Trump Set the Trap and the Rats (and RINOs) Walked In

[EasyAce]

The guy has a resume. The guy holds a PhD.  The guy is productive, writing book after book.

Careful. Noam Chomsky has the same credentials.

[truth_seeker]

Careful. Noam Chomsky has the same credentials.

I can tell the difference, from a conservative's pint of view.  Can you?

[TomSea]

Those books at amazon looked pretty conservative.

Every so often though, even Mother Jones, The Nation, Harper's, the Atlantic, etc. have thought provoking articles.

[EasyAce]

I can tell the difference, from a conservative's pint of view.  Can you?

Uh, yes.

My point was that it's wise not to hang someone's credentials as a commentator or analyst by a distinguished-
looking resume, a doctorate, and a large volume of books written. If those were all you needed, Chomsky
wouldn't have to worry about the credibility he surrendered years ago. (It's what's in the volume of books
that counts more, and even halfway through Chomsky's building his volume Peter Collier and
David Horowitz, in Destructive Generation, described Chomsky as the Dr. Demento of political thought
---appropriately enough, though one could think of worse appellations.)

Between us, I'm pretty sure you and me could compile a considerable list of men and women with similar
credentials and comparable reputations as cranks.

[Free Vulcan]

The only thing I give a crap about is whether the analysis is correct.

The Tweet definitely redirected the news cycle, and has the Dems reeling. Whether Trump planned this or it just worked out, I don't know, but it was a good move.

[Cripplecreek]

Uh, yes.

My point was that it's wise not to hang someone's credentials as a commentator or analyst by a distinguished-
looking resume, a doctorate, and a large volume of books written. If those were all you needed, Chomsky
wouldn't have to worry about the credibility he surrendered years ago. (It's what's in the volume of books
that counts more, and even halfway through Chomsky's building his volume Peter Collier and
David Horowitz, in Destructive Generation, described Chomsky as the Dr. Demento of political thought
---appropriately enough, though one could think of worse appellations.)

Between us, I'm pretty sure you and me could compile a considerable list of men and women with similar
credentials and comparable reputations as cranks.

Actually the reason I became friendly with LS on TOS was the fact that he didn't use his credentials as a weapon. When he did start using them as a club was when I began to question whether he had some sort of mental issue.

I'm a high school drop out who once dated a Serbian PhD. (she's married to an oil industry welder now) She has problems with the way academics in this country place themselves on a pedestal and look down on everyone else. She says their arrogance has made them some of the most ignorant people in American society.

[truth_seeker]

Uh, yes.

My point was that it's wise not to hang someone's credentials as a commentator or analyst by a distinguished-
looking resume, a doctorate, and a large volume of books written. If those were all you needed, Chomsky
wouldn't have to worry about the credibility he surrendered years ago. (It's what's in the volume of books
that counts more, and even halfway through Chomsky's building his volume Peter Collier and
David Horowitz, in Destructive Generation, described Chomsky as the Dr. Demento of political thought
---appropriately enough, though one could think of worse appellations.)

Between us, I'm pretty sure you and me could compile a considerable list of men and women with similar
credentials and comparable reputations as cranks.

I do not view Schweikert as a "crank." But then I haven't managed to get myself kicked off FR, or any other forum.

I view Chomsky as a communist sympathizer.

[EasyAce]

I'm a high school drop out who once dated a Serbian PhD. (she's married to an oil industry welder now) She has problems with the way academics in this country place themselves on a pedestal and look down on everyone else. She says their arrogance has made them some of the most ignorant people in American society.

I have a bachelor's degree. In my college years, I knew highly-credentialed people about whom you could say calling them
merely arrogant was a compliment, and I knew people who hadn't quite finished even their bachelor's degrees who impressed
me as being smarter and more personable than some Ph.Ds I could think of.

But then I think of my old friend Edmund Opitz, of blessed memory (he was a minister turned scholar at the old Foundation for
Economic Education, and author of the splendid Religion and Capitalism: Allies, Not Enemies), with whom I made a friend
thanks to a mutual interest in Albert Jay Nock. He liked to say, "The only real education is self education." I took it to heart
and still do. It's why I often answer, when people ask me, "Yes, I went to college---and I got an education anyway."

[EasyAce]

I do not view Schweikert as a "crank." But then I haven't managed to get myself kicked off FR, or any other forum.

I don't see him that way, either. And I haven't been banned anywhere, yet, either---so far. ;)

I view Chomsky as a communist sympathizer.

