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Born to Run

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Posts posted by Born to Run

  1. From @djrothkopf
     
    Sometimes Barack Obama lied.  Sometimes his aides dissembled and spun.  They were imperfect and self-interested.  Bush and Clinton too and presidents since time immemorial.  But never has the White House dealt exclusively in lies and paranoid fantasies.
    It has gotten so statements become lies upon lies upon lies upon lies upon lies (there is a caravan, we need a wall, we have part of it built, we will build more of it, it will help).  It is not Orwellian.  It is much much worse.  We live in a dystopia.
    It is made worse because leaders of venerable institutions support the lies to advance their self-interest.  The president and his band of thugs have bullied the GOP into supporting their total war on truth.  Alarms have been sounded and ignored.
    But there is an antidote: a fact for every lie.  But beyond fact-checking the president must be challenged every time he spins a crisis out of nothing, a success out of failure.  That is not just the work of fact-checkers.  It must be the work of people with public platforms.
    In debates every time he lies a journalist or a candidate must challenge him. "That's not true, sir.  Here is the fact.  Look it up.  I'll post it on my website."  Every time.  If we do not, the lie takes root.  It Is validated.  This is demanding.  It is tedious.
    But it is essential.  Or we will continue the drift from our moorings, sink into the dark void of lies that is the only place this president's corruption is virtue, his betrayals are triumphs, his abuses are charity, his thefts are gifts, his failures are successes.


    Some great points, but once again we have to preface a solid point with “both sides” before we even get started. Fuck that.
    All trump does is lie. He lies about lies, and lies about ever telling the old lie while spewing a new lie completely contrary to the old one often with no purpose. Call him what he is, and do it briefly.

    The media fucks this up constantly. They repeat his lies, then try to parse out “what the president meant”, then maybe refute the lie. A majority of people never make it past the first part; which only amplifies Trumps message.

    Keep calling out lies in one sentence blasts. We are too stupid or short of attention for anything else, and Fox News will manipulate any statement more complicated than that.
    • Like 1
  2. It’s not like the Catholic Church has a long history of oppressing and controlling women within their patriarchal hierarchy and “values”. 


    Correct and I was raised Catholic. I actually know two different women who are converting to Catholicism. One because her husband wants her too, the other, a successful business owner, because- “feminism, and the gays and trans bullshit has gone too far.”
  3. Is there more drugs and violence going on at Murchison that those of us on the outside know about?  
    I’ve said before that this tragedy could happen at any school. If Lamar kids had been involved, and I had no reason to believe it was a symptom of school culture, then I wouldn’t be calling for the principal’s head. Seems like a pussy move for this guy to bail mid-year.


    There was an overdose, a kid passed out in the bleachers, and an attempted suicide. Tons of fights planned via instagram. All in the fall. My son relates that several kids get obviously high at school and on the buses.

    The principal never returned any of my calls or emails- going back to Sept. I was at an unrelated meeting last week with him and he mentioned that he “doesn’t check email as he gets too many.”
    WTF
    I also asked what additional resources or assistance could he use.
    Couldn’t think of anything.
    How about more staff to help process emails. Or more security. Or parent volunteers?

    Dude appeared to be a nice guy, but in way over his head.
    Those kids have no fear of consequences at all. They don’t even think to hide bad behavior. That culture starts at the top.

    Any change will be an improvement.
  4. Eh, gender is a both sides thing, unless you think Coulter, Judge Jeanine, Laura Ingraham, Davos, Huchabeef, Ivanka, Kirstjen Nielsen, Malkin, Diamond and Silk, Melania, etc... will be part of this effort.
     


