Prelude to the Apocalypse

[Mischief Maker]

All this talk of "fake news" is just an attempt at softening up the public for the end of net neutrality.

I knew there had to be something we see eye to eye on. Most people are concerned with their ISPs throttling their Netflix and completely ignore the way more important aspect of a neutral internet.

We were 99% eye-to-eye on Syria/Russia. It's just between the two shit options of risking Hillary's Syrian Apocalypse verses Trump's Accelerated Climate Change Apocalypse, I thought we had a better chance of surviving the former.

I'm sure you're writing to Trump every day insisting he divest from his businesses or place them into a blind trust so as to avoid this very same pratfall, right?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38155141

ButthurtMagnet status: BTFO

Um... those tweets change nothing. His kids will still be running the businesses, he'll still be in contact with his kids (whom he requested be given top secret clearance), his kids will still be able to use that insider information to tilt their investments, and he'll still have a potential conflict of interest between making a decision for the good of the country, or doing something that will enrich himself personally. The key word in "blind trust" is blind.

I expect lots of brinksmanship where he takes a seemingly hardline stance on something like a trade war with China to drive the market one way for a few weeks, gives his kids a wink, then does an eleventh hour flip-flop to cause a massive market convulsion which his kids will turn into a financial killing.

Martha Stewart went to jail for less.

[BryanM]

To be fair the Paris accord will only reduce projected temperatures by around 0.09 F at 2100, and Clinton certainly didn't oppose fracking. We were going to die horribly in a fire either way.

The only real alternative was to die freezing as everything slowly decays back into hydrogen. Eh and who wants to turn into hydrogen anyway not me

Optimism!

[Rob]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38155141

Shit, it's "visually" important. See, he's honest. He doesn't care about business or self-enrichment anymore. Changed man at 70 years old. Great Leader.

We were going to die horribly in a fire either way.

All we'll need is a cockroach-wheat hybrid and a hydroelectric desalination wall around the continent and domes over our cities and we're good.

[Durandal]

To be fair the Paris accord will only reduce projected temperatures by around 0.09 F at 2100, and Clinton certainly didn't oppose fracking. We were going to die horribly in a fire either way.

The only real alternative was to die freezing as everything slowly decays back into hydrogen. Eh and who wants to turn into hydrogen anyway not me

Optimism!

the good news is that the threat of an imminent global warming apocalypse with this year being the hottest in recent history is rather overblown, the bad news is that our collective extinction through a global warming apocalypse comes later than originally forecast

[BulletMagnet]

As long as Trump keeps pissing off all the right people (Saudis, the people currently working at GS, the Fed, etc.), I'm fine with it.

God almighty, that was an absolutely amazing stealth goalpost shift. I'm seriously speechless.

Oh, and concerning your advice to "wait for concrete action" when it comes to just how badly Trump intends to screw us over on Medicare, does this count?

[Domino]

Yes of course, the Bitch of the West stays on: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/30803 ... leadership

I for the most part depises the DNC. I was hoping for new blood in the DNC that will actually work for the people they are claiming they are going to help (nice to have people who actually do what they say). Nope, lets elect the same ole poop and forget the Midwest.

[quash]

As long as Trump keeps pissing off all the right people (Saudis, the people currently working at GS, the Fed, etc.), I'm fine with it.

God almighty, that was an absolutely amazing stealth goalpost shift. I'm seriously speechless.

Oh, and concerning your advice to "wait for concrete action" when it comes to just how badly Trump intends to screw us over on Medicare, does this count?

What have I shifted the goalposts on? The only people who know how to weaken such an institution are the ones who were once part of it.

Did you miss how his appointment for Treasury literally wants to end the Fed and return to the gold standard? This isn't your average president, dude.

[BryanM]

If you really want to feel better about everyone being dead soon, go to Peter Daou's twitter feed.

I won't link it here, but... if you like sticking your face into a woodchipper... it's out there. Waiting for you.

[BulletMagnet]

What have I shifted the goalposts on? The only people who know how to weaken such an institution are the ones who were once part of it.

Well sure, once you've gotten your licks in (including a Warcraft gold-farming scam, in Bannon's case ) and suitably fattened your wallet at everyone else's expense, you're automatically absolved as long as you're willing to indignantly insist "I work for you now!" in front of the cameras whenever any of your previous sleaze and/or criminal activity is brought up - and you still don't have to release your tax returns either. Naturally, said absolution does not apply to speeches given to said sleazeballs, only the sleazeballs themselves.

Give me a fucking break.

Did you miss how his appointment for Treasury literally wants to end the Fed and return to the gold standard? This isn't your average president, dude.

