Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
By Nick Miroff @ WashingtonPost.com, Nov. 2, 9:30 pm
SAN DIEGO — Smuggling gangs in Mexico have repeatedly sawed through new sections of President Trump’s border wall in recent months by using commercially available power tools, opening gaps large enough for people and drug loads to pass through, according to U.S. agents and officials with knowledge of the damage.
The breaches have been made using a popular cordless household tool known as a reciprocating saw that retails at hardware stores for as little as $100. When fitted with specialized blades, the saws can slice through one of the barrier’s steel-and-concrete bollards in minutes, according to the agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the barrier-defeating techniques.
After cutting through the base of a single bollard, smugglers can push the steel out of the way, creating an adult-size gap. Because the bollards are so tall — and are attached only to a panel at the top — their length makes them easier to push aside once they have been cut and are left dangling, according to engineers consulted by The Washington Post [....]
Comments
Cue Condi Rice proclaiming "who could have foreseen terrorists going to Home Depot and sawing through structures?"
No wonder Trump is leaving New York - the Tower is now in grave peril. Safer behind a Moat™"
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 1:14am
I took pictures of the back servants entrance of Mar A Lago about year and a half ago on a drive around Palm Beach. It's just a 8 ft. wooden fence and door with a tiny sign, and nobody, nobody was manning it. It was easy to pull off on the shoulder (which is gravel, not pavement) of the highway in front oif it, and take as many pictures of the sign as I wanted. Was there in the car emailing for like a half hour. Nobody bothered me.
by artappraiser on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 1:43pm
That's cuz you were wielding Builders Emporium gear - Home Depot is different.
Anyway, they have the bestest security - I'm sure they'll tell you. And there must've been huge crowds where you were - you just missed them.
(what happened to the Chinese that breached security - stuff like that just disappears)
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 1:49pm
A significant chunk of my work life has been consumed by acts of Demolition. There have been many times when I surveyed the heaps of detritus growing around me and cried out: "Demolition is my Life!"
So, I don't want to help smugglers by giving them pointers but will observe in a general fashion that the development of tools and techniques to hurt structures with the least amount of manpower in the least amount of time is a dynamic industry.
The border wall is an engraved invitation to show off.
by moat on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 2:40pm
hah. In case you can't access the full article, WaPo not so circumspect, does have this graphic included:
by artappraiser on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 2:47pm
This is killing me. There are so many ways beyond the described categories to defeat the setup.
Must.....not.....help.....smugglers.....................
by moat on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 3:10pm
We can set up a private Master Class, Moat - important to pass on the tools of the trade, so to speak.
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 3:35pm
I sent you and AA a PM to show the tip of iceberg.
by moat on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 4:01pm
Honoured, will check it out. Wait, who's that knocking at my door this time of night...?
by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 4:08pm
Last year when visiting my parents one of her friends was ranting about wanting the wall. I told her then it was a stupid idea. I said, I'm 60 years old and there's isn't a wall built that I can't climb over. Do you really think those young men can't get over a 30 foot fence?
When I was younger and in the business I had 2 36 foot extension ladders and a third ladder I put between them like a scaffold. I'd often put the scaffold on the top rung at @ 35 feet. Most people aren't afraid of heights and could at least climb a ladder and get down the other side. I almost always worked alone and I could walk those 36 foot ladders up and onto the side of a house without any help at all.
I haven't had the extensive experience like moat but I've done enough demolition work to know how to cut through a beam several inches thick. With just a simple saws-all and a good quality Diablo blade. It might take a several minutes but with a lithium battery that's not a problem.
by ocean-kat on Sun, 11/03/2019 - 10:43pm
You don't seem to understand that the Wall is part of a deterrence system that includes cameras, sensors, drones and patrols Your simplistic analysis and stupid assumption that anyone thinks the Wall is insurmountable just shows you can't be taken seriously.
Before the Wall smugglers and illegals ran quickly across the open border area and disappeared into the rugged cover of the interior to waiting transportation. Whatever clever method is used to breach the Wall it will take time and give the enhanced security opportunity to respond. Some of these criminals will still get into the country but the days of border guards dragging the sandy border roads and later looking for footprints and then beginning a search are over.
