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#31

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:43:02 AM

Even if your only source of news and information in the entire world was Languish, the search function shows that Taylor Swift's name shows up 48 times around this place.

I'm sure that if I search for Canadian politicians, I'll get plenty of hits as well, there may even be a thread here where (I presume) they're discussed.

Use the search function yourself.

Given the very male, and middle-aged-plus demographics of this board, we are not the key demo to be Taylor Swift fans.  As such pretty much none of her references her are discussing her music - it's all about her massive concert series of her massive cultural influence (with a side of her boyfriend who plays football).

#32

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:39:10 AM

9/11 anniversary day, I hope people in the West use this day to reflect on the innate evil of Islam and its monstrous adherents.

Something to remember when considering a vote between a party that supports Israel in its defensive war against Muslim genocide and a party that increasingly embraces eliminationist ideology against Israel.

I think I would contrast it as a choice between a sitting President (avd VP) who has given substantial amounts of aid to Israel and has visited the country twice since October 7th, versus a former President whose son-in-law was given two billion dollars under mysterious circumstances by Saudi Arabia, which as you know was where almost all the 9/11 terrorists came from.

#33

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by DGuller - Today at 10:38:48 AM

Even if your only source of news and information in the entire world was Languish, the search function shows that Taylor Swift's name shows up 48 times around this place.

I'm sure that if I search for Canadian politicians, I'll get plenty of hits as well, there may even be a thread here where (I presume) they're discussed.

#34

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by DGuller - Today at 10:35:00 AM

CNN guy was very careful to mention that their poll isn't meant to be representative of the likely voters, it was only representative of people who watch the debate.  However, he also mentioned off-hand that in reality there is not a lot of difference between the populations.  He sounded like a guy who wouldn't make that statement without thinking about it and making sure it was supported.

#35

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:33:27 AM

I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything.  I guess my ignorance of Taylor Swift is a reflection of the age of algorithms, where anyone can be almost perfectly focused on news stories of interest to them, and everyone getting their very personalized feed assumes that everyone else is getting the same feed. 

News stories about business impacts of travel itineraries of some celebrities have never interested me.  Or business stories in general, for that matter.  If I ever need to have surgery, I'll ask the doctors to use CNBC to put me under.

Even if your only source of news and information in the entire world was Languish, the search function shows that Taylor Swift's name shows up 48 times around this place.

#36

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Barrister - Today at 10:29:51 AM

I don't see many conservative voting in a CNN poll. Probably get the reverse numbers in a fox poll.

Pollsters don't say who hired them to do the poll.  They just say "Hi we're such-and-such polling company".

The problem I see is how many Trump fans were watching the debate.  Trump voters are often categorized as "low information" voters.

#37

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 10:14:57 AM

No, it's not about taking on debt to spend.  It's about taking a 5,000,000,000+ dollar surplus and in the space of a couple of years turning that into a huge deficit.

Ok.

The NDP under Horgan, and particularly James as finance minister, were highly competent managers of the purse.  The same cannot be said of the current government, as the opinion piece points out.

The opinion piece does indeed point that out.

My question to you is...

1) if your charge of incompetence is primarily based on management of the purse, or whether there are other significant elements of incompetence; and

2) whether you think the management of the purse situation is a significant driver in the current success of the BC Conservatives .

An answer to your first question the management of the purse is proxy for good management. It is, of course not in and of itself proof one way or the other.  For example, it makes no sense to run a balanced budget when there is a need to spend.

The remarkable thing about the NDP under the previous leadership and management is that through the toughest of times in this province and they were still able to not only balance the budget but produce surplus.

Much of that management team was gutted when the new premier took over.  He brought in different advisors, which of course is his right, but he also of course needs to take responsibility for the decisions he made.

In the course of two years, he was a $5 billion surplus into a $5 billion deficit.

Also, in the last two years economic circumstances in the province improved.  That is Objectively demonstrated by the fact that the government took in $2 billion more in revenue than they had budgeted for so really they spent 7 billion more than budget.

Eby is going to have to come up with a good explanation for why that happened.

in answer to your second question, I don't think this has much to do with the current popularity of the conservatives.  I don't think these numbers are well-known within the public discourse yet.  Mason is not exactly a right wing opinion writer.  He is more signalling to the NDP that they've got a real problem here that they're going to have to deal with if they want to get reelected.

It's actually worse than thought.  The government did their fiscal update yesterday. The deficit is actually 9 not 5 billion.

#38

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Legbiter - Today at 10:09:53 AM

And when the weird subcultures (including "intellectual" conservatives) get too mouthy he disowns them because that's not his world (see Project 2025), while it absolutely is Vance's

Yeah everybody else gets HR called on them so to speak. 

#39

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Valmy - Today at 10:02:29 AM

Is it just Britain or is ita global thing that boys clothes are really depressing?
It's all black, brown, beige, camouflage green... If there's a primary colour it's really dull and muted.
And I'm not talking adult fashion here. It's clothes for little boys. 3 year olds.
 They want bright colours and pictures of animals.
But to get that you have to go to the girls section and try and find something without too many obvious frills.

I don't recall having any problems getting bright blues and reds and so forth for my boys. Might have an issue with pink or pastels but not bright primary colors.

#40

Off the Record / Re: 2024 US Presidential Elect...

Last post by Josephus - Today at 09:56:37 AM

I mean Orban makes for a great character reference.