REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

TRUMP - Just because.....................Naw, I just can't say it!

POSTED BY: SHINYGOODGUY
UPDATED: Friday, July 14, 2023 07:13
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Monday, November 21, 2016 11:18 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:
Quote:

You are deluded if you think voters make a candidate "stronger". There is no way to lend our strength to somebody. They either have it or don't.
And yet - that's not what I posted in total. It seems a train of logic more than one step long is far too long for you.

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU.

Hillary did change her position. It showed in the party platform. You, as always, said something about it being insincere, that nothing had changed but words on a document that meant nothing and nobody read.

What is really wrong with Hillary and Democrats in general is they won't fight for what they believe. Hillary capitulated five minutes after the polls closed. The Republicans, if they were in the same position, for example Election 2000, would have litigated this to death and pulled every lever controlled by a Republican. That is not the Democrat's style. The Democrats simple surrendered politely and gave their ceremonial swords to the Republicans, then bowed down low so that Trump could lop their heads off.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, November 21, 2016 11:26 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Quote:

Hillary did change her position. It showed in the party platform.
Quotes and links needed.




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Monday, November 21, 2016 11:30 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


still waiting




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Monday, November 21, 2016 11:38 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


still waiting




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 12:42 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


done waiting




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 12:57 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.



Quote:

You are deluded if you think voters make a candidate "stronger". There is no way to lend our strength to somebody. They either have it or don't.
And yet - that's not what I posted in total. It seems a train of logic more than one step long is far too long for you.

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU.





How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?


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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 1:50 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


Still waiting!?????

Wait a minute....almost forgot.......Hail Trump!


SGG


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:

Quote:

You are deluded if you think voters make a candidate "stronger". There is no way to lend our strength to somebody. They either have it or don't.
And yet - that's not what I posted in total. It seems a train of logic more than one step long is far too long for you.

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU.





How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?



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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 7:21 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


For 1kiki with the Russian obsession. I look forward to Trump/Putin coming to an agreement that something really must be done militarily about the Baltic States abusing Russians and being a safe haven for Nazis.

In exchange for American cooperation, America will be permitted to build hotels in all three Baltic nations, one by one, as each is liberated. As a sign of American/Russian friendship between the nations, Putin will loan Trump the money for a new line of Trump Baltic Hotels.

There will also be Trump Baltic Golf Courses, the very finest links on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea. Trump will pledge that there is no conflict of interest because everyone, even if they don’t speak Russian, can play golf and sleep at his hotels.

The problem, as Russia has seen it for years:
Quote:

18 September 2014

Russian rhetoric against the Baltic states has taken a more strident tone, reminiscent of the language Moscow customarily uses against Kiev. The Moscow line focuses on long-running grievances of Russian minorities in the Baltic states: the absence of any official status for the Russian language in Latvia and the requirement in Estonia for Russians born before independence to pass an Estonian language exam to get citizenship.

In a speech in the Latvian capital, Riga, over the weekend, a senior Russian foreign ministry official, Konstantin Dolgov, described such controversies as "a gross violation of fundamental, universal norms in the realm of human rights".

Dolgov said the treatment of the Russian minority was a symptom of the rise of "neo-Nazism and xenophobia in Europe", and referred to Moscow's longstanding complaints that veterans of SS units in Estonia and Latvia had been permitted to hold annual reunions. "It is necessary to clearly recognize that such actions, carried out by many political forces, can have far-reaching, unfortunate consequences," Dolgov said.

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/18/baltic-states-wary-russia-stride
nt-estonia-latvia-lithuania-nato


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 7:34 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Trump outlines priorities on YouTube

In video, he steers clear of his most inflammatory campaign promises

WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump on Monday released a 2½-minute infomercial-style video, turning to social media to deliver a direct-to-camera message in which he vowed to create jobs, renegotiate trade agreements, end restrictions on energy production and impose bans on lobbying.

Trump offered what he called an update on his transition, which he said is working “very smoothly, efficiently and effectively.”

Reading from a script and looking into the camera, Trump steered clear of his most inflammatory campaign promises to deport immigrants, track Muslims and repeal the Affordable Care Act.

“Whether it’s producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland: America — creating wealth and jobs for American workers,” Trump said in the video.

The brief YouTube video offered one of the few opportunities for the public to hear from Trump directly since he was elected two weeks ago. The president-elect has broken with tradition, refusing to hold a news conference shortly after his victory, and instead has used early-morning Twitter bursts to communicate.



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 8:06 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Donald Trump’s media summit was a ‘f—ing firing squad’

By Emily Smith and Daniel Halper
November 21, 2016 5:12pm
http://nypost.com/2016/11/21/donald-trumps-media-summit-was-a-f-ing-fi
ring-squad
/

Donald Trump scolded media big shots during an off-the-record Trump Tower sitdown on Monday, sources told The Post.

“It was like a f–ing firing squad,” one source said of the encounter.

“Trump started with [CNN chief] Jeff Zucker and said ‘I hate your network, everyone at CNN is a liar and you should be ashamed,’ ” the source said.

“The meeting was a total disaster. The TV execs and anchors went in there thinking they would be discussing the access they would get to the Trump administration, but instead they got a Trump-style dressing down,” the source added.

A second source confirmed the fireworks.

“The meeting took place in a big board room and there were about 30 or 40 people, including the big news anchors from all the networks,” the other source said.

“Trump kept saying, ‘We’re in a room of liars, the deceitful dishonest media who got it all wrong.’ He addressed everyone in the room calling the media dishonest, deceitful liars. He called out Jeff Zucker by name and said everyone at CNN was a liar, and CNN was [a] network of liars,” the source said.

“Trump didn’t say [NBC reporter] Katy Tur by name, but talked about an NBC female correspondent who got it wrong, then he referred to a horrible network correspondent who cried when Hillary lost who hosted a debate – which was Martha Raddatz who was also in the room.”

The stunned reporters tried to get a word in edgewise to discuss access to a Trump Administration.

“[CBS Good Morning co-host Gayle] King did not stand up, but asked some question, ‘How do you propose we the media work with you?’ Chuck Todd asked some pretty pointed questions. David Muir asked ‘How are you going to cope living in DC while your family is in NYC? It was a horrible meeting.”

Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told reporters the gathering went well.

“Excellent meetings with the top executives of the major networks,” she said during a gaggle in the lobby of Trump Tower. “Pretty unprecedented meeting we put together in two days.”

The meeting was off the record, meaning the participants agreed not to talk about the substance of the conversations.

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 10:05 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Donald Trump’s media summit was a ‘f—ing firing squad’

By Emily Smith and Daniel Halper
November 21, 2016 5:12pm
http://nypost.com/2016/11/21/donald-trumps-media-summit-was-a-f-ing-fi
ring-squad
/

That was yesterday. In today's news:

Trump halts New York Times meeting, decries 'dishonest' media

Donald Trump has cancelled a meeting with the New York Times, a day after berating media chiefs at his headquarters for "unfair" coverage.

Without elaborating, the US president-elect accused the newspaper of changing the terms of the meeting.

He tweeted: "They continue to cover me inaccurately and with a nasty tone!"

www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38064854

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 2:49 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


SECOND

I see you've abandoned all pretense of discussion.

For the record, the topic you're unable to reply to is this:

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU.

MEANWHILE SECONDS POSTS ANOTHER STRAWMAN (in the pantheon of DISHONEST ARGUMENTS)

For 1kiki with the Russian obsession. I look forward to Trump/Putin coming to an agreement that something really must be done militarily about the Baltic States abusing Russians and being a safe haven for Nazis.


