REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

A thread for Democrats Only

POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Monday, October 21, 2024 20:59
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Monday, February 10, 2020 7:40 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

SIGNY: Instead of looking for areas of disagreement, is it possible for you to look for areas of agreement?

SECONDRATE: How about abolitionists and slave-owners finding "areas of agreement"? The disagreement ran four score and seven years, ending with a million dead. That takes precedence over "areas of agreement".

Well, show me the slave owners! They don't exist, do they?

So what is THE intractable division between Americans? Surely it's not slavery, or water fluoridation!

I will show you the modern slave-owners.

The old time plantation slave-owners were the richest people in America! The top 1% of slave-owners owned 90% of the slaves. The top 10% owned 99% of the slaves. A funny thing happened -- the people who owned one or no slaves volunteered to fight for the people who owned all the slaves.

And after the Civil War, the top 10% didn't lose their land, just their slaves. They still owned the South, but they were a little bit poorer because they had to pay their workers instead of beating them with a whip.

Rather than making money growing cotton, the top 1%, the plantation slave-owners, went into business since that was easier than agriculture. They did rather well for themselves, owning most of America even until today, and no longer forced to live only where slavery is permitted. If you have not noticed, they don't call themselves the Planters. They are the Republicans, at least the richest ones are. The descendants of slaves, what do they call themselves? Democrats! Very few blacks vote Republican.

And the really funny thing is that the top 1% have an Army of people, also calling themselves Republicans, fighting to preserve their unique culture, just like during the Civil War, people taken from the lower 90% who are not benefiting since they don't have much capital or slaves to make them wealthy.

The distribution of wealth in the United States
https://equitablegrowth.org/the-distribution-of-wealth-in-the-united-s
tates-and-implications-for-a-net-worth-tax
/


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, February 10, 2020 9:58 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


lol @ Second pretending that Democrat politicians aren't equally culpable of this.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 10:49 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol @ Second pretending that Democrat politicians aren't equally culpable of this.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

If you are saying Democratic politicians who are dead, Dead, DEAD were culpable, you would be correct.

If you don't take into account that today's Senate can kill all good ideas if a minority of Senators hang together to filibuster all good ideas, you are stupid.

There are hundreds of good bills passed by the House of Representatives that will never come to a vote in the Senate because Mitch McConnell does not want them to be voted on, or even forwarded to a Senate Committee for discussion. Those bills were logged in by the clerical staff at the Senate, then Mitch had the bills shredded.

569 House-passed bills await action in the Senate
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/396401-569-house-passed-bills-await
-action-in-the-senate


Senator Mitch McConnell’s Legislative Graveyard
www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/in-senator-mitch-mcco
nnells-legislative-graveyard-senate-republicans-block-commonsense-legislation-to-secure-our-elections-protect-americans-health-care-and-safeguard-pensions-earned-by-working-americans


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, February 10, 2020 11:00 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
lol @ Second pretending that Democrat politicians aren't equally culpable of this.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

If you are saying Democratic politicians who are dead, Dead, DEAD were culpable, you would be correct.

If you don't take into account that today's Senate can kill all good ideas if a minority of Senators hang together to filibuster all good ideas, you are stupid.

There are hundreds of good bills passed by the House of Representatives that will never come to a vote in the Senate because Mitch McConnell does not want them to be voted on, or even forwarded to a Senate Committee for discussion. Those bills were logged in by the clerical staff at the Senate, then Mitch had the bills shredded.

569 House-passed bills await action in the Senate
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/396401-569-house-passed-bills-await
-action-in-the-senate


Senator Mitch McConnell’s Legislative Graveyard
www.democrats.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/in-senator-mitch-mcco
nnells-legislative-graveyard-senate-republicans-block-commonsense-legislation-to-secure-our-elections-protect-americans-health-care-and-safeguard-pensions-earned-by-working-americans


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




Yup. It's what 111th through 113th Senate did too.

I'm starting to wonder if you're retarded or something.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:08 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Yup. It's what Obama's Senate did too.

I'm starting to wonder if you're retarded or something.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

You can say it, 6ix, but you didn't try to prove it. Try once in while or are you like Trump?

How Many Lies Has Trump Told? 16,241.
www.huffpost.com/entry/jimmy-kimmel-donald-trump-lies_n_5e268d8fc5b673
621f7ada16


Latest False Fact-checks on Donald Trump
www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?speaker=donald-trump&ruling=fa
lse


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, February 10, 2020 11:21 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Yup. It's what Obama's Senate did too.

I'm starting to wonder if you're retarded or something.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

You can say it, 6ix, but you didn't try to prove it. Try once in while or are you like Trump?

How Many Lies Has Trump Told? 16,241.
www.huffpost.com/entry/jimmy-kimmel-donald-trump-lies_n_5e268d8fc5b673
621f7ada16


Latest False Fact-checks on Donald Trump
www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?speaker=donald-trump&ruling=fa
lse


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





That doesn't even seem to be a reply to my quote. Are you having a stroke?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:22 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


lol. Geez. How long did it actually take you to make that pathetic reply? I had changed it from the generalized term "Obama's Senate" to the more specific "111th to 113th Senate" long before you made a reply.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:29 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

That doesn't even seem to be a reply to my quote. Are you having a stroke?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

If this was real life, I'd pick you off the ground by your shirt and we'd continue this conversation with you fearful I'd hurt you if you lied to me. Then we could have a productive conversation -- a meeting of opposing opinions. But when a Trump voter can say whatever pops into their tiny head, then strange things and obvious lies start coming out of their mouth when they think there are no rules, no judges, no consequences.

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, February 10, 2020 11:34 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

That doesn't even seem to be a reply to my quote. Are you having a stroke?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

If this was real life, I'd pick you off the ground by your shirt and we'd continue this conversation with you fearful I'd hurt you if you lied to me. Then we could have a productive conversation -- a meeting of opposing opinions. But when a Trump voter can say whatever pops into their tiny head, then strange things and obvious lies start coming out of their mouth when they think there are no rules, no judges, no consequences.

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




lol. You're a tough guy too, huh? You do a lot of working out in that fake ivory tower of yours, do ya? Maybe regular swimming in your Scrooge McDuck vault of gold coins to cool off after bench pressing pallets of cash?

