The Center-Left Flees The Field

Ross Douthat on the collapse of the center left. He makes a good point: The Rubinomics "center-left" focused on economics issues, such as trade, tax reform and health care but unlike Bill Clinton were silent on cultural issues.

Ross barely mentions the great trainwreck of the day, which has also been the trainwreck in Europe, to wit, immigration, especially illegal immigration. He does say this:

But then consider a third distillation, a third narrative, in which the center-left’s signal political failure was that it never really sought to preserve a cultural centrism, which meant over time that its party’s approach to social issues has been dictated more and more completely by the left. In this story the political success of Bill Clinton reflected not only his compromises with Republicans on taxes and spending, his tacit nods to Reaganomics, but also his ability to infuse a centrist liberalism with reassuring nods to various kinds of moderate cultural conservatism — the school uniform and v-chip business and the rhetoric of “safe, legal and rare” on abortion, the easy Baptist religiosity, the tacitly center-right positions on immigration and crime and same-sex marriage.

If Clinton had matched this cultural conservatism with decency in his private life, Al Gore would have won re-election as his heir and the larger story of the center-left might have been entirely different. But instead, from the mid-2000s onward, the leftward flank of the Democratic Party looked at the country’s changing demographics and growing social liberalism and decided that Clinton’s compromises with cultural conservatism weren’t as politically necessary as they had been (which was true), and that therefore they were free to become increasingly ideologically maximalist on everything touching gender or race or sexuality or immigration (which was … not true).

Team Rubinomics fled the field on immigration, which has clear economic and cultural components. As an example, in 2006 Krugman briefly touched the third rail and acknowledged, citing Borjas, that unskilled immigrants (legal or otherwise) depress the wages of the native unskilled.

By 2017 Krugman had more comforting studies and realized that such a conclusion was "wrong", although the once-admired Borjas continues to push it. Thank heaven for the liberal take-over of academia!

So what happened? Please. Peter Beinart explains the obvious - faith in their emerging Democacratic majority and rising political correctness pushed the Democrats to their current "Stop hating, hater" position on illegal immigration.

A larger explanation is political. Between 2008 and 2016, Democrats became more and more confident that the country’s growing Latino population gave the party an electoral edge. To win the presidency, Democrats convinced themselves, they didn’t need to reassure white people skeptical of immigration so long as they turned out their Latino base. “The fastest-growing sector of the American electorate stampeded toward the Democrats this November,” Salon declared after Obama’s 2008 win. “If that pattern continues, the GOP is doomed to 40 years of wandering in a desert.”

Let's not overlook Big Business, which had sway with both Democrats and the Chamber of Commerce Republicans:

Alongside pressure from pro-immigrant activists came pressure from corporate America, especially the Democrat-aligned tech industry, which uses the H-1B visa program to import workers. In 2010, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, along with the CEOs of companies including Hewlett-Packard, Boeing, Disney, and News Corporation, formed New American Economy to advocate for business-friendly immigration policies. Three years later, Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates helped found FWD.us to promote a similar agenda.

The experience of unreconstructed socialist Bernie Sanders was instructive:

This combination of Latino and corporate activism made it perilous for Democrats to discuss immigration’s costs, as Bernie Sanders learned the hard way. In July 2015, two months after officially announcing his candidacy for president, Sanders was interviewed by Ezra Klein, the editor in chief of Vox. Klein asked whether, in order to fight global poverty, the U.S. should consider “sharply raising the level of immigration we permit, even up to a level of open borders.” Sanders reacted with horror. “That’s a Koch brothers proposal,” he scoffed. He went on to insist that “right-wing people in this country would love … an open-border policy. Bring in all kinds of people, work for $2 or $3 an hour, that would be great for them. I don’t believe in that. I think we have to raise wages in this country.”

Say what?!? Americans first?

