Author Topic: The Fifth Risk  (Read 7908 times)

PonoBill

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The Fifth Risk
« on: October 24, 2018, 05:51:57 AM »
I'm reading Michael Lewis' The Fifth Risk, the third book I've read on the Trump presidency. I've read Michael Wolff's stunning book “Fire and Fury”, then Bob Woodward’s “Fear” and finally this. I say finally because I doubt I'll be willing to read a fourth one.

I try to get a little bit of balance in my reading, so I spent some painful hours trying to read some Michael Savage books. Couldn't do it. Fucking evil idiot yelling into an echo chamber of little minds.

That isn't to say that any of the three books above are slanted to the left. As far as I can tell from the outside they are serious journalism, deeply sourced. The Fifth Risk seems particularly even-handed, though Bob Woodward's book was disconcertingly consistent with the image Trump projects, the strongly negative picture emerges only as a whole, with a dysfunctional and startlingly stupid overall team in place running the country. Michael Wolff's book reads like an embedded journalist, a fly on the wall, invited in to watch what SHOULD have been a campaign disaster that pushed a team into power that was not ready to win.

So far, I'm really entranced by this book. Great writing helps, but the perspective is so crisp and connects to things I know about with accuracy. It's a lot shorter, I'll probably blow through it today. And then I'm going to read Asian and European history and historical fiction for a few months to purge the slime with old disasters that don't smell so bad across the gulf of centuries.
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stoneaxe

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2018, 06:29:41 AM »
I need to get caught up......Kindle I assume. I need to get another paperwhite....that one you sent died.

I assume you've read the Griff Hosker Viking books.....not as good as Cornwell but still a fun read.
Bob

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eastbound

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #2 on: October 24, 2018, 06:56:33 AM »
always curious re paperwhite, stones--seems they can be read in bright outdoor light--something that's tough to do with my ipad

ima read the lewis book, pono--big short was great, as have been the many of his ive read

didnt read the other trump books bc they were so chronicled in the media--when i skimmed em, seemed i'd already heard re any of the revelatory shit

i lasted about 90 seconds skimming omaraosa's book--couldve been written by a child, it's so simplistic

wonder what the mueller "book" will end up containing?? he's certainly been thorough, and has access to many ex-admin people who have been compelled to spill guts, who were present when illegality might have taken place--like, if mueller doesnt have much, i will have to accept that--and trump will end up even more shockingly normalized--uggggh that

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stoneaxe

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #3 on: October 24, 2018, 07:37:33 AM »
Paperwhites are awesome...you can read in bright sunlight. They have a waterproof version now.
Bob

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PonoBill

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #4 on: October 24, 2018, 06:49:46 PM »
Paperwhites are cheap, the easiest reading of all the readers in any lighting situation, and sturdy. I've read close to a thousand books on Kindle readers (my Kind;e account says 947, but some of those were bought and read by other family members)--I've tried them all, and it's the only thing I use other than my cell phone when I'm stuck somewhere without my kindle. I drop mine all the time--no effect. I have an old one, beat to shit, been through four covers.  Diane got me a newer, fancy one with a bigger screen and more doodads--and I didn't like it. Heavier. I think I paid a hundred bucks for this thing. I used to read on an ipad, but no longer--sucked in sun and five times the weight. I rarely use my iPad for anything anymore, in fact Diane broke the screen on hers so I gave her mine and stuck a protector on it after drizzling in a little windshield repair stuff. I mostly use it for flying my drone.

Eastbound--I don't think you could actually get the big picture of Fear by reading a bunch of excerpts. I'd be a lot more comfortable with things as they are if I'd read only certain portions, and I'd have a false notion of the meaning of Trumps presidency if I'd read a collection of the worst stuff. Someone once said the starting thing about true evil is that it is so banal. Or words to that effect. That's what I come away with. The reader's digest version wouldn't give a real perspective. If I'm going to have to suffer through this, you should too.


« Last Edit: October 24, 2018, 06:58:27 PM by PonoBill »
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deepmud

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #5 on: February 12, 2019, 08:33:36 PM »
ha - I was going to post up I'm in this book - and thought better, yep, ponobill here already lol.  More amazing insight, that no one seems to deny ( just like in Fear) - but really scary systemic damage being done - we are close to being really fucked. We need scientists keeping track of plutonium, there's stuff the department of energy really REALLY needs to be doing with real budgets.....

eastbound

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #6 on: February 13, 2019, 08:09:34 AM »
why? russia doesnt track their plutonium........

so there's a bit of plutonium floating around the black mkt.....nbd..........

so what if a nuke melts---we're the biggest nat gas/oil energy producer in the world now!

we won!
« Last Edit: February 13, 2019, 08:11:05 AM by eastbound »
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deepmud

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #7 on: February 13, 2019, 08:46:34 AM »
"2010-2018 the DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration collected enough material to make 160 bombs" Chapter 2.
The guy who ran for president, and had 3 departments he was going to get rid of but couldn't recall remember the 3rd ....... is running the Department of Energy. Hmm.

Loans to Tesla in a program that was meant to take risks - DOE. The program takes a lot of flak for when loans are not repaid but it was designed to take risks (but somehow actually turns a profit) in order to help us (the U.S) push ahead in technology - if it's not Tesla, in America, it could very likely end up being Huawei or some other company instead.

