Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[AlabamAlum]

I'm in my garage, drinking bourbon, and beating a dear friend's brains in in chess. I am alternating opera, jazz, bluegrass, west coast rap (east coast sucks), and Sturgill Simpson.

[ame]https://youtu.be/forqmom3YuY[/ame]

[AlabamAlum]

Meanwhile, AlabamAlum's horrific Groucho routine brings no scorn, ridicule, personal insult, gloveslappery, nuclear attack or otherwise. What the fuck, people.

Time flies like an arrow;
Fruit flies like a banana.

[AlabamAlum]

Nothing like playing a sharp Nimzp-Indian, sipping expensive bourbon, smoking a nice cigar while "Nuthin but a G Thang" blasts the 100% white neighborhood.

[AlabamAlum]

Well, we have two Asians. Otherwise....we're whiter than a Garth Brooks concert.

[Da Geezer]

There is a difference between communism and socialism.

As a practical matter, there isn't really one except that communism believes in class warfare. Marx, Mao, Lenin, Stalin and the rest of what we call communists today believed power grew out of the barrel of a gun (Mao said that). Socialists like the National Socialists in Germany or the Vishy French believed it could be done without class warfare.

The best explanation I've heard of socialism is that of Lenin when he talked of the commanding heights of the economy.

https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/new-commanding-heights

N. Korea is a totally socialist economy, probably a communist society is you consider the violence that birthed it. Singapore is probably as close to a Capitalist/free market economy as there is today. All economies have some socialist/government elements.

The commanding heights idea is that in socialism, the government (in the name of the people) owns the areas of commerce that have the greatest impact on the most people. In Lenin's time, that was heavy industry, military, railroad agriculture etc. The peasants were allowed gardens (more productive by a factor of 20 than the collectivized farms) This created a barter/private economy outside of the influence of the state. But it was small and persecuted. Today the commanding heights are things like education and healthcare.

So the difference is acceptance of violence in the "class struggle" that Marx predicted by communists. Socialists are willing to obtain power in any way, including democratic elections.

[Kapture1]

The market tanked when news broke Flynn would testify that he was operating on Trump's direct orders...apparently from before the election too from the little bit I heard

Also ABC reported that Flynn feels 'abandoned' by Trump. He's deep in legal debt.

Yes, "TO COORDINATE ISIS STRATEGY" IOW doing exactly what an incoming NSA should be doing.

I love the media's strategy in this, and it revolves around their readers being dumbasses.

The Logan Act? Sorry, an incoming NSA is allowed to make contact with other countries to lay the groundwork on national security strategy for the incoming administration. In fact Flynn was intouch with several countries.

And i wouldn't run out and trust Brian Ross, if you remember moments after they released the name of James Homes in Aurora, it was Brian Ross that was checking the memberships of Tea Party groups in Colorado, found a James Homes and ABC reported it. Except it was the wrong James Homes.

Error in ABC's reporting resulted in billions lost in the financial markets

Here?s the clarification to the published ABC News story:

?During a live Special Report, ABC News reported that a confidant of Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn said Flynn was prepared to testify that then-candidate Donald Trump instructed him to contact Russian officials during the campaign,?*it read.*

?That source later clarified that during the campaign, Trump assigned Flynn and a small circle of other senior advisers to find ways to repair relations with Russia and other hot spots. It was shortly after the election, that President-elect Trump directed Flynn to contact Russian officials on topics that included working jointly against ISIS.?






Dont ever rush out and trust Brian Ross as a rule of thumb.

[Da Geezer]

And, since we're getting a bit personal here, which is probably unwise and shouldn't be repeated, I'll point out that I didn't get any help from daddy like you did, and I don't create victims along the way, like you do.

As I've told you when you bring up the daddy thing, my father never gave me anything, in particular, no money. I paid for my education in total, not a dime from him. He did give me a stable Christian home life.

I don't have any training in victimology, so you will have to tell me about my victims. Would they be all of the real estate brokers who were charging a 10% commission on all sales when I was charging 5%? The Realtor union actually sued me. You bet your ass I drove them out of business, because I provided better service at half the price. Are those guys the victims you talk about? That is called creative destruction and would be taught in the Econ 101 class I have offered to send you to.

Have you ever taken any college-level economics courses in the US?

[iam416]

That ABC News thing seems more like a retraction than a clarification. I mean, the key reported "fact" was retracted.

I'm not one to think such things affect markets too much, but DSL did make a big deal about it.

[froot loops]

I think the markets have both the tax cuts and some sort of presidential scandal baked in. I don't think there will be an impeachment, but if there is one the markets won't do much other than a one week spasm. There would be a collective shrug of the shoulders and a move on.

The problem for Trump is he is going to have a few more of these indictments and pleas. Once the tax bill is signed, the motivation for GOP congressman to stand by their man greatly diminishes

[Da Geezer]

Well I genuinely do think that markets and capitalism are separate things that have been artificially fused together, and that we need to separate them in order to have an intelligent discussion about economics. They do not go hand-in-hand nearly as much as we'd think they might. But you're right about Geezer, and that there's nothing lost.

Free markets are a necessary pre-condition for capitalism. Start with Adam Smith and come forward.

Talent:

Anyway, see -- here we are lost in the esoteric trees. The upside is that no one other than perhaps Geezer was actually going to discuss your larger point with you, so nothing lost.

I'd like nothing more than to discuss this "larger point" whatever it is. I have a strong suspicion though that we are edging into the "social Justice" area, which I have already proven is a synonym for "income redistribution".

[B]JEFF TAKE NOTE[B]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtBvQj2k6xo"]What is Social Justice? - YouTube[/ame]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7FrBYi8pKA"]Thomas Sowell Dismantles the Ideology of "Social Justice" - YouTube[/ame]

I challenge you progs who might have the capability of understanding these men to view the videos. DSL, Talent, hack, Jeff , just take time to watch at least the first one. All we are talking about is income redistribution, which Marx said was the goal of communism. I don't know how much simpler I can make it. Do you believe the state has the "duty to impose social justice"? Of course, you do.

[hack]

John Kenneth Galbraith: "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's just the opposite."

Geezer: "I started out with some money from my father for my first land transaction after graduating -- or maybe I didn't."

[froot loops]

First, there is no evidence that Flynn has/would flip.

There were a few reports in the last couple weeks that suggested he had flipped or was ready to flip. You just had to read them. In case you didn't know, he flipped today and pled guilty while onlookers outside the courthouse chanted "Lock him up!"

[Dr. Strangelove]

There were a few reports in the last couple weeks that suggested he had flipped or was ready to flip. You just had to read them. In case you didn't know, he flipped today and pled guilty while onlookers outside the courthouse chanted "Lock him up!"

Heh, I too recalled that geezer assured us just days ago that there were no indications Flynn would flip. But I was trying to be nice. We need more comity here, dammit.

[Da Geezer]

There were a few reports in the last couple weeks that suggested he had flipped or was ready to flip. You just had to read them. In case you didn't know, he flipped today and pled guilty while onlookers outside the courthouse chanted "Lock him up!"

Yup. You are right froot. I didn't know it at the time. Flynn is working with Mueller.

[Dr. Strangelove]

Fun thought: Angry Tillerson knows his days are numbered, but hunkers down and forces them to fire him, leaking damaging stories in the mean time like this one:

Kushner Holding secret talks with the Saudis? Tillerson worries the Saudis may be encouraged to militarily invade Qatar

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-01/kushner-is-said-to-leave-tillerson-in-dark-on-middle-east-talks