I doubt we will see many women with young kids in tow climbing 35' ladders just as we haven't yet seen pictures of the supposed breach cut in the Wall.
by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 5:16pm
But did they spend billions on the cameras, sensors, drones & patrols like they did the famous Wall?
100,000 cameras is maybe $10-20 million. Trump stole $3.6 billion from the Pentagon budget. Lock him up (in an insane asylum). And if they can cut through that wall in 10 minutes, pretty sure all that extra detritus is useless.
by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 5:59pm
Those cost/benefit analyses typically are never the favorite part of the market presentation.
by moat on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 6:25pm
A few tens of billions spent on border security is dwarfed by the existing cost of illegals, estimated at between 130 and 200 billion to taxpayers every year.Your liberal math doesn't add up as usual and the burden is real.
It's almost funny to hear quibbling about a few billion spent on border security when the likely dem contender for President wants to saddle US taxpayers with a 52 Trillion health insurance tax bill.
by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 7:15pm
Well, the discussion was about what the money spent did to bring about a result.
Your assumption that it was money well spent is exactly what is being avoided in your remarks.
by moat on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 7:51pm
Tens of billions for a phony useless wall is Trump math a critical national emergency, he uses to get rabid applause when mentioned at his rallies of idiots and bigots.
$4.5 billion for food stamps is busting the budget.
Trump Administration Unveils More Cuts to Food Stamp Program
Oct. 4, 2019. WASHINGTON — The Agriculture Department moved again this week to cut spending on food stamps, this time proposing changes that would slice $4.5 billion from the program over five years, trimming monthly benefits by as much as $75 for one in five struggling families on nutrition assistance.
by NCD on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 10:28pm
I think I recall the dems voting for the border budget bill that that funded the enhanced surveillance tech for the border. Trump legally 'stole' unused DOD funds, which sent the dems into apoplectic fits, to continue building the Wall.
With a little help from Mexico illegal crossings are down if still too high and interdictions are up,win-win. .
by Peter (not verified) on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 6:36pm
The Dems went for the tech part but concluded the steel cages were not a good bang for buck.
by moat on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 6:38pm
Let's try that again - Trump didn't spend DoD money that he was obligated to spend (did he stuff troops? military preparedness? Kurds? ignore cybersecurity? Would have to look) and instead slid it over into one of his re-election hobby projects that Congress specifically had *not* funded. Again. Unconstitutionally. Trampling on Congress' power of the purse (but lickspittles like McConnell don't mind as long as wifeypoo Elaine gets free support for her Taiwan businesses and Mitch gets re-election bennies),
You really don't like the Constitution, do you Peter - it's let you down somehow, so a lawless state run by Putin-like oligarchs chs has become your fave model - why exactly? 60's disappointments we're that bad? Didn't we leave Vietnam and impeach Nixon? Republicans used to hold up Nixon as a model, and besides Iran-Contra he largely worked within the Constitution, even while dealing with a Dem majority. Why is democracy so distasteful now?
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 12:13am
PP, you've been away from the Homeland too long and the Voice of America must not be able to penetrate the EU thought police shield you live under.
The Supreme Court, you do remember them, ruled that it was proper and constitutional for Trump to use DOD funds for the wall under his emergency declaration. McConnell had no say in this executive decision nor did anyone in congress. Fortunately Trump got his DOD budget passed so this rounding error amount won't even be noticed but will increase our border security/national security.
Don't worry about Putin annexing your new home, Trump has Russia locked down with crippling sanctions and a quagmire in Syria where they must stay while we leave.
by Peter (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 1:45am
The GOP-packed Supreme Court ruled this, including the justice slot McConnell stole from Obama with an unconstitutional made-up rule (too bad Obama was too much a pussy to challenge this in court, but we knew his limits all along).
But as they say in New York, "you can look it up" - read the Constitution rather than relying on your partisan brothers to pre-digest it for you.
