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  • Ruminations – 16jun17 (updated 19jun17)

    George Rebane

    Clarification of the 1st Amendment kudos to Union publisher Don Rogers for explaining again that the ‘free speech’ amendment applies ONLY to what our government cannot do to limit communications, no matter how wise, dumb, outrageous, … the message may be.  Private parties that control/own media and entertainment outlets are free to limit any and all speech that goes over such outlets, and that includes even the regulated ones.  Our leftwing neighbors, of course, neither understand nor tolerate the exercise of any such rights that conflict with their ideas.  You should read Mr Rogers’ ‘Fictions of Free Speech’, especially if you are one of those who really knows what people should be able to see, hear, and read.

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  • Safe Spaces, Federalism, Great Divide – A Progress Report

    George Rebane

    [This is the addended transcript of my regular KVMR commentary broadcast on 14 June 2017.]

    With all the anti-Trump furor going on, there is a more important national pot that is slowly coming to a boil, and it brings together a number of issues and recent happenings ranging from safe spaces, free speech, re-segregation, federalism, states’ rights, and even secession under the aegis of our ongoing Great Divide.

    Over the past century the received wisdom from the Left has been that separation, discrimination and the desire for cultural cohesion are evil throwbacks to more primitive and less tolerant times.  All that is now changing as the Left’s intellectual champions have started re-segregating us along multiple lines that include culture, ideology, religion, ethnicity, and even race.

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  • Sandbox – 14jun17

    [Lots of stuff happening – members of Congress shot on baseball diamond, public housing fire in London, old basketball player negotiating with young idiot in NK, Dylan accused of plagiarism, … .  What’s the world coming to, or is it already there?  gjr]

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  • Scattershots – 12jun17 (updated 13jun17)

    George Rebane

    Investigations will cease only after all allegations have been proven – Dictum from The Swamp

    The ‘Robot-Human Alliance’ is a hopeful promotion by Dr Kenneth Goldberg, a UC Berkeley engineering professor (here).  He sees little to worry about human job markets with the advance of ever more intelligent machines, and bases his sanguinity on discovering that humans and AI machines can still do useful work together, and that AI tools allow some people of more modest skills to get gainful employment.  He feels that this is such a significant discovery that it deserves a most inappropriate name with an extremely lame definition – “Multiplicity: diverse groups of people and machines working together to solve problems.”  It turns out that early 19th century threshing machines also supported multiplicity.  Professor Goldberg’s problem seems to be one of a limited horizon.  Yes, humans and smart machines will be able to work together; and yes, AI based machines can act as a workplace prosthetic for the inadequately skilled, but all this describes is a temporary palliative for the pre-Singularity years in which we find ourselves.  With each passing month AIs are able to permanently displace more and more workers, and this replacement pace is increasing.  Only government’s regulatory intercession can slow it down using the fiat of the gun.  The important problem to solve today is how we will manage a guaranteed national income for the systemically (read terminally) unemployed.  The ongoing impact of AI on the workforce is longstanding theme in these pages – see Singularity Signposts.

    The Beveridge Curve is the anointed name of a plot of unemployment rate vs job openings rate (see nearby graphic from the 12jun17 WSJ).  The curve abets the previous reflection on Goldberg’s multiplicity. This presents a “dissonant reading (that) points to an increasing mismatch between workers’ skills and the roles employers are seeking to fill.”  Increasing mismatch indeed, and we ain’t seen nothing yet.  (more here)  A more detailed discussion of this mismatch problem was presented in these pages here.

    BeveridgeCurve

    George Boardman’s column in today’s (12jun17) Union gives a person pause.  In his ‘It’s time to start affirmative action program for campus conservatives’ the man does a solid recounting of liberal bias and suppression of free speech in today’s academe, and goes on to recommend positive measures to correct the situation and expose the resident snowflakes to some heat from opposing ideas (here).  Mr Boardman’s contribution does much to regain the tilt of his perch as that of a mid-roader IMHO – in recent months it had gone a bit wopperjob toward port.  Given his words today, I am more interested than ever in learning what are the tenets of his assuredly complex credo.  As readers are aware, no one left of the conservetarians here have deigned to reveal any of their core beliefs in a clear list of tenets that define their ideological ontology.  (Mine is found in the upper right panel.)