    GOP is the party of Women (soulless grifters)!!!
  5. Well since you raise a point of fact, I will respond to it. Before I give my abbreviated response, I want to state that I have in fact read Daniel Yergin's The Prize, from cover to cover. It is a great history of the oil industry. It's kind of like the Doctor Zhivago of oil. I do recommend it.
    So getting back to the subject. Originally, oil was mainly harvested from places where it seeped from the ground. People found it could be used for lamps, because back in that day, when the sun went down, it was pretty much dark everywhere. Torches of wood were all they had before that. Drilling technology really didn't exist. So before cars they made some kerosene, but it was pretty limited in scale.
    Indeed the Henry Ford company was credited with forming the basis of modern industrialization through standardization of parts. Before him, every product made was essentially a custom product. Every gun in the civil war. Every car. Every lamp. Every single thing. Henry Ford created mass production as we know it. He was a genius. He didn't start Ford Motor Company until 1903. He went bankrupt twice before that. So "cars" weren't a thing before 1903. And even then, they were just barely a fraction of what they are now. 
    The very first central power station only became operational in 1881. (I had to look this up when I realized you would be concerned about other CO2 emission sources). It powered 57 lights and failed by 1882 and it was hydroelectric. So no coal plants, and certainly not coal plants on the scale we see today.
    Even when the first cars were produced in the early 1900's, many of them were electric. Because electric motors were a proven technology, and nobody knew where you would get fuel for an internal combustion engine. Electric vehicles held the land speed record until 1900. It was seen by many as the preferred technology. Internal combustion engines are really complex in comparison, and the refining infrastructure for crude oil as we know it today, again, simply didn't exist. 
    The reason that internal combustion won out then, as today, is the energy density. Oil (and its derivatives) just has too much energy in too practical a form. I love electric cars but they gotta fix that whole battery problem and there's no reason to believe they will. If they do, "gas" will drop from $2 per gallon to $0.20 or so. Very nice /Borat.
    So serious drilling didn't happen until the mid 20th century, when the internal combustion engine became ubiquitous. Really, not until after WWII. CO2 emissions likewise aren't anything until after WWII. Azerbaijan, the Saudis, they were poor Bedouins until then. The car drove emissions (and global politics), but that wasn't a common form of transportation until far, far later than 1850. 
    But to answer the question, in 1950 California became the 31st state. What do I win?


    The depth of your stupidity really is breathtaking.
  6. There is something to that.  Although, even those "run down" multifamily properties ain't cheap.  A fair number of the kids living there are children of divorce, live with mom and that's what she can afford, etc.  But, it does create an interesting mix at times.  I think Murchison's problems are mostly tied to the fact that it's overcrowded.  Doss and Hill are great elementary schools, and Anderson is a fine high school (it's actually probably a better fit for my son than LASA, where his sister goes).  Murchison is overcrowded, and that does need to be addressed.  Interestingly, 20+ years ago, we lived in Allandale, and one of the issues with the neighborhood is that you did NOT want to go to Lamar.  Fast forward, and Lamar is a really strong middle school these days.  These things change over time.



    Murchison is a mess, that we have considered transferring my 6 grader well before this mess. The principal is a joke- I can’t even get an audience to express my concerns let alone action. He never returns emails or calls, even when I’m trying to warn him about planned fights I hear about. 6 months and I can’t get a response or email. Everything that dude sold parents on last year is a lie. Fuck you Bradley do your damn job or gtfo.
    • Like 1
  7. Just watched Tucker for the Roger Stone “interview” and maybe 10 minutes after. What a lying sorry piece of shit of a “host”. Anyone that can sit through that garbage and feel like they were informed can go fuck off.

    • Like 1
  8. Rightfully, imo.  Trump is the one that decided to make Wall his last stand.  The R Senators had no obligation to save him from himself.


    Whose pushing this policy inside the WH? He stumbled upon the whole Wall concept on the campaign trail, and the cheers he received ramped up how he focused on it. Then he got largely quite about it until December. Why? He could have just done a border tour at areas already containing walls and proclaimed mission accomplished. His base wouldn’t know otherwise.

    Does it all just boil down to Fox News running policy around perpetual fear mongering to keep eyeball glued to their product.
    If so, no amount of border funding will ever be enough until Fox has a different bogeyman.
  9. Anyway, in regards to the topic of the OP I meet a lot of expats in Costa Rica. They are by and large old, drunk, and pro Reagan/Bush/Trump. And lonely. At least on the coast. I haven’t met many from the nicer areas around San Jose.
    they are also cracking down on the “perpetual” tourism here. In theory you can stay here for up to 90 days, leave the country for three days or more and then return. But they are not always allowing re-entry automatically anymore. Last I checked a few years ago about 1/4 million cash solves the problem. You can buy residency by  making a deposit in that amount to a national bank. You are allowed to withdraw a small percentage of that each year and then after 3 or 5 years or something you become a resident.



