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pyrohornIII

Burnt Ends
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Posts posted by pyrohornIII

  1. I feel like we are in Neville Chamberlain's Great Britain before WW2.  Seems he and others in power at that time were willing and maybe even anxious to appease Hitler, to sit by while he pillaged the rest of Europe.   In return, England would be unmolested, and those that helped bring about such a peaceful capitulation would most likely be rewarded by positions of power in the new government set up by the Nazis. 

    That's what this feels like.  Like Trump is selling out America and our allies to feather his nest somewhere else.  He acts like someone who is intent on surrendering,  trying to convince everyone else he is looking out for the best deal for America, but really only looking out for himself.

    I'm not sure there is a clear cut threat that is headed by an individual.   But more likely it's fear of globalization that is what is driving this fracture.  I think Putin can't handle globalization anymore that Trump can.  Therefore he has made Trump his ally, his puppet. 

    Now we have to either get ahead and lead again in making this work for all, or we fall behind and have to play catch up.    For so many years we were the cutting edge in technology, now we are being forced to drop that advance, retreat to old standards.   Coal vs renewable energy is a great example.  Environment, immigration, fair trade, affordable health care are more examples.  Instead of trying to improve these things, we keep allowing advancements to be surrendered.

    We as a country have to determine what is important again.  Then we have to stand up and say it, stand up and demand it.   If new standard is ruining everything else to improve our own individual bank accounts, then let me know.  I can play that game too. Or I could protest, or I can move.  But at least I would know what the rules are.  I get tired of people who live by one set of rules and espouse another.  Looking for justification for how other people are treated while profiting off of that treatment.

    Until we can get common goals of human rights and decency again, then we won't get very far.   And human rights and decency goes beyond the right of being birthed.   Until a person's scoreboard reflects what he/she has done to make the world a better place for others, instead of how much they have accumulated, then we are stuck. 

    So much of what you guys have said about the boomers is right on...same for our country and its tendency to go offshore for reasons that aren't entirely humanitarian or even barely humanitarian.  

     

     

    • Like 1
  2. 49 minutes ago, slorch said:

    If she wants a bigger  paycheck, then take on more responsibility. Produce more...  Stop fucking whining like someone magically owes an employee more. 

    If she wanted a bigger paycheck, she could have already gone private to be a lobbyist.  She might well be an elitist, bitch, snob or whatever, but she is fighting for the rights of the working man here.   I doubt she is after magical, but more like fair treatment for employees.  No, wait, wrong term....Associates. 

  3. 7 hours ago, FondrenRoad said:

    And yet they elected an immoral arrogant rich New Yorker as their flagbearer. Sidled right up to that city slicker and sucked his dick. Someone who actually represents every thing they claim to hate about NY. Born rich.  Doesnt give a shit about the heartland. Doesnt know what it's like to earn an honest paycheck. 

    You got it wrong.They love NY because they wish they could be a sideshow huckster like Trump.  They hate Dems because they aren't arrogant about being rich and they support programs for the needy. You see, Joe Bob doesnt know he's poor. He thinks he is a millionaire that hasn't happened yet.

    So much this.  And the way that happens in their minds is one of those uber rich .1%ers recognizes their undying support and rewards them with a 6 figure job maintaining one of their golf courses.   It's like the Brown Shirts and Hitler.  Blind support leads to cush government jobs.   They forget (or never read) about The Night of the Long Knives. 

  4. 5 hours ago, Skyline said:

    Ding ding ding, this is the winner. Early midterm polling states that yet again, healthcare will be foremost on people's minds. GR's ignoring the biggest issue. 

    source: 

     

    Income inequality is the root of a lot of the other concerns.   It should be higher.  Maybe even highest. 

    • Like 1
  5. 52 minutes ago, Machinator said:

    Coincidentally, 5 will be the number of hours the average college football game lasts if such a rule is passed.

    And if they don't do something like this, then 5 hours will be a norm too.  You are right though, 5 a half would be too much.  That would be 20 a game.   I wonder if there is some stat that shows average number of replay reviews, and the additional time added to college games as a result.  

    Do they keep score on which refs get their calls overturned most often?  Least often?

