You are absolutely correct Bill. I think a major part of the problem is the team mentality that is hammered into people's heads their whole lives. This makes Blue Team voters very aggressive in supporting candidates they don't even agree with, at all. I am not sure things can be fixed in this country until the team mentality is dealt with. One show I have been watching for some time now is Judge Napolitano's show, which brings together people from the left and right to agree on basic principles like freedom of speech, and peace. He has on guests ranging from Douglas McGregor to Aaron Mate. Other regulars include Max Blumenthal, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, Matt Hoh, Chas Freeman and others. Always a good show, and it proves you can get Americans to agree on basic principles regardless of how they describe their politics.
Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson are on my watch list too. But unfortunately, as you mentioned, Trump does not tend to pick good people for his cabinet, I am also thinking of Pompeo and Bolton. Trump even brought Elliot Abrams back for a reprise of his criminal role. So while it is a nice dream, I have a feeling that the new Trump will be just like the old Trump. Trump hates people like Richard Wolff with a zealous passion (in fact, Trump talks about rounding up the socialists and deporting them). There is a sliver of hope that RFK Jr. will soften Trump's bad instincts, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Just be happy that you cause outrage among some readers. Having spent more than thirty years in teaching college students I came, after some time, to the conclusion that the academically worst colleagues were those who never caused intellectual controversy. During my first year of college teaching I was designated the „red“ professor. I carried that label for all of my tenure (yes, I was a tenured professor and retired as emeritus) as a teacher. I had to deal with a fair amount of parental pushback of all sorts and disapproval by some colleagues. I stood my ground, never wavered because I had a solid foundation of facts to back me up. People like you are the yeast that moves the world (USA) towards a better society. It is not always a comfortable place to be in and, as in the case of Socrates, may cause serious consequences. The uneducated masses are like the deluded inhabitants of Plato‘s cave. They prefer living in the darkness of their delusion. The light of truth will elude them all their lives. I applaud you for staying the course of your humane convictions.
I encountered a faire share of empty headed academics who were full of themselves without realizing how ignorant they really were in areas that really mattered. In German we have an apt phrase: Fach Idioten (subject idiots). It sounds better in German. I recently told a world famous „scholar“ who discussed a political issue with another very renowned scholar that it would have been far better for their reputation if they had kept their mouths shut on a topic they didn’t really know.
There are a lot of Genius Analysts that are as you say Dennis unfortunately with no common sense, or practical knowledge. There is no substitute for practical hands on experience not found in a Book! In my own experience we had a young Fire Captain who made Grade in record time. To his credit at least he recognized it, I was there and he appealed to his seasoned Salty Crew at the Firehouse for help due to his lack of actual Fireground experience!
Somewhere I recently read this: Your vote is not a Valentine for the person you are voting for. Rather, it’s a chess move for the world you want to live in. It’s all about the policies that matter to the voter, not the personality of the candidate.
'Meanwhile, while we stay divided, the rich get richer, growing ever more powerful, as the middle and working classes are hollowed out.'
Exactly! It's infuriating to think how easily the ruling class are able to distract, manipulate and divide us along personality politics and culture war issues.
Why can't we think more critically and rationally, instead of being lead by our emotions and insecurities?! Why can't we think based on class and socioeconomic issues?
In a MONEY serving World, it's obvious we live in a Pyramid-Ponzi scheme just like Berine Madoff's except it's on such a much bigger scale, most people don't recognize the REALITY of it, or it's so big they're afraid to consider the consequences.
In a MONEY driven World, the existence of $Billionaires IS a Crime Against Humanity. So says the Christ of God in so many other words in the Book of Books.
Yes, Ray the Story of the Rich man, and the Camel, and the Eye of the Needle! It being easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man to enter the Kingdom of God!
Why should we care what a 2,000-year-old book says Ray?
Written by ignorant superstition writers with less knowledge of the world than your averaged high school graduate in 2024.
And replete with crimes against humanity! EG. Supporting genocide and slavery.
