Posts by Russell Brown
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Hard News: Friday Music: Hyper than the rest, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
I don’t see a way of cutting this knot (apart from moving to acceptance of file sharing and a levy system).
Yeah, I know. I just went with my initial reaction. But I thought I should end on a happier note, so I've added a video clip to the post that makes me go "FUCK YEAH!" instead of "fuck this!".
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Hard News: The Big 2012 US Election PAS Thread, in reply to Hebe,
What puzzled me talking to my guy last night was that he was ultra-focused on the ballooning fiscal deficit -- which is entirely understandable -- but I couldn't get him to engage with the fact that Romney's budget proposal, as repeatedly expressed, simply didn't add up.
The Econmist calculated that it would add $7 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, using the words "cloud cuckoo land" and "innumerate", pointing out that the only serious defence of it was the belief that once elected, Romney wouldn't really do what he said he was going to do.
(And in response The Economist was deluged with literally thousands of comments accusing the editors of being communists. I could not find a single comment that sought to rebut on the actual facts. It was mad -- and maddening.)
It just seemed to me in the end that my guy simply hated Obama.
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Hard News: The Righteous Humour, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
I didn't? Damn. Let me fix that.
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I would just like to point out that when Corin Dann explained this story to One News viewers this week, he said that Nate Silver had forecast that "Obama will win by 92%".
This data journalism thing clearly has a way to go yet.
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Hard News: The Big 2012 US Election PAS Thread, in reply to Hebe,
But a couple of days before, I was talking with an old friend in the US who, though we often differ politically, agrees with my take on the fundamental human decencies needed in a society. I mentioned the election in passing; what a mistake. This person went into a vitriolic denunciation of Obama very like the Perigo piece.
I talked to an American tonight who expounded at length on Obama's failings in a way that didn't seem to me to bear much relation to observable reality.
It does make you wonder what the hell's going on.
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I guess I should have expected that libertarians would have the most violent, irrational sulks of all.
The guy at LibertarianRepublican.net never saw it coming -- because he's seriously estranged from reality:
However, for me, I'm choosing another rather unique path; a personal boycott, if you will. Starting early this morning, I am going to un-friend every single individual on Facebook who voted for Obama, or I even suspect may have Democrat leanings. I will do the same in person. All family and friends, even close family and friends, who I know to be Democrats are hereby dead to me. I vow never to speak to them again for the rest of my life, or have any communications with them. They are in short, the enemies of liberty. They deserve nothing less than hatred and utter contempt
I strongly urge all other libertarians to do the same. Are you married to someone who voted for Obama, have a girlfriend who voted 'O'. Divorce them. Break up with them without haste. Vow not to attend family functions, Thanksgiving dinner or Christmas for example, if there will be any family members in attendance who are Democrats.And back home, Lindsay Perigo is in there pitching for the crazy prize:
Barack Obama is at least honest in his commitment to slavery. He says, "We're all in this together," and, "We are our brothers' keepers." By that he means the natural state of human beings is to be in involuntary servitude to each other. He means, in the words of Karl Marx: "From each according to his ability to each according to his need." At gun-point. Obamarx doesn't hide this belief; he states it openly. Wealth created by some should be "spread around" to others who did not create it. If you own a business, "you didn't build that"—and you owe to those who did (sundry government parasites). He explicitly committed himself to a "fundamental transformation of America"—and proceeded unashamedly to effect it: from a semi-free, semi-capitalist nation to an unfree, socialist one.
This creature, having wrought havoc for four years, has just been re-elected by filth unfit to live, let alone vote, to continue wreaking havoc for another four years, thanks in part to yet another Republican campaign that refused to attack him and his ilk for their evil. Ad-wankers ruled.
I should note that reading the comments for either post might be a step too vile for some readers.
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Hard News: The Big 2012 US Election PAS Thread, in reply to DexterX,
I agree – the Republicans need to lose again and only then will the GOP purge itself to the degree it begins to position itself where it will have a chance of a win.
Last night, I'd have doubted that -- I would have thought that the Republican conversation would be turning to Jeb Bush, who has seen this happening from a long way off in Florida.
But I've seen so much insane, angry denial on the wires today that I think you may be right.
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Hard News: The Big 2012 US Election PAS Thread, in reply to David Hood,
In the reading I have been doing this evening
Can I just say how much I fucking love it when y'all go and seek evidence on a question and digest it for the rest of us? I like to think it's the soul of the discussions here. Thanks.
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Hard News: The Big 2012 US Election PAS Thread, in reply to Danielle,
Can I just note that even in the most “insane” states, one of every three people you see is voting for the Democratic Party?
Hence: "Keep Austin Weird"
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100 seconds of Fox News the day after the election:
I mean, not unexpected, but … does anybody there have anything resembling self-awareness?