will see what we can do for you.' (Sounds like John Wayne trying to be gracious.)
Or was that how we imagined ourselves to be? You knew better than to be out there like that.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:05:47
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
Auden is sounding more appropriate, don't you think?
In the nightmare of the dark
All the dogs of Europe bark,
And the living nations wait,
Each sequestered in its hate;Intellectual disgrace
Stares from every human face,
And the seas of pity lie
Locked and frozen in each eye.Follow, poet, follow right
To the bottom of the night,
With your unconstraining voice
Still persuade us to rejoice;With the farming of a verse
Make a vineyard of the curse,
Sing of human unsuccess
In a rapture of distress;In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.
Posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:49:29
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:05:47
From one of our better journalists.......
Maybe some Liberals and Nationals actually believe there is anti-white racism in Australia. That white Australians suffer under the burden of living significantly longer lives than Indigenous Australians. That we endure the xenophobic torment of having better health and fewer chronic diseases. That we suffer the apartheid of better access to health and education services. That we are forced to live with greater wealth, more and better-paying jobs, and greater economic opportunity than non-whites. After all, is there not a Closing The Gap program to address exactly these kinds of racial injustices for whites?
Lets Godwin this garbage. Yes, lets go there. This is how Nazism grabbed power in Germany, by being indulged and legitimised and enabled by conservative politicians for their own political purposes. What was the Coalitions political purpose? Presumably to keep in Hansons good books so as to ensure their chances of securing legislative outcomes in the Senate. As if their experience with Hanson on company tax cuts hadnt shown them that Hanson lacks both the brains and basic decency to either stick to a policy position or a commitment once shes given it.
The job of fighting fascism isnt merely one for progressives and centrists. Conservatives also have a crucial role conservatives with decency, values, a belief in protecting institutions and an understanding of history.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 14:45:32
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain » beckett2, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:25:45
> I am just making this up, but some people feel that cultural marxism has threatened the identity of white people who are now subject to the same discrimination as everyone else. So cultural Marxism has replaced the Politics of Envy as the Get Out of jail Free card.
>
> I might even hazard a guess that all those coloured people threaten us by socialising together (talking together in groups!), thus the Sudanese gangs. in Melbourne that Dutton, backed by Murdoch and company, were using to get rid of Turnbull. Why should decent Mums and Dads feel threatened by groups of black (really black) young (probably handsome) young men in the streets. The movements of the politics of envy over they years is interesting.
>
> Fortunately all Australian political parties have passed motions declaring themselves non-racist. So that fixes that. This is like King Canute.
>
> I wouldn't call my tone here bitter. Scornful is more like it.Ok, I don't know Australian politics, and I was alarmed (and startled) that Morrison grabbed onto Trump. So maybe this above has to do with that.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 15:03:54
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:53:17
> In the US a 93 yo woman was at a demonstration. There must have been a disturbance. She faced a police officer. 'Come on! Tazer me, you bastard! I dare you.'
> So he did.
>
> Where we live a 16 yo boy ran naked into the street at 3 in the morning yelling for water. Acid? Meth? He refused to obey (couldn't hear or make sense of?) a reasonable police order (Stay still? Stop asking for water?) so they (four of them, I think) tazered him 16 times and beat him up with their batons. All captured on cctv. If I say 'This is the price of freedom', is that bitter? That's what Bill O'Reilly said after Las Vegas. What about 'tough love'? (a concept popularised in a book from the Reagan years, although in his defence I should mention the words from Crimmond (sp?) 'For thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff me comfort still'.
>
> 'We go to great efforts to avoid violence, using the least injurious methods of control.' Irony?
>
> When I was a kid some police officers might have said, 'What's the matter, son? What are you doing out here with no clothes in the middle of the night? Here, take my coat, put it around you, come down to the station and have some water and a cup tea and we will see what we can do for you.' (Sounds like John Wayne trying to be gracious.)
>
> Or was that how we imagined ourselves to be? You knew better than to be out there like that.I've pointedly instructed my son on how to behave around law enforcement. You're right, I think, (that before tasers), police had less recourse to over-exerting force. Common sense would be you talk to someone, and when you're tasering them, you realize your command to cooperate might not be obeyed because the suspect (?) was convulsing. So hold off shooting.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 15:41:10
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 5:49:29
> From one of our better journalists.......
>
> Maybe some Liberals and Nationals actually believe there is anti-white racism in Australia. That white Australians suffer under the burden of living significantly longer lives than Indigenous Australians. That we endure the xenophobic torment of having better health and fewer chronic diseases. That we suffer the apartheid of better access to health and education services. That we are forced to live with greater wealth, more and better-paying jobs, and greater economic opportunity than non-whites. After all, is there not a Closing The Gap program to address exactly these kinds of racial injustices for whites?
> Lets Godwin this garbage. Yes, lets go there. This is how Nazism grabbed power in Germany, by being indulged and legitimised and enabled by conservative politicians for their own political purposes. What was the Coalitions political purpose? Presumably to keep in Hansons good books so as to ensure their chances of securing legislative outcomes in the Senate. As if their experience with Hanson on company tax cuts hadnt shown them that Hanson lacks both the brains and basic decency to either stick to a policy position or a commitment once shes given it.
> The job of fighting fascism isnt merely one for progressives and centrists. Conservatives also have a crucial role conservatives with decency, values, a belief in protecting institutions and an understanding of history.Lots of Godwinning going on. Maybe that is what trump was referring to when he said we'd be winning so much, we'd get tired of winning.
Posted by beckett2 on October 20, 2018, at 16:12:32
In reply to Re: Anthony Bourdain, posted by sigismund on October 20, 2018, at 4:59:12
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoIIio5ffi4
I don't know him. Joanna Newsom accompanied him (apparently; I just read), and he influenced her. I can hear it clearly in this song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXPFfgdxp9o
Her brother is running for CA governor, another event I'm nervous about because I'm pretty happy with our current governor who is terming out. Not sure Newsom has the necessary gravitas to keep our state steady. We have 44 lawsuits against the trump administration--and our attorney general is up, too. We are great irritant.I'm a dodo, I know, but I didn't realize how deep racism is in Australia. Similarly, the US was born with racism, First Nation and slavery. Technology has it's way? Thinking about how much crueler the police can be behind tasers. I need my coffee, my thoughts are half thoughts.
You must have a great vinyl collection. I'm enjoying Stormcock right now. But on Apple Music (sorry!)
Last night my family was watching Cold Mountain and at a point I left the room. The movie is not particularly notable except for the inclusion of a terrible event from our civil war. https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/the-battle-of-the-crater/
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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
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