Backlighting

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Posts posted by Backlighting

    Donald Trump

    in Stumping in the Backyard

    Posted

    4 hours ago, KorbenDallas said:

    I'm unsure if he will make America "great", but "good" I am more or less sure about.  Part of it is because I am skeptical if he is a conservative collectivist.  With the Carrier deal, I was surprised to read there was a cost involved...  so how much did those jobs cost us?

    Sarah Palin is skeptical, too (underlines are mine):

    I am ecstatic for Carrier employees! Their bosses just decided to keep shop onshore. What a relief for hundreds of workers. Merry Christmas Indiana!

    We don’t yet know terms of the public/private deal that was cut to make the company stay, but let’s hope every business is equally incentivized to keep Americans working in America.

    [...]

    When government steps in arbitrarily with individual subsidies, favoring one business over others, it sets inconsistent, unfair, illogical precedent. Meanwhile, the invisible hand that best orchestrates a free people’s free enterprise system gets amputated. Then, special interests creep in and manipulate markets. Republicans oppose this, remember? Instead, we support competition on a level playing field, remember? Because we know special interest crony capitalism is one big fail.

    Politicians picking and choosing recipients of corporate welfare is railed against by fiscal conservatives, for it’s a hallmark of corruption. And socialism. The Obama Administration dealt in it in spades. Recall Solyndra, Stimulus boondoggles, and all their other taxpayer-subsidized anchors on our economy. A $20 trillion debt-ridden country can’t afford this sinfully stupid practice, so vigilantly guard against its continuance, or we’re doomed.

    Reaganites learned it is POLICY change that changes economic trajectory. Reagan’s successes were built on establishing a fiscal framework that invigorated our entire economy, revitalized growth and investment while decreasing spending, tax rates, over-reaching regulations, unemployment, and favoritism via individual subsidies. We need Reaganites in the new Administration.

    However well meaning, burdensome federal government imposition is never the solution. Never. Not in our homes, not in our schools, not in churches, not in businesses.

    Gotta’ have faith the Trump team knows all this. And I’ll be the first to acknowledge concerns over a deal cut by leveraging taxpayer interests to make a manufacturer stay put are unfounded – once terms are made public.

    But know that fundamentally, political intrusion using a stick or carrot to bribe or force one individual business to do what politicians insist, versus establishing policy incentivizing our ENTIRE ethical economic engine to roar back to life, isn’t the answer. Cajole only chosen ones on Main St or Wall St and watch lines stretch from Washington to Alaska full of businesses threatening to bail unless taxpayers pony up. The lines strangle competition and really, really, dispiritingly screw with workers’ lives. It’s beyond unacceptable, so let’s anticipate equal incentivizes and positive reform all across the field – to make the economy great again.

    -Sarah Palin

    This NYT article has more about the deal:

    [...]

    But since the pact was disclosed on Tuesday, critics have pounced on Carrier’s receipt of $7 million in incentives from the state of Indiana — just the kind of corporate giveaways Mr. Trump knocked as he slammed Carrier on the campaign trail last spring.

    Others have pointed out that cutting individual deals with different companies is a costly and ineffective way to stem the powerful forces that impel business to move factories and jobs in a highly competitive global and national economy.

    “He has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives,” Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote in an op-ed on Thursday for The Washington Post.

    [...]

     

    I'm reminded what Milton Friedman wrote:

    "When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.” -Milton Friedman

    Democracy is coming -- to the USA

    in 4 - Politics

    Posted

    6 hours ago, BaalChatzaf said:

     

    "Democracy"
     

    It's coming through a hole in the air, 
    from those nights in Tiananmen Square. 
    It's coming from the feel 
    that this ain't exactly real, 
    or it's real, but it ain't exactly there. 
    From the wars against disorder, 
    from the sirens night and day, 
    from the fires of the homeless, 
    from the ashes of decay: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 
    It's coming through a crack in the wall; 
    on a visionary flood of alcohol; 
    from the staggering account 
    of the Sermon on the Mount 
    which I don't pretend to understand at all. 
    It's coming from the silence 
    on the dock of the bay, 
    from the brave, the bold, the battered 
    heart of Chevrolet: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

    It's coming from the sorrow in the street, 
    the holy places where the races meet; 
    from the homicidal bitchin' 
    that goes down in every kitchen 
    to determine who will serve and who will eat. 
    From the wells of disappointment 
    where the women kneel to pray 
    for the grace of God in the desert here 
    and the desert far away: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

    Sail on, sail on 
    O mighty Ship of State! 
    To the Shores of Need 
    Past the Reefs of Greed 
    Through the Squalls of Hate 
    Sail on, sail on, sail on, sail on. 