And also post its own delusions as fact

In exchange for American cooperation, America will be permitted to build hotels in all three Baltic nations, one by one, as each is liberated. As a sign of American/Russian friendship between the nations, Putin will loan Trump the money for a new line of Trump Baltic Hotels.
There will also be Trump Baltic Golf Courses, the very finest links on the eastern edge of the Baltic Sea. Trump will pledge that there is no conflict of interest because everyone, even if they don’t speak Russian, can play golf and sleep at his hotels.


I'll get back to the rest later.




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 22, 2016 10:38 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


The Right Way to Resist Trump
www.bradford-delong.com/2016/11/weekend-reading-luigi-zingales-the-rig
ht-way-to-resist-trump.html#more


Five years ago, I warned about the risk of a Donald J. Trump presidency. Most people laughed...

They thought it inconceivable. I was not particularly prescient; I come from Italy, and I had already seen this movie, starring Silvio Berlusconi, who led the Italian government as prime minister for a total of nine years between 1994 and 2011. I knew how it could unfold.

Now that Mr. Trump has been elected president, the Berlusconi parallel could offer an important lesson in how to avoid transforming a razor-thin victory into a two-decade affair. If you think presidential term limits and Mr. Trump’s age could save the country from that fate, think again. His tenure could easily turn into a Trump dynasty.

Mr. Berlusconi was able to govern Italy for as long as he did mostly thanks to the incompetence of his opposition. It was so rabidly obsessed with his personality that any substantive political debate disappeared; it focused only on personal attacks, the effect of which was to increase Mr. Berlusconi’s popularity. His secret was an ability to set off a Pavlovian reaction among his leftist opponents, which engendered instantaneous sympathy in most moderate voters. Mr. Trump is no different.

We saw this dynamic during the presidential campaign. Hillary Clinton was so focused on explaining how bad Mr. Trump was that she too often didn’t promote her own ideas, to make the positive case for voting for her. The news media was so intent on ridiculing Mr. Trump’s behavior that it ended up providing him with free advertising.

Unfortunately, the dynamic has not ended with the election. Shortly after Mr. Trump gave his acceptance speech, protests sprang up all over America. What are these people protesting against? Whether we like it or not, Mr. Trump won legitimately. Denying that only feeds the perception that there are “legitimate” candidates and “illegitimate” ones, and a small elite decides which is which. If that’s true, elections are just a beauty contest among candidates blessed by the Guardian Council of clerics, just like in Iran.

These protests are also counterproductive. There will be plenty of reasons to complain during the Trump presidency, when really awful decisions are made. Why complain now, when no decision has been made? It delegitimizes the future protests and exposes the bias of the opposition.

Even the petition calling for members of the Electoral College to violate their mandate and not vote for Mr. Trump could play into the president-elect’s hands. This idea is misguided. What ground would we then have to stand on when Mr. Trump tricks the system to obtain what he wants?

The Italian experience provides a blueprint for how to defeat Mr. Trump. Only two men in Italy have won an electoral competition against Mr. Berlusconi: Romano Prodi and the current prime minister, Matteo Renzi (albeit only in a 2014 European election). Both of them treated Mr. Berlusconi as an ordinary opponent. They focused on the issues, not on his character. In different ways, both of them are seen as outsiders, not as members of what in Italy is defined as the political caste.

The Democratic Party should learn this lesson. It should not do as the Republicans did after President Obama was elected. Their preconceived opposition to any of his initiatives poisoned the Washington well, fueling the anti-establishment reaction (even if it was a successful electoral strategy for the party). There are plenty of Trump proposals that Democrats can agree with, like new infrastructure investments. Most Democrats, including politicians like Mrs. Clinton and Bernie Sanders and economists like Lawrence Summers and Paul Krugman, have pushed the idea of infrastructure as a way to increase demand and to expand employment among non-college-educated workers. Some details might be different from a Republican plan, but it will add credibility to the Democratic opposition if it tries to find the points in common, not just differences.

And an opposition focused on personality would crown Mr. Trump as the people’s leader of the fight against the Washington caste. It would also weaken the opposition voice on the issues, where it is important to conduct a battle of principles.

Democrats should also offer Mr. Trump help against the Republican establishment, an offer that would reveal whether his populism is empty language or a real position. For example, with Mr. Trump’s encouragement, the Republican platform called for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, which would separate investment and commercial banking. The Democrats should declare their support of this separation, a policy that many Republicans oppose. The last thing they should want is for Mr. Trump to use the Republican establishment as a fig leaf for his own failure, dumping on it the responsibility for blocking the popular reforms that he promised during the campaign and probably never intended to pass. That will only enlarge his image as a hero of the people shackled by the elites.

Finally, the Democratic Party should also find a credible candidate among young leaders, one outside the party’s Brahmins. The news that Chelsea Clinton is considering running for office is the worst possible. If the Democratic Party is turning into a monarchy, how can it fight the autocratic tendencies in Mr. Trump?

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Friday, November 25, 2016 7:51 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


There's no need to SHOUT!!!


SGG

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Friday, November 25, 2016 7:53 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


One of Africa’s longest-serving leaders says we must respect the electoral system that elected Trump

It’s likely a moment of satisfaction for Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, who was reelected in February in an election that Western observers deemed as falling short of key “democratic benchmarks.” Trump’s antipathy toward the media, disdain for international institutions, and isolationism are a welcome change for African leaders like Museveni, in power for 30 years, who have long been criticized by the US for those same tendencies. Museveni was among several strongmen African leaders who rushed to congratulate Trump after his win.

http://qz.com/845730/anti-western-views-are-getting-a-boost-in-africa-
after-donald-trumps-victory-and-brexit
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Friday, November 25, 2016 2:53 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


America has elected its own Berlusconi. Now it’s about to repeat Italy’s biggest mistake
http://qz.com/841049/election-2016-america-has-elected-its-own-berlusc
oni-in-donald-trump-now-its-about-to-repeat-italys-biggest-mistake
/

Just like Italy in 1994, the US has elected a brash, attention-seeking, entrepreneur-turned-savior of the nation as head of its government. The uncanny similarities between Donald Trump and Silvio Berlusconi have prompted multiple parallelisms during the campaign—and now that the election is over, Italy’s experience continues to offer an important perspective.

Before he was elected, Trump detailed what he hoped to accomplish in his first 100 days in office. Indeed, his “Contract with the American Voter” echoed Berlusconi’s own “Contract with Italians,” which was a spectacular act of showmanship that itself was borrowed from a document written by Republicans in the 104th US Congress. For the Americans who did not agree with Trump’s campaign pre-election and who oppose his political agenda now, it’s vital they avoid the mistakes many Italians made before them.

In short: Americans cannot let America become about Trump.

In George Lakoff’s book on the 2004 US election, Don’t Think of an Elephant!, he explains how letting your opponents dominate the conversation usually ensures their victory. In other words, if liberals spend the next four years reacting to Trump instead of being proactive and focusing on what they want, they will lose in 2020.

So far, liberals–and even conservatives—have done a bad job of avoiding this trap. During the primaries, Trump’s Republican opponents spent so much time ganging up on him that they barely were able to talk about themselves; they even explicitly made a coalition with the sole objective to defeat Trump. On the other side, some of the most viral Democratic ads of the election campaign seemed to be not about Hillary Clinton’s plans or successes, but about Trump’s failures. Even Clinton’s best surrogates like Elizabeth Warren or even president Barack Obama seemed to spend most of their time campaigning against Trump instead of for Clinton. Toward the end, it seemed the election had turned into a Trump referendum—a risky strategy that may ultimately have added to his visibility. (An exception to this was Michelle Obama, whose passionate speeches stood out in part because she almost never mentioned Trump’s name; her consistent praise of Clinton defied of the hegemony Trump had imposed on the election.)

Now that Trump has been elected president, however, this trend needs to end. And as Luigi Zingales notes in his essay about ways to resist Trump, Italy provides a textbook example of what happens when you let one personality occupy all the space that the public debate has to offer.