The more I learn, the more I understand that America (or, at least the Americans I know, including myself) is perhaps unaware of how much of the America we remember as "Great" was assisted by the U.S. government. We were and still are much more "socialist" than we like to think about - much more than roads and snow removal etc. Lots and lots of science has been pushed ahead by our government, by good people in our government, and we are much more benefited by it than we know.

I need to read more books and less "Web"  -  books with writers that travel to places and knock on doors  quote real people with real personal understanding things

BTW - this author is also wrote "the Undoing Project" - if any of have you have not read it yet you really really should. Really. You can get it on Audible - you can borrow Audible books and Kindle books from your local library, or even paper one (!) if you don't want to blow 10 or 20 bucks :D

RideTheGlide

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #8 on: February 13, 2019, 01:08:38 PM »
About what the government funds that most people don't realize...

My mom retired from the CDC several years ago but her social circle included a number of people still working or retired more recently, so I heard a lot of grumbling about what happens with a lot of the research. A lot of cooperative research between the government and private industry results in a major windfall for the corporation involved. Big pharma does have a lot of their own resources, but they lean on the CDC and WHO an awful lot.

On the bigger issues, one of the things I am most apprehensive about is the number of people who aren't apprehensive at all. Some are hard core Trump base and don't accept anything that doesn't support what they already believe, some are eternal optimists who believe we will right the ship before anything bad happens and some just have their head in the sand (or some other location that restricts their vision in a similar manner). Preppers look less like lunatics every day.
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eastbound

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #9 on: February 13, 2019, 01:48:37 PM »
mud and glide--agree

funny is when elon musk talks trash about subsidized businesses, and folks talk trash about obama having thrown socialist money at solyndra

musk got a subsidized low-interest loan, when banks wouldnt have even looked at him, from the very same socialist program as solyndra!

tesla would not exist without a government sponsored subsidized loan--simple--and that's how they roll--they put money onto risky new businesses in the hope that they take---some do some dont--but a few good ones is what they want--and tesla? innumerable jobs, and US takes the lead in electric cars!

once successful, everyone (like musk) says they pulled selves up from bootstraps--while they remain in search of advantages they can garner from government which, once successful, they can easily afford to buy

all this crap about "entitlements" (newspeak for backstop programs for people who, thru no fault of their own, have had economic difficulty---like double income families where one person loses job--or a breadwinner gets sick), when us taxpayers (or at least our bought politicians) happily subsidize exxon!! whaaa? oh yeah--global warming is a chinese hoax!!! exxon is good for us!  well, maybe except for Valdez.....

and please dont start with fraud in food stamps and welfare--it's tiny--and the numbers of desperate people--who are down on their luck, and arent lazy--are huge.

what about tax fraud?---where the irs is so underfunded they have stopped auditing the super-complicated returns of the very wealthy--who already pay nearly nil in taxes via loopholes subsidies and whatever other benefits they've paid politicians to extend them, along with the trump tax cuts--which insure deficits that belong to all americans, rich and poor, into the distant future---deficits? no problem, so long as i am lining my pockets

let's focus on the one in a thousand who buys cigarettes with food stamps--lazy scum cheats!

the most shocking thing to me is how masses of our declined middle class have been conned that trump and his ilk have their back..........

there! no offense intended to anyone, if anyone feels offended--just my two cents.......

« Last Edit: February 13, 2019, 01:57:01 PM by eastbound »
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Cruisinby

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #10 on: February 13, 2019, 01:51:25 PM »
Seems to me somewhere along the line we have lost the fact that character counts.   Be it  Repub, Dem or Independent those elected all in time become very wealthy, they have in my view not lived up to the oaths they took as elected representatives.   Some have been there far to long with little to show their time in office.
Far to many have been brought on criminal charges.    They seem to cater to social media and help spred false news that fits their personal agenda,  not whats best for the country.    As for me actions speak louder than words !
THose who yell the loudest, use name calling and insults on others usually are attempting to direct attention away from them selves and their lack of  accomplishment.   Which ever way one leans, I hope our conclusions are based on facts, results  and not blindly following false emtions that make us feel good.    Reading good books from both sides will usually bring us back to the middle with minor adjustments we all can agree on !   There are always two sides to every story if we have the courage to find it !   

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Happy hunting for the truth !

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stoneaxe

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #11 on: February 13, 2019, 05:59:03 PM »
I still say the solution is to move those on the far right and far left to a deserted island and give them all baseball bats. Sell pay per view.
Bob

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RideTheGlide

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #12 on: February 13, 2019, 06:46:45 PM »
I still say the solution is to move those on the far right and far left to a deserted island and give them all baseball bats. Sell pay per view.
Is it a tropical deserted island? Do we get to take paddle boards? Odds are you would be sending me.
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PonoBill

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #13 on: February 13, 2019, 06:50:26 PM »
Wow, talk about slow burns. I started this thread back in November. I just have oooonneee question. Did anyone read the book other than deepmud? Class? Class? Anyone. Bueller?
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eastbound

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Re: The Fifth Risk
« Reply #14 on: February 13, 2019, 06:59:37 PM »
no but i just bought it
i reco flash boys--good take on high frequency trading

usually like michael lewis' books--like you said they read quickly but feel well-written
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