@RedSky

Selling assets and, to a certain degree, the reduction of public employment is an unreasonable demand. There's too much controversy about the effects it has, with me being clearly biased to one side.

Privatisation of essential services (healthcare, public transport, electricity, water) is being opposed or even undone in significant parts of Europe, since it generally came with worse service at much higher costs and no accountability whatsoever. Therefore I see it as very reasonable for Syriza to stop the privatisation of their electricity grid and their railroad. There are, of course, unessentials that might be handed over to the private sector, but like Varoufakis said, not in the shape of a fire sale within a crisis. That'll only profit the usual scavengers, not the people.

Similarly, public employment. There's good public employment (essential services, administration) and "bad" public employment. Troika demands included the firing of cleaning personnel, who were replaced by a significantly more expensive private service. And a Greek court decision ruled the firing as flat out illegal. For Syriza to not hire them back would not only have been unreasonable financially as well as socially, it would have been a violation of a court order. Same for thousands of others who were fired illegally, according to a ruling by the Greek Supreme Court.

Troika demands are all too often against Greek or even European law, and while the previous governments were fine with being criminals, Syriza might actually be inclined to uphold the law.


On the issue of reforms, I would argue that the previous governments did bugger all to establish working institutions. Famously, the posts of department heads of the tax collection agency were auctioned for money, even under the last government. Everything is in shambles, with no intent of changing anything that would have undermined the nepotic rules of the five families. Syriza's program has been very clear about the changes they plan to institute, so if it really was the intent of the troika to see meaningful reform the way it is being advocated to their folks at home, they would be in support of Syriza.

Interventions by the troika have crashed the health care system, the educational system and the pension system. Public pension funds were practically wiped out during the first haircut in 2012, creating a hole of about 20 billion Euros in the next five years.

I would like to address the issue of taxation specifically. Luxembourg adopted as a business model to be an enabler of tax evasion, even worse than Switzerland. In charge at that time was none other than Jean-Claude Juncker, who was just elected President of the European Commission. He's directly involved in tax evasion on a scale of hundreds of billions of Euros every year. How is the troika to have any credibility in this matter with him in charge?

Similarly, German politicians are particularly vocal about corruption and bribery in Greece. Well, who are the biggest sources of bribery in Greece? German corporations. Just last week there was another report of a major German arms manufacturer who paid outrageous bribes to officials in Greece. As much as I support the fight against corruption and bribery, some humility would suit them well.


As for the GDP growth in Greece: I think it's a fluke. The deflation skewers the numbers to a point where I can't take them seriously until the complete dataset is available. Might be growth, might not be. Definatly not enough to fight off a humanitarian crisis.

Surpluses. If everyone was a zealous as Germany, the deficit would in fact be considerably narrower, which is a good thing. Unfortunatly, it would have been a race to the bottom. Germany could only suppress wage growth, and subsequently domestic demand, so radically, because the other members of the Eurozone were eager to expand. They ran higher-than-average growth, which allowed Germany to undercut them without going into deflation. Nowadays, Germany still has below-target wage growth, so the only way for Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy to gain competetiveness against Germany is to go into deflation. That's where we are in Europe: half a continent in deflation. With all its side effects of mass unemployment (11%+ in Europe, after lots of trickery), falling demand, falling investment, etc. Not good. Keynes' idea of an International Clearing Union might work better, especially since we already use similar concepts within nations to balance regions.

Bond yields of Germany could not have spiked at the same time as those of the rest of the Eurozone. The legal requirements for pension funds, insurance funds, etc demand a high percentage of safe bonds, and when the peripheral countries were declared unsafe, they had nowhere to go but Germany. Also, a bet against France is quite a risk, but a bet against Germany is downright foolish. Still, supply of safe bonds is tight right now, given the cuts all over the place. French yields are at historic lows, German yield is negative. Even Italian and Spanish yields were in the green as soon as Draghi said the ECB would do whatever it takes.

The current spike in Greek yields strikes me as a bet that there will be a face-off between the troika and Greece, with very few positive outcomes for the Greek economy in the short run.