For at least twenty years, Berlusconi dominated Italy’s national identity, both politically and culturally. Of course, this was made easier by his media empire and influence. But the omnipresent attacks, especially when personal, did not help his opponents in the way they thought. Instead, the running criticism gave him 24/7 visibility (as Trump himself knows, and has said, any publicity is good publicity), and even more importantly, the guise of victimhood. Even as he merrily ripped apart the fabric of Italian society, he was somehow able to push the message that he was the one being bullied. It’s a narrative that was appropriated by the Trump campaign repeatedly throughout the election.

It’s unclear whether the opposition in Italy became so obsessed with Berlusconi that it forgot its own ideas, or if it made defeating Berlusconi its sole goal because it had already run out of them. Either way, the end result was that Berlusconi maintained a monopoly over the public’s attention, to the point where his re-election felt like an inevitability. Italians—led by their representatives, and the media—became incapable of imagining a political scene where he wasn’t the main character—hero or villain.

Perhaps the best example of this happened in the 2013 election: Berlusconi, who had been forced, by European Union pressure and protests, to resign as prime minister in 2011 after running the country into the ground, had nowhere near the same amount of support that he had in previous years. It seemed that Italians were finally ready to be done with him. And yet, once the electoral campaign started, the election’s narrative became all about him—and so, his political ghost was summoned, attacked, and fed (by the media and the public, as well as by politicians). He was dragged, once again, to the center of the stage, and once again, he was successful: the coalition he led ended up getting essentially as many votes as his opponents. Today, while Berlusconi himself is not in parliament (due to his criminal record), his political heirs are members of Italy’s coalition government.

True, Trump cannot hold office for twenty years. But his policies can.

From the beginning, Trump has always been an unlikely and erratic presidential candidate. But he was also elected by the many millions of Americans who agree with at least some of his ideas. This means his opponents cannot merely spend the next fours years scheming how to get rid of him, or shaming his behavior—they have to change the minds of the voters who elected him. They are unlikely to accomplish this by attacking him, and they may end up alienating their own supporters.

Divisive candidates, and candidates who are able to exploit the spotlight, take up a lot of space. The way to push back against this kind of personality is by taking that spotlight back. So long as the message remains anti-Trump, the message remains about Trump: Don’t let him become the only story that America has to tell.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 7:43 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Trump’s plan to bring back coal is doomed.

http://qz.com/846176/this-one-chart-explains-why-donald-trumps-plan-to
-bring-back-coal-is-doomed
/
Trump spent a lot of time this fall trying to convince voters in coal-producing states like Wyoming, West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Illinois that he would bring jobs back to their communities. How he will do this, however, is unclear. It used to cost less to generate one unit of electricity from coal than from natural gas. That is no longer the case. According to The Economist (paywall), 94 coal-fired power plants closed in 2015 and 41 closed in 2016. When future regulation costs are factored in, energy companies are unlikely to invest in new coal plants.



The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 3:31 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


SECOND

I see you've abandoned all pretense of discussion.

For the record, the topic you're unable to reply to is this:

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 4:25 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


SECOND is throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks.



-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 6:44 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Well, SECOND throws a lot of shit around in general. At a wall is as good a place as any.




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 10:35 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Trump: "I Won the Popular Vote. I Did, I Did, I Did...."

by Kevin Drum

A few days ago I mentioned that the Trump campaign was dedicated to sending Hillary Clinton's popular vote win down the memory hole. To accomplish this, they began a gaslighting offensive to persuade the nation that Donald Trump was one of the biggest winners ever in presidential history. Kellyanne Conway kicked things off by telling Fox News, "This election was not close. It was not a squeaker." Two days later, Trump himself defended his loss of the popular vote: "If the election were based on total popular vote I would have campaigned in N.Y. Florida and California and won even bigger and more easily."

Then Corey Lewandowski upped the ante, claiming that Trump "won the election campaign by the largest majority since Ronald Reagan in 1984." I guess this was a little too raw even for Trumpland, so Reince Priebus beavered away and finally found something to justify Lewandowski's toadying: "Donald J. Trump won over 2,600 counties nationwide, the most since President Reagan in 1984." But that still wasn't enough. The whole popular vote thing is apparently a serious burr in Trump's saddle, and he wasn't happy with all this shilly-shallying. So today he decided to go for broke and insist that he just won, period:

In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2016
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/802972944532209664

So there you have it. It's just twisting Trump's guts that more people voted for Hillary Clinton than voted for him. And this whole recount thing in Wisconsin seems to have driven him bananas. The result is a tweet alleging that the Clinton campaign orchestrated millions of illegal votes in 2016. This message went out to all 16 million of his followers, who will surely pass it along to another 16 million or so—and then the media will pass it along to yet millions more.

This is an obvious lie, and it will probably take a few hours for Trump's TV shills to figure out how to defend it. I can't wait to see how many will join in and exactly what dreck they'll dredge up to justify it.

Alternatively, they could just admit that the Republican president-elect is an epically insecure liar who will say anything when his fragile ego is bruised. That's not a very appealing alternative, is it?

www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/11/trump-i-won-popular-vote-i-did-
i-did-i-did


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 10:40 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


What people want are good jobs. Eastern Kentucky used to be coal country, and Mr. Trump, unlike Mrs. Clinton, promised to bring the coal jobs back. But it’s a nonsensical promise.

Where did Appalachia’s coal mining jobs go? They weren’t lost to unfair competition from China or Mexico. What happened instead was, first, a decades-long erosion as U.S. coal production shifted from underground mining to strip mining and mountaintop removal, which require many fewer workers: Coal employment peaked in 1979, fell rapidly during the Reagan years, and was down more than half by 2007. A further plunge came in recent years thanks to fracking. None of this is reversible.

Is the case of former coal country exceptional? Not really. Unlike the decline in coal, some of the long-term decline in manufacturing employment can be attributed to rising trade deficits, but even there it’s a fairly small fraction of the story. Nobody can credibly promise to bring the old jobs back; what you can promise — and Mrs. Clinton did — are things like guaranteed health care and higher minimum wages. But working-class whites overwhelmingly voted for politicians who promise to destroy those gains.

So what happened here? Part of the answer may be that Mr. Trump had no problems with telling lies about what he could accomplish. If so, there may be a backlash when the coal and manufacturing jobs don’t come back, while health insurance disappears.

But maybe not. Maybe a Trump administration can keep its supporters on board, not by improving their lives, but by feeding their sense of resentment.

For let’s be serious here: You can’t explain the votes of places like Clay County Kentucky (87 percent for Trump) as a response to disagreements about trade policy. The only way to make sense of what happened is to see the vote as an expression of, well, identity politics — some combination of white resentment at what voters see as favoritism toward nonwhites (even though it isn’t) and anger on the part of the less educated at liberal elites whom they imagine look down on them.

No reason why imagined liberal disdain inspires so much more anger than the very real disdain of conservatives who see the poverty of places like eastern Kentucky as a sign of the personal and moral inadequacy of their residents.

www.nytimes.com/2016/11/25/opinion/the-populism-perplex.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Sunday, November 27, 2016 11:58 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


SECOND

I see you've abandoned all pretense of discussion.

For the record, the topic you're unable to reply to is this:

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Monday, November 28, 2016 12:52 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.



SECOND posts post after post after post about ... Trump. Even this one.
Quote:

For the Americans who did not agree with Trump’s campaign pre-election and who oppose his political agenda now, it’s vital they avoid the mistakes many Italians made before them.

In short: Americans cannot let America become about Trump.

In George Lakoff’s book on the 2004 US election, Don’t Think of an Elephant!, he explains how letting your opponents dominate the conversation usually ensures their victory. In other words, if liberals spend the next four years reacting to Trump instead of being proactive and focusing on what they want, they will lose in 2020.

