HereAndGone
1mo ago
She basically had a classic "fork in the road": do I stay the course and hope that Trump is too unpopular to win, letting me win by default, or do I try to do something notable to make me stand out, and run a more traditional campaign?
After reading "Original Sin", the impression I get is (1) she was really beholden to Biden and his supporters, e.g. a lot of his ex-staff or people connected to him ran her campaign, so she could not afford to piss off any Biden loyalists in the party and (2) she's indecisive: she takes a long time to make decisions, doesn't handle input from others well, and is constantly second-guessing decisions. See the Call Her Daddy appearance where she or her campaign were so terrified by the prospect of not being in complete control of the outcome, they picked this instead of an appearance on Joe Rogan. And she didn't even go on the podcast! Instead they spent campaign funds on "we'll mock up the studio in a hotel room, fly you out, and you feed her pre-screened questions where she gives prepared answers" for something that was essentially preaching to the choir: Harris already had the young white liberal college-educated female podcast audience as voters, she didn't need to chase after them.
So if she decided to strike out on her own, that would leave her wide open for "so why didn't you do any of this when you were VP? why weren't you speaking out and disagreeing with those policies?" and she just hasn't the flexibility to handle that sort of questioning without being prepared fifty ways from Sunday with soundbites from focus groups.
Hence the lack of any actual policies - the need not to be openly in dissent from the Biden administration, the need not to state anything definite that would piss off any of the million little splinter groups that would go for her throat online, and being hobbled by the 2019 run where she did tack too far to the left (and then left herself wide open on "yes I would use government money to pay for gender reassignment surgery for illegal immigrants who are criminals locked up in jail", for instance).
HereAndGone
1mo ago
Harris running can be laid at Biden's feet, because he insisted on a second term and then had to be dragged out and knifed in the back by the party in order to dislodge him, by which time there really wasn't anyone else they could run, never mind that the funding by donors had all been earmarked for the Biden/Harris campaign and there was a real fear they'd have to pay it all back if they went with a primary.
The party didn't do itself any favours by then acting the opposite of the 'open, transparent, democratic' process by making her a fait accompli candidate before any race could start, but they were - to be fair to them - really hobbled by their own past bad decisions in humouring Biden (mostly for the "who the hell else do we have? and who else can beat Trump?" considerations).
HereAndGone
1mo ago
That the government works fine without the extensive input of the President is a feature, not a bug.
But the American president is not a figurehead, he is meant to be the one running the country. If the Prime Minister's girlfriend is in fact the one making the picks as to who gets a job, that is an unfortunate reality, but the girlfriend was not the one elected to do the job. If the Permanent Under-Secretary for Filing Cabinets is the one running the country while the President goes golfing, that is not what the people decided should happen.
And if that is what happens, then the people should be informed, not laughed at for being too dumb to realise that they have been lied to for decades.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
That even before the questions about his ability became pubilc, Biden had been doing little to nothing in actually governing the country and the decisions were being made by a mix of insiders, cabinet members, civil servants, and whoever could grab the spotlight to get their pet project rammed through.
I think this may well have been the case; does anyone think, for instance, that Joe Biden personally really really wanted Sam Brinton as deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition in the Office of Nuclear Energy? Or that the LGBT Pride Celebration with the topless trans people on the White House lawn was a cherished long-time plan of his? There's an awful lot of "he probably just signed what was put in front of him" that seems to be there, even if we discount the autopen!
HereAndGone
1mo ago
never pauses to question whether a better VP candidate might have been able to salvage the shit sandwich they were handed. Or, for that matter, whether a stronger VP might have pushed Biden to the curb years before. An ambitious, mildly evil VP, like a young LBJ or Bill Clinton, would have stuck a knife in Biden as soon as he looked weak.