Wow. You're scary dude. lol

You're a joke, and you are the punchline.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:37 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Always remember, kiddos, who the people are on this board that routinely devolve to threatening violence versus those who don't.

It will tell you everything you need to know about them.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:41 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

lol. You're a tough guy too, huh? You do a lot of working out in that fake ivory tower of yours, do ya? Maybe regular swimming in your Scrooge McDuck vault of gold coins to cool off after bench pressing pallets of cash?

Wow. You're scary dude. lol

You're a joke, and you are the punchline.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Unlike unemployed 6ix, who is in his prime years for working, I have an actual job to do, despite being 67. Get off the internet, 6ix, and earn money. I got to go do the same.

Prime Working Age Population Data For U.S. Counties
Those considered to be of prime working age are between the ages of 25 and 54.
www.governing.com/gov-data/census/prime-working-age-population-data-fo
r-counties-local-areas.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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Monday, February 10, 2020 11:46 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

lol. You're a tough guy too, huh? You do a lot of working out in that fake ivory tower of yours, do ya? Maybe regular swimming in your Scrooge McDuck vault of gold coins to cool off after bench pressing pallets of cash?

Wow. You're scary dude. lol

You're a joke, and you are the punchline.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Unlike unemployed 6ix, who is in his prime years for working, I have an actual job to do, despite being 67. Get off the internet, 6ix, and earn money. I got to go do the same.

Prime Working Age Population Data For U.S. Counties
Those considered to be of prime working age are between the ages of 25 and 54.
www.governing.com/gov-data/census/prime-working-age-population-data-fo
r-counties-local-areas.html


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





In three years you've never gotten off the internet or done any work.

I'm happy that I could finally help you grow as a person.

You're welcome.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 12:17 PM

THG


T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.



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Monday, February 10, 2020 2:20 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

SIGNY: Instead of looking for areas of disagreement, is it possible for you to look for areas of agreement?

SECONDRATE: How about abolitionists and slave-owners finding "areas of agreement"? The disagreement ran four score and seven years, ending with a million dead. That takes precedence over "areas of agreement".

SIGNY: Well, show me the slave owners! They don't exist, do they?
So what is THE intractable division between Americans? Surely it's not slavery, or water fluoridation!

SECOND: I will show you the modern slave-owners.

The old time plantation slave-owners were the richest people in America! The top 1% of slave-owners owned 90% of the slaves. The top 10% owned 99% of the slaves. A funny thing happened -- the people who owned one or no slaves volunteered to fight for the people who owned all the slaves.

Wow, and you think the wealth gap is caused by Republicans?
Oy vey.
A]I know I've posted this before but ... in any long-term trend chart of wealth inequality, you can't tell where Democrats or Republicans are in charge, The only consistent trend (besides wealth inequality going up) is that the gap tends to close when there is a significant financial upset. You really see this in 2008, but also in 2000 (the dot-com bubble). I'll see if I can find a better chart, but from a distance you can't tell when Carter or Bill were in the WH versus Bush1 or Bush2.



The SOURCES of much of this wealth inequality is several-fold but includes

The offhshoring of jobs by transnationals. All of those trillions and trillions of dollarss formerly circulating in the USA are now circulating in China. This has been a project of Presidents since Richard Nixon and his visit to China, but was was really pushed forward by Bush1, Bill Clinton, Bush2, and Obama.

Increasingly finacialized wealth generation, and access to near-zero percent loans by the wealthy for speculation. It was Bill Clinton who "reformed" the financial system which made financial speculation by "savings" banks possible (eliminate Glass Steagall), and promoted speculation in derivatives thru his CFMA which made scams like Enron possible. It is the Fed (which can be influenced by the President) creates money out of thin air and lends it at near-zero interest rates to the wealthy. NO President, Democratic or Republican, has made any moves to limit financial speculation as a source of wealth.

Increased monopoly size. Amazon. Time Warner/Comcast. Bayer/Monsanto. GlaxoWellcome/SmithKlineBeecham. Microsoft. Comcast/AT&T. Exxx
on/Mobil. Facebook. Whether homegrown or the result of M&As/ LBOs, NO President has stood in the way of monopolization. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_mergers_and_acquisitio
ns
Obviously, the bigger the pile that you'reon top of, the wealthier you're going to be.

Tax breaks for the rich. This is something associated with Republicns, but Kennedy and Johnson were the first to cut taxes on the wealthy, from 90% to 70%. Ronald Reagan cut taxes on the wealthy (70% to 50% and then to 28%), but so did Bill Clinton (capital gains tax cut from 28% to 20%). It seems like the record is not as clear-cut as you would think, and tax-cutting is a bipartisan love affair.




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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Monday, February 10, 2020 3:21 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

SIX: That doesn't even seem to be a reply to my quote. Are you having a stroke?

SECOND: If this was real life, I'd pick you off the ground by your shirt and we'd continue this conversation with you fearful I'd hurt you if you lied to me

Wow, classic SECONDRATE

a) I doubt you could beat SIX in a hand-to-hand fight.
b) It sure didn't take you long to resort to threats!

SIX I don't know how you managed but you REALLY got under SECOND's skin. Congrats!

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Monday, February 10, 2020 3:24 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


We like to have fun here.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, February 10, 2020 7:20 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Okay, SECOND, let's take another running start at a reasonable (rational, responsive to facts and logic, non-threatening) discussion.

UNLIKE YOU, I credit most people with honest motives, even those I disagree with strongly. JO and his RUSSIA!RUSSIA! fixation. Bless him, his brain has been hijacked by Rachel Madcow but I believe he wants the best for Americans. SHINY, another brain hijacked by the liberal media, but he too wants the best for America, and Americans. Someone (who shall remain nameless) was formerly fixated in Iraq WMD but HE TOO wants the best for America, and Americans. Even THUGR wants what is best for America, and Americans. People may be driven to extremes by fear, but not hate.

We probably mostly agree on what is "best" for America (I can name five existential things we all likely agree on) but we might disagree on how "best" to get there. Wherever we disagree could probably be solved by calm discussion; I honestly believe we can work out almost everything thru some combination of mind-changing, compromise, and win-win negotiating, because we all want what's best for America and Americans. It may take ten years to figure this all out, but that's a lot better than spending ten years bickering and dreaming up ways to divide and fight over artificial things.