Interwsting you still go in for the Trump 13-Dimensional Chess theory - so why oh why does he have such a complete loudmouth idiot like Rudy Giuliani representing him as spokesman, hatchet man, fixer, unscrupulous businessman/thief? And why isn't Mexico paying for that Wall? And why are more coal mines going out of business? Remember when Trump said he was happy to release his taxes, and now when he loses his appeal to not release he's going to the Supreme Court to resist? Do you have Alzheimer's?
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-rights-does-trump-have-in-the-...
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 3:31am
Looking closer, this was not a full Supreme Court decision (with opinion briefs), but simply removing a stay from the Circuit Court's ruling that the transfer of money violated Constitutional powers. Breyer, one of the judges voting down the stay, still disagreed with the majority in saying he would have split-the-middle, allowing contracts to go forward but not allowing construction to begin.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a-green-light-on-the-border-wal...
Since then, El Paso's District Court ruled that Trump's moving of funds violated the Consolidated Appropriations Act, so was illegal and construction in West Texas could not proceed.
https://qz.com/1726898/texas-federal-court-finds-trumps-border-wall-emer...
But I think Trump's managed to build about 74 miles of Wall in 3 years - quite the overachiever as always - his loyal followers certainly approve.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 5:47am
One thing you cant deny is that Trump never gives up no matter what the do nothing dems do o think the Resistance can be putr refuse to do. The only way the cultural Marxists/Maoists can take over and destroy the US is by undermining the constitution so please stop preaching about your respect for that great document.I know it must be frustrating when the Trump juggernaut plows through the Resistance but we will regain control of our destiny or go down flighting. There are more deer hunters in Wisconsin than there are men in the largest army in the world and our military wears MAGA hats.I. think the Resistance can be defeated without violence but that depends on how far down their self destructive path they go.
Trump, Rudi, you and I are all flawed human beings but history shows and will show that flawed people can do great things when they stand up straight in their time in history and speak their truth.
by Peter (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 12:27pm
Oh jeez this moronic line. Only about 40% of republicans own guns. 20% of democrats also own guns.It's not like you and your dumb ass brothers are going to over whelm us. And most of the republicans with guns aren't gun nuts like you. They're not going to join your war. While democrats are more supportive of gun control legislation the majority of republicans support many of the democratic proposed gun control laws. You and your MAGA wearing fools are a minority even among republicans. Sure the mass of republicans will end up holding their noses and voting for Trump but they're not your allies and if he loses the election or even if he's impeached and removed from office, how ever unlikely, they aren't going to war over it.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 1:00pm
Wow, you sure jump to inane conclusions quickly. I stated clearly that I thought the collectivist can be defeated without violence and I know that many liberals would line up to turn in their weapons being good submissive Statists. Most conservatives don't seem as prone to fight their neighbors as you and some other clowns such as Antifa do. but they will stand up to a tyrannical government. Collectivists depend on tyranny to protect them.
by Peter (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 2:09pm
Sure you said that you thought you could win without violence but the completely asinine threat was there.
Come to my door mister deer hunter and this liberal can easily blow a big hole with my 30-06. Even if I miss a vital organ a hole that big will likely kill you. Still think your threat is leaving me quaking in my boots?
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 5:34pm
Re: the deer huntin' midwestern swing states demographic. I got a real kick out of this Iowa guy wearing a jacket and hat straight out of Cabela's catalogue, saying he was into trying the smart gay guy for a change.
That deer huntin' sub-culcha ain't what Peter is suggesting it is; puhleez, I grew up in it, I know.They're more old fashioned Reagan Dem than Trumpie (who only a short while ago was rich shithead exec. who liked to fire people on teevee and who likes gold plumbling, fancy livin' and fancy wimmin) and might even vote for a Jesse Jackson type if they are saying the right things.
by artappraiser on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 5:56pm
I imagine that even some of the more patriotic liberal gun owners will stand up to tyranny if it comes and it has always come with the socialists. People who believe they are so superior and can institute benign socialism are delusional and others crave the power tyranny under socialism might brig them.