An atheist reads many books and knows he must learn more. While a Christian partly reads one very old book written by unknown authors and has been edited hundreds of times, and there are many versions of, and thinks he knows everything!
Nuclear armed temporal Israel was recreated from the Bible and it's a Fact in Today's world, and ARMAGEDDON starts with Israel.
Trump, the man you idolize with a religious fervor wants to give more weapons to Israel so more Palestinians could be killed faster to in Trump's words re the Gaza Genocide, "finish the job"
Of all the hundreds of "Gods", it was your "God" who created and fine-tuned the whole Universe. And 13-billion years later he sneaked some poorly written and contradictory scriptures to a few illiterate humans on a teeny tiny planet ~ so that all of the Universe would know him. LOL
My favorite parts of the Bible are when Jesus is talking to God (himself) and no one else is around and his conversation is quoted in the Bible. Go figure?
"God wrote a number of books. The number is zero!" - Christopher Hitchens
The Bible also mentions the "gods" of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone some 2700 years ago, humans still worship and war over, from the economy Then to the economy Today!
Good read, Bill. Stay true to your own beliefs. If people don't like it, so be it. They don't have to read your Substack, that's their choice no one is forcing them to believe a certain way. Linking as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
This morning on CBS Sunday Morning, they had a segment on MAD Magazine - sadly, now long departed. One of the former editors said in response to a question that the point was to show the con that was being played on all of us through sly humor and ridicule. They made it possible for everyone on all sides - except maybe some parents, politicians, and teachers - to be able to laugh.
But now, we are tribal and there is no humor - and no tolerance for others who have conflicting views. And the fools they hold up before us deserve the mocking they seldom get from their own team.
Whether it was Voltaire or Mencken - the Creator is a comedian playing to an audience afraid to laugh. It may never be truer.
I have two causes I think about when supporting a candidate: 1. A robust commitment to democracy; and, 2. Competence. Both parties have failed we the people. Trump had sixty court cases in which to prove fraud. He lost. He had his day(s) in court. At that point, he had one legitimate course: sit down, shut up, and transition to the one who did win the election, not subject the country to any more of his bullshit. In anointing Harris as their nominee, the Dems blew past the far more legitimate primary process, where small fry like me have a chance to weigh in. Amazing, isn’t it, that so-called political pros would choose someone who was not roughed up in a series of primaries, a completely unvetted candidate. What could go wrong? Ah, losing to the Donald, maybe? Neither party has a robust commitment to democracy.
Competence. Mr Trump has a notorious reputation for stiffing his suppliers. This was never a smart business practice. It is lunacy. And I am in a position to know, with twenty years’ experience as purchasing manager for a smallish manufacturing company. If you don’t make it yourself, you have to rely on somebody else to make it for you
Come on John! The old "sixty court case in which to prove fraud" is nonsense.
Just a lefty talking point! In how many has been proven guilty? Do you even know?
Here is a guy that gets charged with a bookkeeping error! And a corrupt Jury fines him zillions because they hate his guts!
"Mr. Trump has a notorious reputation for stiffing his suppliers". Really? As our scribe says where is your evidence? The truth is many suppliers and subs tried to rip him off because they knew he had deep pockets! You don't get to be as successful in business as Trump is by not paying your bills. Even in New York.
So Kamala, Jill Stein, or Cornel West is going to better at managing the US' business than Trump?
You would think that post all the political dust in the air from so many points of view and philosophy that the voter would in the end vote his/her/they conscience. In my opinion staying with in the box the 2 major parties want to keep you in (compete Tribal loyally) is so unmindful.
I haven't watched Sean Hannity in decades, but apparently he has changed a lot if there is any comparison to Bracing Views. Somehow, I think the subscriber should be refunded. No point in spending money on independent news if you already outsourced your thinking to Maddow and Cox Richardson.
