In this discussion I'm not interested in refutation, certainly not right off the bat. I'm interested in understanding why we think so differently, and comparing the different points of view. And it probably requires a modicum of respect for the opposing point of view. Not sure anybody including me can do that very well. But what I have in mind is clearly not going to happen with you. Maybe someone else, or maybe not at all.
quote:In this discussion I'm not interested in refutation, certainly not right off the bat. I'm interested in understanding why we think so differently, and comparing the different points of view
But you only want an answer you’d like - and the truth isn’t it. You don’t want the irrationality, the prejudice or the tribalism in your thinking exposed.
quote:And it probably requires a modicum of respect for the opposing point of view.
It certainly requires a respect for the facts. And it seems you don’t have that. Try these facts. The Democratic Party contains a range of views. The establishment Democrats are centrist. They are opposing the left-wing candidates like Sanders.
quote:But what I have in mind is clearly not going to happen with you
If what you have in mind is genuine understanding it isn’t going to happen with you. Not unless you’re prepared change and to accept the facts.
I hate your point of view just as much as you hate mine, I can say I despise it, I abhor it, I don't understand how any human being can think the way Leftists think. If all you want to do is continue to trade such opinions then there is no way to have a different kind of discussion about it as I was pondering might be possible. So OK, it isn't. End of discussion.
quote:I hate your point of view just as much as you hate mine, I can say I despise it, I abhor it, I don't understand how any human being can think the way Leftists think.
You’re too busy hating us to understand. And too proud to acknowledge the problems in your own thinking even when they are blindingly obvious. You’re only proving my point - the biggest problem is you.
quote:If all you want to do is continue to trade such opinions...
Much of what I am saying is fact, not opinion. Can’t you even acknowledge that ?
quote:...then there is no way to have a different kind of discussion about it as I was pondering might be possible.
And it isn’t possible because you refuse to be reasonable. That’s on you.
But what about social democracy? That is what everybody's actually talking about, but they're using the wrong name for it. When they point to European countries like Denmark, that's social democracy, not democratic socialism. They're two different things altogether.
C++ / Java
Java doesn't have operator overloading? That's a bummer. I didn't use it much in C++, but it really came in handy when I did. When you define a class, you can use overloading to define how to compare two objects of that class or how to output it or input it using iostreams.
Java's portability is nothing new. When I learned Pascal in 1980 (one of the computer (IBM S/370) operators went up to the university in Winnipeg and smuggled a Pascal compiler back), we were told about p-code, an intermediate compiler output which was executable code for a fictional computer. The idea was that, since standard Pascal was stripped down then the creation of extended versions (eg, Turbo Pascal) would be inevitable. With p-code, all those different extended versions, each different from the others, would generate p-code output when you could then take to any computer and run that program with that computer's p-code interpreter.
That should sound familiar, because that's what Java bytecode does. Pascal p-code didn't catch on, but Java came along at the right time and filled a niche on the Internet.
Another plus for Java is its extensive class library. For C++, you need to create your own classes for special tasks or buy them from a third party. Java comes with its class library so you do not need to reinvent the wheel. You need to do sockets programming? Java has a class for that. You need to do Base-64 encoding and decoding? There's a class for that.
Still, I lean more towards C++. All those Java classes are nice, but the documentation is very unwieldy. And back when I started learning C++, it was the first time I got really excited about a programming language and what I could do in it.
Though I never did like iostreams. What had really won me over to C was formatted output (*printf()). In one single statement, I could create a string or output containing the values of any number of variables. In Turbo Pascal, I had to write a separate Write() for each variable as well as a separate Write() for each and every constant string between each variable. But then C++'s iostreams has you stringing variables and operators and modifiers together in a long cumbersome line. Iostreams felt like a giant step backwards to Turbo Pascal. I only used iostreams once outside of the classroom and that was with an overloaded output operator for a class.
ABE:
A bit of computer lore. I forget exact dates, but in the 90's Microsoft got into a legal battle with Sun over its Java license. As I recall, something about Microsoft changing something in its interpreter. Threatened with not being allowed to support Java in its browser, Microsoft started working on a replacement for Java. Even though the legal issues were finally resolved, Microsoft continued working on that replacement, which became C# and .NET. Just as with Java, .NET provides an enormous class library filled with very non-trivial objects.
Also, Java being based on a virtual machine (VM) can have some unexpected results. See my page, Evaluating (x + x * ++x). One night in class our Java instructor ran a program to demonstrate that that kind of expression would give an unexpected answer. First he had us figure what it should be; having been trained in reverse Polish and in evaluating on a stack, that is the approach I took. The program came up with the same answer that I did, but not what the instructor had expected. So during the week I rewrote the program in every C-ish language I could (plus on multiple compilers) and almost all of them came up with the same answer the instructor had. So I generated assembly output of the C program and found the reason. In a native code compiler, every reference to x is to that variable's memory location, so the ++ is executed first and changes the value of x for the other operations. In a p-code compiler (eg, Java), evaluation is on a stack. My page lists all the programs I tested as well as the assembly listing.