QE: 100% agreement. Fistful of cash to citizens would not have solved any of the core issues of the Eurozone (highly unequal ULCs, systemic tax evasion, tax competition/undercutting, no European institutions, etc), but it would have been infinitely better than anything they did. If they were to put it on the table right now as a means to combat deflation, I'd say go for it. Take the helicopters airborne, as long as it's bottom-up and not trickle-down. Though to reliably increase inflation there would have to be widescale increases in wages. Not going to happen. Maybe if Podemos wins in Spain later his year.

Same for the last paragraph. The ECB could have stuffed the EIB to the brim, which in return could have funded highly beneficial and much needed projects, like a proper European electricity grid. Won't happen though. Debt is bad, even monetised debt during a deflation used purely for investments.

I disagree. Imagine what it would look like if you had someone in that plate mail facing off against a peasant with a pitchfork. They look like they are demonstrating advanced techniques specifically designed for armored combat. Everything else is going to look like the first few seconds when he just stands there while the other guy took a full body swing at him, right before he swings back at you and cuts you in half.

A Sherman might not look so tough compared to a Panzer, but to everything not inside a tank, it will still make you shit your pants.

My grandparents took me to see it (!?!?!), and they wouldn't have done that if it were rated R--I literally wasn't allowed to see an R rated movie until I was 17 (My dad and his family--well, enough said). I remember sitting in the theater hiding my eyes during the whole tearing-his-own-face-off scene.

the situation in st louis did not just pop up out of thin air overnight.the tensions between the poor community (mostly black) and the police has been a festering pressure cooker for almost 15 years.

a particularly venal chapter in the st louis police archives is the RNC of 2008,for anybody to absorb some context on the militarization of a police force.

the tinder has been accumulating just waiting for the match.
mike brown WAS that match.
this is not new nor original.
it has happened before.

and as @lantern53 has pointed out:it is the chain of command that sets the tone of how that police force performs their duties.so if those in charge are authoritarian douche nozzles,that attitude tends to trickle down to the everyday cop on the street.

cops by their very nature are authoritarian due to their vocational choice.they respect the chain of command and the authority it represents.to follow orders is to be a "good" cop.

so i do not understand the ridicule that lantern is receiving.he is offering his perspective AS an actual police officer.i am not suggesting that he is right NOR that his opinion somehow exonerates the st louis cop JUST because he is a cop but rather we should listen to someone who actual IS a cop.

there is absolutely ZERO evidence that lantern is a bad cop.we simply do not know how well,or poorly,lantern is at his job.

there IS evidence,however,that lantern tends be a tad racist,authoritarian and contradictory.lantern may be a poor debater but that does not make him a bad cop.

though his defense of zimmerman does reveal an extremely poor judge of character.(seriously lantern?that dude is a full fledged cunt).

but i get it @VoodooV,
lantern is easy pickings.
a right wing authoritarian conservative commenting on a mostly secular left site?
its like shooting fish in a barrel.

sometimes lantern brings it on himself...i know.
his poor debating skills coupled with an almost embarrassing understanding of history and government makes him catnip to someone like you.

its
just
so
easy

i disagree with lantern,pretty much always and i agree that sometimes his biased rhetoric should be taken to task,if only to clear up the bullshit.

but you take it to whole new levels voodoo.
you follow him from thread to thread and chastise and belittle him and THEN act all hurt and shocked when he lashes out at you!

seriously?thats like poking a grizzly bear in the face and then crying when it rips half your face off.

you use the exact same tactics choggie used,but at least he was entertaining.

you are just a bully.
a hypocritical,sanctimonious bully.hiding behind the skirts of others who may find lanterns comments distasteful (which they certainly can be).this is a cowards path and just like all bullies,you rely on the silence of others to continue your persecution of someone who does not have the support of an entire site.

i find your lack of humanity disturbing.
and i will not be silent.
your actions do not deserve respect but rather ridicule.

