Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Peter McLennan]

Well, AT&T is not the same as Standard Oil either.  But both were broken up as monopolies.

Congratulations!  Once again, Alan, you've managed to hit the non-sequitur ball right outta the park! Nikon is not the same as Namibia either, but they both begin with "N".

My point was: Facebook is a public mass medium - one to many, individuals to millions, perhaps billions.

The telephone is private and individual to individual. 

The effects of each technology on individuals and all of society couldn't be more different.  Hence your conflation of the two is silly.

[Robert Roaldi]

I love this item from Florida, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/552089-florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-election-restriction-bill. It's not so much the bill itself, which was no surprise. It's that they only allowed it to be covered live by FOX News, no one else was allowed in to shoot, according to the article. That's a scream! It's like they're saying out loud, "Here folks, come watch some partisan propaganda!" Spectacular audacity. Talk about "fake news".

[James Clark]

I love this item from Florida, https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/552089-florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-election-restriction-bill. It's not so much the bill itself, which was no surprise. It's that they only allowed it to be covered live by FOX News, no one else was allowed in to shoot, according to the article. That's a scream! It's like they're saying out loud, "Here folks, come watch some partisan propaganda!" Spectacular audacity. Talk about "fake news".

All part of the charade to support the Big Lie.   Turns out Hillary *was* wrong when she said half the GOP was deplorable.  She was off by about  20%

[Alan Klein]

Congratulations!  Once again, Alan, you've managed to hit the non-sequitur ball right outta the park! Nikon is not the same as Namibia either, but they both begin with "N".

My point was: Facebook is a public mass medium - one to many, individuals to millions, perhaps billions.

The telephone is private and individual to individual. 

The effects of each technology on individuals and all of society couldn't be more different.  Hence your conflation of the two is silly.

First off I don't know how FB works.  Never used it.  But I understand your point about person to person in the phone system vss something like LuLa. 

But the main problem is that FB is approaching being a monopoly if not already.  Its ability to spill cold water on political speech because of its monopolistic position is the issue.  In fact, the argument FB provides speech to many listeners at one time is an argument against its restrictive nature.  After all, calling one person on the phone to make a political point is not as effective as being able to provide millions with your views as Trump did with his millions of twitterers who followed him.  Shutting him down destroys effective communication to millions of people.  I don't think any one company should have that power.

[Robert Roaldi]

Mitch's motivations are laid out, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/mitch-mcconnell-joe-biden-obstruction. It's good to have a goal, I guess, an end-game. That's what strategic leadership is all about.

[Robert Roaldi]

Opinion piece by David Brooks about USA's herd immunity failure (as always, snowflake alert is in effect), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/opinion/herd-immunity-us.html.

I think that access to the NYT is limited but I seem to be able to read the entire article. I don't know why, I have never subscribed. Does anyone know if maybe they permit a limited number of accesses per month and I just happen to never exceed that? This was forwarded to me by a friend, could that be granting me temporary access?

[Alan Klein]

Mitch's motivations are laid out, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/05/mitch-mcconnell-joe-biden-obstruction. It's good to have a goal, I guess, an end-game. That's what strategic leadership is all about.

A typical hit job of McConnell and the Republicans.  The writer complains that McConnel doesn't want to work with Biden.  Why isn;t the writer asking why Biden doesn't want to work with Republicans?  Biden was the one who promised to be middle of the road and invites them in to discuss things when all he's done is lock them out because he has a majority in Congress and feels he doesn't need them.  It seems Biden's the one practicing parochial politics and lying about his far-left stance.

[Alan Klein]

Opinion piece by David Brooks about USA's herd immunity failure (as always, snowflake alert is in effect), https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/06/opinion/herd-immunity-us.html.

I think that access to the NYT is limited but I seem to be able to read the entire article. I don't know why, I have never subscribed. Does anyone know if maybe they permit a limited number of accesses per month and I just happen to never exceed that? This was forwarded to me by a friend, could that be granting me temporary access?

I didn't know RINO David Brooks was an expert on herd immunity.  Does that mean there's hope for us LuLa posters as well? 

[Robert Roaldi]

Algorithms continue to cause problems, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/04/29/amazon-books-conspiracy-theories-white-nationalism-qanon-recommendation-algorithms/4878894001/.

Headline: "Is Amazon recommending books on QAnon and white nationalism? Browsing books can lead to extremist rabbit hole"

[Robert Roaldi]

I didn't know RINO David Brooks was an expert on herd immunity.  Does that mean there's hope for us LuLa posters as well? 

Your use of "RINO" is interesting. Are you saying that a Republican cannot have opinions of his own, that he must conform to the Trumpeteer arm of the party. Does his past possible disagreements with Trump disqualify him from having an opinion worth reading? Did you read his opinion?

You've bragged in the past about being someone who reads many different sources before forming an opinion. Is this actually true or do you prejudge everything, because it sure looks like you do.