Re: Barr Criticized About Mueller Handling by Federal Judge
The specific concerns he expressed:
Barr lacked candor in announcing his decision to exonerate Trump based on information he was keeping from the public through the redactions.
There are "grave concerns" that the redactions lacked "objectivity" and are tainted by "Barr's actions and representation."
There is evidence that Barr's announcement was timed to influence public opinion before the release of the redacted report.
Barr's summary memo lacked "credibility" and was even challenged by Mueller personally.
A hyena can't change its stripes.
In 1989, Barr wrote a legal document justifying the invasion of Panama and the arrest of Noriega. Invading a country and arresting its head of state violates international law, but Barr said he found a legal basis for that operation. He also refused to let anybody read it, but instead just told them what it meant. Taking him at his word, Bush I invaded Panama and arrested Noriega. It wasn't until a few years later that Barr's document was finally released. Guess what. That document did not even begin to do what Barr had said. IOW, Barr lied! Just as he's been doing now.
Chief of Staff Mulvaney Fired and Exiled to Ireland
Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has been fired from his post and will also be stepping down as Director of the Office of Management and Budget. He's remaining in the administration as the envoy to Northern Ireland. (Source: Mick Mulvaney didn't jump from White House he was pushed)
Mulvaney had purportedly been on the outs with Trump since he conceded a Trump quid pro quo with the Ukraine at a press conference in October of 2019, telling reporters there were quid pro quos between nations all the time and to "get over it," ignoring that the quid pro quo was in Trump's personal interest, not the nation's, and that it wasn't really a quid pro quo but coercion.
Re: Chief of Staff Mulvaney Fired and Exiled to Ireland
You seem to have some kind of problem with a President's deciding to fire anybody from his staff who doesn't share his views. Or is that only when it's Presdient Trump? Oh right.
Can you name any position of the Democratic party that is socialist?
If you mean an official Dem Party platform statement, probably not. but all the Democrats running for President have expressed some degree or other of socialist views, and I would assume most of them are playing down the extent to which they hold them. And by socialist views I mean taxing the stuffying out of everybody though especially "the rich" to pay for extravagantly expensive programs that no amount of taxation could pay for anyway. Programs that would destroy the oil business and other such businesses, entitlement programs etc. Just having a bona fide Communist on the list is enough to make the point.l Yes, Sanders.
What we do know about the Republican party is that they believe that giving the most breaks to the people at the top of the economic ladder is the best way to create a thriving economy, and that the benefits provided to the rich will trickle down to the rest of the population.
Yes that is true and it is how America became prospertous in the first place. The Left seems to have some kind of unrealistic idea about what is possible, but the Capitalist system is the best that has ever existed and it has worked amazingly well to spread the wealth, while socialism creates poverty instead.
As you eek by on your meager income you might ask yourself how trickle down is working for you. If Republican policies are so beneficial for the country, why aren't you benefiting?
I AM benefiting. I have a really nice apartment that is rent subsidized, and I have all the food and medical help I need. I've been told I could apply for another entitlement program which would increase my income but I don't feel I need it. AND I feel that even what I get comes from a fund that is going to bankrupt the country eventually. I'm grateful to have it of course but there's something wrong with how the Left thinks there is an unlimited source of money when there isn't. Even if you took away all the money legitimately earned by the rich you couldn't balance the budget.
According to this video from ABC news there are now hundreds of cases across the US with at least 17 deaths. "Hundreds" is a vague number, but if we call it 800 cases then 17 deaths represents a mortality rate of 2.1%. But there hasn't been enough testing at this point to reliably know the number of cases or deaths, so this number remains uncertain.
Personally I think the degree of alarm is exaggerated. The elderly and anyone with weakened immune systems or other health issues should take extreme cautionary measures, but the rest of us should go about our lives.
Friends of ours who were recently in Italy were voluntarily quarantining for 14 days, but a few days ago they were officially ordered by the CDC to quarantine.
Trump doesn't want the cruise ship off San Francisco to dock because it would increase the number of cases in the country. We already know from Japan's Diamond Princess experience that quarantining passengers on a cruise ship just creates an incubator for the disease. There will be law suits. Here's a Penthouse Suite for a different cruise company, the Celebrity line, but they're all pretty similar, I would guess $20,000/person for one week, obviously some of the passengers have money:
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