So far, liberals–and even conservatives—have done a bad job of avoiding this trap.

Now that Trump has been elected president, however, this trend needs to end. And as Luigi Zingales notes in his essay about ways to resist Trump, Italy provides a textbook example of what happens when you let one personality occupy all the space that the public debate has to offer.

Advice I've given SECOND more than once. During the campaign I said many time that it needed to ignore Trump and focus on making Hillary stronger. And since the election I've been saying it's time to move on, and focus on a person or group in the best position to move the progressive agenda forward.

But like the idiot it is, SECOND can't comprehend anything beyond its own obsession.

It even posted this, which is a perfect rebuke to SECOND's obsessive tribute to Trump - and with zero understanding of what these words mean.




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Monday, November 28, 2016 5:06 AM

SHINYGOODGUY


Dude, Hillary LOST! She conceded, Trump is now your president. You are beating a dead horse. Move on! Truthfully, the problem was neither Hillary or Trump. So drop it already...the discussion is:

Trump - Just Because......Naw, I just can't say it!

Jack, you have the floor!




SGG, your friendly neighborhood pain in the ass


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:
SECOND

I see you've abandoned all pretense of discussion.

For the record, the topic you're unable to reply to is this:

I said more than once that Hillary wasn't going to change her position unless and until she lost support - from people like YOU. I REPEATEDLY tried to get you to understand that the problem wasn't Donald (and that you needed to get over your stupid obsession with him). The problem was that Hillary wasn't going to change direction unless she lost support and got a different mandate from people like YOU




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?


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Monday, November 28, 2016 6:50 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:

Advice I've given SECOND more than once. During the campaign I said many time that it needed to ignore Trump and focus on making Hillary stronger. And since the election I've been saying it's time to move on, and focus on a person or group in the best position to move the progressive agenda forward.

But like the idiot it is, SECOND can't comprehend anything beyond its own obsession.

It even posted this, which is a perfect rebuke to SECOND's obsessive tribute to Trump - and with zero understanding of what these words mean.

I wake up this morning to find that 1kiki wants me to defend, for the millionth time, Hillary. Why do that when Trump's plans make such fat targets? His policies are ridiculous. Even bigger, fatter targets for ridicule would be Americans who imagine Trump would be better than . . . oh, never mind. Let's not compare Trump to Hillary or Bernie. That is 1kiki's game, not mine. From where I stand, from talking to actual people who voted for Trump, Americans appear to be suffering from mental disorders of various degrees. There is a fundamental wrongness about how they think of the conman called Trump. But there is wrongness with how they live in the years between elections, too. (I know them. They aren't figments like Signym or 1kiki) Where did that wrongness come from? I just grabbed a book off my Father's shelf that he recommended to explain Americans' mental illness of varying degrees.

From the Afterword The Culture of Narcissism Revisited (1990):

New Age spirituality may take strange shapes, but it is a prominent feature of our cultural landscape, like fundamentalism itself, which has grown steadily in recent years. The flowering of such movements has confounded earlier assumptions about the increasing secularization of modern life. Science has not displaced religion, as so many people once expected, both seem to flourish side by side, often in grotesquely exaggerated form.

More than anything else, it is this coexistence of hyper-rationality and a widespread revolt against rationality that justifies the characterization of our twentieth-century way of life as a culture of narcissism. These contradictory sensibilities have a common source. Both take root in the feelings of homelessness and displacement that afflict so many men and women today, in their heightened vulnerability to pain and deprivation, and in the contradiction between the promise that they can “have it all” and the reality of their limitations.

The best defenses against the terrors of existence are the homely comforts of love, work, and family life, which connect us to a world that is independent of our wishes yet responsive to our needs. It is through love and work, as Freud noted in a characteristically pungent remark, that we exchange crippling emotional conflict for ordinary unhappiness. Love and work enable each of us to explore a small corner of the world and to come to accept it on its own terms. But our society tends either to devalue small comforts or else to expect too much of them. Our standards of “creative, meaningful work” are too exalted to survive disappointment. Our ideal of “true romance” puts an impossible burden on personal relationships. We demand too much of life, too little of ourselves.

Our growing dependence on technologies no one seems to understand or control has given rise to feelings of powerlessness and victimization. We find it more and more difficult to achieve a sense of continuity, permanence, or connection with the world around us. Relationships with others are notably fragile; goods are made to be used up and discarded; reality is experienced as an unstable environment of flickering images. Everything conspires to encourage escapist solutions to the psychological problems of dependence, separation, and individuation, and to discourage the moral realism that makes it possible for human beings to come to terms with existential constraints on their power and freedom.

http://bit.ly/2gBpNg2

Christopher Lasch wrote more than just this, but it is a taste of his thinking about Americans' neediness for Father-figures, such as Trump, who will solve all their problems and give them a direction in life. But Trump won't. What is wrong with Americans can't be fixed by any President.


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, November 28, 2016 7:45 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SECOND is throwing shit at a wall to see what sticks.

That would be your Trump, the guy you voted for:

Trump Lies Yet Again, Claims Millions of Illegal Votes



With the notable exception of the Wall Street Journal, most outlets said right in their headlines that Donald Trump's allegation of illegal voting was false.

www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/11/trump-lies-yet-again-claims-mil
lions-illegal-votes


www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2016/1128/How-media-handled-Trump-s-bas
eless-claim-that-millions-voted-illegally

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Monday, November 28, 2016 8:12 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by SHINYGOODGUY:

Trump is now your president.

Trump is going to struggle to keep his promise on factory jobs

American workers may be struggling, but American factories are not.

The relationship between factories and workers has changed over the past decades, and it’s unlikely to go back. Over the past 35 years, the United States shed about 7 million manufacturing jobs. And some industries, such as textiles and apparel, have disappeared almost entirely.

Yet American factories actually make more stuff than they ever have, and at a lower cost. Manufacturing accounts for more than a third of U.S. economic output — making it the largest sector of the economy. From that perspective, it’s hard to argue that American manufacturing today is anything but a success.

The issue is that the fortunes of factories themselves and of manufacturing workers have diverged, as Muro’s chart below shows. U.S. factories now manufacture twice as much as they did in 1984, with one-third fewer workers, according to the Federal Reserve.

It won't be easy to bring back millions of jobs.

The reason, of course, is that productivity has risen so sharply. Technology, and automation specifically, allows manufacturers to make more than ever before, at a much lower cost.

The economics are unavoidable and irreversible. Although a human welder may earn $25 an hour, a robot welder costs around $8 an hour over a five-year period, according to estimates from the Boston Consulting Group. The group projects that the cost could fall to as little as $2 an hour within 15 years.

“More generally, the 'job intensity' of America’s manufacturing industries — and especially its best-paying advanced ones — is only going to decline,” Muro writes. “In 1980 it took 25 jobs to generate $1 million in manufacturing output in the U.S. Today it takes five jobs.”

Given this reality, bringing back manufacturing to American shores may not be a true solution to restoring good blue-collar jobs.

Economist Gordon Hanson, who has studied the impact of Chinese imports on the U.S. economy, has suggested that imposing a 45 percent tariff on Chinese imports, as Trump has suggested he may do, may actually benefit factory owners and their investors more than workers. A tariff would encourage American consumers to buy more American-made goods. That would substantially increase business for owners and investors with factories in the United States, but it may not translate into that many jobs, since factories could invest in automation to produce more at home, rather than workers.


www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/11/28/theres-a-big-reason-tru
mp-might-not-be-able-to-keep-his-promise-on-jobs
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, November 28, 2016 6:44 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Here SECOND - not surprisingly - strawmans my argument yet again - even though I referred to an article IT POSTED. The article said to STOP FOCUSING ON TRUMP, or you risk having him dominate all discussion, and keep you from pursuing your own agenda. NOWHERE did it mention Hillary, and neither did I. But - never one to miss an opportunity to ride its own obsessed crazy-train, or indeed to be the douchebag it always has been - this is what SECOND posted:

I wake up this morning to find that 1kiki wants me to defend, for the millionth time, Hillary.

