America in 2018

[Tero]

I think the worst are the megachurches. They teach to hang on to your money, other than the part going to the church. Because the poor are poor because GOD. They earned it.

[Jason]

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[Jason]

Is there even enough visibility yet to start choosing candidates?

It is a bit early, but I still like Deval Patrick and Elizabeth Warren. Warren is a great choice with all the positive media appeal she'll have as the first female POTUS. And as much as I hate to have 'has a vagina' in my list of 'things that can get you elected 2020', I also have Deval Patrick on board because of his Obama appeal. He lacks the rhetorical skills of Obama and doesn't have his gravitas, but there may be enough racial tension in the 2020 election climate to rocket him to success.

Both of them have excellent track records on a number of different issues that both shows character and will play well to the people.

[Svartalf]

well, we have two years to see if they hang onto the presidential tree... seriously, you need a true hero to handle the US in the state in which frump is gonna leave them

[Tero]

In that case Warren is up for that task.

[laklak]

I do not intend to be here for the 2018 elections, we'll either be cruising the Bahamas or building our house in Swaziland. They got a King there, so none of this election bother. But, if I had to pick a candidate I'd write in Alfred E. Neuman. I voted Libertarian last time, just for the lulz, as I couldn't bring myself to voter for anybody else. Might as well have a President who wakes-n-bakes.

The Who were scarily prescient when they sang "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

[Tero]

Deep state?

[laklak]

Pretty much. The people who actually affect your life the most are a bunch of faceless bureaucrats, the idiots we elect are just window dressing.

[Rum]

Pretty much. The people who actually affect your life the most are a bunch of faceless bureaucrats, the idiots we elect are just window dressing.

We call those guys the 'civil service'. They really run the country - though rather more efficiently than in the USA. Our guys stay when there's a change of government. You guys have to settle in a whole new bunch.

[Seabass]

I agree Rum. The American dream was a big con. Pure individual conservatism. Vietnam war ended because the Americans had lost. They were chased out. Like in Ethiopia. It is the aggression of the country that gets me. They just are not able to think in any other terms. It is an extreme adversarial society.

America Has Been At War 93% of the Time – 222 Out of 239 Years – Since 1776

Just unbelievable.

Whereas the Dutch have only been at war for 70% of its existence. So I guess the threshold between aggressive/adversarial and non-aggressive/non-adversarial exists somewhere between 70% and 93%.

[Hermit]

I think the myth of the America of the early 20th century, taking the great unwanted of the world...

Taking the unwanted as a charitable act has always been a myth - anywhere, and any time. Nations have opened the doors to refugees because they needed to increase their population for one reason or another.

When Maria Theresa expelled Austria's catholics, Frederick invited them to settle in Prussia. Prussia was a grossly underpopulated backwater at the time, and at loggerheads with the Austrian empire. A good infusion of manpower, especially of people who bore a grudge against the Austrian Empress, was most desirable on the grounds of realpolitik. It also served to enhance Fritz's reputation as a tolerant, enlightened king. Never mind that he also expelled all Austrians from Saxony.

Australia actually subsidised European migrants for many years following WWII. This act of generosity was not motivated by compassion for the victims of the war's destruction. We needed tens of thousands of labourers to build the Snowy Mountains Hydro Scheme and work elsewhere. We needed tens of thousands more for the supporting infrastructure too - teachers, shopkeepers, nurses, construction workers... We simply did not have the native workforce for most of it. The ten pound migrant scheme went on until the early 70s. Then came the Vietnamese boat people. Were we saving them from becoming victims of communism after the fall of Saigon? Sorry. No. Accepting them on our shores was part of the cold war strategy.

