perception is important, but if we were to just isolate the pay raise in its own small vacuum, I'd be for it. Public Service jobs do not need to attract the best, they only need to attract the competent. I always viewed them as a stepping stone into private sector and shouldn't be a considered a set career unless the person is passionate about serving the public. Bureaucratic jobs should not be a crutch for an economy (this is coming from someone who lives in a bureaucratic city, so I might be slightly biased).
That said, why the **** are government workers not unionized in the states and have all salary concerns contractually bound? Not only is this beneficial to the worker (for obvious reasons) it is beneficial to the government when making budgets as a solid number for them to work with.
If they are unionized, it's time to stage a walk out.
~
NAFTA talks are also done for the day and they are going to go into next week. Trump has promised a reform for congress in writing by 60 days with or without Canada so as long as they are moving in the right direction we should have something concrete soon.
It's a forgone conclusion that Brett Kavanaugh will be confirmed, but since his hearing before the Judiciary Committee starts on Tuesday, it's time to revisit something I predicted nearly immediately after his nomination. The Trump Administration is withholding over 100,000 pages of documents from his time in the Bush White House. According to percentages I have seen thrown about, the Senate has access to roughly 6% of his records. By contrast, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor had 99% and 100% of documents related to their government work released. For the math novices out there, there is no comparison between these two situations. Senate Republicans are showing essentially zero interest in getting these documents turned over.
I'm honestly not even sure what to suggest Democrats do in this situation. I am very, very tempted to just say they should stop playing by any sort of rules whatsoever, because their good faith in regards to their nominees in the Obama Administration is simply met with nothing but a knife in the back. If Republicans are simply going to continue to refuse to even pretend to follow the most basic protocols of government, then I don't see how Democrats can possibly wage any sort of battle with them by playing by the rules. Maybe in the end, it's simply that Republicans understand power in the same way Cersei Lannister did when confronting Littlefinger in one of the early seasons of "Game of Thrones", where she teaches him the lesson that, no, knowledge is not power, but POWER is power. I don't really like admitting this, but I'm reaching the point where I can't really even recommend Democrats try play by the rules anymore. But the fact is, if they tried something this brazen, they would never get away with it. Only one party does, because they have conditioned the media and public to just accept it's what they do. I don't know how one is supposed to fight on a playing field that is this fundamentally skewed. It's gone beyond stealing a seat now. Now the apparent standard is that no one deserves to have any information about the nominee at all in regards to their previous government work. Right up until the situation flips of course. Then they will demand 100% transparency from the other side. There is no way to deal with people who are this cynical and power-mad about politics. It's like living in Catch-22.
Weirdly enough, I have spent most of the weekend watching two funerals. One was a marathon, 10-hour celebration of the uniqueness and spark of African-American culture (especially in regards to religion, with all the positives and negatives that entails) taking place in Detroit for Aretha Franklin, and the other a memorial service for John McCain that seemed like a rebuke of Trump by default simply for being the antithesis of everything he is about. Meanwhile, the Great Orange One is left in the most uncomfortable position he can find himself in, which is out of the spotlight and being upstaged completely for 48 hours, where all he can do is tweet threats to Canada into the ether. It's just a shame that it takes the deaths of a musical and political giant to deprive him of that oxygen.
Trump can’t kill NAFTA without Congress’s approval. The article actually mentions this.
Congress will not kill NAFTA if there isn’t a replacement with Canada’s involvement. Doesn’t matter now or after the election. This is where a lot of Republicans in Congress, especially the Northern States, will draw the line with backing Trump.
Unlike US and Mexico, Canada is not holding/held an election soon and has no artificial deadline to get a deal done. The have all the time in the world to sit in this.
Trump wants a deal now so he has a “win” to bring into the elections. Canada called his Friday bluff and now Trump is backed into a corner and is lashing out at Congress who isn’t taking his side and Canada who stood up to his bullying.
Expect him to get more hostile as September drags on and there is still no deal signed since Canada doesn’t have that artificial deadline.
