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[NYCmetsfan]

Thatcher should get no credit for women rights.
Yeah, when she was seeking office she pushed the point of "a woman can get things done" but that was a tactical move to get women to vote for her. In her 11 years she had one female cabinet members (and it was to a junior position) and she opposed anti-discrimination laws and blocked childcare provisions.

Oh, I'm not crediting her for a movement. Just a personal perserverence

 

[Chichikov]

Hmm I guess it does sound callous even though I wasn't serious, but you have to realize that there are still communities in the north of England and Scotland who are in poverty and had their lives destroyed when Thatcher closed down the pits in the 80s. It was horrible and it didn't help that Thatcher turned the British army and law enforcement into partisan tools in order to crush the miners strike in 1985.

She used the fucking MI5 against the miners.
I used to live in Scotland, fuck her, you should not apologize for anything.

Oh, I'm not crediting her for a movement. Just a personal perserverence

You're crediting her for her ambition.
No one would argue she was not ambitious.

 

[RustyNails]

That wouldnt work. I mean, the reason why those top executives get paid tens of millions of dollars a year is because they are obviously indispensable. The whole system would collapse without them

Which is the reason why we should give them multi-million dollar golden parachutes when they screw the pooch and are heading out the door. It's paramount to the nation's economic well-being that we do not upset them or worse, make them cry.

 

[Wilsongt]

Did somebody say BENGAZI?!

Spoiler

BENGHAZIBENGHAZI

Fox Dedicates 15 Times More Coverage To Latest Pretend Benghazi Scandal Than Minimum Wage Vote

Swept Up In Scandal, Fox Misses Minimum Wage Vote. During Fox News' April 30 programming, the network dedicated nearly 53 minutes to newly released emails between administration officials concerning media talking points relating to the September 11, 2012 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya. Numerous Fox personalities referred to these emails as a "smoking gun," indicating an Obama administration cover up of events related to the attack, despite there being no evidence of coordinated attempts by the White House to misinform the public. During the same time period, Fox dedicated just over 3 minutes to a vote in the United States Senate to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 per hour -- a move widely supported by business leaders, economists, and a significant majority of the American public.

Fair and Balanced. We deliver. You decide. Etc, etc

 

[NYCmetsfan]

She used the fucking MI5 against the miners.
I used to live in Scotland, fuck her, you should not apologize for anything.

Well, I'm against the death penalty. That was my issue. The death part. I have less of a problem with people being glad she's no longer with us. And I know he wasn't serious.

 

[benjipwns]

I really think thatcher is one of the only politicians who I can say I actively think was a bad person.

How are you defining politicians?

 

[Piecake]

Which is the reason why we should give them multi-million dollar golden parachutes when they screw the pooch and are heading out the door. It's paramount to the nation's economic well-being that we do not upset them or worse, make them cry.

great and important men usually do have delicate sensibilities

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Speaking of horrible human beings.

Roger Alies is one.

Shep wanted to come out, Roger told him: "no"
http://gawker.com/how-fox-news-shoved-shepard-smith-back-into-the-closet-1569504867

Smith, one of Ailes’s first and most loyal disciples, acquiesced to his boss’s demand, and dropped the matter. But the discussion worried enough Fox executives to prompt Smith’s removal, in September 2013, from the channel’s coveted prime-time lineup. According to a Fox insider with direct knowledge of negotiations, Smith’s desire to come out was a large factor in the dramatic move.

 

[benjipwns]

Yet Smith’s demotion wasn’t actually Ailes’s idea to begin with. Nor was Ailes very surprised when Smith finally approached him. “Roger has known Shep has been gay for a long time,” a current Fox staffer said. So why was Ailes suddenly afraid of everyone else knowing, too?

A few weeks before approaching Ailes about coming out, Smith surprised Fox staffers by bringing his boyfriend, a 26-year-old Fox producer named Gio Graziano, to a company picnic at Ailes’s compound in Garrison, New York. Held annually on Independence Day weekend, the picnic is a small gathering—only executives, on-air talent, and their frontline producers are invited—so Smith likely felt comfortable bringing along his steady partner.