There are only a few people I credit with either unintentionally warped or dishonest motives: You (warped, you hate America); WISHY (warped, she hates certain ethnic groups and sexes); and CC (probably a paid bot, certainly intentionally and repeatedly dishonest).

I would LIKE to say that I can trust your motives but you're clearly driven by hate. If you can't credit most people with honest motives ... even if biased (you think) information... then you can't discuss anything. And trust has to go both ways. I'm willing to trust you with honest motives if you're able to demonstrate that I should; so far you've done the opposite. Are you willing to trust me?



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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Tuesday, February 11, 2020 7:15 AM

SECOND

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


America’s politics of epiphany

If President Donald Trump is defeated, the GOP is going to want to work with Democrats again, making an ambitious agenda possible. That, at least, is former Vice President Joe Biden’s theory of the case. “You will see an epiphany occur among many of my Republican friends,” he said in November. “Mark my words.”

Biden was mocked for these comments, and rightly so. There will be no Republican epiphany if Biden is elected, just as the fever didn’t break when Barack Obama was reelected. Biden came of political age in the Senate of the 1970s and ’80s, when the political parties were ideologically mixed and bipartisanship was common. He yearns for a political structure that no longer exists and hasn’t for some time.

But Biden isn’t alone in running on an unlikely theory of change. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg are all running on a theory in which the force of their personality, or the strength of their movement, or the popularity of their agenda breaks the polarization that has gridlocked US politics.

In many countries, this whole conversation would be puzzling. Parties run on agendas, and if they win, they implement those agendas, or at least a substantial part of them.

That’s not the case in America, where divided government is common, the filibuster forces supermajority levels of consensus in the Senate, electoral geography dilutes the power of popular majorities, and polarized parties make compromise impossible. Here, parties run on ambitious agendas and, when they win, typically find themselves foiled in their efforts to pass much of anything at all. Elections then devolve into bitter games of blame-shifting, in which the question isn’t how the public feels about what did happen but who the public holds responsible for what didn’t happen.

Many voters don’t know who controls the Senate, much less the role of the filibuster. Trump can talk about the ‘do-nothing Democrats’ while House bills gather dust in a corner of McConnell’s office! Voters are completely uninterested in process explanations. They don’t want to hear about how candidates can’t actually do things. But if you win, the opposing party will have a veto over most of the things voters care about.

More at www.vox.com/2020/2/10/21128617/sanders-biden-buttigieg-2020-democratic
-primary-warren


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, February 11, 2020 8:49 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


So SECOND: You hate Americans so much you won't discuss "What are Americans' interests"?

If JO, CC, WISHY, SHINY etc are reading this, please remember: SECOND hates you.

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Tuesday, February 11, 2020 9:53 AM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So SECOND: You hate Americans so much you won't discuss "What are Americans' interests"?

If JO, CC, WISHY, SHINY etc are reading this, please remember: SECOND hates you.

It has been discussed. The choice is 1) California Republican Party Platform
or
2) California Democratic Party Platform
www.cadem.org/our-california/platform

There are other states that have discussed this in great detail, working on their list of "interests" for many years. With 100 different versions, 2 for each state, does America really need version #101 and #102? Or version #329,276,001? Pick a state. Pick a party. Limit yourself to one out of the official 100. If the Green Party or other third parties or you have a wish list, it can be ignored since only Democrats and Republicans have the numbers to imaginably make their list a reality. Actually I don't think either party has the numbers to do anything since it take a super-majority to accomplish anything in American government at the Federal level.

www.texasdemocrats.org/our-party/texas-democratic-party-platform/


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, February 11, 2020 12:14 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


SECOND, YOU HATE AMERICANS, remember?

You've said so yourself many times. Why pretend to be concerned about what happens to the rest of us?

The main reason why you hate Americans, rooted in your personal history, is because Americans are stupid enough to fooled into being pro-war. (Or stupid enough not to recognize and appreciate YOUR personal cost for being fooled into a stupid war.)

well, most Dem Presidential candidates are just as pro-war as Republicans.

Also, most Dem politicians are just as beholden to Big Money as Republicans, and therefore NONE of them will address the root causes of wealth inequality. ("Pity would be no more, if we did not MAKE men poor". The causes of wealth inequality are rooted in systemic problems, and can't be solved by spreading money around, just like the causes of repeated famine can't be solved by food aid. "I believe in solving problems, not sharing them")

You hate Americans because they are easily fooled and don't hold their politicians to account. And yet here you are, encouraging Americans to be easily fooled and not hold their (Democratic) politicians to account. You yourself don't hold Democrats to account about ... ANYTHING.

You're so mired in hate that you can't think straight: You're CONSTANTLY contradicting yourself; it's been pointed out to you time and time again. Since your thinking is entirely twisted by hate, and you hate the people you're posting to, why should anyone take what you say seriously?


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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 6:56 AM

SECOND

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


The Age of Decadence
The real story of the West in the 21st century is one of stalemate and stagnation.

“What fascinates and terrifies us about the Roman Empire is not that it finally went smash,” wrote W.H. Auden of that endless autumn, but rather that “it managed to last for four centuries without creativity, warmth, or hope.”

The dilemma that Auden described is now not Rome’s but ours.

We — or at least we in the developed world — inhabit an era in which repetition is more the norm than invention; in which stalemate rather than revolution stamps our politics; in which sclerosis afflicts public institutions and private life alike; in which new developments in science, new exploratory projects, consistently under deliver. What if the meltdown at the Iowa caucuses, an antique system undone by pseudo-innovation and incompetence, was much more emblematic of our age than any great catastrophe or breakthrough? A story to illustrate the point:

A girl grows up in Texas, she gets accepted to Stanford, she wants to be Steve Jobs. She has an idea that will change an industry that hasn’t changed in years: the boring but essential world of blood testing. She envisions a machine, dubbed the Edison, that will test for diseases using just a single drop of blood. And like Jobs she quits college to figure out how to build it.

Ten years later, she is the internet era’s leading female billionaire, with a stream of venture capital, a sprawling campus, a $10 billion valuation for her company, and a lucrative deal with Walgreens to use her machines in every store. Her story is a counterpoint to every criticism you hear about Silicon Valley — that it’s a callow boys’ club, that its virtual realities don’t make the world of flesh and blood a better place, that it solves problems of convenience but doesn’t cure the sick. And she is the toast of an elite, in tech and politics alike, that wants to believe the Edisonian spirit lives on.