In no case was there a free for all situation. Applications forms were filled out and applicants were vetted. Once a nation's need for industrial cannon fodder was filled, the gates slammed shut, and rejects as well as undocumented refugees were given a hard time. US policy is to arrest border crossers, cage their children and build a wall. Australia, being an island, need no wall, and has an easier time catching undocumented refugees. We intercept them before they can even reach our shores and put them in extra-territorial concentration camps. They are told that they will never ever set foot on Australian soil. They can go back to where they come from or stay in their concentration camps until they rot. And our government does anything to make it more likely that they will rot unless they "go back where they come from". To avoid bad publicity, the media are barred from getting anywhere near those concentration camps, and whoever works, or has worked there, faces up to two years gaol if he/she reports on what is going on in those camps.

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

may be a genuinely felt sentiment of many, but any politician - US or any other - who claims that altruism is the chief motivator for accepting migrants, is a fucking liar. Angela Merkel is the only exception I can think of, and she is getting a good kicking, right and centre, for it.

[laklak]

Pretty much. The people who actually affect your life the most are a bunch of faceless bureaucrats, the idiots we elect are just window dressing.

We call those guys the 'civil service'. They really run the country - though rather more efficiently than in the USA. Our guys stay when there's a change of government. You guys have to settle in a whole new bunch.

Only at the very top of the food chain. Cabinet level position and their direct reports are generally appointed by the new Prez, but the vast, teeming majority are permanent, career bureaucrats. Plenty of them serve through multiple administrations from both parties.

Then there's the state government, county government, and municipal governments. Those guys are the ones that really affect your daily life. They decide how much your license sticker will cost for your car, when your trash gets picked up, your sales and property tax rates, how much petrol costs, etc. Between all the various levels of bureaucracy there's plenty of opportunity to fuck things up, which they do on a routine basis. We could probably liquidate 50% of them without particularly noticing.

[Scot Dutchy]

I agree Rum. The American dream was a big con. Pure individual conservatism. Vietnam war ended because the Americans had lost. They were chased out. Like in Ethiopia. It is the aggression of the country that gets me. They just are not able to think in any other terms. It is an extreme adversarial society.

America Has Been At War 93% of the Time – 222 Out of 239 Years – Since 1776

Just unbelievable.

Whereas the Dutch have only been at war for 70% of its existence. So I guess the threshold between aggressive/adversarial and non-aggressive/non-adversarial exists somewhere between 70% and 93%.

What a load of crap. Sorry no comparison. How many wars did we start? How many did we have no option but defend ourselves. In modern times how many took place outside NATO? The USA was almost always the instigator. When did it defend itself?
Typical Trumpian arguments.

[Tero]

Man Knows He Can Always Fall Back On Really Terrible Job That Pays Shit

NORFOLK, NE—Though currently seeking happier and more generous employment, digital marketing analyst Brandon Owens noted Tuesday that, if necessary, he can always fall back on his current job, a litany of misery that pays absolute dogshit. “I’m really lucky to have the opportunity to make calls and put out feelers at my own pace, as I have the security of a shitassed gig that corrodes my soul and compromises my sanity day after day after day,” Owens said of his current horrendous position at StarCore Communications, which pays him virtually nothing beyond his rent, utilities, groceries, and other basic needs. “Finding openings at a better firm can be pretty slow going, which is why it’s so nice to have a shit-encrusted safety net that clogs my brain with completely pointless and frankly insulting work in the meantime. Most other analysts don’t have the privilege of a cold, depressing piss-hole to curl up in and be exploited with near-illegal working hours while searching for work.” Sources confirmed Owens was optimistic concerning his prospects with regard to a recently posted position, a miserable fucking junior-executive ordeal with 5 percent shittier pay located 10 minutes closer to his apartment.
The Onion

[laklak]

Florida man, aged 72, chases neighbor with his tractor in dispute over lawn.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/11/fl ... s-say.html

A 72-year-old Florida man was arrested last month after he was caught on video chasing down his neighbor on a tractor during a dispute over property, police said.
The St. Johns County Sheriff's Office told News4JAX that on June 19 Howell Lamar Morris of St. Augustine was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon without intent to kill. The video of the bizarre incident was released Tuesday.

He yelled "Run, fatass!"

They each get a Vibrio Award. The old dude for trying to kill his neighbor with a front end loader, the victim for running straight down the road instead of ducking into the trees.