    [13jun17 update]  The Union’s columnist and mistress of trivia, Ms Hilary Hodge, makes a mighty attempt to elucidate ‘Housing in Nevada County’ in today’s (13jun17) paper.  But her attempt goes awry immediately after she once more establishes the nature of her sexuality for the chance new reader.  In lieu of serious editorial content, that seems to be the lady’s never-ending message.  (Full reciprocal disclosure, I am a lifelong heterosexual.)  Her column’s preamble forewarns us that this is but “the first part in a three-part series looking at housing in Nevada County.”  Unfortunately, after sliding in the now obligatory “my friend and eventual wife”, the sequel rambles off into the underbrush of her arcane anecdotal archives to retrieve some memories of their moving to Nevada County, snippets (or perhaps the entire opus?) of her vitae, and the subsequently understandable travails of finding employment here.  The patient reader departs with the hope that she still has two more chances to at least get a base hit on housing.  Nevertheless, given the other more appropriate sections of the newspaper, the question still ignored by The Union’s management – ‘Is our op-ed page really that desperate for content?’ 

    As a relevant afterthought, for substance compare a Hilary Hodge column to The Union’s other prominent women columnists Mses Lynn Wenzel and Terry McLaughlin.

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  • TRUTH WILL OUT

    [This commentary was submitted by Mr Norm Sauer – regular byline contributor, columnist, and member of the The Union's editorial board – to be published on RR concurrently with its appearance (here) in today's 10jun17 edition of the newspaper.  As always, it is posted as received.  gjr]

    Norm Sauer

    One doesn’t have to look too hard to know there is a mainstream media bias to destroy the Trump administration.  So far, the media’s desired outcome of impeachment continues blindly in search of a justification. 

    The media’s incessant drumming of collusion based on anonymous sources has 59% of Democrats believing Russia hacked the November vote to give Trump the election according to an Economist/YouGov poll conducted May 20-23.

    The media’s propaganda may also be responsible for the murderous rage and irrationality demonstrated by some on the Left against President Trump.  An example is this week’s viral photograph of Kathy Griffin holding up a bloodied decapitated head of President Trump, and Portland mayor cancelling a pro-Trump rally because a murderous knife attacker supported Bernie.

    For going on a year investigations by our intelligence agencies and oversight by Congressional committees have found no evidence of Russian collusion.  This lack of evidence of collusion has been publicly stated by Senator Feinstein (D Cal.) (twice), former Obama CIA Director John Brennan, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and CIA chief Mike Morrell, as well as House Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff (D Cal.).

    To those of you not suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, I suggest you look at and compare the past actions of Democrats in their relations with the Russians.  Consider:

    –Trump never delivered a “Reset” button to the Russians, Hillary Clinton did.

    –Trump was never a business partner who received $35 million dollars from the Russiana investment fund nicknamed “Putin’s Child.”  John Podesta, Hillary’s campaign manager, was.

    –Trump was never paid $500,000 for a speech in Moscow by Renaissance Capital which was tied to Russian intelligence.  Bill Clinton was.

    –Trump never approved the sale of 20% of American uranium while Secretary of State to Rosicom, the Russian State Nuclear Agency.  Hillary Clinton did.

    –Trump never lied and said he wasn’t part of the Russia uranium deal.  John Podesta and Hillary Clinton did.

    –Trump never scored $145 million from the shareholders of the uranium company one-fifth sold to the Russians.  Hillary Clinton and the Clinton Foundation did.

    –Trump never received millions of dollars of donations from the Russian oligarchs as part of a Russian nuclear research cluster. The Clinton Foundation did.

    –And, a reporter’s diligent search of Canadian tax records didn’t find Trump connected in financial dealing with the Russians.  Hillary Clinton was.

    There is solid evidence, not anonymous unsubstantiated rumors, of inappropriate dealings with Russia pointing to John Podesta, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the Clinton Foundation.  Yet, little is said about these matters by the main stream “lamestream” media.  And those who subscribe to Leftist ideology have neither an appreciation of this truthful evidence nor unselective memories.