But the Edison box — despite endless effort and the best tech team that all that venture capital can buy — doesn’t work. And over time, as the company keeps expanding, it ceases even trying to innovate and becomes instead a fraud, using all its money and big-time backers to discredit whistle-blowers. Which succeeds until it doesn’t, at which point the company and all its billions evaporate — leaving behind a fraud prosecution, a best-selling exposé and the inevitable podcast and HBO documentary to sustain its founder’s fame.

That’s the story of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. It’s a big story. It’s another case study in what happens when an extraordinarily rich society can’t find enough new ideas that justify investing all its stockpiled wealth. We inflate bubbles and then pop them, invest in Theranos and then repent, and the supposed cutting edge of capitalism is increasingly defined by technologies that have almost arrived, business models that are on their way to profitability, by runways that go on and on without the plane achieving takeoff.

We used to go to the moon; now we make movies about space — amazing movies with completely convincing special effects that make it seem as if we’ve left earth behind. And we hype the revolutionary character of our communications devices in order to convince ourselves that our earlier expectations were just fantasies, “Jetsons stuff” — that this progress is the only progress we could reasonably expect.

For adults, the increasingly legal drug of choice is marijuana, whose prototypical user is a relaxed and harmless figure — comfortably numb, experiencing stagnation as a chill good time.

Today we are just 50 years removed from the peak of human accomplishment and daring that put human beings on the moon, and all the ferment that surrounded it. The next renaissance will be necessarily different, but realism about our own situation should make us more inclined, not less, to look and hope for one — for the day when our culture feels more fruitful, our politics less futile and the frontiers that seem closed today are opened once again.

More at www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/sunday/western-society-decadence.ht
ml


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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 7:19 AM

SECOND

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


Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were having breakfast together, the story goes, when Jefferson called Washington to account for agreeing to the creation of a second — and unnecessary, Jefferson thought — legislative chamber.

“Why,” responded Washington, “did you just now pour that coffee into your saucer before drinking?”

“To cool it,” answered Jefferson. “My throat is not made of brass.”

“Even so, we pour our legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it,” said Washington, making his point.

The purpose of the 31-member Texas Senate is similar to that of the U.S. Senate: to cool down some of the fevered legislation filed in the Senate or passed by a simple majority of the Texas House of Representatives.

This is accomplished by a Senate rule that requires a super-majority vote (60% of senators on the floor at this time) to bring up a bill for debate. This rule was enacted in 2015; for 70 years previously, a larger, two-thirds vote was required (21 votes of those present).

It’s no coincidence that the 2015 rule change mirrored the Senate’s partisan balance. It allowed Republicans, who held 20 seats, to bring up and pass a bill without any Democrat support. Now — with the possibility that Democrats may gain Senate seats in the general election — the idea has been raised to further lower the threshold during the 2021 legislative session to require only a simple majority vote.

More about how Senates are where legislation goes only to die at www.texastribune.org/2020/01/27/the-texas-senate-could-become-more-dem
ocratic-for-partisan-reasons
/

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 11:46 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were having breakfast together, the story goes, when Jefferson called Washington to account for agreeing to the creation of a second — and unnecessary, Jefferson thought — legislative chamber.

“Why,” responded Washington, “did you just now pour that coffee into your saucer before drinking?”

“To cool it,” answered Jefferson. “My throat is not made of brass.”

“Even so, we pour our legislation into the senatorial saucer to cool it,” said Washington, making his point.

The purpose of the 31-member Texas Senate is similar to that of the U.S. Senate: to cool down some of the fevered legislation filed in the Senate or passed by a simple majority of the Texas House of Representatives.

This is accomplished by a Senate rule that requires a super-majority vote (60% of senators on the floor at this time) to bring up a bill for debate. This rule was enacted in 2015; for 70 years previously, a larger, two-thirds vote was required (21 votes of those present).

It’s no coincidence that the 2015 rule change mirrored the Senate’s partisan balance. It allowed Republicans, who held 20 seats, to bring up and pass a bill without any Democrat support. Now — with the possibility that Democrats may gain Senate seats in the general election — the idea has been raised to further lower the threshold during the 2021 legislative session to require only a simple majority vote.

More about how Senates are where legislation goes only to die at www.texastribune.org/2020/01/27/the-texas-senate-could-become-more-dem
ocratic-for-partisan-reasons
/

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




What's your point? If you want to live in a state that passes every Democrat bill under the sun, go move to California.

Tell us how that works out for you.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 12:27 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

What's your point? If you want to live in a state that passes every Democrat bill under the sun, go move to California.

Tell us how that works out for you.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

The point is that Senates, in Texas and in DC, were designed to work in the same way -- to stop any changes that would be to the disadvantage of a George Washington or a Thomas Jefferson, extremely rich guys who did not want a House of Representatives passing laws that might disadvantage the rich. Or pass laws freeing their slaves. Both George and Thomas were slave-owners who worried that slavery might be outlawed, so they fixed things so it couldn't. They fixed things pretty well, too! If Senators from the slave-owning states had not withdrawn from the Union, laws ending slavery could have never passed.

I am delighted with the Senate! No income taxes in Texas! Very low taxes from DC for me! And I can treat my employees like they are slaves. No law to stop me except the minimum wage law, which the Texas GOP wants to remove.

Goal #25. Minimum Wage: We believe the Minimum Wage Act should be repealed.
www.texasgop.org/platform/

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 12:45 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


SECOND: You hate Americans. Why pretend that you care about what happens to the rest of us?

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 12:59 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

What's your point? If you want to live in a state that passes every Democrat bill under the sun, go move to California.

Tell us how that works out for you.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

The point is that Senates, in Texas and in DC, were designed to work in the same way -- to stop any changes that would be to the disadvantage of a George Washington or a Thomas Jefferson, extremely rich guys who did not want a House of Representatives passing laws that might disadvantage the rich. Or pass laws freeing their slaves. Both George and Thomas were slave-owners who worried that slavery might be outlawed, so they fixed things so it couldn't. They fixed things pretty well, too! If Senators from the slave-owning states had not withdrawn from the Union, laws ending slavery could have never passed.

I am delighted with the Senate! No income taxes in Texas! Very low taxes from DC for me! And I can treat my employees like they are slaves. No law to stop me except the minimum wage law, which the Texas GOP wants to remove.

