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https://www.truthdig.com/articles/goodbye-to-the-dollar/
The inept and corrupt presidency of Donald Trump has unwittingly triggered the fatal blow to the American empire—the abandonment of the dollar as the world’s principal reserve currency. Nations around the globe, especially in Europe, have lost confidence in the United States to act rationally, much less lead, in issues of international finance, trade, diplomacy and war. These nations are quietly dismantling the seven-decade-old alliance with the United States and building alternative systems of bilateral trade. This reconfiguring of the world’s financial system will be fatal to the American empire, as the historian Alfred McCoy and the economist Michael Hudson have long pointed out. It will trigger an economic death spiral, including high inflation, which will necessitate a massive military contraction overseas and plunge the United States into a prolonged depression. Trump, rather than make America great again, has turned out, unwittingly, to be the empire’s most aggressive gravedigger.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:36AM (50 children)
You have to be really ignorant to blame Trump for something that has been overdue for over 40 years. It is a nazi g this Ponzi scheme has lasted as long as it did.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:38AM (6 children)
"A nazi g" was autocorrect for some typoed version of "amazing"...
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:58AM (1 child)
wow, that's a nazi g.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:18PM
Fascist nating, Captain.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 5, Funny) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:10AM (3 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 4, Funny) by Rivenaleem on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:54PM
I did amazing that coming!
(Score: 4, Funny) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 05 2019, @02:58PM (1 child)
Boo! Hess!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:59PM
Traitor! I vill Hit ler you!
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 4, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:45AM (31 children)
Blaming Trump for stuff that happened in 2014:
Unbelievable.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:48AM (19 children)
Trump blames everything on his predecessors, principally Obama, so we may as well play the same game and blame this one on Trump.
And I have my suspicions about the Wall Street Crash as well...
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:29AM (18 children)
And I have my suspicions about the Wall Street Crash as well...
You can blame that on Hoover
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:33AM
The Great Depression was far worse than it otherwise would have been due to the Federal Reserve's efforts to support the price of gold. That led it to _not_ stimulate the economy at a time when such a stimulus was desperately needed.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:27AM (14 children)
Some breadcrumbs: Money appears (QE). Loans easy (rates low). Banks flush with virtual money. "Invest" it in stocks. S&P Boom! Defaults. VIX up. Ouroborus of stop losses and margin calls. Crash.
Same procedure as last time, Miss Sophie? The same procedure as every time, James.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:04PM (13 children)
It's to watch them try to expand the economy without growing the population by balancing it on the point of a needle [ssrn.com]. Scarcity now has to be manufactured.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:31PM
Let me come in again...
It's [fun] to watch them...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:40AM (11 children)
Making the food we eat now requires about a third of the land surface area of Earth (1/9 agriculture, 2/9 pastureland). Land is not so abundant that we can just ignore that as too cheap to meter.
Such as not doing 5% changes in GDP per year? That's a pretty fat needle.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:29AM (6 children)
Over half of produced foods are thrown away. Waste and corruption (primitive tribal politics) are what cause distribution difficulties. Capitalism doesn't work without scarcity and conflict. Without stratification, money doesn't flow.
Such as not doing 5% changes in GDP per year?
Voodoo economics are for entertainment use only...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:53PM (5 children)
Waste would happen anyway.
Obsession over such things is an indication of lack of abundance.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday February 06 2019, @06:22PM (4 children)
"Obsession"? Over a primary cause of our problems? Are you trying to appeal to authority again?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @01:35AM (3 children)
A lazy backhoe operator who takes two hour smoke breaks still digs faster than a guy with a shovel. Waste and corruption aren't primary with technological advancement.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:19AM (2 children)
Waste and corruption aren't primary with technological advancement.
They are the primary impediment to efficient and equitable usage and access. You are quite the apologist...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @04:09AM (1 child)
Which is just not that important. You started by emphasizing 50% food wastage. That's not very much.
What is this conversation supposed to be about? I'm hearing a lot of wooshing above my head right now.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Thursday February 07 2019, @05:06AM
I'm hearing a lot of wooshing above my head right now.
Apparently so. You are simply hand waving away the entire truth. You are defending corrupt and wasteful authority. Cui bono
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by qzm on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:43AM (3 children)
> Making the food we eat now requires about a third of the land surface area of Earth (1/9 agriculture, 2/9 pastureland)
Complete and utter bullshit. from someone who has obviously not traveled much.
Huge swarths of what get counted as 'pastureland' are not in any way actual pasture, because they count ALL grasslands as pasture.