There's some hint that this was precisely the policy the Biden administration (or the Politburo, or whomever you want to point the fingers at) adopted to muzzle Kamala: all the stories that leaked out about "trouble in the VP's office" and how she was a terrible manager and had high staff turnover and was being sidelined by Biden's office so she constantly was the last to know about things going on and never got the chance to make a name for herself (apart from things like being saddled with the 'Border Czar' position which was a poisoned chalice).
So whatever ambitions she may have had, the Biden inner circle/Biden himself made sure to quash so she would not be able to build up the reputation as the dynamic young rival for the next race. Ironically, Kamala herself seems to have picked her VP on the same criteria: Walz because he was not visibly ambitious and would not be a threat and would be content to stand in the background and do as he was told.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
The likelihood of these problems just is higher when it comes to adopting a black child.
Now I've got to go look up statistics about adoption/fostering, the racial identifies (God help me) of the kids involved, and how that relates to the demographic break-down of the population at large.
God have mercy on my soul!
HereAndGone
1mo ago
And if the kid did turn out well, he'd still be an invasive species by that interpretation. Still not a good way to describe people. People of whatever colour or background can be trash, and I have no problem with calling trashy people trashy. But "invasive species" is "some alien foreign breed introduced here which outcompetes our native species" and the White liberals are just as much "invasive species" in the American context as the black ghetto-dwellers, they both came to America from other countries on boats and took over the land from the natives already there.
If you're going to talk about "invasive species" then you will have to do it in your land acknowledgement, friends.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
There are sad cases of people adopting a kid as though selecting a pet from a dog shelter, then not being able (or willing) to cope with the work involved in "this kid is going to need a lot of help" and dumping the kid the same way they'd dump that dog out on the side of the road.
One lurid tale, from way back when during the Anglican Wars that probably didn't get traction outside of the religion news/religion discussion blogs, about a pair of nice liberal gay men (can't remember if they were married if gay marriage was legal then) in a particular Episcopalian church, members in good standing of said church, one at least of them very active in the work of the local church, who adopted a young black boy. Much praise from all around and a hell of a lot of back-patting in the community about how superior they all were with their liberal values as opposed to the nasty conservative church members fighting over LGBT rights and gay clergy and letting gay couples adopt and the rest of it. Then it turns out one of the nice gay dads, the active in the church one, was sexually abusing the kid (and probably had wanted to adopt a kid for that specific purpose).
There's horror stories whenever you turn over stones everywhere.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
"Invasive species" is strong language, to be fair. Yes, African-Americans were brought over to the US, but this was a few centuries ago and by now they're as native as the rest of the immigrant US population.
There's also plenty of trashy white people and their kids who may indeed go down the same route even if adopted. Is it "nature versus nurture" or how much is "being born to parents who were not careful during pregnancy and who did not spend the first weeks/months/years of the child's life being good parents has a lasting traumatic effect on development"? Probably a lot of both at work there.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
MAGA people are ...non-elite human capital who are too dumb to go to college or get a job
Don't forget "and if they do get a job, it's just manual labour, which is a fetish" 😁
HereAndGone
1mo ago
I haven't seen this show, but all the praise being lavished on it makes me go "Really? Do none of you remember the likes of St. Elsewhere, for example, which also trod this path of 'slice of life reality in a hospital serving lower economic area'?"
St. Elsewhere is an American medical drama television series created by Joshua Brand and John Falsey that originally ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. The series stars Ed Flanders, Norman Lloyd, and William Daniels as teaching doctors at an aging, run-down Boston hospital who give interns a promising future in making critical medical and life decisions. The series was produced by MTM Enterprises, which had success with a similar NBC series, the police drama Hill Street Blues, during that same time. The series were often compared to each other for their use of ensemble casts and overlapping serialized storylines (an original ad for St. Elsewhere quoted a critic that called the series "Hill Street Blues in a hospital").