SECOND, are you so crazy-obsessed you don't realize the election is OVER? DONE. FIN. FINITO. KAPUT. GOTOWY?

The time to harp about Trump is OVER. The time to defend Hillary (not that you ever did) is OVER.

Move on - if you can. But, since I know you choose not to, I'll get out the popcorn and watch you immolate yourself with your stupidity. And give you a poke now and again if you seem to be cooling down.






How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Monday, November 28, 2016 8:02 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:

Move on - if you can. But, since I know you choose not to, I'll get out the popcorn and watch you immolate yourself with your stupidity. And give you a poke now and again if you seem to be cooling down.

American Coal Is Dying, and There's Nothing Trump Can Do About It

In Michigan, a new coal plant costs $133 per megawatt hour.
A natural gas plant costs half that.
Even wind contracts now cost about $74.52 per megawatt hour, after federal tax credits.

"I don't know anybody in the country who would build another coal plant," DTE Energy’s Gerry Anderson said.

The CEO of Michigan’s largest electric utility reiterated that his company is retiring eight of its nine remaining coal plants by 2030 — whether or not Trump tries to repeal President Obama’s climate policies. "All of those retirements are going to happen regardless of what Trump may or may not do with the Clean Power Plan," DTE Energy’s Gerry Anderson told MLive.com’s Emily Lawler.

www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2016/11/28/13763728/trump-coal-indu
stry-michigan


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Monday, November 28, 2016 8:26 PM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Now that you're done pretending US jobs in flyover country aren't an issue - what do you intend to do about the failed US manufacturing sector?

Bitch and complain? Carp and criticize? Whine and pout?

Yeah, we got that.

Keep on. I can hardly wait to see the results.




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 12:25 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:
Now that you're done pretending US jobs in flyover country aren't an issue - what do you intend to do about the failed US manufacturing sector?

Bitch and complain? Carp and criticize? Whine and pout?

Yeah, we got that.

Keep on. I can hardly wait to see the results.

I wonder if Trump knows how to create jobs? As far as coal mining jobs, Trump is completely without a clue. These days, everybody from Left to Right – from the economist Dean Baker to the social scientist Arthur C Brooks, from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump – addresses this breakdown of the labour market by advocating ‘full employment’, as if having a job is self-evidently a good thing, no matter how dangerous, demanding or demeaning it is. But ‘full employment’ is not the way to restore our faith in hard work, or in playing by the rules, or in whatever else sounds good. The official unemployment rate in the United States is already below 6 per cent, which is pretty close to what economists used to call ‘full employment’, but income inequality hasn’t changed a bit. Shitty jobs for everyone won’t solve any social problems we now face.

Don’t take my word for it, look at the numbers. Already a fourth of the adults actually employed in the US are paid wages lower than would lift them above the official poverty line – and so a fifth of American children live in poverty. Almost half of employed adults in this country are eligible for food stamps (most of those who are eligible don’t apply). The market in labour has broken down, along with most others.

Those jobs that disappeared in the Great Recession just aren’t coming back, regardless of what the unemployment rate tells you – the net gain in jobs since 2000 still stands at zero – and if they do return from the dead, they’ll be zombies, those contingent, part-time or minimum-wage jobs where the bosses shuffle your shift from week to week: welcome to Wal-Mart, where food stamps are a benefit.

And don’t tell me that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour solves the problem. No one can doubt the moral significance of the movement. But at this rate of pay, you pass the official poverty line only after working 29 hours a week. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. Working a 40-hour week, you would have to make $10 an hour to reach the official poverty line. What, exactly, is the point of earning a paycheck that isn’t a living wage, except to prove that you have a work ethic?

But, wait, isn’t our present dilemma just a passing phase of the business cycle? What about the job market of the future? Haven’t the doomsayers, those damn Malthusians, always been proved wrong by rising productivity, new fields of enterprise, new economic opportunities? Well, yeah – until now, these times. The measurable trends of the past half-century, and the plausible projections for the next half-century, are just too empirically grounded to dismiss as dismal science or ideological hokum. They look like the data on climate change – you can deny them if you like, but you’ll sound like a moron when you do.

For example, the Oxford economists who study employment trends tell us that almost half of existing jobs, including those involving ‘non-routine cognitive tasks’ – you know, like thinking – are at risk of death by computerisation within 20 years. They’re elaborating on conclusions reached by two MIT economists in the book Race Against the Machine (2011). Meanwhile, the Silicon Valley types who give TED talks have started speaking of ‘surplus humans’ as a result of the same process – cybernated production. Rise of the Robots, a new book that cites these very sources, is social science, not science fiction.

So this Great Recession of ours – don’t kid yourself, it ain’t over – is a moral crisis as well as an economic catastrophe. You might even say it’s a spiritual impasse, because it makes us ask what social scaffolding other than work will permit the construction of character – or whether character itself is something we must aspire to. But that is why it’s also an intellectual opportunity: it forces us to imagine a world in which the job no longer builds our character, determines our incomes or dominates our daily lives.

https://aeon.co/essays/what-if-jobs-are-not-the-solution-but-the-probl
em


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 1:13 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


Do YOU know how to create jobs? Can you think of any politician who's focused RIGHT NOW on creating jobs? Would you get behind them to help realize that agenda?


OR

Are you going to idiotically focus on Trump?


I wonder if Trump knows how to create jobs?

Yes, I see when it comes to doing something, you fall into the category of "whine and pout". And how'd that work out in Hillary's campaign?




How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 2:45 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Five years ago, I warned about the risk of a Donald J. Trump presidency. Most people laughed...



Forgive me for calling a spade a spade Second, but I have to call bullshit on this one.

I was the one who said years ago that not only would we NOT have a female president any time soon, but it will very likely be a White Old Man who is our next president (it's in the history on this site).

Not a single person on this site thought Trump was going to win besides me. Everyone argued against it because everyone was watching the polls and the MSM.



"At least I will go down as a REAL President" ~President Barack Obama before he did a Ryan Seacrest mic-drop on late night

Not in my lifetime have I seen so many HIGHLY PAID "people" eat so much crow.....




I just have to reject you coming here and saying you predected this would happen Second.

You're full of shit.


Whether they wanted to see Trump win or lose, I am the only person I personally knew or talked to online that thought Trump was going to win.



Say what you need to say. Do what you need to do, otherwise. But do not use the narrative AFTER THE FACT that you knew this was going to happen.


:)









Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 5:09 AM

1KIKI

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.


SECOND


How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 5:38 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Strangely 1kiki, I think you're replying to the wrong thread here....



I cannot bake bread. I cannot "darn" a sock. I don't even know what "darning" is.

I am, however, willing to put up with a LOT of bullshit in leu of working a bullshit job where I'm disrespected by the Upper Eschelon.

Currently, for instance, my thermostat is set at 52 degrees in my house. Granted, we've had a pretty warm winter so far, but yesterday it was actually warmer outside of my home than inside of it.

Working for Trade is not at all disagreeable to me. In fact, I rather enjoy doing that. Besides my tax returns, all of the "money" I have made in the last year and a half wasn't money at all, but trade for work done.

I'm actually going to withdraw 1 dollar from what's left of my almost depleted retirement fund so I can claim it on my state taxes and get my $300 tax credit for living in Lake County and paying income taxes when I made less than 18,600 in a year as a single man.

Sure, I'll have to pay 10 cents early withdrawl on that dollar in Federal taxes, but that tax rebate will be the only money I've made in 2016.