Goal #25. Minimum Wage: We believe the Minimum Wage Act should be repealed.
www.texasgop.org/platform/

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




Seriously. Stop being an asshole and evading a question when it's asked of you.


We have plenty of states where Democrat senates are packed to the gills and they're free to do whatever they want.

Can you give me one example where this works out for people?


Just one.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 1:14 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Seriously. Stop being an asshole and evading a question when it's asked of you.


We have plenty of states where Democrat senates are packed to the gills and they're free to do whatever they want.

Can you give me one example where this works out for people?

Just one.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

California. Trump says it is a hellhole because of homeless people, but first you need to define who the people are that you want things to work out for. No political party wants to upset the wealthier 50% of voters in order to build houses in wealthy neighborhoods for the bottom 1% of non-voters who are homeless.

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 1:25 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

Seriously. Stop being an asshole and evading a question when it's asked of you.


We have plenty of states where Democrat senates are packed to the gills and they're free to do whatever they want.

Can you give me one example where this works out for people?

Just one.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

California. Trump says it is a hellhole because of homeless people, but first you need to define who the people are that you want things to work out for. No political party wants to upset the wealthier 50% of voters in order to build houses in wealthy neighborhoods for the bottom 1% of non-voters who are homeless.

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




OK. Let's pretend for a moment that the streets of major cities in California aren't littered with used hypodermic needles and covered in human shit.


The Top Four Reasons California Is Unsustainable

https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasdelbeccaro/2018/04/19/the-top-four-
reasons-california-is-unsustainable/#864f5c23a239


Quote:

According to a January 2017 study, “California state and local governments owe $1.3 trillion as of June 30, 2015.” The study was based on “a review of federal, state and local financial disclosures.” In other words, that $1.3 trillion in debt is the amount to which California governments admit.

Indeed, its government has made California unsustainable.




U.S. unauthorized immigrant population estimates by state, 2016

https://www.pewresearch.org/hispanic/interactives/u-s-unauthorized-imm
igrants-by-state
/

Quote:

A majority of U.S. unauthorized immigrants live in just six states – including California (with the largest population at 2.2 million), Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey and Illinois. There are eight states with 5,000 or fewer unauthorized immigrants. For more, see our report, "U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Total Dips to Lowest Level in a Decade," and our interactive charts on unauthorized immigrant population trends.




FAIL

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 1:31 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

SIX: Seriously. Stop being an asshole and evading a question when it's asked of you. We have plenty of states where Democrat senates are packed to the gills and they're free to do whatever they want. Can you give me one example where this works out for people? Just one.

SECONDRATE: California. Trump says it is a hellhole because of homeless people, but first you need to define who the people are that you want things to work out for. No political party wants to upset the wealthier 50% of voters in order to build houses in wealthy neighborhoods for the bottom 1% of non-voters who are homeless.

As a tax-paying Californian, let me tell you how "things are working out" here.

I know a few semi-employed people, one formerly homeless (literally living on the riverbed) and their relatives. They were all (formerly) working-class Americans of various ethnicities (Hispanic, Greek, Anglo, Irish) ... well, the jobs went away and they've been scrambling ever since.

One lived with his mom and her Social Security until she died, then went to live with his wife, her (formerly drug addicted daughter) and seven grandchildren. He got fed up with that life, became an itinerant worker in Idaho, Arizona and Nevada, experienced a heart attack and racked up tens of thousands in unpayable medical bills, moved back to California, got heart treatment and a NEW HIP, FOR FREE, on California's dime, and is noW thinking of moving back out to Arizona where he likes it better and can find work.

Mr Fomerly Homeless got a sweet deal working in Idaho (place to stay, cash money in his pocket) but didn't like the boss' wife so he quit, got a PLACE TO STAY IN LA AND MEDICAL SERVICES FOR FREE, on California's dime, and hs been scratching for a meaningful job ever since.

His cousin gets disability NOT DISABLED, on California's dime, and also MEDICAL CARE for free, on CA's dime.

Another neighbor, former contractor, gets DISABILITY and MEDICAL CARE- probably really disabled.

Do you see the trend here? GREAT BENEFITS, NO JOBS. Add into that the many illegal aliens that CA is determined to support. The benefits are like a magnet, pulling in the undocumented, indigent, and homeless from everywhere. But there aren't any jobs for peple who are willing to and capable of work, and no space for the tens of thousands of crazies and addicts who wandered here because the weather is nice and the befits are all right. That can't last.

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 1:37 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:

SIX: Seriously. Stop being an asshole and evading a question when it's asked of you. We have plenty of states where Democrat senates are packed to the gills and they're free to do whatever they want. Can you give me one example where this works out for people? Just one.

SECONDRATE: California. Trump says it is a hellhole because of homeless people, but first you need to define who the people are that you want things to work out for. No political party wants to upset the wealthier 50% of voters in order to build houses in wealthy neighborhoods for the bottom 1% of non-voters who are homeless.

As a tax-paying Californian, let me tell you how "things are working out" here.

I know a few semi-employed people, one formerly homeless (literally living on the riverbed) and their relatives. They were all (formerly) working-class Americans of various ethnicities (Hispanic, Greek, Anglo, Irish) ... well, the jobs went away and they've been scrambling ever since.

One lived with his mom and her Social Security until she died, then went to live with his wife, her (formerly drug addicted daughter) and seven grandchildren. He got fed up with that life, became an itinerant worker in Idaho, Arizona and Nevada, experienced a heart attack and racked up tens of thousands in unpayable medical bills, moved back to California, got heart treatment and a NEW HIP, FOR FREE, on California's dime, and is noW thinking of moving back out to Arizona where he likes it better and can find work.

Mr Fomerly Homeless got a sweet deal working in Idaho (place to stay, cash money in his pocket) but didn't like the boss' wife so he quit, got a PLACE TO STAY IN LA AND MEDICAL SERVICES FOR FREE, on California's dime, and hs been scratching for a meaningful job ever since.

His cousin gets disability NOT DISABLED, on California's dime, and also MEDICAL CARE for free, on CA's dime.

Another neighbor, former contractor, gets DISABILITY and MEDICAL CARE- probably really disabled.

Do you see the trend here? GREAT BENEFITS, NO JOBS. Add into that the many illegal aliens that CA is determined to support. The benefits are like a magnet, pulling in the undocumented, indigent, and homeless from everywhere. But there aren't any jobs for peple who are willing to and capable of work, and no space for the tens of thousands of crazies and addicts who wandered here because the weather is nice and the befits are all right. That can't last.

