Do you agree that Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard are the best English footballers? If not than who is the best English footballers in your opinion?

My answer on Quora

Steve Gerrard and Frank Lampard were both excellent players and Gerrard in particular should be ranked in my opinion in the Top Ten of All-Time.

Gerrard was a classic box-to-box midfielder who could tackle, pass effectively (both long and short range), cross, take set pieces and score goals. He could literally play at any position on the pitch (other than goalkeeper of course). Although he never won the league he did win everything else. His genius was most displayed by the way that he orchestrated Liverpool’s come-from-behind win in the Champion’s League Final (2005) and the FA Cup Final (2006).

Stevie G. Source: Steven Gerrard to play for Liverpool FC Legends v Milan Glorie

Lampard was more of an attacking midfielder who played in a Chelsea system that afforded him the opportunity of essentially functioning as an auxiliary striker. Unlike Gerrard he had the luxury of deep midfield cover afforded to him by Claude Makélélé and Michael Essien and rarely (if ever had) had to dig deep and carry out the ball winning play in his own half. He was a prolific scorer but I don’t believe that he was as versatile as Gerrard. Still he was a player of tremendous ability.

Frank Lampard Source: Chelsea offer Frank Lampard new deal after contract re-think

Returning to the question…The English game is old and has had many storied players who deserve an inclusion in an all-time Top Ten List. These lists are of course subjective but I would, as much as I like Gerro, I would place Bobby Charlton, Jimmy Greaves, Stanley Matthews, Kevin Keegan, Tom Finney, Gary Linker and Alan Shearer ahead of him (maybe not in that order of course) in terms of overall contribution to the game.

Jimmy Greaves Source: Players rally to show support for Jimmy GreavesScoring Machine 386 Goals in 566 appearances. 44 goals in 56 games for England.

Paul Gascoigne, Glenn Hoddle and Paul Scholes were first rate as well but I am still convinced that in terms of player completion that Gerro can ride alongside any of them.

Kevin ‘Mighty Mouse’ Keegan Source: Kevin Keegan at Liverpool - Won back-to-back Ballon D’Ors (1978 and 1979)

Why did my Dad always say Harry Truman was the greatest President the United States ever had?

My answer on Quora

The Greatest of All Time is rarefied territory. However there is no doubt in my mind that Truman was a tremendous president. Certainly Top Ten. I believe that his legacy should be celebrated by both parties.

Harry S. Truman | U.S. President & History

Here is a list of his key accomplishments. Harry S Truman..

• Worked to ensure the unconditional surrender of Germany in 1945 and negotiated the post war order that would exist on the continent.
• Accepted the surrender of Japan.

Surrender of Japan - Wikipedia. Signed on board the USS Missouri

• Implemented the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine to check Communism in Western Europe. Different perspectives on the Cold War and Truman Doctrine Aids Greece Against Communism
• Played a key role in establishing NATO as a military alliance opposed to Soviet expansion.
• Gave the go ahead and oversaw the famed Berlin Airlift in 1948–1949 to counter the Soviet blockade of the former German capital.

West Berlin children celebrating the airlift Source: Why the Berlin Airlift Was the First Major Battle of the Cold War

• Set in motion the desegregation of the Army (completed by Eisenhower) - Executive Order 9981.Executive Order 9981
• Signed into law the Housing Act of 1949 that increased the scope of public housing (major victory in the Fair Deal). https://www.innovations.harvard....
• Merged the Armed Forces in 1947 (National Security Act). Also established the Air Force as a separate unit.
• Played a key role in the establishment of the CIA and the NSA.
• Recognized the State of Israel as an Independent Country
• Dispatched US troops to the Korean peninsula which prevented the entire region from being engulfed by the Communist forces of North Korea (with later Chinese backing).
• Had a lead role in drawing up the UN Charter in San Francisco.
• Pulled off an election upset in 1948 when he defeated a strong and experienced challenger in Thomas Dewey while fending off Dixiecrat (Strom Thurmond) and Progressive (Henry Wallace) opposition.