Sanders came under immediate attack. Vox’s Dylan Matthews declared that his “fear of immigrant labor is ugly—and wrongheaded.” The president of FWD.us accused Sanders of “the sort of backward-looking thinking that progressives have rightly moved away from in the past years.” ThinkProgress published a blog post titled “Why Immigration Is the Hole in Bernie Sanders’ Progressive Agenda.” The senator, it argued, was supporting “the idea that immigrants coming to the U.S. are taking jobs and hurting the economy, a theory that has been proven incorrect.”

 "Proven incorerect"! Yet as a political theory it worked for Trump and here we are. Beinart goes on:

But has the claim that “immigrants coming to the U.S. are taking jobs” actually been proved “incorrect”? A decade ago, liberals weren’t so sure. In 2006, Krugman wrote that America was experiencing “large increases in the number of low-skill workers relative to other inputs into production, so it’s inevitable that this means a fall in wages.”

It’s hard to imagine a prominent liberal columnist writing that sentence today. To the contrary, progressive commentators now routinely claim that there’s a near-consensus among economists on immigration’s benefits.

There isn’t. According to a comprehensive new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Groups comparable to … immigrants in terms of their skill may experience a wage reduction as a result of immigration-induced increases in labor supply.” But academics sometimes de-emphasize this wage reduction because, like liberal journalists and politicians, they face pressures to support immigration.

Wow. How could so many be so wrong? Beinart mentions that some academics are funded by, eg, Microsoft. But his second point will surprise no one:

Academics face cultural pressures too. In his book Exodus, Paul Collier, an economist at the University of Oxford, claims that in their “desperate [desire] not to give succor” to nativist bigots, “social scientists have strained every muscle to show that migration is good for everyone.” George Borjas of Harvard argues that since he began studying immigration in the 1980s, his fellow economists have grown far less tolerant of research that emphasizes its costs. There is, he told me, “a lot of self-censorship among young social scientists.” Because Borjas is an immigration skeptic, some might discount his perspective. But when I asked Donald Davis, a Columbia University economist who takes a more favorable view of immigration’s economic impact, about Borjas’s claim, he made a similar point. “George and I come out on different sides of policy on immigration,” Davis said, “but I agree that there are aspects of discussion in academia that don’t get sort of full view if you come to the wrong conclusion.”

Beinart goes on to float all sorts of proposals that would address the conflicting concerns of two groups the Democrats claim to care about, unskilled natives and immigrants. That is a conversation a center-left could lead, but it won't be happening. Lest you trail off before what seems to be his punchline I will put it here:

Liberals must take seriously Americans’ yearning for social cohesion. To promote both mass immigration and greater economic redistribution, they must convince more native-born white Americans that immigrants will not weaken the bonds of national identity. This means dusting off a concept many on the left currently hate: assimilation.

Promoting assimilation need not mean expecting immigrants to abandon their culture. But it does mean breaking down the barriers that segregate them from the native-born. And it means celebrating America’s diversity less, and its unity more.

As if. Beinart goes on:

The next Democratic presidential candidate should say again and again that because Americans are one people, who must abide by one law, his or her goal is to reduce America’s undocumented population to zero. For liberals, the easy part of fulfilling that pledge is supporting a path to citizenship for the undocumented who have put down roots in the United States. The hard part, which Hillary Clinton largely ignored in her 2016 presidential run, is backing tough immigration enforcement so that path to citizenship doesn’t become a magnet that entices more immigrants to enter the U.S. illegally.

Uh huh.

Democrats should put immigrants’ learning English at the center of their immigration agenda. If more immigrants speak English fluently, native-born whites may well feel a stronger connection to them, and be more likely to support government policies that help them. 

Oh, "English spoken here". That will happen.

