I’ve spent maybe 45 minutes this afternoon in what I hope will be an interesting experiment.
Where I live, we have 5 candidates running for mayor, 2 running in my city district for city council (which are all non-partisan positions, at least ostensibly), one incumbent candidate for Congress and 4 from the opposite party for the primary against him. I have contacted each of them by email or Facebook Messenger and asked them this simple question…..
Do you have a comment on the conviction of Donald Trump in New York?
I have received one very flip non-responsive response from one candidate, and a several message back-and-forth with another (which again was mostly non-responsive).
I have my views on this question (as I am sure you do too), but I will be very interested to see if a candidate has the courage to share theirs with a constituent.
Snakepit KansasJune 3, 2024, 4:24 PM
Speak in platitudes and be non-committal on anything requiring conviction. That is the typical politician’s answer. At some point we will need to make a stand, and much stronger than Obama’s red line. Trump is not perfect nor was King David. At least with Trump you know where the guys stands. Monkeys and I saw a number of Trump flags flying around neighborhoods where we were mowing this past weekend. My wife wanted to know what I wanted for upcoming Father’s Day. Trump flag. Red or blue? Both.
If they can come up with ludicrous crimes on Trump and prosecute him, then none of us are safe.
DTJune 3, 2024, 4:56 PM
Keeping my fingers crossed – I don’t think the trial is really over just yet; just Part 1.
If this series of “trials” doesn’t work to keep Trump off the ticket, an assassination will.
And a good portion of the country will say “Good”
Getting close but not yet time.
azlibertarianJune 3, 2024, 7:21 PM
“…If they can come up with ludicrous crimes on Trump and prosecute him, then none of us are safe.”
And that is just the beginning of my fear here.
I’m seeing lots of commenters, in the professional class and elsewhere among us plebes, who are saying words to the effect that Republican Attorneys General and District Attorneys need to go on the offensive. Find something….anything….on a whole host of Democrat pols and make them live by the rules that they have written. If lawfare is how things are done, then so be it. Let’s get it on like Donkey Kong. Who thinks that a good case of insider trading couldn’t be made against San Fran Nan? How about that story of Obama’s chef drowning-while-paddleboarding-nekkid? I think that that story smells and that we should look into that.
And as the legal system engages in wholesale lawfare, young conservatives should mask their beliefs, take jobs in the government, and burrow their way into careers not based on service or achievement, but on screwing up every program they can touch. Burn the place down. It’ll be glorious.
Multiply all this a thousand times. Turnabout is fair play, ain’t it?
And where would all this lead us (he asked rhetorically)? I’ll tell you where. It’ll lead us to the point (which we are very near to today) where the losing party of every election will not trust the official results. There’ll be no incentive to transfer power peacefully. The losers of every election will have to take to the streets to voice their complaints to a .gov who’s mandate is to not listen to the people. We’ll be completely divided. No one….not one soul….will sit in the middle ground nor countenance any fool who thinks the middle is the way forward.
Folks, the danger of this moment is tangible.
John A. FlemingJune 4, 2024, 12:30 AM
The game theory boffins have a lot of evidence that indicates that “tit-for-tat” is pretty close to the optimal strategy when your opponent chooses to betray you versus cooperate. If somebody whacks you, you have to whack them back right away. It seems like it could lead quickly to out-of-control escalation, but it won’t. It’s letting the joker know you are prepared to go the distance and bring the hurt. Tit-for-tat deters escalation and brings the best outcome.
That basketball chick newly in the WNBA needs to learn that lesson and quickly. Not only does she has to out-pass and out-shoot her opponents, i.e. winning is the best revenge. She has to learn the pro skill of bringing the hurt right back to the cheap shot practitioners. Somebody flagrant fouls her, on the next play she has to not only score over the fouler, but the fouler also has to, oh my, accidentally, gee I’m so sorry I didn’t intend that at all, get a hard-thrown elbow right in the kisser and be sent sprawling to the floor. Maybe next time you’ll keep your face out of my elbow’s way.
Hockey used to have “enforcers”, bruisers who kept the play clean. You cheap shot guys on my team, you get to have an up close and personal encounter with Bruno here who just really loves physical gamesmanship.
Yah, the so-called Republicans need to learn that lesson. They are acting like Stockholm Syndrome survivors. Acting like, shoot, they are. They want the same things the Democrats want, but their guilt at always betraying the people who voted for them keeps them from standing firm.
ghostsniperJune 4, 2024, 6:29 AM
“Tit-for-tat deters escalation and brings the best outcome.”
