Prelude to the Apocalypse

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Iran War. When.

2021
3
6%
2022-2025
15
28%
2026-2030
7
13%
2031-2040
3
6%
2041-2050
0
No votes
Never
25
47%
 
Total votes: 53

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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

I am really getting annoyed at the Pete Buttigieg worship. I visited relatives for Easter and spoke with some who watch MSNBC and consider Obama's centrism a betrayal, but they're absolutely in love with Buttigieg. We even watched the most recent Rachel Maddow interview together. All his answers were empty pablum, when pushed for specifics he wriggled his way out with talk of "values," and the only clear stance I was able to discern from the interview was he's against Medicare-for-all, offering a possible buy-in program instead, and once again doing the typical Establishment Democrat move of making a compromise before the fucking negotiations even begin.

I turned to my relatives and said, clearly this guy is offering the same pablum as all those other centrist Democrats you've been bitterly disappointed by over the years. But they would hear nothing of it! One even said to be that Bernie was choice #1 but Buttigieg was choice #2 for them. Am I being gaslit by my own family?

The only explanation I can fathom is the absolutely worshipful tone the media takes toward him. Rachel started the interview by asking breathlessly, "Is it true that you write your own speeches???" Imagine Sanders or Warren getting a softball like that to start off the interview.
Spoiler
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Also fuck off Buttigieg, saying the Odyssey is your favorite book. It's not a well-written story by modern standards, it's a foundational work you need to read to understand references made back to it by much better later writings. The only way the answer could be worse is if he said his favorite book was Beowulf.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

Yeah... that's why I rant about the media nonstop... it's because they're the ones who truly hold power.

I remember the lead up the Iraq War very well - the news kept going on and on about how great of a thing it would be to do. As a kid busy getting used to my new job I didn't have the free time to research and say whether it was a good or bad decision - I was agnostic on the matter. Had more immediate and important things to care about. I remember feeling relieved when I turned on the tv and they finally said it was over and done with. When I had free time later, I was able to confirm that it was indeed a farce like Vietnam and that giving the media even a little benefit of the doubt is what a sucker would do.

(In hindsight it would have made a lot of sense to have stopped watching the news at this time - it's like drinking poison. But this was long before Youtube was launched with its blurry ass 240x140 res videos with 70% compression. I read arguments and editorials online, but it's not as powerful to our tribal monkey brains as a human voice and face is.)

Even in ~2012 I still assumed that we were a hopeless garbage country - that Hillary Clinton would be president, followed by Julian Castro. Politicians are the employees of banks, that's the most you could hope for. What I had missed was two facts that are obvious in hindsight:

* Any political realignment where (modern, Paul Ryan-type) Republicans are non-viable on the national level must also necessitate an actual change in the philosophy of the regime that's in control of government. At any one time there is only ever one entity that holds power - remember that Eisenhower said that anyone that opposed the New Deal was off the spectrum. Nixon had to make concessions to the New Deal Democrats.

* I thought that the Clinton campaign would be competent on any matter. Should have paid a little more attention back in 2008.

So like with most hate it's just projection on those I see demonstrating traits of a younger, dumber version of myself.

That said, I think Peter is just this month's Herman Cain. Those easy to sway into suddenly supporting a random suit they knew and know nothing about, will get bored and find some other right wing maniac wrapped in decorum to get excited about.
Mischief Maker wrote:The only way the answer could be worse is if he said his favorite book was Beowulf.
Heh, I actually like Beowulf and the internet hates it whenever I talk about it.
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Domino
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Domino »

Mischief Maker wrote:
Also fuck off Buttigieg, saying the Odyssey is your favorite book. It's not a well-written story by modern standards, it's a foundational work you need to read to understand references made back to it by much better later writings. The only way the answer could be worse is if he said his favorite book was Beowulf.
Why being butt hurt over a book?
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

I'm calling him a phony.

