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  • Originally posted by Dr. Strangelove View Post

    So better to be a slave in a wealthy society than a free man in a "shithole country"? Do you really believe this?
    Not necessarily but I do believe that what replaced colonial life in the Caribbean and Central America was a disaster. While capitalism was never correctly associated with the economies of the colonial powers there were elements of free enterprise and mercantilism that flourished in colonial Great Britain..... all to the benefit of those that rose up to benefit from it. That included some notable and previously slaves or their descendants. As the British gradually gave up empire, the vacuum in governance created was filled with Marxist ideologies or brutal dictators (wait, is there a difference?). That transfer of power eventually delivered, not the promise of social benefits to workers, but instead, the currently failed states that predominate in the Caribbean and Central America
    Last edited by Jeff Buchanan; August 28, 2020, 12:35 PM.
    Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

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    • Originally posted by Jeff Buchanan View Post
      BTW and somewhat related, Putin and Lukashenko, according to some analysts writing in the Economist, are showing signs of desperation and fear ..... something dictators start to exhibit when "the rifle and the syringe" are no longer effective in controlling the people that show up in the hundreds of thousands to demand they leave town.

      It is said these types live in absolute terror that their security forces won't be able to protect them when the people they govern get tired of their lies, deceit and corruption and bring down the palace's gates. Putin's hold on power, in particular, is dependent on keeping the Oligarchs happy and this is getting hard with oil prices dwindling. Both of these two are on life support.
      On Lukashenko, agree. Disagree on Putin. Everyone knows he rigs elections but he's still seen as the only 'indispensable' man. No oligarch can unite enough people. And do you know how many oligarchs Putin has kicked from power, driven from the country, or demoted to Siberian Outpost #415 Station chief?

      Luka lacks an oligarch class altogether as far as I know. It's mainly him and the military. Putin will back him up if necessary, not because he has any great outstanding love for him (his independence streak has grown over the decades) but because Putin doesn't want anyone very pro-West running Belarus. Luka is a little bit like Tito in that he gives both Russia and the West enough hope that he might be "their guy" that neither ends up wanting to replace him.

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      • "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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        • DSL, Putin may be a reach and I should have attributed that take to the author's writing about hm in this way to the Economist. I'm no Russia expert. OTH, the old guard in Russia - similar to the boomers in the US - are being replaced by a dissatisfied core of committed anti-communists and human rights advocates. Russia isn't Hong Kong now under the PRC's thumb were you round up the dozen or so dissidents, send them to labor camps and threaten their thousand young followers with the same. When you have 100s of thousands of young people demanding change - what the now comatose Alexei Navalny was mobilizing - that's a different story.

          It's true, Putin is still firmly in charge but his people - the people who he promised so much to a decade or more ago - are looking at their declining standard of living and wondering why he and his cronies are flying around in jets and sailing the world in mega-yachts, while they're eating potato soup. This is an age-old problem that I have repeatedly spoken of. If you can't keep the folks happy, if you tell them to "eat cake" - potatoes in Putin's case - the folks are going to come for your head.
          Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

          Comment


          • Iguanas ..... I have those in my yard. Lots of them. There is one who is about 5 feet long including his tail. His mid-section is probably 8-10 inches in diameter and I'll bet he weighs 40 pounds. They are fast mother fuckers and want nothing to do with an approaching humn ..... they scamper away to the nearest hole in the fence.

            You can legally trap or shoot them (humanely of course). I have a long barrel .22 hand gun that would be perfect but hitting one of them in the head to quickly kill it would be a challenge.
            Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

            Comment


            • It takes courage to be a member of a mob surrounding and accosting one lone white man who isn't fighting back.
              The Ds condemn rioting but, again, they won't ever specifically condemn anyone. Like that. Buncha fucking pussies. That's Joe Biden's America in a nutshell.
              Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
              Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

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              • It's better to be a descendant of a slave in a wealthy society than to live in a shithole country. i.e. a black man or woman living in America in 2020.