Neither was Dubya, but that doesn't mean all but a select few of us can afford yet another round of scorched-earth plutocracy, especially when it's paired with policies that go even beyond his level of disastrous head-up-ass nonsense (the gold standard? seriously?); hell, even conservative economists shameless enough to generally support this proven bullshit are forced to concede that there's no way in hell it will produce the growth he's promised or avoid skyrocketing the deficit. Any way you slice it, the vast majority of us are in for a very rough couple of years, and all the while apologists like you will continue to blame the stupid proles for not having enough faith in Trump and company to allow him to go "big enough" for this garbage to really work.

[quash]

Goldman Sachs itself admitted that Trump's policies are generally pro-growth, even if they are skeptical of the details.

Again, I'm not against all bankers or even all billionaires, just the ones who are hell-bent on destroying the West.

[BulletMagnet]

Goldman Sachs itself admitted that Trump's policies are generally pro-growth, even if they are skeptical of the details.

..."growth" of what? Do you have a link or something that elaborates on what exactly the phrase means, in whatever context this statement was made?

Again, I'm not against all bankers or even all billionaires, just the ones who are hell-bent on destroying the West.

Apparently anyone not part of the upper(-upper-upper) class doesn't count as part of "the west" in your book, because with few exceptions they've been bleeding the hell out of the rest of us for a long, long time now, and are sure as hell poised to up the ante even further under Trump.

[Opus131]

The thing you guys don't get is that we did it your way and western civilization is on the brink of total collapse. I don't know whether Trump is going to help get us out of this rut, but i sure hell know he is a welcome change from those who have cheered our destruction along. Namely, you people. Sorry, but the left is done for. You fucked everything up and it is either pragmatic realpolitik from here on or a thousand years dark age. No alternatives.

[GaijinPunch]

The thing you guys don't get is that we did it your way and western civilization is on the brink of total collapse.

JFC on a pogo stick. You sure that's the direction you wanna go?

[Rob]

those who have cheered our destruction along.

Yes, our least educated and most intoxicated members of society have it figured out and will be guiding us down the right path from here on out. God willing.

[BryanM]

Holy jesus Christ.

Opus actually thinks the Clintons are new deal democrats. And that there's a huge difference between corporate democrats and corporate republicans. How? There's only one way this is possible.

Lay off the glue, man. I love it too... but... you've used way too much. Maybe switch to a less intense brand. Way less than half of us here support having the banks in charge of everything. You're not catcalling anyone here, you're catcalling imaginary people who don't exist.

Except for Jeb Bush and Peter Daou. But they're paid to be that way.

[Rob]

Opus seems far more concerned about urinal art at MoMa, hiccuping college debate teams, 50 cent, etc. This is a culture war and NASCAR won. Collapse of the west averted.

[BryanM]

Oh yeah who cares about having a job, money or food to live when 50 Cent lies in ruins, his rap defeated and broken

Guess he'll just have to console himself with the huge tax cuts he'll be getting soon, maybe buy another mansion or create a zoo filled with women. Nothing decadent about that; that's how Jesus would have lived if he hadn't been such a bank-hating hobo.

[BulletMagnet]

I don't know whether Trump is going to help get us out of this rut, but i sure hell know he is a welcome change from those who have cheered our destruction along. Namely, you people. Sorry, but the left is done for. You fucked everything up and it is either pragmatic realpolitik from here on or a thousand years dark age. No alternatives.

Well, there goes the whole "let's not paint swaths of millions of people with a broad, ideologically extreme brush" thing...guess we're back to "if you like music I don't like then you're a societal cancer".

By the by, how about that fantastic Carrier deal, which even the Supah Dupah Biased Librul Media is forced to politely call "symbolic"? Let's refer to the checklist, shall we?

- Fewer jobs saved than expected/promised (Carrier is still exporting more than it's keeping?) Check!

- Company gets sweetheart deal at taxpayer expense (to the tune of $7 million)? Double check!

- No word yet on whether the remaining employees will have their compensation slashed, but just wait until Trump and the TV cameras finish their "victory lap" and wander off. I fully expect the trifecta to be completed.

As others have noted, if this is indicative of their "strategy" to "save the economy", now all a company has to do is essentially blackmail the Trump administration by threatening to move jobs, and they'll get taxpayer dollars shoved down their throats even as they still do most of what they were planning to do anyway. I guess it's the same equation as he's used when it comes to Putin: apathy and capitulation equal "strong leadership" and "respect".

[GaijinPunch]

Perfectly timed, unemployment hit it's lowest since 2007 just today. That's probably thanks to Trump getting elected though.

[Mischief Maker]

Opus seems far more concerned about urinal art at MoMa, hiccuping college debate teams, 50 cent, etc. This is a culture war and NASCAR won. Collapse of the west averted.

