Next he'll be tinkling the ivories.

*Promote the ivorys for the smiles

Did they offer that in the program, or was it only random individuals….or are you extrapolating, assuming the program became universal? I thought this plan was just for the indigent.

$500 each for 4 works out to more than my wife brought home for 40 hours a week after 15 years at her last job…..barely livable for 4 anywhere in California, a nice income in some states. Not a huge amount to provide for 6 months. How much does temporary housing, services, extra law enforcement, etc cost over that time for 4 people? I assume they’re close.

Yes, universal income is costly, but most on the right won’t consider giving the destitute money if they don’t get a handout too, that likely multiplies the amount by over 10 times. With a means test, it would be billions, maybe under $100 billion. We spent nearly $6 trillion on bad Covid response in 2020, including trillions to corporate welfare handouts with no strings attached and they still fired millions of workers. I think if that’s ok we can afford to invest in making people productive again instead of drains on society (of course, not everyone will benefit, but 75% success must be a win overall). If not, socialize any corporation that took a bailout, we bought em, we should own them.

…Or taking on more debt like every government project, but the increase in gdp from turning costs into profits likely pays for the program without a dime in new taxes, just a reduction in costs of handling the homeless and new taxes from their incomes….especially if you have a means test and not universal income.

Yes, they convoluted by calling it universal income but focusing on homeless. It should be UMI. Universal Minimum Income….under employed get less than unemployed up to a certain minimum livable combined income, fully employed (with living wages) get nothing….IMO. Sadly, a large portion of people can’t see what’s in that plan for them (no homeless, less crime dumbshits) so won’t consider it unless they also get $500 even though that’s not even a noticeable amount to them….one more ivory backscratcher.

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*promote

i would like to say a few things.

first,
i would personally like to welcome my anti-war democrats back to the party.it appears it only took voting in the worlds most successful used car salesmen and professional internet troll to get you fuckers to get off the bench.

saved a seat for ya!../pats seat

second,
while i can admire this woman's passion and self righteous indignation,i refuse to accept her moral condescension,because for all her flowery and bombastic condemnation of anyone who voted for trump was a vote for:racism,sexism,bigotry and hatred,and implies she has deep understanding the motivations for voting trump.

i submit that she does not.
i submit that she is a hypocrite.

i submit that while she decries her anger and outrage at the moral ineptitude of her fellow americans for failing to rebuke an obviously unqualified candidate,who openly used racist and sexist rhetoric to appeal to our most base fears and anxieties.

she was missing the main point.the main reason.

so while she stood upon her ivory tower aghast at the horror unfolding in front of her on election night,she STILL did not get it.

she watched in horror as her fellow americans ignored trumps obvious racism.
ignored the sexism.
ignored the proto-fascist verbiage.
ignored the narcissism and petty tantrums.
ignored pretty much everything leading an election night into the surreal and absurd.

because she didn't get it,and obviously STILL doesn't get it.

because voting trump was not a vote for:racism,sexism,bigotry or hatred.
a vote for trump was a "fuck you" vote.
a trump vote was a "no confidence" vote.

now of course there are those who are racists,and sexist and are most certainly bigots and hateful fuckheads..of course.

and there are those who are diehard rightwing republicans...of course.

but the majority of those who voted trump are NOT those people.the majority of americans have..for forty fucking years..tried to utilize a system to counter correct the political establishment only to get fucked in the ass by the very same system they were trying to correct.

you can go look for yourselves.it looks like a clock pendulum.swinging dem and then back to repub and then back again.

and what did the american people get?
nothing.
nada.
zip.
zilch.

they got:
expanding wars.
stagnant wages and jobs.
higher taxes.
higher living costs.
drone strikes and secret prisons.
a two tiered justice system.
private prisons.
debt peonage.

and a government bought and paid for by:big banks,wall street,military industrial complex and multi-national corporations.

all this while the american middle class fell off the map into poverty and working poor.

so while those who voted trump may be politically unsophisticated,they are most certainly not dumb.

they got it.
and they finally understood that the system that they had been raised to believe was "by the people,for the people" no longer functioned at that capacity.

so the very same people who voted for obama and his "hope and change" campaign.
voted trump.
the people who had become politically engaged by the message that sanders brought to the table,either stayed home,or voted trump.

this was a protest vote.
plain and simple.

your fellow americans just nuked the system.
because it was the SYSTEM that was corrupt and no longer was functioning.

i find their choice just as terrifying as you do,but i have to admire the audacity to just nuke the entire system.

