Friday, February 2, 2018

Thoughts on the sum total of the day's big news stories

This isn't a hot take. It may be a bemused - or maybe saddened - look at the day's hot takes.

Every outlet is full of perspectives on the release of the Nunes memo. The distillation of the most credible of them is that it's pretty much of a dud. You can go really deep into the weeds to find questions to kick around. How much of a factor in the FISA warrant was the Steele dossier? How did Steele come to the FBI? Why was the FISA judge not told Steele was paid by Madame BleachBit's campaign?

Bottom live: There is no bombshell yet and the American people are therefore not very concerned.

Then there is the 665-point Dow plunge. Again, nothing to hold one's breath over. These occur from time to time. It depends on what it's followed by. It usually only takes a few days for markets to find a stable level again. And it behooves us to remember that there are many other kinds of indicators as to how the economy is doing.

But I've seen some really stupid comments about it. Conspiracy stuff, like someone's out to get the heroic Very Stable Genius and orchestrated this.

People, not everything that happens in this world signifies a win or a loss for your tribe. The FBI as an organization is neither corrupt through and through nor devoid of partisan elements. There's something that needs to be rooted out there, but we still don't know what that is. Likewise, dramatic DIJA drops have happened on all kinds of presidents' watches.  Knock it off either rushing to defend or demonize the Very Stable Genius.

I wouldn't be surprised if cultural and social observers start to note the increasing appearance of turf-battle burnout. You can get better-crafted turf-battle stories by watching the soaps.

The truly pressing matters on post-America's plate remain what they were before Christopher Steele cooked up the Golden Shower story and got it to the FBI.  They remain what they are even if our investment portfolios take a momentary hit.

A whole lot of people are expending superfluous verbiage because they feel compelled to have something to say. The Nunes memo makes the FBI look like it's fraught with problems, but I just don't think this thing is going to dwarf Watergate in magnitude.


10 comments:

  1. A few threads back the bloggie had already forgotten the dot.com, post 9-11 and the meltdown of 08, so giddy was he over getting a tax cut before the expenses are cut (but not by Pentagon spending). Now we wait for that tragedy Trump will create that finally unites us all.

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  2. Replies
    1. Trump called repeatedly for bipartisanship. "It is not enough to come together only in times of tragedy. Tonight, I call upon all of us to set aside our differences, to seek out common ground, and to summon the unity we need to deliver for the people we were elected to serve." Based on the body language of the Democrats in the room, this call will not be met.

      Later in the address, Trump reached beyond those in the chamber to the American people themselves. "So, to every citizen watching at home tonight — no matter where you have been, or where you come from, this is your time. If you work hard, if you believe in yourself, if you believe in America, then you can dream anything, you can be anything, and together, we can achieve anything."


      Read Full Article Here Trump Gave an Inclusive, Bipartisan State of the Union Speech | Newsmax.com

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  3. Always giddy over tax cuts! Love me some human freedom!

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  5. The tragedy he refers to in SOTU that will unite us if he can't do it. So you have stopped squawking about the deficit now? Tell me how these cuts are addressing that.

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  6. The Dow's plunge capped the worst week in 2 years. Are we gonna have another Republican meltdown that they blame on Dems? One thing for sure, I ain't buyin' all the giddiness over the tax cuts propelling us all to the American greatness Trump trumps all the time. He is a boor, a liar, a cheat and worse!
    https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/02/us-futures-move-lower-as-investors-worry-about-rising-yields.html

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  7. Far from it. I never "squawked" about it, but I have been among those issuing a dire warning about it. Yes, clearly the debt and deficit need to be addressed, urgently.

    You seem to be willfully igoring what I said about how no Congress ever has the spine to do what is necessary to address it.

    Given that that's so, and given that the moral thing for government to do in all circumstances is maximize the amount of their own money that citizens get to keep, a tax cut is always a good thing.

    There's also the math of it. No amount of taxation is going to make a dent in the debt.

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  8. Of course spending needs to be cut. You Pubs and used to bes are simply hypocrites

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