Despite the intimate venue, the new couple put several Fox executives on high alert. According to multiple sources with knowledge of the picnic, the most dramatic reaction came from Bill Shine, the channel’s Executive Vice President of Programming. Shine “flipped out,” one source said, after* Smith introduced Graziano to attendees. (Within and outside of Fox, Shine, who is 50 and grew up on Long Island, carries a reputation for insensitivity toward gay people. “He’s a major, major homophobe,” a Fox insider said.)

Back in New York City, Shine called a meeting among high-level executives to discuss a plan of action regarding Smith. “His fear was that Shep’s audience would implode,” said an individual familiar with the meeting, during which Shine forcefully argued against Smith coming out. His argument was simple: Our audience is not ready for a gay anchor.

Shine’s plea wasn’t particularly well-received. (“Everyone’s jaws just dropped,” a Fox insider said.) But the potential impact on Fox’s ratings was enough to scare Ailes into believing his lieutenant’s apocalyptic scenario. Fox’s unparalleled numbers are, after all, what give Ailes almost complete autonomy over his channel’s content, and immense power within Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.

With Ailes’ approval, Shine quickly choreographed Smith’s move from Fox’s 7 p.m. block, where he anchored The Fox Report, to the 3 p.m. block, where he currently runs Shepard Smith Reporting. Anticipating Smith’s desire to come out, Shine also coached Ailes on what to say when Smith finally approached him.

.

 

[WayneMorse]

One of the upsides to Thatcher was that she helped bring us John Major, whose time as Prime Minister post Black Wednesday in 1992 was easily one of the most hilariously incompetent attempts at governance in modern history. I don't think I can think of any American political parallels to Major's government after 1992. From Black Wednesday where he crashed the British economy by trying the peg interest rates to that of Germany's to his shitty attempt to relaunch his government with Back to Basics in 1993 to the disastrous privatisation of British Rail.

Every week there was a new scandal from Tory MPs accidentally killing themselves through auto-erotic asphyxiation to cabinet ministers buying prostitutes for Arab businessman. It didn't help that Major was a total loser and if it came out during his time as PM that he had an affair with Edwina Currie I think the universe would've collapsed in on itself from the hilarity of it all.

 

[RustyNails]

One of the upsides to Thatcher was that she helped bring us John Major, whose time as Prime Minister post Black Wednesday in 1992 was easily one of the most hilariously incompetent attempts at governance in modern history. I don't think I can think of any American political parallels to Major's government after 1992. From Black Wednesday where he crashed the British economy by trying the peg interest rates to that of Germany's to his shitty attempt to relaunch his government with Back to Basics in 1993 to the disastrous privatisation of British Rail.

Every week there was a new scandal from Tory MPs accidentally killing themselves through auto-erotic asphyxiation to cabinet ministers buying prostitutes for Arab businessman. It didn't help that Major was a total loser and if it came out during his time as PM that he had an affair with Edwina Currie I think the universe would've collapsed in on itself from the hilarity of it all.

He had a pretty freakin badass name though.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

One of the upsides to Thatcher was that she helped bring us John Major, whose time as Prime Minister post Black Wednesday in 1992 was easily one of the most hilariously incompetent attempts at governance in modern history. I don't think I can think of any American political parallels to Major's government after 1992. From Black Wednesday where he crashed the British economy by trying the peg interest rates to that of Germany's to his shitty attempt to relaunch his government with Back to Basics in 1993 to the disastrous privatisation of British Rail.

Every week there was a new scandal from Tory MPs accidentally killing themselves through auto-erotic asphyxiation to cabinet ministers buying prostitutes for Arab businessman. It didn't help that Major was a total loser and if it came out during his time as PM that he had an affair with Edwina Currie I think the universe would've collapsed in on itself from the hilarity of it all.

I've never understood why they never renationalized some industry. Its pretty obvious a lot of the privatizations failed and they needed to regulate the hell out of it. Why continue to have it be private then?

