Ruminations – 13feb17 (updated 14feb17)

February 2017
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Ruminations – 13feb17 (updated 14feb17)

13 February 2017

George Rebane

Americans have always been told to keep their powder dry; well, the Democrats want you to let government take over that job.

Systemic unemployment, in conjunction with the Singularity a much discussed issue on these pages over the years, is now beginning to draw the attention of more and more analysts, commentators, and media outlets. A reader and correspondent picked up this piece from PJ Media that acknowledges (here) that the disappearing jobs (even for the middle class) will not be replaced by new jobs to re-employ the growing cohort of the permanently redundant.

[update] Mr George Boardman, our intrepid columnist in The Union, today echoes (here) the liberal line that longtime school choice advocate and now SecEd Betsy DeVos is “unqualified” for her new job; so unqualified in fact that progressive punks physically denied her access to a school she was scheduled to visit. But the real question for Mr Boardman is ‘If DeVos is an unqualified SecEd, what did all her qualified predecessors accomplish for America’s public education during the preceding decades?’ Take your time.

[14feb17 update] A passing note on retired Gen Flynn’s resignation. He did the right thing to resign. And he did the right thing to talk to his Russian contacts as a member of the duly elected incoming president’s team – such a conversation was neither a first in our history nor a violation of the Logan Act. And he was unbelievably foolish to lie to VP Pence about the affair; it was for that that he had to go.

Posted in Critical Thinking & Numeracy, Our World, Singularity Signposts

184 responses to “Ruminations – 13feb17 (updated 14feb17)”

BradC

16 February 2017

Interesting article on the Johnson amendment that Trump wants to do away with, https://trust.guidestar.org/perspectives-on-the-johnson-amendment?utm_campaign=GuideStar+Newsletters+-+Individuals&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=42749684&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8FJ1s2AbwBj-TIcEePtolf_5hz6I-nNFtyhIjiv_b3X3RExCMwC3rvZX637SzrcBCRWqYvrnnVZNFwwcJwwVTpIOkfEA&_hsmi=42749684

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fish

16 February 2017

Oh Barry….you have truly saved us all!

THE OTHER SIDE OF OBAMACARE: Millions Excluded from Obamacare Aid, Pass on Coverage.

“It’s hard to tell people who don’t see health care needs in the year ahead that they should be paying premiums and higher deductibles to make the system work for everyone else,” says JoAnn Volk, a senior research professor at Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms. “But the going-in idea is that you’ll need health insurance at some point.”
To 42-year-old Tiffany, one of several people U.S. News spoke with whose last names are being withheld to protect their privacy, the costs of coverage to her and her husband this year were overwhelming: $1,221.20 per month, with an $11,700 deductible. If they were to divorce, they realized, they would qualify for cheaper coverage. Alternatively, Tiffany’s husband, who is self-employed, would need to make an extra $20,000 a year to make up the difference once medication and doctor visits are factored in.
Though the option of ending their 17-year marriage wasn’t truly on the table, to them it accentuated the lack of options they faced this year. The Columbus, Ohio-area residents already had been unhappy with the plan they bought the previous year, finding that it covered few of the services they needed. Their regular medical needs include providing medication for a daughter with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and another with mild asthma.
As a family of five making between $115,000 and $125,000 a year, they did not qualify for subsidies. And doctors in the plans available were far away.
“This year, I just cried,” Tiffany says of the moment she saw how much insurance was going to cost them. “I’m not an emotional person. I was just floored. I completely shut down because there were no options.”

Somebody needs to tell JoAnn Volk that the choice between going broke now for certain, or taking a chance on going broke later, is no choice at all.
Anyway, ObamaCare sticks it to the middle and upper-middle class because, as Willie Sutton is supposed to have said, that’s where the money is.

http://www.usnews.com/news/health-care-news/articles/2017-02-15/priced-out-of-obamacare-some-americans-forgo-coverage

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ScenesFromTheApocalypse

16 February 2017

re: BradC@7:01AM
Isn’t ACORN a 501(c)(3)?
It looks to me like a rule set which can be abused by a partisan administration (hint: they all are) to shut down a desired group. A weaponized IRS is not such a good thing for anybody.