Including a whole great load of africa, for example.
If you look at the percentage of the planet used at a reasonable level of intensity for such purposes, it is much MUCH smaller..
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:52PM
If the grasslands has farm animals grazing it, it's pastureland.
Not seeing the problem.
I think we are doing so. I'll check my sources later when I get the time to see if there's a problem with them.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @02:13AM (1 child)
Not all the land was in present use, but it doesn't include land that was fallow for more than five years.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday February 07 2019, @02:14AM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:37PM (1 child)
I blame Columbus. Had he never discovered America, Wall Street wouldn't even have existed!
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:36PM
Yeah, we'd all be like, "Occupy Frankfurt" 'n stuff...
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:55AM (5 children)
And, this is pretty much ignorant babble. Gold reserves have never been stored in the US. The US has trade deficits left and right. Countries do exchange their surplus dollars into gold (money being in the US implies gold is there). From time to time the surplus gold is transferred back. Still countries hold gold in the US in order to maintain high dollar liquidity. What is true though is that Bush and Trump did a wanton attack on the dollar by reckless debt accumulation. Obama did too, but arguably less unprovoked. That can work as long as the dollar is the world's currency. Dollars are used by other countries to do their trading and they need the dollars first. However, the US will soon pass the debt of Greece GDP-wise. The writings are on the wall.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:33AM
2008-2016 were years of unprecedented devaluation of the dollar in order to pump the stock market.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/fedfunds [stlouisfed.org]
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WALCL [stlouisfed.org]
(Score: 3, Touché) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:01PM (3 children)
So you're saying the US Bullion Depository [wikipedia.org] at Fort Knox doesn't exist? I mean, anyone who's seen Goldfinger knows about that!
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:46PM (2 children)
No, he's saying the Gold Vault in the New York Federal reserve bank https://www.newyorkfed.org/aboutthefed/goldvault.html [newyorkfed.org] doesn't exist. It's the one where foreign countries deposit bullion as foreign reserves. It is, as the great grandparent mentioned, the facility that our German friends decided to repatriate their gold from in 2017. https://www.kitco.com/news/2017-08-24/Germany-Gets-Its-Gold-Back-From-The-Fed-And-It-s-A-Big-Deal.html [kitco.com]
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:32PM (1 child)
So, you say where Simon Gruber failed, others succeeded?
Well, bound to happen, I guess. Bruce Willis is no longer what he used to be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:29PM
>So, you say where Simon Gruber failed, others succeeded?
Herr Gruber didn't want to take it back to Germany, they were going to buy a country.
There were some lively conspiracy theories that the German gold might already be gone in 2012-2013. The backstory is that Bundesbank asked the aforementioned reserve bank to help them repatriate the gold and the timeline estimate for repatriation was many years. It turned out that estimate was overly generous, and they finished in 2017 instead of 2020.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:50AM
Wasn't there an issue with Germany actually getting their gold back?
ISTR some fun story about them having even been denied access to check that the stuff was actually still in the Federal Reserve's vaults...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:12AM (3 children)
If you cannot distinguish between "Donald Trump has unwittingly triggered the fatal blow" and "Donald Trump is responsible for this and everything before this", then you are too ill-equipt to offer anything useful to the conversation.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:27AM (2 children)
He hasn't triggered anything and has no responsibility for this scam at all. Also, if he did unwind it that would be a good thing in the end.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:01PM (1 child)
Can't even give him the benefit of owning that.
Bush Junior was the one who did it. Clinton left a superpowerful US with budget surpluses that were shrinking the debt (voted by R congress).
W squandered all of it, the goodwill, the shrinking debt, the smack-you-and-we're-out foreign interventions, just as China was rising. Cherry on the cake, his government spent 6 years not preventing the Great Recession.
Yes the US has bounced back, created lots of riches, still has the best weapons, many of the most advanced companies... but it ain't the same great growing stable welcoming reassuring US that it used to be. People will keep using the place to grow their money, but they are a lot more careful about it. And trust matters.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @09:23AM
Clinton only had a surplus on paper, US Debt went up under Clinton
(yes accounting technically if you take out a billion dollar loan this year with no income, then you are a billion dollars in the green this year, neet how that works isn't it)
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:38AM (8 children)
If you want to say "you should have seen this coming", then yes. But blaming Trump isn't wrong, because his actions have been such that it was essentially forced to happen.
