patrick.net

PolishKnight says

Heck, I'll put it this way: My decision to be on the right is an, er, no-brainer.

Self-aware humor. Well done.

APOCALYPSEFUCKisShostikovitch says

Atlanta Cops Grenade an Infant

The only way to deal with this is to apply the same suffering to each offspring, past and future, of every cop involved in this situation. Only when their own families suffer the same as their victims will cops change their behavior.

A cop should treat every household he enters as if it were his own and the people in it as if they were his own family.

The fucking media warns viewers that the photo is graphic. The actual event was graphic. That's what should offend you.

This is yet another example of why the War on Drugs must end immediately.

It is also an example of why every citizen has a valid self-defense right to shoot cops on their property on sight with RPGs. The very concept of a no-knock raid is tyrannical and absurd. A man's home is his castle.

People have the right to expect privacy and security in their own homes, especially from government. If the government can't force us to quarter British soldiers in times of war, the government has no right to burst into our bathrooms while our teenage daughter is taking a shower. And no cop has the right to discharge ANY weapon in a private home without knowing who is there. Hell, no cop has the right to inflict ANY harm on a civilian who isn't an immediate danger to other persons.

The judge who issued the no-knock warrant should also be drawn and quartered.

These lunatics are doing 50-80 THOUSAND of these violent home invasions a year, nationwide.
This woman's home was destroyed by a SWAT raid:
"For more than four hours, SWAT team members fired grenades through walls and windows and blasted in the doors with explosives."
Nobody was home, the guy they were looking for hadn't stayed there in months. They broke every window in the house while they kept the evacuated neighbors standing in the rain for 4 hours.
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/crime-law/renton-homeowner-wants-know-why-damage-swat-raid-h/nPcW7/

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/renton-woman-demands-payment-two-years-after-swat-/nf5Sy/

They were from the Minority report squad.
That kid was going to grow up to be a Tea Party President.

Apparently it is NOT the cops fault.
Says Habersham County Sheriff Joey Terrell:
“The person I blame in this whole thing is the person selling the drugs,” Terrell said. “Wanis Thonetheva, that’s the person I blame in all this. They are no better than a domestic terrorist, because they don’t care about families…"

This same over amped "Task Force" gunned down an innocent Pastor in '09:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/05/30/drug-task-force-that-burned-a-toddler-this-week-also-killed-an-innocent-pastor-in-2009/

Robert Sproul says

This same over amped "Task Force" gunned down an innocent Pastor in '09:

Like who hasn't thought about doing that?
Those damn pastors aren't so innocent, they are intolerant Jesus spreading bigots. - Cali Lib

Robert Sproul says

They [meth dealers] are no better than a domestic terrorist

Clearly a few dollars worth of meth is an offense that justifies military-style response.

Because of their poor research & surveillance, the alleged dealer wasn't even THERE at the time. Was he carrying an AK-47 with grenade launcher when arrested?

"Terrell said the suspected drug dealer, 30-year-old Wanis Thonetheva, was arrested later at another house, with a quantity of methamphetamine, possibly as much as an ounce. but no weapons."

Judges who approve no-knock warrants like this, should be removed from office.

If the cops had had an armored vehicle with a battering ram, they could have just knocked the house over, and that baby would not have been burned.

The worst part of the video was the sheriff saying they'll know what to do better next time. How about not doing anything next time?

Next time, they need to pack the baby and it's diapers with C4 and a remote trigger, wheel it into the house on a robot and detonate so no cops get hurt.

The Professor says

A persons life has to be pretty messed up

Like, nobody in the family has worked since grandpa had a job at the mill in "82.
Much of middle America is a sacrifice zone to "Globlaization"
Then they monetize the pathetic left-behinds through the "War on (some) Drugs".
It was in regard to prescription opioid addiction (another way they profit from poverty) but I thought this phrase was poignant:
"Some of these patients could be said to be suffering from what his colleagues call 'terribly-sad-life syndrome.' 'These patients are at a dead end, life has stymied them, they are hurting,' he said. 'They want to be numb.'"

Terribly-sad-life Syndrome, let's all count our blessings today.