You'd be hard pressed to view him otherwise. If nothing else, nobody could doubt those sympathies when he actually
laboured long and hard---abusing scholarly apparatus while he was at it---to sketch arguments that the United
States was the cause of the Pol Pot holocaust. Even the New York Times's Anthony Lewis, who'd asked pre-Pol
Pot, "What future could possibly be worse than the reality of what is happening in Cambodia now?", disavowed
Chomsky.

[Taxcontrol]

So I have been trying to ask this question all day over the noise of Trump bashing.

How do we find out who the FISA court judges were, and how do we get redacted transcripts of the decisions?  Because you cant feign 'to protect the institution'. 

FISA judges are classified information.  Caution - tread lightly in obtaining or distributing such information as it can VERY quickly run afoul of law.

[Free Vulcan]

I have a bachelor's degree. In my college years, I knew highly-credentialed people about whom you could say calling them
merely arrogant was a compliment, and I knew people who hadn't quite finished even their bachelor's degrees who impressed
me as being smarter and more personable than some Ph.Ds I could think of.

But then I think of my old friend Edmund Opitz, of blessed memory (he was a minister turned scholar at the old Foundation for
Economic Education, and author of the splendid Religion and Capitalism: Allies, Not Enemies), with whom I made a friend
thanks to a mutual interest in Albert Jay Nock. He liked to say, "The only real education is self education." I took it to heart
and still do. It's why I often answer, when people ask me, "Yes, I went to college---and I got an education anyway."

A common saying goes around here, PhD means Piled high and Deep.

Smartest man I knew was a gentlemen named Warren Holmes. He was a full fledged engineer with a basic education and no degree whatsoever.

[Cripplecreek]

I have a bachelor's degree. In my college years, I knew highly-credentialed people about whom you could say calling them
merely arrogant was a compliment, and I knew people who hadn't quite finished even their bachelor's degrees who impressed
me as being smarter and more personable than some Ph.Ds I could think of.

But then I think of my old friend Edmund Opitz, of blessed memory (he was a minister turned scholar at the old Foundation for
Economic Education, and author of the splendid Religion and Capitalism: Allies, Not Enemies), with whom I made a friend
thanks to a mutual interest in Albert Jay Nock. He liked to say, "The only real education is self education." I took it to heart
and still do. It's why I often answer, when people ask me, "Yes, I went to college---and I got an education anyway."

My girlfriend was a sociologist which naturally lent itself to liberalism but having grown up in Belgrade seen true brutality first hand tempered her in a way that made her much more conservative even though she still claims to be a liberal.

[Oceander]

I can tell the difference, from a conservative's pint of view.  Can you?

A "conservative's pint" - would that be Miller Lite, Bud Lite, or something else?

[Free Vulcan]

A "conservative's pint" - would that be Miller Lite, Bud Lite, or something else?

I think it'd have to be a stout. None of that transgendered mamby pamby lite stuff.

[truth_seeker]

a common saying goes around here, PhD means Piled high and Deep.

Smartest man I knew was a gentlemen named Warren Holmes. He was a full fledged engineer with a basic education and no degree whatsoever.

I get the joke, but in my personal and professional life I have known highly educated folks, and I respect their knowledge, and the discipline it took them to earn it.

For example I reported to petroleum engineers and geologists, without whom we might not have gasoline.

I worked for top business execs both with and without higher degrees.

My SIL is an RN, with a BS and a valuable specialty. My niece is currently in medical school.

I do not for a minute dismiss education, based on resentments.

It took me 8 years and three tries, to get a Bachelors. then some grad school.

Don't discount the discipline involved to write dissertations and books. Discipline, and an organized mind.

Chomsky is a crank, but not because of his education.

[Free Vulcan]

Chomsky is a world class linguist, believe it or not. He should have stuck with that.

Big problem is degrees of old and degrees of today, particularly post 80's. They've very much cheapened the currency the last 50 years.

[truth_seeker]

Chomsky is a world class linguist, believe it or not. He should have stuck with that.

Big problem is degrees of old and degrees of today, particularly post 80's. They've very much cheapened the currency the last 50 years.

A four year college degree today, is roughly equivalent to a HS diploma from 40s-60s, in my view.

(if even that, since that old time HS grad could write, spell, do basic math quite proficiently.)

(However he probably fell short, on feelings and  other forms of indoctrination)

[bigheadfred]

I get the joke, but in my personal and professional life I have known highly educated folks, and I respect their knowledge, and the discipline it took them to earn it.

For example I reported to petroleum engineers and geologists, without whom we might not have gasoline.

