04-02-2017, 03:28 AM
(03-31-2017, 12:25 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:(03-30-2017, 11:58 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:(03-30-2017, 08:37 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: I have a different reaction. Trump has supported the Europe breakup. And many of us don't like that. And many of us DO advocate, at least in our passionate moments, that the United States break up. Actually, it would be the more-constructive of the two possibilities. It's the USA that is stagnant and stalemated by the reactionary right wing, now ironically called "red." Red states and blue states are not something Europe is saddled with. They don't have red countries and blue countries. They are all progressive compared to us. We are saddled with a group of states and rural counties who believe that God created the world in 6 days, that the most important issue we face is abortion, that climate science is a hoax, that our "liberal and socialist" government destroys character and is trying to create a global dictatorship. We are saddled with a group of states that send people to congress whose only goal is to block anything and everything, even their own president's health plan, and who can't be worked or dealt with.
No, I think that guy should not eat shit and die; we need to pay attention to the fact that what's happening between Brexit and Trump is that the two nations that led the way toward a socially-responsible, democratic, diplomatic-minded alliance won't be there to defend it from the Putins, Dugins and Bannon/Mercers of the world, and is no longer upholding it. One pundit on Charlie Rose made that point last night, and it's well taken. The current right-wing "populist" trend is destructive and dangerous. It takes us away from progress; it's like what happened in the thirties. And if Le Pen wins, all bets are off for a sustainable and prosperous future. The only way this trend makes sense, is if the resistance to it triumphs in the end.
1. the Eurozone has has a different problem. It's composed of rich countries in the north and poorer countries near the Mediterranean Sea. Greek folks are being robbed blind by the EU. Greece has for some reason, but most likely its elites in concert with the EU are the parties involved. IOW, the EU is the debt collector for assorted Big Banking interests within the EU. That is despicable. Any entity that is in league with banks is to be reviled. So you are correct, there is no red/blue divide, but rather a set of countries that are creditors [liked Germany] and debtor countries like Greece. Feel free to do an internet search on how Greece is getting robbed blind. So, do you support austerity? I don't Greece, for example should never have joined the EU.
OK, your bipolar flare-up is over; a thoughtful post. Congratulations!
Greece is not clamouring to leave the EU. Merkel and Co. had to craft a balancing act between making Greece get itself solvent and helping it out. I think austerity was too strict, and that the EU needed more stimulus. As inadequate as Obama's stimulus was for the USA, at least we got one before the Repugs stopped it. AND, we have the FED, which further stimulated us out of depression, and THEY did not yet. They do have banks, of course, which helped cause the mess, and no I don't trust them. The EU should make them pay more taxes, and since these nations are progressive, maybe they are, or will; far more than the USA does with its Repugs who want to repeal Dodd-Frank. Greece also seems to have its own problem with its own rich hogs, and despite electing a socialistic government, seems not to be dealing with this.
Quote:2. US breakup: Easy, Druncker is admitting EU interference in the domestic affair of the US. Like I always say, nobody and nobody should be allowed to interfere in the internal affairs of any nation state. It is for that reason that I despise CIA meddling in ANY OTHER nations' internal affairs.
I don't consider expressing a point of view to be meddling. People are and should be free to express their minds in the supposedly free society. If we don't like it, toughee. Putin's is not a free society, so he was free himself to retaliate against Hillary for speaking her mind about his oligarchic disaster. And I am too. Putin's Russia is an oligarchic disaster, and the Russians should overthrow it or break it up.
Quote:3. Btexit: The British people voted for Brexit. That's democracy. The will of the people should never, ever be dismissed. Great Britain is exercising democracy in action by the elected officials in leaving.
And I hope Blair can get another referendum going, so the British can correct their mistake.
Quote:4. Dugan/Putin/Bannon: OK, have you ever considered that this meme comes from the MIC?. The MIC is always looking for excuses to feather its nest. Here's the deal, Most European nations have a higher GDP/person than the US.; I ask why should the we pay for Europe's defense? I think that's insane. The US needs to focus like a laser beam on fixing stuff right here.
Except that Bannon IS right here, and HE's what needs to be fixed. A pox on both the Duginists and the MIC. Neither are memes, and neither is Mercer; they are threats to our democracy and our sustainability as a nation and a planet.
Quote:5. Here's the other thing. I fear the MIC and their I-spy crap far more than Russia. I also fear ISP's selling my browsing history than Russia. Folks who sell my internet data are just... plain... evil. Sorry. And, let me say, to you the defense extremism for defense of internet privacy is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of internet privacy is no virtue.