I know some of this sort of people: living off public assistance intermittently or permanently, never accumulating savings when times are good, sometimes working harder but other times giving up.

I have no idea as to how the family in this case fits this profile, but here are some of the characteristics one sees again and again:

1) High incidence of mental illness in the family - a schizophrenic here, a severe autistic there. It's uncanny sometimes.

2) Uncanny ability to fail most of the time, even among the brightest of the bunch. The smart ones will tell themselves they must hang around to take care of the weakest (mentally ill or drug addicts), which inevitably wears down the smart/able ones themselves, who are torn between their jobs and the extreme drama at home. Guess what happens to their job performance?

3) Disapproval and meanness toward family members who succeed by moving to where jobs are more plentiful or by starting their own business.

4) Fear of leaving the hopeless shit hole backwater they're living in, because "we don't belong with city people, or whatever people it is who live elsewhere and are oh-so-scary and "better than us".

5) Failure to save due to weak character in the face of constant barrage of televised appeals to spend, spend, spend. The poor have TVs, which gets them into the same frivolous spending habits as the rest of us, but they can't afford those habits.

6) Consistently abysmal choices in sexual partners, as in three drunkard husbands in a row, followed by a fourth who is obviously chemically unbalanced to even the most casual observer; have a child by this man, and the child then must be institutionalized for life.

7) Lots of small bad choices which pile up, creating health problems: diets of beige fried food and sugary treats, lack of exercise, poor vehicle maintenance resulting in accident and chronic pain.
The worst of these is usually dietary - near-universal diabetes in some of these families.

This stuff is exasperating to witness. I know two brothers with the same intelligence level and same decent work ethic: one lives in wealthy retirement with a supportive wife, while the other lives in Section 8 housing with his mentally-ill daughters who are pushing 50, with drug addicts among the grandchildren, a couple of whom steal his stuff to buy drugs.

The wealthy got there partly by marrying the boss's daughter, but still worked hard. The poor one also worked hard, but was treated like shit by his wives. I also know people who shit on their spouses and children, who would steal your putter out of your bag at the golf course, and are quite wealthy.

The worst things these marginal people do are to themselves; drugs are a symptom and not the cause. None of them deserves to have their 18-month-old blown up.

The Traditional American Way.

CIA enables an existing challenger to take over as the new strongman. Promise whatever support is needed to pull off a coup, and extraction if it fails.

His family however has been remarkably successful at eliminating possible threats. And you couldn't realistically use this method for some 3rd tier underling who would neither have access, nor the ability to maintain order post-coup.

Fomenting a popular revolution is too risky.

"Kim Jung-Un"

Like Saddam Hussein was, I think the present Korean dictator is an effect not a cause of systemic instability.

Vicente says

His family however has been remarkably successful at eliminating possible threats

I don't know anything, but suspect the corruption of the NK regime extends far beyond "family".

NK seems to me to be a fallen party-elite controlled state, the end state of all governments that successfully unbind themselves from true popular electoral feedback dynamics.

I'd like to think if the ROK just rolled over the border the rotten state would collapse immediately, but short of that I don't see change happening there anytime soon.

ISTM the "inner party" -- whatever that is -- has got too tight a grip on the levers of police power in NK.

The day NK disappears should hopefully be a happy day indeed; one of the last authoritarian holdouts, left or right.

Sorry, two more questions:

In the twenties the government focused on the loss of the family farms, but didn't focus on the residential losses, or do much to bail them out. Now the focus and aid is on the residential market and how it effects real estate stocks. Would this shift in focus mean a different outcome for our upcoming crash?

I thought the housing market kept doing well until 1933? Would you liquify your real estate before the stock market crash, or wait a few years?

Juliet

If you want to get the straight dope:

http://youtu.be/OWA-G7u2kJM

indigenous says

Juliet

If you want to get the straight dope:

http://youtu.be/OWA-G7u2kJM

Woods is a straight dope, alright.

rooemoore says

Woods is a straight dope, alright.

not in my opinion, not that you would pass any sort of test on the great depression.

rooemoore says

Woods is a straight dope, alright.

