If Mort Divine ruled the world

[viewerfromnihil]

Well I would qualify your statement about irremediability with the point that they aren't realistically remediable. I don't know what "broad-based policy reform" means. A monetary policy change? A tax policy change? Price Controls? Program changes? Healthcare tech/drug approval changes? Etc.? All of the above? Any one of these points have democratic headwinds, special interest headwinds, and economic reality headwinds to move against. Buzzwords aren't magic, and neither are policies.

They're realistically remediable when you're not coming from a perspective that says, "It will just fail anyways, and, if not, it will be a waste of money that ultimately disincentivizes implementing the real solution of personal responsibility, which then will just cause it to fail at a later date." In the end, all of these recipients will die, yes.

I said "broad-based policy reform" because I was on my way to work and didn't have time to get into the weeds, and probably wouldn't have felt like it if I did have the time. Regarding both, yes, a tax policy change, namely one which eliminates the maximum taxable income. Regarding SS, dropping the facade of it being some sort of personal benefits account by eliminating the differentiation of out-payments based upon life-long contribution to something more standard relating to geographical cost of living. I see what you're getting at by monetary policy change, but I don't see that as a realistic option, considering the fact that our economic system is and always has been one driven by debt, not capital. Regarding Medicare, I'm not really interested in spelling out all of the possible options for potential new health care systems, and although I do support something along the lines of Medicare-for-all, I'm also not against the idea of a federal option, similar to the health care system in Germany. Yes, yes, I know, waiting lists. Make it easier for immigrants to come to the US to study medicine, make it easier for them to stay and gain citizenship when they complete their studies, and lower tuition costs at our universities (yes, more taxes) while offering stipends to students on the path to studying medicine. And price controls? Yes, but with something that actually takes into account costs, profits, and reinvestment. There's plenty of big pharma firms in the EU who survive comparable regulations and taxation.

I said broad-based policy reform in part because the factors contributing to these programs extend far beyond policies specifically related to the programs, our education system at the secondary and particularly the primary level being a glaring one.

Pie in the sky, I know it.

 

[The Ozzman]

Not sure how this reconciles with other claims that poor white people didn't vote for Obama because he's black, but this is why I think Tulsi Gabbard is probably the best shot the Dems have in 2020.

Heard Kamala Harris' name getting thrown around too tbh

 

[Dak]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/nyregion/new-york-citys-worst-landlord-it-might-be-the-city.html

Government provides terrible service, especially to the poor:

The New York City Housing Authority, the largest public housing system in the country, contains more than 400,000 tenants in 325 developments which are variously and dangerously falling apart. The city can rightly blame decades of disinvestment by the federal government for the general state of disrepair. But it is, itself, solely responsible for the culture of deception that evolved to conceal the many ways that the system has failed to protect residents from the hazards of living in old and badly maintained buildings.
.........
Beyond the tragic circumstances around lead, the investigation found that the housing authority had for years deployed all sorts of trickery to keep inspectors sent by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development from seeing how damaged its buildings really were and issuing violations. Water might get turned off before inspections to conceal the presence of leaks; holes might be plugged with newspaper and painted over to create the illusion that they had actually been fixed. Signs might be hung reading, “Danger: Do Not Enter,” to prevent inspectors from going into basement rooms where conditions were truly terrible.

Whose fault is this?

This might all seem quite shocking but really it is where neoliberalism takes us — when governments behave like free markets, when Darwinian economics prevail over the public good, those overseeing that good will inevitably be coaxed into adopting the worst habits of the private sector.

Damn it, the free market strikes again.

 

[Dak]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...carry-shooting-victim-20180523-story,amp.html

 

[rms]

lot of that landlord stuff going on here in buffalo.

http://buffalonews.com/2018/04/08/the-high-cost-of-low-income-housing-in-buffalo/

 

[HamburgerBoy]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/13/nyregion/new-york-citys-worst-landlord-it-might-be-the-city.html

Government provides terrible service, especially to the poor:

Whose fault is this?

Damn it, the free market strikes again.

lmao

If it's a thing that involves the transfer of money or a thing that exists within a society in which transfers of money occur, it's capitalism. Just look at Venezuela. State capitalism.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...carry-shooting-victim-20180523-story,amp.html

Have to wonder if it wasn't a good ole boy that shot the piece of shit, whether the shooter would have still gotten off charge-free. I didn't think Chicago protected lethal self-defense of property.

 

[Dak]

Have to wonder if it wasn't a good ole boy that shot the piece of shit, whether the shooter would have still gotten off charge-free. I didn't think Chicago protected lethal self-defense of property.

