birdog1960

do you think it's coincidence that overt racist acts and symbols are so frequently and disproportionately displayed in former confederate states like mississippi?

so, i'm at my civic club this a.m. and the speaker is a local small college professor (i can already hear the hisses from the snake choir here) that wrote a book about racism in mississippi around the time of james meredith and univ of mississippi episode. ya know, it being the week of mlk holiday and all. and then a member that grew up in mississippi at that time relays a story about a jewish friend bombed out of their house just because her family were civil rights supporters. and i think wow, and were still arguing about honoring the most obvious and well known examples of racists in our nations history. sad. really sad.

the first two paragraphds of your link: "Republican donors are quietly coming around to the idea that Donald Trump could be their party’s nominee for president. While many major Republican donors still cannot abide the idea of Trump as their party’s 2016 standard-bearer — and some remain flat-out in denial about the strength of his candidacy — interviews with GOP business owners and CEOs in six states suggest shifting attitudes toward the controversial billionaire. " hardly definitive evidence of widespread acceptance by the donor class. sounds more like bet hedging to me. we will see.

I think he's right. this is suicide for the party. but the "donor class" has thrown in the towel. they think the demise of the party is inevitable. and neither trump nor cruz can win.

shields and brooks discussion after the most recent debate: DAVID BROOKS: Well, Jeb Bush is part of a large group of people who are like the team at halftime who — like the Republican establishment, who feel like they’re down 50 points and they have decided they’re going to lose the game. And that’s how the Republican establishment is right now. They don’t believe that Ted Cruz or Donald Trump can win. They think it could imperil their majorities in Congress, and yet they’re doing nothing about it. JUDY WOODRUFF: But what could they do? DAVID BROOKS: Well, I wish we had gray men in suits. We don’t have that. But the donor class could do something. Frankly, the country is filled with state legislators who are Republicans, congressmen, senators, local committeemen, a lot of whom are in panic. And so maybe they should do something about it. Maybe they should have a MoveOn.org-type organization and get some rallying, which the other side has already done, and have a counterweight, so they don’t send the party into suicide. And that might involve, not now, but after New Hampshire, winnowing the field, and donors and other people going and saying, we’re just going to pick this guy. We’re going to pick Rubio. I’m sorry, Jeb, you’re not going to be president. Christie, you can be secretary of treasury, but we’re going to get organized here and we’re not going to go quietly into the night. much more here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/shields-and-brooks-on-trump-vs-cruz-clintons-concern-over-sanders/

honestly, they're just fine without steve martin. he loves to play with them but musically he's in awe. the album with them, steve and edie brickell is well worth a listen though. never heard this before tonight. gotta share:

wow. i'll drive to greensboro for that. thanks!

steep canyon rangers are arguably the best bluegrass band in the world. steve martin and the grammy's think so. i agree. i'd go just to see them but if you're not camping, you're driving at least an hour. there's not much around there and close hotels are booked years in advance. but merlefest is on my bucket list even if i have to camp.

since you mentioned cost, I'm compelled to again link to the mother of all values for festivals. http://countdowntobristolrhythm.com/ doesn't happen til sept but a weekend pass is $50 til Jan 31. I think it goes up $5 every few months after that. only 12 acts announced so far but there will be over 100. and while there are hippies and hipsters (especially from Asheville) there's plenty of everyday, hardworking regular folks. edit: oops. $50 was til dec 31. price is now $60 for a weekend pass (fri,sat,sunday)

i'm not into the camping part of these. we've done them as single days. but live music is alive and well and these festivals are nurturing it. the big bands like avetts get big paydays at these things and they should. it's tough to make it in music and if you do, you deserve to get paid. to anyone that goes, check out donna the buffalo if you have never seen them. looks like they'll be at several fests this summer.

amazing lineup. I just checked out floydfest and merlefest and this beats them both by a lot. looks to be one of the best festivals of the year.

immediate (but tivo enabled) reaction. i stand by it. i wash my hands at least 20 times a day. you?

brilliant. he tried to numb it but it still distills to dumb versus bright. selfish versus not. can't imagine a better approach . nailed it. omg. taped but watching chris wallace refuting the repug part as the party of "angry white men"….priceless. really, no dem could have asked for more. and nikki haley? 9 credible souls , really? did she actually say that. tell me she didn't. no, we never worshiped a racist symbol and fought its removal with bare, racist brass knuckles. nope, not us. we're actually wonderful, inclusive, honest people. yep, vote for us. (btw, i have bright , white teeth.)

so you have trouble with reading as well. might you AND RHINO BE THE SAME?

what about. "I would give my opinion" do you not understand? Yes, I would give an independent diagnosis, whether or not it would be "my own" is unknown. I might very well agree with the other expert. DONE. OVER. STUPID!

absolute last response, so help me. if a patient asked a second opinion of another doctor that I knew to be an expert by reputation, publications, outcomes data or any combination of these measures I would give that patient my opinion. whether or not I agreed with the other expert on this particular case would not change my opinion of her as an expert. it's an irrelevant question as yours so often are. you're really not very bright.

you conveniently left this out. it begs the question of what is an authority (expert) but you knew that. there's also this really common fallacy used here often. it's called lying. back to ignore. you're not worth another second. should've stuck to my guns.

the question is "what is an expert"? and by implication "why do I consider the author of that guardian article an expert"? asked and answered. regarding your other questions you can piss off. you're rude and they're not relevant.

how does that patient know that i'm an expert? by reading my puiblications? i'll bet less than o.1% of them have done that. by my board certification? maybre 10% are aware of that. nope, it's by reputation. and it's a legitimate measure because my reputation in part is based on those other things that other experts are well aware of.

it is not necessary in order to label someone an expert. stop moving the goal posts. that was the question.

nope. here's the definition: Full Definition of expert 1 obsolete : experienced 2 : having, involving, or displaying special skill or knowledge derived from training or experience. this doesn't require reading works. do I need my it or electrician expert at work to publish and then I read his works before he can be considered an expert?

don't accept the premise. I haven't read Milton friedman's unabridged works on economics yet he is widely lauded as an expert and has the repsect, if not agreement of others in his field that are widely considered experts. I feel confident calling him an expert based on any standard definition. do you not? but please, let's obfuscate just a bit more...

ah, let's add another qualifier to the ppp definition of expert: "can only be identified by others that have read his/her works". and yet another condition to the definition of "appeal tio authority". will your new dictionary have footnotes? and I didn't fail to notice. that was the point. definitions are made by authorities over time. some have very long histories, others short but all we're agreed upon or set forth by experts and therefore carry the meanings they do. without authority, there are no definitions.

thus we now have at least 3 novel ppp based definitions. "historian", "appeal to authority" and "expert". perhaps you all should publish your own dictionary.

when all else fails attack the person not the argument. alternatively, obfuscate. well done. true to form.