And if you have made it this far:

Americans know that liberals celebrate diversity. They’re less sure that liberals celebrate unity. And Obama’s ability to effectively do the latter probably contributed to the fact that he—a black man with a Muslim-sounding name—twice won a higher percentage of the white vote than did Hillary Clinton.

n 2014, the University of California listed melting pot as a term it considered a “microaggression.” What if Hillary Clinton had traveled to one of its campuses and called that absurd? What if she had challenged elite universities to celebrate not merely multiculturalism and globalization but Americanness? What if she had said more boldly that the slowing rate of English-language acquisition was a problem she was determined to solve? What if she had acknowledged the challenges that mass immigration brings, and then insisted that Americans could overcome those challenges by focusing not on what makes them different but on what makes them the same?

Some on the left would have howled. But I suspect that Clinton would be president today.

He may be right about Clinton winning but obviously she didn't and couldn't say those things within her party today.

Kind of grim - when the proposed solutions are this far from possible for the Democrats one wonders where we are headed.

 

 

Comments

[MissMarple2]

Maybe it was because it is a Periscope rather than a YouTube.

Here is the link to the President's talk about veterans' suicide:

https://www.pscp.tv/w/1yoKMjXXPRYGQ?t=10

[D]

Porch:
I think the Clintons are delusional if they think this plan is going to work.
Nobody wants her!
They need someone with a hook to drag them off the stage.
Biden will not stand for being screwed over twice.

[anonamom]

The pirate is a neighbor of my eldest's, per this article.
(Is that proper grammar? ?Maryrose, porch, MM, sbw?)

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/03/02/is-dan-crenshaw-the-future-of-the-gop-225257

[Captain Hate]

It's not a good look for a black candidate taking a back seat to Tub Dive. That might work against a gelded eunuch like Romney who's afraid of blacks but DJT will call those grifters out for exactly what they're doing. As it is I think Trump will permanently throw a wrench into the slavish black support for the commiecrats.

[DrJ]

OL -- I agree, but I just report.

It may make some sense to get people to do Department administration -- Chair, Vice Chair -- since most faculty really do not want to do it. One also could argue that this is a "public service" obligation, and that is one of the three academic legs.

Anything higher should not follow this rule.

[MissMarple2]

I hope you guys will watch that periscope video above. The father of one Navy SEAL who committed suicide was discovered, after all sorts of psychiatric treatment, and after he had killed himself, that he suffered from a microscopic brain injury.

They think that a lot of these guys are suffering from that due to damage from explosions in combat or in combat training.

They are talking about a Manhattan type project to try to solve it.

[MissMarple2]

I meant the son suffered from the problems, not the father. Talk about poor grammar!

[clarice]

If anyone has a landline number for daddy pls let me know. PJ is trying to reach his family.

[clarice]

Forget the previous message. PJ says he has what he needs.

[Old Lurker]

DrJ, I have no problem with making those jobs worthy of whatever bonus per year attracts qualified people willing to do them. But when they stop serving, that should be the end of their extra pay, and then the successor gets the bonus salary. And so on.

That system is as stupid (for taxpayers) as the public servant scam of getting a pension based on their most recent total annual compensation (or whatever) since any such servant with half a brain knows how to game that to acquire a pension much bigger than they actually earned from the "years of service".

[Narciso79]

Clarice who was it against who Kerry told he had seem the fields in the basement of the treblinka.

[Captain Hate]

No fools like old fools, your tax money in action:

https://www.npr.org/2019/03/05/700175470/elderly-trump-critics-await-muellers-report-sometimes-until-their-last-breath

[Narciso79]

Files, was it Wallace thr younger.

[anonamom]

Here's a fancy way from TM's post of saying The Academy is intolerant of views it deems impolitic (i.e.censors):

“George and I come out on different sides of policy on immigration,” Davis said, “but I agree that there are aspects of discussion in academia that don’t get sort of full view if you come to the wrong conclusion.”

[anonamom]

If I may steal this from Ig, re: Kamala as stand in:

Hillary Clinton will never be president.

I feel that in my bones.

[clarice]

narciso, I can't remember. But it was in an article I quoted a day or so ago. I seem to recall Don Surber had the quote.

