Guard Dog

What is evil? Words? If they compel action like "let's go kill this person" it's already illegal and they will spend longer years in prison that the people who actually do it. And we're not talking about world leaders here. People with the actual means to do harm. That is a different story. The context of this conversation is the people who were rejoicing Koch and Pickens' deaths because people with "wrong" opinions and who have the money to advocate them are somehow deserving of death. The thing is I really do think we are in that dark place where people really do think that. And like I said before if they are really that bad in their thoughtcrime maybe the world will be a better place if right thinking people killed them for their wrong thoughts. I hear burning them alive at the stake was once an effective way to get large numbers of people thinking correctly.

It's his money. If he wants to spend it to advance an idea it's his business. It does not make it true and it does not compel anyone to believe it. And even if they did it wouldn't make it true BECAUSE they believe it. It's a problem when we begin to be happy someone died because they thought "wrong". If someone like that with money and "wrong" thoughts is so dangerous that we're happy they died maybe we shouldn't wait for nature to take it's course. Maybe we should all just kill the bastard and be done with it? Of course that would be murder so we'll have to have some kind of trial first. Then kill him. Not a criminal trial. They are not breaking the law after all. But it should sound legit. Hmmmm.... what's the latin word for "investigation"? In all seriousness if we have reached the point where we wish death on someone for exercising free speech even if we think it's wrong then we're already half way down the slippery slope to a bad place.

Of course. If you don't like someones politics then it's good they die right? We're not quite a nation of heartless savages... yet. Getting there though.

One reason why some of these suggestions and other endeavors like them are not valid career choices are the pesky, needless, and nanny state regulations that prevent people from pursuing them as side business ventures. For example I grow vegetables on a five acre garden. I can't eat nor store five acres worth of veggies twice a year but my state forbids me to sell to the public. It forbids local grocery stores from buying from me. I can and do sell to a local farmer's market but even that is technically illegal, they just look the other way because it falls under the description of a flea market. We have these restrictions and mine is one of the more permissive states in the Union. It's worse elsewhere. It is still illegal to distill whiskey in the US unless you get down on your knees and beg for an expensive license. Can you even believe that? It is illegal in most states to sell your services as a handyman, or auto mechanic, or barber, or lawn cutter, or anything unless you buy an expensive license after leaping through flaming hoops and then prostrating yourself before the almighty government. Oh sure it's all for "our protection" they say. "We're just making sure you are dealing with legitimate professionals" they say. "They" do not give a s--t about that, it's all about money. Money for the license and the annual renewals. Tax on labor. Just goddamned money. The state and municipal governments do not give a rats butt about the skills and professionalism of the people they sell licenses to. The rest is just lies they tell us so often we forget they are lies. I designed and built a rainwater collection system (even applied for a patent) to use as a supplement to irrigation. Do you realize doing that is illegal in some states? In Utah it's a 3rd degree felony. Even if I had gotten a patent I could not have sold such a system there of I'd be in trouble. It's nonsensical. The single biggest road block to people improving their financial condition in this country IS the governments at all levels. Anyway... was kind of ranting there. You do have a good point that UBI in some form has to become a reality at some point. It is impossible to categorically state there will be fewer jobs than people to do them but it is looking that way. The company I helped build and later sold designed and installed wi-fi systems. 5G wireless is going to offer better throughput and combine indoor and out door CPRI (common public radio interface) into a single platform from a single provider. It really is a generational leap in cell service the likes of which the industry has never seen. And would have put us right out of business. But we knew it was coming. We Western Union guy driving the stage coach had to know something was up when he saw the trans-continental railroad being built. Ultimately the care of self and family is in the hands of the individual and they need to be cognizant of conditions that will change how they do that. It's just survival. Even that may not be enough. If that day comes we will need to do something new because without money there are no consumers and without consumption the whole thing collapses.

If they want me to drink myself to death they had better pony up a bit more than $1k! I've been building my tolerance over a lifetime! Actually I agree with your notion of being tied to wage labor. Three times in my career I've started my own business. The first two were failures but the third was quite successful. I very much wish I'd been able to stick with it because the business was really growing well and followed a very efficient model. It could not have lasted forever. 5G wireless will make the services we offered obsolete but I still think we sold too soon. It wasn't up to me in the end. The thing is, it should be left to each individual to decide what career path they follow. People who don't pursue higher education or vocational training, or attempt to take their lives into their own hands, and end up in low paying jobs have only themselves to blame. We are all 100% responsible for the choices we make.

Let's see. I own my house and I can and do grow a good bit my my food. I have the means to produce a little bit of electrical power on my own. Not enough to run and AC but enough for most other basic functions. Give me $1k a month for doing nothing and I'll quit my job and do nothing!

Um, no. But you are correct about the inherent flaws in UBI. Give everyone $1000 for rent as an example. Everyone's rent will go up by $1000.

