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The Trump Presidency: Part 17

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The GOP isn't going to lose their support. Where would they go?
Some may be moderates who decide to go with the Democrats or some 3rd party.

Some may continue to support the GOP in spirit, but just aren't motivated enough to actually go to the polls on election day.
 
I'm still trying to figure out exactly what a "perfect" phone call is. I mean, I've made many calls in my life, but there's not been one where I've hung up the phone and said, "My, what a perfect phone call!"
Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hello. May I speak to Julia?"
Me: "I'm sorry but there's no one named Julia at this number."
Caller: "Oh, I must have dialed the wrong number."
Me: "Very possible. Have a good evening."
Caller: "You, too. Thank you."
<click>
Me: "My, what a perfect phone call!"
 
//Total hijack//

It's 2019. You'd figure by now the major world leaders of all the technology advanced nations who are on even basic civil terms would have teleconferencing capabilities with the ability to do things like share images and document and wouldn't be chatting on the phone like it's the 1960s.

When I was in the Navy, and this is going on a few years now, you couldn't get a Flag Officer to lower himself to talking on a mere telephone for anything official. VTCs were goddamn the bare minimum and some Admirals expected you to be the production manager in their off Broadway show just to talk to another admiral.
 
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//Total hijack//

It's 2019. You'd figure by now the major world leaders of all the technology advanced nations who are on even basic civil terms would have teleconferencing capabilities with the ability to do things like share images and document and wouldn't be chatting on the phone like it's the 1960s.

When I was in the Navy, and this is going on a few years now, you couldn't get a Flag Officer to lower himself to talking on a mere telephone for anything official. VTCs were goddamn the bare minimum and some Admirals expected you to be the production manager in their off Broadway show just to talk to another admiral.
"Just one more moment, sir. We've got a little hot spot on your forehead.

*shouts* Last looks! Need a little powder up here, please."
 
"Mr. President, you have the largest, most advanced and most experienced Intelligence Community in all of history at your disposal.
What do you want to do to make sure that you piss off every single member of it?"

I think asking a foreign Intelligence Agency to investigate your Intelligence Agency will do the trick.


And with Australia being asked to help investigate Australia and the UK under suspicion, it looks like Trump has get everyone investigating everyone. Except him.
 
//Total hijack//

It's 2019. You'd figure by now the major world leaders of all the technology advanced nations who are on even basic civil terms would have teleconferencing capabilities with the ability to do things like share images and document and wouldn't be chatting on the phone like it's the 1960s.
I think the problem with that is that even if those other world leaders have computers, they may not have the same infrastructure. Heck, my girlfriend can't even do video calls with her family because they all have apple phones and she uses Blackberry/Android.

For example, for Trump to teleconference with Putin, they'd probably have to install Astra Linux on whatever computer Trump is using.

A telephone is just sort of a basic 'Everyone will have this' sort of thing.
When I was in the Navy, and this is going on a few years now, you couldn't get a Flag Officer to lower himself to talking on a mere telephone for anything official.
If its the military, they can enforce some sort of standardization.
 
Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hello. May I speak to Julia?"
Me: "I'm sorry but there's no one named Julia at this number."
Caller: "Oh, I must have dialed the wrong number."
Me: "Very possible. Have a good evening."
Caller: "You, too. Thank you."
<click>
Me: "My, what a perfect phone call!"

My most recent "perfect phone call".


Me: "Hello?"
Caller: "Hi, I'm Susan from the debt forgiveness foundation..."
Me: "I forgive you, Susan".
<click>
 

It was a child who pointed out that the Emperor wore no clothes.

This was not an accident on the part of the author.

I wouldn't say they're good critical thinkers but very young people are less biased. Teaching them critical thinking can help them avoid getting stuck in a rigid thinking scheme later on.
It’s actually pretty hard to get the balance right. When kids say something isn’t fair, a lot of times they’re right. They recognize inconsistency and injustice. The stock answer is, life isn’t fair. With older kids this could be an opportunity to have them examine their claim. When working with 14-year-olds I was warned not to argue with them. A basic people-management technique. I kind of like to argue with them. However it isn’t always useful to engage, unless your explicit subject matter is forensic debate. When you’re teaching how to “solve for x,” and a kid asks why is the variable so often “x,” they’re asking a legit question, but it may be tangential to the thrust of the lesson. Maybe a good answer is, “for right now we’re using x. Later we will use other letters.”

That’s a clumsy example I just made up, but kids ask good but semi-irrelevant questions all the time. They’re very good at it.

Thanks Fast Eddie B for the link.
 
Occasionally when the kids have a little unstructured time I’ll project threads from this forum on a SMART Board. They’ll often get interested in the conversations. But it does not fit in with a tightly scripted lesson plan.

ETA: Richard Feynman’s anecdotes about his father are great examples of engaging even a small child in critical thinking.
 
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Oh I don't know. Some people are just motivated by greed.
I saw a farmer interviewed on CNN who was being totally screwed by tariffs and was airing his grievances about them. He was then asked who he voted for, and it was Trump of course. Then he was asked who he'd vote for next election and he smirked and said Trump.
I can understand greed. I don't understand what this guy's reasoning must have been.
 
I saw a farmer interviewed on CNN who was being totally screwed by tariffs and was airing his grievances about them. He was then asked who he voted for, and it was Trump of course. Then he was asked who he'd vote for next election and he smirked and said Trump.
I can understand greed. I don't understand what this guy's reasoning must have been.

Not everybody is. There are lots of high income earners who just love their tax cut.
 
I saw a farmer interviewed on CNN who was being totally screwed by tariffs and was airing his grievances about them. He was then asked who he voted for, and it was Trump of course. Then he was asked who he'd vote for next election and he smirked and said Trump.
I can understand greed. I don't understand what this guy's reasoning must have been.
He believes Trump, who has told him that China was responsible for implementing these tariffs, not Donny. Or some such thing, whatever the operating excuse is from the White House today. This guy has swallowed the bait and it tastes good!

There is a nice parallel discussion on the outcomes of the lack of education in critical thinking in the USA (and you're not alone there, Yanks, by the way). Here it is in action.
 
I saw a farmer interviewed on CNN who was being totally screwed by tariffs and was airing his grievances about them. He was then asked who he voted for, and it was Trump of course. Then he was asked who he'd vote for next election and he smirked and said Trump.
I can understand greed. I don't understand what this guy's reasoning must have been.
He hates Spics and *******, just like me.
 
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