[JimNorCal]

MissM, Insty reports a crew is filling potholes without city permission.
Does Indy have a Dem mayor?
https://www.theindychannel.com/news/working-for-you/crew-filling-potholes-in-indianapolis-without-city-permit

[Captain Hate]

Is that proper grammar?

I don't think so because eldest is an adjective and you can't make a possessive out of it; I think you have to use eldest child's.

[MissMarple2]

Jim,

Why yes, yes we do have a dem mayor. HA!

All he seems to do is go around to black churches, festivals, and other gatherings for photo ops. I follow him on Twitter but he never reports much of anything done.

[MissMarple2]

https://thehill.com/hilltv/rising/432658-conservative-writer-calls-democratic-party-an-evil-institution

Matt Walsh. He's right.

[MissMarple2]

Speaking as the English teacher's daughter, you have two choices:

1.The pirate is my eldest's neighbor.

2. The pirate is a neighbor of my eldest.

The apostrophe takes the p[lace of "of."

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
4m4 minutes ago

Scott Gottlieb, who has done an absolutely terrific job as Commissioner of the FDA, plans to leave government service sometime next month....

....Scott has helped us to lower drug prices, get a record number of generic drugs approved and onto the market, and so many other things. He and his talents will be greatly missed!

[MissMarple2]

Charlie Kirk
‏Verified account @charliekirk11
3h3 hours ago

Breaking:

FBI, conducting preliminary investigation into JEDI, the massive crony taxpayer handout given to @amazon to fund their empire

Amazon should NOT receive a $100 BILLION taxpayer handout

This cronyism at its worst!

Trump should cancel this deal. No more cash to Bezos!

[JimNorCal]

Sometime back Janet suggested that I consider joining up with True The Vote as a volunteer activity I might find fulfilling.

I did sign up on their website ("expect an email in a couple of days, check your Spam folder"). However, I never got any contact info. Maybe they just don't have any NorCal folks.

I took several of their online classes, sent them follow-up emails and read through info on the site about California. Informative.

And I have volunteered to be a poll worker for future elections (waiting to hear back from the County)

Just thought I'd pass that update along.

[MissMarple2]

Michael Bloomberg Will Not Run for President in 2020 https://t.co/ed2q22GyLq

— Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) March 5, 2019

Link goes to New York Times article.

[clarice]

narciso, Kerry said that in the 2004 presidential debate:https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/03/uselections2004.iraq

[Narciso79]

The largest instance came here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/11/opinion/how-bush-won-round-2.html

[Narciso79]

Thanks I think of him as so obvious a fool or knave it sidnt flag.

[clarice]

And he can't read Russian so who knows what he saw or why he claimed some knowledge from the experience?

[Neo]

Our Highest Office, My Deepest Obligation

I’m not running for president, but I am launching a new campaign: Beyond Carbon.
By
Michael R. Bloomberg

[Extraneus]

Is it ok to hope those old geezers keel over as soon as they find out the Mueller report is a let-down?

[Extraneus]

Hey, Neo, how is it that the report could be made public when we still don't even know what Mueller was asked to investigate? The scope memos were redacted.

I'm still going with what Barr said. He gets the report and then gives a summary to Congress.

[Captain Hate]

The Mueller Report creates a new codger Jonestown? Works for me.

[Marlene]

Bloomberg isn't running for President,but he will certainly continue to fund Everytown. The ME-2 newbie congressman (Jared Golden) voted against the recent universal background check. So,he's on AOC's "list" and will also have Everytown spending money against him in 2020. A moderate Dem in a district like ME-2 is a lonely place. I've heard talking points from Dems stating that moderate Dems won districts where Trump won (ME-2) but so what? Their voices won't be heard over the noise of the bat sh*t crazies.

[Jim Eagle]

A new order in Euro soccer, henry.

Ajax 3-0 against Royal Madrid in Madrid! 4-2 aggregate. I wonder if that will raise the price for Hazard or convince him to stay at Chelsea.