[Robert Roaldi]

A typical hit job of McConnell and the Republicans.  The writer complains that McConnel doesn't want to work with Biden.  Why isn;t the writer asking why Biden doesn't want to work with Republicans?  Biden was the one who promised to be middle of the road and invites them in to discuss things when all he's done is lock them out because he has a majority in Congress and feels he doesn't need them.  It seems Biden's the one practicing parochial politics and lying about his far-left stance.

It's always us vs them with you? Read it more carefully.

[Alan Klein]

Your use of "RINO" is interesting. Are you saying that a Republican cannot have opinions of his own, that he must conform to the Trumpeteer arm of the party. Does his past possible disagreements with Trump disqualify him from having an opinion worth reading? Did you read his opinion?

You've bragged in the past about being someone who reads many different sources before forming an opinion. Is this actually true or do you prejudge everything, because it sure looks like you do.

Brooks was often played against Mark Shields on PBS.  (I believe Shields has passed away and has been replaced). The idea for the debate show was Shields was the liberal and BRooks represented conservative and republican views.  I like Brooks.  He's a real intellectual who tries to be a conservative republican but often fails at it. His wanting to please overrules his common sense.   The program producer thinks they have a real debate from different sides.  But actually what they had was Shields on the far left and Brooks who was middle of the road to left.  But then again PBS, Public Broadcasting System, a government station, is left-liberal.  So you'd expect that to happen.  I formed this opinion long before Trump hit the political scene.

[Alan Klein]

It's always us vs them with you? Read it more carefully.

How much do you have to read about how the writer of the article feels about McConnell when he wrote, "Perhaps to remind people that, despite being an elected official ostensibly sent to D.C. to work on behalf of the Americans who pay his salary, he doesn’t give a f*ck about anything but his own interests, McConnell...etc."    Why would I waste any more of my time reading more of the writer's obviously biased opinion?

[Alan Klein]

No one wants to go back to work. Payrolls missed million person estimate by 75%.  Why work when you can sit home and collect government stimmy checks?

April jobs report: Payrolls rose by 266,000, sharply missing estimates, as unemployment rate increased to 6.1%
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/april-2021-jobs-report-payrolls-labor-department-unemployment-181552009.html

[Robert Roaldi]

No one wants to go back to work. Payrolls missed million person estimate by 75%.  Why work when you can sit home and collect government stimmy checks?

April jobs report: Payrolls rose by 266,000, sharply missing estimates, as unemployment rate increased to 6.1%
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/april-2021-jobs-report-payrolls-labor-department-unemployment-181552009.html

The end is nigh.

[Chris Kern]

Does that mean there's hope for us LuLa posters as well? 

One, at least, is beyond redemption.

[James Clark]

How much do you have to read about how the writer of the article feels about McConnell when he wrote, "Perhaps to remind people that, despite being an elected official ostensibly sent to D.C. to work on behalf of the Americans who pay his salary, he doesn’t give a f*ck about anything but his own interests, McConnell...etc."    Why would I waste any more of my time reading more of the writer's obviously biased opinion?

Aw c'mon Alan.  These chumps are still all in on kissing the ass of the guy that thinks it was a stolen election.  They won't even admit Joe Biden is the president the American people elected, and in fact are actively trying to silence anyone that isn't repeating the same bullshit.  Stop pretending that the current Republican Party has any interest in being fair, or even honest, in their duty to run the country in any sort of meaningful way.

[JoeKitchen]

Aw c'mon Alan.  These chumps are still all in on kissing the ass of the guy that thinks it was a stolen election.  They won't even admit Joe Biden is the president the American people elected, and in fact are actively trying to silence anyone that isn't repeating the same bullshit.  Stop pretending that the current Republican Party has any interest in being fair, or even honest, in their duty to run the country in any sort of meaningful way.

James appears dangerously close to his head spinning and spraying the walls with pea soup.  Spectators beware; if you have face masks and goggles, now is the time to use them. 

[JoeKitchen]

No one wants to go back to work. Payrolls missed million person estimate by 75%.  Why work when you can sit home and collect government stimmy checks?

April jobs report: Payrolls rose by 266,000, sharply missing estimates, as unemployment rate increased to 6.1%
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/april-2021-jobs-report-payrolls-labor-department-unemployment-181552009.html

If only someone were to tell us months ago that if you pay people not to work, they will choose not to work.  It's amazing how that works out. 

Then add to that the fact that we are already seeing fairly steep inflation with admissions from the Fed that they too are concerned about it finally.  Unfortunately, just like the CDC and FDA, the Fed is just as late to the party when it comes to actually trying to fix a bad situation let along prevent it. 

On the bright side, it appears that Manchin has delayed Biden just enough with his agenda for inflation to come and completely kill it.  Hey, if I need to live through a 18% inflationary spiral for a year in order to keep the radical Biden agenda from infection every aspect of my life with government, that is a price I am willing to pay. 

[James Clark]

James appears dangerously close to his head spinning and spraying the walls with pea soup.  Spectators beware; if you have face masks and goggles, now is the time to use them.

That was.. random.