    I don't care how they do it, just cut out most of the replay reviews, or streamline them.  Run commercials on top of them?   We watch refs scratch their asses for 5 minutes, then see a play, then go to commercial break for another 5 minutes.  The rage is just compounded by that asshat Fox or whoever has hired to second guess the ref calls.  

  6. I'm beginning to think Cohen recorded as much as he did (i.e. the Tim Mak threats) to play back for Trump if the orange turd ever doubted he had followed through on some order.   Maybe Trump never heard all the tapes, but Cohen kept them as proof to the dotard that he had indeed done the bully threats as directed.    I don't really understand why he would keep something like that, unless he liked to listen to his greatest hits while he diddled himself. 

  7. I think conferences should be judged on more than income.  Integrity of the institutions and the game for one.

     

    1.  Boot Baylor

    2.  Improve the standards of our refereeing and umpiring to the best in all college sports

    3.  Work to re-instill the student interests in games while reducing the commercial tie-ins

    4.  Give coaches more challenges per half, say 5, and do away with reviewing every other play

    5.  Get rid of rules you aren't going to enforce, like holding in football, and palming the ball in basketball

    6. More stringent administration and recruiting oversight and discipline thereof (what the NCAA should be doing)

     

     

     

     

  8. 1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

    This is an incredibly important point.

    On an old, forgotten shaggy board, I asked a question to the effect of whether our incredible postwar prosperity was a huge anomaly, and it was actually hurting us because we all think that's "normal," and thus the way things should always be/what we're entitled to.

    The post above gets down to the issue of how it's killing us.  The Boomer's were born on history's third base, think they hit a triple, AND think they're entitled to third base or better in perpetuity.  They were born in a unique era -- one in which, if you kept your nose clean, showed up to work, and did your job reasonably well, you achieved unprecedented prosperity.  Even the bottom of the high school graduating class could get a good job on the Ford assembly line, make enough money for a house with two cars and a vacation, etc. (it helped that a huge hunk of the workforce -- black folks -- were frozen out of competition for the better jobs. The end of that advantage really came about starting in the late 60s).  And the Boomers EARNED all of those advantages -- after all, they showed up to work, and did their job, they DESERVE this incredible proseperity, and fuck everyone else who's just lazy.

    Which of course ignores that for most of our history -- and perhaps, we are returning to the mean -- folks who did just as they did were NOT blessed with such prosperity.  They worked in often brutal conditions, for shitty pay, and lived short, unpleasant lives.  A factory job actually being a ticket to "the good life" is NOT the typical way things were.  But that was the deal for the boomers and hey, if you can't have a life as good as theirs, it must be YOUR fault.

    I agree with all of this.  Until we understand the American Dream has been usurped and people like dotard are using the ghost of it to grab votes, then we are doomed.  Things have changed and we as a country haven't adjusted.  More like we have been lulled into a state of fat entitled hypnosis by a lot of snake oil salesmen.  Our expectations, priorities and values have been changed through media and marketing assaults. 

    I am a late boomer.  I grew up in small town Texas where we had about 6,000 people in our community.  About 3,500 within the city limits, another 1,500 who lived just outside in unincorporated "mekskin town", and the rest in the outlying farms.   We had a segregated elementary school, one for each side of the tracks.   We had 3 independent drug stores, 3 hardware stores, a plumbing shop, two auto parts, eight mom and pop diners or cafes, an HEB and a Piggly Wiggly, one Perry Bros. five and dime, three barbers and 2 hair salons, two banks, jeweler, maybe 5 insurance agents, six full service stations, one mercantile store, probably 8 gins and 4 elevators in a 5 mile radius.   And we were one of the smaller communities in the county.

    That was a lot of jobs for a lot of people.  A lot of people were living the American dream.  Owning and working their own business or farm.   There was some oil income, and maybe 25% of the town worked in nearby plants or refineries.

    There were a lot of people who worked as employees of those small businesses, or contractors who serviced those businesses.  

    It wasn't perfect, especially for the Mexican Americans(the racial stuff is a whole 'nother subject).  But in most cases it was better than what had preceded for all, considering they had just come out of The Great Depression and WW2.

