@atomless@pluralistic I didn't know Karl Marx was ever that broke. He is known for living high on the hog at Engels' expense. Was that before Engels was supporting him?
@freemo Ever seen a kid in the supermarket who demands some candy or junk food? The parent says no, the kid gets more and more hostile, and gets his way on the third try?
That kid will grow up to be a monster unless either a teacher or later on a cop seriously corrects him.
A lot of people have that approach to politics. There are whole interest groups that have got their way through a social tantrum.
This will stop when they get the sort of correction a kid throwing a tantrum needs.
@sj_zero Heinlein's book "For Us The Living" really altered my view of economics. He was writing from a future perspective about the problems with 20th century economics, and he was right. He clearly explained what causes inflation, for example.
I think economists are people paid to lie to the public on behalf of bankers. The fact there are multiple schools of economics that give exactly opposite remedies proves that economics is still in the blood letting and leeches stage.
@freemo Well yeah having a lobotomy would kind of suck too, especially after anti-psychotic meds were invented.
This is definitely the wrong forum to mention the currently prominent other case of surgery to fix a head problem.
Doctors need to get back to do-no-harm.
I am somewhat worried that Ozempic is going to turn out like Fen-Phen to have some nasty consequences. But for now it seems to be helping people who were doomed to be hungry otherwise.
@Lassielmr@freemo Mandela was a terrorist. He was caught with a bunch of bomb making material and plans to use it. Hamas are also terrorists.
And both the old South Africa and present day Israel use police state terror tactics to keep their minority populations under control.
This is inevitable when you have incompatible populations forced into conflict. The more powerful one will use police state measures. The oppressed side will use terrorism. The hatreds will sustain each other.
@linuxgnome@Skembear A few years ago saying "Zionists control the media" would get you cancelled hard. Now that has gone mainstream. Never thought I'd see the day.
@freemo The domestic politics is horribly conflicted. The Israel lobby remains very powerful, but the Democrats are catching hell from the Left over Palestine. So they are trying to please two masters, and will end up earning the wrath of both.
Which might just hand the Presidency over to Trump.
@freemo Well they do have most of the buoyancy between the front and rear propulsion units, so that might help them move through the water more efficiently. They share the water with large constrictor snakes.
@freemo And then there is pointing it up at the ceiling when clearing a house, and poking the barrel around the corner ahead of you. Both of which advantage the other guy.
And the ever popular gunpoint conversation with the gun inches from the other person's head. There are a bunch of martial arts videos on Youtube showing people getting disarmed in a fraction of a second when they do that.
@freemo In related TV physics, you can swing from a rope and be stopped by a vertical wall and not go splat, even if the vertical descent during the swing was huge.
@freemo Why is neither side able to get a younger and less compromised person to step up?
The MAGA side in particular is just ripe for someone who can duplicate Trump's jousting with the media, while avoiding Trump's stupid statements that get him in trouble.
@freemo If you look at any of the big horrors of the 20th century, and go back 5 or 10 years, you find a gun confiscation.
And since people associated with the Democrats talk openly about how they want to do That Stuff, and have since the 60s, you must assume the goal is to do one of those big horrors here.
AR15s are very effective against death squads, party militias, and other gangs of men out to kill off undesirables. You can't use a bomber for that.
@freemo@volkris And one of the worst things that happened during that time is that Trump wanted to bring in the National Guard and put down the rioting, and the permanent bureaucracy refused to obey his orders.
Anyone on either side should see that as an outrage.
@volkris@freemo If someone ever comes in and provides a place to focus their rebellion, then things will get interesting, in the Chinese curse sense.
Right now nobody has a viable vision of the future. Some have an imaginary past they want back. If a leader could provide a vision of the future he could kick over this hollow and rotten system.