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Posted (edited)
23 hours ago, Tuco said:

Foreign powers can't just divvy up the country into voting blocks they think are favorable to them and then call it democracy. 

What about domestic powers? /gerrymander

Edited by DDD Dad
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Posted (edited)
55 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I truly believe you don't like a lot of what the establishment wing of the Republican Party did to get us here.  

And I think you're probably a super nice guy in real life and we'd have a good time knocking back beers and shooting the shit.

But I also have a slight suspicion you don't appreciate what Trump did to enable all of this.  And that's okay.  History is for forward-thinkers only. 

And would repeat all of it despite knowing the grift.  Literally, they'd set their country aflame to own the libs and/or make a buck.  

Edited by Mdhorn
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Posted
13 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

Sadly we’re making all the classic mistakes that an overextended late empire does. If anyone points that out, they’re anti America or some other stupid shit.

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Posted
6 hours ago, 956 Worldwide said:

Getting your Grand Theory of History from a hedge fund manager is stupider than getting making a historian a hedge fund manager.
 

The difference being that modern Americans labor under the delusion that making money makes you good at other things and that Zero Hedge readers are more credulous than subscribers to The Journal of Dutch Chartered Company History. 
 

The way some people treat investors is no different in practice than how tribes treat shamans. 

Post more.

12 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

It really does to you? Interesting. 
 

The rise and fall of empires since the creation of credit and modern day banking has followed pretty predictable cycles. Ray Dalio has written a good bit about it. 
 

Basically after countries have been on top for a while they become complacent and lose their edge in social cohesion, innovation and education amongst over things that helped their rise to the top.
 

Over time it becomes more expensive to maintain their empire and lifestyle so they become heavily indebted and eventually print money when crises hit. This weakens the currency and causes a gradual hollowing out of the economy as capital moves to better returns on investment. Which weaken it more in a cycle. 
 

At home as more debt accumulates and the cycle matures, more financial  inequality is seen which leads to internal disorder and political extremism on both sides. Productivity gains slow and eventually people begin fighting over a smaller pie. Education and infrastructure are hollowed out. When problems get bad enough internally, they often look externally for conflict.


A large part of the debt comes from supporting military adventurism abroad which is seen as necessary to protect the empire. Then as rising competitors see weakness in the declining power they test it through their actions which further weakens the declining power. 
 

Tl;Dr We are a decadent society that has overspent, is now printing money, and funding large military adventures while neglecting maintenance of the advantages at home that helped us rise to the top. 
 

What does Randy Beamer have to do with this?

 

Post less.

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Posted (edited)
17 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

No you’re correct. Not that anyone here cares. 
 

 

 

No legitimate news source was reporting either the "Ghost of Kiev" or the Zelensky quote as fact. All of them referred to the Ghost as a "legend" or as "unconfirmed reports," so yeah, blatantly and with full disclosure a form of "morale" boost. Same with the quote. Much different than a major news outlet with huge ratings publishing lies about voting machines and who attacked the Capitol or pedophile rings in a pizza parlor. Those are lies, the type which you love and cry if anyone calls them lies. Grow the fuck up.

Edited by 'stache
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Posted
11 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

To be fair, that was a long time ago, before Putin showed his true colors.  He had only been President for a couple of years at that point. Most of the world was lulled by post-Soviet Russia.

It was laughable then. Bush said he looked into Putin's soul and saw something good there. I remember writing that Putin looked into W's and saw a cupcake. The west did not have a honeymoon with Putin, an ex-KGB agent who bullied his way to power and was already making it clear he would not relinquish it.

Bush wasn't complicit in any way with Russia just sorta dumb. 

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Posted
17 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

No you’re correct. Not that anyone here cares. 
 

 

 

The tolerance of ignoble lies from the same people promoting misinformation is a deadly poison.

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Posted
11 minutes ago, 'stache said:

No legitimate news source was reporting either the "Ghost of Kiev" or the Zelensky quote as fact. All of them referred to the Ghost as a "legend" or as "unconfirmed reports," so yeah, blatantly and with full disclosure a form of "morale" boost. Same with the quote. Much different than a major news outlet with huge ratings publishing lies about voting machines and who attacked the Capitol or pedophile rings in a pizza parlor. Those are lies, the type which you love and cry if anyone calls them lies. Grow the fuck up.