    The mainstream media recently tried to establish a story that proved false that Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, tried to establish a communications ‘back channel’ with the Russians.  Really!  If the Trump team colluded with the Russians before the 2016 election why was Kushner now trying to establish back channel communications with them?  Hateful desperate people will grab at anything, even the irrational and inconsistent, to fulfill their evil ends.

    No evidence of Trump collusion with the Russians means no crime.  But, to Democrats and their media cohorts this doesn’t matter.  They have recently switched tactics and are now accusing the president of covering up a non-crime by heating up an obstruction of justice scandal to impeach President Trump even though there is no apparent wrongdoing or collusion by the Trump team with Russia.

    This scandal without a crime can put the Democrats in a bind.  With 59% of Democrats now believing Russia hacked the November vote based on a steady stream of unfounded media attacks on the president, even the New York Times reported “liberal activists are courting a backlash of their own as they demand of their lawmakers nothing short of driving the president from office by any means necessary.”  Democrats and left wing media have overpromised about what was possible.

    Retired Assistant Attorney General Andrew McCarthy argues the only way to counteract the left’s attempted annihilation of the president is evidence-based counter attacks.  First, investigate the Obama administration’s abuse of government surveillance powers for the purposes of political spying.  Also, Congress should investigate whether Obama’s Justice Department colluded with the Clinton campaign to influence the 2016 election outcome.  And, third, Congress should investigate the collusion between the Russians, the Clintons and the Clinton Foundation.

    May truth will out.

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  • Mueller’s Perpetual Motion? (updated 10jun17)

    George Rebane

    Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller is charged with investigating the Russian affair with last year’s election.  Specifically, allegations that Russia interfered and/or impacted our election, and more allegations that person or persons on Team Trump criminally colluded with Russia to achieve God knows what.  There is no evidence of a crime having been committed save the unmasking of former national security adviser Flynn’s name as the subject of a federal investigation.

    The question that comes to my mind regarding this kind of investigations is at what point do they stop – if they find no prosecutable evidence, when will the investigation be terminated?  It is never understood that since there was an allegation there must have been a crime, and therefore we presume evidence exists to indicate/prove such a crime.  And therefore we’ll keep looking until we find it or run out of money to continue investigating.  This is not Director Mueller’s charge, so can we set a date?

    The ending point question would be moot if Mueller would be investigating a bank robbery caught on security cameras.  There we would know that a crime was committed and the investigation is attempting to identify and find the culprits.  And in that case no one would presume to ask the investigators to specify an end time for their investigation.  But that is not the case with Director Mueller.

    So I come back to my question, which apparently is of no interest to the press – how long will we continue to search for what we don’t know that we don’t know?  At a minimum, could the DoJ at least specify the conditions or criteria for ending an investigation that has failed to find any evidence confirming the allegations of criminality?

    [10jun17 update]

    Ramirez_170610

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  • Sandbox – 9jun17

    [Well, there you have it.  Former FBI director Comey is a politician for all seasons.  Where else can you find a man who can deliver to both sides of a terminally divided Washington a smorgasbord version of events that can concurrently bring pleasure if not outright glee to both sides of the aisle?  Everyone found much to like in what he said – a tour de force performance by the now ever copasetic, cautiously comportable (yet cowardly?) Comey.  gjr]

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  • Ruminations – 6jun17 (updated 10jun17)

    George Rebane

    Hey, let’s rag on the millennials a bit more.  Every peek under the collective kimono of that celebrated cohort reveals another shortcoming.  Now we hear that a prime reason why their critical thinking skills need a little tweaking is that they’re not learning much of that in the college careers.  The revealing report starts out, “Freshmen and seniors at about 200 colleges across the U.S. take a little-known test every year to measure how much better they get at learning to think. The results are discouraging.”  You’ll read the rest here.