=========================================
No.
TfT ENCOURAGES escalation.
Remember the scene in “The Christmas Story” where the 2 bad boys start punching each other in the arm, back n forth? After 2 or 3 cycles, each punching harder each time, one kid got punched real hard and didn’t punch back.
The way to DISCOURAGE escalation is for one side to use over the top escalation to cause the other side to bail. One side is weak, the other strong. If the strong side CHOOSES to not be strong, the weak side will pretend to be strong.
Consider, that the right, the republicans, hold the strong position based in truth and good, but refuses to defend that position against the constantly attacking criminal left democrats.
That is where we are now. By NOT escalating the arm punching contest to it’s natural conclusion the wrong guy rises to the top.
The way to stop evil and perhaps discourage it in the future, is always over the top force.
A thug kicks your door in and enters, do you engage in a TfT bitch slapping contest with the thug, hoping he doesn’t stick you with the blade in his belt, or do you pull your 12 ga and paint the wall with the thugs gutz?
Go ballz deep or stay your ass on the porch.
John A. FlemingJune 4, 2024, 10:13 AM
From my reading of the literature, tit-for-tat is optimal on average. They postulate a response strategy to a provocation, and run it for 100,000 instances. They use things like the “prisoner’s dilemma”, where if nobody squeals, everybody gets 1 year, if one person squeals everybody else gets 5 years and the rat gets a month. They then compare the outcome occurrences of one strategy relative to another. Tit-for-tat means if he squeals on you, the next time you squeal on him.
I agree that the “tit” response should be “proportional” but of greater impact.
Sometimes the adversary is not a rational actor, and destructive escalation occurs. High-functioning psychopaths can still be rational actors. They slug you, you slug them back hard, they reassess. If unfortunately you come up against an insane adversary, well, mad dogs have to be put down.
I agree that a home invasion is not a game-theory situation. They break into your house, they are too stupid to assess the risks or they intend to control the risks by bringing the hurt fast. Just one admonition, don’t shoot the invader in the back, the DA will throw you in the slammer.
ghostsniperJune 4, 2024, 11:03 AM
Roll him over and shoot him in the front.
AnonymousJune 4, 2024, 2:59 PM
It is obvious that the U.S. is being controlled by an outside entity. Who might the be? And, what if this entity pulls the pin and lets the pineapple drop. Are we prepared for it???????????????
With what is being pulled on Trump in plain sight with not so much as a squeak from those in office, those who should be screaming—–
DTJune 4, 2024, 5:27 PM
Regardless of outcome, we are screwed as a nation. Too much debt, too much power, spendthrift beyond comprehension, borders dissolved, justice system in shatters, so on and so forth.
The SHTF regardless of Nov outcome. Personally, I believe the Damned party will maintain control and the US will more or less follow the path of the Soviet Union … and it will take at least 3 generations for another turnaround.
Maybe “WE” might win in the end but “we” here seem to be roughly the same age – well past the age of college parties … we won’t be here to see it. Actually, I have this feeling we won’t live out our natural lives. In 10 years – or less and if the nation exists that long – the biggest expenditures are SS and Medicare. To cut expenses, the voters will allow a termination of major medical care for those over say 75 … and perhaps a requirement to terminate – humanely of course – those over say 80 or 85. “Why should we have to pay to keep all those old people alive when our families of taxpayers suffer from need?” The nation’s moral compass no longer points the direction we were raised to believe.
I dislike being a pessimist but it’s hard when that pessimism comes true more often than not.
Actually, I consider myself an optimist that is continuously disappointed.
Like falling off a building: it doesn’t hurt until that sudden stop. And then it doesn’t hurt.
We’ve only passed the 50th floor (5th floor?). No problems – everything’s fine. Look at the view. Isn’t it pretty?
And maybe I’m completely off my rocker.
But regardless, life goes on and these early June days are one of my favorite periods of the year.
(PS: The Republicans as a group don’t have the cojones to go tit-for-tat. Many of them play for the other team anyway)
ghostsniperJune 4, 2024, 6:04 PM
You’re not off your rocker.
In a way I’m glad I’m old.
I won’t have to suffer a long time.
In another sense I wish I was about 20 years old so I could dish out the fruits of my contempt when the time comes.
DTJune 4, 2024, 6:54 PM
Amen, brother. My regret is being too old to get down to it when it becomes necessary.
DTJune 4, 2024, 6:52 PM
Having absolutely nothing to do with … much of anything beyond personal. Maybe you’ll like it; maybe not. But I thought I’d pass it along.