 

[benjipwns]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_04ZH_ZpJpo

Even the august and ostensibly economically literate The Wall Street Journal tells him to read Animal Farm. Animal Farm, hmm. Isn't that Orwell's political parable of farm animals where a bunch of pigs hog up all the economic resources, tell the animals they need the food because they're the makers and then scare up a prospect of a phony boogie man every time their greed is challenged? Sounds familiar. Hey conservatives, it's time to stop the childish Cole War name-calling and deal with facts. Either that or be relegated to the kids and the crazy uncle table at holiday dinners.

We're through the looking glass.

 

[Oblivion]

Did somebody say BENGAZI?!

Spoiler

BENGHAZIBENGHAZI

Fox Dedicates 15 Times More Coverage To Latest Pretend Benghazi Scandal Than Minimum Wage Vote



Fair and Balanced. We deliver. You decide. Etc, etc

Shame Ambassador Stevens wasn't a bureaucrat at the BLM.

 

[Chichikov]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_04ZH_ZpJpo

We're through the looking glass.

LOL, embarrassing.
And it's not like it's hard to shit on that terrible WSJ review of that book.

p.s.
I came to the conclusion that no one in the media actually read Capital in the 21st Century.
It's like people just searched for "tax" and "US", found a chart, assumed they understood his argument and went straight to their talking points.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

Senate to vote on Constitutional Amendment on Campaign Financehttp://www.thenation.com/blog/17960...utional-amendment-counter-plutocracy-politics

Section 1. To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes, Congress shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to Federal elections, including through setting limits on—
(1) the amount of contributions to candidates for nomination for election to, or for election to, Federal office; and
(2) the amount of funds that may be spent by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.

Section 2. To advance the fundamental principle of political equality for all, and to protect the integrity of the legislative and electoral processes, each State shall have power to regulate the raising and spending of money and in-kind equivalents with respect to State elections, including through setting limits on—
(1) the amount of contributions to candidates for nomination for election to, or for election to, State office; and
(2) the amount of funds that may be spent by, in support of, or in opposition to such candidates.

Section 3. Nothing in this article shall be construed to grant Congress the power to abridge the freedom of the press.

Section 4. Congress and the States shall have power to implement and enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Um this seems pretty big. Its a well written amendment too since it sideskirts a lot of free speech questions buy not focusing on decisions but just granting congress specific powers. I can see this being a big grassroots movement to support this. I don't think you can lie to the public like with the ERA. And even though they'll try, Americans want this.

 

[Oblivion]

Benji posted this yesterday, but I just wanted to say:

Ted Cruz, whose wife works at Goldman Sachs, is viewed negatively by many in the industry for his support of last year’s government shutdown and scorched earth approach to political battle. Cruz fired up an activist gathering in New Hampshire earlier this month with the kind of provocative populist message that makes bankers very nervous. “The rich and powerful, those who walk the corridors of power, are getting fat and happy,” Cruz thundered. At the same event, Paul argued that the GOP “cannot be the party of fat cats, rich people and Wall Street.”

...how fucking stupid can Wall Street bankers be? Seriously? You idiots really think Ted fucking Cruz and Rand fucking Paul are going to somehow hurt your bottom line?

Seriously, these people are dumber than I thought.

 

[benjipwns]

A hypothetical Paul presidency might mess with The Fed, especially if it's a two-term presidency.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

A hypothetical Paul presidency might mess with The Fed, especially if it's a two-term presidency.

Don't see how he can, unless its the two terms you talk about. Its an independent agency. The only thing he could do would be change the head (he'd have to fight congress) and maybe a board member (the have 14 year terms so they're pretty insular) but can't the Board revolt?

 

[PhoenixDark]

A hypothetical Paul presidency might mess with The Fed, especially if it's a two-term presidency.

No president would mess with the Fed.

The fear about Paul, Warren, etc is that they would withhold access or support in other areas. Would Rand Paul or Liz Warren fold to Wall Street like Obama did, with 59 republican senators and a majority in the house in early 2009? Probably not. Also it's unlikely both would fill their cabinets with former bankers or lobbyists like Obama has done since day one.

