Politics 2017 part 4

[Wrath of Dagon]

Tell that to the Swiss.

[Ben No.3]

Privatise the military? What's next; Privatise the courts?

[Hurlshort]

Privatized military, much like private education, would seem to favor those who can pay for it.

 

The courts are an interesting one; should there be tax exempt vouchers for people that want to hire better lawyers? Public defenders don't have a great reputation.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Hurlshot

[Ben No.3]

[Gromnir]

 Public defenders don't have a great reputation.

too much tv.  public defenders do have heavy caseloads, but the average public defender is likely more competent and more experienced than anybody an ordinary middle-class citizen is gonna be able to afford to represent 'em.  is relative stiff competition to get hired by PD offices straight outta law school. why? work for a few years in the PD office and the big firms is falling all over themselves trying to hire you. also, more than a few folks working in the PD office is true believers.  many/most folks we know who has spent any significant time in the PD office is true zealots o' the court system, and you want a zealot fighting for you if you is facing serious criminal charges.  is the rich and indigent who get quality legal representation in the US.   the middle-class is the folks who is screwed. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gfted1]

Thats why I count on our unspoken and unagreed upon pact that you will legally defend me should the need arise.  

[Hurlshort]

 

 Public defenders don't have a great reputation.

too much tv.  public defenders do have heavy caseloads, but the average public defender is likely more competent and more experienced than anybody an ordinary middle-class citizen is gonna be able to afford to represent 'em.  is relative stiff competition to get hired by PD offices straight outta law school. why? work for a few years in the PD office and the big firms is falling all over themselves trying to hire you. also, more than a few folks working in the PD office is true believers.  many/most folks we know who has spent any significant time in the PD office is true zealots o' the court system, and you want a zealot fighting for you if you is facing serious criminal charges.  is the rich and indigent who get quality legal representation in the US.   the middle-class is the folks who is screwed. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

 

I probably should have added that, much like public school teachers, I don't really buy into the reputation that either tends to be given.  

[Zoraptor]

Tell that to the Swiss.

 

'Tell that to the Vatican'. The Swiss themselves have conscription and are the very poster child of 'armed neutrality', they have no need for mercenaries nor a private army. Swiss mercenaries specifically (and legally) only exist now as the Swiss Guard at the Vatican, and they are both irrelevant and anachronistic since the Vatican is a statelet which relies entirely on Italy's good will and has for ~150 years. They're more a religious order of security guards (since they have to be catholic) than a practical military- The Swiss Guard could not resist Italy when The Papal State held a decent chunk of central Italy and had a proper standing army as well, let alone now.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Pas d’Argent, Pas de Suisse

[HoonDing]

The Swiss succesfully defeated globalism at Nancy 1477

 

soon we will need them again

[Gorgon]

Anyone else think that Trump was worried that there would be a leak about an FBI investigation of some sort into his campaign staff, now I don't think there actually was, but I think he thought it. So he decided to fire first.

 

I thought this up all by myself, I'm so proud. 

[Malcador]

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/ben-carson-refers-slaves-immigrants-first-speech-hud/

 

Carson's a special dude.

 

“That’s what America is about, a land of dreams and opportunity,” Carson said. “There were other immigrants who came here in the bottom of slave ships, worked even longer, even harder for less. But they too had a dream that one day their sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, great-grandsons, great-granddaughters, might pursue prosperity and happiness in this land,” he added.

Edited March 6, 2017 by Malcador

[Raithe]

Apparently there's a street artist going around putting up these...

 

[Wrath of Dagon]

An in-depth discussion of the new health care proposal: https://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2017/03/07/house-gops-obamacare-replacement-will-make-coverage-unaffordable-for-millions-otherwise-its-great/#4d7b92e537fd

 

Hopefully they can get their act together eventually. Doing it under budget reconciliation rules is a dumb idea, it'll produce another Obamacare-like monstrosity.

Edited March 7, 2017 by Wrath of Dagon

[Deadly_Nightshade]

I doubt they'll get their act together seeing how they've been acting/voting.

[Bartimaeus]

This looks like something that's not meant to actually pass, but rather so they can say, "Well, we tried."