The shell picture is illustrative of the numbers in nature, and the nature of beauty. 1:1.62. The Fibonacci Spiral.
Once you begin seeing it in nature, your whole universe changes. The leaves on the branches, and the branches. The proportions of your face, and your hand, and your forearm.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
Hello, friends,
I’ve spent maybe 45 minutes this afternoon in what I hope will be an interesting experiment.
Where I live, we have 5 candidates running for mayor, 2 running in my city district for city council (which are all non-partisan positions, at least ostensibly), one incumbent candidate for Congress and 4 from the opposite party for the primary against him. I have contacted each of them by email or Facebook Messenger and asked them this simple question…..
Do you have a comment on the conviction of Donald Trump in New York?
I have received one very flip non-responsive response from one candidate, and a several message back-and-forth with another (which again was mostly non-responsive).
I have my views on this question (as I am sure you do too), but I will be very interested to see if a candidate has the courage to share theirs with a constituent.
Speak in platitudes and be non-committal on anything requiring conviction. That is the typical politician’s answer. At some point we will need to make a stand, and much stronger than Obama’s red line. Trump is not perfect nor was King David. At least with Trump you know where the guys stands. Monkeys and I saw a number of Trump flags flying around neighborhoods where we were mowing this past weekend. My wife wanted to know what I wanted for upcoming Father’s Day. Trump flag. Red or blue? Both.
If they can come up with ludicrous crimes on Trump and prosecute him, then none of us are safe.
Keeping my fingers crossed – I don’t think the trial is really over just yet; just Part 1.
If this series of “trials” doesn’t work to keep Trump off the ticket, an assassination will.
And a good portion of the country will say “Good”
Getting close but not yet time.
“…If they can come up with ludicrous crimes on Trump and prosecute him, then none of us are safe.”
And that is just the beginning of my fear here.
I’m seeing lots of commenters, in the professional class and elsewhere among us plebes, who are saying words to the effect that Republican Attorneys General and District Attorneys need to go on the offensive. Find something….anything….on a whole host of Democrat pols and make them live by the rules that they have written. If lawfare is how things are done, then so be it. Let’s get it on like Donkey Kong. Who thinks that a good case of insider trading couldn’t be made against San Fran Nan? How about that story of Obama’s chef drowning-while-paddleboarding-nekkid? I think that that story smells and that we should look into that.
And as the legal system engages in wholesale lawfare, young conservatives should mask their beliefs, take jobs in the government, and burrow their way into careers not based on service or achievement, but on screwing up every program they can touch. Burn the place down. It’ll be glorious.
Multiply all this a thousand times. Turnabout is fair play, ain’t it?
And where would all this lead us (he asked rhetorically)? I’ll tell you where. It’ll lead us to the point (which we are very near to today) where the losing party of every election will not trust the official results. There’ll be no incentive to transfer power peacefully. The losers of every election will have to take to the streets to voice their complaints to a .gov who’s mandate is to not listen to the people. We’ll be completely divided. No one….not one soul….will sit in the middle ground nor countenance any fool who thinks the middle is the way forward.
Folks, the danger of this moment is tangible.
The game theory boffins have a lot of evidence that indicates that “tit-for-tat” is pretty close to the optimal strategy when your opponent chooses to betray you versus cooperate. If somebody whacks you, you have to whack them back right away. It seems like it could lead quickly to out-of-control escalation, but it won’t. It’s letting the joker know you are prepared to go the distance and bring the hurt. Tit-for-tat deters escalation and brings the best outcome.
That basketball chick newly in the WNBA needs to learn that lesson and quickly. Not only does she has to out-pass and out-shoot her opponents, i.e. winning is the best revenge. She has to learn the pro skill of bringing the hurt right back to the cheap shot practitioners. Somebody flagrant fouls her, on the next play she has to not only score over the fouler, but the fouler also has to, oh my, accidentally, gee I’m so sorry I didn’t intend that at all, get a hard-thrown elbow right in the kisser and be sent sprawling to the floor. Maybe next time you’ll keep your face out of my elbow’s way.
Hockey used to have “enforcers”, bruisers who kept the play clean. You cheap shot guys on my team, you get to have an up close and personal encounter with Bruno here who just really loves physical gamesmanship.
Yah, the so-called Republicans need to learn that lesson. They are acting like Stockholm Syndrome survivors. Acting like, shoot, they are. They want the same things the Democrats want, but their guilt at always betraying the people who voted for them keeps them from standing firm.
“Tit-for-tat deters escalation and brings the best outcome.”