Seriously.... When I work, I don't work for money. At least I didn't this year. Not once. I have money in the bank and barely spend it. When I work, I work for trade or Obs. You can get a LOT more "money" for your work in trade or future Obligations....

The "Risk" of working on "Obligations" is that sometimes people will never pay you back and dodge you.



That's OK though. If you're truly committed to a life off the grid, you have to expect at least a certain percentage of people will fuck you. Some were going to do it from the start, and others did it because they were over extended and chose to pay other Obs before yours.

This is why you don't plant SERIOUS Obs on a new person that hasn't proven themselves to you or your community.

Whenever I worked a "Job", I was the first person to lend somebody a dollar if they needed one for a soda or a snack. If they paid me back the next time I saw them, or at least mentioned that they would the next time and made good on that, great! If not, I never hunted them down. I was just the first person to have the privilge to tell them to go fuck themselves when they went around asking for another dollar next time.

Back in the day when I knew I was hanging out with some pretty shady people, I would leave 5 dollar bills bent up in my center console. When I went to fill the tank sometimes those bills would "dissappear". Other times they wouldn't.

They were plain as the eye could see. It wasn't a measure of intelligence. It was a matter of loyalty. "Is stealing that 5 dollars worth potentially losing this friendship?"



If you want to GROW a REAL business the likes that will have to pay Government Taxes, you have to be a bit more trustworthy and have insurance to back you up when somebody fucks you over.


I don't want that.

I just want to help people, in hopes that they'll return the favor.

"Planting an Ob" isn't a bad thing. It just means that whoever carries Obs needs to repay them. Maybe your particular skills can't repay the Ob I planted on you, but you have the skills to repay an Ob that I owe somebody else?



You're somewhat late to the "Party" 1kiki, and I don't know if you've ever read this story before...

http://www.abelard.org/e-f-russell.php

It's the best of a 3 part series by Eric Frank Russel. My brother actually bought me a copy of the full trilogy for my birthday a few years back. I was the one to show it to him after he introduced me to Firefly. If you read the 3 stories, I think you'll agree that Joss liberated quite a few ideas from it for the Firefly universe.

It was a great story on many levels, and all 3 stories, but "And Then There Were None" was the best of all of them by far.


It was an allegory of what we see today. A Globalist Government full of Bureaucratic ASSHOLES who have spread themselves WAY too thin given the population...

One by One the soldiers on this Federation ship out in the middle of nowhere were tempted by the Simple Life of this far off planet and didn't bother checking back in with the Base.

There were no Mytical Siren creatures tempting them. Just the idea that you could live free and peaceful and do what you wanted to do and just get along with everyone else. For most of us, if that were possible, we'd gladly chose that option.




"F.I.W."

A placard that was hung over almost every doorway on this strange world...

Some say that it was the most Powerful Weapon known to man.

What does it mean?

I'd tell you to read the story, but you could probably just Google it if you want to be a dick about it.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 5:41 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I'm actually 100% sure that Wash's Joke about Juggling Geese on one planet was an Homage to Eric Frank Russell. ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 7:07 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:
Do YOU know how to create jobs? Can you think of any politician who's focused RIGHT NOW on creating jobs? Would you get behind them to help realize that agenda?

What would you do without your job as the external discipline that organises your waking life – as the social imperative that gets you up and on your way to the factory, the office, the store, the warehouse, the restaurant, wherever you work and, no matter how much you hate it, keeps you coming back? What would you do if you didn’t have to work to receive an income?

I’m not proposing a fancy thought experiment here. By now these are practical questions because there aren’t enough jobs. So it’s time we asked even more practical questions. How do you make a living without a job – can you receive income without working for it? Is it possible, to begin with and then, the hard part, is it ethical? If you were raised to believe that work is the index of your value to society – as most of us were – would it feel like cheating to get something for nothing?

We already have some provisional answers because we’re all on the dole, more or less. The fastest growing component of household income since 1959 has been ‘transfer payments’ from government. By the turn of the 21st century, 20 per cent of all household income came from this source – from what is otherwise known as welfare or ‘entitlements’. Without this income supplement, half of the adults with full-time jobs would live below the poverty line, and most working Americans would be eligible for food stamps.

But are these transfer payments and ‘entitlements’ affordable, in either economic or moral terms? By continuing and enlarging them, do we subsidise sloth, or do we enrich a debate on the rudiments of the good life?

Transfer payments or ‘entitlements’, not to mention Wall Street bonuses (talk about getting something for nothing) have taught us how to detach the receipt of income from the production of goods, but now, in plain view of the end of work, the lesson needs rethinking. No matter how you calculate the federal budget, we can afford to be our brother’s keeper. The real question is not whether but how we choose to be.

I know what you’re thinking – we can’t afford this! But yeah, we can, very easily. We raise the arbitrary lid on the Social Security contribution, which now stands at $127,200, and we raise taxes on corporate income, reversing the Reagan Revolution. These two steps solve a fake fiscal problem and create an economic surplus . . .

https://aeon.co/essays/what-if-jobs-are-not-the-solution-but-the-probl
em


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 7:55 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 1kiki:
SECOND



How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

President-elect Donald Trump's unfounded allegation that millions of non-citizens cast illegal ballots on Nov. 8 appears to stem in part from the work of a Houston-area tea party group with ties to a former Texas health official with a history of troubled government contracts.

The group, True the Vote, an offshoot of the King Street Patriots, issued a statement Monday saying it "absolutely supports President-elect Trump's recent comment about the impact of illegal voting, as reflected in the national popular vote."

The leader of the group, which claims to be the nation's leading voting integrity organization, added that it specifically was endorsing Trump's claim that "millions" of illegal votes were cast in the 2016 elections.

Catherine Engelbrecht, the group's president, cited no direct reports of actual voting irregularities. Instead, she pointed to what she sees as inadequate voter ID protocols, the absence of an interstate process for confirming voters' identities and citizenship, and other voter-perceived registration deficiencies.

"All this and more contributes to the very serious problems we're now facing," Engelbrecht said in an email.

Engelbrecht questioned whether Trump was influenced solely by True the Vote's work and that of its board member Gregg Phillips, who tweeted on Nov. 13 that "we have verified more than three million votes cast by non-citizens."

She noted other groups have raised questions, too. "I think it's important to note that we're not the only ones making the observations," she said.

'No evidence produced'

White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Trump's complaint. "What I can say, as an objective fact, is that there has been no evidence produced to substantiate a claim like that," he told reporters at a White House briefing Monday.

Phillips' tweet, which went viral on the internet, also said he was joining with True the Vote "to initiate legal action."

He did not specify what sort of legal action was planned, and he so far has refused journalists' requests on Twitter to provide proof for his claim. He did not respond to several Houston Chronicle requests for comment Monday through True the Vote, Twitter and the consulting company he founded in Austin, Autogov.com.

Said Engelbrecht: "We believe millions of illegal votes were cast in this election. We are talking with attorneys, but have not yet initiated any action." Asked about the kind of legal action that may be contemplated, she said it would be "on behalf of voters, against the bureaucracies that are aiding and abetting in the degradation of our rolls."

Trump, who has been fending off recount efforts from supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and others, has fired off a series of tweets in recent days explaining his more than 2 million popular vote deficit to Clinton.

"In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide," Trump tweeted Sunday, "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

Trump advisers were not able to provide evidence for that claim in a conference call with reporters on Monday. Instead, they cited studies of alleged voter or registration fraud in previous elections. Some of the studies cited by the Trump team have been questioned by election experts.

Trump spokesman Jason Miller also declined to say what action Trump would take as president to investigate his allegations of illegal voting, saying it would be "inappropriate" to speculate before the inauguration.

Plans to publish study

True the Vote, which long has advocated for stricter voter registration and identification laws, said it would continue to collect voter data and plans to publish a "comprehensive study" on how states and the incoming Trump administration can "address this growing problem."