[MissMarple2]

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/663390/sully-gets-new-job?source=GovDelivery

Sully was Bush 41's service dog.

[Jim Eagle]

I just hoaxed Ajax since Sergio Ramos scores to make it 4-3 aggregate.

[Jim Eagle]

Unbelievable. Ajax scores right away off of a set piece. 5-3 aggregate.

[MissMarple2]

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/laurettabrown/2019/03/05/fda-chief-scott-gottlieb-resigns-n2542638

[MissMarple2]

This is beyond a witch hunt. Democrats decided their end game before even looking at the facts. They never accepted the results of the 2016 election, and are now spending their time and taxpayer resources trying to appease their radical base by marching towards impeachment. pic.twitter.com/QS2a791KMl

— Steve Scalise (@SteveScalise) March 5, 2019

Video at link.

[Extraneus]

The JEDI contract is expected to be worth up to $10B, not $100B, and the reason Amazon has a leg up is because they've been handling classified (CIA) data on their AWS servers since 2013. Microsoft has done cloud work for the gov't, too, but only unclassified data.

Btw, the use of the word "handout" in the 4:03 is silly. The gov't wants to put pentagon data in the cloud, and will need to pay someone to do that. Could be Microsoft, could be someone else, but it's not handing out money for nothing.

[Catsmeat]

Catching up, with apologies to narciso, Ig, and others for going to bed last night leaving conversations hanging!

Love Ig's treatment of Heidegger--I taught Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals today, so the inevitable response to Ig is "There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya / 'bout the raising of the wrist." Further, my husband (he has a prodigious memory, like many of you) brought up John Stuart Mill: "John Stuart Mill, of his own free will / On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill"--and since Mill had a rigorously Evangelical upbringing, I should say so!

The ending of The Favourite, anonamom: Queen Anne is manipulated by "the favorite" into banishing Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, but she obviously regrets the choice, and the film implies that the switch-out from Sarah to the new woman (forgetting her name) won't work, as the latter is a total piece of work (Sarah at least in some ways loves the queen and works to protect her). In real life, Sarah returned after Anne's death and was popular once again.

"Disinterest" does not mean "uninterest"--it means "without bias." If I could stamp this bad usage out, along with "begging the question," I would die satisfied. Not really, not at all, but I would like them both to go away.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

A mother-in-law stopped by unexpectedly the recently married couple's house. She knocks on the door, then immediately walks in. She is shocked to see her daughter-in-law lying on the couch, totally naked.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm waiting for Jeff to come home from work," the daughter-in-law answered.

"But you're naked!" the mother-in-law exclaimed.

"This is my love dress," the daughter-in-law explained.

"Love dress? But you're naked!"

"Jeff loves me to wear this dress! It makes him happy and it makes me happy."

The mother-in-law on the way home thought about the love dress. When she got home she got undressed, showered, put on her best perfume and expectantly waited for her husband, lying provocatively on the couch.

Finally her husband came home. He walked in and saw her naked on the couch.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"This is my love dress," she replied.

"Needs ironing," he says" "What's for dinner?"

[Narciso79]

I tuned out early as well, actually karl jaspers was arendts mentor but she was also connected to heidegger

https://dailycaller.com/2019/03/05/schiff-hires-msnbc-analyst/

[Narciso79]

That would be churchill's great aunt or something right

https://www.conservativereview.com/news/south-carolina-is-becoming-home-to-a-quiet-qatari-military-aircraft-project/

[D]

Catsmeat:
I think Sarah’s replacement also realizes that her future life will be fulfilling all the petty desires of the spoiled Queen.

[Jim Eagle]

Off to the club for dinner. They have an Arctic Char tonight with King crab sauce that sounds fantastic.

[JimNorCal]

.