=========================================
No.
TfT ENCOURAGES escalation.
Remember the scene in “The Christmas Story” where the 2 bad boys start punching each other in the arm, back n forth? After 2 or 3 cycles, each punching harder each time, one kid got punched real hard and didn’t punch back.
The way to DISCOURAGE escalation is for one side to use over the top escalation to cause the other side to bail. One side is weak, the other strong. If the strong side CHOOSES to not be strong, the weak side will pretend to be strong.
Consider, that the right, the republicans, hold the strong position based in truth and good, but refuses to defend that position against the constantly attacking criminal left democrats.
That is where we are now. By NOT escalating the arm punching contest to it’s natural conclusion the wrong guy rises to the top.
The way to stop evil and perhaps discourage it in the future, is always over the top force.
A thug kicks your door in and enters, do you engage in a TfT bitch slapping contest with the thug, hoping he doesn’t stick you with the blade in his belt, or do you pull your 12 ga and paint the wall with the thugs gutz?
Go ballz deep or stay your ass on the porch.
From my reading of the literature, tit-for-tat is optimal on average. They postulate a response strategy to a provocation, and run it for 100,000 instances. They use things like the “prisoner’s dilemma”, where if nobody squeals, everybody gets 1 year, if one person squeals everybody else gets 5 years and the rat gets a month. They then compare the outcome occurrences of one strategy relative to another. Tit-for-tat means if he squeals on you, the next time you squeal on him.
I agree that the “tit” response should be “proportional” but of greater impact.
Sometimes the adversary is not a rational actor, and destructive escalation occurs. High-functioning psychopaths can still be rational actors. They slug you, you slug them back hard, they reassess. If unfortunately you come up against an insane adversary, well, mad dogs have to be put down.
I agree that a home invasion is not a game-theory situation. They break into your house, they are too stupid to assess the risks or they intend to control the risks by bringing the hurt fast. Just one admonition, don’t shoot the invader in the back, the DA will throw you in the slammer.
Roll him over and shoot him in the front.
It is obvious that the U.S. is being controlled by an outside entity. Who might the be? And, what if this entity pulls the pin and lets the pineapple drop. Are we prepared for it???????????????
With what is being pulled on Trump in plain sight with not so much as a squeak from those in office, those who should be screaming—–
Regardless of outcome, we are screwed as a nation. Too much debt, too much power, spendthrift beyond comprehension, borders dissolved, justice system in shatters, so on and so forth.
The SHTF regardless of Nov outcome. Personally, I believe the Damned party will maintain control and the US will more or less follow the path of the Soviet Union … and it will take at least 3 generations for another turnaround.
Maybe “WE” might win in the end but “we” here seem to be roughly the same age – well past the age of college parties … we won’t be here to see it. Actually, I have this feeling we won’t live out our natural lives. In 10 years – or less and if the nation exists that long – the biggest expenditures are SS and Medicare. To cut expenses, the voters will allow a termination of major medical care for those over say 75 … and perhaps a requirement to terminate – humanely of course – those over say 80 or 85. “Why should we have to pay to keep all those old people alive when our families of taxpayers suffer from need?” The nation’s moral compass no longer points the direction we were raised to believe.
I dislike being a pessimist but it’s hard when that pessimism comes true more often than not.
Actually, I consider myself an optimist that is continuously disappointed.
Like falling off a building: it doesn’t hurt until that sudden stop. And then it doesn’t hurt.
We’ve only passed the 50th floor (5th floor?). No problems – everything’s fine. Look at the view. Isn’t it pretty?
And maybe I’m completely off my rocker.
But regardless, life goes on and these early June days are one of my favorite periods of the year.
(PS: The Republicans as a group don’t have the cojones to go tit-for-tat. Many of them play for the other team anyway)
You’re not off your rocker.
In a way I’m glad I’m old.
I won’t have to suffer a long time.
In another sense I wish I was about 20 years old so I could dish out the fruits of my contempt when the time comes.
Amen, brother. My regret is being too old to get down to it when it becomes necessary.
Having absolutely nothing to do with … much of anything beyond personal. Maybe you’ll like it; maybe not. But I thought I’d pass it along.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Lx6qDKQR0
Heartbreaking…
And they’re not coming back.
The shell picture is illustrative of the numbers in nature, and the nature of beauty. 1:1.62. The Fibonacci Spiral.
Once you begin seeing it in nature, your whole universe changes. The leaves on the branches, and the branches. The proportions of your face, and your hand, and your forearm.
Look up fractals …