In my experience property owners who lease houses to tenets are hardly the landed gentry screwing the little guy. Not saying it’s not like that everywhere but that wasn’t my experience. I leased a townhouse to two different families over a three-year period and I took a loss on that townhouse every single month. I could not collect enough in rent to cover the mortgage and homeowners dues. That’s not bad business, the cost of housing in Bartlett Tennessee is what it is. Of course all of that was made up for and then some when I sold the place last year. In my opinion real estate is absolutely the place to be right now as far as investments. If predictions are true and we see negative interest rates in the future the opportunity to buy will be really strong. For a short time at least. That said I don’t know if even that would help someone in Hurlshots position. When $800,000 only gets you a fixer-upper amd leaving the area is not an option I really don’t know what advice I could give. It just sucks. When I left South Florida I sold my house for $340,000. I had been in it for 15 years and made a good chunk of money off of it. I had to split it with my ex-wife of course. Moving to Tennessee I bought 24 1/2 acres of land and built a house on it for $210,000. Location is everything.

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2019/09/12/beto-orourke-gun-buyback Uh huh. Good luck with that.

Two words: Wealth Tax. They already tax you when you earn it. They tax you when you spend it. They tax you when you invest it. They tax you when you inherit it. They take half of it when you die. Now they are going to tax it when you do nothing with it. Besides, most of what Warren is promising is fiscally unachievable without massively increasing taxes on every one. "The rich" suddenly becomes a two income family making a combined $200k a year but just barely staying ahead of their debts and expenses. The US is taxed at a lower rate than elsewhere, particularly Europe that is true. But not a whole lot less and we get a lot less benefit from the taxes we do pay. Largely that is because we can't seem to go four years without involving ourselves in another war. Something Warren and pretty much everyone else (except Gabbard) is completely fine with. Not speaking from Gromnir, just my $.02

Taking a break from Clavel with this one:

No problem there. The natural outcome of having first hand experience serving in the ME.

Wow I'm so sorry to hear that

Let’s assume for a moment the climate change is entirely man-made, as opposed to man exacerbated, if the United States immediately disassembled it’s entire industrial infrastructure and converted to agrarian feudalism but nobody else changed anything would that really delay the apocalypse? I’m guessing no. That means Barack Obama’s promises that his election would begin to heal the planet and the modern day Democrats thumping on the green new deal the way a Southern Baptist minister would beat on the Bible is really just exploiting fear in the quest for power

Beto on mandatory gun buyback. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2019/09/01/sotu-beto-on-buybacks.cnn As before my answer is "F--k you. Come take them." As for mandatory licensing to own a firearm, what and excellent idea. We should also require a license to print a newspaper, or write a letter to the editor, or call your Congressman. They are already requiring (and often denying) permits to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances so that is already out. Just think of the money that could be raised on defendants buying a license for a speedy trial by a jury of their peers. Hell they are already paying their lawyers a fortune why shouldn't the state get a taste of that. Want to be secure in your home? Protected from search and seizure? Gotta get a license for that. Otherwise the cops can just come in anytime they feel like it. Want to vote? Better get a license. And we can even charge states licenses to exercise powers not enumerated to the federal government. Oh.. sorry that ship has already sunk. The Federal government has ALL the power now. F--k it! Charge them for a license anyway! Not like it will be the first worthless license the state will force you to buy. Yes sir. Begging the State's permission to enjoy a right they are forbidden from taking from you (but do anyway because f--k you we have a military). What a fine idea!

Yep. The oldest trick in the book to get people to supplicate themselves and surrender their liberty to the state is to convince them X is scary and only the State can save them from X. The Democrats do it with climate and capitalism. Trump with immigrants. Not that there are not problems. They are just not apocalyptic.

Didn't use to be this way. But now? Yeah.

Now this is scary stuff. Even a lifelong Democrat is worried about what the democrats (and Republicans thanks to the Orange Menace) are driving at. James Clyburn said he didn't think the Bill of Rights would even pass today. He's right. And that is a huge problem. https://www.msnbc.com/david-gura/watch/james-clyburn-not-sure-if-bill-of-rights-would-pass-today-68476997604

Look, the "media" does not print, say, post things that are patently false. Not the reputable kind anyway. Even Mother Jones and Michael Savage don't. Although all of them, from the high to low, do practice bias. Bias in tone. Bias in story selection. What is reported and what isn't. CNN & Fox are the favorite targets but everything you hear on BOTH networks is ALL TRUE. It's just not all of the truth. They are selling a product. Like all good companies they are tailoring that product to a receptive audience. That product isn't facts. It's a narrative. People tune in to the news not to be informed. They tune in to be told their preconceptions are correct. Don't get me wrong. Informing is part of it. There was no "media bias" when reporting on Hurricane Dorains track and cone. If a thing is a fact they will tell you it's a fact. Then the commentary will tell you what it means and that is bias by definition. Commentary is opinion. Nothing new there. Ben Franklin was doing it in the Pennsylvania Gazette all the way back in 1730. Now, here is the important part: ALL OF THIS IS OK. The "media" has no sacred duty to inform or be unbiased. They have no legal or moral obligation to inform. They are selling you something. Telling you a story. Buy it or don't. If you like Spiderman don't buy a Superman comic and then bitch that Spiderman wasn't given equal time. Caveat emptor.

Yeah it has been a while.

As I have been saying, there are no good guys in American politics. The Republican Party is beginning to cancel it's Primary elections: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/republicans-in-three-states-cancel-primaries-and-caucuses/ The last Republican President, Ronald Reagan, once described the United States as that "shining city on a hill". Not much luster left these days. Oh well. Sic transit gloria mundi.

The woman of my dreams

Just saw the trailers for the new Joker movie. Looks pretty good.

Do you think Mike Tomlin wakes up everyday and just thanks God that Antonio Brown is not his problem?