Prelude to the Apocalypse

[BulletMagnet]

I'm also not against the wealthy paying more tax. It needs to be reasonable though. 95% is not.

You'll honestly need to provide a bit more insight into what you do think is "reasonable" in this area and why, especially considering the results of the Eisenhower era; the guy was not a working class paragon, as he vetoed or otherwise gutted a lot of other public spending, but even at that he not only expanded Medicare but built the Interstate Highway System, and in the meantime personal income for wage earners increased by 45 percent. Very high taxes on the very highest earnings (to emphasize, not their entire income) of the very richest - who, as you noted, didn't flee the country in droves, since they couldn't as easily expatriate their wealth on paper as they do now - weren't the only thing that enabled these successes, but I'd love to hear anyone argue that they weren't a very important contributor.

And just to make very clear what we're talking about here, even if we somehow managed to replicate the setup of the Eisenhower years (which Bernie himself said wasn't going to happen), as mentioned above only annual income over 2.2 million or so would be taxed at the highest rate: you currently qualify as within the top 1 percent of earners if you take in about 400K as an individual or 570K as a household (as the link notes once you get into net worth instead of earnings things get really interesting, but that's a post for another day). If your household takes in 1 million a year that's enough to put you in the top 0.5 percent. We're talking fractions of fractions when it comes to the people who would fall into the highest bracket - and that's before you get into the fact that income over 150K or so isn't subject to Social Security taxes, or that capital gains are taxed at much lower rates than wages, and on and on it goes.

In the meantime, of course, while we go back and forth about this, our new House majority is introducing legislation that not only guts the IRS but eliminates it altogether...and we already know who benefits most when they can't do their jobs, not to mention who inevitably cleans up under a "flat tax" or "fair tax". So again, what exactly qualifies as "reasonable" on this front in your estimation?

[Sengoku Strider]

The master of 4D chess is at it again, this time under oath, hundreds of moves ahead of everyone else as usual.

Former President Donald Trump claimed that E. Jean Carroll, who has accused him of sexual assault, said that "rape was sexy" and "indicated that she loved it" when he was deposed in connection to her defamation lawsuit in October.

"She actually indicated that she loved it. Okay? She loved it until the commercial break. In fact, I think she said it was sexy, didn't she? She said it was very sexy to be raped," Trump said.

Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan then asked the former president: "So, sir, I just want to confirm: It's your testimony that E. Jean Carroll said that she loved being sexually assaulted by you?"

He responded: "Well, based on her interview with Anderson Cooper, I believe that's what took place."

Rap snitches
Tellin' all their business
Sit in the court and be their own star witness
Did you see the perpetrator?
Yeah I'm right here
Mess around get the whole label sent up for years

[orange808]

Santos just made a science committee. Fuck. Then again, the GOP does love to lie about science.

[GaijinPunch]

There are ways to get this done w/o being lazy and saying "just tax billionaires". History has taught us that isn't electable. I guess we're not only the unhealthiest developed nation but the dumbest one, too.

It was electable and it worked really well for a good while. The one and only problem was literally that it didn't go far enough.

Yeah -- not electable. Why does everyone clutch their pearls when moderates win the democratic primary?

You'll honestly need to provide a bit more insight into what you do think is "reasonable" in this area and why,

Do I? I don't think this side of keeping 10% needs the explanation. I'm not a "the problem with government is government" libertarian by any stretch (they're hilarious to be fair), but I also know the government is by far from lean and mean. I don't have a number in mind, but 90% going to the government (funding cool things like, defense) I find quite unreasonable.

[BryanM]

Haha, "moderate". Haha, "electable".

Spoiler

Pure denial in the face of one's entire ideology burning down around them directly in front of their faces.

That's why leftists are such better posters: they're used to losing and being kicked around like dogs. The irony poisoning is always a comforting friend. Liberals are like spoiled children, and can't cope with a changing status quo. Excuses flow like water why they keep "losing" to republicans when the system's supposed to be rigged in their favor. "But she got more votes", "democrats aren't paid to lose! they're not!", "people are too racist!" etc etc. We know which side they'll be leaning once the choice is between fascism and raising their taxes by a nickel: history is an endless merry-go-round.