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Paul Emery

16 February 2017

Gregory can you remind us why Trump got rid of Flynn ? It seems like it has something to do with lack of trust What do you think that means ? N

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ScenesFromTheApocalypse

16 February 2017

re: Fish@7:23AM
With US yearly per capita health care spending at over $10k, I can’t say that I’m surprised by high premiums for anyone, especially people who are 40 or over.

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fish

16 February 2017

Stupid html code…..

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Don Bessee

16 February 2017

Poor ol’ PE, so burdened with questions and totally bereft of answers. 😉

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Todd Juvinall

16 February 2017

Trump plus 10 today. Paul? Paul? Paul?

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Paul Emery

16 February 2017

Yes in one poll. Way behind in most of the others.

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Paul Emery

16 February 2017

For your reading pleasure Todd:
Check these out and get back to me. Thanks for your interest in polling.
http://pollingreport.com/djt_job.htm
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

@8:11
Well Todd, you had to bring up polls, didn’t ya. That is like a full moon over the nut house for the disabled one. It has already fired off two waste of space comments. Why Todd, why? Well, it could have been worse. Slow news day again.
https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1028573570610013/?type=3&theater

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Don Bessee

16 February 2017

Rasmussen has The President at 55% approval you poor ol’ poll head PE. Still no answers PE? 😉

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Don Bessee

16 February 2017

Now that you have had your poll fix PE will you be able to hold a conversation sans your BDS and TURD issues? 😉

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

Since Dr. Rebane has closed comments to the latest Sandbox, and since this post covers 3 topics (unemployment, Mr. Boardman, and General Flynn’s resignation), there is no place to put polls or something close to my heart, aka, former liberal feminists who escaped the herd mentality of group think to see things as an adult. Oh, they will always be feminists, but will tell you to get a job and earn the measly $15.00 to pay for your own birth control.
Therefore, in lieu of the Sandbox, I feel it is shameful how the so called “feminists” treat real feminists. It’s all about individual empowerment.
“As the old liberal feminist establishment continues their plunge into irrelevance, smearing women they deem the enemy, the future belongs to people like Ivanka Trump, Melania Trump, Emily Ratajkowski, Joy Villa, Andre Soriano, and their friends and supporters. These radical nonconformists are the authentic feminists, the genuine heroes, and bravely free individuals.”
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/15/liberal-whining-by-hollywood-celebrities-reveals-a/

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George Rebane

16 February 2017

I see that our liberal readers are again practicing the ‘all or nothing’ ripostes to any suggestion of measured or proportional change – ‘Well if you want to change that, why not just change everything?’ I suppose that is considered lofty thinking in some circles.
Fish 723am – Mr fish, PUHLEEZ learn how to use italics in your comments. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to go dig up your comment in the TypePad stream, pull it up, and find the place where you again forgot to terminate italics. Thank you.
BillT 145am – I guess that means we’re flying in tight formation.
PaulE 547pm – Apparently not Paul. No other ex-president in our history has marshaled tens of thousands of protesters (Organize for Action) in the attempt to torpedo the administration of his successor. I am pointing this out as a public service because of the neurological block that you and yours have for even perceiving such goings on. In short, for a certain cohort that comes naturally.
On forced sterilization, our liberal readers are euphoric that they discovered a GOP outlier who advocated forced sterilization of women on various forms of welfare. None of them remembers that eugenics was the ‘science’ of Democrat Party with tens of thousands of adherents that put in place policies which indeed did sterilize women in the early 20th century. (see above comment about their ‘neurological block’)
PaulE 1044pm – Wow! Is this a relapse or just getting his second wind?
Thanks to Mr Tozer’s 938am reminder, the 16sep17 sandbox is now open for business.