Recognized for its gritty, realistic drama, St. Elsewhere gained a small yet loyal following (the series never ranked higher than 47th place in the yearly Nielsen ratings) over its six-season, 137-episode run; however, the series also found a strong audience in Nielsen's 18–49 age demographic, a demo later known as a young, affluent audience that TV advertisers were eager to reach. The series also earned critical acclaim during its run, earning 13 Emmy Awards for its writing, acting, and directing and is widely regarded as one of the greatest television shows of all time.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
he seems to think that the Right is full of people who haven't done such work and fail to see just how awful it is
No, he doesn't. He doesn't mention "I worked such jobs/older family members worked such jobs, I know how shitty they are", he just goes on about "fetishing" working with your hands and makes little to no mention of the left fetishing the trash culture of people of colour or the like. And if he did talk about "black trash culture" there are plenty who would hop on him for that.
I wish, once and for all, Alexander would give a clear statement of his exact position, because all I'm left with is the impression overall that "ugh, poor people, how disgusting; they have too many babies as it is, they should all be contracepted and aborted into extinction so aspiring strivers like myself can ascend to our proper place on the socio-economic class ladder and not be confused with the mudblood milieu out of which we unfortunately arose; those damn pro-lifers are getting in the way of exterminating the eugenically unfit".
HereAndGone
1mo ago
Right now, yes, but the price of meat is rising and who can forecast what things will be like in ten to twenty years time?
HereAndGone
1mo ago
It's not that he's biased against 'the right', it's that he has a demonstrable animus against those he considers lower-class, and that includes people who would work for a living (see his snobby remarks about manual labour).
That's anywhere from 30-46% of the American population, depending on definition and self-identification as such. That includes people who do the kinds of things that support Alexander in his lifestyle as Elite Human Capital:
The majority of working-class workers work in services. 78 percent of the working class works in services, with 12.8 percent working in construction, 8.3 percent working in manufacturing, and less than 1 percent working in agriculture.
Alexander may well think Vivre? les serviteurs feront cela pour nous but what are you going to do, when you dismiss 30% of your working population as beneath notice or dignity? The AI serfbots are not quite here just yet. Have you any right to be surprised then, when the people you have mocked vote for a demagogue and a populist? Will you take any responsibility for driving people away?
HereAndGone
1mo ago
No, that was rhetorical exaggeration, but based off cases like this from eight years back:
In a sworn statement, Barry O’Kelly said while conducting research for the programme he came across an advert on Facebook in Portuguese advertising rental accommodation at 79 Old Kilmainham Road.
Prices of €30 per night, €100 per week and €350 per month were quoted.
As a monthly figure had been quoted he said he did not believe the accommodation being offered constituted short-term accommodation and the property was being advertised to the public at large and not simply students.
O’Kelly said he and an undercover reporter, known as Mary, viewed the property.
It appeared to be like a hostel, and was packed with bunk beds capable of sleeping 40 people in three bedrooms.
One bedroom had 16 beds, while other bunkbeds were located in the corridor.
He said the undercover reporter paid €200 in advance for two weeks accommodation.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
You go on about "fetishing" manual labour, but what work are people who are not senior AI developers going to do, Alexander? Right now if we had way more construction workers (ugh! icky manual labour!) our housing problem could be solved, because we need to build way more houses (yeah, issues of planning etc. are also involved, but if you don't have the brickies and the sparks, no houses are gonna get built).
You see why I think you have a bee in your bonnet about class? That use of "fetishising" where you don't use an equivalent term about your dream of middle class white collar status for all (providing the "all" meet your criteria for being recognised as humans).
HereAndGone
1mo ago
A lot of kids get roped into working on the farm or working for the family business or wider family - we've just had two nieces of my boss doing some summer work here, in fact 😁 A few hours a week at much lower than regular pay, just to get them some pocket money and give them some work experience.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
Yes, there seems to be some confusion between was it in California or Canada where she allegedly worked. She may well have done so!
The middle-class thing intrigues me, because as "daughter of academics" she is indeed middle-class. But in American terms, that seems to be used to include "lower-middle class/upper working class" and when she was going on the campaign trail about being 'raised middle class' she was trying to appeal to The Ordinary American, somebody not in the same sector of society as "hob-nobbing with the wealthy and well-connected" as her career has brought her to be.
