Tuesday, June 19, 2018

John Meachem Sees America as "Three Universes Colliding"


This is one of those clips you really need to watch.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blah, blah, blah as if Americans are going to stand up and get rid of their dumb bell.

The Mound of Sound said...


That's a profound remark, Anon. Why did you bother?

the salamander said...

.. we need such insights more and more..
Interesting he goes back to Lincoln..
but connects to today in an incisive way..
Thanks !

Watching and hearing Trump drone on
and Hannity, Bannon, Giuliani et al (all spineless)
One wonders at their stupidity and practiced duplicity
They work the base over and over and over
while claiming the Law is on their side
not to mention the Bible

The Mound of Sound said...


Apparently, in Hannity's case, he really is very stupid. Some of his former FOX colleagues claims Hannity believes what he's saying. Wow.

Jay Farquharson said...

https://www.balloon-juice.com/2018/06/19/where-are-the-toddlers-and-the-girls/#comments

John B. said...

The invitation to the huddled masses and wretched refuse was somewhat more effortless to extend in the days when there was still some land yet to be stolen from the Indians or otherwise unsettled. It probably should have been rescinded years ago or at least limited to those providing a best fit for the Harvest-of-Shame model of labour economics. How expensive would the engraving have been?

Another stupid question: when did Sessions get to be a General?

The Mound of Sound said...


John B., you're referring to Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, all of them named for Jefferson Davis and Gen. PGT Beauregard who opened hostilities with the bombardment of Ft. Sumter.

For all that, J.B. Sessions has never held a rank in the US military. I've heard him called "general" twice lately. Perhaps it's too hard to get out the first three syllables of attorney-general.

As you've probably guessed, when I heard it I went off to do a little checking on General Sessions.

Northern PoV said...

from yesterday's G&M, Ed Whitcomb gives excellent advice to the lil-canucks-speak-truth-to-power crowd:

"But some of our arguments and statements have been pointless, if not contradictory, and it’s time to drop them.

First, do not tell Americans what is good for them, how many jobs depend on this or that export, and how many states do a lot of business with Canada. Americans are among the shrewdest traders in history, and they do not need foreigners telling them how their economy works or what is good for them.

Second, stop saying, “No one wins a trade war.” The fact that both sides endure costs does not mean no one wins: the Allies won the Second World War at a cost of millions of casualties. If there is a trade war, the U.S. will win, and any American who doesn’t understand that there will be costs won’t listen to anyone who says there will be.

Third, by all means say that Canada will stand up for its interests, but never say that it won’t be pushed around. That implies there is a bully, and they don’t like to be called out.

Fourth, stop saying we will “continue” to be polite, when our Prime Minister has just, in effect, called the U.S. President a bully, while our constant lectures on the advantages of NAFTA are a trifle condescending.

Fifth, make the best case for Canada’s interests and accept that Americans are clever enough to make the best case for theirs. Stop imagining that all our trade depends on NAFTA, or that all the additional trade created by NAFTA will disappear if the treaty does not survive.

Sixth, start taking the hard decisions we have been avoiding because of our easy access to the most dynamic economy in the world. For example, reducing our internal barriers to trade, our excessive regulations, our high taxes and big deficits. Europeans and others do many things better than Canadians – it’s time to stop bragging and start copying.

Finally, instead of repeating that the United States helped establish multilateral institutions before Mr. Trump was born, recognize that a majority of Americans are probably protectionists now, a majority are Republicans, Trump won almost 50 per cent of the vote and his core base is larger than that of almost any government in Canada."

Anonymous said...

N PoV- you are assuming “America” is a single rational entity. It ain’t no more.

UU

The Mound of Sound said...


Yeah, but it just quit the UN Human Rights Council in disgust. I thought that a bit rich for a democracy that no longer is, that has effectively abolished habeas corpus so that it can imprison people indefinitely with neither charge nor trial, that has the worst inequality and social outcomes in the OECD (by far), that conquers smaller countries with no legitimate casus belli, that is considered, world-wide and by a big margin, the greatest threat to world peace, that suppresses minorities and coddles racists and, ultimately, that has turned abjectly fascist.

Anonymous said...

Your forgot the "III." I believe it's pronounced "da turd."

Cap

Trailblazer said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
N PoV- you are assuming “America” is a single rational entity. It ain’t no more.

There is some agreement with your statement.

http://www.businessinsider.com/regional-differences-united-states-2018-1

TB

The Mound of Sound said...


Trailblazer - I think you would like Chuck Thompson's "Better Off Without 'Em." The author looks at how the North and the South would be happier today if they were divided as the South wanted in the Civil War. It's humorous but it's also very insightful. Then see if your library has a copy of Wilkinson and Pickett's "The Spirit Level." Two leading epidemiologists apply the science of their discipline to dissect American states by relative inequality. It's eye-opening. Red states score far worse on everything from prison rates, to longevity, poverty, unwed pregnancy, education, venereal disease, divorce, pornography - everything that undermines and degrades a society. That's where Trump's base is strongest. Blue State America funds Washington that, in turn, subsidizes Redneck Red State America. "Idiocracy" does exist in the United States and it's precisely where Trump draws his support.