Saying The Odyssey is the greatest story ever written to a bunch of English-major journalists is as obvious pandering as saying to a megachurch crowd that the Bible is the greatest story ever written.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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EmperorIng
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by EmperorIng »

My pick is still Don Quixote 10 years after I read the book.
Actually, nowadays I might pick Moby Dick since that's still fresh in my mind. I wasn't prepared for how weird that book is - actually, like Don Quixote it has no problems with changing genres on the fly.

Odyssey is ok as a guy who minored in Classics in school, but he should have embraced his roots and picked some debauched Roman novel like the Satyricon or the Satires. There were few moments as fun in college class as translating "A Greek would fuck your grandmother if he could" in live translation.
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

My gramps really liked Don Quixote.
is as obvious pandering as saying to that the Bible is the greatest story ever written.
Good thing we've got that covered.

I can understand liking it from the perspective of authoritarian theocratic propaganda (as a case study from my view. And as a how-to manual from theirs.) and the perspective of a Dungeons and Dragons campaign that got a little side-tracked midway... but actually reading the thing front to back is grueling. As they say of APB, "the highs are really high and the lows are frequent."

A Buttigieg anecdote I read on the internet about their friend interacting with the man:

/a weird smell is in the air
"Smells like someone is having some fun!"
".... what do you mean."
".... because of the pot."
"..... is that what that is?"

The Democrats!
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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ED-057
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by ED-057 »

Trump has reportedly twit: "Here we go again Bernie, but this time please show a little more anger and indignation when you get screwed!"

Do the dems have anyone this good at trolling?

Here's an unrelated heartwarming story. A dispute between Navy Seals and alleged war criminal. Repub members of Congress weigh in. Whose side will they take? Hmmm...
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

Been thinking a little about the 0% also-rans.

Castro was a guy the party pushed at the convention back in 2008 - now he gets sad and has to explain to event organizers that he isn't the man they have in their graphical material, that's his brother. Reminds me of how O'Malley was referred to as "unknown man" in a newspaper caption.

I thought Gillibrand could get 4% at least. But it turns out that when you don't defend the sexual predators in your party, your party hates your guts. Many of these people hate her more than Sanders, I'm not joking. That's the price they have to pay for having even one single, small principle: persona non-grata.

On the topic of internet fuckery, this google query has a weird and mysterious result.

AoC getting invited to a Kentucky Critter's district to talk to coal miners who'll be put out of work and then immediately dis-invited when he was informed that there are zero coal miners in his district was some kind of performance art. Fucking of course these assholes are completely alien and out of touch with their district, how couldn't they be?

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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

https://www.dailywire.com/news/46567/fb ... ashe-schow

"Even liberals get the bullet, unless they force us into a CIA honeypot because they outlawed guns in our state"
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

quash wrote:https://www.dailywire.com/news/46567/fb ... ashe-schow

"Even liberals get the bullet, unless they force us into a CIA honeypot because they outlawed guns in our state"
If you read the original article it's basically everyone and their mother talking about just how bullshit the report is. From:
“This is an information report, not finally evaluated intelligence,” the six-page report states. “Receiving agencies are requested not to take action based on this raw reporting without prior coordination with the FBI.”
to:
Riebeling also said the accusations in the FBI’s report are illogical.

“It doesn’t make any sense that someone from the United States would purchase guns in Mexico. And the Hondurans certainly didn’t bring money to buy guns. It doesn’t make any sense; in fact it’s extremely absurd to say the Hondurans wanted to attack the United States at the border,” said Reibeling.
to:
Based on questions investigators asked him, Duke said he believes it’s possible that authorities are acting upon information provided to law enforcement by right-wing conspiracy groups. He said a North Dakota radio talk-show host bragged on the air about reporting him and his colleagues to law enforcement.
quash, did you even read this article past the headline?

More to the point, when are you going to realize that Ben Shapiro, the living incarnation of the 90s Def Comedy Jam "white guy voice," and his Daily Wire website are full of shit? Because he's a paid propagandist for fracking billionaires Farris and Dan Wilks and says what he's paid to say.