OK Barry, but "I would remind you" that Goldwater didn't get too far with that impressive line that expressed his intense Mars in Scorpio rising. I say, America first. Fear the Russians more than our own spies. Or better yet, fear them both in equal measure, enough to crack down on their abuses.
And with the abundance of evil in our new administration and congress, internet privacy is not at the top of my list of worries. But I hope this invasion is stopped; no telling where it might lead. If it arouses more people against the orange menace, so much the better. The Orange Menace and Co. also want to reduce our internet speed by letting big business have special internet privileges (abolishing internet neutrality). That will adversely affect me more, I believe. Internet companies already know what sites I visit, and recommend sites to me. If it goes no further than that, it's actually a convenience. But, of course, where greed is concerned, our American business interests are always likely to go further in the wrong directions unless stopped.
According to one report, though, GE is asking its fellow corporations to resist Drump's war on the environment, saying it's bad for business and that we need the alternatives to the fossil fuels. So, maybe as Mr. Summers recommends, some of Drump/Bannon's beloved "free enterprise" companies will exert some positive influence in favor of a modicum of common sense. It would be nice. Even corporations have some actual people in them, or so it seems.
1. Bipolar flare up: Yeah, stuff like that happens, but then again...
http://astrophilosophy.org/post/50103918...s-in-aries
2. Greece. Of course Greece isn't clamoring for an exit strategy. Greek elites love the status quo , regardless of the ruin than that rains down on the masses. Greece is no different than the US , for example. Like, I think you've mentioned, we've had roughly 40 years of the axis of evil, Neoliberalism/NeoCONS. Their agenda is to ensure their own nest feathering , and fuck the classes of [destitute/working /middle .] I'm well aware that our own elites don't give a rat's ass about my class. Greece should leave the EU, it only has its chains to lose. The best solution is for Greece to exit the EU, declare bankruptcy wrt Eurozone banks, and be done with it. If Eurozone banks make risky loans at high interest rates, they accepted the risk, let 'em crash and burn.
3. Putin: The Russian people like him. If a nation's people like a certain leader, I'm fine with that. I'm not one to meddle in Russia's internal affairs.
4. Are you sure the US has complete freedom? What about asset forfeiture where the government can just rob you? That's why I think the DEA should be just outright abolished. It's an abomination on freedom. I'd rather have meth heads around than DEA property robbers. Besides when it comes to opioids, it's Big Pharma that's the largest pusher. Does the DEA do anything wrt Big Pharma? No.
5. Europe, pay your own way. Y'alls GDP is for the mostly higher than the US. Europe basically needs to grow up and take care of itself. Uncle Sugar has a shortage of sugar.
6. You are correct wrt internet privacy/net neutrality. Commercial interests have way too much lee way when it comes to data collection and and service provision. Trump's administration is really out there on that and on never accepting the concept of externalities. The free market basically sucks when it comes to pricing in externalities like pollution, displaced costs, and tragedy of the commons. There are ways to completely fuck up the data you send to ISP's. My firewall logs have all sorts of entries of Google's servers attempting to open some random port for some reason. I built a firewall with my Linux box that blocks everything and I mean everything I don't explicitly allow
That is layered with a /etc/hosts file that sends a null response to a whole host of others. IOW, I just opt out of data sharing. Blocking unnecessary connections also boosts my effective internet speed. Ads don't download, scripts don't download and run, or run looking at nothing on loopback [127.0.0.1] which means if a script calls another script , it gets no response. Internet companies do not know what sites I go to. Check out http://www.duckduckgo.com.
They don't save browsing history. Then on top of that is to adjust browser settings to chuck history. Like, I said, I used to work in Marathon's extranet, which means I still after a bunch of years being deskilled, I can still go to some security web site and lock down my internet experience. You see, Eric, it takes a hacker mentality to fight off external hackers. It takes a certain mindset. I got on the extranet team after I got caught hacking the internal intranet, there. My boss , saw that as a talent, rather than a detriment, charged it off as curiosity [which was true], and stuck me on the extranet team. It worked until the CIO decided to become a lemming and outsourced IT , just like a bunch of other companies. The H1-B's came, service levels crashed, and Marathon admitted its screwup, and insourced again. That's why I don't care for "suits" and their group think. So... yeah, I think I could get reskilled, but Corporate America never, ever thinks long term, man.
7. GE. Yes, another instance of market failure. We need an oil import tariff to pay for defense of both the Mideast Oilfields and shipping lanes. Only then, would imported oil be priced such that the real costs are known.
8. Blair: Sorry, no endless redos until the desired results reflect the <wishes of some political group here>
One referendum is what is required. Voter decisions must be honored regardless of one's private views.
Sorry, I won, you lost, deal with it.
---Value Added