It's about status as much as economics, and while a divorced single mother may not have been swimming in money, being raised as the daughters of an academic who was that divorced single mother is not at all the same thing as being raised the daughters of the divorced single mother working as a waitress. Oakland, where she grew up (in part) is supposedly economically disadvantaged, so far as I can make out? But I imagine there's areas that are relatively better-off and relatively worse-off there as well.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
From the little I've seen of stories like this, it seems to go: "hospital hits you with incredibly huge bill, you go "nope", the insurance company goes "nope" and you get on to the special department the hospital has to negotiate "okay let's pay something reasonable", and only the honest and bewildered try to pay the incredibly huge bill" as hospitals will try and charge you for everything with the expectation that "nobody will really pay this, it's haggling time".
HereAndGone
1mo ago
I mean, yep to all that. It reminds me of the case I mentioned recently, where the girlfriend of the "head-to-toe tattooed drug addict samurai sword murderer with crazy eyes and a smirk on his face" guy gave a character reference to the court of how he was a loving and affectionate partner and father.
Yeah, despite all the evidence of reality, some people steadfastly refuse to acknowledge the truth.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
a scandal over some adult men emailing legal porn to other adult men
When you're a government worker, you are not supposed to use work email for anything other than work. Even if the porn was legal, doing it at work, during work hours, and using work email, is a firing offence. Even outside of government work, grounds for dismissal include "gross misconduct" and that covers "bringing the organisation into disrepute":
1 Misconduct
Misconduct is conduct that is considered to be unacceptable or inappropriate in the workplace. It is behaviour that falls below acceptable standards, but which is not considered to be serious misconduct. Misconduct can be a single act, or a series of acts. What constitutes misconduct may vary depending on the particular circumstances of the Department/Office and the work that the civil servant is carrying out.
Misconduct can include inappropriate behaviour outside the workplace which has an impact or could reasonably be likely to have an impact within the workplace.
2 Serious Misconduct
Serious misconduct is misconduct which is sufficiently serious to warrant dismissal or other serious sanction. It is a serious breach of the Civil Service rules and procedures, or of recognised and accepted standards and behaviour which results in a breakdown of the relationship of trust and confidence between the Department or Office and the civil servant.
Serious misconduct can also include inappropriate behaviour outside the workplace which has an impact or could reasonably be likely to have an impact within the workplace.
HereAndGone
1mo ago
Reading the link, it looks like McCaffery wasn't dinged just over the inappropriate emails, but there were accusations of corruption as well. Maybe they couldn't prove the corruption stuff, so the emails were their version of "Al Capone was convicted for tax evasion".
HereAndGone
1mo ago
It wasn’t normal that he rigged his rooms with videographic equipment.
Quite apart from the crimes, it seems that Epstein was himself a pervert. Getting sex tapes of celebs seems exactly like something he'd do. And then we factor in the blackmail angle, which every pimp and madam (it seems) uses as insurance policy, save for the very few who maintain discretion even after arrest. Isn't this what the entire furore over the "Epstein list" and whether it exists or not is about?
HereAndGone
1mo ago
more start-ups and entrepreneurship rather than chaebols eating everything
I think that is the way for the economy to survive, instead of emulating Japan which in the 80s was the Coming Economic Global Superpower (remember the movies about Japanese companies buying up America?) but look at where it is today.
Biden was running on "I beat Trump before" and Harris was running on "I'm not Trump" plus a helping of "I'm Black and Asian and a woman". Seemingly they brought Walz in as "well those racist sexist white guys need to see a white guy to vote for" which, God Almighty, no wonder they lost; if their view of being moderate is "let's pander to the deplorables" then they really are out of touch:
I don't know why Vance is "terrifying" (is it because he's Catholic?) rather than "he's a hick with no idea of how to govern" or "he's a blood-sucking capitalist".
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