Truman defeated Dewey in another election that the media got wrong. Source: It's happened before: Truman's defeat of Dewey had hints of Trump-Clinton

Here are the Controversies of his Presidency and some of the shortfalls

• The dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Truman described this as the ‘ the most terrible bomb in the history of the world’. The debate still rages today as to whether this was the most prudent move. I believe that it was (a topic for another question) . However Truman struggled immensely with this decision. The link here describes the various alternatives that were looked at. Harry S Truman’s Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb (U.S. National Park Service)
• Truman was criticized for his handling of the Korean War. US Casualties would reach a level of over 128,000 + including 33, 686 killed. The war was successful in that it saved South Korea from being absorbed by the North but it largely ended in a stalemate. Truman’s dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur was a highly unpopular decision at the time (indeed he faced impeachment) although in retrospect it may have been a necessary one to ensure civilian control of the military. In Truman’s own words

If there is one basic element in our Constitution, it is civilian control of the military. Policies are to be made by the elected political officials, not by generals or admirals. Yet time and again General MacArthur had shown that he was unwilling to accept the policies of the administration. By his repeated public statements he was not only confusing our allies as to the true course of our policies but, in fact, was also setting his policy against the President's... If I allowed him to defy the civil authorities in this manner, I myself would be violating my oath to uphold and defend the Constitution Source: Truman, Harry S. (1965). Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Years of Trial and Hope. New York: New American Library.

Pres. Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur Source: Military Officers and Politics: The Fraught Relationship between MacArthur and Truman - Modern War Institute

• Truman’s Fair Deal was largely unsuccessful. Other than the Housing Act discussed above it failed passage through Congress.
• Strike Action dominated Truman’s early years as President. The strike wave of 1945–46 was the largest in US labor history. Truman tried to veto the Taft-Hartley Act that restricted and limited the power of Labor unions but failed. The Postwar Strike Wave of 1945-46.

Harry Truman was a very unlikely President. He was not a part of FDR’s inner circle (nor was he member of the East Coast elite establishment) but he was forced into the difficult predicament following FDR’s death, of accepting the surrender of Germany and negotiating a post war peace in Europe that would not repeat the tragedy of Versailles.

He had to deal with a strong adversary in Josef Stalin whose troops had occupied most of Eastern Europe. While the agreement in Potsdam was far from perfect it did protect the integrity of Western Europe and staved off a possible clash with the powerful land force of the Red Army. It could have been a lot worse.

With respect to Japan, Truman needed to end the war in this region as soon as possible to minimize the loss of life. The dropping of the bombs was the best of several awful alternatives, While it now seems that Japan’s decision to surrender was motivated more by the Soviet entry into the war, without the luxury of hindsight, it is difficult to fault Truman here. Remember that the taking of the Island of Okinawa alone had seen 160,000 causalities on both sides. An invasion of Japan itself would have greatly multiplied this loss rate.

Truman’s brilliance though was in his swift recognition that the closure of World War II had created another problem for the Free World. The Cold War was a reality. The Iron Curtain had descended.

The US had to take the lead in combating the Soviet threat, and the isolationist policies of early years would have to give way to a more robust defense of the democracies. The US could ill-afford to sit back when so much was at stake.

Truman set up the infrastructure to carry out this new responsibility. He would suffer some setbacks but it was during his Presidency that the ground work to halt Soviet Expansion and eventually turn back the tide of Marxist-Leninist advancement was rooted.

This speaks volumes as to the vision of the man from Lamar, Missouri. He may have been an accidental President but he rose to meet the challenge with ingenuity and homegrown pragmatism and was indeed a great servant of the nation.