OTOH, in the long term this may turn out to be for the best. I hope that long term isn't too long in getting here, though.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:57AM (1 child)
Trump has zero to do with this. They laugh at his power at the fed (at ~15:25): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okAIf5-BDAQ [youtube.com]
Also, the death of the dollar has been in the works for a long time: https://bitcoin.com.au/1988-economist-magazine-prediction-come-true/ [bitcoin.com.au]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @08:06PM
do all these people really not understand that this is all part of the larger plan for the new world odor? i mean wtf is wrong with these people?
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:35AM
During economic downturns, there will be no way to infuse cash into the economy.
During times of high interest rates, there will be no way to lower them, because there will be no central banks to sell off bonds at lower rates.
Now, I _do_ strongly support crypto, and even own an ASIC rig, but mostly for privacy as it's clear that paper currency's days are numbered.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:04PM (3 children)
If you're hurtling towards a cliff and you refuse to hit the brakes then you no longer get to blame the fall on gravity.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:19PM (1 child)
Yeah well, the driver has a parachute, what does he care about the passengers? He'll go back up and fill the bus with another bunch of suckers who will believe he "really did try to save them". There's a parable in there :-)
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @05:38AM
The Lemmings and the Orange?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by dwilson on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:08PM
What if you loudly proclaim to your loyal voters that "Gravity is only a scientific Theory", mumble something about Alternative Facts, and then stomp on the accelerator?
- D
(Score: 2) by loonycyborg on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:49PM
We can't really "see anything coming" as far as economics is concerned. The World's understanding of economics is currently on cargo cult level, everything tends to be seen in simplified way, purely in terms of money. But money are very subjective, same sum can buy totally different amount of wares depending on circumstances. Yet only flows of actual goods and services actually make economy work, and not enough effort is put into understanding them directly without money intermediary. This really can add some biases, both for scientists and actual participants of the economic relations.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:24PM (1 child)
Moreover, it's ignorant to blame Donald Trump for something that also happened under Hillary Clinton in my original timeline.
As you noted, this has been a long time in coming. There are larger forces at work than which puppet of the MotU is in the oval office.
We already have the concentration camps, even if they are being run by ICE instead of FEMA in this timeline. BRICS (and perhaps the EU) will soon move away from the US dollar. Once that is complete, there will be martial law, and it will be directed (and scapegoated upon) the Yellow Vests and similar working class protests. Stay away from major cities.
Around that time, World War 3 will begin, and it will end with N-Day.
The walk to the gas station will be for your own good. Keep a spare gas can for when the car runs out of fuel on the side of the road.
unless
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @12:29AM
Wait, whaaat??? Hillary was President? When did that happen?!? Man, you conservative dittoheads sure have some interesting alternative facts!
(Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:37AM (35 children)
So, this site is better than Slashdot because we have articles like THIS submitted?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:02AM (33 children)
The comments are crazy over there. The sentences are as long as normal people's paragraphs and they have their own definitions of common terms, eg like what capitalism means (afaict to them it means anything bad the US government does). Where are people learning this?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Apparition on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:19AM (31 children)
You obviously haven't paid any attention to the American education system since the '90s. English, history, math, and critical thinking? Pfft. They're all overrated and who has time for them anyway? It's all social justice, socialism, communism, LGBTWTFBBQ rights, bring a drag queen to kindergarten days.
(Score: 5, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:48AM (29 children)
The usual reason given is that Critical Thinking Education leads children to disobey their parents, but you and I both know the Right's real reason is that Critical Thinking makes one resistant to propaganda.
For example, many Right Wingers assert that taxes are paid only through threat of violence, whereas I myself was threatened by no one when I recently voted for a Clark County property tax increase as I feel high such taxes are a good way to support our schools.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:10AM (1 child)
Either you:
1. are clueless about how this could be abused
2. actually want it to be abused
It is obvious that "critical thinking" isn't going to be honestly about teaching more effective ways of thinking. It's a propaganda class taught by teachers, and teachers are typically in support of ctrl-left propaganda. It'll be "analyse why Orange Man Bad" at best. It may be more like "show via critical thinking why socialism is the obvious solution".
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:00PM
Consider that Criticial Thinking was taught by a devout Catholic in high school junior year Lit.
We even read Dante's Inferno.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by FatPhil on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:41AM (9 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:17PM (4 children)
I live in one one of the liberal utopias. Not a republican in sight. Taxes are collected under the threat of fines and jail time. What I get back for them is.... roads (and maybe some forest preserves). Social contract, I never signed it. Seems to read: Give us your money and we'll give others a bunch of shit that doesn't apply to you. When you do need some help the government gives the run around for some crumbs unless you've got 50 kids.