How one votes should be a secret. Meanwhile, those who may have missed it, an enlightening debate took place recently between John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs, who both agree on the causes of what is happening in foreign policy but they give very different perspoectives on what it is leading to. Well worth the time. You have to listen to the whole debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvFtyDy_Bt0
I hadn't realized the difference between the two since they are both against our current Project Ukraine. Mearsheimer is a strict realist and believes the US and China are competitors and ultimately the US will need to contain China. Sachs has a bit more idealism and thinks the US and China should maximize areas of cooperation.
Drive on, Colonel.
Bracing Views is a Beacon of Light in a growing and deepening Darkness.
I don't see your blogs as "useless", Bill
No way.
And I have a love/hate relationship with the regulars. LOL
It keeps my old mind from atrophying any more
And makes me step outside of my tribe - I think!
Take care
TRUMP/VANCE/RFK Jr/GABBARD 2024. The thinking mans vote! hahahha
Thanks, Dennis. To be honest, I'm much more comfortable with RFK Jr/Gabbard than I am with Trump/Vance.
If Gabbard were running for president with Bobby as her VP, I would vote for her.
I have a lot of respect for Tulsi.
Beacon of light works, though I call it an island of sanity (not Hannity!)
Island of Sanity works as well.
You are absolutely correct Bill. I think a major part of the problem is the team mentality that is hammered into people's heads their whole lives. This makes Blue Team voters very aggressive in supporting candidates they don't even agree with, at all. I am not sure things can be fixed in this country until the team mentality is dealt with. One show I have been watching for some time now is Judge Napolitano's show, which brings together people from the left and right to agree on basic principles like freedom of speech, and peace. He has on guests ranging from Douglas McGregor to Aaron Mate. Other regulars include Max Blumenthal, Jeffrey Sachs, John Mearsheimer, Matt Hoh, Chas Freeman and others. Always a good show, and it proves you can get Americans to agree on basic principles regardless of how they describe their politics.
Judge Napolitano's show is one of the best on the interwebs - as GW called it!
His guests are brilliant, John.
And he is at 430K subscribers now.
Trumpy could do much worse than having Max, Jeffrey, John, Matt, and Chas as his advisors.
I'd add Wolff, the Marxist (!), and Micheal Hudson for his Economy go to guys.
And of course, the great Colonel Douglas Macgregor. And William Astore!!!!!
It's a nice dream. Keep your fingers crossed
If its Pompeo, Bolton and Nuland et al - I will slit my throat!
I heard I'm going to be Ambassador to New Zealand.
Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson are on my watch list too. But unfortunately, as you mentioned, Trump does not tend to pick good people for his cabinet, I am also thinking of Pompeo and Bolton. Trump even brought Elliot Abrams back for a reprise of his criminal role. So while it is a nice dream, I have a feeling that the new Trump will be just like the old Trump. Trump hates people like Richard Wolff with a zealous passion (in fact, Trump talks about rounding up the socialists and deporting them). There is a sliver of hope that RFK Jr. will soften Trump's bad instincts, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Sanity can be very lonely.
Something like this Aunty Jean?
https://rayjc.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/walking-alone-in-a-crowd.jpg
Definitely.
Just be happy that you cause outrage among some readers. Having spent more than thirty years in teaching college students I came, after some time, to the conclusion that the academically worst colleagues were those who never caused intellectual controversy. During my first year of college teaching I was designated the „red“ professor. I carried that label for all of my tenure (yes, I was a tenured professor and retired as emeritus) as a teacher. I had to deal with a fair amount of parental pushback of all sorts and disapproval by some colleagues. I stood my ground, never wavered because I had a solid foundation of facts to back me up. People like you are the yeast that moves the world (USA) towards a better society. It is not always a comfortable place to be in and, as in the case of Socrates, may cause serious consequences. The uneducated masses are like the deluded inhabitants of Plato‘s cave. They prefer living in the darkness of their delusion. The light of truth will elude them all their lives. I applaud you for staying the course of your humane convictions.
Yes, that's true, Karl. If you're saying nothing that's controversial, you're probably saying nothing at all.