Oh, Thomas Woods Jr. that's the crypto-Confederate: "It wuz all abouts da tariff!" - nevermind that the tariffs had been agreed-upon decade after decade, and it wasn't tariffs that Southern Leaders railed about. It was about the empire of slavery expanding Westward, so Plantation Owner's sons could own vast tracts at the expense of small farmers.

Amos is happy where he is, dammit!

thunderlips11 says

crypto-Confederate apologist

I guess you mean neo confederate. He is not at all, strictly a solid Austrian.

marcus says

I distinctly remember Bush (GWB) campaigning that he was opposed to "nation
building."

I distinctly remember a little event on 9/11 that changed our thinking on foreign policy.

We used to think we could just support dictators to keep a lid on the crazy and the crazy wouldn't spill on our shores. That didn't work out so well for us on 9/11 and required new thinking.

Now that we are bugging out of the world and letting the crazies take over, expect to see more stories like this where Jihadis trained in Syria are coming back to Europe and elsewhere to kill Jews.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/brussels-jewish-museum-attack-man-arrested-in-marseille-in-connection-with-shooting-of-four-people-9467318.html

PolishKnight says

In any case, as I said, since the left ultimately winds up in bed with the very same capitalists they claim to hate (Goldman Sachs, for example) and then engage in a race agenda to make up for their failures with the bread and circus populace,

If I understand you correctly, you think both sides are screwing you but you like the way the Republicans do it better.

Well, that's because they have small dicks. When your getting fucked in the ass, smaller is probably better.

Thank you very much! I appreciate all your helpful, educated and well-thought out answers to my questions. This gives me a lot to think about and research further.

socal2 says

I distinctly remember a little event on 9/11 that changed our thinking on foreign policy.

The neocons had plans for Iraq (which was unrelated to 9/11), way before 9/11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century

It is true that without 9/11, it would have been somewhere between difficult and impossible to get support for what we did in Iraq. But that's a far cry from saying that 9/11 truly justified the Iraq war.

The Crash of 2017, leading to further subjugation of the poor by global predatory capitalism and the rise of Totalitarian States engaged in continuous Resource Wars.

And I was promised a Jet Car if I made it to the 21st Century.

sbh says

The Teabaggers want this real, real bad. BRING IT!

Many teabaggers who think they're ready would look like morons when they stand in the bread lines with everyone else.

Unfortunately this wouldn't happen. I see no reason they can't do the same stimulus QE etc a few more rounds.

I think the fed played a big part and I think the republicans will again suck it up and bail out the system if it comes to that.

socal2 says

I distinctly remember a little event on 9/11 that changed our thinking on foreign policy.

Unfortunately, that is true. It caused us to make a series of really bad decisions, ones that have scarred our national psyche far out of proportion to the actual event. All that really needed to happen post-9/11 was a firm commitment by passengers and crews that no razor-wielding hijackers would ever be obeyed again. Just about everything else was a grotesque overreaction. Vengeance/justice on the hijackers and their apparatus could have been achieved without military mobilization.

rooemoore says

PolishKnight says

In any case, as I said, since the left ultimately winds up in bed with the very same capitalists they claim to hate (Goldman Sachs, for example) and then engage in a race agenda to make up for their failures with the bread and circus populace,

If I understand you correctly, you think both sides are screwing you but you like the way the Republicans do it better.

Well, that's because they have small dicks. When your getting fucked in the ass, smaller is probably better.

That's the lesser of two evils argument. Note, I don't like EITHER of them. In fact, this is why the Republicans are losing so many elections: Their white male base isn't showing up even as white males are fleeing the Democratic party.

I respect the Democratic party in that even if they can't deliver their magical Sweden as promised, they at least satisfy their electorate by throwing them fresh meat.

carrieon says

because the market is controlled by the Fed, not politics.

And the Fed is just a proxy for its gigantic private member banks and a tool of the grotesquely oversized financial industry in general.
Sometimes I think we should have another way to describe it when the "Fed" takes action. It leads to confusion as to who is in charge and what their goals are.