And if I can't convince you that he's full of shit with facts, have you read his book???
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

This again.

Ben Shapiro is a zionist shill. Ethnostate for me, civic nationalism for thee. Daily Wire just so happened to cover this particular story when few others would.

It makes perfect sense for people from America to buy guns from Mexico, particularly if they're planning to carry out nefarious deeds. Ignorant people such as yourself have absolutely no idea how much red tape surrounds legal gun purchases, ESPECIALLY in California. I could go on.

Why are you still supporting Bernie "DNC shill" Sanders? I fully acknowledge that Trump is a stooge at this point, why can't you do the same for the pony you backed in 2016?
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

Edit: Nah, forget my flippant earlier statement.

I would love to hear your reasoning why Bernie Sanders is a shill and a stooge.

Please, elaborate.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

Also, looks like today's attempted coup in Venezuela went off like a limp fart, too.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

quash wrote:Why are you still supporting Bernie "DNC shill" Sanders? I fully acknowledge that Trump is a stooge at this point, why can't you do the same for the pony you backed in 2016?
About 56 years of nonstop objective evidence to the contrary. The reality of electoral politics are what they are.

I told you, accurately, what a Trump presidency would look like. (Bush #2 with tweets, compared to, your words "Trump is not a neocon." As a bonus, I was also able to confirm Obama was a fraud with 20 seconds of effort checking his OpenSecrets page back in 2007.) I can also tell you, accurately, what a Sanders presidency would look like. Don't believe in you, believe in the me that believes in you believing in me.

I'd even be thrilled while going through it all, at great length. If I wasn't in a funk because I'm resigned to the Democrats selecting Biden and losing to Trump again because why the fuck wouldn't they keep doing the same thing they've always done.

We deserve worse.
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

After the collusion against him that was proven in the last election, the fact that he's running at all, let alone as a Democrat, means the fix is in.

And sure, Trump is a neocon, even though he said he wasn't. Forgive me for being desperately optimistic and thinking there was a political solution.

https://youtu.be/Oh6VSCsxUSQ
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

Really just seems you don't like his personality or accepting the cold objective fact that social security and medicare were commie ideas.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

I dunno, quash. This whole black pill philosophy is more for conservatives with their belief in strict hierarchy than a bunch of blue-haired gender-bending bacchanalian-revolutionary progressives.

Speaking of "the fix is in," I have not seen such one-sided war-hungry coverage of a story by the US media establishment than their fawning support for unelected self-declared Venezuelan usurper Juan Guaido's continuing coup attempts since Iraq War 2: Electric Boogaloo.

Remember, this is not about the recent discovery that Venezuela has more oil than Saudi Arabia. They just care about the Venezuelan people's quality of life so much!
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

BryanM wrote:Really just seems you don't like his personality or accepting the cold objective fact that social security and medicare were commie ideas.
I want SS and Medicare to burn to the ground. He panders to his demographic (read: boomers) with this shit because he knows that they're sacred cows among people who actually think they're going to be able to retire.
Mischief Maker wrote:I dunno, quash. This whole black pill philosophy is more for conservatives with their belief in strict hierarchy than a bunch of blue-haired gender-bending bacchanalian-revolutionary progressives.
That's because you're naive enough to believe that you're actually winning. I hope a Democrat wins the next election, but for probably the exact opposite reasons you do.
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

quash wrote:I want SS and Medicare to burn to the ground.
That's great and Joe Biden has you covered for that with his skin crawling austerity ASMR.

...Please don't vote for Joe Biden.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

I just don't understand how somebody can be against social security but for Andrew Yang's NEET-bux.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

BryanM wrote:That's great and Joe Biden has you covered for that with his skin crawling austerity ASMR.