I worked for top business execs both with and without higher degrees.

My SIL is an RN, with a BS and a valuable specialty. My niece is currently in medical school.

I do not for a minute dismiss education, based on resentments.

It took me 8 years and three tries, to get a Bachelors. then some grad school.

Don't discount the discipline involved to write dissertations and books. Discipline, and an organized mind.

Chomsky is a crank, but not because of his education.

My take is that a phd is a specialization. You don't get one by presenting a dissertation on general knowledge. It seems that directed focus doesn't seem to leave people with one. That degree only leaves them an expert in ONE small area of that focus. It isn't a panacea.

[Oceander]

The problem with a lot of PhDs - and other bright folk - is that they believe, without much evidence, that because they are experts in one area (usually a narrow area), they are necessarily experts in other areas, particularly areas that have nothing to do with their area of specialty.

[Silver Pines]

Actually the reason I became friendly with LS on TOS was the fact that he didn't use his credentials as a weapon. When he did start using them as a club was when I began to question whether he had some sort of mental issue.

I'm a high school drop out who once dated a Serbian PhD. (she's married to an oil industry welder now) She has problems with the way academics in this country place themselves on a pedestal and look down on everyone else. She says their arrogance has made them some of the most ignorant people in American society.

@Cripplecreek

She was right, but there are always those who tend to be awed by degrees and the like.  Does it take hard work to get a degree?  Sure.  But the same is true for a man who builds a brick wall. 

Degrees in themselves don't impress me.  The world is full of lettered people who don't have a grain of sense.  Look at Ivy League schools---eaten up with highly educated idiots.

Take a look at LS on Twitter.  He rails and curses like a nutcase.  He started screaming at Jonah Goldberg the other day, calling him a "so-called journalis", cursing, and generally acting like someone who needed a rubber room.  He tries the same thing with Ben Shapiro, taunting him, calling him "Benji", but to my knowledge Shapiro has never dignified his rants by responding.

LS teaches at a university somewhere.  When he told me that Trump was a more moral man than the Old Testament prophets, I told him he was a great argument for sending one's kids to trade school.  He didn't take it very well.

[Cripplecreek]

The problem with a lot of PhDs - and other bright folk - is that they believe, without much evidence, that because they are experts in one area (usually a narrow area), they are necessarily experts in other areas, particularly areas that have nothing to do with their area of specialty.

Bill Nye or Neil Degrasse Tyson are good examples.

The ancient aliens guy has a degree in sports broadcasting. Charlatanism is just a side career.

[Cripplecreek]

@Cripplecreek

She was right, but there are always those who tend to be awed by degrees and the like.  Does it take hard work to get a degree?  Sure.  But the same is true for a man who builds a brick wall. 

Degrees in themselves don't impress me.  The world is full of lettered people who don't have a grain of sense.  Look at Ivy League schools---eaten up with highly educated idiots.

Take a look at LS on Twitter.  He rails and curses like a nutcase.  He started screaming at Jonah Goldberg the other day, calling him a "so-called journalis", cursing, and generally acting like someone who needed a rubber room.  He tries the same thing with Ben Shapiro, taunting him, calling him "Benji", but to my knowledge Shapiro has never dignified his rants by responding.

LS teaches at a university somewhere.  When he told me that Trump was a more moral man than the Old Testament prophets, I told him he was a great argument for sending one's kids to trade school.  He didn't take it very well.

You know I've thought he was mentally ill for quite a while now. He went from supporting guys like McCain, Graham, Romney, Rubio etc and suddenly went raving lunatic. Its funny because I used to agree to disagree with his love of moderates then suddenly I became a traitor because I didn't change directions.

[Silver Pines]

You know I've thought he was mentally ill for quite a while now. He went from supporting guys like McCain, Graham, Romney, Rubio etc and suddenly went raving lunatic. Its funny because I used to agree to disagree with his love of moderates then suddenly I became a traitor because I didn't change directions.

Something's not right, judging by the way he behaves.

[bigheadfred]

I don't know enough about him other to know he was really rude to me.

My objection is posting his writing from another forum to this one. If I want to know what he has to say he can become a member.

[r9etb]

@mystery-ak
The guy has a resume. The guy holds a PhD.  The guy is productive, writing book after book. The guy has insider information.

LS was a great read over at TOS ... until the day when suddenly he wasn't.

The same can be said about a lot of people who, seemingly overnight, went from intelligent, sane, and respectable to whackadoodle moon-howlers.  Paul Craig Roberts and Joe Sobran are a couple of others who spring to mind.