Sources

Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum

Harry S. Truman | The White House

The Cold War (1945-1989)

Battle Of Okinawa: Summary, Fact, Pictures and Casualties | HistoryNet

Korean War | Combatants, Summary, Facts, & Casualties

The Green New Deal

My thoughts on Quora

"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." Marcus Aurelius

The Green New Deal is a Manifesto and not a very good one at that. The great thing about Manifestos is that everyone can have one. Marx had one, as did Simon Bolivar (Cartagena Manifesto), Robert Peel (Tamworth Manifesto), the Unabomber, Anders Breivik and Charlie Sheen. There is even a site that lists a whole bunch of Manifestos. 1000 Manifesto List - 1000Manifestos.com. In the era of cut and paste, blogging and social media manifestos are in fact a few software assists away from seeing the light and gaining an audience. How to write a manifesto. | Alexandra Franzen

I have read over the so-called Green New Deal three or four times trying to find pragmatic substance to it and I still find it both wanting and dangerous. As a teacher it reminds me of a B- Summative Project that a senior student would hand in for a World Issues Course. Yeah it has all the platitudes and speaks to a lot of issues but has all the depth of a one inch deep pool of water.

Some pictures need no introduction Source: What do Earth, Mars have in common?: Today's Toon

However it is receiving a great deal of publicity. So lets look at what is problematic about the Green New Deal (GND) and why it is indeed so controversial.

1.The Green New Deal interprets the October 2019 IPCC Report (SR15) as though its conclusions are written in stone and must drive policy.

Source: Dan Kennedy: Scientific Illiterate, Global Warming Hysteric

Be wary of the notion of certainty in the Predictive Sciences. .

The ever excellent Nic Lewis, who forced the Scripps institute to wealk back their major study on ocean warming - High-profile ocean warming paper to get a correction - provides a detailed analysis of the modelling used in SR15 explaining why the trending analysis appears to be running ‘hot’ based on observational data - Remarkable changes to carbon emission budgets in the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C.

The bottom line is that the prediction of future temperature based on mathematical modelling is a notoriously tricky affair (I have personal experience here as an engineer). It is fraught with uncertainty and should be interpreted as such. If you don’t believe me. Take a look at this.

The Blue thin line is the actual data. Look how large the error cone is. Which model works best?

Source: Remarkable changes to carbon emission budgets in the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5C.

This is not to say that we should disregard the overall trend. I personally believe that the planet is warming at a moderate level and that anthropogenic carbon dioxide is a forcing factor. However formulating rigid economic/energy policy that has a far reaching impact based on deference to a certainty of consensus is problematic. As Thomas H. Huxley puts it:

"The improver of natural knowledge absolutely refuses to acknowledge authority, as such. For him, skepticism is the highest of duties; blind faith the one unpardonable sin."

2. Even if the Sciences nails the issue head on the solution proposed by the Green New Deal reflect a bias that favors ideology over pragmatism.

The report has a strong anti-nuclear bias. This is especially disappointing as Nuclear Energy is largely carbon neutral. Even climate scientist James Hanson likes the idea. China-U.S. cooperation to advance nuclear power

However the writers of SR15 did not see it that way. Attacking Nuclear As Dangerous, New IPCC Climate Change Report Promotes Land-Intensive Renewables

The Green New Deal echoes the same ideology.

A point to consider - A marker that the issue is ideologically driven is the name calling and bullying that appears to have clouded the Climate Science discipline in particular. Source: 'Dilbert' Tackles Climate Science Absurdity

3. There is a hysterical element to the Green New Deal.

Much of this relies on fears of a great disaster and an apocalyptic vision of the future. However history regularly pours cold water on this. Climate change predictions have been notoriously awful. http://www.aei.org/publication/1...

Take the giant scare about hurricanes. Yes their impacts may be more intense but in terms of frequency increase this is still very much uncertain. Hurricanes and Climate Change | Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Nuanced voices need to prevail.

In fact its entirely conceivable that the hysteria itself hurts the cause. http://www.aei.org/publication/c....