...Please don't vote for Joe Biden.
I hope we get a good comedy candidate this time, myself. Gary Johnson got old fast.
Mischief Maker wrote:I just don't understand how somebody can be against social security but for Andrew Yang's NEET-bux.
One is a slush fund disguised as a social program, the other is something that could be implemented better than what's being proposed but at least it results in more money in your pocket. Not to mention it's very difficult to circumvent VAT, so take that, Jeff Bezos. You should probably be for it, too.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

quash wrote:I hope we get a good comedy candidate this time, myself. Gary Johnson got old fast.
You haven't seen Howard Schultz yet?
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

Talking about failsons and daughters, as horrible as Meghan is, Hunter is pretty terrible in his own quiet, off camera way.

His first wife divorced him because he blew around $100,000 a month on strippers, hookers and drugs. He then marries his dead brother's wife, as the Good Lord commands us to do. She then divorces him because he blew $100,000 a month on strippers, hookers and drugs.

And on the topic of inbreeding Delaware aristocrats, the Judge who gave a Du Pont probation for raping his 3 year old daughter for a couple years is doing quite well with an eight year term at her current position. Her salary is $191,000 a year.
quash wrote:Not to mention it's very difficult to circumvent VAT, so take that, Jeff Bezos. You should probably be for it, too.
VAT has historically been used as a regressive national sales tax in the countries it has been implemented in. (How can it possibly not be, is the government going to set prices for private enterprise???) Even if it isn't implemented as such, "10% on all luxury goods" isn't enough to cover the Totally Not Expanded Social Security dividend. The bulk of their money is just sitting in a bank accruing enormous amounts of interest$.

There's an easier way to get Jeff to pay some tax - you tax him. And then you collect the tax money.

It's the easiest thing in the world to do, but only if you have a government that isn't controlled by the entities they're supposed to be policing.

Otherwise you have a feeble understaffed IRS that isn't authorized to go after whales, but only harass small tuna. It's by manufactured design that we all hate this department, not by accident. These are human problems created by human beings, they weren't physical laws of nature mandated upon us from on high by ruthless, implacable gods.
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

BryanM wrote:How can it possibly not be, is the government going to set prices for private enterprise???


You still think there's a difference in America? Go find me a Fortune 500 company, and I'll find you a government contract, bailout, etc. that made it possible. Better yet are the Googles of the world that are literal CIA fronts, but we don't even have to get into those if we don't want to.
Even if it isn't implemented as such, "10% on all luxury goods" isn't enough to cover the Totally Not Expanded Social Security dividend.
It's functionally different from SS for two reasons: it won't be exclusively for politicians and boomers, and it'll be a net gain in your paycheck as opposed to sending hundreds every month into a void of inflation and unfunded liabilities.

And please, you're thinking too small here. Try 10% on every single purchase made on Amazon. That'll be more than enough.
The bulk of their money is just sitting in a bank accruing enormous amounts of interest$.
Baby steps. We can't just jump to the day of the rope.
There's an easier way to get Jeff to pay some tax - you tax him. And then you collect the tax money.


Yeah, no. It doesn't work and it never will in this country.
Otherwise you have a feeble understaffed IRS that isn't authorized to go after whales, but only harass small tuna. It's by manufactured design that we all hate this department, not by accident. These are human problems created by human beings, they weren't physical laws of nature mandated upon us from on high by ruthless, implacable gods.
The IRS would be considered a terrorist organization if it weren't for the fact that our government supports them. Makes you wonder why other organizations aren't classified as such.
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BryanM
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

It's functionally different from SS for two reasons: it won't be exclusively for politicians and boomers
I absolutely do agree that unified programs that don't set most people against each other are better (on any given week, you should be able to recall me bitching about some weak ass means-testing the lanyards cooked up to waste our time and mental bandwidth with). There's no reason it can't just be Universal Social Security just like there's no reason there can't be Universal Medicare.

Also gotta love how there are actual policies on Yang's website. Practically all the other candidates are like "lol I ain't doing jack shit!"

