The Dictator observations thread.

Politics and other such topical creams.
Flex
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 1:29pm
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-gat ... 5138825814

Can you imagine somebody fretting about hypothetically being reduced to having "only" $6B? Wealth really is a sickness.
There are no good billionaires
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Kory
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Kory »

Flex wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 1:43pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 1:29pm
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-gat ... 5138825814

Can you imagine somebody fretting about hypothetically being reduced to having "only" $6B? Wealth really is a sickness.
There are no good billionaires
I have two thoughts about this, which I'm sure are the opposite of original:

1) I imagine they really fear being poor and so hoard as much as possible as a bulwark against this.
2) A lot of people I know that have a lot of money think they are already poor because they don't know how to look beyond their own experience.

Either way, they're fucking idiots.
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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Kory wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 5:54pm
Flex wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 1:43pm
Dr. Medulla wrote:
07 Nov 2019, 1:29pm
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-gat ... 5138825814

Can you imagine somebody fretting about hypothetically being reduced to having "only" $6B? Wealth really is a sickness.
There are no good billionaires
I have two thoughts about this, which I'm sure are the opposite of original:

1) I imagine they really fear being poor and so hoard as much as possible as a bulwark against this.
2) A lot of people I know that have a lot of money think they are already poor because they don't know how to look beyond their own experience.

Either way, they're fucking idiots.
Or the more money they have, the more they move up the line that defines personal poverty. If you've got, say, $10M, then $1M equals the poverty line. Wealth vs. poverty is never a simple numerical relationship, but constantly revising itself. I know that as our household material circumstance has improved, I've regularly moved up the minimum bank balance that I think we should be at. But I'd never think of us as being poor if some expenditure put us under that line.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Oh good. My organization is being monitored! My boss is pictured holding the orange sign.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/bor ... veillance/
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Flex
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

JennyB wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:01am
Oh good. My organization is being monitored! My boss is pictured holding the orange sign.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/bor ... veillance/
Hope the government likes having opinions about Fingerpoppin!

And wow, that's wild. Means your organization is doing impactful work, imho.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

JennyB wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:01am
Oh good. My organization is being monitored! My boss is pictured holding the orange sign.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/bor ... veillance/
Make sure you look nice for the spy photos.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Flex wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:14am
JennyB wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:01am
Oh good. My organization is being monitored! My boss is pictured holding the orange sign.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/bor ... veillance/
Hope the government likes having opinions about Fingerpoppin!

And wow, that's wild. Means your organization is doing impactful work, imho.
I hope! On both counts. :shifty:
Got a Rake? Sure!

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JennyB
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by JennyB »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:15am
JennyB wrote:
12 Nov 2019, 11:01am
Oh good. My organization is being monitored! My boss is pictured holding the orange sign.

https://theintercept.com/2019/11/11/bor ... veillance/
Make sure you look nice for the spy photos.
Why do you think I've actually bothered to put on makeup lately?
Got a Rake? Sure!

IMCT: Inane Middle-Class Twats - Dr. M

" *sigh* it's right when they throw the penis pump out the window." -Hoy

eumaas
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by eumaas »

Warren seems to get worse as she goes on.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
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Flex
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

eumaas wrote:
15 Nov 2019, 7:36pm
Warren seems to get worse as she goes on.
Yeah
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Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

What, specifically, are you referring to? I haven't really been paying attention to election stuff.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

Flex
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Flex »

Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2019, 9:01am
What, specifically, are you referring to? I haven't really been paying attention to election stuff.
Her transition plan to m4a, announced yesterday, is pretty bad. It starts with passing a public option and then going back in three years and passing m4a. The idea that you'd have the political capital to pass two major overhauls of healthcare in your first 3 years is pretty untethered from reality. She's either lying about her support for m4a (Bernie acolytes preferred interpretation) or suggests some extremely bad political instincts (which is more my take, it seems of a kind with the dna test and such, still a bad look for the the potential presidential candidate). I'd say she's usually pretty sharp, but there have been half a dozen or so unecessary own goals throughout the campaign that should probably give pause to leftists (there have also been mountains of what I'll politely call dubiously sourced attacks on her from Bernie twitter that i think help obscure her actual strengths and weaknesses if you're too plugged into that discourse, but there's a few solid critiques in the mix as well). She's still solidly at minimum the second best candidate in the field from a leftie credentials perspective, but it seems a little less like 1a and 1b and more like 1 and 2 if you take my meaning.
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a bowl of soup
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle - you can raise the dead

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Dr. Medulla
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by Dr. Medulla »

Flex wrote:
16 Nov 2019, 10:21am
Dr. Medulla wrote:
16 Nov 2019, 9:01am
What, specifically, are you referring to? I haven't really been paying attention to election stuff.
Her transition plan to m4a, announced yesterday, is pretty bad. It starts with passing a public option and then going back in three years and passing m4a. The idea that you'd have the political capital to pass two major overhauls of healthcare in your first 3 years is pretty untethered from reality. She's either lying about her support for m4a (Bernie acolytes preferred interpretation) or suggests some extremely bad political instincts (which is more my take, it seems of a kind with the dna test and such, still a bad look for the the potential presidential candidate). I'd say she's usually pretty sharp, but there have been half a dozen or so unecessary own goals throughout the campaign that should probably give pause to leftists (there have also been mountains of what I'll politely call dubiously sourced attacks on her from Bernie twitter that i think help obscure her actual strengths and weaknesses if you're too plugged into that discourse, but there's a few solid critiques in the mix as well). She's still solidly at minimum the second best candidate in the field from a leftie credentials perspective, but it seems a little less like 1a and 1b and more like 1 and 2 if you take my meaning.
That's a curious bit of backtracking. Seems like an effort to distinguish herself from Bernie and better appeal to centrists. And you're very right that the idea of proposing something for the third year is absurd. The president's party usually loses seats in the mid-term election, so the likelihood of passing major legislation is remote. Shit gets done in the first year and a half and then it's about holding serve and hoping for a second term.

Overall, I still think she's better than Bernie if only because of the age/health concerns.
"I never doubted myself for a minute for I knew that my monkey-strong bowels were girded with strength, like the loins of a dragon ribboned with fat and the opulence of buffalo dung." - Richard Nixon, Checkers Speech, abandoned early draft

eumaas
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Re: The Dictator observations thread.

Post by eumaas »

She’s also more imperialist than Bernie, which is saying something given my one of my main criticisms of Bernie is his softness on imperialism.
I feel that there is a fascistic element, for example, in the Rolling Stones . . .
— Morton Feldman

I've studied the phenomenon of neo-provincialism in self-isolating online communities but this place takes the fucking cake.
— Clashy

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