4. The Green New Deal clearly has an agenda that extends way beyond concern for the environment

Read the Green New Deal and you will see very clearly that it is a manifesto of Progressive talking points (worker rights, union demands, housing, social engineering etc) that have been deliberately inserted to sell the deal to a larger audience. It is a masterpiece of conflation, that is using ‘concern for the environment’ to market a broader rubric of collectivist ideas to a wider intersectionality. This is completely disingenuous. It is a political battering ram.

The Left Thinks a 'Green New Deal' Could Save Earth and Destroy the GOP

Take a look at these quotes from those in the know.

“We’ve got to ride this global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic and environmental policy.“ – Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foundation

“Isn’t the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn’t it our responsibility to bring that about?” – Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

Source: www.denverpost.com

5. The GND roll out has proved so far to be an exercise in deceit

Along with the Green New Deal came the Green New Deal FAQ, that appeared and then mysteriously disappeared from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s website. Fortunately what happens on the internet has a way of staying on the internet. Green New Deal FAQ.

Reading the answers here it is clear that Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Father of Left wing Authoritarianism would be proud. Considering his work on the popular will this excerpt from the FAQ would certainly resonate - ‘It is possible if we have the political will to do it’ .

Here are a few more statements ‘The Green New Deal is a 10-year plan to reorient our entire economy…’ and ‘..the tools of regulation and taxation, used in isolation, will not be enough to quickly and smoothly accomplish the transformation we need to see’.

Who is the we? Is this the people or just a cadre of elite who know what is best for us and are representing a so-called ‘will’? Sounds like a recipe for overreach at the expense of individual liberty.

We have of course seen this before also under the guise of the knowing eye of the state. Five-Year Plans | Definition & Facts and The Great Leap Forward - History Learning Site. I will let the reader evaluate the consequences.

Worth noting is the way AOC and other supporters of the GND misrepresent the success of Roosevelt’s New Deal. The Mythical Banking Crisis and the Failure of the New Deal | Hunter Lewis. The New Deal actually delayed the recovery from the Great Depression. FDR's policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate. Buyer beware.

The Green New Deal will come at a high cost both socially and economically. The payment schedule is driven by wishful thinking and seems ignorant of economics. Wanting it so, does not make it so and messing with an economy that has been on an upswing for some time is pure folly. US economy under Trump: Best in history?

6. The Green New Deal has been endorsed by most of the Democratic Party’s 2020 Presidential Election hopefuls.

Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren are all supportive of the Green New Deal. So much so for the Party of Science. The candidates clearly need to be synchronized with one another to win over a primary electorate that is rapidly moving leftward. For moderates in the party this must bring up a few flags as well as several bouts of head shaking. In fact on the National Level it has given the GOP the perfect ammunition to paint the Democrats as a radical unit. Curious to see how the Dems will moderate in anticipation of November 2020 when an appeal to a broader electorate is the only strategy for victory or will this just double down on this hysteria.

Even Democrats Are Wary Of The Green New Deal

GOP Looks to Turn Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal on Democrats

Source: An AOC Valentine

So there it is…More fun and games in the name of politics. However the GND is more than that. It is a blatant attempt to sell a Top Down Package of deliberate social/economic engineering under the guise of advancing the common good. Fresh Face or not it should be tossed onto the heap of bad ideas.

Additional Sources

1. Green New Deal. https://ocasio-cortez.house.gov/...
2. Why the Green New Deal Is Happening Now
3. Anti-Nuclear Bias Of UN & IPCC Is Rooted In Cold War Fears Of Atomic And Population Bombs
4. http://tps://www.spectator.co.uk...

Is Bill Maher right about anything?

My answer on Quora.

He is right about several factors and I say this as somebody who is a Classical Liberal not a Modern liberal/progressive.

