Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[Mike]

Some people just refuse to accept that they are better off today than a mid-19th century Welsh coal miner.

Some people just insist on missing the point.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Some people just insist on missing the point.

Right, Mike, yeah. Trump was making a nuanced point about relative wealth compared to the rest of the world. That sounds like him. Carefully thought out, nuanced points.

He's an idiot trying to justify bad policy. No, most Americans were not better off in the late 1800s. No, America cannot cover the cost of the budget through fucking tariffs.

[iam416]

Trudeau's problem is that he is a Prog. He printed way more money, relatively speaking, than The Chairman did and he presides over an economy way more state-run. The outcome is entirely predictable to anyone vaguely familiar with reality.

[iam416]

Wait, is DSL really insisting that DJT thinks Americans were "better off" in 1820? I mean, I get the relative wealth point. I have no idea if it's true or not -- I certainly wouldn't bet on it. In fact, I'd bet against it.

But is DSL really insisting that DJT wants to go back to 1820? JFC.

[Mike]

Trump said something about something so it must be the worst/dumbest thing ever. Case closed.

Facebook announced it is doing away with it's "fact checkers" because they have such an obvious political bias. Instead, they will use a community notes system like X.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Sorry it was the 1890's, not 1880's he was gushing about. And he said it that was when we were the wealthiest we've ever been and it's all thanks to tariffs.

"We’re going to use tariffs very, very wisely. You know, our country in the 1890s was ... probably the wealthiest it ever was, because it was a system of tariffs. And we had a president — you know McKinley, right? You remember Mount McKinley? And then they changed the name. But one of those things. He was really a very good businessman, and he took in billions of dollars at the time, which today it’s always trillions, but then it was billions and probably hundreds of millions. But we were a very wealthy country, and we’re going to be doing that now."

Trump flunks American history with another rant about tariffs

As is typical with most Trump claims, this one requires a fact check. McKinley was a member of the House — not president — when his proposal for massive tariffs was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890. And far from the economic boom Trump suggests it was, the tariffs were widely unpopular and contributed to major Republican electoral defeats in 1890 and 1892, followed by a depression known as the Panic of 1893. The 1890s also coincided with the end of the Gilded Age, a period known for extreme wealth inequality.

[Jeff Buchanan]

Can't you make the same comparison for any politician that utilizes a bombastic approach to rallying support?

Probably ....... What I was trying to convey in the post in question was that as Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, he and Joseph Goebbels made extensive use of the kinds of methods to rally political support typical of strongmen or authoritarians. There's a cultish messianic character to them. That sort of thing has definitely been a part of DJT's campaigning. Musk, Bannon and others have participated as Megaphones and probably formulators of Trump's platform planks in a similar way to Joseph Goebbel's role in developing a Hitler cult and advancing the tenets of Nazisim.

[iam416]

Sorry it was the 1890's, not 1880's he was gushing about. And he said it that was when we were the wealthiest we've ever been and it's all thanks to tariffs.

"We’re going to use tariffs very, very wisely. You know, our country in the 1890s was ... probably the wealthiest it ever was, because it was a system of tariffs. And we had a president — you know McKinley, right? You remember Mount McKinley? And then they changed the name. But one of those things. He was really a very good businessman, and he took in billions of dollars at the time, which today it’s always trillions, but then it was billions and probably hundreds of millions. But we were a very wealthy country, and we’re going to be doing that now."

Trump flunks American history with another rant about tariffs

As is typical with most Trump claims, this one requires a fact check. McKinley was a member of the House — not president — when his proposal for massive tariffs was signed into law by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890. And far from the economic boom Trump suggests it was, the tariffs were widely unpopular and contributed to major Republican electoral defeats in 1890 and 1892, followed by a depression known as the Panic of 1893. The 1890s also coincided with the end of the Gilded Age, a period known for extreme wealth inequality.

So, was the US a "very wealthy" country or "probably the wealthiest we've ever been" or not? The "debunking" doesn't seem to address that.

[iam416]

Trump said something about something so it must be the worst/dumbest thing ever. Case closed.

Facebook announced it is doing away with it's "fact checkers" because they have such an obvious political bias. Instead, they will use a community notes system like X.

This. 100%.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Probably ....... What I was trying to convey in the post in question was that as Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, he and Joseph Goebbels made extensive use of the kinds of methods to rally political support typical of strongmen or authoritarians. There's a cultish messianic character to them. That sort of thing has definitely been a part of DJT's campaigning. Musk, Bannon and others have participated as Megaphones and probably formulators of Trump's platform planks in a similar way to Joseph Goebbel's role in developing a Hitler cult and advancing the tenets of Nazisim.

Both were anti-intellectual rightwing populists taking advantage of an unpopular "establishment", both understood the importance of showmanship, and both had a cult of personality, but the similarities mostly end there. I would say it's probably more productive to compare him to Mussolini than going right to the extreme of Hitler.

[Dr. Strangelove]

So, was the US a "very wealthy" country or "probably the wealthiest we've ever been" or not? The "debunking" doesn't seem to address that.

I guess it depends if you think it's more relevant to compare the America of 1890 with the Serbia of 1890 or compare 1890 America with the America of today?

"Wealthiest we've ever been" implies our material condition was the best ever in 1890. Which it certainly was not.

[iam416]

So, if we're going to dance let's fucking dance.

Big kudos to Elon Musk for drawing attention to the UK's decision to ignore child rape in the name of Progressivism. Those Prog motherfuckers are so insistent on moral relativism and so resistant to judging any culture that they won't stand up and say child rape is bad because it's being done by Muslims. Thankfully Elon Musk has brought this to attention and is shaming Progs into backtracking -- just a little bit. But there's zero doubt people on the Left are sympathetic to child rape. At least in the UK.

[iam416]

That, btw, is way more appropriate bit of analysis than Goebels to Musk.

[Mike]

I'd like to point out that Trump's "megaphone" (Musk's X platform) went from about 70/30 liberal bias to roughly a 48-46 split today between pro liberal and conservative posts. What the left is complaining about is that the playing field has been leveled. It kills them because the media is their home turf so anything that fucks with the status quo must be bad.

[Mike]

So, if we're going to dance let's fucking dance.

Big kudos to Elon Musk for drawing attention to the UK's decision to ignore child rape in the name of Progressivism. Those Prog motherfuckers are so insistent on moral relativism and so resistant to judging any culture that they won't stand up and say child rape is bad because it's being done by Muslims. Thankfully Elon Musk has brought this to attention and is shaming Progs into backtracking -- just a little bit. But there's zero doubt people on the Left are sympathetic to child rape. At least in the UK.

The fact that this isn't bigger news is alarming.