but can you really blame them?
they tried for decades to course correct,but the two party dictatorship had a stranglehold,and they served not 'we the people" but money and power.so our fellow americans utilized their one power given to them by the constitution.

and the hypocrisy here is that when bush was in office the left was losing their shit,and rightly so,but when obama was in office all we heard was crickets....and a disturbing silence from the left.(i realize this is an over generalization.there of course was some noise coming from the left).

and this woman is so out of touch that she is convinced that voting trump was a social issue matter?

i am sorry sweetheart,but some things are just not that simple,and condescending from your ivory tower,prattling on about social constructs as if you have been given some moral authority to judge others,only serves to solidify your own tiny and secluded echo chamber.where everybody can smell their own farts and pat themselves on the back for how clever they are,without ever having to critically examine ones own position.

which just means that she will never..ever..get it.

that is my .02 anyways.
take it for what it is worth.

I'm sorry for the derail, I just love the absolute certainty of that question - I hope the sincerely religious feel the same way about god's existence.

Additionally, I am starting to worry that the problem is not that people refuse to consider that they might be wrong... it's that they don't care if they're wrong or not. It's literally an irrelevant thing to worry about. If the rest of us want to play that game where we match actual facts to actual words, that's fine - the truth of what they say is in the message, not whether or not the facts happen to match up. Not only are they immune to facts, but they really feel that facts are a second-rate measurement of truth.

I saw a fascinating video* on this once - maybe here - that discussed the ancient (Biblical) understanding of truth, vs the modern understanding of truth. If you have a great story with a strong lesson, the modern measure of truth is whether or not the events described in the story match any actual events, and the Biblical measure of the truth of the story is whether it teaches a strong lesson or not. Maybe it's my ivory tower elitism but that seems to be exactly what goes on in the GOP now - if a 'war on cops,' for example, is a powerful story, it's more true than if the statistics show that officers are safer now.

*It was probably this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL6E4eMX-4k (Reza Aslan on the Young Turks)

So...I go to John Lewis if I'm an old man who wants to look at little girls through a telescope?


The Man in the Moon had silver shoon
And his beard was of silver thread;
He was girt with pure gold and inaureoled
With gold about his head.
Clad in silken robe in his great white globe
He opened an ivory door
With a crystal key, and in secrecy
He stole o'er a shadowy floor;

Down a filigree stair of spidery hair
He slipped in gleaming haste,
And laughing with glee to be merry and free
He swiftly earthward raced.
He was tired of his pearls and diamond twirls;
Of his pallid minaret
Dizzy and white at its lunar height
In a world of silver set;

And adventured this peril for ruby and beryl
And emerald and sapphire,
And all lustrous gems for new diadems,
Or to blazon his pale attire.
He was lonely too with nothing to do
But to stare at the golden world,
Or to strain at the hum that would distantly come
As it gaily past him whirled;

And at plenilune in his argent moon
He had wearily longed for Fire-
Not the limpid lights of wan selenites,
But a red terrestrial pyre
With impurpurate glows of crimson and rose
And leaping orange tongue;
For great seas of blues and the passionate hues
When a dancing dawn is young;

For the meadowy ways like chrysophrase
By winding Yare and Nen.
How he longed for the mirth of the populous Earth
And the sanguine blood of men;
And coveted song and laughter long
And viands hot and wine,
Eating pearly cakes of light snowflakes
And drinking thin moonshine.

He twinkled his feet as he thought of the meat,
Of the punch and the peppery brew,
Till he tripped unaware on his slanting stair,
And fell like meteors do;
As the whickering sparks in splashing arcs
Of stars blown down like rain
From his laddery path took a foaming bath
In the ocean of Almain;

And began to think, lest he melt and stink,
What in the moon to do,
When a Yarmouth boat found him far afloat,
To the mazement of the crew
Caught in their net all shimmering wet
In a phosphorescent sheen
Of bluey whites and opal lights
And delicate liquid green

With the morning fish — 'twas his regal wish —
They packed him to Norwich town,
To get warm on gin in a Norfolk inn,
And dry his watery gown.
Though St. Peter's knell waked many a bell
In the city's ringing towers
To shout the news of his lunatic cruise
In the early morning hours,

No hearths were laid, not a breakfast made,
And no one would sell him gems;
He found ashes for fire, and his gay desire
For choruses and brave anthems
Met snores instead with all Norfolk abed,
And his round heart nearly broke,
More empty and cold than above of old,
Till he bartered his fairy cloak

With a half waked cook for a kitchen nook,
And his belt of gold for a smile,
And a priceless jewel for a bowl of gruel,
A sample cold and vile
Of the proud plum porridge of Anglian Norwich —
He arrived much too soon
For unusual guests on adventurous quests
From the Mountains of the Moon.