Trump wants a deal now so he has a “win” to bring into the elections. Canada called his Friday bluff and now Trump is backed into a corner and is lashing out at Congress who isn’t taking his side and Canada who stood up to his bullying.
Expect him to get more hostile as September drags on and there is still no deal signed since Canada doesn’t have that artificial deadline.
He's always hostile.
I have no earthly idea how anyone even his own mother if she's alive could say she liked him. I guess some people like it for the "yeah those other guys suck!" aspect of him.
But they don't realize that he doesn't like them either. He likes no one but himself - and even that's mostly an act to cover for low self-esteem. Maybe his daddy didn't love him enough as a child.
Trump can’t kill NAFTA without Congress’s approval. The article actually mentions this.
Congress will not kill NAFTA if there isn’t a replacement with Canada’s involvement. Doesn’t matter now or after the election. This is where a lot of Republicans in Congress, especially the Northern States, will draw the line with backing Trump.
Unlike US and Mexico, Canada is not holding/held an election soon and has no artificial deadline to get a deal done. The have all the time in the world to sit in this.
Trump wants a deal now so he has a “win” to bring into the elections. Canada called his Friday bluff and now Trump is backed into a corner and is lashing out at Congress who isn’t taking his side and Canada who stood up to his bullying.
Expect him to get more hostile as September drags on and there is still no deal signed since Canada doesn’t have that artificial deadline.
This entire "battle" or "feud" just pisses me off. The idea that regular Americans actually have any reason to think Canada, of all countries, is screwing us over is just so far outside my comprehension I don't even know where to begin talking about it. It doesn't even have the xenophobic aspect of when he complains about China or Mexico.
Beyond that, I'm a person who legitimately has appreciated all my interactions with Canadians over the years. When I worked in a restaurant, I always wanted the group of Canadians who had come down south to do some shopping, because they were about 10x more polite than local hockey or football fans. When I was working on building a hotel and handling organizing the furniture for all the rooms, the Canadian driver delivering the furniture helped us unload it for hours at a time, even though he was under absolutely no obligation to do so in his job description. I have even made it a point in the past to just flat-out tell these people I interacted with how much I appreciate how mild-mannered and friendly they are compared to a large amount of my own countrymen. I'm sure Canada has it's own share of domestic problems and feuds, but in my interactions with them in my life, all I can observe is that whatever sickness infects the United States on a macro-level does not translate to our friends up north. Maybe it starts with making sure all your citizens have access to healthcare. At least that reveals a level of caring and empathy this country is seemingly incapable of comprehending.
Point being, Canada has been nothing but a steadfast ally and exemplary neighbor for decades. That Trump would treat them with such wanton disrespect reflects horribly on all of us.
It's hard to know whether the fact that a large majority of the time he isn't even attempting to do his job is a positive or negative at this point. Presidents obviously need vacations. Trump appears to take a vacation every single week. And no one would care overly much if he hadn't spent a half-decade ripping Obama to shreds for golfing a tiny fraction of the time Trump does. Sometimes, I'm convinced the blatant hypocrisy is done on purpose.
Watch the event he was explicitly not invited to on television?
Angrily tweet at Canada some more after Canada flat out said, “we are not going to reply and negotiate in public. See you next week after our long weekend.”
Now, is the golf thing important in and off itself?? Probably not. But he does this with everything. On a daily basis, you can find Trump taking a current stand on something, and within minutes, Twitter has found an old tweet from the Obama years where he is claiming the exact opposite or accusing someone else of his current behavior. There is a saying on Twitter that has almost become annoying at this point, which is "there is always a tweet", which simply means that there is a concrete statement from sometime in 2011-2016 where Trump is completely contradicting himself. Not occasionally mind you, but at least 3 or 4 times a week.
I'm also going to assume that the people cheering when he was talking about Obama golfing were actually upset about something. But clearly, given Trump's track record over the last 18 months, the idea of a President golfing too much was NOT what they had a problem with. So what, pray tell, was it??