Lyrics:

oh my god!

my bleeding heart bleeds blood for you, woah, woah

traveling down this lonely road, woah

facing my hurt, hurting my face, yeah yeah yeah

i chainsaw your face off, watching your brains rotting, kid
drain your veins raw, straining your esophagus

위하여, 음악에 미친 널 [we-hah-yeo, umage michin null]
위하여, 술잔에 비친 널 [we-hah-yeo suljane bichin null]
[translation: "cheers to you who are crazy for the music! / cheers to you who are reflected on the (wine) glass!"]

finding the truth
take it back
finding the truth
it's nothing
change
and tesselate
as we fight to the death

il mio amore è corrisposto

we all dance to the polka
for it is so fun
still dancing to the polka
with my accordion

love is everywhere
smoke is in the air

pick it up, pick it up!
oi! oi! oi! oi!
pick it up, pick it up, pick it up, pick it up!
oi! oi! oi! oi!

a to z, z, z
a to z, z, z
a to z

as we cross the open seas
twoards the call of war
our axes we'll free
guided by the hand of thor

yeah yeah yeah
and our love will never end

List of genres:
1. Ambient
2. Baroque
3. Chiptune
4. Dubstep
5. Emo
6. Folk
7. Grunge
8. Horrorcore
9. IDM
10. Jazz
11. K-Pop
12. Latin
13. Math Metal
14. Noise
15. Opera
16. Polka
17. Quan Ho
18. Reggae
19. Ska
20. Trap
21. UK Garage
22. Viking Metal
23. Wonky
24. Xoomii
25. Yodel
26. Zouk

Source YouTube

I was actually just going to post to recommend skipping just past the end to see the only newsworthy portion.

I hate this kind of format. No one cares what the talking heads think. Just give us the news and get your face off camera you narcissistic whores.

"Don't worry, in a couple of years I'll rip your face off."

for less than a gun, even less than a deploying taser, you can buy Class IV lasers that will instantly blind people... and are rechargeable.

Get em before they're banned and you have to buy kits for them. Fuck a gun, these things will burn their face off and let the perp live to be punished more... good times.


http://wickedlasers.com.hk

Open the window so I can EAT YOUR FACE OFF

>> ^budzos:

Looks designed to scrape the driver's face off.


And no Batman suit!

Looks designed to scrape the driver's face off.

>> ^deathcow:

my Android 4 phone voice recognition is pretty amazing


Yeah, I have Ice Cream Sandwich on a Galaxy Nexus, and I'm pretty amazed by how well it gets addresses I ask it to navigate to. I keep thinking 'No way will it get this', and then it does. 'huntington drive', 'warrnambool', 'craigieburn'.

I'm looking forward to the natural language search like this in JB. I'm waiting a bit to see if my local carrier releases it for use. If they take too long I'll root my phone and flash it to stock Google.

>> ^Januari:

There must be something wrong with me... because i'm watching this video and just waiting for it to leap off it's perch and tear the camera persons face off...


You know, your nose looks a lot like a naked field mouse, CHOMP!

There must be something wrong with me... because i'm watching this video and just waiting for it to leap off it's perch and tear the camera persons face off...

This video confirms what I already suspected.

Back in high school me and a bunch of other students who got high enough PSAT scores got invited to go down to the Naval Academy in Annapolis to experience a weekend orientation of the academy. I bunked with a guy from Texas who was a black belt in karate. At the time I was really into Tae Kwon Do and we got to talking about martial arts in general. One of the other guys in our room asked us how to deal with an attacker with a knife and the karate guy without pause answers, "Run."

Everyone laughed until he lifted up his shirt and showed us this ugly red scar that goes from one side of his belly to the other. Apparently, some guy had talked trash to him out on the street one day and instead of walking away he faced off against the guy. The knife came out so fast he said he never saw it coming. He got hella lucky in that the slash wasn't deep enough to hit his internal organs and that the other dude just took off running after getting the one hit in, but he was still bleeding everywhere. Some other people nearby called an ambulance and got the kid to the hospital.

Years later, my brother and I got into mixed-martial arts and used to practice defending against knife attacks. We'd wear cheap white clothing and used red markers to simulate the knife. What we learned really quickly is that even if you successfully disarmed the simulated attacker, when you looked down you had probably been cut in at least 3 different places during the attempt.

So I agree with everything in this video. Someone comes at you with a knife, you're not necessarily fucked but you need to accept that in all likelihood you're going to get cut... and that even if you succeed in incapacitating the attacker there's still a good chance you'll bleed out from the cuts you took in the process before medical attention arrives.