The August 2019 US Politics Thread is dumb (stupid}

"i'm ordering these private companies to do what i say"

so many choice parts in that Chotiner piece, i particularly liked the ending:

This doorman in New York recognized me the other day, and he said, “How you doing?” And, “I hope you have a long life.” But he said to me, “I’m very disappointed about what happened to you, because I thought, when Trump was elected, we could say whatever we wanted.” And I said, “Well, obviously we can never say whatever we want. That’s called civilization.” But I was very interested in that. He said, “We are totally scripted for what we can say and what we can’t say, regardless of what reality presents to us.” This guy was a person of color. I don’t know where he was from.

He just recognized you because he knew about your academic work?

No, he knew about my whatever has been about me in the news, I guess. It’s amazing how often that happens.

I don’t doubt it.

And people say revealing things. I have people coming up to me and saying, “Why are academics trying to turn this country into the country we just tried to get away from?”

xxp i would temper any enthusiasm for the dubois debate piece with a codicil that frazer's "just walking around thinking about things and letting the friendly guy from Reunion know that _I_ want him to move here" framing device is a little cringey, but the meat of the article is worth invoking.

from mookie's link, I am seeing further proof that bigoted people no longer feel the need to pretend to speak eruditely when defending themselves and are perhaps quasiconsciously slipping into trumpspeak when farting out opinions:

One thing that’s quite striking is there is essentially no science being done in a place like Malaysia. No science, no technology coming out. I consider that very closely related to the lack of commitment to empiricism, the lack of a cultural practice of attention to evidence, rigor, analysis, facts. They all work together, so I think that when we say colonialism, do they mean that if it weren’t for colonialism, Malaysia would be Denmark? Does anybody really believe that, honestly and truly? I think it’s a nonstarter. There are countries with terrible geography that are at the top of the charts. Israel has terrible geography. They are a leader in science, in innovation, in technology, in drug development, in medicine. Geography, I think, is a nonstarter, and the people, I have heard through the grapevine, that the people who have pushed geography, they don’t really believe it either. O.K.? I won’t give you my sources. So what else is there?

bro you hired him

....My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2019

This doesn't feel like a purely solo Trump tweet, but then who is telling him to order various companies to do his ridiculous bidding?

well the dow just dropped 400 points off this shit

What I find really interesting—and it’s incredibly under-studied, frankly, that’s one of my points, that people don’t seem very interested in this topic, and you would think it would be absolutely vital—is how do big Swiss people produce little Swiss people? How do little Swiss people become big Swiss people? Because we do associate a certain profile, a certain type, a certain set of priorities and orientations and behaviors and beliefs to Swiss people. Swiss people are radically different from, let’s say, Somali people or Indonesian people, on average. We’re not talking about individuals here. We’re talking about a distribution, right? So let’s get that straight. People have a lot of trouble thinking about distributions and generalizations.

I’m Jewish. Why are Jews so Jewy? How did that happen? Why do French women, at least until recently, look so French? I mean, what is going on?

Has Amy Wax ever heard of confirmation bias

Look at the big boy, issuing his very serious orders over Twitter! Such a big and important boy, yes he is! Who's a big boy? Who's a big boy?

The level of cognitive function on display in that Amy Wax piece left me asking the question, 'are you capable of assembling a sandwich without assistance?'

What's the point of being Chosen One if you can't order companies around on Twitter?

good morning!

I'm spitballing here but it's just possible that the cumulative frustration of reckoning with everyday tasks that so many of us take for granted (like, say, remembering how to open a door or how many arms should go through a shirt sleeve) contributes to making Trumpists such vicious little shits.

went for a walk yesterday and swear to god three different people (all three people of color mind you) came up to me and said “Why are academics trying to turn this country into the country we just tried to get away from?” i'm pretty sure it's part of the lyrics to Old Town Road but whatever, it's the hit jingle that's sweeping the nation!

And I guess, to be really crude about it, you would use Trump’s succinct phrase: Why are there so many shithole countries? Of course the moment you say that, people just get outraged: Oh, my God, you are a racist for saying that. And that, of course, lets them off the hook; they don’t have to answer the question, which is convenient.

People do get outraged about that. You are correct.

I have asked many sophisticated, knowledgeable people that question, and I have never gotten anything close to a plausible answer, because of course any answer has to be subject to the strictures of political correctness. I have had a couple of really smart people, people on the left, say, to me, Hey, you have a point: we don’t have an answer, and we are not allowed to think about it rigorously and realistically because there is a code of things you do say and things you don’t say.

What is your answer?

I don’t have one. I mean, my answer is this term “culture,” which consists of so many different things, from top to bottom, so many different aspects of the society. It is this very complex amalgam that holds people back on all sorts of levels. And I am not an anthropologist, I am not a political scientist. I just think that is where the answer lies.

trump's algorithm processing program has become so weirdly fast and immediate that it's now like some kind of uncanny valley violation. the robot is not sentient. the programming has gone from "the causation loop is clear to observers with 15 seconds worth of thought" to "even trump idiots cannot not see this immediately."

After reading that piece I believe we must all be professors.

We're all gonna feel awful once Amy Wax's neurologist finally detects that softball-sized tumor in her brain.