[Extraneus]

BREAKING: Fascist NY State Officials Subpoena Trump Org’s Insurance Broker – Claim Trump Inflated Company’s Assets For Insurance Reasons

New York state officials issued Aon, the longtime insurer to the Trump Organization, a subpoena over claims that Donald Trump and the Trump Organization were involved in efforts to inflate the company’s assets for insurance reasons. The New York Times reported that Aon, one of the largest insurance brokerages in the world, received a subpoena late Monday as part of the probe by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

...

Via The New York Times:

"The subpoena that was served on Aon contains no indication that the company or any of its employees engaged in misconduct, the person said. Nor does it specify any possible wrongdoing that is the focus of the inquiry by state regulators.

Insurance brokers such as Aon help companies evaluate their risk and connect them with underwriters, the companies that offer the actual coverage. For this service, the brokers receive a fee or commission, usually paid by the client.

The nine-page subpoena demands a broad range of materials regarding Aon’s business with Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization dating back to 2009, according to the person briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Among other things, it seeks copies of all communications between Aon and Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, as well as all internal Aon documents relating to Mr. Trump and the company, the person said.

The regulators are also looking at compensation for the current and former Aon employees who handled the Trump Organization account, seeking information about their incentives, bonus payments or commissions. They are seeking similar contracts and agreements between Aon and Mr. Trump."

[MissMarple2]

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/432729-melania-trump-jabs-at-media-over-coverage-of-opioid-epidemic

[henry]

Ext, any note that Trump made a claim on those insurance policies? Otherwise higher values just mean higher premiums.

[Extraneus]

From the NYT piece, the only mention of claims is in the first paragraph:

New York State regulators have issued an expansive subpoena to the Trump Organization’s longtime insurance broker, the first step in an investigation of insurance policies and claims involving President Trump’s family business, according to the company and a person briefed on the matter.

These people are like rabid dogs, frothing at the mouth.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

If Trump wants this to end all he has to do is order the DOJ to open investigations of and begin subpoenaing records of influential Dems.

[Stephanie Nene Not Your Normal Granma]

Stress Relief:
1.) Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that
hangs out over a crystal clear stream.

2.) Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool
running water.

3.) Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air.

4.) No one knows your secret place.

5.) You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the World.

6.) The soothing sound of a gentle waterfall fills the air with a cascade of serenity.

7.) The water is so clear you can make out the face of the
Democrat you are holding underwater...

See, it worked. You're smiling. You feel better already.

[MissMarple2]

Donald J. Trump
‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump
12m12 minutes ago

“(Crooked) Hillary Clinton confirms she will not run in 2020, rules out a third bid for White House.” Aw-shucks, does that mean I won’t get to run against her again? She will be sorely missed!

[Captain Hate]

I cannot spare this man; he trolls.

[Extraneus]

Andrea Mitchell Praises False AOC Tweet that Smears Republicans as Racists, Defends Omar

As proof, Mitchell touted a tweet from Ocasio-Cortez which falsely insinuated that Republicans had yelled something racist against Latino Democrats on the House floor, without giving any context:

She has support today from AOC, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, tweeting today that “One of the things that is hurtful about the extent to which reprimand is sought of Ilhan is that no one seeks this level of reprimand when members make statements about Latinx+other communities (during the shutdown a GOP member yelled, ‘Go back to Puerto Rico!’ on the floor).

“Jonathan, she’s got a point!” Mitchell remarked in approval.

Her guest, The Washington Post writer Jonathan Capehart agreed. “Well yes, she does have a point,” he repeated.

But this tweet was debunked pretty quickly. The “Go back to Puerto Rico,” remark was made by a Republican to Democrats after they returned from lobbying and partying in Puerto Rico during the government shut down. In fact, the Republican who said it even apologized afterwards if what he had said was taken in a racist way.

[Extraneus]

https://legalinsurrection.com/2019/03/drug-bust-in-new-york-uncovers-enough-fentanyl-to-kill-2-million-people/

[anonamom]

Cats--I get the literal end--bwth is up with the rabbbit overlie of Abigail overlie of Anne????

[anonamom]

Why all of a sudden so "artsy" there?