Ehhhh, the Zelensky quote was circulated by the media quite a bit. It may not have been reported as "fact", but it was repeated a lot.  However, it's pretty innocuous overall, a rallying cry of sorts to boost morale of the Ukes.  Same with the Ghost of Kiev thing.  Neither of those are dehumanizing an enemy in order to get their troops to slaughter people like dogs and commit war crimes. The Russians' propaganda is doing just that, with an intention to legitimize their attacks on civilians and ultimately to kill off the entire Ukrainian leadership. So fuck them.

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Posted
6 hours ago, RPM said:

Must be. I'm kinda touchy where vaccines are involved.

That's because the untested vaccines changed your DNA. You could be part hound dog now for all you know.

Fetch!

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Posted
1 minute ago, RDCanecutter said:

That's because the untested vaccines changed your DNA. You could be part hound dog now for all you know.

Fetch!

all's I know is I am full horn dog. oh yeah!

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Posted
12 hours ago, Immaculate Vibes said:

Snip~\~

 

Basically after countries have been on top for a while they become complacent and lose their edge in social cohesion, innovation and education amongst over things that helped their rise to the ...

Snip~\~

Social cohesion... like focusing on freedoms over responsibility? 

Maybe the rest of what you wrote makes sense in some strange framework where money is more important than you think,  but we have a different root cause...

 

"We are losing what could be called our societal immunity,” argued Dov Seidman, founder of the How Institute for Society. “Societal immunity is the capacity for people to come together, do hard things and look out for one another in the face of existential threats, like a pandemic, or serious challenges to the cornerstones of their political and economic systems, like the legitimacy of elections or peaceful transfer of power.”
But societal immunity “is a function of trust,” added Seidman. (Disclosure: Seidman is a donor to my wife’s museum, Planet Word.) “When trust in institutions, leaders and each other is high, people — in a crisis — are more willing to sublimate their cherished rights and demonstrate their sense of shared responsibilities toward others, even others they disagree with on important issues and even if it means making sacrifices.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/08/opinion/spotify-joe-rogan-covid-free-speech.html

 

P.s. I can't remember which poster put this up first,  but it really is a great find,  and I thank you for it

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Posted
1 hour ago, Nivek said:

Ferris Buellers Day Off Art GIF by Tech Noir

Hey, I’m going to get unnecessary plastic surgery and become ordinary and forgettable!

Hey, I’m going to do a lot of drugs and go batshit crazy!

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Posted
39 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

 

Now that's a rallying cry that the Dems should push--Defending Freedom is going to cost!  Push that into every camera.  You're against Socialism but defend Communism? might be a good follow up.  Why is this so hard?    

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Posted
21 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

That's because the untested vaccines changed your DNA. You could be part hound dog now for all you know.

Fetch!

giphy.gif

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

back to that McDonald's theory of war:

The theory presumed the countries were democracies, which Russia clearly is not. Regardless, it was always a dumb theory.

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Posted
4 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

Look up the whole interview but I thought this exchange was particularly well said. 

 

Saw that last night. I think it was three segments devoted to that interview. Very strong. Anderson was reporting from Lviv in the western part of Ukraine near the Polish border where it’s still relatively safe. Where U.S. diplomats are still located. I’m not sure how long that’s going to be true.

Putin must die. 

Posted
18 minutes ago, Longhorn_Fan68 said:

back to that McDonald's theory of war:

 

Is the Waffle House still open? That’s how you judge a catastrophe.

Also, if you’re paying your employees in rubles then that’s not really going to be much of a hit to your bottom line. 

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Posted
1 hour ago, Mdhorn said:

Now that's a rallying cry that the Dems should push--Defending Freedom is going to cost!  Push that into every camera.  You're against Socialism but defend Communism? might be a good follow up.  Why is this so hard?    

It's hard because the old school Dems are timid as shit about risk no matter what is at stake. 

Iraq invasion? Ooey, ooey, we don't want to do it (Kucinich excepted. It earned him a primary vote from me), but we'll lose votes. Let's make having your cake and eating it, too a human right.