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fish

16 February 2017

Fish 723am – Mr fish, PUHLEEZ learn how to use italics in your comments. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve had to go dig up your comment in the TypePad stream, pull it up, and find the place where you again forgot to terminate italics. Thank you.
George….how do I kill formatting after the fact? I’ve seen Gregory do it but haven’t been able to kill italics after I fail to close a command?
I did try here!

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George Rebane

16 February 2017

fish 1106am – After you post a comment with ‘unclosed’ italics, you can always close it by immediately posting another comment with the close-italics HTML syntax – left arrow (or ‘less than’ symbol), ‘/’, ‘i’, right arrow (or ‘greater than’ symbol).

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

Fish @ 11:06
That is because neither you or I are Gregory. Gregory has explained how to get around the paywall to read a posted link. A few times. So, when Dr. Rebane posts with WSJ articles, I cannot read them and thus comment flying blind. My nephew told me to use Google Chrome and hit some icon on the to right….but, it only worked once.
Therefore, am I going to ask Gregory how to do it again and look like a bigger galoot that I already am? Hell no. :). I feel your pain, you big galoot.
Besides, it might be illegal.

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George Rebane

16 February 2017

BillT 1135am – I have been successful going around paywalls by just googling the topic/title I seek and clicking on the presented link which may or not be to the original publication, but does yield the desired article. Give it a try.

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BradC

16 February 2017

ScenesFromTheApocalypse | 16 February 2017 at 07:47 AM –
A quick Google search turns up this – ACORN was composed of a number of legally distinct nonprofit entities and affiliates including a nationwide umbrella organization established as a 501(c)(4) that performed lobbying; local chapters established as 501(c)(3) nonpartisan charities; and the national nonprofit and nonstock organization, ACORN Housing Corporation. ACORN’s priorities included: better housing and wages for the poor, more community development investment from banks and governments, better public schools, labor-oriented causes and social justice issues. ACORN pursued these goals through demonstration, negotiation, lobbying for legislation, and voter participation.[15]
On March 19, 2010, The New York Times reported that ACORN was on the verge of filing for bankruptcy; 15 of the group’s 30 state chapters had disbanded over the previous six months, and other chapters (including the largest, in New York and California) renamed themselves and severed all ties to the national organization.[8] Two unnamed ACORN officials told the Times that the following weekend, a teleconference was planned to discuss a bankruptcy filing; “private donations from foundations to Acorn [had] all but evaporated,” and the federal government had distanced itself from the group.[8] “[L]ong before the activist videos delivered what may become the final blow, the organization was dogged for years by financial problems and accusations of fraud.”[8] “That 20-minute video ruined 40 years of good work,” said Sonja Merchant-Jones, former co-chairwoman of ACORN’s recently closed Maryland chapter. “But if the organization had confronted its own internal problems, it might not have been taken down so easily.”[8]
On March 22, 2010, National ACORN spokesman Kevin Whelan says the organization’s board decided to close remaining state affiliates and field offices by April 1 because of falling revenues.[113] Other national operations continued operating for another several weeks before shutting for good.[110] On April 20, ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis reported that ACORN was “still alive. We’re limping along. We’re on life support.”[114] Lewis said that ACORN’s annual budget had been reduced from $25 million to $4 million, and that its staff of 350 to 600 people had been reduced to four.[114] Lewis explained the controversies had left a stain on ACORN, “sort of like a scarlet letter,” forcing the group to spend money defending itself against “one investigation after another.”[114]
If you go onto their site – ACORN.org – it seems to be just a sort of placholder – looks to be still dead in the water. Case closed.

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Gregory

16 February 2017

Punchy 745
If you can find us an unbiased and complete account of what happened, I’ll be happy to tell you what it means but the fly on the wall of the Oval Office was the NSA’s, not mine, and they’ve dropped me from their xmas card list.