Signym, move to Texas and be my neighbor. It is a GOP Paradise, at least until the Democrats become a majority. Then it will morph into California.

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 1:47 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


I hate the weather in Texas. If I move anywhere it will be some place further north.

CA doesn't need better "benefits" it needs JOBS. Needing JOBS pretty much applies to just about anyplace in the USA. But that runs counter to the capitalist drive to get rid of employees as fast as possible. How do you solve that conundrum?

OH, that's right: YOU don't. You virtue-signal online even as you benefit from the system. And you've proven time and time again that you hate Americans, so why pretend to care what happens to the rest of us?

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:15 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hate the weather in Texas. If I move anywhere it will be some place further north.

CA doesn't need better "benefits" it needs JOBS. Needing JOBS pretty much applies to just about anyplace in the USA. But that runs counter to the capitalist drive to get rid of employees as fast as possible. How do you solve that conundrum?

OH, that's right: YOU don't. You virtue-signal online even as you benefit from the system. And you've proven time and time again that you hate Americans, so why pretend to care what happens to the rest of us?

I have never been interested solving that problem of going from 4% unemployment to 0%. But it could be done by having California government hire that 4% unemployed. But then again, the wealthier 50% of voters would strongly object. It might be as high as the top 96% of voters objecting.

I'll give you a California story and what I did to help the unemployed. Jill drove my Mother to the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses for seven years, in my car. Since then I supported Jill in her move to Toluca Lake, CA. She has been in California 3,045 days, costing me a total of $379,544 or $45,527 per year. I bought her a Toyota Camry so that she could work, but she never had a full time job. I send her articles by email about the low unemployment rate. I guess it is not low enough.

Luckily for me, Jill's problems are not my problems. She is California's problem and yours. And if you suggest that I pay so she can move back to Texas, I will impolitely and decisively decline to help. She had her chance and 8 years to become a self-supporting citizen and she wasted the chances.

www.bls.gov/eag/eag.ca.htm

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:17 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hate the weather in Texas. If I move anywhere it will be some place further north.

CA doesn't need better "benefits" it needs JOBS. Needing JOBS pretty much applies to just about anyplace in the USA. But that runs counter to the capitalist drive to get rid of employees as fast as possible. How do you solve that conundrum?

OH, that's right: YOU don't. You virtue-signal online even as you benefit from the system. And you've proven time and time again that you hate Americans, so why pretend to care what happens to the rest of us?

I have never been interested solving that problem of going from 4% unemployment to 0%. But it could be done by having California government hire that 4% unemployed. But then again, the wealthier 50% of voters would strongly object. It might be as high as the top 96% of voters objecting.



You're contradicting yourself buddy... again.

I asked you to give me a state run solidly by Democrats that works for the people because time and time again you say the only thing that is keeping Democrats from making everything a Utopia is that the Senate can't pass good Democrat bills.

You said California.

Then out of the other side of your mouth you say that they won't work for the people because they're not rich.

Do you even realize that you have zero points to make about anything?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:21 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


If you refer to the official unemployment rate as anything meaningful then you reveal yourself to be a hypocrite who is not interested in the truth. CLEARLY it doesn't matter to you what the real unemployment situation is, since you hate Americans and are only pretending to care what happens to the rest of us.

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:39 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:

You're contradicting yourself buddy... again.

I asked you to give me a state run solidly by Democrats that works for the people because time and time again you say the only thing that is keeping Democrats from making everything a Utopia is that the Senate can't pass good Democrat bills.

You said California.

Then out of the other side of your mouth you say that they won't work for the people because they're not rich.

Do you even realize that you have zero points to make about anything?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

California works fine, but not for every stupid asshole who nobody gives a damn about. Those people need to change themselves so that somebody cares enough to help. Just being alive and a citizen does not mean you'll get the help you want. You have to do more or else get little or nothing, at least until the voters of a state are willing to help everyone, no matter how young or old or ill or obnoxious or uninterested or crazy the person wanting/demanding/needing/begging for help is.

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:40 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

SIGNY: I hate the weather in Texas. If I move anywhere it will be some place further north.
CA doesn't need better "benefits" it needs JOBS. Needing JOBS pretty much applies to just about anyplace in the USA. But that runs counter to the capitalist drive to get rid of employees as fast as possible. How do you solve that conundrum?
OH, that's right: YOU don't. You virtue-signal online even as you benefit from the system. And you've proven time and time again that you hate Americans, so why pretend to care what happens to the rest of us?

SECONDRATE: I have never been interested solving that problem of going from 4% unemployment to 0%. But it could be done by having California government hire that 4% unemployed. But then again, the wealthier 50% of voters would strongly object. It might be as high as the top 96% of voters objecting.

SIX: You're contradicting yourself buddy... again.
I asked you to give me a state run solidly by Democrats that works for the people because time and time again you say the only thing that is keeping Democrats from making everything a Utopia is that the Senate can't pass good Democrat bills.
You said California.
Then out of the other side of your mouth you say that they won't work for the people because they're not rich.
Do you even realize that you have zero points to make about anything?



SECOND's thoughts are like a dog on a chain. His thoughts are chained by hate and can only run in circles.

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 2:48 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SECOND's thoughts are like a dog on a chain. His thoughts are chained by hate and can only run in circles.

I keep wondering what country you actually live in. If Americans were as generous in actuality as they are in their imaginations, nobody who holds up a sign on a street corner asking for food/help/money/job would have to wait more than five minutes before a crowd of American citizens would gather around to help. And they would keep helping, never stopping until they died or needed help themselves. But we don't live in a country anything like that. What will show up is the police to tell the homeless person to move.

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 3:49 PM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

SECOND's thoughts are like a dog on a chain. His thoughts are chained by hate and can only run in circles.

SECONDRATE: I keep wondering what country you actually live in. If Americans were as generous in actuality as they are in their imaginations, nobody who holds up a sign on a street corner asking for food/help/money/job would have to wait more than five minutes before a crowd of American citizens would gather around to help. And they would keep helping, never stopping until they died or needed help themselves.



PITY WOULD BE NO MORE IF WE (YOU) DID NOT MAKE MEN POOR.

