Friday, September 13, 2019

[First Thursday Night Pints last night with a new Warrenite]

  • First Thursday Night Pints last night with a new Warrenite
  • colleague (he argues Warren sole demturd can beat Trump
  • beating Trump the existential be-all) maybe (?) friend
  • Political science statistician weekend Democratic operative (I
  • like, seems a good guy, worth another pint two months from now) he asked me what I think and I told him and he said (like
  • people on my speed dial) you're not wrong but you're nuts

  • As in (this is me accusing me, not my Thursday Night
  • Pints date, nor the people on my speed
  • dial) yes, but life, my day-to-day life
  • enough without the constant our sociopath overlords this 
  • our sociopath overlords
  • that (I did not tell my Thursday Night Pints date
  • about this blog, I'm a psychopath work
  • ing my sociopath PhD)

  • J (he's a J too) said, slowing the boom (after
  • I badgered his hedges) preferable than current rocket
  • sled, and sure, I said. To honor this one-off Thursday Night
  • Pints post (though I hope and will badger for more
  • pints with J) I offer periods. in. this. stanza. (and. up.
  • dates. till. abandon.).




8 comments:

  1. mistah charley, ph.d.September 13, 2019 at 9:34 AM

    speaking of political science and statistics, here's what harvard university press asserts about thomas piketty's new book capital and ideology, the translation of which they will be publishing in a few months:

    The epic successor to one of the most important books of the century: at once a retelling of global history, a scathing critique of contemporary politics, and a bold proposal for a new and fairer economic system.

    Thomas Piketty’s bestselling Capital in the Twenty-First Century galvanized global debate about inequality. In this audacious follow-up, Piketty challenges us to revolutionize how we think about politics, ideology, and history. He exposes the ideas that have sustained inequality for the past millennium, reveals why the shallow politics of right and left are failing us today, and outlines the structure of a fairer economic system.

    Our economy, Piketty observes, is not a natural fact. Markets, profits, and capital are all historical constructs that depend on choices. Piketty explores the material and ideological interactions of conflicting social groups that have given us slavery, serfdom, colonialism, communism, and hypercapitalism, shaping the lives of billions. He concludes that the great driver of human progress over the centuries has been the struggle for equality and education and not, as often argued, the assertion of property rights or the pursuit of stability. The new era of extreme inequality that has derailed that progress since the 1980s, he shows, is partly a reaction against communism, but it is also the fruit of ignorance, intellectual specialization, and our drift toward the dead-end politics of identity.

    Once we understand this, we can begin to envision a more balanced approach to economics and politics. Piketty argues for a new “participatory” socialism, a system founded on an ideology of equality, social property, education, and the sharing of knowledge and power. Capital and Ideology is destined to be one of the indispensable books of our time, a work that will not only help us understand the world, but that will change it.

    [end of blurb from harvard university press]

    for a LOT of detail and data and time series graphs you could look at

    piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/Piketty2018PoliticalConflict.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  2. mistah charley, ph.d.September 13, 2019 at 9:58 AM

    speaking of how the aaargh is all too much -

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zc3idF_IZ0

    i try to keep in mind the advice of josh billings, as i first read it, although i see it is more often credited to thomas jefferson - "always take hold of things by the smooth handle"


    ReplyDelete
  3. "Never pass on an opportunity to shout, 'Fuck them all!!' at the top of your voice."
    -- Billy Connolly

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  4. *knows i'm not on your speed dial, pleads guilty anyway*

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  5. which is worse (you must choose one):

    —a) you're not wrong, but you're nuts
    —b) you're wrong, but you're not nuts

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don't *make* me kill Eeyore

      Delete
    2. "B": You can always change an honest misapprehension, but losing clarity is (believe me) a tougher thing to get back.

      Delete