I encountered a faire share of empty headed academics who were full of themselves without realizing how ignorant they really were in areas that really mattered. In German we have an apt phrase: Fach Idioten (subject idiots). It sounds better in German. I recently told a world famous „scholar“ who discussed a political issue with another very renowned scholar that it would have been far better for their reputation if they had kept their mouths shut on a topic they didn’t really know.
The University Enginering Professor who is coming onto our big construction job to teach us all about the right way to do concrete!
Would not know what end of a shovel to hold, and the minute it starts raining is in the job shack having a warm coffee!
Beware of those empty-headed academics. "If you have never done it ~ teach about it"
BSc: Bullshit. MSc: More of the same. PhD: piled higher and deeper!
Oh dear!
There are a lot of Genius Analysts that are as you say Dennis unfortunately with no common sense, or practical knowledge. There is no substitute for practical hands on experience not found in a Book! In my own experience we had a young Fire Captain who made Grade in record time. To his credit at least he recognized it, I was there and he appealed to his seasoned Salty Crew at the Firehouse for help due to his lack of actual Fireground experience!
Dennis, I see we agree on something.
Everything works on the drawing board.
Somewhere I recently read this: Your vote is not a Valentine for the person you are voting for. Rather, it’s a chess move for the world you want to live in. It’s all about the policies that matter to the voter, not the personality of the candidate.
EXACTLY Mary!
I'm often listening to old Trumpy giving one of his rambling stump speeches....
.......and thinking "what a narcissistic asshole!"
But I am still convinced he is the man for the job.
No other electable candidate ticks as many boxes as DJT does for me.
With one proviso - HE HAS TO PICK A GOOD TEAM TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH.
He is too easily swayed to change his mind.
No more "Mike Pompeo's" and "John Bolton's" for God's sake Donald.
More "Tucker Carlsons".
As for those warmongers in the State Department ~ YOURE FIRED!
'Meanwhile, while we stay divided, the rich get richer, growing ever more powerful, as the middle and working classes are hollowed out.'
Exactly! It's infuriating to think how easily the ruling class are able to distract, manipulate and divide us along personality politics and culture war issues.
Why can't we think more critically and rationally, instead of being lead by our emotions and insecurities?! Why can't we think based on class and socioeconomic issues?
In a MONEY serving World, it's obvious we live in a Pyramid-Ponzi scheme just like Berine Madoff's except it's on such a much bigger scale, most people don't recognize the REALITY of it, or it's so big they're afraid to consider the consequences.
In a MONEY driven World, the existence of $Billionaires IS a Crime Against Humanity. So says the Christ of God in so many other words in the Book of Books.
Yes, Ray the Story of the Rich man, and the Camel, and the Eye of the Needle! It being easier for a Camel to go through the Eye of a Needle than for a Rich Man to enter the Kingdom of God!
Why should we care what a 2,000-year-old book says Ray?
Written by ignorant superstition writers with less knowledge of the world than your averaged high school graduate in 2024.
And replete with crimes against humanity! EG. Supporting genocide and slavery.
An atheist reads many books and knows he must learn more. While a Christian partly reads one very old book written by unknown authors and has been edited hundreds of times, and there are many versions of, and thinks he knows everything!
Nuclear armed temporal Israel was recreated from the Bible and it's a Fact in Today's world, and ARMAGEDDON starts with Israel.
Trump, the man you idolize with a religious fervor wants to give more weapons to Israel so more Palestinians could be killed faster to in Trump's words re the Gaza Genocide, "finish the job"
Why didn't God use Scripture to provide absolutely clear-cut evidence of his existence???The Bible is not a message from any higher power.
Of all the hundreds of "Gods", it was your "God" who created and fine-tuned the whole Universe. And 13-billion years later he sneaked some poorly written and contradictory scriptures to a few illiterate humans on a teeny tiny planet ~ so that all of the Universe would know him. LOL
My favorite parts of the Bible are when Jesus is talking to God (himself) and no one else is around and his conversation is quoted in the Bible. Go figure?