    The above little tidbit goes hand in glove with the report that college degrees are not worth that much anymore. (more here)  The problem is, whouda guessed, that employers aren’t that certain that a college degree means its holder can think critically when the situation demands.  But in today’s world it seems natural that if every kid got a trophy for everything they did, then why shouldn’t everyone also not get a college degree for whatever they did in college.

    President Trump can’t let well enough alone.  What was all that tweeting about the London mayor?  We dunned Obama for not being able to say anything without a teleprompter, now we have a president who shouldn’t say much without a teleprompter.  Somebody please put a cork in him. 

    [7jun17 update]  The Kathy Griffin dustup has yet to settle.  In today’s Union columnist Lynn Wenzel writes a commendable defense of the First Amendment (here), and this prominent Lady of the Left even cites the free market in her arguments.  My only problem with her discussion of Griffin’s cancellation was her evidence-free insinuation that one or more rightwing veterans acted like rock apes – “And the cowards who threatened the Center. Really? There are individuals in this community who found Griffin’s act so distasteful they are going to attack their very own Veterans Hall? … Shameful.”  But then again, maybe she meant something else.  However, we can take The Union to task for not bolstering their Griffin story with some evidence about the source of their reported threats.  Historically the Left has been known to be the perpetrators against their own in order to garner the public’s sympathy.

    [10jun17 update]  From various letters to editors and blog commenters it becomes more clear than ever that both the Left and Right are convinced the other is doing their best to roll back our freedoms and make America into an autocracy.  The Left wants the freedom to be increasingly regulated by an ever-larger government, and the Right wants the freedom to be less regulated by a minimalist government.  And, indeed, should one or the other prevail, they will promptly proceed to exercise their freedoms.

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  • Progressives’ True Colors Reexamined

    George Rebane

    Progressives embrace any science only to the extent of how many other progressives embrace that science.  That is sometimes called consensus science, auto-repressive science, or simply circle-jerk science.

    The copy progressives, and the Left in general, have put out for over a century is that they want to transform society into its new and improved version.  History shows that nothing could be further from the truth, and also explains why the Left has always been busy revising history in whatever venue it gains a foothold.  Socialist (cum communist) countries have always instituted the most repressive form of morals that their captured cultures have practiced in the past.  In the taxonomy of governance, socialism and its big brother communism are the best known forms of collectivism – governance informed and dominated by central planning and control.  Under such regimes individualism is neither condoned nor tolerated; people belong to classes, and classes are the proper units of humanity to be managed.

    Progressivism arose in the United States during the late 19th century, and immediately became the fount of American collectivism, ultimately finding a warm welcome within the Democratic Party whose principles had been revealed in its embrace of slavery, practice of post-war repression of blacks, and rejection of the Founders’ legacy at every turn.  With its new progressive allies the party saw the masses as a sea of humanity that needed strong guidance, and even culling (see eugenics and forced sterilization) in its promotion of human progress.  But the problem was that progressives saw the masses divided between the educated elite – the social technocrats – and everyone else who needed their strong hand for guidance.  And the solution was a step back to the top-down form of governing that hearkens a direct return to the ancient autocracies and tyrannies of church and monarchies – the proposed approach forward was functionally equivalent to doing an about face and going backward to the days of princes, priests, and peasants, albeit now in different garb.

    The bottom line of all this is that today’s progressives are peddling a form of stasis and repression that their undereducated minions can barely perceive.  The latest generation of their minions has been either coddled beyond comprehension or left in a permanent state of dependency to wallow in neighborhoods where dodging bullets and drugs are the only skills needed to survive.  Today’s more fortunate young progressives are blanketed with safe zones, trigger warnings, and other politically correct prophylactics to shield them from untoward (read ‘all imaginable’) risk and assuage their tender psyches.  When we witness their mass protests against a more demanding and invigoratingly brisk society, we understand why the metaphor ‘snowflake’ accurately describes their fragility and brittleness.

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  • Sandbox – 3jun17

    [Looks like President Trump nailed it in Europe when he took fellow NATO members to task about their defense spending.  Besides Merkel’s epiphany, other countries are starting to realize that they’re pretty much incapable of doing sh!t when comes to defending themselves.  Now that's presidential leadership.  More here.  gjr]

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