                Or do you really think that American Blacks today are worse off than if they were living instead in sub-Saharan Africa?
                100%. There's a reason you won't get any of the resident #GentryProgs to touch that point.
                Dan Patrick: What was your reaction to [Urban Meyer being hired]?
                Brady Hoke: You know.....not....good.

                Comment


                • Originally posted by iam416 View Post

                  100%. There's a reason you won't get any of the resident #GentryProgs to touch that point.
                  What resident Gentry Progs? There's none left but me that post more than once a day, thanks to you running them all off. SAD!

                  Poor Jon and JD hit "post Reply" and before they've even had time to lean back in their working man's chair that lil avatar of HBC Urban Meyer is there, calling them a dumbass.

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                  • I wish I was making this up.

                    Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill joined his teammates Thursday in skipping practice to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake and offered a wild opinion about the U.S.


                    Did this guy earn a HS diploma? Did he go to college for anything other than chasing women and playing football?

                    Poor Jon and JD hit "post Reply" and before they've even had time to lean back in their working man's chair that lil avatar of HBC Urban Meyer is there, calling them a dumbass.
                    I've never met JD, but I know Jon pretty well. He's a big boy, and he can handle criticism from anyone. He and I differ on political issues, but I'd trust the man with my last dollar.

                    "in order to lead America you must love America"

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                    • We've talked about this ..... the markets being disconnected from the "real" economy. A picture is worth a thousand words and DSL is going to see the implications of this chart differently than I do. The economy, the part that contributes to most to GDP is fine thank you very much. It's small business and travel that's hurting but their contribution to GDP is small compared to FANG.

                      One thing I will say is that the big boys don't need anymore federal help but the little guys definitely do. I posted about a study here up thread that said the $600 per week federally provided unemployment benefit added to state UEBs lifted more folks out of poverty than any previous federal efforts to do so and that the benefits contributed directly to spending on stuff. What they didn't do is keep people from seeking jobs. The positive economic impact argument v. the argument that UEBs at the rate first provided discouraged people from work, changed my mind on this. I wrote my reps about that and told them to get off their dead asses and get a second stimulus package out the door and on the president's desk targeting small businesses, the travel industry (PPP) and getting helicopter cash inot the hands of folks that will buy TVs and shit.

                      COVID SHOCK.PNG
                      Use Control + within your browser to embiggen the chart. Its as big as I could get it on download.
                      Mission to CFB's National Championship accomplished. But the shine on the NC Trophy is embarrassingly wearing off. It's M B-Ball ..... or hockey or volley ball or name your college sport favorite time ...... until next year.

                      Comment


                      • Originally posted by Jeff Buchanan View Post
                        Iguanas ..... I have those in my yard. Lots of them. There is one who is about 5 feet long including his tail. His mid-section is probably 8-10 inches in diameter and I'll bet he weighs 40 pounds. They are fast mother fuckers and want nothing to do with an approaching humn ..... they scamper away to the nearest hole in the fence.

                        You can legally trap or shoot them (humanely of course). I have a long barrel .22 hand gun that would be perfect but hitting one of them in the head to quickly kill it would be a challenge.
                        I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbecued Iguana...
                        Shut the fuck up Donny!

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                        • Some good non-riot or Covid news:


                          4-year-old drifts out to sea on a unicorn float is rescued:

                          Attached Files
                          "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

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                          • I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbecued Iguana...
                            A menu idea for your bar?
                            "in order to lead America you must love America"

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                            • Wiz already has the 6th best iguana in all of Nebraska.
                              "The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is sometimes hard to verify their authenticity." -Abraham Lincoln

                              Comment


                              • People do not appreciate how much of a clusterfuck this is going to be. I was talking with a company lawyer and he raised an issue that's in this article: what if someone quits or is fired during the deferral period? How does the company ever recoup the employee share after they're gone? Welp, good luck with that potential lawsuit. If they're allowed by law, I think most companies won't even do what Trump wants them to do and will just continue withholding the tax from paychecks.

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