The article simply points out that bankers are less apt to trust those who don't play "the game" as much as other politicians. Obama had Goldman Sachs on board pretty fast, he was never a threatening candidate; the same applies to Hillary, but to a higher level.

Cruz is dangerous but doesn't strike me as a true believer like Paul or Warren.

 

[rocketknight]

How did I miss this gem of a stupid article form the new 538

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/are-white-republicans-more-racist-than-white-democrats/

He should have stopped when he wrote this:



I've never seen someone throw the credibility out the window as fast as Nate. At this rate I don't even know if I'll look at his polling, I don't trust him to resist the ESPN influence.

The new 538 sucks but Ezra Klein's Vox is pretty much killing it. He was always the superior wunderkind anyway.

 

[benjipwns]

Don't see how he can, unless its the two terms you talk about. Its an independent agency. The only thing he could do would be change the head (he'd have to fight congress) and maybe a board member (the have 14 year terms so they're pretty insular) but can't the Board revolt?

I'm assuming a semi-favorable Congress as well, since that seems a wave election is necessary for a Paul election.

There's a reason nobody wants a real audit of it, and whoever a Paul would appoint to Treasury is going to cause problems too.

 

[East Lake]

Benji posted this yesterday, but I just wanted to say:



...how fucking stupid can Wall Street bankers be? Seriously? You idiots really think Ted fucking Cruz and Rand fucking Paul are going to somehow hurt your bottom line?

Seriously, these people are dumber than I thought.

Ted and his gang are responsible for making Lloyd Blankfein take an extra flight down to DC during the government shutdown to explain to them that they can't crash the global economy.

 

[NYCmetsfan]

The new 538 sucks but Ezra Klein's Vox is pretty much killing it. He was always the superior wunderkind anyway.

Check out the upshot. they're doing great things.

I like VOX but they need an editor. They've got a great talent for explaining things but its feels amateurish. I expect them to grow though. 538 I've given up on. I'm really disapointed

 

[PhoenixDark]

It shouldn't be hard to see why Wall Street wouldn't like anti intervention blowhards like Cruz, who don't believe a federal default is a big deal.

 

[speculawyer]

It shouldn't be hard to see why Wall Street wouldn't like anti intervention blowhards like Cruz, who don't believe a federal default is a big deal.

His wife works at Goldman Sachs.

Am I crazy if I think that is amazingly messed up? He can tell his wife whatever crazy plans he has and Goldman can trade on them.

 

[benjipwns]

Not any more messed up than the fact members of Congress can trade on insider information and so on.

 

[Aaron Strife]

I've never seen someone throw the credibility out the window as fast as Nate. At this rate I don't even know if I'll look at his polling, I don't trust him to resist the ESPN influence.

Nate is good when he's running data through models and reporting them. He's a shitty pundit however.

Yeah, he got every state right in 2012. So did I. Apparently paying attention to campaigns and polls is a rarity against political analysts who would rather construct bullshit narratives than look at the data.

He also would have gotten the two Senate seats he flubbed on (North Dakota, Montana) right if he just looked at the polls. Instead he tweaked his model heavily to give Republicans a 2-1 advantage in Montana (Tester led in almost every poll) and a laughable 9-1 advantage in North Dakota (a little more forgivable since public polls were scarce and the race was decided by 3,000 votes, but there was never any indication Berg had any huge advantage like that).

 

[Jooney]

great and important men usually do have delicate sensibilities

How true.

 

[Chichikov]

Nate is good when he's running data through models and reporting them. He's a shitty pundit however.

Yeah, he got every state right in 2012. So did I. Apparently paying attention to campaigns and polls is a rarity against political analysts who would rather construct bullshit narratives than look at the data.

He also would have gotten the two Senate seats he flubbed on (North Dakota, Montana) right if he just looked at the polls. Instead he tweaked his model heavily to give Republicans a 2-1 advantage in Montana (Tester led in almost every poll) and a laughable 9-1 advantage in North Dakota (a little more forgivable since public polls were scarce and the race was decided by 3,000 votes, but there was never any indication Berg had any huge advantage like that).

I said it before and I will say it again - he gets way too much credit for his election predictions.
All he does is weighted poll averages, and his weighting is super standard look at past results.