[Narciso79]

So the spokesman for this company is anonymous we well, that's like those Deutsche bank record that werent actually requested.

[henry]

Why so artsy?

Our language was criticized for being to earthy a while back. Is there a Goldilocks Optimun we should aim for?

(Don’t mind me, it’s 17 out and the “service transmission immediately” light just came on, on a stupid Ford transmission without a trans fluid lisp stick / fill doodad).

[MissMarple2]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-6774769/Head-FDA-suddenly-resigns-2-years-taking-role.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus

[henry]

That sounds like his cancer came back. I hope it is something less scary.

[MissMarple2]

.@JerryNadler admits on #CNN they have no proof of Obstruction by @realDonaldTrump it's just his "personal opinion"

Meet the new #WitchHunt
Same as the old #WitchHunt

cc @DonaldJTrumpJr pic.twitter.com/zJURMcuMHo

— Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) March 5, 2019

Video at link.

[MissMarple2]

henry,

I was wondering about that, myself. Hope his health is ok.

[anonamom]

I'm talking about the ending of a movie, henry. All of a sudden, after being filmed in a most realistic way, there is some message the director is undoubtedly trying to send with the way he presents the end.
Which is over run with bunnies.

I am not the only person flummoxed. When I googled "What the hell is up with the end of The Favorite," I got pages of hits.
Befuddling.

However, I now get why Melissa McCarthy's outfit and bunny hand puppet at the Academy Awards.

[henry]

Anonamom, oh. The last movie I saw was LEGO Batman. My niece wanted to see it (she was a college senior / cyber computing major at the time).

[MissMarple2]

https://www.wthr.com/article/brilliant-man-who-was-inventor-calculator-dies-1
\
Jerry Merryman of Texas Instruments. RIP.

[matt - deplore me if you must]

I believe Arendt was Heidegger's lover and acolyte. When I read that It really caused me to pause in my assessment of her work. I hate Nazis.

[Jim Eagle]

TI-84 the symbol of kid's taking Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus. How could they survive with a slip-stick which at the time was the greatest mathematical invention of all time after the abacus:)

I can tell you that the transition for me from slide rule to a hand-held calculator was hard and clumsy. Then came keypunch, which I would never force on my worst enemy.

[MissMarple2]

Jack,

I got a T-84 when I was in college. It took me weeks and the help of a genius friend to get me to understand how to use it.

Remember how the numbers were orange electric lights?

I hadn't even thought of those things until I saw Merryman's obituary. Think how much he changed the world with that calculator!

[Captain Hate]

According to JackStraw, the reason so many of the misfit toys dropped out of the race today is Shit Midas has decided that Blotto will be the sacrificial punk against the Orange Scalpweasel.

[Jim Eagle]

CH,

Translation, Please?

[henry]

Get woke go broke arrives at Yale Alumni fundraising office:

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2019/03/donors-dont-take-kindly-to-political-correctness-at-yale.php

This old blue agrees. Cut the crap or no allowance.

[Jim Eagle]

henry,

You and I both know that there are many, many left wing wealthy grads or Yale that will keep it chugging along on its magical mystery tour. A very sorry situation for such a great institution.

[MissMarple2]

Captain Hate,

Shit Midas? Blotto? Thanks!

[henry]

JiB, I know several billionaires that fit that category.

[Jim Eagle]

Okay, I take it shit midas is zippy and blotto is Slo Joe. Correct me if I am wrong.

[henry]

If JiB is correct, does Biden pick Moooochelle as Veep? (Then have a baked swimming accident).

[henry]

naked

[MissMarple2]

https://www.perspectaweather.com/blog/2019/3/5/1140-am-impressive-arctic-cold-for-early-march-across-much-of-the-nation

"In many cities, the record cold has brought the lowest temperatures ever recorded for the month of March."

Article also includes lots of maps.