There was a pretty funny bit from a comedian during the Obama administration. If I can find it, I'll post it. But the whole bit was from the perspective of a terrorist planning to implant Obama as an agent of the Taliban. It was hilarious.
I wonder if Trump will apologize to Bloomberg? Highly doubt it but he did respect them enough to grant the interview.
There are two possibilities (I suppose). The most generous one is that Trump wanted it leaked and made sure that it happened, so he could then turn around and rag on the media for turning on him. Possible, but I refuse to give him that much credit anymore. The much more likely reason is that he never considered a Canadian news outlet might be good at what they do and have ways to find out about it. Not like it matters anyway. In his entire 70 years on this earth I doubt there has been a single instance where he thought something was his fault.
*Daytime visits to golf clubs since inauguration, with evidence of playing golf on at least 65 visits. Our last recorded outing was on September 1, 2018.
Me. I just tell everyone I'm changing my swing every time I put one in the creek, the woods or heavy rough - which is pretty well every shot I take, which is why I salute and practice @semiticgod's wisdom.
Thinking more about it, it must be a real drag to play a round with the Donald. Not as bad as, say, being Putin's judo partner, but still pretty bad.
Even when it comes to video games, I've never understood the point of cheating (unless you want to see the story, but that is why story-modes are such a welcome feature for those that want them). I never once was even remotely interested in the famous Game Genie products of the '90s. Why would anyone want to participate in a sporting contest or attempt to beat a video game if you aren't going to play by the rules and overcome them to attain victory?? Isn't the whole point the feeling of accomplishment of knowing that you were good enough to win?? Look at what happened to all the baseball players accused of using steroids in the '90s and '00s. They are now all disgraced and frozen out of the hall of fame. Lance Armstrong is a pariah. Sure, it may have been worth it monetarily, but they are all now punchlines and cautionary tales.
Edit: the famous "Contra" code from the original NES game is possibly the one notable exception to this rule, as it was such a simple and widely known code that it almost seems as if the 30 lives were an intended option.
Even when it comes to video games, I've never understood the point of cheating (unless you want to see the story, but that is why story-modes are such a welcome feature for those that want them). I never once was even remotely interested in the famous Game Genie products of the '90s. Why would anyone want to participate in a sporting contest or attempt to beat a video game if you aren't going to play by the rules and overcome them to attain victory?? Isn't the whole point the feeling of accomplishment of knowing that you were good enough to win?? Look at what happened to all the baseball players accused of using steroids in the '90s and '00s. They are now all disgraced and frozen out of the hall of fame. Lance Armstrong is a pariah. Sure, it may have been worth it monetarily, but they are all now punchlines and cautionary tales.
Edit: the famous "Contra" code from the original NES game is possibly the one notable exception to this rule, as it was such a simple and widely known code that it almost seems as if the 30 lives were an intended option.
The point of games is to have fun imo. It isn't fun to hit out of mud, out of somebody else's divot or any other impossible lie. If I was a pro that would be different (but alas, I'm just a hacker).
After beating a solo no-reload Legacy of Bhaal mode SCS+Ascension run of BG1, SoD, SoA, and ToB--which only one other person in the world has ever achieved (that would be our good friend @histamiini with his brilliant cleric/mage run)--I learned that the feeling of accomplishment is a fleeting high that grows weaker and weaker even as it remains addictive. Hardcore, challenging gameplay is only rewarding for so long. Eventually, you reach a point where you lose sight of what made the game fun in the first place, and the game simply ceases to be interesting. As a guy who has done all the challenges in BG, I can testify that they're more tedious than rewarding.
Games are playgrounds for people to run around in, not races to be won. Cheating in a single-player game is like climbing over the fence and escaping the playground--sometimes you'll find a pretty forest; other times you'll find a boring parking lot.
Call me chaotic neutral, but I find an immense joy in refusing to play by the rules in single player games. No challenge run can beat the satisfaction I felt when I discovered the bandit scalp glitch in BG1 all by myself back when I was 11.
There's an interesting success story of a treatment program for young psychopaths in the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center in Wisconsin. One of the basic deficiencies of psychopaths is a weakened ability to feel empathy and understand consequences, which is reflected by brain scans showing weaker or undersized amygdalas.