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ScenesFromTheApocalypse

16 February 2017

“Case closed.”
Not at all, it’s only an example, and operated for years. There are scads of nonprofits out there that regularly violate political restrictions.
The temptation is simply too high for an administration to selectively use the IRS to cull politically undesirable nonprofits, and frankly I don’t see the point of the restriction.
I know the drill though. Politically active pentecostal churches = bad. Politically active groups for the urban poor = good. Politically active corporations = bad. Politically active labor unions = good.
Like a lot of people, I’m sick of the sophistry.

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Gregory

16 February 2017

Regarding the WSJ.com workaround, first it stopped working for me on Android Firefox, then Android Chrome, then Linux Firefox, then Linux chromium. I’m reading WSJ in a more straightforward way now. I’ve not tried the online workarounds for awhile.
That straightforward way started by just swinging by the library to read their copies until the Helling library’s subscription ran out (December?) and the current management decided not to divert funds from their salaries, benefits and DVD acquisition programs, to actually buy a periodical and keep it on their shelves. It does appear the library’s mission has changed… they don’t even keep old newspapers or periodicals anymore.
Yes, the last tax measure was passed by the voters.
The WSJ is gone, but the lower priced Utne Reader, Mother Jones, The Nation and others are apparently in no danger. The only three newspapers Helling carries at this time are the SF Chronicle, Sacramento Bee and The Union, with only the last few months kept in unused book space along the east wall of the underused (and small) area where the mostly out of date books are kept.

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fish

16 February 2017

Posted by: George Rebane | 16 February 2017 at 11:34 AM
I did that! No go.

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Paul Emery

16 February 2017

I’ll have a full look, for your reading pleasure, of todays Trump Press Conference soon. Simply put the Russia thing is getting more Nixonian by the day. Lots of fun.

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Paul Emery

16 February 2017

George
I need to repeat over and over that Bush is the worst President in modern history. Unbelievably you are trying to minimize his incompetence an argument which cannot hold up to any intelligent scrutiny.

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Todd Juvinall

16 February 2017

Trump was great today. Called out all those fake news people in the media. And no proof of anything the media fools allege. Trump up ten!

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

Acorn? Oh, they folded and reemerged under different names for different community organizing non-profits. Just follow the whereabouts of where the bigwigs are now. Do you own research.

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

Todd@ 2:17 pm.
Good to see Trump go on the offense and pivot to domestic issues as well as discussing international stuff. Hit on his promises one by one. One by one and the list is chock full of common sense. Jobs, jobs, fair trade not free trade, secure our borders, no more getting screwed, the usual stuff. I was thinking yesterday that Trump needs to go out to Ohio for a day, but he chose Florida. Go figure. And he challengeb the press to try telling the truth, lol. I am certain that this will be reported as an attack on the 1st Amendment.

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BradC

16 February 2017

Scenes – if you read what I posted you would see that ACORN had a 501(c)4 lobbying side, and a 501(c)3 side…

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BradC

16 February 2017

Todd, not sure what you were watching,
https://mic.com/articles/168888/here-are-the-5-biggest-lies-from-donald-trump-s-bizarre-press-conference#.AuRR0MGpd

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George Rebane

16 February 2017

PaulE 211pm – Here all along I and a tens of millions of other Americans thought that Obama was the worst president in modern history. I think that our ‘intelligent scrutinizers’ don’t work in the same way – but then, I’ve said that for years.

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Don Bessee

16 February 2017

Darn, PE is having another TURD and BDS eruption. I thought you were getting the balm for that PE. Poor thing. Lets remember he is of an age that small bits from the past inexorably fade away. You know, like Nixon’s impeachment, the peanut farmer and slick willy’s slick willy.
On the other hand since PE is a cog in the lefty media propaganda machine, it could just be fake news. 😉

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Bill Tozer

16 February 2017

Don, remember it is a hate crime to be mean to the mentally disabled.
But, then again, I see your point.
https://www.facebook.com/RowdyConservatives/photos/a.217983685002343.55586.217926015008110/1028561077277929/?type=3&theater

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