this would be epic.

"i come forward to represent the interests of rationality and science against the dark forces of magical thinking. i bring forth realism; i champion data. we shall always follow the evidence."

meanwhile, trump gets to play high school bully to his most advanced desires.

"look at him. he's a fucking loser. he's got four-eyes glasses. maybe we could hire him to run our email servers, or something? i hear he's good at that. loser. i bet i know what's microsoft about him."

he would then proceed to place an L over his head, and walk menacingly towards him.

and, you could imagine the speech you'd get from gates.

"i've been called a loser my whole life. and, yet look at what i've accomplished?"

i'm not sure the nerds will win, in the end. but, i'd still like to watch the game.

bill gates v donald trump?

i'm in.

revenge of the nerds.

something's been brewing for a while, though: the fear propaganda about terrorism is being replaced by a return to what is essentially cold war propaganda. i think there's very valid concerns about putting the ceo of a fossil fuel company with deep intelligence connections in the united states in as secretary of state. maybe we should talk about this. but, instead the so-called liberal media is insisting on branding him as a red. it appears that they'll have a senate committee on unamerican hearings to investigate, too.

see, it's not some accident; it's not some rash act. the supposed war on terrorism has been converted into a proxy war between major powers, and making way for a dangerous conflict with russia and china. it initially collapsed into a series of complex, overlapping proxy wars. but, order generated. alliances formed into a hierarchy, and the most meta struggles took over: iran v greece, rome v persia, catholic v orthodox, britain v russia - the cold war. the ancient, ancient cold war. it always dominates.

and, in the long run, that was just a minor uprising. to be forgotten. we're back to the ancient struggle. east v west.

so, the chinese claim this taiwan thing is a big deal. is this serious?

my understanding is that the chinese see this as a case of epic shit-disturbing by the taiwanese - but that they are also incredibly concerned by the flaws it exposes in donald trump's competency. it's serious, but not like you think.

let's begin with the following question: why hasn't this happened before? this one-china policy thing is almost fifty years old, now. is it the case that taiwanese leaders don't usually call? or is it the case that the calls aren't usually taken?

if the leaders don't normally call, then why did this one do so? is it because she realized that trump didn't know any better? because she was just curious as to what would happen? you can't escape the deduction that the taiwanese have a very poor regard for mr. trump's intelligence, if they thought they could play him off against the mainland so easily. is this a taste of the next four years: the president being mocked by the leaders of his own client states?

if the calls are usually made and not taken, what it broadcasts to beijing is the immense level of cluelessness in the incoming administration.

in both cases, we're left with the disturbing conclusion that he did not know not to do this and did not have anybody around him that did and could tell him. and, that is why the chinese are on high alert: a dangerous and aggressive buffoon is about to be given the launch codes.

you make deals with friends.
you sign agreements with competitors.
you agree to terms with enemies.

or, i guess you can start a war, if you really want, too.

http://musicofjessicamurray.blogspot.ca/2016/12/this-has-been-another-chill-day-up-to.html

actually, my guess is that he's punishing gingrich. lol. there's your fuhrer. i guess you're not supposed to get upset about the first victims, right?

actually, there's a third condition. getting the memo. reading the memo. understanding the memo. i'd suspect they're only loosely correlated, with trump.

see, with trump, getting the memo and reading the memo are probably different things. you'll never be sure. even when he claims he did.

but, the keystone bit. yeah. i just said that.

canada is now credibly threatening to increase exports to china, so trump is trying to reroute south with the keystone. america needs to control the supply of oil. obama would have been pressured to do the same thing. and, note that trudeau's announcement was timed carefully to be between the election and inauguration, too.

you should always be suspicious when capital claims environmental reasons for policies, especially when they have geopolitical implications.

although, let me say, mr. trump, that i would appreciate you loosening the noose on those f-35 purchases. we won't agree often, and maybe we don't have the same reasons, but that's truly an onerous obligation to place upon us.

"President-elect Donald Trump escalated a fight with the U.S. intelligence community on Sunday by denouncing its findings of Russian meddling in the U.S. election, setting up an extraordinary rupture between a soon-to-be president and his national-security establishment."

well, ok, then, wsj. gee, you're giving me this article for free? thanks. i appreciate your altruism.

what, am i writing the script, here?

they're jumping all over themselves, here, to convincingly explain that donald trump is not a front for the cia. i suppose i was merely mistaken. apologies.

now that i've been corrected on that point, i will no longer mention it. promise.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-blames-democrats-for-reports-of-russia-hacking-1481467907