There are people who truly need help, but most people just need a meaningful job at a living wage.

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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 3:59 PM

SECOND

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


Trump’s $740.5 billion military budget, which he submitted to Congress on Monday, is the largest since World War II (even adjusting for inflation), and it’s even more notable for what it emphasizes: building more nuclear weapons and expanding America’s global military presence.

This last feature seems contrary to Trump’s repeated promises to pull back from the world’s war-torn areas.

Nuclear weapons receive the biggest spending increase in the new defense budget—a 19 percent increase over the current year’s budget. This includes money for expanded weapons-production facilities as well as a new land-based intercontinental ballistic missile, a new long-range bomber, a new cruise missile, and a new nuclear-missile submarine.

Meanwhile, Trump is taking no action to extend New START — the strategic arms reduction treaty signed by President Barack Obama and then–Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in 2011 — which expires in one year. If he doesn’t renew it, Trump — and President Vladimir Putin — will be able to expand their arsenals without limit, and without the treaty’s verification provisions, which give each side the right to inspect the other’s holdings.

More at https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/02/trump-military-budget-defe
nse-740-billion-analysis.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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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 4:10 PM

SECOND

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


Quote:

Originally posted by SignyM:

PITY WOULD BE NO MORE IF WE (YOU) DID NOT MAKE MEN POOR.

There are people who truly need help, but most people just need a meaningful job at a living wage.

It would be trivial to create meaningful jobs at a living wage. Have the federal government order businesses to hire more employees and spread the work to more people by lowering the hours they work while increasing the wage rate per hour to compensate for fewer hours per worker. But that won't happen because business owners are not in business to create jobs. Owners will strenuously fight against it. Already employed tax payers/voters don't want to pay for it.

A much harder way to create more jobs is to lower the greenhouse gas emissions, the Green New Deal. But that won't happen because there is no such thing as Global Warming according to the GOP, and if there was, Americans don't want to pay to prevent it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal

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

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Wednesday, February 12, 2020 4:36 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.






And if democrats don't do anything different, how are they any better?

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Thursday, February 13, 2020 6:48 AM

THG


Space startup’s founders linked to shady dating website ring

Two founders and board members of Texas space startup Firefly Aerospace appear to be involved in running a ring of sham dating websites, according to the results of a two-year investigation published by Snopes on Wednesday.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/space-startup-s-founders-lin
ked-to-shady-dating-website-ring/ar-BBZVK2r?ocid=msedgntp


T

Deep state describes dedicated, educated professionals.

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Thursday, February 13, 2020 7:18 AM

SECOND

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


How a Bible prophecy shapes Trump's foreign policy

For an influential group of American Christians, support for Israel — and hatred of Iran — is based in a biblical prophecy.

When Trump authorized the drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, he was acting on the advice of a politically powerful group of evangelical Christians who believe the US and Israel are part of the Bible’s plan to bring about the second coming of Jesus.

Evangelical Christian Zionists are playing an increasingly visible role in Republican politics. Today, unprecedented access to the Trump administration has given them an opportunity to reshape the Middle East.

The video explains America's Bible based foreign policy.

It is all part of Signym’s theory of Trump is a loose cannon, which is exactly what foreign policy needs because it was getting too predictable.


In the Evangelicals’ view, Trump is heroic as was Queen Esther from the Bible who saves the Jews of Israel from being "destroyed, killed and annihilated" by the Persians of Iran. The relevant Bible quote:
Quote:

Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life — this is my petition. And spare my people — this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he — the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

Spoiler! Haman dies horribly. It is a messier death than a drone strike with Hellfire missiles.

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+7&version=NIV

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

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Thursday, February 13, 2020 7:54 AM

SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.


Quote:

PITY WOULD BE NO MORE IF WE (YOU) DID NOT MAKE MEN POOR.
There are people who truly need help, but most people just need a meaningful job at a living wage.

SECOND: It would be trivial to create meaningful jobs at a living wage. Have the federal government order businesses to hire more employees and spread the work to more people by lowering the hours they work while increasing the wage rate per hour to compensate for fewer hours per worker. But that won't happen because business owners

SUCH AS YOUSELF
Quote:

are not in business to create jobs. Owners will strenuously fight against it. Already employed tax payers/voters don't want to pay for it.
So, the source of the problem isn't lazy, stupid Americans (as you've posted) and its not Republicans (as you've posted), it's business?

Glad that you finally got around to seeing reality!



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

Happy New Year, WISHY. I edited out your psychopathic screed!

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Thursday, February 13, 2020 8:17 AM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Quote:

Originally posted by second:
How a Bible prophecy shapes Trump's foreign policy

For an influential group of American Christians, support for Israel — and hatred of Iran — is based in a biblical prophecy.

When Trump authorized the drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, he was acting on the advice of a politically powerful group of evangelical Christians who believe the US and Israel are part of the Bible’s plan to bring about the second coming of Jesus.

Evangelical Christian Zionists are playing an increasingly visible role in Republican politics. Today, unprecedented access to the Trump administration has given them an opportunity to reshape the Middle East.

The video explains America's Bible based foreign policy.

It is all part of Signym’s theory of Trump is a loose cannon, which is exactly what foreign policy needs because it was getting too predictable.

In the Evangelicals’ view, Trump is heroic as was Queen Esther from the Bible who saves the Jews of Israel from being "destroyed, killed and annihilated" by the Persians of Iran. The relevant Bible quote:
Quote:

Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life — this is my petition. And spare my people — this is my request. For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated. If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.”

King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he — the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen. The king got up in a rage, left his wine and went out into the palace garden. But Haman, realizing that the king had already decided his fate, stayed behind to beg Queen Esther for his life.

Spoiler! Haman dies horribly. It is a messier death than a drone strike with Hellfire missiles.

www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+7&version=NIV

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






Don't worry about it. T already started a thread letting us know that Trump already lost the Evangelical Right.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, February 14, 2020 8:37 AM

SECOND

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


7 things to know about the private equity industry

It shapes every big company in America, even those it never directly touches.

1 The private equity business model doesn’t have a technical or legal definition, but it normally refers to leveraged buyouts — a private equity firm offers to buy a business with cash that’s mostly borrowed, and the debt that accrues to the books of the acquired company rather than the private equity firm itself.