Those monte carlo simulations he runs adds nothing and are based on shoddy math.
But they sure make him looks like a math wizard.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I said it before and I will say it again - he gets way too much credit for his election predictions.
All he does is weighted poll averages, and his weighting is super standard look at past results.

Those monte carlo simulations he runs adds nothing and are based on shoddy math.
But they sure make him looks like a math wizard.

The main thing I liked in his model was weighing based on past performance of the pollster.

 

[Chichikov]

The main thing I liked in his model was weighing based on past performance of the pollster.

Yeah, but doing bias estimation by comparing past predictions with actual results is literally the most basic thing in such statistical analysis.
Every first year social science student do those things.

And again, I'm not saying it's bad or anything, this is the a good methodology for election predictions, but -
a. it's not some super advanced black magic math.
b. doing the actual individual polls (that Silver and the media often shat on) is much more complicated and much more important.

 

[benjipwns]

Even that wasn't too significant if I recall. RCP's averages are just that, straight averages and I think they only got one state wrong.

And didn't PPP go from one of the worst pollsters to pretty good? I think Rasmussen had a similar change from one cycle to another in the past.

Also, really, all you're doing is coin-flipping on a handful of races. If one was wrong, Silver can just go "the model only said it was 60% sure!"

 

[Black Mamba]

LOL, embarrassing.
And it's not like it's hard to shit on that terrible WSJ review of that book.

p.s.
I came to the conclusion that no one in the media actually read Capital in the 21st Century.
It's like people just searched for "tax" and "US", found a chart, assumed they understood his argument and went straight to their talking points.

Can't blame them, Amazon has had it out of stock for over 2 weeks from what I've seen (and still is).

What, did they only print 10 copies!? COME ON AMAZON!

Don't see how he can, unless its the two terms you talk about. Its an independent agency. The only thing he could do would be change the head (he'd have to fight congress) and maybe a board member (the have 14 year terms so they're pretty insular) but can't the Board revolt?

President can remove the Fed Chariman at a whim's notice. He can try and replace him with his father, Ron. Imagine that.

Or Milton Friedman, of course.

There's a reason nobody wants a real audit of it, and whoever a Paul would appoint to Treasury is going to cause problems too.

There are real audits of it. What the Pauls want is an audit of actual economic policy which is absurdly stupid.

 

[benjipwns]

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/the-fed-audit

This didn't go even a third as far as Ron and Bernie wanted.

 

[Black Mamba]

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/the-fed-audit

This didn't go even a third as far as Ron and Bernie wanted.

This audit showed almost nothing that mattered. It basically said "hey the Fed did things of which we gave it the power to do and made it independent to do because it makes sense" and then people went "oh my god look at what it did!!!"

It's been a long time since I read it and I'm not doing it again, but I recall it being a lot less harsh than your link and others portrayed it, regarding things like conflict of interest.

The Fed boogeyman schtick is probably the most tiring of all the internet boogermen the last few years.

edit: FTR, not having this conversation again. PWC audits the fed routinely (unless they changed companies). What the Pauls want is a ridiculous audit that would require economists to understand what they're auditing (which is pointless because we're now hiring economists to audit the economists on the economic policy agenda...why not just hire those economists instead!?). The Pauls are dunces. I'm not saying the Fed shouldn't be more open and I'm fine with it, but I've had this internet conversation too many times and I'm over it.

tl;dr - the Pauls are dunces.

 

[benjipwns]

That's the thing about these agencies and state companies, there's no interest in a proper accounting because nobody actually wants to know what they're doing. Like with Fannie and Freddie despite the warnings. A lack of Congressional oversight is just the price to pay for maintaining denial and shifting the blame if anyone finds out. The public being able to employ oversight would be even worse.

 

[benjipwns]

Anyway, Democrats continue to be exposed as the actual racists, first Cliven Bundy, then Donald Sterling, now this high level Democrat and Obama supporter:

A piece of audio has surfaced reportedly featuring New Jersey Democratic mayoral candidate Marie Strumolo Burke making a racist outburst on a voicemail message, saying “This is terrible. This is terrible. This is gonna be a f**king n*gger town.” According to the Star-Ledger, the audio is believed to be of Burke yelling in the background of a voicemail message left by the former head of the planning board in Belleville, New Jersey.