That's also the reason he rushed to the defense of those neo-nazis saluting and saying "Heil Trump" in the Ronald Reagan room.

Their dapper suits looked FAAA-BULOUS!

[Durandal]

...

[Mischief Maker]

There's no contradiction with Bernie's tweets.

Trump's campaign promise was to make Carrier keep their jobs in the US by slapping a 35% tariff on goods made with outsourced labor. Something that wouldn't draw taxpayer money away from important programs and would disincentivise other companies from outsourcing.

Instead he did the exact opposite by showering them with taxpayer money, incentivizing other companies to threaten to outsource because Santa Trump brings gifts to all the bad little corporations.

[ZacharyB]

It's saying two different things. Dr. Trump PhD Esq. was only able to save half the jobs, due to the situation at Carrier. United Technologies is a different firm, handling military jet engines.

[Durandal]

There's no contradiction with Bernie's tweets.

Trump's campaign promise was to make Carrier keep their jobs in the US by slapping a 35% tariff on goods made with outsourced labor. Something that wouldn't draw taxpayer money away from important programs and would disincentivise other companies from outsourcing.

Instead he did the exact opposite by showering them with taxpayer money, incentivizing other companies to threaten to outsource because Santa Trump brings gifts to all the bad little corporations.

Couldn't being blackmailed by corporations for taxpayer money be countered by the looming threat of the aforementioned tariff? Assuming he'll be bending over for everyone.

[Opus131]

Opus seems far more concerned about urinal art at MoMa, hiccuping college debate teams, 50 cent, etc. This is a culture war and NASCAR won. Collapse of the west averted.

That's because culture is far more important than "the economy" (or insert whatever do jour social ill you think is important). I believe i already explained my point of view on this matter somewhere in this thread, maybe i'll dig it up since i'm too lazy to write it again. Two points are probably worth keeping in mind though:

1) Things in the "economy" take after the culture in the first place. If you have a culture that believes urinals are "art" you are also liable to have an economic system where importing millions of uneducated, culturally alien immigrants is where the "wealth comes from":

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/11 ... stoppable/

In truth, the idea that we need to subject ourselves to this grand scale multicultural social engineering has nothing to do with "the economy" or the plight of third world people, and everything to do with modeling society around the same cultural ideal that gave us the urinal art in question. It is the soul that moves the body, not the other way around.

2) Nobody wants to hear about "the economy" from the very same people who made a mockery of it, and that applies to everything else as well, including stuff like race relations, which have reached an all time low under the Obama administration. Leftists have done nothing but aggravate tension between the races, have antagonized whites in the most overt and dare i say racist way possible, and even went to the extend of creating a race war our of thin air, and they still want to lecture us about Trump.

[Opus131]

Oh yeah who cares about having a job, money or food to live when 50 Cent lies in ruins, his rap defeated and broken

Case in point.

[Opus131]

Opus seems far more concerned about urinal art at MoMa, hiccuping college debate teams, 50 cent, etc. This is a culture war and NASCAR won. Collapse of the west averted.

That's also the reason he rushed to the defense of those neo-nazis saluting and saying "Heil Trump" in the Ronald Reagan room.

Their dapper suits looked FAAA-BULOUS!

Actually, i rushed against the media lying about what Spencer said, apropos since the media lying about everything is what's making the far right popular again.

[Opus131]

That's probably thanks to Trump getting elected though.

Heh, Poe's Law in action.

[Mischief Maker]

There's no contradiction with Bernie's tweets.

Trump's campaign promise was to make Carrier keep their jobs in the US by slapping a 35% tariff on goods made with outsourced labor. Something that wouldn't draw taxpayer money away from important programs and would disincentivise other companies from outsourcing.

Instead he did the exact opposite by showering them with taxpayer money, incentivizing other companies to threaten to outsource because Santa Trump brings gifts to all the bad little corporations.

Couldn't being blackmailed by corporations for taxpayer money be countered by the looming threat of the aforementioned tariff? Assuming he'll be bending over for everyone.

Indeed it could! So why didn't he do it in the first place? Because it's not his money he's throwing around like confetti. The American (payroll) taxpayer will actually be doing the bending over in his stead, especially after he gives himself that gigantic tax break.

[Rob]

That's because culture is far more important than "the economy" (or insert whatever do jour social ill you think is important).

The pretentious and inconsequential fringe elements you've taken as symbols for liberal values are worth nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders. A small price to pay for being free to express ourselves as we please, and far from examples of 'cheering our destruction'. While I see the cheering mainly coming from a pro-superstition, John Galt billionaire-worshiping direction.

Leftists ... have antagonized whites in the most overt and dare i say racist way possible,

I have not felt antagonized by other effete liberals, but maybe I'm sheltered. Do you have something specific?