2 Because companies bought through the LBO process are now indebted, the business inherently becomes riskier and more fragile than it was before the acquisition — a small downturn might make them unable to cover interest costs and force them into bankruptcy.

3 At its best, private equity provides a new infusion of energy, money, and outside expertise that can help improve a company’s operational performance and set the stage for expansion.

4 At other times, the debt burden induced by the LBO simply makes it harder to raise capital for needed investments, making it even more difficult for the acquired company to survive and thrive in a changing business environment.

5 Sometimes, a private equity deal ends up profitable because the company is turned around and then resold as a success story at an initial public offering. But even an investment that ends in bankruptcy can be profitable because the private equity firm extracts funds via management fees and special dividends.

6 Only accredited investors (basically rich people and large institutions) can invest in private equity funds, which allows them (like hedge funds and other exotic investment vehicles) to operate in a very lightly regulated environment.

7 The existence of a large private equity industry influences the entire business world. Any company whose managers don’t adhere to the philosophy of maximizing shareholder value over any other interest (a sense of ethics, an obligation to long-time workers, a commitment to a particular community) risks being targeted for a leverage buy-out that would restructure the company to maximize shareholder value. Therefore any company that wants to stay independent more or less must play by shareholder value rules — the private equity industry serves as the enforcement arm of a larger philosophy.

More at www.vox.com/2020/2/14/21136478/what-is-private-equity-explainer


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, February 14, 2020 2:41 PM

6IXSTRINGJACK


Got a link that's not from Vox?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, February 15, 2020 6:25 AM

SECOND

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


When we sum up the evidence from Federal Reserve and Census Bureau numbers from 1982 to 2018, under Republican administrations, middle incomes stagnated almost completely, rising only 0.1 percent on average annually, while poverty increased an average of 2.6 percent per year. Under Democratic administrations, by contrast, middle incomes rose annually on average 1.3 percent and poverty declined 1.6 percent.

Despite that, Republicans have claimed that cutting taxes and domestic spending will best grow the economy, and the resulting prosperity will “trickle down’” to all. Democrats have argued that increased taxes and wise public investments would both grow the economic pie and slice it more equally.

http://blueview.org/2018/07/17/republicans-steal-the-american-dream/

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, February 17, 2020 6:14 AM

SECOND

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


How America Became “A City Upon a Hill”

“A society that is both clear and articulate about its intentions is something of a rarity in modern history,” Perry Miller lectured. “Most of the nations of Europe and Asia grew up by chance and by accident either of geography or politics.” In other countries, so much had changed over so much time, he explained, “that even the most patriotic citizens would not dare say to what conscious purpose the nation was originally devoted.” Europe had legends and myths, a murky past misted over by a cloud of unknowing. But America had a recorded past — a written and articulate beginning. All one needed to do was gather up the texts. All one had to do was check the sources. All one really had to do, Miller insisted, was read a single sermon by Winthrop.

This need for a purpose — this story of a nation founded in purpose and defined by it ever since — resonated with a wide range of thinkers and writers following the close of World War II and the opening of the Cold War. In the late 1950s, for example, Henry Luce, the powerful editor of Life magazine, asked respected intellectual and political leaders to articulate and explain the purpose of the country. “More than anything else,” he claimed, “the people of America are asking for a clear sense of National Purpose.” Respondents included politicians, poets, journalists, evangelists, and government officials — everyone from Billy Graham to Adlai Stevenson.

Most in this august group were haunted by a nation that seemed to have lost its way. As John Jessup, a prominent journalist, wrote, “Is there not a connection between the rise of nations and great purpose, between the loss of purpose and their decline?” The problem, it seemed, was complacency. Wealth had made Americans weak. “Part of our problem,” John W. Gardner declared, “is how to stay awake on a full stomach.” Nothing was being asked of the American people. Having achieved material success and world power, the United States seemed content to let citizens go about spending and consuming, little caring about a higher cause.

A whole culture of academics and public intellectuals took up these concerns. David Brinkley, Betty Friedan, Richard Hofstadter, C. Wright Mills, David Reisman, William Appleman Williams, and so many others in their own ways condemned American consumerism and anti-intellectualism in works that were broadly digested and debated by the American masses. Miller, who portrayed himself as a “lone wolf,” was by no means alone in his concerns. He, like others, believed that America’s influence might be terribly short-lived. “History is littered with the corpses of civilization that reached the limit of expansion, dug in behind walls and moats, and there yielded to decay,” he proclaimed. According to him, the materialistic culture of America would soon exhaust itself. It didn’t require particular genius “to ask yourself, at least from time to time, whether this American way of life is not rushing at a steadily accelerating pace toward a massive megalopolis which finally, of sheer dead weight, shall grind to an agonizing stop, and then crumble into ruin by the force of inertia.” As one of his students summarized, “He could imagine the end of America, if not of American affluence.” Yet for Miller, as for others, mere affluence constituted its own form of demise.

The content of Winthrop’s sermon — what Miller thought Winthrop was actually saying or proposing as a model — differed radically from what Reagan and others would make of it. According to Miller, this sermon called Puritans to model radical communal solidarity. It had nothing to do with the American Dream, nothing to do with bettering one’s life, nothing at all to do with making money or getting ahead. In fact, Miller claimed, Winthrop specifically rejected all such ideas. Going it alone, pulling ahead of others, getting rich or even trying to — these were the very dangers that Winthrop sought to guard against. Society’s success depended instead on mutual affection, being “knit together in this work as one man.” According to Miller, the Puritans exhibited “a mighty conviction of solidarity,” a “living cohesion” and “concept of a fellowship united in a common dedication.” Unlike today, Miller insisted, New England theorists thought of society “not as an aggregation of individuals, but as an organism functioning for a definite purpose, with all parts subordinate to the whole, all members contributing a definite share, every person occupying a particular status.”

According to Miller, the commitment to a higher cause and the dedication to God had made the Puritan community unusually successful, and the success of their venture — the wealth it generated — had eventually undermined the venture itself. When Puritans started making money, their purposes collapsed. “A hundred years after the landings, they were forced to look upon themselves with amazement, hardly capable of understanding how they had come to be what they were,” he wrote. They had lost sight of their cause and plan, their purpose and devotion.

That was the story Miller saw playing out again in the 1950s: The success of the United States, its sudden wealth and power, would soon prove the nation’s undoing.

More at www.neh.gov/article/how-america-became-city-upon-hill

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

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