Almost daily we see these defects of human nature such as the ex-CIA chief praising the deep state for their answering to a 'Higher Calling', whatever that means, in pursuit of their coup against Trump. A dem congresscritter is telling the candidates to shut up about their gun grabbing plans until they are back in power
The Party seems to be nearly in lockstep with these ugly demonic forces and even those who know better are so blinded by TDS they will walk into the abyss.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 7:43pm
By far the vast majority of Americans are socialist. When ever any republican tries to cut back just a little on the socialism people react so loudly they immediately back down. We play a game here in America. Democrats propose a little socialism. The republicans quite loudly and quite correctly call it socialism. They claim it will destroy America. Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn't. If the democrats get their program passed in a couple of decades everyone decides they like it and it's not socialism. Then we go through it again and again and again. We've got a lot of socialism in this country. We just decided not to call it that after the battle is won. The fight is always over how much socialism. It's never over socialism versus no socialism. That fight was over at least a century ago.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 9:28pm
You are confusing social programs or social democracy with socialism, definitions matter and many people seem confused about what socialism is and always has been. Social democracy operates under capitalist economies and provides programs on a needs basis while socialism is the economic base of communism with state ownership of the means of production and all planning.
China has a modified system with state and private ownership one party state control of the economy with crony capitalism to offset the failures of pure socialism. This is the model the globalists admire with its internal tyranny but they are frightened by their external aggression that could sour world opinion about China and interfere with the NWO agenda.
When Bernie talks about the wonders of socialism in the Nordic countries their leaders tell him to shut up and quit lying about their capitalists economies.because no one invests in socialists countries.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 10:55pm
Ok, if you want to talk about it that way. Then all the republicans who claimed every social program they didn't like for at least the last 100 years was socialism were wrong. And all the republicans who disparage Sanders as a socialist are wrong. He's clearly a social democrat as he claims to be. And none of the programs democrats propose are socialism and none of the democrats are socialists. So all the attacks by republicans and conservatives on democrats as socialist promoting socialism are lies. Republicans have been lying about democrats with false accusations of socialism for at least a century.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 11:09pm
No I want real accurate definitions for the terms people use to sell their snake oil nonsense.
Bernie claims proudly to be a democratic socialist which is an oxymoron and he's already a millionaire so he is ready to expand his wealth as all socialist leaders do even while their people dine from dumpsters..
Republican votes were required to pass all our social programs and wise conservatives worried and warned about unlimited growth, waste,and corruption in these programs which all came true. Half of the federal budget goes to them and there are 60 million Americans on Medicaid alone.
Trump's economic policies have reversed some of these trends with about 3 million people getting off SNAP because they are now earning too much money to qualify. This progress drives dems crazy because people less dependent on the dole are less likely to vote for the dole and dependency party.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 12:16am
Yes, while hunters might skew republican it includes all types, liberal hunters like me, democrats of all types and republicans. Even Trump jr. isn't a deer hunter. He's a trophy hunter. The elite breed of hunter. A deer hunter would be excited if he got an 8 or 10 point buck but that's not why he's there. He's happy to just get a deer and the meat.
Eta: Before Reagan most of the hunters were Union democrats. When I was growing up it seemed like everyone worked for the Bethlehem Steel, everyone was in the union, everyone had a gun, everyone hunted, and everyone voted democratic.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 9:48pm
You mean he's like a boil on your ass that just won't go away? A vain self-promoter who puts his shit in your face at whatever opportunity? A clumsy fucktard who's guaranteed to screw up everything - his wall, his trade war, his abandoning the Kurds, choosing his consigliare, his Chinese spies at Lago-de-fucking-Mare, forgetting his own appointees names, simply every fucking thing - how many people who worked for him left already? (how many in jail?) how many are "temporary" for a matter of years? well he's abusive and retarded, so no wonder he can't hold on to staff, plus he's spoiled and entitled so absofuckinglutely refused to obey any rule whtasover, including tax evasion laws (yes, they will catch up with the motherfucker - sooner now than later). Wow, a real positive attribute, that he persisted in being stupid and criminal and gave up on the minimum of covering his tracks? You really have to stoop low for your anal support. What gives, are you 2 lovers or you have a man crush, or you just have such shitty taste that you can't go for a sport team where we accept fandom's largely irrational, you have to go for the most idiotic politician around? I mean at this point even Huckabee or Jeff Sessions might be a more intelligent choice.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 1:32pm
our military wears MAGA hats
I beg to disagree that this is still the case, if it ever was, and I regularly check the news at sites like the Army Times and Stars and Stripes.