The group claims to have more than 180 million voter registration records, which it currently is updating.

The group said it also is using a software app called VoteStand for people across the country to report on problems they experienced at the polls. According to Engelbrecht, more than 1,000 people have responded so far. While the group said its study still is underway, Phillips repeated his claim Sunday about millions of illegal votes.

" @realDonaldTrump is accurate. Millions of illegal votes were cast," he tweeted. In a reference to the Obama Justice Department, he continued, "We began work on this project in 2009. Obamas (sic) DOJ covered it up."

Houston businesswoman Deborah Kelting, one of the founders of True the Vote, said her group's database has documented "thousands and thousands" of instances of inaccurate or outdated voter registration rolls in past elections. It is less clear how many instances of actual voter fraud the group has uncovered.

Asked about the basis for Phillips' claim of millions of non-citizens voting in the 2016 election, she said, "I don't know." Given what she sees as lax voting laws in some states, she suggested that the evidence could turn up.

"When you've got California alone," she said, "it's crazy."

Phillips' claim of millions of illegal votes, along with True the Vote's support for Trump's statement, has gained widespread traction on right-wing websites, including Infowars, the Drudge Report, and Breitbart, a conservative website led by top Trump adviser Stephen Bannon, who recently called it "the platform for the alt-right."

Phillips, a former top deputy with the state Health and Human Services Commission, has a history of controversy. In past decades he has been investigated in Texas and Mississippi for alleged cronyism in contract awards, though he never was charged or sanctioned.

He once told the Dallas Morning News that the accusations were unfounded and attributed them to his outspoken nature.

Results hadn't been certified

He also played a key role in Texas' efforts to privatize eligibility screening for Medicaid and food stamp programs as part of a Legislature-mandated consolidation of several state agencies under a revamped Health and Human Services Commission. Touted as a way to save the state $1 billion, Texas officials canceled a controversial contract after the state auditor questioned whether any money was saved.

Phillips' claims of widespread voter fraud have been sharply debunked by a number of fact-checkers noting that he made the initial claim only five days after the election, long before any states had certified their results.

The controversy is likely to linger as Jill Stein's Green Party, now joined by the Clinton campaign, seeks a review of voting in Wisconsin and possibly other key battleground states.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Houston-gr
oup-at-center-of-Trump-voter-fraud-10641221.php


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 8:10 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Forgive me for barging in on your conversation here Second, but I felt that I should since I can guarantee that I'm the only person you somewhat-know that was not born rich and is not currently rich, so I have a unique persepctive on your questions here....


What would most of us do without a JOB to wake up for?

I hope most of them would make more of it than I have. I'm just going over the HUMP of 1 and 1/2 years without a job, and I have done absolutely nothing productive. I have probably drank my body weight over 150 times in beer in the last 700 or so days.

To my defense though... "A Job" is not a thing to wake up for, in and of itself. You need to have something you actually care about to "Work For", otherwise who cares? I wouldn't be doing what I was doing right now if I had a wife and kids. But at the same time that I am single with no responsibilites, I am dealing with tooth issues that are so severe that it's only a matter of time before "what lies beneath" actually start popping the teeth out of my face.

That's the thing though. A free man who has nobody to live for looks for chains.




I haven't been on the "Dole" for well over a year now. I was cut off of food stamps because the only way you can get them is if you work at least 20 hours per week, or do at least 20 hours of volunteer work per week.

I was actually "making" nearly 200 dollars more tax free for my groceries every month by having a part time job that they won't give me now that I've just dropped out of the workforce.


Is it "ethical" to make your way without a traditional job? That depends on what you do and how you do it. I feel that every dollar I make I earned. At the same time, I was enraged a few years back when one of my grandma's were charged $220 to replace a bad thermocouple on her water heater, and the other grandma paid over $400 for a new faucet in her kitchen.

Call me whatever you want, but I would never take advantage of an elderly widow who didn't know any better....




I got where I am because I am super intelligent, and I saved most of my income and invested it wisely. There was over a year where I put nearly $1,500 a month in the bank, not to mention the money I was putting in my HSA and 401k. The 401k had an IMMEDIATE 100% company match, and for 4 years I invested in the most aggressive fund I could and was seeing yearly returns on that investment from 17% to 24%.

As good as I was saving money, I'll be the first to admit that I wouldn't have been able to afford this house if I didn't have a 401k back in the day. At least $20,000 of the money I put toward this house was just "Interest" payments from putting balls to the wall and then pulling out at the right time.





All that said, we can afford this, but not the reason that you think. Attacking Reaganomics isn't the way...

In 2014, Executives from Big Banks (all of which recieved TARP funds in 2008) were paid Bonuses of over 28 BILLION dollars. That's not their regular pay. That's the BONUSES they made in 2015.

In 2014, EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN working a minimum wage job was paid 14 MILLION dollars.



I can't find the particular engrossing video I saw before, but here is a link: http://www.ips-dc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Wall-Street-bonuses-v
-minimum-wage-2016-FINAL.pdf




I'm still a Capitalist, but this is Predatory Capitalism. I worked my ass off for 3 years at KMART, like a Boss, and I was always only paid minimum wage without a nickle raise. The New Bitch who fired me did me a favor that I wouldn't do for myself.

The only real bad effect for me so far is I'm not burning 10,000 calories a week at work and I'm quite fat now compared to my nice trim 170lbs back then.




I'm the last fucking person who wants EVERYTHING TO BE FREE when I've done a lot of things right and missed out on a lot of fun, but at the same time, the Bailout of the late 2000s alone could have paid for every single debt of every American.

In the mean time, our "Great" president Obama has managed to Double an insane National Debt. Meanwhile, unemployment rates are as bad as the 70s. More than 50% of Americans make less than the federal poverty wage. Twice as many blacks are on food stamps than a decade ago. 3 out of 7 Americans are on food stamps. Our roads and bridges are collapsing. American Children come in over 20th in Math overall in scores and quite a few of them not even considered "First World" countries.....



What I want YOU to admit is that Obama was just as guilty of this as GWB was.



I IMPLORE you to look up what I was posting before 2008 when I was very active here and I wasn't an old drunk.

I was one of the BIGGEST ANTI-BUSH guy here, especially since I wasn't a liberal even back then.



In my mind, the ONLY THING that separates GWB and Obama was the color of their skin.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 8:18 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Elector to quit rather than vote for Trump

By Bobby Cervantes

AUSTIN — A Republican member of the Electoral College from Texas said he will resign his position in the 227-year-old institution over his inability to square his faith with casting a vote for President-elect Donald Trump at the Dec. 19 meeting.

Art Sisneros of Dayton, who explained his decision in a Saturday blog entry, acknowledged that Trump will be president in January, but said casting his electoral vote for the New York businessman “would bring dishonor to God.” Resigning would allow the Republican Party of Texas to fill the vacancy with someone who will vote for the president-elect, added Sisneros, who was elected at the state party convention in May.

“I do not see how Donald Trump is biblically qualified to serve in the office of the Presidency,” he wrote. “Of the hundreds of angry messages that I have received, not one has made a convincing case from scripture otherwise. If Trump is not qualified and my role, both morally and historically, as an elected official is to vote my conscience, then I cannot and will not vote for Donald Trump for President.”

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-elector-to-
quit-rather-than-cast-vote-for-10640905.php


The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 8:39 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Forgive me for barging in on your conversation here Second, but I felt that I should since I can guarantee that I'm the only person you somewhat-know that was not born rich and is not currently rich, so I have a unique perspective on your questions here....