The audio was obtained by Belleville Mayor Raymond Kimble, who just happens to be Burke’s opponent in the mayoral election. Kimble sent the audio to a forensics lab in Michigan and came away with the conclusion that it is “85 percent certain” Burke’s voice is the one on the tape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yslP59W-62Q

Also, O'Reilly annihilates media's fake Sterling scandal to cover up Benghazi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyDtxx61TD0

 

[Black Mamba]

An e-mail that shows nothing new at all and nothing we already knew is BIG NEWS to O'Reilly.

lolz.

 

[benjipwns]

Uh did you miss the part where he said this is PROOF, PERIOD.

PERIOD.

 

[Chichikov]

Can't blame them, Amazon has had it out of stock for over 2 weeks from what I've seen (and still is).

What, did they only print 10 copies!? COME ON AMAZON!

All the copies of the first print have been sold, blame Harvard press.
That's such a clusterfuck, I mean it's so fucking obvious that a 700 pages book by a french economists exploring the capital to income ratio will sell like hotcakes.

Spoiler

get the digital copy.

 

[Crisco]

I don't even know why I bothered to look, but yeah, this new Benghazi evidence is bullshit just like everything else. The email isn't even about Benghazi, its about the general outbreak of protests in the region.

 

[Wilsongt]

CNN's coverage of that Malaysia flight is becoming as comical ad Fox's coverage of BENGHAZI.

 

[Aaron Strife]

The main thing I liked in his model was weighing based on past performance of the pollster.

Which is funny considering now he dumps on PPP because they hurt his feelings on twitter, even though they've consistently produced accurate work.

 

[AnotherNils]

Question for you smart Poligaffers. The Texas Enterprise Fund is giving $40 million to Toyota to relocate, but I'm not entirely clear if that $40 million is tax incentives or straight money. I've seen it referred to as incentives and grants.

Basically I want to know if this is a straight up bribe that Texas' citizens are funding or "tax breaks" which would be future lost revenue for the state.

 

[empty vessel]

Question for you smart Poligaffers. The Texas Enterprise Fund is giving $40 million to Toyota to relocate, but I'm not entirely clear if that $40 million is tax incentives or straight money. I've seen it referred to as incentives and grants.

Basically I want to know if this is a straight up bribe that Texas' citizens are funding or "tax breaks" which would be future lost revenue for the state.

It's a grant (straight money) from what I understand, but I'm not sure there's a meaningful difference either way between a grant totaling X and tax breaks totaling X.

 

[AnotherNils]

It's a grant (straight money) from what I understand, but I'm not sure there's a meaningful difference either way between a grant totaling X and tax breaks totaling X.

For the purposes of debate, the former is much easier to stop people in their tracks with.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

Thatcher was a terrible human being, much more than Reagan.
Reagan was a dumbass actor who got his ass kicked by some union people when he was young and believed that the commies are coming to take america any moment.
He believed his bullshit, but Thatcher knew what she was doing, she was just a fucking evil, thanks god she ruled over a rather insignificant country so her damage was rather contained (though she did manage to spread her horrible influence to Argentina and South Africa).

I don't usually celebrate people's death, even those I disagree with violently, but I flew halfway across the world to toast her demise.
Ding dong bitch, may your memory be shat on for all time, you cunt.

Forgot one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4-zDem1Sk


I saw Special Beat (a supergroup of members of English Beat and the Specials) play and a few days before the show, Thatcher was booted out. I've never seen a band look as happy as when they played "Stand Down Margaret."

 

[speculawyer]

Also, O'Reilly annihilates media's fake Sterling scandal to cover up Benghazi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyDtxx61TD0

How do you "cover up" an event that had multiple investigations and no one gives a shit about?

 

[Zona]

How do you "cover up" an event that had multiple investigations and no one gives a shit about?

Jedi mind trick?