Essentially, psychopaths don't fully grasp on an emotional level that their actions are wrong (though they can be intellectually aware of it), struggle to recognize facial expressions and emotions, and don't respond to negative stimuli normally. That is, they don't respond to punishment--it just doesn't affect them. The net result is a habit of callous and violent behavior that tends to land them in prison. Assault and infidelity are common behaviors for psychopaths.
But it seems that while psychopaths don't respond to punishment for bad behavior, they do respond to rewards for good behavior. The Mendota treatment program involves giving simple rewards (candy, say, or in one person's case, baseball cards) for good behavior. Psychopaths start responding better and, with time, begin to realize that it's in their own self-interest to live by the rules of society: if you hold down a steady job and don't break the law, you'll be richer and freer than if you attack people. The stick might not work at all for psychopaths, but the carrot still works a little.
Kids who went to Mendota had much lower rates of criminal behavior and higher rates of employment than diagnosed psychopaths who went through the prison. Even among those who committed crimes, the crimes were less severe and less common than those who didn't undergo the treatment plan, and not a single one of those crimes was murder.
Comments
That said, why the **** are government workers not unionized in the states and have all salary concerns contractually bound? Not only is this beneficial to the worker (for obvious reasons) it is beneficial to the government when making budgets as a solid number for them to work with.
If they are unionized, it's time to stage a walk out.
~
NAFTA talks are also done for the day and they are going to go into next week. Trump has promised a reform for congress in writing by 60 days with or without Canada so as long as they are moving in the right direction we should have something concrete soon.
I'm honestly not even sure what to suggest Democrats do in this situation. I am very, very tempted to just say they should stop playing by any sort of rules whatsoever, because their good faith in regards to their nominees in the Obama Administration is simply met with nothing but a knife in the back. If Republicans are simply going to continue to refuse to even pretend to follow the most basic protocols of government, then I don't see how Democrats can possibly wage any sort of battle with them by playing by the rules. Maybe in the end, it's simply that Republicans understand power in the same way Cersei Lannister did when confronting Littlefinger in one of the early seasons of "Game of Thrones", where she teaches him the lesson that, no, knowledge is not power, but POWER is power. I don't really like admitting this, but I'm reaching the point where I can't really even recommend Democrats try play by the rules anymore. But the fact is, if they tried something this brazen, they would never get away with it. Only one party does, because they have conditioned the media and public to just accept it's what they do. I don't know how one is supposed to fight on a playing field that is this fundamentally skewed. It's gone beyond stealing a seat now. Now the apparent standard is that no one deserves to have any information about the nominee at all in regards to their previous government work. Right up until the situation flips of course. Then they will demand 100% transparency from the other side. There is no way to deal with people who are this cynical and power-mad about politics. It's like living in Catch-22.
So a few points:
Trump can’t kill NAFTA without Congress’s approval. The article actually mentions this.
Congress will not kill NAFTA if there isn’t a replacement with Canada’s involvement. Doesn’t matter now or after the election. This is where a lot of Republicans in Congress, especially the Northern States, will draw the line with backing Trump.
Unlike US and Mexico, Canada is not holding/held an election soon and has no artificial deadline to get a deal done. The have all the time in the world to sit in this.
Trump wants a deal now so he has a “win” to bring into the elections. Canada called his Friday bluff and now Trump is backed into a corner and is lashing out at Congress who isn’t taking his side and Canada who stood up to his bullying.
Expect him to get more hostile as September drags on and there is still no deal signed since Canada doesn’t have that artificial deadline.
I have no earthly idea how anyone even his own mother if she's alive could say she liked him. I guess some people like it for the "yeah those other guys suck!" aspect of him.
But they don't realize that he doesn't like them either. He likes no one but himself - and even that's mostly an act to cover for low self-esteem. Maybe his daddy didn't love him enough as a child.