    Several factors were at play though.  The GI Bill was hugely instrumental in housing and education for many, including my father.  Social Security and fair labor laws were being instituted.  There was a huge market for our goods, since the rest of the world was rebuilding their factories, infrastructures.  And one thing often overlooked is that income inequality was at its lowest in a century from 1943 to 1983.  That means the dollar was stronger in the middle class than at other times.   People could do the things Brisket is talking about with one income earner in the family. 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Income_inequality_in_the_United_States

    Now most of those opportunities are gone.  The systems have changed in almost all aspects.  Corporations and chains have killed off those jobs.  Farms that survived on 1,000 acres now need 6,000 to survive due to economies of size.  For good or bad, Walmart played a big part in the demise of these smaller towns.   Honestly, if it wasn't going to be Walmart, it would be some other corporation.   (I do hate Walmart though.)  And now the big box stores are being threatened by Amazon and the ilk.  Add to that that mechanization, robotics and AI is beginning to replace jobs and you have even less opportunities for employment. 

    Still, a lot of these boomers were raised with that mindset that if their parents could do it, then they should be able to do it as well.  A lot of pressure from parents to have these boomers be even more "successful" than their previous generation.   And they pass that pressure down to their own kids.  Maybe it's not pressure, but disappointment, frustration and anger.   Maybe the isolationist movement has been embedded in us because of these feelings that are being handed down generation to generation now.  Everybody looking out for themselves now. 

    And it is everywhere, not just rural Texas, but the rust belt is hit just as hard.  Watch the Flint special on Netflix. 

    Personally, I think one of the first steps in righting the ship will be to readjust the income distribution, make the middle class strong again.  But that same middle class we  should be making stronger is voting for people like trump who keep tipping the scales the other way.   So brainwashed.  

    • Like 7
  9. I had never heard the Michael Cohen taped threats.   Listening to him certainly reinforced my opinion of this guy as a bully.   Perfect for the Trump way of doing business.

    It also gives some insight into others like Caputo who still defend these turds.

    The link allows you to listen and read along with the transcripts if you want.  It also has certain areas marked throughout the 7 plus minute report.

    https://www.npr.org/2018/05/31/615843930/listen-how-michael-cohen-protects-trump-by-making-legal-threats

     

    I get the feeling that Cohen always suspected Trump would throw him under the bus, so he kept all this stuff, made all these tapes to 1) protect himself, and/or 2) use them as leverage against others he was trying to influence on behalf of trump.  As in getting them to say something they could later be blackmailed for.

    Now he has to decide can, if or will trump pardon him if he doesn't flip.  I think the mindset of the legal teams doing the investigating, they want as much dirt as they can get, especially that material that could lead to charges the cheeto in charge can't issue a pardon for. 

    The pic they chose for the article has that dead eye quality and smugness to it that a lot of cohen pics don't.  

    ap_18140435966088_wide-9a61f828cae574e6c

  10. I think Hillary and Obama should change tactics to praising everything Trump does.  Let him know he's doing things exactly as they would have done.    Either he will change his tactics and do the opposite, or his head will explode.  Either way would be an improvement.  

    And before everyone condemns me for proposing such dumb mind games, remember who they would be trolling: the king of mindgames himself.   When in Rome...

    They could probably write their tweets in a way everyone else but the dotard gets the sarcasm. 

  11. On 5/28/2018 at 10:41 PM, RandomIdoit said:

    1. On the Statue of Liberty. This was written at a time when welfare did not exist.  People were coming here to work, not get handouts.

    2. We are not responsible for other countries citizens. You any feel like we should be, but that does not mean that we are. 

     

    While this thread talks about immigrant kids, it has brought up American policy towards foreign countries because it all goes together.  Bullneck made that first comment with the three things that tied it all together.     

     

    1. So what is a handout?  Do corporate tax cuts count?  https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxanalysts/2014/03/14/where-is-the-outrage-over-corporate-welfare/#3bae51d327dd

     

    2. We shouldn't be responsible for them, we should just use backdoor imperialistic methods to take their natural resources.   You guys want to go on about how much we gave/give other countries.   I am not going too far out on a limb to say not all of it was humanitarian based, but most was masked that way.  How much of that money ends up lining the pockets of American businesses like Halliburton?  

     

    • Like 1
  12. The idea is if they can get the same people out to vote for Beto that voted for Hillary in 16, then he can win.   That doesn't count those like celery is talking about, those who silently are tired of Cruz, but can't say it in public. 

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