So why would I go back to school (ah yes, part of that was free when I wasn't contributing a thing), when school taught me the critical thinking to see I've got a devil's bargain. Take your "society" and ship it back to amazon, I don't want it.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:09PM
Sounds like you have a raw deal where you are. There are many places where you can go that don't have good tax enforcement records [weforum.org]. Guyana and Chad are at the top of the list. Hopefully you can tell us about how happy you are from an internet cafe in Georgetown or N'Djamena.
Have a nice trip. See you next fall!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:59PM (1 child)
Who the hell upmodded this as "Insightful"? Is someone actually brave enough to step forward and justify that upmod? Seriously, who modded this libertarian drivel up? Hell, I feel dumber just for having read the damn thing!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @02:24AM
You're saying that your feelings lag behind reality?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @07:11AM
FatPhil neglected to inlcude a link [soylentnews.org] to information about [wikipedia.org] Rousseau's fine work, The Social Contract [constitution.org].
Don't go back to school. I'm sure that won't make anyone happy.
However, I do recommend reading the above, as it will diminish your ignorance and, hopefully, help you not look like an idiot in forums like this.
Toodles!
(Score: 1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:32PM (1 child)
We know what a social contract is, but do you?
Just like a dwarf planet is not a planet, and a veggie burger is not a burger, a social contract is not a contract.
Real contracts are voluntary. The "social contract" is imposed on you from birth.
Real contracts have terms agreed on in a meeting of the minds. The terms of the "social contract" may be altered at any time by 51% of voters, and the new terms apply to everyone, whether they accept or reject them.
The social contract is a political tool, a fiction created and propagated to give the state moral high ground, and deny rebels against the state moral equivalence. Where people with unclouded vision see a civil war as two groups willing to kill each other for power, and have to ask what each group intends to do with that power in order to form a moral judgement, those who believe in the social contract see a noble government defending itself against oathbreakers, and need to look no deeper.
It's basically the republican equivalent of the monarchist's "divine right" fiction.
In the colonial era, this fiction was a lot more believable -- after all, while real contracts are opt-in, at least someone with enough money could theoretically opt-out of the social contract by sailing to some unsettled region of the New World, and building their own life where they owe nothing to, and are owed nothing by, a nation an ocean away. The cost and risk was of course prohibitive, but at least it was an option.
You can't even pretend there's a way to opt-out anymore; the best you can do is trade one social contract for another by changing citizenship, and that's generally a ~decade-long process that requires the permission of one or both masters.
So it's losing its grip -- more and more people are seeing it for the sham it's always been. Don't worry, I'm sure the statists will settle on a replacement fiction sometime within this century, just as they invented the social contract when divine right became useless.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:06PM
Consider that in the Boy Scouts, we went camping once per month year round with no regard whatsoever for the weather. A couple times I was woefully unprepared for such weather: that resulted in my fellow Scouts knocking my tent down while I was in it, in a driving rainstorm.
The second time nobody knew other than myself, but they all came pretty close to finding a dead body in my sleeping bag come morning: Hypothermia.
So I know from trekking in the wilderness.
I also have the First Aid and Wilderness Survival Merit Badge, as well as an Idaho State Gun Safety Card. I'm a lousy shot but that is easily fixed. Can't buy guns 'cause I'm a wingnut? Guess Again: Gun Shows. There's one every single month in Portland.
With all that put together, there are a great many places where I could freely go to live off the land.
But I don't do so, because I would rather contribute to society - especially _American_ society, for example by writing essays such as It Must Not Happen Here [warplife.com].
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by TheRaven on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:24PM
sudo mod me up
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 06 2019, @02:34AM
That "social contract" has been bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated multiple times. Every time some son of a bitch screeches, "There oughtta be a law!" he is attacking the social contract. Political action groups are constantly attacking said contract. Think about it: if a parent can be imprisoned for allowing his child to go to a community park to play, the contract is worthless.
I did a duck search for the story I have in mind - I find that such arrests are almost common - Maryland, Florida, New York, Queensland, Tennessee, South Carolina - and I'm seeing 7, 8, 9, and 12 year old children, rather than 4, 5, or 6 year old children.