[Wrath of Dagon]

Well, they can try, but Obamacare is collapsing, and unless something is done, they'll be thrown out next election.

[Ben No.3]

So, what do we think of Russia? The Trump/Putin relationship? The fact that all US secret services say Russia definitely ordered some hacking during the election? That LePen is funded by Russian banks? That German secret services suspect Russia behind the hacks against German Parliament?

 

 

Just sounded like an interesting topic

[BruceVC]

 

 

I wouldn't say it if I didn't. I was just pointing out that the situation isn't as unreasonable as it was portrayed in the ad. If you mean about the schools, then yes, many schools are nasty and dangerous. I understand it's more complex than just "it's all the schools' fault".

 

So the military is 'unready' and you want to throw another 54 billion dollars at it, but our schools are 'nasty and dangerous' and so you want to take money away from them. Okey dokey.

 

Can I get a voucher for sending money to a private security company? These guys get the job done:

 

There are private schools, but no private military yet. Many people though hire private security when the police aren't doing enough. Private military might not be a bad idea, there was a story in some African country about 100 mercenaries doing more good than 15000 UN "peace keepers".

 

This is true about mercenaries  doing more good in some African conflicts than UN  peacekeepers 

 

Executive Outcomes was a mercenary outfit that compromised of many ex-Apartheid special force units and they did some good things on the African continent

 

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

Edited March 8, 2017 by BruceVC

[BruceVC]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/03/07/wikileaks-releases-entire-hacking-capacity-cia.html

 

Wikileaks has gone too far .....again

 

They are in complete contempt for the security of the USA and its Western partners and something really needs to be done about them 

[Ben No.3]

Wikileaks is one of the best projects out there. Government needs to be kept in check by the people; and wikileaks is the single most important tool for that. They are doing the right thing.

To fight Wikileaks is to support government control over the people.

 

And of course, having a platform like Wikileaks poses a risk. But that risk is the price of making government transparent. And I'd rather have a transparent government.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Ben No.3

[Chilloutman]

Ben, you are so confused, on one hand you want to manipulate people so they think and live as you think is best and on other hand you support anti-government movements (I like wikileaks myself)

[Ben No.3]

Ben, you are so confused, on one hand you want to manipulate people so they think and live as you think is best and on other hand you support anti-government movements (I like wikileaks myself)

Nonono.... there's a difference between having strong opinions about how society should work and forcing society to work in a certain way. I don't wish to manipulate anyone. I'm just having a discussion

 

And of course, the bigger the government the more dangerous it becomes; so really, my ideas are quite dependent on something like wikileaks if I don't want to take away people's freedoms.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Ben No.3

[BruceVC]

Wikileaks is one of the best projects out there. Government needs to be kept in check by the people; and wikileaks is the single most important tool for that. They are doing the right thing.

To fight Wikileaks is to support government control over the people.

 

And of course, having a platform like Wikileaks poses a risk. But that risk is the price of making government transparent. And I'd rather have a transparent government.

Except Wikileaks doesn't make " governments " transparent

 

They typically only  target the USA, where are all the leaks around Russia or China and these are much more intolerant and dictatorial governments than the USA

 

So its not about keeping governments in check, Wikileaks is a personal campaign to undermine the USA  and the West 

[Ben No.3]

 

Wikileaks is one of the best projects out there. Government needs to be kept in check by the people; and wikileaks is the single most important tool for that. They are doing the right thing.

To fight Wikileaks is to support government control over the people.

 

And of course, having a platform like Wikileaks poses a risk. But that risk is the price of making government transparent. And I'd rather have a transparent government.

Except Wikileaks doesn't make " governments " transparent

 

They typically only target the USA, where are all the leaks around Russia or China and these are much more intolerant and dictatorial governments than the USA

 

So its not about keeping governments in check, Wikileaks is a personal campaign to undermine the USA and the West

 

It makes a government transparent, which happens to be the most powerful in the world.

 

What importance does the personal motivation of the guys have? WikiLeaks does an excellent job, and we can only hope people in other countries will follow their example.

 

And you have to admit, unlike the US, Russia and China don't portrait themselves as the shining beacon of humanity and saviours of the world. I don't want to justify their focus on the US, but I can understand it.

Edited March 8, 2017 by Ben No.3