You are as much into spinning yourself on fantasy narratives as he is. It's sad because, like with him, it's easy to see how you are trying to pump your depressed self up with hyperbole. The more florid you get on that front, the more pitiable you look. Trying to convince yourself you're with a winning team, spinning yourself silly.
If you stick to the facts of policy you like, no one can really win a debate against you, because you are simply stating what you would like to see. All the guff and ridicule you get here is because you start spinning fantasy narratives about great leader savior Trump and his many acolytes.
P.S. Recent suggestion that something's not all happy MAGA with this other force as well.
by artappraiser on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 6:16pm
That the wall is insurmountable is the nonsense Trump was telling his stupid and gullible supporters. He even claimed it was tested by professional climbers and couldn't be climbed. Not only does Trump either believe or lie about it but many if not most of his dumb ass supporters believe it too. Stupidity and ignorance is the defining characteristic of most Trump supporters.
by ocean-kat on Mon, 11/04/2019 - 6:37pm
Good thing Mexico paid for it.
by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 12:14am
OK, you're so predictable having to edit out 'virtually 'from Trump's statement so you could feel superior and smear your neighbors. Sounding like a demented antisocial old desert rat, who spent too much time in the AZ sun, may get you red flagged.
You said you used to climb a 35' ladder with no backup which was definitely stupid and ignorant..
by Peter (not verified) on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 1:14pm
You mistakenly think I'm interested in having a dialog with you. You've shown you're not capable of rational dialog. All I'm doing is occasionally pointing out how incredibly stupid your posts are.
by ocean-kat on Tue, 11/05/2019 - 1:39pm
No I want real accurate definitions for the terms people use to sell their snake oil nonsense.
The definitions of many of these words are not exact. What you want is for people to use your definitions. And when it makes it easier to make your argument you shift your definition. You expect others to shift along with you. It's a tails you win heads I lose game. Either republicans were
wrongright when they claimed these social programs were socialism or you are right when you claim "You are confusing social programs or social democracy with socialism." It can't be both.Bernie claims proudly to be a democratic socialist which is an oxymoron and he's already a millionaire so he is ready to expand his wealth as all socialist leaders do even while their people dine from dumpsters..
It's an oxymoron when Sanders claims to be a democratic socialist but not an oxymoron when you say, "You are confusing social programs or social democracy with socialism?" Why, because you reversed the words social and democracy?
Republican votes were required to pass all our social programs and wise conservatives worried and warned about unlimited growth, waste,and corruption in these programs which all came true. Half of the federal budget goes to them and there are 60 million Americans on Medicaid alone.
They also fought against them and called them socialism. Were they wrong?
Trump's economic policies have reversed some of these trends with about 3 million people getting off SNAP because they are now earning too much money to qualify.
In most cases they weren't removed from the roles because they were earning more money but because the rules were changed. Before Obamacare I didn't qualify for Medicaid. After Obamacare I did. Even though at that time I was earning more money. My financial situation improved yet I got more assistance because the rules changed. Usually it's the rules that change that causes people to be eliminated from the roles. Republicans simply don't care if people need help. They only care about two things. Cutting social spending and cutting taxes for the very rich.
This progress drives dems crazy because people less dependent on the dole are less likely to vote for the dole and dependency party.
This illustrates why you're a moron and a partisan hack. Democrats would be ecstatic if everyone on EBT had such good paying jobs that they didn't need it. But no one, not democrats or republicans know how to do that. Democrats have some ideas that might help, like raising the minimum wage, but of course republicans oppose them. Democrats would be happy if some people were removed from the roles because they earned more money with a higher minimum wage but will fight against republicans who try to change the rules to remove people who need assistance from the roles.
by ocean-kat on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 3:16am
It's an unsophisticated Bannon-era Breitbart meme he's bought into. It's just un-nuanced agitprop. Here's Boris Johnson pushing it right now:
It sells around the world, gotta give 'em that. Corbyn types and other lefties don't help with the rhetoric they use sometimes. (Times like this I wish we had the younger Bill Clinton back to give one of his famous 'splainers in the vernacular.)
