Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Dr. Strangelove]

[THE_WIZARD_]

Die

[Dr. Strangelove]

That's German for "The".

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaXigSu72A4"]The Simpsons - Die Bart Die (English) - YouTube[/ame]

[hack]

You mean, as in "DIE_WIZARD_"?

[iam416]

No one who speaks German could be evil.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Yes, exactly. I think we'd all welcome that name change.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Jeff- Seen some reports that Irma may have set a record for the lowest central pressure ever for an Atlantic hurricane outside the Gulf/Caribbean

EDIT: Looks like Barbuda will take a direct hit. Antigua a glancing blow. Small mercy because Antigua has the majority of the population I guess.

[Dr. Strangelove]

He's been putting out mixed signals all day. It's only going to make Congress more confused as to what he actually wants. One minute US citizens must be put first; the next, DACA needs to be 'legalized'. Sessions walks out and says it's bad policy either way, whether it's constitutional or not.

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/905170032229056512[/ame]

[ame]https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/905228667336499200[/ame]

[The Oracle]

Just more garbage in, garbage out.

[Wild Hoss]

....I'm also smoker and a midnite toker too...

Midnite pole smoker

[Da Geezer]

Larry Summers:

Taxes were not cut 31 years ago. A central point of the 1986 Tax Reform Act was that it was revenue neutral. And since that time, taxes have been cut in 1997, 2001, 2003, 2009 and 2015.

Nonsense in almost every regard. Gary Cohn was precisely correct in saying that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was a large tax cut (and reform). What Summers actually says is that the act was revenue neutral. What he should have said was that the act was "supposed to be" revenue neutral but triggered substantial growth through the 80s and 90s (and was revenue-positive for 10 years). Substantial growth was delayed by the Bush tax increase in 1990, but, by and large, the 1986 cut was the underlying driver of economic growth until the Clinton tax cut of 1997 (welfare reform). In 1986, the top marginal rate was lowered from 50% to 33% (following the 1981 Reagan reduction from 70% to 50%). Other brackets had a similar reduction, but the reduction from 70% to 33% over 5 years made deductions and tax credits only half as valuable, and that is where the "reform" came in.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986

Summers and Paul Krugman have been beating the drums for what they call secular stagnation theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_stagnation_theory. It is an idea developed by socialists in the 1930s (and again in 1980-81) that posits that we cannot expect economic growth or full employment when the means of production are held by private citizens. Mainstream economists take the nonsense with a grain of salt BECAUSE IT HAS NEVER BEEN PREDICTIVE.

Speaking of which, you fellows really have a good handle on the various hurricane models, and it is interesting to hear you talk about them. What would you do with a hurricane model that predicted Irma would turn left and head toward S. America? It wouldn't take long for you to delete that model from your package of lines. Economics is the same way. When you have Larry Summers spouting drivel or Krugman saying the market will "never" recover from its 800 point drop on election eve, why do you give them any credibility? They have never been any more accurate than a hurricane model that predicts Irma will hit Venezuela.

[Da Geezer]

This is simple: in all of human history, people without jobs pick up and move to where the jobs are.

True, except when they are paid more not to work than they can make working. Then the incentive is to stay where they are because that is "the known" and a potential job is the "unknown"

[Da Geezer]

It's overhwlemingly rural and small-city America where good paying jobs are harder to come by. They aren't in places like Columbus, Indianapolis, New York City, Washington DC, etc. etc.. The people who live in rural and smalltown America, except for the Deep South, are overwhelmingly white. So yeah, you don't want to leave behind your beloved hometown of East Liverpool to find work because you deserve a good job and to live the same place your whole life? That's as great a sense of entitlement as exists anywhere in America.

Goodness, what a target-rich environment! As a rural, white, male, poor, conservative Republican, might I speak up for my brethren. On second thought, the following was circulating around the coffee shop in my town this morning:

Let this sink in for a minute.....Hundreds and hundreds of small boats pulled by countless pickups and SUVs from across the South are headed for Houston. Almost all of them driven by men. They're using their own property, sacrificing their own time, spending their own money, and risking their own lives for one reason: to help total strangers in desperate need.
Most of them are by themselves. Most are dressed like the redneck duck hunters and bass fisherman they are. Many are veterans. Most are wearing well-used gimme-hats, t-shirts, and jeans; and there's a preponderance of camo. Most are probably gun owners, and most probably voted for Trump.
These are the people THE LEFT LOVES TO HATE, the ones Maddow mocks. The ones Maher and Olbermann just *KNOW* they're so much better than.
These are The Quiet Ones. They don't wear masks and tear down statues. They don't, as a rule, march and demonstrate. And most have probably never been in a Whole Foods.
But they'll spend the next several days wading in cold, dirty water; dodging gators and water moccasins and fire ants; eating whatever meager rations are available; and sleeping wherever they can in dirty, damp clothes. Their reward is the tears and the hugs and the smiles from the terrified people they help. They'll deliver one boatload, and then go back for more.
When disaster strikes, it's what men do. Real men. Heroic men. American men. And then they'll knock back a few shots, or a few beers with like-minded men they've never met before, and talk about fish, or ten-point bucks, or the benefits of hollow-point ammo, or their F-150.
And the next time they hear someone talk about "the patriarchy", or "male privilege", they'll snort, turn off the TV and go to bed.
In the meantime, they'll likely be UP AGAIN BEFORE DAWN. To do it again. Until the helpless are rescued. And the work's done.
They're unlikely to be reimbursed. There won't be medals. They won't care. They're heroes. And it's what they do.

They did elect Trump....so there's that.

[The Oracle]

Lol

[CGVT]

Make sure you play this when you read that...

[ame]https://youtu.be/qYNH1baA_7k[/ame]