"God wrote a number of books. The number is zero!" - Christopher Hitchens
The Bible also mentions the "gods" of gold, silver, brass, iron, wood and stone some 2700 years ago, humans still worship and war over, from the economy Then to the economy Today!
Thank you for Bracing Views.
You occasionally encounter cognitive dissonance so bad the afflicted lose their tempers.
Keep on!
Good read, Bill. Stay true to your own beliefs. If people don't like it, so be it. They don't have to read your Substack, that's their choice no one is forcing them to believe a certain way. Linking as usual @https://nothingnewunderthesun2016.com/
This morning on CBS Sunday Morning, they had a segment on MAD Magazine - sadly, now long departed. One of the former editors said in response to a question that the point was to show the con that was being played on all of us through sly humor and ridicule. They made it possible for everyone on all sides - except maybe some parents, politicians, and teachers - to be able to laugh.
But now, we are tribal and there is no humor - and no tolerance for others who have conflicting views. And the fools they hold up before us deserve the mocking they seldom get from their own team.
Whether it was Voltaire or Mencken - the Creator is a comedian playing to an audience afraid to laugh. It may never be truer.
I have two causes I think about when supporting a candidate: 1. A robust commitment to democracy; and, 2. Competence. Both parties have failed we the people. Trump had sixty court cases in which to prove fraud. He lost. He had his day(s) in court. At that point, he had one legitimate course: sit down, shut up, and transition to the one who did win the election, not subject the country to any more of his bullshit. In anointing Harris as their nominee, the Dems blew past the far more legitimate primary process, where small fry like me have a chance to weigh in. Amazing, isn’t it, that so-called political pros would choose someone who was not roughed up in a series of primaries, a completely unvetted candidate. What could go wrong? Ah, losing to the Donald, maybe? Neither party has a robust commitment to democracy.
Competence. Mr Trump has a notorious reputation for stiffing his suppliers. This was never a smart business practice. It is lunacy. And I am in a position to know, with twenty years’ experience as purchasing manager for a smallish manufacturing company. If you don’t make it yourself, you have to rely on somebody else to make it for you
Come on John! The old "sixty court case in which to prove fraud" is nonsense.
Just a lefty talking point! In how many has been proven guilty? Do you even know?
Here is a guy that gets charged with a bookkeeping error! And a corrupt Jury fines him zillions because they hate his guts!
"Mr. Trump has a notorious reputation for stiffing his suppliers". Really? As our scribe says where is your evidence? The truth is many suppliers and subs tried to rip him off because they knew he had deep pockets! You don't get to be as successful in business as Trump is by not paying your bills. Even in New York.
So Kamala, Jill Stein, or Cornel West is going to better at managing the US' business than Trump?
GMAB
You would think that post all the political dust in the air from so many points of view and philosophy that the voter would in the end vote his/her/they conscience. In my opinion staying with in the box the 2 major parties want to keep you in (compete Tribal loyally) is so unmindful.
People
Planet
Peace
I haven't watched Sean Hannity in decades, but apparently he has changed a lot if there is any comparison to Bracing Views. Somehow, I think the subscriber should be refunded. No point in spending money on independent news if you already outsourced your thinking to Maddow and Cox Richardson.
Keep up the great work! We appreciate your writing.
Sanity can be very lonely.
Sanity can be a very lonely place.
How one votes should be a secret. Meanwhile, those who may have missed it, an enlightening debate took place recently between John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs, who both agree on the causes of what is happening in foreign policy but they give very different perspoectives on what it is leading to. Well worth the time. You have to listen to the whole debate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvFtyDy_Bt0
I hadn't realized the difference between the two since they are both against our current Project Ukraine. Mearsheimer is a strict realist and believes the US and China are competitors and ultimately the US will need to contain China. Sachs has a bit more idealism and thinks the US and China should maximize areas of cooperation.
Yes, exactly, Alex. I'm more with Sachs.
Mearsheimer's position on China does not sit well with me.
Which makes me wonder if I have it all wrong - on everything else the guy is brilliant.
But I think he is a closet TRUMPER!
And on that I know he has definitely got it right! LOL