March 9, 2017

Apparently we are not supposed to take what this president says, "Literally"

"As you all know the president is a neophyte to politics.... and a lot of the things he says you guys sometimes take literally" Rep. Devin Nunes (R)


Sounds like we should be respectful of his alternate facts man!

14:09 On Chris Matthew. About the orange headed one being wiretapped.

March 7, 2017

Some people forget how demoralizing it is to us Democrats when our representatives cave.

And allowing Gorsuch in without a bitter fight is caving and the repercussions among Democrats that have been fighting so hard against this hostile administration will be horrible.

How many times do we have to watch our elected officials roll over? Why do we fight so hard to make things better when they just say, "Meh"?

Even if, in the end they can't stop him there is zero excuse for not doing everything in their power to try.

The Republicans fucked us with Merritt Garland. They fuck us all the time and why?

Because they never face any consequences for their abhorrent behavior!

I am sick of people saying, "We can't because.....(fill in the blank) Or "We'll do it next time"

Even if they can find a way to interrupt the proceedings with any and all kinds of tactics they should do it!

(What about not giving them a quorum? Don't know if they can do that but.......)

Plus I just found this. The guy caucuses with the Dems but is leaning toward Gorsuch. But maybe he also needs to know that this will be his first and last term if he votes for him


http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/neil-gorsuch-senate-confirmation-angus-king-235706

PORTLAND, Maine — As Angus King goes, so may go Neil Gorsuch’s hopes of clinching a seat on the Supreme Court.

For Gorsuch to be confirmed to the nation’s highest court without a nasty filibuster fight, Donald Trump’s nominee needs to win over the likes of King, the first-term Maine senator, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats and whose vote is one of about a dozen that will determine Gorsuch’s fate.

After nearly four hours fielding questions and comments at a Gorsuch-themed town hall here Sunday night, King still wouldn’t tip his hand. Yet he began to drop hints about how he could eventually get to “yes” on Gorsuch — one of earliest choices of President Donald Trump’s young administration, and one of the few Trump decisions against which Democrats have struggled to fight.

March 7, 2017

A really nice video with the teachings of the Buddha

&t=79s

March 7, 2017

Harvard Business Review. Why so many incompetent men become successful

https://hbr.org/2013/08/why-do-so-many-incompetent-men

This reminds me of Jane Goodall's exploitation of how a male gorilla be comes leader of a group by stomping around and making the most noise, acting like he deserves the position somehow.


Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders?

There are three popular explanations for the clear under-representation of women in management, namely: (1) they are not capable; (2) they are not interested; (3) they are both interested and capable but unable to break the glass-ceiling: an invisible career barrier, based on prejudiced stereotypes, that prevents women from accessing the ranks of power. Conservatives and chauvinists tend to endorse the first; liberals and feminists prefer the third; and those somewhere in the middle are usually drawn to the second. But what if they all missed the big picture?

In my view, the main reason for the uneven management sex ratio is our inability to discern between confidence and competence. That is, because we (people in general) commonly misinterpret displays of confidence as a sign of competence, we are fooled into believing that men are better leaders than women. In other words, when it comes to leadership, the only advantage that men have over women (e.g., from Argentina to Norway and the USA to Japan) is the fact that manifestations of hubris — often masked as charisma or charm — are commonly mistaken for leadership potential, and that these occur much more frequently in men than in women.

This is consistent with the finding that leaderless groups have a natural tendency to elect self-centered, overconfident and narcissistic individuals as leaders, and that these personality characteristics are not equally common in men and women. In line, Freud argued that the psychological process of leadership occurs because a group of people — the followers — have replaced their own narcissistic tendencies with those of the leader, such that their love for the leader is a disguised form of self-love, or a substitute for their inability to love themselves. “Another person’s narcissism”, he said, “has a great attraction for those who have renounced part of their own… as if we envied them for maintaining a blissful state of mind.”

The truth of the matter is that pretty much anywhere in the world men tend to think that they that are much smarter than women.

March 6, 2017

The definitive Trump-Russia timeline of events

http://www.politico.com/trump-russia-ties-scandal-guide/timeline-of-events

The Russian government, at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin, waged a sustained influence operation in the United States in support of Donald Trump’s campaign for president. Major questions remain about the degree of interaction between Trump associates and Russian operatives.

Here’s what we know so far based on news reports, public statements and the U.S. government’s unclassified report on Russian election interference.

2013

June 18: Trump writes on Twitter: “The Miss Universe Pageant will be broadcast live from MOSCOW, RUSSIA on November 9th. A big deal that will bring our countries together!”

Trump, who owned the pageant at the time, adds later that day: “Do you think Putin will be going to The Miss Universe Pageant in November in Moscow - if so, will he become my new best friend?”

Oct. 17: Trump says in an interview with David Letterman he has conducted “a lot of business with the Russians.”

“Well I’ve done a lot of business with the Russians,” Trump says. “They’re smart and they’re tough.” Trump goes on to say that Putin is a “tough guy” and that he’s met him “once.”


Follow on to 2017 at the link!

March 4, 2017

The Pathology of the Rich: Chris Hedges