I guess when reality and their own irony poisoning starts to set in, they'll start sounding more like 8chan posters at least. That'll be fun. I guess around when they realize oil is a finite resource? They sure do like to pretend spreadsheets are material reality. Like the physical world is like a video game or something..

You'll honestly need to provide a bit more insight into what you do think is "reasonable" in this area and why

It's really absolutely worthless to talk about numbers and policy. Those things have almost nothing to contribute to political conversations. We're talking about base terminal values and personal interests here. We aren't talking about numbers or policy.

We're evil jealous gremlins that want to take his money away. He isn't wrong about that (except the jealous part). Everything else is non-consequential. Distractions from the core matters at play.

Sure, he'd love if there weren't homeless people. But not if giving them housing would reduce the value of his own real estate. That's always intrinsic to every social problem: if making the world a better place was profitable to them, the world would already have been made like that by them.

Therefore, it stands to reason, the world is absolutely perfect just the way it is. Any claim of "caring" about strangers is usually very hollow; I've only known one person in my entire life like that. She'd spend her free time actually helping homeless people not freeze to death, she didn't idly talk about them as a theoretical abstract thing on an internet forum.

So much of liberalism is indeed empty hollow virtue signalling. Like Warren Buffet going around saying we should raise the capital gains tax. Did he ever actually put money into doing that? Paying the $4 million or so in bribes it would cost to get congress to do it? ... not really, no. In retrospect, that entire initiative was him pumping up Elizabeth Warren so she could more easily cut off a moderate centrist like Sanders. Which you'll remember her lying and smearing the man up and down when it was finally time for her to do her job.

---

The profit motives we've created have seriously set us back a ton. There's so many smart nerds who want to help the world, to contribute to making impossible things possible, but only a very tiny slice of the pie is dedicated to academia and research. Chemists fresh out of college get paid minimum wage. While quants get paid a ton.

[GaijinPunch]

Haha, "moderate". Haha, "electable".

Cool story, bro.

[BryanM]

Cool story, bro.

Thank you for the compliment, but it's not a story. It's our history.

---

You're not a "bad person" just because you'd prefer homelessness continued than see your real estate investments or whatever fall 80% or more. No one comes from nothing. You were groomed into that by the system other people created, just like the rest of us.

Trying to deflect is kind of pointless: I am a vampire, too. I'd have had to kill myself otherwise, that's the incentives we were given. That's the world we live in.

[orange808]

Well, neoliberal Gaijin, the GOP just drew a blueprint in The House. I learned something and The Squad did, too. We'll see if you can get enougn "super electable" moderates (garden variety wealthy white "liberals") to **actually** govern without us. You'll seat us at the controls or else.

You're over soon. I don't need a majority. Enjoy your last few years. You won't have a supermajority. Fuck unity. You'll capitulate or else. I'm done with triangulation. Time is running out. They essentially cracked the two party system in the HoR and everything changed.

[GaijinPunch]

Well, neoliberal Gaijin, the GOP just drew a blueprint in The House. I learned something and The Squad did, too. We'll see if you can get enougn "super electable" moderates (garden variety wealthy white "liberals") to **actually** govern without us. You'll seat us at the controls or else.

You're over soon. I don't need a majority. Enjoy your last few years. You won't have a supermajority. Fuck unity. You'll capitulate or else. I'm done with triangulation. Time is running out. They essentially cracked the two party system in the HoR and everything changed.

Don't kill the messenger. I'm just pointing out what happens, and everyone's reaction. Just pray the right follows the left's lead in being offended that their guy didn't win the primary and don't vote the evil candidate in the other party out... or we'll either have to deal w/ fuckwit again, or DeSantos.

[orange808]

Well, neoliberal Gaijin, the GOP just drew a blueprint in The House. I learned something and The Squad did, too. We'll see if you can get enougn "super electable" moderates (garden variety wealthy white "liberals") to **actually** govern without us. You'll seat us at the controls or else.

You're over soon. I don't need a majority. Enjoy your last few years. You won't have a supermajority. Fuck unity. You'll capitulate or else. I'm done with triangulation. Time is running out. They essentially cracked the two party system in the HoR and everything changed.