Fully taking up the implications of climate change? Ooey, ooey, realities are too radical, we'll lose votes. We'll change the course of the Titanic by 4 or 5 degrees and play it safe. Crash.

Jumping on the GOP years ago instead of continually falling for Mitch's lies? Nope. Timid.

The Dems should be all over this notion of only sacrifice leads to progress. We're a self-pandering bunch of mega-consumers many of whom whom whimper when gas prices go up as a result of trying to stop Putin's TERRORIST war.

Do you seize leadership by tutting over tiny sacrifices or celebrating sacrifice in a righteous cause? It's maddening that the side that says the right things is thoroughly and shamelessly false while the side that has some shreds of decency constantly stutters and goes shy.

I'd put Schiff, AOC, and just about all of the participants from the House in the second impeachment in charge of the whole shooting match. I have profound respect for Nancy Pelosi and she has taken the right stand often in the last few years. She could help us one last time by leading many of the ancients out of the Capitol.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Mdhorn said:

Now that's a rallying cry that the Dems should push--Defending Freedom is going to cost!  Push that into every camera.  You're against Socialism but defend Communism? might be a good follow up.  Why is this so hard?    

yeah this is beyond a fucking layup it's a dunk contest with the rim 6 feet off the ground

the libs should be grinding the magats in to a fine powder on all fronts all outlets all forums

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Posted
1 minute ago, Hagbard Celine said:

yeah this is beyond a fucking layup it's a dunk contest with the rim 6 feet off the ground

the libs should be grinding the magats in to a fine powder on all fronts all outlets all forums

cocaine GIF

Posted

War on Terror

It was always a stupidly vague declaration that everybody who didnt' bother thinking about it could feel really good about. Oh, you know what he meant! Yes, he meant to be vague so he could puff up about the Axis of Evil and other "bad guys" hiding under the American bed.

Here we have a terrorist launching a terror attack to get his way. Vlad has married conventional warfare to terrorism and the slaughter is on. 

Call it. It's terrorism. I don't know that this means we should change our policy, but I do think we should be plain about what we're witnessing. Calling it what it is may get more people to care and do something.

I wonder if there is hesitancy to use the term because the forces are conventional and the same stuff we use when we pound the weaklings. We don't mean to kill civilians as a way to win the war, but we generally kill huge numbers of civilians to be thorough in protecting our invading forces.

I've been uncomfortable with calling enemies madmen. Putin isn't mad; he's a fucking terrorist. He holds power through terrorism in Russia and now he wants Ukraine by means of terrorism. How else do you employ a strategy of cowing an enemy who wants to fight?

Maybe there's nothing new in this post. It seems like we made need to re-examine what the hell we're talking about when we describe enemies and why we fight.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

Is that the preferred nomenclature?

(How many Polacks does it take to hand over a MIG-29?)

 

Just don't add a g-e-r to Mig and you're golden.

Posted
back to that McDonald's theory of war:
 
I know it's beside the point, but what does it say about how much McDonald's pays its employees when it can pay 62,000 people to not work and seemingly not blink an eye?
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Posted
8 minutes ago, tchookem said:

I know it's beside the point, but what does it say about how much McDonald's pays its employees when it can pay 62,000 people to not work and seemingly not blink an eye?

It kinda says they make too much but think about this,

My American company closed but still paying me. That has to raise lots of questions of “why is this happening”. 

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Posted
I know it's beside the point, but what does it say about how much McDonald's pays its employees when it can pay 62,000 people to not work and seemingly not blink an eye?

They’re paying them in the local currency….rubles. Grimace has enough money in his pockets, and he doesn’t even wear pants.
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Posted
8 hours ago, 'stache said:

No legitimate news source was reporting either the "Ghost of Kiev" or the Zelensky quote as fact. All of them referred to the Ghost as a "legend" or as "unconfirmed reports," so yeah, blatantly and with full disclosure a form of "morale" boost. Same with the quote. Much different than a major news outlet with huge ratings publishing lies about voting machines and who attacked the Capitol or pedophile rings in a pizza parlor. Those are lies, the type which you love and cry if anyone calls them lies. Grow the fuck up.

It was getting to the point if you questioned things like the "Ghost of Kiev" you were labeled a Putin supporter. 

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