Beyond that, I'm a person who legitimately has appreciated all my interactions with Canadians over the years. When I worked in a restaurant, I always wanted the group of Canadians who had come down south to do some shopping, because they were about 10x more polite than local hockey or football fans. When I was working on building a hotel and handling organizing the furniture for all the rooms, the Canadian driver delivering the furniture helped us unload it for hours at a time, even though he was under absolutely no obligation to do so in his job description. I have even made it a point in the past to just flat-out tell these people I interacted with how much I appreciate how mild-mannered and friendly they are compared to a large amount of my own countrymen. I'm sure Canada has it's own share of domestic problems and feuds, but in my interactions with them in my life, all I can observe is that whatever sickness infects the United States on a macro-level does not translate to our friends up north. Maybe it starts with making sure all your citizens have access to healthcare. At least that reveals a level of caring and empathy this country is seemingly incapable of comprehending.
Point being, Canada has been nothing but a steadfast ally and exemplary neighbor for decades. That Trump would treat them with such wanton disrespect reflects horribly on all of us.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-played-golf-during-mccain-funeral-1101112?piano_t=1
Watch the event he was explicitly not invited to on television?
Angrily tweet at Canada some more after Canada flat out said, “we are not going to reply and negotiate in public. See you next week after our long weekend.”
Nuff said.
Now, is the golf thing important in and off itself?? Probably not. But he does this with everything. On a daily basis, you can find Trump taking a current stand on something, and within minutes, Twitter has found an old tweet from the Obama years where he is claiming the exact opposite or accusing someone else of his current behavior. There is a saying on Twitter that has almost become annoying at this point, which is "there is always a tweet", which simply means that there is a concrete statement from sometime in 2011-2016 where Trump is completely contradicting himself. Not occasionally mind you, but at least 3 or 4 times a week.
I'm also going to assume that the people cheering when he was talking about Obama golfing were actually upset about something. But clearly, given Trump's track record over the last 18 months, the idea of a President golfing too much was NOT what they had a problem with. So what, pray tell, was it??
I wonder if Trump will apologize to Bloomberg? Highly doubt it but he did respect them enough to grant the interview.
TRUMP GOLF COUNT: 142*
Cost to Taxpayer: About $77,000,000**
*Daytime visits to golf clubs since inauguration, with evidence of playing golf on at least 65 visits. Our last recorded outing was on September 1, 2018.
Thinking more about it, it must be a real drag to play a round with the Donald. Not as bad as, say, being Putin's judo partner, but still pretty bad.
Edit: the famous "Contra" code from the original NES game is possibly the one notable exception to this rule, as it was such a simple and widely known code that it almost seems as if the 30 lives were an intended option.
Games are playgrounds for people to run around in, not races to be won. Cheating in a single-player game is like climbing over the fence and escaping the playground--sometimes you'll find a pretty forest; other times you'll find a boring parking lot.
He definitely has cheated on all of his wives.
But would he cheat in an election? Of course....
He’ll say he will go into the next room to study the rules a bit better, but will sneak out the window to play golf.
Essentially, psychopaths don't fully grasp on an emotional level that their actions are wrong (though they can be intellectually aware of it), struggle to recognize facial expressions and emotions, and don't respond to negative stimuli normally. That is, they don't respond to punishment--it just doesn't affect them. The net result is a habit of callous and violent behavior that tends to land them in prison. Assault and infidelity are common behaviors for psychopaths.
But it seems that while psychopaths don't respond to punishment for bad behavior, they do respond to rewards for good behavior. The Mendota treatment program involves giving simple rewards (candy, say, or in one person's case, baseball cards) for good behavior. Psychopaths start responding better and, with time, begin to realize that it's in their own self-interest to live by the rules of society: if you hold down a steady job and don't break the law, you'll be richer and freer than if you attack people. The stick might not work at all for psychopaths, but the carrot still works a little.
Kids who went to Mendota had much lower rates of criminal behavior and higher rates of employment than diagnosed psychopaths who went through the prison. Even among those who committed crimes, the crimes were less severe and less common than those who didn't undergo the treatment plan, and not a single one of those crimes was murder.