Don't kill the messenger. I'm just pointing out what happens, and everyone's reaction. Just pray the right follows the left's lead in being offended that their guy didn't win the primary and don't vote the evil candidate in the other party out... or we'll either have to deal w/ fuckwit again, or DeSantos.

Cool story, bro.

[OdiousTrident]

Don't kill the messenger. I'm just pointing out what happens, and everyone's reaction. Just pray the right follows the left's lead in being offended that their guy didn't win the primary and don't vote the evil candidate in the other party out... or we'll either have to deal w/ fuckwit again, or DeSantos.

Gaijin it's not worth engaging the same six or so people that made this thread run to 380 something pages. This place is an emotional outlet for them and there is nothing wrong with that. If you point out that reductionists on the left helped get Trump elected or the codependency between simplistic positions on left and right - they will call you a neoliberal and dig their heels. Everyone deserves an outlet because life is hard.

The good news is that there are more people who want to provide a better life for everyone than there are people who don't. These threads are good indication of that.

[GaijinPunch]

Gaijin it's not worth engaging the same six or so people that made this thread run to 380 something pages. This place is an emotional outlet for them and there is nothing wrong with that. If you point out that reductionists on the left helped get Trump elected or the codependency between simplistic positions on left and right - they will call you a neoliberal and dig their heels. Everyone deserves an outlet because life is hard.

The good news is that there are more people who want to provide a better life for everyone than there are people who don't. These threads are good indication of that.

I'm fully aware... orange is world famous for being in arguments the other side has no clue they're even in.

[BulletMagnet]

I don't think this side of keeping 10% needs the explanation.

For whatever it's worth, I've at least attempted to include some hard facts and figures in support of the notion that such a high tax rate on a portion of the wealth held by such a tiny, well-heeled segment of the population isn't inherently unreasonable, roughly along the lines of 1) Considering how outright medieval our current wealth gap has become as the upper-end tax rate has, by sheer coincidence, come repeatedly and steadily down, such measures would be an obvious part of any effort to address the situation, and 2) The country has done this before, and to all appearances, benefited greatly (or, if you want to be really cynical about it, didn't suffer) as a result. As for the "they'll just waste it" angle, yeah, that's always a possibility, though I'd wager that anyone in government willing to enact such a policy in the first place and thus earn the enmity of just about every "special interest group" you could name would be inclined to use the revenue to make life at least somewhat better for "the rest of us" if given the opportunity. Again, it has happened before.

Maybe we ought to approach this more directly: in your opinion, do you think that it's ever possible to reach a point of wealth saturation at the top (feel free to peruse this if you haven't already at some point) at which it's reasonable for the government to say to the very wealthiest "this simply isn't sustainable, go past this number and you're giving most of it back"? If so, what would you consider to be that point? If not, why not?

Santos just made a science committee.

...AND a small business committee. But as the article notes, the GOP HAS to give them to him, because NOT doing so would set a precedent that there could be consequences for actions that are howlingly unethical if not outright illegal. And we can't have that, can we? Jesus fuck.

But that's not even the shiniest jewel in today's "does the modern right have any self-respect" crown, that honor goes to Kevin McCarthy, as he desperately attempts to have his cake and eat it too when it comes to whether or not he ever had any inkling - and thus, culpability - when it came to Santos' ongoing litany of lies. Has there ever been more of a pitiful, sniveling little bitch than this groveling pissant? Keep that vigorous manliness coming, GOP.

[BryanM]

We lasted 20 years living like that. These days we don't give a crap of even pretending to care about the debt, and the income tax is on the brink of being all but abolished. So it really is nothing more than a philosophical debate about how much power vampire kings should be allowed to have. (But defunding the military sure is a weird posture for the ideology to take - how are banks supposed to expand their capital holdings without their military and subsidized weapons markets? South Americans might get uppity, and start thinking they own their own bananas or something. If it wasn't necessary to maintain the status quo, it would not be funded as it is. Our overlords are not stupid. ..Well they are stupid. But in a broad objective sense. They're not ignorant of where their bread comes from.)

