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In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#173951: Feb 11th 2017 at 6:02:08 PM

CBU is all that island has, with the fishery and the coal mines fracked (yet Capers, bless their hearts, consistently refuse to elect sociopaths unlike certain other former coal miners....), aside from some tourism and start ups. They started it as a joke (possibly a bit of desperation, youth are fleeing the island to Halifax/further west), but now its all real....

I wonder if the US is too big to feel the impacts of a brain drain on the national level... Could they really lose enough educated people/people with the money/skills to get an education to actually suffer a capacity loss?

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
HextarVigar That guy from The Big House Since: Feb, 2015
That guy
#173952: Feb 11th 2017 at 6:03:55 PM

Reporters kept in room with black plastic covering windows while at Trump golf course

And then they slowly suction all the air out of the room...

edited 11th Feb '17 6:04:09 PM by HextarVigar

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#173953: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:06:30 PM

[up][up]That's no theory. It happens. Currently, you'll see it city by city. Case study: Atlanta's rather minimal reputation for scientific rigor—and GA's reputation in general keeps the sciences rather limited, and the the cheating scandal did the city no favors. (Emory's work with the Ebola incidents and the presence of the CDC mitigate this somewhat as well as the city's relative welcoming atmosphere...) Reputation of scientific comforts forms a feedback loop with the actual skilled researchers a city gets. Also, high tech businesses like to move to where talent is, not spend money to cultivate it.

In the past, talent just moved from say, Atlanta to LA or NYC or DC (my gambit of friends so far) and business follows them. If Trump manages to make the entire US science unfriendly, its not too big. Think of how much of the US is flyover country, how fragile scientific programs are—they're built on each other and on work that technically produces too few and irregular returns to cover overhead—and how few places skilled researchers congregate. If work calls from across the border, they'll move rather than take up farming.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:09:38 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#173954: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:16:15 PM

[up] I imagine the scientific community will end up being poached by Germany for a few years until things in Europe reach a boiling point and the EU collapses, at which point they'll end up with their own brain drain directed towards India and China. Then global warming will hit the global power balance like a truck, and the talent will probably drain towards places like Russia, Canada, and Scandinavia which are in relatively good positions post climate change.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:22:07 PM by CaptainCapsase

LinkToTheFuture A real bad hombre from somewhere completely different Since: Apr, 2015 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
A real bad hombre
#173955: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:19:54 PM

At which point Canada will reveal that they were secretly behind everything the whole time

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#173956: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:28:56 PM

Trump signed EO that changes succession of AG without Fanfare. He signed it the day Jeff Sessions was voted in, but it was only posted onto the Government website Friday.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#173957: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:31:58 PM

At this rate, whoever succeeds Trump is gonna have their hands full cleaning up the mess. I imagine their first word after sitting down in the Oval Office once out of earshot of anyone else will be "...fuck"

Edit: First order of business of course would be to remove the tacky gold curtains.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:34:04 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#173958: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:32:17 PM

[up][up] Pretty standard politicking rather than something unusual (compared to the removal of the acting AG over the travel ban), which is why there's no real fanfare.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:33:11 PM by CaptainCapsase

kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#173959: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:35:59 PM

[up][up]And then to stick them in an oil can in the Official Presidential Backally and make a jolly old bonfire. With Trump's spare toupee that he forgot to take out of the spare drawer serving as a firestarter.

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#173960: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:36:10 PM

Get ready for the next Twitter tantrum: Sears and Kmart are discontinuing Trump Home products in order to focus on more profitable products

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#173961: Feb 11th 2017 at 7:37:54 PM

Bureau of Indian Affairs sending agents to help clear Dakota Access protesters from site and the protestors are polishing their white flags...In relevant part...

Acting assistant secretary of Indian affairs Michael S. Black said the agency had sent “enforcement support and will assist” the tribe “in closing the protest camps within the Standing Rock Reservation boundary.”

“North Dakota Governor [Doug] Burgum, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe leadership, local law enforcement, and local landowners have all warned the public and those still camped of the dangerous spring flooding expected due to the heavy amount of snowfall the state received this winter,” Black added. “The closing of the camps is a matter of public health and safety, and working together at this time will allow for the safe removal of waste and debris that will impact the local environment and protection of those camped.”

