I was out for a walk, so I’m only watching the second part of the debate.
What I like in the Republican debates and what was absent in the Democratic debate is a detailed discussion of tax plans. It doesn’t mean I like these plans (Cruz, for instance, hates the Department of Commerce so much that he proposed to eliminate it twice in one sentence), but I like the existence of a detailed discussion of taxes. I like concreteness, and I hate vagueness.
Somebody has got to ask Bernie Sanders to which extent his admiration of Sweden stretches to its extremely high taxation of the middle class. And instead of vague, populist pronouncements about taxing hedge fund managers, I’d like to hear something that includes actual numbers.
P.S. Rubio is kicking Rand Paul’s ass on the taxes issue. It’s enjoyable to watch.
Hmm. . . Trump is opposed to the TPP. TPP must be a good thing.
P.P.S. Watching Carson talk about foreign policy is painful. His stated goal is “to make jihadis look like losers.” That poor fellow.
And Trump just informed the world that there are countries surrounding Ukraine that should be protecting it instead of the US. Which, as we know, is not protecting it at all. Somebody, please give Trump a map.
Rubio, at least, knows how to pronounce “Ukraine” correctly. Other candidates are still doing the obnoxious “the Ukraine.”
P.P.P.S. Fiorina gave an embarrassingly stupid speech on “how socialism starts.” Somebody, please give Fiorina a history textbook for toddlers.
By the end of the debate, Rubio grew tired, started giggling, fidgeting, and behaving in an unhinged way. He doesn’t seem very emotionally stable. Even Trump looks like a model of stability next to him, and that’s not a good thing.
Clarissa's Blog 
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a VERY good thing. It’s the most significant free trade deal since the US signed North America Free Trade Agreement in 1994. The agreement will create an international free trade zone with 12 Asian countries. Among other features, it includes common labor and environmental standards, as well as measures to protect data and intellectual property of large companies.
Globalization is the wave of the future, and even Obama knows that. (Hillary knows it, too, but she wants union votes.)
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I’m also seeing a lot of positives in TPP. I haven’t yet heard a convincing argument against it.
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Free trade agreements always cost some domestic union jobs. That’s one of the prices of a globalizing economy.
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The TPP is absymsally bad, and will do many harmful things like bring back SOPA or its clone, raise drug prices the world over, prevent communities from deciding whether they allow things like fracking, and allow companies to sue countries for lost profits for instance when they adopt more environmentally-friendly policies.
Heck, even the supporters of the TPP say that nearly all of the benefits would go to high-wage workers. And nearly none would go to anyone else.
The intellectual property “protections” of the TPP alone will be a nightmare.
The effect on society from the additional middle class jobs lost will be even worse.
Anyone who supports TPP I just can’t understand. It’s so clearly and obviously bad for anyone but a very small percentage of the population.
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Don’t have time right now as I’m in class, but I’ll reply later.
In the meantime here is my response to dreidels description of tpp:
Lol.
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“LOL” as in “LAUDABLE, ON-TARGET, and LUCID”?
Thanks, Stringer Boy, I didn’t know you cared!
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Agreed. Anyone who supports the TPP must not be able to read.
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Hey, Mike, you can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Move up the food chain, or move out of the way before you get eaten.
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I’m already pretty high up on that food chain. The TPP will probably benefit me a bit.
But unlike some, I don’t only think about myself.
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Well, you should be. None of the bottom dwellers on their way up with jagged teeth will spare you because of your noble thoughts. 🙂
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The countries around Ukraine belong to NATO, and NATO can’t act unilaterally without American participation and leadership.
Trump is an ass!
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I have no idea how Belarus, Moldova, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, if I’m not mistaken, are supposed to protect Ukraine.
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The countries of Eastern and Western Europe can’t even protect themselves from any significant outside attack. They’ve all stayed essentially disarmed since the end of WWII. During the Cold War, they came under the protection of either the U.S. or the USSR, and when the end of the Cold War brought “the end of history” (as some idiot termed it), they didn’t see any need for funding a real national defense.
Most of them still don’t. If their governments tried to divert welfare-state funds for defense, they’d get voted out of office.
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I admire your ability to continue to watch this circus. After the second GOP debate I decided to give up watching until the field narrowed significantly. It’s such a stupid mess. Don’t get me wrong — I’ll read about it. I’d just rather read the NYT recap than waste an evening with these bozos.
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I can’t work unless the TV is on and I needed to annotate a book last evening. So the debate was very helpful in that. 🙂
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You haven’t said anything about the moderators. What do you think of the questions from Cavuto and “The Money Honey”?
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Horrible. This Cavuto person has something wrong with his voice. It’s a mystery why the network allows somebody who can’t perform his only job duty (enunciating things clearly) to participate. It’s like letting a lame ballerina or a hoarse opera singer appear on stage. What, the network has no other chubby, self-involved fellow to read out questions from a piece of paper?
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Gee, Clarissa, must be a very boring debate — nobody seems to be watching it but you. (I’m certainly not.)
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I suspect you haven’t considered how you’re missing out on membership in a special club …
After all, “the Ukraine” could join “the Bahamas” and “the Gambia” in a very special club.
Think of the special status! 🙂
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Or The Hague where I hope Putin will go on trial for his crimes against humanity.
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