    It's coming to America first, 
    the cradle of the best and of the worst. 
    It's here they got the range 
    and the machinery for change 
    and it's here they got the spiritual thirst. 
    It's here the family's broken 
    and it's here the lonely say 
    that the heart has got to open 
    in a fundamental way: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

    It's coming from the women and the men. 
    O baby, we'll be making love again. 
    We'll be going down so deep 
    the river's going to weep, 
    and the mountain's going to shout Amen! 
    It's coming like the tidal flood 
    beneath the lunar sway, 
    imperial, mysterious, 
    in amorous array: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A. 

    Sail on, sail on ... 

    I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean 
    I love the country but I can't stand the scene. 
    And I'm neither left or right 
    I'm just staying home tonight, 
    getting lost in that hopeless little screen. 
    But I'm stubborn as those garbage bags 
    that Time cannot decay, 
    I'm junk but I'm still holding up 
    this little wild bouquet: 
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

    By Leonard Cohen

    "In spite of being chronically depressed,  Cohen was an optimist at heart". 

    Hardly any optimism here:

     

     

    Flying a Drone

    in Sports and Recreation

    Posted

    Was in the desert yesterday with a friend who recently bought a $700 drone. It was tons of fun. His model had the capability to fly up to 3/4 of a mile out and 500 feet high. It also had an HD camera attached for stills and video. Might be my next purchase.

    Fidel Castro is Dead!

    in 4 - Politics

    Posted

    1 hour ago, BaalChatzaf said:

    People who are water-boarded often tell the interrogators just what they want to hear.   Torture is not a reliable means of gaining probable or accurate information.

    Of course waterboarding isn't 100% effective...I get that. But if it's only effective some of the time by preventing additional American lives lost I say go for it.  --J

     P.S. There are other methods one can and have used that might reap the desired results.

    Fidel Castro is Dead!

    in 4 - Politics

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

    Brant,

    During the campaign, Trump said we don't need to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. We need to fill it up.

    :)

    Michael

    Great comment from Trump...and bring back "enhanced" interrogation.  --J

    Firearms

    in Objectivist Living Room

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Brant Gaede said:

    I suggest you don't have a current strongly felt need to buy ammo or you'd come up with a way around it. For instance, why don't you drive to Arizona and buy the ammo there? I'm not saying you can do this, but have you thought of it? Perhaps I could buy it for you and then sell it to you? (Meet you at the border?) Etc.

    --Brant

    I'll go to WalMart soon and see if they ID me (if they don't, I'll pay cash)

    No problem for me getting ammo/firearms here in NV. It's where I live. Glad I no longer live in CA. It's become the statist epicenter. I suspect there will be many from CA. coming here and where you are to get the ammo they want.

     

    Firearms

    in Objectivist Living Room

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Brant Gaede said:

    Too bad about Nevada.

    California and Washington? I can't say I care. They're just manufacturing black markets.

    The real issues are carry laws and exercising the right to self defense.

    The blue states are cesspools of collectivist corruptions.

    The real issue or issues are national.

    --Brant

    more prone to celebrate since November 8

     

    Agreed. What I find particularly atrocious is the backround checks for the purchase of ammo. The last firearm I purchased required a check and it took the clerk about 20 minutes on phone hold with the "authorities" to get the ok. Add to that I needed to pay $25 for that ok. I don't fault the retailer for the charge since his employee's time on the phone and filling out the paperwork by his employee costs him money. Fortunately, there are no backround checks for ammo here in Nevada...not yet..but if you're a California resident and want to buy a box of, say 9mm shells, which sell for around $15-$20, you will probably end up paying more for the backround check than the ammo itself. Add to that the wait for the check will probably be long and the stores will need to hire additional people to process these checks. The Left is going after the ammo, the firearms, the firearm manufacturers and the retailers all in the name of the public safety(?)... It's a full court press on all fronts--J

    "Who will protect us from our protectors?" AR

     

    Donald Trump

    in Stumping in the Backyard

    Posted

    1 minute ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

    Joe,

    I've been watching the videos and reading the articles.

    Bernie's hardcore folks are fit to be tied. They loathe Clinton. In fact, they hate Clinton more than Trump, and they hate Trump. 

    :)

    Michael

    Well then those Bernie supporters will either not vote or vote for Trump. Either way, that's a good thing.  --J

    Donald Trump

    in Stumping in the Backyard

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

    Joe,

    What percentage of Democrats do you think will vote for Clinton?

    The last I heard, most of Bernie's folks are Democrats and they don't seem to be too happy with her.

    :)

    Michael

    Can't say for sure Michael but I suspect not a majority of them will vote for the snake. ---J