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe had already passed a tribal resolution asking protesters to leave and requesting federal aid in closing the camp.
“In these past few weeks at camp, I see no reflection of our earlier unity, and without unity we lose,” the tribe’s chairman, David Archambault II, said in a statement.

edited 11th Feb '17 7:38:32 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Falrinn Since: Dec, 2014
#173962: Feb 11th 2017 at 8:01:17 PM

[up][up]

Makes sense really, even from a detached business perspective.

Because he's now the president, only Trump's hardcore supporters are going to want to buy something with Trump's name on itnote . Combine this with Trump popularity being dismal (an all-time low of 41% according to Gallup) and the fact that his hardcore supporters tend not to be the target demographic for luxury goods, and we have a recipe for atrocious sales of anything with the Trump label on it.

Which is probably why Nordstorm's stock went up when they dropped Ivanka's product line. Investors realized that jettisoning a product line that's become unprofitable through no fault of Nordstorm is a positive sign for the company as a whole.

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#173963: Feb 11th 2017 at 8:25:14 PM

Rep. Bill Pascrell is seeking the release of Trump's tax returns to the Ways and Means Committee.

Introducing Livelihood, Ashley Biden's new clothing line for Gilt. Actually made in the USA, and proceeds will be used to fund economic development programs in underserved communities.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#173964: Feb 11th 2017 at 8:48:23 PM

Sears and Kmart are already struggling big time next to other department stores and mismanagement by the current CEO.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#173965: Feb 11th 2017 at 8:51:31 PM

...Kmart still exists in the US? Man, they died in Canada in like the mid 90s...

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#173966: Feb 11th 2017 at 9:54:49 PM

I see their commercials on TV, but they haven't been in Texas in years, I don't think.

Anyway, because Trump says this is political: Yeah, it is. On the part of the consumers. The boycott is still a thing that works, apparently. Add into that that these are luxury goods, supposedly, means they have a relatively small buying audience. And if customers aren't buying for political reasons, companies stop renewing contracts for business reasons. Trump's trying to blame the companies when it's the public that is making the political statement. (of course, rather an a boycott it could also be because the products are subpar and customers can see it.)

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#173967: Feb 11th 2017 at 10:03:59 PM

"Damn those companies for not forcing the public to enable my corruption!"

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#173968: Feb 11th 2017 at 10:05:33 PM

[up][up][up]They're still around in New England — about twenty locations in MA.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
SilentColossus (Don’t ask)
#173969: Feb 11th 2017 at 10:40:04 PM

I used to work for 'em. Well, Sears. They're going downhill.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#173970: Feb 11th 2017 at 10:43:18 PM

The New Jersey Legislature has a bill which would make declawing a cat animal cruelty unless it is medically necessary.

Yale has removed former VP John C. Calhoun's name from one of it's buildings over his support of slavery.

edited 11th Feb '17 11:02:17 PM by tclittle

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
TerminusEst from the Land of Winter and Stars Since: Feb, 2010
#173971: Feb 12th 2017 at 6:34:29 AM

And now, for a different take on Steve Bannon:

Steve Bannon, Dharma Warrior: Hindu Scriptures and the Worldview of Trump's Chief Ideologue

Steve Bannon’s appreciation for the Bhagavad Gita makes more sense than you might think.

The Hindu scriptures, especially the Bhagavad Gita, have fascinated many public figures in the West for the last two centuries. Aldous Huxley had the Gita in mind when he wrote Brave New World. Heinrich Himmler saw himself as a disciple of its teachings. And Robert Oppenheimer famously quoted the scripture when the first nuclear device was tested at Los Alamos: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” (Bhagavad Gita 11.32).

The Bhagavad Gita is a dialogue from the mouth of god incarnate in human form as Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on a battlefield, exhorting him to remember the higher duty of establishing dharma in the world over all else. The concept of dharma and the teachings of the Gita continue to influence prominent figures in the West, including Stephen Kevin “Steve” Bannon, the chief strategist for U.S. President Donald Trump. This is despite the fact that Bannon has spoken of the power of Judeo-Christian norms in underpinning the capitalism that led to the greatness of the West.