Edit to add: what's amazing about Trump is he has continually proven himself incapable of doing it well (ie., where's the wall, where are the pesos-PP does it better upthread where he adds that Jeff Sessions could do a better job) but the fans still believe he's doing it. Self-brainwashing from a narcissist demagogue, as if he's doing it well.
by artappraiser on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 2:06am
Here's a nuanced retort to Boris' agitprop from the editor of the Financial Times:
by artappraiser on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 2:39am
Same talking point from Trump's mouth just now (at Louisina rally):
by artappraiser on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 9:38pm
Art, the truth about the dems behavior, displayed every day by the dems for all to see, is an effective talking point for Trump while the deception and lies in the dem's talking points are fooling no one but the ideologically possessed.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 10:16pm
Um, I think Bernie's relatively exact (a bit of hypocrisy, but he largely walks the walk). It's a bit like dinging Al Gore as not serious about global warming because he flew in a jet (a favourite GOP rhetorical trick that usually looks grade school except to their true believers). Bernie's largely been pushing the socialist thing since forever. Even if it's his revolution, he'd likely be less Ortega and Qaddafi, more Chavez and Allende, i.e. maybe not a more modest leader, but a less corrupt/hoarding one.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 2:21am
there are 60 million Americans on Medicaid alone.
40% of them are children. What do you propose we do with them? Should we force women to take birth control until they can provide proof of financial ability to pay for health insurance for their children? If they get pregnant should we strap them down and perform an abortion if they can't pay for insurance? Or do you stand with Ebenezer, "Are there no prisons? Are there no work houses?" Should we just put those kids to work?
1 in 7 elderly on Medicare also get Medicaid. Many for institutional care. Should we just let them die in their home?
What exactly do you propose we do with the young, the old, and the disabled that get Medicaid?
by ocean-kat on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 3:38am
OK, it's difficult to tell if you are being disingenuous or are just dense. "My" definitions are textbook definitions as accurately as I can recall them aimed at clearing up your confusion and I failed.
I didn't switch any words around, social democracy is the term used to describe capitalist economies such as those in the Nordic countries while Bernie's Democratic Socialists are a Marxist political movement hiding the tyranny socialism brings behind the word Democratic. Can you name one country where socialism has brought democracy to its people?
THe republicans who called social programs socialists may have been technically wrong but they were prescient about where the dems were going as we see very clearly today. This doesn't excuse you or Bernie for doing the same thing to to make a socialist agenda more palatable.
You're correct that program changed are responsible for some of the SNAP reductions. Work requirements pushed some people back into productive employment where Trump's booming economy offered them high enough wages to no longer qualify for snap, another win-win. The majority of the SNAP reduction seems to be from earning their way out of this dependency on big government, another good thing.
My opinion about the dole/dependency Party is based in fact not just opinion. Can you name one dem program or policy past, present or proposed that has or will make the poor less dependent on big government and not have negative effects on the economy. I have yet to hear any dem praise the fact that most of the wage gains in Trump's economy have gone to poor and working class Americans. I only hear lies and criticism about his policies and calls for collectivist redistribution schemes.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 4:05pm
States have increased the minimum wage. The action by the states may be more important for the wage increases than Trump.
by rmrd0000 on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 4:43pm
I'd guess 90% of Americans who profess to support socialism are talking about social programs such as universal healthcare, education (which we obviously have K-12), and other needed services via redistribution (typically relying on capitalism as a monetary engine of democracy & reasonable taxation), rather than government controlling the levers of industry a la Marx.