Wish there was a goal of - "Transform the democratic party and what is possible by gutting their leadership like I did when I was mayor 3,000 years ago", though. That would be enough to elevate him above a soft distant #2 for me. You yourself understand an UBI implemented by this congress would be very very bad, right?
Try 10% on every single purchase made on Amazon. That'll be more than enough.
Okay, 10% sales tax on Amazon's revenue...

232.88 billion (worldwide, the sales just in the US would be a bit lower) divided by 10 is 23.288 billion. Let's say the benefit goes to 100 million people? That's $232.88 per person per year.

Don't get me wrong, "how are we gonna pay for it" is the least important question. Every time they raise the offense budget by billions, they just fucking do it. I'm just not as particularly fond of a sales tax when eating the rich is always on the menu.
quash wrote:The IRS would be considered a terrorist organization if it weren't for the fact that our government supports them.
See what I mean?

You're not allowed to criticize the military.

You're not allowed to criticize the police.

You're not allowed to criticize the church.

You're not allowed to criticize the mass murderer who has a statue in the town square.

You're not allowed to criticize the judge who goes easy on rich pedophile rapists but hard on pot users.

The IRS though? Fuck'em. Vultures!

That's what we're talking about when it comes to a monoculture curated through the shared simulated world of television. You're supposed to absolutely hate the IRS. That's what They want from you.

It's extremely lucrative.
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BulletMagnet »

quash wrote:Yeah, no. It doesn't work and it never will in this country.
It worked pretty well - at the very least, a lot better than it does in the broken aftermath of countless disastrous "pro-business" decades - during what just happened to be the most prosperous era in the nation's history, but as always you already knew that, so congratulations I guess, bait taken.
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Mischief Maker
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by Mischief Maker »

I guess racial segregation or... some kind of religious homogeneity maybe? Those were the reason we were economically prosperous in the heyday of New Deal Democratic Socialism?

Bernie Sanders has one speech he's been giving for decades, but when a conservative opens their mouth you never know what you're gonna get.
Two working class dudes, one black one white, just baked a tray of ten cookies together.

An oligarch walks in and grabs nine cookies for himself.

Then he says to the white dude "Watch out for that black dude, he wants a piece of your cookie!"
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quash
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by quash »

BulletMagnet wrote:
quash wrote:Yeah, no. It doesn't work and it never will in this country.
It worked pretty well - at the very least, a lot better than it does in the broken aftermath of countless disastrous "pro-business" decades - during what just happened to be the most prosperous era in the nation's history, but as always you already knew that, so congratulations I guess, bait taken.
Yep, and as always, I'm a few steps ahead of you.

https://www.theblaze.com/contributions/ ... t-tax-rate

Besides, everyone here is still thinking in the 20th century. What we need to do is classify AI and algorithms as people and tax them an exorbant amount.
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Re: 2020 (D) Presidential Primary - Welcome to the Gravelanc

Post by BryanM »

Mischief Maker wrote:I just don't understand how somebody can be against social security but for Andrew Yang's NEET-bux.
Yeah our... world frames are warped pretty badly by our environment when we're kids.

For some people, the idea of Trump allowed them to be against capitalism without admitting to themselves that they were against capitalism. (The lives and money of the many, sacrificed for the benefit of the few - Wars of capital acquisition are the purest form of capitalism there is. To be opposed to them is to be against its core heart, the beating lifeblood of capitalism itself.)

Richard Wolff himself was saying some infeasible things about basic income and increased future productivity that revealed he has a very old timey communist worldview of endless pointless toil as a desirable thing unto itself. It reminded me of that "Worker and Parasite" cartoon on the Simpsons.

These sorts of ego safety blankets are only exasperated by celebrity deathmatch beauty pageants. Gravel always talked about how we should have a third, superior legislature Of The People to get around the problem of personality in politics. I don't know how that would be able to change things that much though, other countries with forms of direct democracy still have a dictatorship that curates and controls the electorate.

The only light I personally see is my old "the internet will save us from TV, eventually" line... but we'll probably all die in a fire before that happens.
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