And now having read Chotiner's interview with Bill Owens I believe we must all be reverends.

have asked many sophisticated, knowledgeable people that question, and I have never gotten anything close to a plausible answer

even an uncouth dilettante like me knows about "Guns Germs & Steel"

left me asking the question, 'are you capable of assembling a sandwich without assistance?'

wow, leave the lex out of this

I have asked many sophisticated, knowledgeable people that question, and I have never gotten anything close to a plausible answer

This stupid asshole and his stupid friends and associates have never heard of colonialism? More likely they heard about it and immediately forgot about it.

she spends 75% of the time rolling her eyes at the choice of words, refusing to acknowledge that these words exist, and have viable definitions that apply to the real world and current events.

aimless, give the interview a read, but here's her answer for you:

I think colonialism as an explanation is just a nonstarter. Colonialism came very late on the scene. It took advantage of these discrepancies in sophistication and modernity, in advancement in technology, in science. One thing that’s quite striking is there is essentially no science being done in a place like Malaysia. No science, no technology coming out. I consider that very closely related to the lack of commitment to empiricism, the lack of a cultural practice of attention to evidence, rigor, analysis, facts. They all work together, so I think that when we say colonialism, do they mean that if it weren’t for colonialism, Malaysia would be Denmark? Does anybody really believe that, honestly and truly? I think it’s a nonstarter.

well i've read enough

Just real quick

Why are there so many shithole countries? Of course the moment you say that, people just get outraged: Oh, my God, you are a racist for saying that. And that, of course, lets them off the hook; they don’t have to answer the question, which is convenient.

...

What is your answer?

I don’t have one.

I mean there couldn't have been more than like a minute or two that elapsed between those utterances.

Shaping the minds of our youth.

'If I say this, they can't sack me, as it would only prove my point.'

Insisting Trump is a 'serial monogamist'?!

btw I love it when Trump uses the word "hereby."

she's not going to get fired. she's been saying this shit for awhile. She just can't teach first year courses anymore which seems more like a reward.

perhaps, amy wax, it is you who are the nonstarter

i'm sure trump would be fine with the next US president ordering his companies to do things

Amy, I wanted to ask- in your essay entitled "How Race and Culture are Intertwined", it appears the entirety of the text is dedicated to your description, in great detail, of the process of you personally defecting into your own hand. By the second page, where you describe the temperature, it became clear that you were not actually driving towards making any larger point. What was your reason for writing this?

typo whoops

I am reading that as if "typo whoops" was her answer

for all her promotion of 'empiricism' it sounds like her agenda consists of insisting on the existence of 'obvious' realities that must be explained while systematically sowing untutored skepticism about any and all authoritative inquiries into those realities. like a newspaper website commenter.

"have you noticed there is more crime in minority neighbourhoods? on average, i mean? it's an incredibly understudied subject in 2019. it's like people don't want to go there. i don't get it. you mention it at academic conferences and you get called a moron!"

i was thinking more "like a racist seinfeld routine"
http://ksassets.timeincuk.net/wp/uploads/sites/55/2017/08/GettyImages-692779742-920x584.jpg

When I go to the opera in Munich, an afternoon performance, full-length, designated for children, of “The Magic Flute” or something, I also notice it. These young children sit quietly, well behaved. They wouldn’t dream of creating a ruckus, just like they wouldn’t dream of littering.

What's the deal with all of these rude people giving the stinkeye every time I start screaming my uninformed opinions into their faces?

My favorite is the Berkshires part. It's like a Beckett play.

Judges surprise attorneys for Trump’s bankers by asking about his tax returns

The hearing featured arguments over whether Deutsche Bank, Capital One should have to comply with subpoenas from Congress

By Renae MerleAugust 23 at 1:51 PM
NEW YORK – Attorneys for Deutsche Bank and Capital One repeatedly refused to tell a federal appeals court Friday whether the banks have President Trump’s tax returns, citing “contractual obligations” for rebuffing the court’s questions.

Trump is appealing a district court ruling that cleared the way for the banks to hand over years of financial records from the president, his three eldest children and the president’s companies to two House committees.

Toward the end of Friday’s hearing, the three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit considering the appeal asked the banks’ attorneys whether the documents subject to the subpoenas could potentially include the president’s tax returns.

“I am not asking you for the content of them at all,” said Judge Jon O. Newman.

“We’re not in a position to answer that question,” said Raphael Prober, the attorney for Deutsche Bank, the president’s largest creditor.

“It is a fairly important question in this case,” Newman said.

lol

Very opinionated and speaks subjectively and through anecdotes. Can't say this was the best professor I've had, avoid if you can.

https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=561675

A thoroughly unpleasant human being. Obsessed with her own victimization at the hands of forces she believes deserve blame for being victims themselves. Uses anecdotal evidence and uncareful interpretations of social scientific data to support many of her policy prescriptions. Decent instructor when she can just stick to the course content.

are students still using RMP? I'm getting fewer and fewer reviews. I wonder if they just bitch on What'sapp chat rooms.

JUST IN: Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg underwent 3 weeks of radiation treatment this summer after the discovery a cancerous tumor on her pancreas. Full statement below (h/t @JanCBS) pic.twitter.com/t7kDQghHVZ

— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) August 23, 2019

*grimace*

ugh

I've looked at SCOTUS as lost since November '16, and the Warren Court as a historical outlier (which it legit is), so.

My MIL had a similar ablation to treat Gallbladder cancer, she never recovered and died shortly after. She was only 57.

Bye bye, America. Bye bye.