And yet you seem somewhat accepting the Nordic model, while seem critical of "collectivist redistribution schemes" - though I can't tell if you mean collective farms (we have capitalist collective farms now) or other government seizure of industry, nope, that's far from happening or finding support. (Though irresponsible tax cuts harm needed programs, while time and again have been shown not to be an easy boost to the economy, aside from 1-time stiumulys-for-the-rich that often doesn't translate to immediate spending & actual economic stimulus)
https://fee.org/articles/is-sweden-socialist-no-but/
Note we also offer heavily socialized benefits for the military - both active & retired - that we seem to accept both because 1) the military's been put in a class all to itself, deserving of extra respect & benefits; 2) we don't call the military's benefits "socialism", so people largely ignore the reality. In terms of competitive market pricing, they're far more pampered.
by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 4:45pm
I was pleasantly surprised when Trump's tax reform for the rich and deregulation produced such a quick and sustained boost to the economy. Perhaps the planets were in perfect alignment or his hacking off some of the tentacles that were sucking at our vitality helped. Ditching the TPP, pulling out of the Paris Accord, stopping the CPP, -replacing NAFTA, opening up new oil/gas leasing and especially taking on China under the banner of MAGA seems to have helped.
Military benefits are earned and part of national security and shouldn't be demeaned by calling them socialized.
by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 9:38pm
Well, once again, you will have to point to how that effect has occurred. If you have any conservative impulses, you will have to explain how the ballooning deficit with the the tax breaks really amounts to an advance in fiscal sobriety.
Your team seems to be riding around high on crack.
by moat on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 9:53pm
A trillion dollars of deficit spending a year would have had a much bigger economic effect if was given to the middle class instead of the super rich. Of course deficits don't matter if republicans hold the power. If a democrat is elected in 2020 suddenly republicans will get worried about deficit spending again.
by ocean-kat on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 10:08pm
Fuck that, you clown - the military is made up of normal citizens - not sacred like the goddamn deceiving right has made them, and if they deserve socialized benefits for any dangerous service, I will call them exactly that - socialized - and it doesn't demean them to hear the truth.
What a shitty propagandist you are.
And yeah, I benefited from some of these socialized benefits coming from a military family, and I know exactly how generous they were to those who risked everything and those who risked much less, while outside this socialized paradise real deserving people who often risked as much doing key jobs in our economy didn't get squat and lived and died painfully. So cut the 2-level citizenship crap - your precious Founding Fathers didn't put it in the Constitution (but they did make a note of choosing justices and treason and bribery and how to impeach those who partake & abuse - maybe refresh on those key sections)
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 1:32am
Who demeans the military? Trump - any military person who disagrees with him, he insults. Certainly no valor in him, nor principle to the GOP that enables him & cheers him on. Surrendering our foreign policy to Putin & Erdogan & Mohammed bin Salman? Treasonous. Why did these vets bother fighting if all we were going to do was surrender anyway?
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 2:39am
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 4:47am
Buttigieg knows where many disgruntled votes lie that will be easy pickings:
by artappraiser on Sun, 11/10/2019 - 9:50pm
You will have to point to what "wage gain" measure you are referring to. There are many conflicting methods in that regard.
You seem to equate all government institutions with socialism. Government institutions existed long before that idea of "socialism" appeared. The rejection of unfair taxation that fomented the U.S. revolution was an embrace of the need for local representation of structures built to educate, protect us, and serve our common interests as a people stuck with each other in a place.
All policy has a "social" consequence. The border wall is an example. The building of it is your Government making conditions for a general public.
Your description of the overall struggle of ideas eludes all the actual problems of shaping our future as agents with a choice. You offer simply a fate we all have to agree with if we are to survive. An appeal to a belief of some kind.
by moat on Wed, 11/06/2019 - 8:30pm
Sweden & Norway have done quite well mixing socialized redistribution with capitalist development. Germany even has a works council that requires workers to be part of the decision-making process, while also relying on heavy socialized redistribution (including a mandatory 10% tithing to the government for church members!)
Marx was German - I don't think he ever visited Latin America, nor St. Petersburg nor Beijing. Just because Latin America has a certain experience with implementing communism due to its Spanish colonialist past & societal structures doesn't mean that Marx & Engel's socialism is only a reference to the Latino version as played especially by Fidel Castro. And it's much more accurate to say Marx's ideas 150 yers after Das Kapital live more as an oft-misunderstood & maligned hedge to vulture capitalism than as an ideal Brave New World of its own.
by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 11/07/2019 - 2:32am