According to a former friend of Bannon’s, he “used to talk a lot about dharma — he felt very strongly about dharma … one of the strongest principles throughout the Bhagavad Gita.” Dharma, a difficult term to translate from Sanskrit, can mean righteousness, but also duty. Every human must follow his or her own dharma (duty, calling) in accordance with his or her nature and social duties in order for society as a whole to be following the path of dharma (righteousness, order) and be in line with the cosmic order of things:

It is better to engage in one’s own occupation, even though one may perform it imperfectly, than to accept another’s occupation and perform it perfectly. (Bhagavad Gita 18:47)

Throughout Hindu scriptures and epics, individuals are portrayed as either fighting for and upholding dharma, both through self-actualization and actual sociopolitical or military action, or going against it. Nonetheless, as a character from the Hindu epic the Mahabharata points out, “Dharma is subtle.” It is situational, and difficult for any one individual to say what exactly their or anyone else’s dharma is exactly.

Given Bannon’s worldview, which sees the world, and especially the West as being in a state of moral and economic crisis resulting from the lack of mooring in traditional values (in other words, adharma, or lack of dharma or alignment with a sacred worldview), his interest in dharma is not surprising.

In the Mahabharata, the Hindu epic that the Bhagavad Gita is situated in, the great Kurukshetra War that occurs at its climax is not merely a dynastic dispute between cousins for a kingdom, but an epic battle for the ages with metaphysical connotations. In other words, it is a dharma yuddha or war for dharma. This is why the divine gets involved:

Whenever and wherever there is a decline in dharma….and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself, to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium. (Bhagavad Gita 4.7-4.8).

This apocalyptic worldview is frequently found in Bannon’s thought. Ordinary conflicts are thus parts of and transcended by issues far greater than the mundane. Who is banned or who is appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court is irrelevant, or not all that important, in the larger scheme of things, which is to push the world toward the war for dharma. In the Mahabharata, the Pandavas, the group of cousins who were wronged, sought to avoid war for years in order to spare the lives of millions, but were eventually convinced that they must go to war, not for themselves or their stolen kingdom, but for the stake of dharma itself.

Compare this with Bannon’s thoughts. Bannon said: “We’re at the very beginning stages of a very brutal and bloody conflict…fight for our beliefs against this new barbarity that’s starting, that will completely eradicate everything that we’ve been bequeathed over the last 2,000, 2,500 years.” When one sees oneself as part of a cosmic moment, thoughts of popularity, approval, or right and wrong vanish, and one becomes an instrument of a higher metaphysical drama, a key theme of the Bhagavad Gita. A man of dharma goes forward, trusting in fate, and not worrying about the fruits (karmaphala) of his actions:

These warriors arrayed in lines, opposing your men, even without you, will have perished! Arise, therefore, and seize upon your glory! With your foe conquered, enjoy thriving kingship! I have destroyed your enemy already: serve as my tool, O ambidextrous archer! (11.32-11.33).

Bannon seems to have a worldview in accordance with some of the teachings of the Gita that see the world as a cosmic battlefield, possibly imaging himself as warrior of dharma, adapted around his idea that the defense of capitalism and Christianity should be militarized and seen in the context of a great clash of civilizations and ideas. But like dharma, the Bhagavad Gita is also more complex and subtle than merely being the blueprint for warfare waged for the establishment of dharma. It also preaches wisdom, restraint, nonviolence in many cases, and the thoughtfulness that comes from deep meditation. And it says that the wise do not see any difference between different types of beings, whether the high or the low (5.18).

Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
DeMarquis (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#173972: Feb 12th 2017 at 7:38:51 AM

It is truely said that there is no work of wisdom so profound that it cannot be subverted for petty purposes.

I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.
Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#173973: Feb 12th 2017 at 7:40:52 AM

Introducing Livelihood, Ashley Biden's new clothing line for Gilt. Actually made in the USA, and proceeds will be used to fund economic development programs in underserved communities.
I do think it's worth noting here that "Made in America" often means made with prison labour at a few cents an hour. But the prices listed are high enough that they could be using workers actually making a decent wage, I hope.

FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#173975: Feb 12th 2017 at 9:00:01 AM

[up][up][up][up]As a Hindu, that article just made me very sick to my stomach.

edited 12th Feb '17 9:00:33 AM by FFShinra


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