Always fun to watch a fledgling technology expand. Polymer, glass, wood, even realistic imitation ivory imbibed with GPS trackers. Other researchers are trying to 3d-print aluminum.

Yes, but just like the dinosaurs, the bulk of the 2nd and 3rd world have no idea what is coming...

Hell, most of them don't even know what they are missing out on (see the vid on cocoa farmers in the Ivory Coast tasting chocolate for the first time), but as they become aware, they want what we in the west take for granted.

And let's face it, most of the first world where we have the luxury of information at our fingertips and the resources to try an affect change isn't alarmed.

In some ways, I think the dinosaurs had it easy. They just kept on eating, pooping and making little dinosaurs right up to the point where they got fucked good and proper. Ignorance is bliss right?

In the next episode: Cocoa Farmers from the Ivory Coast get the sad news from their doctors that they've got type two diabetes.

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@newtboy
while appreciate the sentiment and ideology behind your commentary,i just do not see it play out in reality.

i was going to post links to convey just how broken our democracy is,and those links are legion.the data is incontrovertible and to be quite honest...depressing.

i tire of people making this about libs/repubs.
that is NOT the argument,though it IS the argument that is presented to all of us.
no.
the REAL argument is about POWER and POWERLESSNESS.

the only true power the people have is they,themselves and the ability to form associations,to group up and put pressure on those who wield power.to create institutions which force..by sheer numbers..those in the ivory tower to hear the voices of the common folk.

but those institutions and associations have been dismantled and the people marginalized.

would you like scumbag A or dirtbag B?
and maybe a possible third party candidate,which leads to the inevitable "lesser of two evils" argument you are alluding to.

all of that does not change the fact we are getting our clock cleaned by the elites who only seek to further their own interests.

we lost.plain and simple.

but i cannot ignore the optimism in your post.
i just wished i shared it.
in my opinion the only path we have left is mass uprising.
to grind the gears of the machine to a halt and force those in the ivory tower to come to the bargaining table.

i do not share you enthusiasm and trust in a totally (in my opinion) broken political system that threw us all overboard 40 years ago.

that is playing THEIR game by THEIR rules.
and that game is rigged and in their favor.

i think the evidence of that has become abundantly clear to anybody who has been paying attention.

its like gambling in vegas.
yes..there are a few who win big but the majority lose their shirts but the illusion that maybe...juuust maybe..you too might win big keeps people coming back to the table.

they have stacked the odds in their favor and to play the political system is no different.
either way..the house always wins.

so why play a rigged game?
why play by rules that have been instituted to benefit the elites and fuck us all over?

the time has come to change the game and create new rules.

i apologize for the lengthy rant.
i truly wish i could share in your optimism newt.
i do realize there are those who are doing their best to fight this inequity and corruption.
so there is hope....a tiny..slim..sliver of hope.

and on that note i hope right along with them.

@messenger
rational and reasonable as always my friend.

but here is the cold,hard and highly cynical interpretation on the situation,based solely on my own understandings and continuing dissection of the dying throes of a global empire.

and it is simply this:humans have become commodities.

this young rich elitist fuck has parents who can raise his value in the eyes of a more and more corporatized state.
they can purchase his ticket into the political class.
so he can walk the gilded halls in the ivory tower and participate solely on the virtue of his ability to pay.
he can pay to play.

conversely,
the young black mans future ability to participate is systematically blocked for a myriad of reasons:race,economic status,regional opportunities etc etc.
and therefore has more value as a commodity to participate as a prisoner in the private prison system.

so while your analysis is born from a humanistic and reasonable origin,it is mainly due to the fact that you are..well..human.you express empathy and compassion.

a corporation is not hindered by such non-productive emotions.
they seek profit by any and all means.
and if that means commodifying a human being,then that is what they shall do.
and they have done exactly that.

many humans find that reality repulsive and repugnant (because it is) and balk at even accepting the reality that stares at them in the face.

because if they actually ever DID accept that truth,they would have to do something about it.

so they spin some rather creative internal narratives to avoid seeing the slow degredation,dehumanizing and outright cruel practices and call the profit good.
and oftentimes blame the victims for their situation,conveniently ignoring the actual perpetrators.

because if they did,they would have to take responsibility.
cant have that can we?