My favorite part was calling the 17yo who was committing GTA a "little boy". If his last words were indeed "sorry, bro", that just shows the deep cultural rot of a complete disregard for the concept of private property. "Oopsie".

 

[HamburgerBoy]

From what I can find, what the cop did was completely illegal by Chicago law, however. I'd rather see the cop shot than the carjacker tbh. Every police officer and government representative of that city should be lynched until they begin to respect their serfs. The sorry-brah carjackers can be hung from streetlamps after that.

 

[Dak]

From what I can find, what the cop did was completely illegal by Chicago law, however. I'd rather see the cop shot than the carjacker tbh. Every police officer and government representative of that city should be lynched until they begin to respect their serfs. The sorry-brah carjackers can be hung from streetlamps after that.

It was a fireman.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Literally no difference.

 

[Dak]

Literally no difference.

I think there is. The fire department doesn't lie in wait giving tickets or locking people up for victimless crimes.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

They have a quasi-military chain of command, which promotes in-group favoritism, they're agents of the state, which gives them significant legal privileges, they're worshiped by the braindead proles, which means juries will never convict them, and they drive trucks with whirly lights, which sometimes gives them power over traffic. If you fuck with a fireman, you fuck with a cop's favorite brother.

 

[Dak]

They have a quasi-military chain of command, which promotes in-group favoritism, they're agents of the state, which gives them significant legal privileges, they're worshiped by the braindead proles, which means juries will never convict them, and they drive trucks with whirly lights, which sometimes gives them power over traffic. If you fuck with a fireman, you fuck with a cop's favorite brother.

I think you're overselling it a bit. I will agree that most fire services could be rolled back a bit. Modern building standards have dramatically reduced instances which require fire services. They've tried to compensate by making it mandatory to present at any and every incident imaginable *just in case*.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

I don't give a fuck about the welfare aspect. Most people are leeches, myself included. The point is that cops, firefighters, congressmen, judges, etc are above the law because they're the appendages of the state. Only they (and some wealthy people with great lawyers, the gloves of said appendages) can get away with murder.

 

[Dak]

I don't give a fuck about the welfare aspect. Most people are leeches, myself included. The point is that cops, firefighters, congressmen, judges, etc are above the law because they're the appendages of the state. Only they (and some wealthy people with great lawyers, the gloves of said appendages) can get away with murder.

Cops can. Not sure about your assertion about the others. Unless "murder" was figurative. But as soon as we get figurative the "getting away with [it]" explodes.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

By Chicago law, this would have been murder if I shot a 17 year old for stealing my car. No DA would ever prosecute though knowing the inevitable shitstorm that his constituents and the police/firefighter unions would unleash on him.

This is why lynch law is the most ethical form of justice in a modern society with cameras everywhere.

 

[Dak]

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/po...shooter-at-washington-state-walmart/771791480

Good guy with a gun stops bad guy with a gun. I would say this qualifies as "stopping a mass shooting", except of course two more victims are needed for it to qualify in a technical sense.

 

[The Ozzman]

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/po...shooter-at-washington-state-walmart/771791480

Good guy with a gun stops bad guy with a gun. I would say this qualifies as "stopping a mass shooting", except of course two more victims are needed for it to qualify in a technical sense.

But of course, we need more gun control. This is absolutely unacceptable.

 

[Einherjar86]

These good guys with guns need to step up their game, because the bad guys seem to be a lot better at what they do.

 

[EternalMetal]

Scenario: random black dude from an urban area shoots and kills a black guy who was robbing a store at gunpoint, already having killed an employee and innocent bystander. Later it turns out both men were a part of rival gangs. Neither man had a criminal record, but the robber miraculously had a gun registered in his name.

Scenario 2: random suburban bar, guns are illegal in this state. A fight breaks out between 2 guys because one of them was hitting on his girl. Punches are thrown, man with wife gets a broken nose before the fight is eventually broken up by security.

Scenario 3: random suburban bar, gun carrying state. A fight breaks out between 2 guys because one of them was hitting on his girl. Both have guns. Man with wife pulls gun, other guy pulls gun. Man with wife is drunk and threatened and pulls the trigger, missing his target and wounding some random guy in the shoulder while he is having dinner with his wife at a nearby table. Other drunk man fires back, his bullet shatters the expensive mirror behind bar. Random guy at bar pulls out his gun and shoots both men dead; he was at the range early in the day and his aim was dead on.