Now there is a lot that I don’t like about Maher. He still sees the world in a purely GOP v Dem dichotomy and when push comes to shove is very much a partisan hack. This shows itself in a tendency to mimic the low resolution MSM talking points of the day, all too often falling into the Stawman trap (which he seems oblivious to).

Maher also relies too much on humor to make a point and does not delve any deeper than one or two inches into an issue. He has a knack to oversimplify for a quick laugh making his standard routine rapidly tiresome.

In addition he has a tendency to endorse medical quackery that is suspect at best.

When antivaccine pseudoscience isn't enough, Bill Maher fawns over Charlie Sheen's HIV quack

However he is far better than a stopped watch. This is what he gets correct.

1. He understands the danger of Islamism as a political movement and is also not afraid to call out the Armed Jihad for what it is.
2. Maher also appreciates that fundamentalism in Islam is a more serious problem than it is in other religions.
3. For the most part he is a champion of Freedom of Speech and disdains censorship.
4. He admits freely that university campuses have become toxic environments for discussing controversial issues and is not afraid to point this out.
5. He has no qualms about inviting Conservatives on his show for debate. He is also respectful to his guests (when he is not interrupting them).
6. Maher supports Israel’s right to defend itself and seems to appreciate the dangers it faces.
7. He understands how the Democratic Party repeatedly ‘shoots itself in the foot by pandering to its more radical elements.

and finally he admitted that he goofed by endorsing Ralph Nader in 2000.

So yes…he has his pros and cons. I cut him some slack as he is a comedian and in the grand calculus is not a complete loss.

Can Elizabeth Warren win the Presidency?

My answer on Quora.

I very much doubt it. Here are the top eight reasons ‘why’ in my opinion.

1. She has a very narrow appeal outside Progressive circles. A broad appeal is needed to win the National Election.
2. There are more likable candidates on the Progressive end of the Dem Ticket eg. O’Rourke, Sanders, Harris etc.
3. Her brand has been damaged by the ‘Pocahontas 1/1024’ saga….big time.
4. Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand will likely market the first Female POTUS angle better.
5. She is not a charismatic speaker. It does matter.
6. Her brand does not seem transferable to the non-White voting base that is essential in winning the Dem. nomination. Booker and Harris are far stronger here.
7. Her age may be off putting…yes it worked for Sanders…but he could play the old uncle schtick better. Warren has very little traction here.
8. Most importantly….her political positions are far to the left of the American electorate. Not a great place to position oneself.

Was Hitler a conservative?

My answer on Quora.

No, Hitler wasn’t a conservative. He was a radical in almost every sense and does not fall into the typical conservative-liberal axis that Americans are so fond of using. He certainly did not wish to conserve. The correlation with modern conservatism is close to zero.

The Nazi Party has its origin in an anti-free enterprise, anti-monarchist and anti-bourgeoisie stance. It also stood in opposition to Marxism (it was a competing ideology) and combined both antisemitic and nationalist themes.

Here is a copy of the Nazi Platform. It all about change in a direction that is overwhelmingly statist and collectivist on an economic level.

25 Points of the Nazi party

"Everything must be different!" or "Alles muss anders sein!" was a slogan of the Nazi Party.

Anton Drexler, Dietrich Eckart, Gottfried Feder and Karl Harrier founded the German Workers Party (DAP) in 1919 on a platform of völkisch nationalism structuring it on socialist lines that they believed would serve as an alternative to the international politics of the Communists. Their target group was the German working class and they initially drew support from members of the various Freikorps (armed paramilitaries).

Anton Drexler - Source: Anton Drexler

Social welfare was key idea in the early party platform with Drexler advocating profit-sharing within the context of a unified ‘people’s community - or Volksgemeinschaft.

DAP survived for only a year (1919–1920) before being reborn as the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) under Hitler (1920). Hitler saw the name change as necessary to broaden the party’s appeal beyond the working class. His initial intention was to name the new entity the Social Revolutionary Party but he was talked into adopting the Nazi label by Rudolf Jung instead.