It does feel a little farcical to worry about all this imaginary stuff when we're entering an era where we don't have winter anymore.

Republican science and education committees are always fun, you can always look back on the days of Newt and Bush. As many have pointed out, the hip new thing about this latest cadre of congress critters is how many of these guys voted to overturn the election results.

Balkanization maps of the USA are always a fun thing to kill time with. I think wood powered steam engines might be enough to keep the union together.

[orange808]

The Democrats will cut a deal across the aisle to avoid letting anything near the real center or center left get any power. Should be interesting to see what follows. That's how this speaker of the house battle goes down for the left. They get Republicans to vote for their speaker.

And, that throws the true identity of "centrists" into sharp relief: they're Republicans.

[Sengoku Strider]

Point:

Everyone deserves an outlet because life is hard.

Counterpoint:



------------------------------------

MEANWHILE...

"He's like a real life Catch Me if You Can!"



...nah, this dude is getting a whole Netflix series.

[orange808]

That steak ham has no cerebellum.

[Sengoku Strider]

If Youtube is going keep throwing them at me, I think I'm going to start collecting hysterical MSNBC headlines.



...except of course it turns out there's video of it, lol. Does this guy really get a "slams" out of this? Is the editorial slams bar now gone so low it is laying on the ground?

[Sengoku Strider]

Trump Might Not Have Actually Ever Read the US Constitution: Exhibit #t098389λφα



The reason said investigation - handled in house by the supreme court marshal - went nowhere is because it's just going to implicate one of the justices who was pushing for a more conservative ruling in the first place. I don't get why whatever tv pundits Trump is getting his ideas from are still trying to push this own-goal.

It's like how the Hunter Biden saga is inevitably going to end with leaked blurry video of him in bed with Ted Cruz & drag Santos, melting woke M&Ms over their private parts. Sometimes you just need to quit while you're ahead.

[Sima Tuna]

I still want all the Hunter Biden info to come out. Since I'm, y'know, not a partisan (to that extent, anyway) and I want everyone involved in corrupt shit to get what's coming to them.

The more of these Epstein-like fucks who we can publicly name and shame, the better. No matter who they are or how highly-placed.

[orange808]

Curbing the press cuts both ways, mister prez. Food for thought for readers and Twitter jockeys that didn't think about it.

Assuming there are any sensible people working at SCOTUS, the next step is obvious; implement more measures and procedures to prevent future breaches. I also suggest accelerating the timetable and announcing these decisions sooner, even before the final language is available. A smaller leak window would make these revelations significantly less effective in the media. It would also allow the court to make the first move and anticipate security/safety issues before hand.

[orange808]

I want everyone involved in corrupt shit to get what's coming to them

Given that human beings are naturally corrupt and we don't have full transparency, that isn't happening.

I don't care if they investigate Hunter Biden. I wouldn't call it a victory, though. Whatever.

I'm significantly more anxious to understand why every outgoing administration is hauling classified documents home. This may have been happening for over a hundred years. It's long past time to put a lid on it. Other nations should be looking into the same issues as well. I imagine this issue is not unique in the west. Even during the cold war, it seems classified information was handled poorly. During the post-Soviet neoliberal golden age, I speculate that already insufficient measures deteriorated. In theory, free trade meant countries like Russia would be married to peace and commerce, so security was likely deemed unnecessary by many in Washington outside of the military and law enforcement.

It seems all people really want is juicy tabloids. Important things are rarely deemed urgent.

[BryanM]

It isn't hard to understand why: they're lazy. Lazy as fuck. They have teams and bosses that perform all the actual material decisions, and they need access to stuff to make those decisions.

You're a rich motherfucker at the highest levels a sock puppet is allowed to reach: do you really want to spend a single second of your life in a SCIF? It's much more than a mild inconvenience, to people used to doing whatever the hell they feel like. That have more than half of the year off.

And that's why Clinton had a server in the basement of her mansion. Convenience. You just have to put yourself in another's shoes to understand where they're coming from.
--
Trump's tulpa facing manslaughter charges for shooting someone is a bit of a thing. I'm not sure I like this side arc of the circus.