[Jane]

Hi guys,

I have some tough news to report: Daddy died today. His co-pilot found him in his hotel room, and he had already passed. He loved JOM and so many people here. He and I communicated daily from all over the world. He’d be in Sydney and praising Miss Marple. Or in China talking about how smart Jimmy is. On the night before he died, he texted me about how Peter and he were exactly alike, but different.

He was young. Only 64. He treasured his wife and kids. And if you heard their accomplishments, you would know why. And he loved JOM and all of you. He was a great guy, smart as a whip and as fun as it gets.

We were very close friends and texted every day, sometimes all day. He loved to say things that pissed me off, and I loved giving him shit about it. My last text from him was last night at 7;37 and said; “cool just posted thr after action repot”. (His typo ) after spending a great day with Jim NJ.

We were very lucky to have him. I’m just hoping he will text me from heaven.

Oh and don’t ever forget Caro’s Words; “Daddy says the first one is always the cleanest”.

[Jim Eagle]

henry,

Steyer comes to mind. Bloomie thank God can screw up Hopkins and Harvard.

[Dave (in MA)]

:^(

Thanks for your nice words, Jane.

[Jim Eagle]

Geebus, Jane. This is tragic, tragic news for JOM.

Wow. He had to have passed his yearly physical. Any idea why?

[Another Bob]

Damn, Jane.

Thank you for passing along that hard news.

RIP.

[henry]

Steyer, Chanos, David Friend, Lee Bass.... plus a whole bunch at the $100M tier.

[jimmyk]

Beautiful tribute, Jane. Hard to believe we were talking over beers two days ago about his retirement plans. I feel so bad for his family.

[MissMarple2]

Jane,

Oh, God! He was such a good friend! I am heartbroken!

Is there anything we can do? What about his family in Anchorage? His faughters?

Thanks you for telling us, but I don't know what else to say.

May God welcome him into heaven with much joy.

[Jim Eagle]

Wait. Where was JimNJ?

[peter]

My dear JOM friends, I received some very shocking news today, that beloved JOM poster who went by the screen handle of daddy has passed away. He was found in his hotel room by his first officer, who called me, because I was one of the last persons daddy had texted. As most of you know, we had a meetup this past weekend in New York, and for the few short hours I spent with daddy, I discovered what a wonderful person he was. His wife, Barbara, who lives in Alaska, has been notified by his employer, who has a strict protocol for notifying next of kin. Daddy was 64 years old. Daddy had two daughters, one a graduate student at CalTech, and the other a law student at UC Irvine. May the Good Lord hold daddy's family in his loving arms as they cope with this tremendous loss. I know many of you will be greatly saddened by this news, and I don't know of any way to break it any more gently. In our few hours together, daddy spoke very highly of so many of you, catsmeat, Jane, porchlight, others I can't even think of. I would also like to thank jimmyk and Clarice and Jane for their help today in trying to get information to daddy's first officer.

[henry]

The is sad news about Daddy.

[peter]

The first officer mentioned it might have been a heart attack.

[Extraneus]

I'm speechless.

[jimmyk]

JimNJ had stayed with him the night before. They toured NYC on Monday, and I presume Jim went back to NJ. My impression (Peter knows more) is that he died in his sleep. Presumably a heart attack.

[Jane]

Peter,

I pre-emptied you and I apologize. I do know one thing: he was so happy to get to meet you.

[Extraneus]

That man was a treasure.

[sbwaters]

Jane and Peter, I could never have written the posts you just wrote. Thank you so much for having the strength to do it.

We lived so much through his energy, travel notes, readings, humor, and -- if you can believe it through the braggadocio -- his humility and respect for us all.

I am so proud to have known daddy.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Oh my God.
I was trying to understand why Jane was making such a feeble joke...then it wasn't a joke.
God what a loss for us, but especially for his wife and their girls, still in their twenties.
It's a rotten world that he's blessed in some ways to be out of, but for those he leaves behind. God bless and keep your immortal soul, daddy.
I think I might have wanted to meet him more than anyone I hadn't.