Source: Weimar and Nazi Germany

National Socialism (as opposed to international socialism) was its ideology. The notion that the word socialism was included to ‘trick’ the worker is a myth. It was integral to the collectivist ideology that defined the party.

As Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf

"As things stand today, the trade unions in my opinion cannot be dispensed with. On the contrary, they are among the most important institutions of the nation's economic life. Their significance lies not only in the social and political field, but even more in the general field of national politics. A people whose broad masses, through a sound trade-union movement, obtain the satisfaction of their living requirements and at the same time an education, will be tremendously strengthened in its power of resistance in the struggle for existence". Source: MEIN KAMPF by Adolf Hitler: Volume 2, Chapter 12

It has been argued that Hitler was conservative in that he acted through a nationalist banner. However nationalism as a driving force is not essentially conservative. Many a left wing liberation movement (in Africa and South America in particular) have suffused nationalism under a socialist framework.

Take Friedrich Engels (Karl Marx’s co-author) in his own words.

"True, it is a fixed idea with the French that the Rhine is their property, but to this arrogant demand the only reply worthy of the German nation is Arndt's: "Give back Alsace and Lorraine". For I am of the opinion, perhaps in contrast to many whose standpoint I share in other respects, that the reconquest of the German-speaking left bank of the Rhine is a matter of national honour, and that the Germanisation of a disloyal Holland and of Belgium is a political necessity for us. Shall we let the German nationality be completely suppressed in these countries, while the Slavs are rising ever more powerfully in the East?" Source: Ernst Moritz Arndt

Now it is true that Hitler utilized German’s corporate sector industry to drive his war effort (and before that the recovery from the Great Depression) but such a policy of large public works has more in common with New Deal Economics and Keynesian deficit spending than it does with Laissez-Fair capitalism. All of this was also carried out under the auspices of the superstate. The only capitalism that he appeared to like was the nefarious Corporate type (tending toward the monopoly) so long as it aligned with the objectives of the state (fortunately for him but not so much for the Free World there were no shortage of willing accomplices here).

Statist Economics - Using Industry to serve a collectivist ideal

Propaganda for the Nazi Economy - Source: Nazi economic recovery

Soviet Economic Propaganda Source: Stalin and the Drive to Industrialize the Soviet Union

In fact the Nazis were rather hostile to small businesses as was evident by the October 1937 Act that that “dissolved all corporations with a capital under $40,000 and forbade the establishment of new ones with a capital less than $200,000.” One fifth of all businesses collapsed. (see Shirer).Stock Exchanges were reduced from twenty-one to nine by 1935. Dividends were also limited to 6%. In 1936 the Nazis blocked foreign investment.

IG Farben - Part of the cartel that cooperated with the Nazis. Source: IG Farben | German cartel

As renowned Austrian Economist and Jewish Intellectual Ludwig von Mises put it.

"The Nazis have not only imitated the Bolshevist tactics of seizing power. They have copied much more. They have imported from Russia the one-party system and the privileged role of this party and its members in public life; the paramount position of the secret police; the organization of affiliated parties abroad which are employed in fighting their domestic governments and in sabotage and espionage, assisted by public funds and the protection of the diplomatic and consular service; the administrative execution and imprisonment of political adversaries; concentration camps; the punishment inflicted on the families of exiles; the methods of propaganda. They have borrowed from the Marxians even such absurdities as the mode of address, party comrade (Parteigenosse), derived from the Marxian comrade (Genosse), and the use of a military terminology for all items of civil and economic life. The question is not in which respects both systems are alike but in which they differ...Source: The Socialist Calumny Against the Jews | Ludwig von Mises

None of this comes from the conservative playbook. Practically all of it can be associated with regimes largely represented by the Authoritarian Left.

Source: William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, New York, NY, Simon & Schuster, 1960, p. 262

http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/...

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