[BryanM]

Rockström gave his annual doom speech at the Davos illuminati meeting. These things always get a bit grimmer every single year. UN reports aren't any better; the eggheads get called in to egghead, they dutifully hand in a report with "WE FUCKED" as the title, everyone nods their heads and nothing changes.

It doesn't matter if we're committing collective suicide. The incentive structures that brought us here don't ever change.

I just like how watching these things can make you feel like you're really one of the illuminati, too.

[orange808]

Google says they are concerned about AI. The only thing they're "concerned" about are tools that empower ordinary people to do things without paying Google for it. Google only worries about one thing: their IP. Their lone concern is AI that exists outside their walled garden.

Getty Images steals other people's work from the public domain and licences it--without disclosing that they are selling something that is free. They don't ask content creators before they steal work, either. Now, Getty realizes that people will soon create their own stock photos and their business model is fucked. The computer will look around at the world, remember it, and sketch photorealistic images that don't cost a royalty, based on examples and inspiration from the world. So, they want to outlaw the creative process.

Disruption happens. Innovation happens. So?

Artists out of a job? Coders out of a job? Did you stand up when industry was exported abroad? No. You didn't. Looks like you sealed your own fate. Oops. Sure would be nice if you had allies. You don't, though. Oops. Nobody cares about you. They took your job? Get retraining!

Death to the gaming press? LMAO! Please and thank you!

I also hear people bitching that they won't be able to tell real recorded media from fake media. You're right. That's happening. It's coming. Are you thick and daft? This process is inevitable. Complaining about absolutely unstoppable outcomes is a waste of time. The future cannot be stopped by any means. There isn't even a sliver of hope. So, it might make more sense to start planning for a world where audio and visual information are unreliable, instead of spinning our wheels complaining about it.

[Sengoku Strider]

MSNBC still keeping an even keel.



BOMBS!



FLAILING AND CRUSHING!

Trump's tulpa

I have read half-serious attempts by anthropology geeks to explain Trump as a right wing meme-tulpa. Can a tulpa have a tulpa? Is the guy who declared Steven Segal a tulku behind all this?

[Air Master Burst]

I have read half-serious attempts by anthropology geeks to explain Trump as a right wing meme-tulpa. Can a tulpa have a tulpa? Is the guy who declared Steven Segal a tulku behind all this?

I believe he was actually declared a taliban. Pretty sure he's the one that gave them their deadly effective hapkido training.

[Sengoku Strider]

I have read half-serious attempts by anthropology geeks to explain Trump as a right wing meme-tulpa. Can a tulpa have a tulpa? Is the guy who declared Steven Segal a tulku behind all this?

I believe he was actually declared a taliban. Pretty sure he's the one that gave them their deadly effective hapkido training.

He'd 100% do it, just as long as they keep it straight that it's in his contract that he doesn't have to walk.

[BryanM]

There's a Troma documentary that's like a cautionary tale of paying your employees $0 in money, but in booze instead. Booze for college kids.

In it, our hero Llyod flies to some Europe film festival or something to sell some damn movies. Along with a gaggle of kids. One of the high points is when he's trying to talk one of the creators of N.Y.P.D. Kabukiman into buying a license to the movie for Japan, for like 30 or 40k. During this conversation with this very very serious man, the kid in the N.Y.P.D. Kabukiman costume is busy dry-humping a pile of a couple of the other kids. Llyod did not make a sale on that one.

Anyway, there's one scene where the kids are at a dock, along with a bunch of other journo tabloid types. Hoping maybe to get some press. Rumor had it Steven Seagal was going to show up! And.... he did! A little boat drove up to the dock, the man himself was on it standing tall, he waved at the gathered people.... and the boat immediately turned around and left. There was much booing and moaning and perhaps one "fuck you Steven Seagal" uttered that day.

I like to think Llyod knew there was a 0% chance anything worthwhile was going to happen there, which was why he didn't go, and it was all a ruse to get the kids out of his hair for a few hours.

[BIL]

Bryan you are consistently misspelling the name Lloyd to give me aneurysm (■｀w´■)

Bad enough I just saw this (｀w´メ)

Spoiler