From the article https://aeon.co/essays/what-if-jobs-are-not-the-solution-but-the-probl
em
the talk about "transfer payments" and "economic surplus" is not just theoretical for me. I've made the payments to people:

Jill $278,000
Shirley $226,161
Rizaline $217,000
Agnes $123,061.04
Whitney $66,000
Candace $23,721.46
Becky $1,700

My sisters "first" and "third" hate what I am doing, mostly because they are natural born Republicans, as am I. We're all the 1%, same as Trump, but they'd never do what I've done, even though we were born rich.

My sisters know all the people I listed and don't think any of them deserve help. But isn't that the way a typical Republican, rich or poor or middle-class, would react about money? Sometimes our three-way discussions get strident. But that is always the way Republicans are with a Democrat.
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

I'm still a Capitalist, but this is Predatory Capitalism. I worked my ass off for 3 years at KMART, like a Boss, and I was always only paid minimum wage without a nickle raise. The New Bitch who fired me did me a favor that I wouldn't do for myself.

Have you read “How Sociopathic Capitalism Came to Rule the World”? Corporate executives haven't always believed that transactions must have winners and losers. But that’s not Donald J. Trump’s view.
www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/11/sociopathic-capitalism/50
6240
/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:00 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


I have not read that book, but now I know quite a lot more about you, and I suspect so do many others who weren't aware that you were part of the 1% "Guilt Driven" democrats.

I honestly do appreciate you sharing so much Second, but I wonder why you ever would here. Although I'd doubt you'd find many people asking for handouts here, even from the Liberal Side, I don't see how admitting that you're part of the SUPER CLASS of LIBERALS that I HATE benefits you in the slightest among others...

I can pretty much guaranty that I have subsisted for LIFE for at least 2 years on as many dollars as you have spent on clothing in the last 3 to 6 months. BTW... I in the last 5 years the only "New" articles of clothing I have bought were a pair of Levis, 30 socks and 10 pairs of boxers. Everything else was from Goodwill.


You would be amazed at what you can walk out of the Goodwill on 1/2 price day.



At the end of the day, we all just want to know what gives you the fucking right to have an opinion.

It's not just poor white people who want to know. According to the VOTE, more Blacks and even Hispanics want to know.




No Offence, but take your 1% and shove it up your asshole.



Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:12 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


You want to make me care what you have to say Second?

What are your honest opinions about PizzaGate?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:36 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

No Offence, but take your 1% and shove it up your asshole.

My 1% is not your idea of the 1% or Trump's idea of a limousine liberal driving through impoverished NYNY neighborhoods with the bullet-proof windows rolled up. My 1% descended from mean slave owners, not Walt Disney's version of nice slave owners like Thomas Jefferson. We are still armed even though we own no slaves. (The slaves are now employees paid $2 more than minimum wage because my parents and grandparents worry about their reputations. Needless to say, our Republican neighbors complain that our "high" wages put pressure on them to raise their ranch hands' wages, but they nobly resist for the good of Capitalism.) My family knows exactly how our ancestors' brutality made us rich. Because we had to do some work to hold on to that ancient wealth, we don't feel guilty, no more than Trump does for what he has done to get rich. I'm still waiting to see any of his past income tax returns for any year of the 21st Century. Or even the 20th. Trump must be worried that forensic accountants could make connections between those past returns and prosecutable crimes. On the other hand, my family is in the clear because my worst ancestors died long ago in another state and can't be sent to jail, unlike crooked Trump.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:40 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
You want to make me care what you have to say Second?

What are your honest opinions about PizzaGate?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

No. I read "What the hell is #Pizzagate?" and I really don't.
www.deathandtaxesmag.com/311037/pizzagate-podesta-pedophiles/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 3:20 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Trump is casually floating the idea of revoking citizenship.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag - if they do, there must be consequences - perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
5:55 AM - 29 Nov 2016
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/803567993036754944

The Supreme Court has ruled that burning the American flag is protected speech, especially true when the flag burns during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/491/397.html

Good news! TRUMP IS UNLIKELY TO RESUME TORTURE:

www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/us/politics/trump-waterboarding-torture.htm
l

The New York Times reports that experts believe the obstacles to resuming waterboarding are probably too difficult to overcome:

Federal law, international pressure and resistance from inside the C.I.A. stand in his way. Dozens of prisoners developed persistent psychological problems after enduring torture … In authorizing waterboarding … government lawyers reasoned that there would be no lasting damage to prisoners, a key factor in concluding the tactics did not qualify as torture. That argument would be difficult to make now. www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/world/cia-torture-guantanamo-bay.html

Of course, this presumes that Trump cares about those things known as “facts,” “laws” and “arguments.”

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:06 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


How Many People Just Voted Themselves Out of Health Care?

Trump's choice of Tom Price for Health and Human Services probably means the death of Obamacare. Never mind the supposed replacement; it will be a bust. So here’s the question: how many people just shot themselves in the face?

Around 5 1/2 million Trump chumps. It’s likely to be in the ballpark. And it’s pretty awesome.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/how-many-people-just-voted
-themselves-out-of-health-care
/

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Tuesday, November 29, 2016 9:10 PM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


For all the stunning revelations we’ve seen about Donald Trump and his global business interests since the election, the larger and more troubling issue is what we don’t know. A magisterial six-byline New York Times investigation found 20 countries around the world where Trump does business, and both the US and foreign governments are already talking about the intermingling of public and private interests.
www.nytimes.com/2016/11/26/us/politics/donald-trump-international-busi
ness.html


But the most important line in the piece by far is an observation that’s not directly tied to any of that excellent reporting from around the world: “The true extent of Mr. Trump’s global financial entanglements is unclear, since he has refused to release his tax returns and has not made public a list of his lenders.”

To put it even more plainly: We have absolutely no idea what Trump owns, who his business partners are, who is paying him, or whom he owes money to. Trump’s main line of business in recent years has been licensing the Trump name to various developments, so there is a certain obvious connection between the various buildings in various cities named Trump Tower and the Trump Organization. In general, Trump likes to name things after himself, so as a rule, “if Trump is involved, the thing will be named Trump” has been a pretty good guideline. But obviously Trump is not actually legally required to name everything he’s involved with after himself.

And thanks to his failure to do any kind of meaningful financial transparency, the basic reality is we’re not really sure what he owns and we won’t be sure how his family’s investment portfolio shifts over the years. The truly scary thing, in other words, isn’t the conflicts of interest we can see. It’s all the conflicts — and, conceivably, bribes, insider trading, and other illicit activity — that we can’t see.

www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/29/13763836/trump-disclosure-c
onflict-of-interest


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Wednesday, November 30, 2016 12:09 AM

SECOND

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly


Trump Picks El Chapo To Run D.E.A.
By Andy Borowitz , NOVEMBER 28, 2016
www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-picks-el-chapo-to-run-d-
e-a


NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Just days after picking Betsy DeVos to run the Department of Education, President-elect Donald Trump has tapped another wealthy outsider by naming Joaquín Guzmán, known as “El Chapo,” to head the Drug Enforcement Administration.

In an official statement, Trump said that El Chapo’s “tremendous success in the private sector” showed that he has what it takes to “shake things up” at the D.E.A.

Trump’s appointment of the former drug lord surprised many in Washington, in no small part because acrimony between the two allegedly prompted El Chapo, in 2015, to put a hundred-million-dollar bounty on Trump’s head.

But, appearing on CNN, the Trump surrogate Kellyanne Conway said that the selection of El Chapo should surprise no one. “Mr. Trump always said that he would surround himself with the best people,” she said.

When asked why Trump had readily offered a job to El Chapo while still mulling the fate of another former adversary, Mitt Romney, Conway said, “El Chapo might not have voted for Mr. Trump, but that’s because he’s Mexican and in jail, and Mitt Romney is neither.”

The appointment of the former drug kingpin is far from a done deal, however, as associates of El Chapo report that he is “concerned” that being a member of the Trump Administration would be bad for his brand.

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