"I consider all of the following to be conservative: 2) investing in education (i.e the future - and indirectly boosting future tax revenues)"

This classical leftist argument reminds me of my wife asking to buy a designer handbag for a grand and claims: "I need a decent bag to carry my stuff in!" Her argument is that either she gets a grand, or a plastic sack from the grocery store.

By the same token... the left argues that education needs "invstment" which is code for big pensions for unionized teachers and administrators. Here's a fact: The USA spends more per capita than ANY other country. Where did I read that? Foxnews of course. Oh, wait, I got it from the Huffington Post!!!! tinyurl.com/lfhqy26

"The United States spends more than other developed nations on its students' education each year, with parents and private foundations picking up more of the costs than in the past, an international survey released Tuesday found."

Want to conserve the planet? Reduce population rather than encouraging third world countries to breed and importing them to grow the welfare state. "Entitlements", or in other words, welfare or failing ponzi schemes, make up the bulk of the budget so any hopes of "progressive" taxing out of that is hopeless.

socal2 says

We used to think we could just support dictators to keep a lid on the crazy and the crazy wouldn't spill on our shores. That didn't work out so well for us on 9/11 and required new thinking.

Now that's the most ass backward thinking in a while. The crazies came out because the US supported corrupt dictators who lived like kings while stealing everything that wasn't nailed down.

carrieon says

because the market is controlled by the Fed

Re-read many of his posts that state "IT'S NOT THE FED"..............

PolishKnight says

Ironically, the feminists that embraced marxism are now finding that in Europe and the USA, pockets of Sharia law are springing up.

In the US, the fundamentalist Christians basically want Sharia law imposed. Somehow it's only offensive if a radical non-mainstream Islamist wants it.

bob2356 says

The crazies came out because the US supported corrupt dictators who lived like kings while stealing everything that wasn't nailed down.

Did "we" really used to think that the populace in the countries where we supported dictatorial regimes enjoyed those dictatorial regimes? Really?

Or was it Realpolitik? The spooks and the Pentagon thought, "the enemy of my enemy if my friend" and "who gives a fuck what happens to the citizens of country X"?

And then we had 9/11 as a consequence of that same Machiavellian approach?

PolishKnight says

Reduce population rather than encouraging third world countries to breed and
importing them to grow the welfare state.

They are not being imported to grow the "welfare state." They are being imported because the powers that be know that they are likely to have off-springs in greater numbers than "traditional communities".... and hence are viewed as keys to the long term solvency of social security.

PolishKnight says

The (remaining) white male liberals I know are either hypocritical limosine
liberals or they live in their mother's basement or are childless hipsters
slumming it up.

You need to get out more. It would do you well to break some of the stereotypes you seem to have made up.

Vicente says

socal2 says

I distinctly remember a little event on 9/11 that changed our thinking on foreign policy.

Unfortunately, that is true. It caused us to make a series of really bad decisions, ones that have scarred our national psyche far out of proportion to the actual event. All that really needed to happen post-9/11 was a firm commitment by passengers and crews that no razor-wielding hijackers would ever be obeyed again. Just about everything else was a grotesque overreaction. Vengeance/justice on the hijackers and their apparatus could have been achieved without military mobilization.

But we didn't change our foreign policy as a result. We simply grew military build up out of it.

Like every nation historically, instead of doing the right thing, they used the situation to grow MIC and intrusion into our lives. Obama hasn't changed much of that course either. He did cut some military spending, but overall structure is still there, and the entire structure of big government take over hasn't given an inch.

dublin hillz says

PolishKnight says

Reduce population rather than encouraging third world countries to breed and

importing them to grow the welfare state.

They are not being imported to grow the "welfare state." They are being imported because the powers that be know that they are likely to have off-springs in greater numbers than "traditional communities".... and hence are viewed as keys to the long term solvency of social security.

Hahahaha! That was the plan in Europe, certainly. 20 years ago, they'd import welfare state recipients who would all get high paying jobs to pay into the social system.

Oh, wait, they went on welfare and became a public burden. Then they had more kids.

This is like taking the residents of Oakland and putting them into the zip codes of readers here and then hoping they'll all get high paying jobs and prop up real estate values. OH, wait, that was the plan behind the last real estate bubble.