    Temporary residency for two years can be had by: having a monthly pension or retirement greater than 1 k a month, depositing 60k in a bank which you can draw up to 2500 a month from, or investing 200k in a business.
    Also have to sign up for health care.
    You cannot work
    You must be in country for 4 months per year.
    Basically they want to insure that you really like the move and are not a burden.
    You can telecommute.

    After 3 years you can apply for permanent residence for around $3000 with lawyer fees.


    That said, nobody move there. Land values have gone way up.
  10. Nothing. Nothing will change them. They are willfully ignorant, and there is no motivation to engage in current events. Under Obama there was great joy in catching all of his gaffes and mistakes- lol teleprompter!! Black guy screwed up! Ignore the racist elements- it’s funny when the other team stumbles.
    With Trump there is no motivation to pay attention. What admit the rich white guy is incompetent, crooked, stupid? That’s not funny.
    Admit they were duped?. No fucking way.

    The Trumptards I know are completely oblivious to anything that’s going on. Maybe a little Fox News if it’s on somewhere. They will continue to defend him to death with vague weak both sides bullshit, “at least he’s trying to do something*,” or “guns/ bortion.”

    I know I talk to them regularly.
    You hear them on NPR pieces. “Well I’m losing my farm but Mr. Trump feels we need to do this* so I will sacrifice for the country.”

    *You never hear what “this” thing Trump is actually doing is. They have no fucking clue about anything and blindly trust him. Anything he does can be spun by one sentence rhetoric that they can actually consume.

  11. An interbasin transfer of water from the Columbia below Grand Coulee to the headwaters of the Rio Grande would likely be more feasible than 2000 miles of border wall.  Both would have an awful environmental impact.  Neither, by themselves, would have much effect on illegal immigration.  Your bigger river would only cover Texas and would result in more flooding but would allow for increased irrigation in the Rio Grande Valley.  It would further diminish the Columbia salmon run.  It really is no worse an idea than the wall. We might also divert water from the Colorado after Hoover dam because fuck California.  I think if your plan was pitched just right to Trump, it might provide more distraction from the terrible things he'll do otherwise.   


    Make Santa Elena class V rapids again!!!
  12. I've strongly considered moving to Belize or Costa Rica. Belize is more stable and the better deal all around, but CR is more remote and on the Pacific side. Both have beautiful beaches, which is my primary requirement.


    Not my understanding at all. Belize has a lot of crime and narco bullshit. CR is pretty easy to move to, stable, and has great healthcare. I’ve yet to meet an ex pat down there that’s regretted it. The only exception being parents with School age children as the education system is pretty weak and upward mobility is perceived to be limited.

    Uruguay gets high marks from ex-pats too.
  13. I would think the Democrats are waiting until the government reopens to really start firing shots. Maybe the Senate flinches first. It’s Bad optics otherwise. Let him own all the pain of the shutdown, then make a bad deal that pisses off Ann Coulter, then hammer with investigations. And they should focus on less complex issues like tax returns, emoluments violations, Russia meetings. Let Mueller have the more complex issues. The legal stuff is such a slow process and can’t be relied on for relief by 2020.

    If the senate holds steady then the only play is to keep Trumps approval in the 30s.

    I don’t think the Senate backs down. I think too many are compromised- it’s the only way to explain their behavior.

    • Like 3
  14. I’m out as soon as I have enough for semi-retirement and/ or my kid is in college. Trump makes that decision easier but that’s been my plan for a long time. The USA is a great place to make money. Our health care is insanely expensive for the self-employed and the cost of living in any decent city is insane.
    Tramps like us.

    • Like 1
  15. I bet the racist whites you hang out with dropped a few N bombs since that is something you routinely witness.  For some reason your racist friends feel comfortable using the N word around you.  I wonder why that is?


    Dude aren’t you from Houston? Saying you haven’t heard white people say the “n word” in two decades proves you’re full of shit. I can promise you several prominent attorneys would let that word fly in good company in the late 90s and that’s in Memorial, River Oaks, Villages Etc.

    Houston has come a long way, but the recent past is pretty damn shameful.
    • Like 3
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