Click this Duck search, or do your own - https://duckduckgo.com/?q=arrest+for+allowing+child+to+walk+to+playground+alone+&t=hl&ia=web [duckduckgo.com]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @12:31PM (10 children)
Remember, according to conservatives and libertarians "Do what I say or you will be shot" is evil but "Do what I say or you and your family will starve" is good.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @02:45PM (9 children)
You seem to be very confused.
Conservatives: no problem inherent in a state monopoly on violence. Conservatives care about small, incremental changes to society. They don't want big, radical shifts.
Libertarians also don't mind violence as a threat being handled by the state (look up what they refer to as the night watchman state) but tend to want its scope to be narrowly restricted.
Maybe you were thinking of anarchists instead?
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:31PM (8 children)
My experience of libertarians is that they are completely fine with state violence provided that they know for certain the state violence won't be directed at themselves or somebody they can identify with. For example, I've met more than a few libertarians who are not on board with or actively opposed to Black Lives Matter but were still very upset about Ruby Ridge, despite the fact that many of the people Black Lives Matter were upset about getting killed by the state hadn't even broken the law while there was substantial evidence that the Weavers had.
Anarcho-capitalist types tend to be more extreme and think more in terms of any government violence being bad regardless of its purpose. In short, random dude shooting up a place with an AR-15 = OK, cops shooting up a place with an AR-15 = Horrible Evil. I'm still not quite clear what the difference between the two is.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:35PM (2 children)
Sounds like your a pro at coming up with strawmen to me.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:01PM (1 child)
The libertarians I've chatted with include neighbors, a Libertarian Party congressional candidate, and some friends of mine. Now, they may not be the best exemplars of libertarian thought, but they sure seem like a pretty reasonable cross-section of actual libertarians.
As for the anarcho-capitalists, I'll admit I've only really encountered them online, mostly ranting about how a violently imposed monopoly is ruining everything good and holy about the free market, how the government wants to take their guns, and so on.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:09PM
I'd use ron paul as the prototypical modern libertarian. We have no idea what your friends actually said and whether you misinterpreted it or not so it is much better to use what is available in public.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @12:35AM
DING! DING! DING! DING! DING!
Congratulations! You win the internet for today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @02:32AM (2 children)
"Substantial evidence" that Vicki Weaver and her infant child were breaking the law? Or maybe the kids Sammy and Sara?
Congratulations, you've introduced me to a level of bootlicking I didn't believe was possible.
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Thursday February 07 2019, @12:05AM (1 child)
No: There was good reason to think Kevin Harris was, and when they tried to serve the warrant they had every reason to think they were about to be entering a firefight. The FBI sniper fired a shot he shouldn't have fired and hit Vicki even though he thought he was taking a shot at Kevin Harris.
As for Sammy, he had just shot at federal officials when he was killed. When you open fire, that makes you a fair target, retreating or not.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:45AM
Note the difference:
"Kevin Harris"
"the Weavers"
So do you care to elaborate on which Weaver(s) were breaking the law, aside from the charges against Randy?
That cuts both ways, you know. As I'm sure you're aware, while the question of who fired first is disputed, both accounts agree that Sammy only returned fire after the Marshals fired on the Weaver/Harris group and killed the dog. While the validity of Harris's self-defense justification (which did prevail in court) may depend on which version of events one believes, Sammy had unambiguous cause to fear for his life.
To be clear, I'm not suggesting the Marshals are unjustified in returning fire against the entire group, either -- frankly, the only person who wasn't justified was whoever fired the first shot, but we'll never know who that was. Once you have two armed groups facing each other, and shots have been fired, any individual on either side can only assume the opposing group is acting together.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:53AM
No True Libertarian knows for certain that state violence won't be directed at themselves, unless of course, the state (or other contenders for that power) doesn't have the power. The tides turn in democracies and your team won't stay in power forever.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:36PM (3 children)
A completely redundant and predictable pair of reasons...
Jails are full of inmates being asked by mainstream representatives: "Didn't your parents ever teach you..."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:15PM (2 children)
Jails are also full of inmates whose Mothers drank too much during pregnancy. They're actually incapable of being taught, some can't even grok 2+2=4.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:48PM (1 child)
It has been well-documented since the fifties that adult Schizophrenia is highly correlated with childhood cat ownership.
It would seem reasonable to expect this to be the result of the patient's brain being infested by the same Toxoplasma Gondii as leads infected mice to be less fearful of mice, but decades of research has not found such a link.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday February 06 2019, @05:14AM
I'm somewhat surprised that a link hasn't been found.
Even diet has quite an affect on mental health. Had to remove all dairy products from my sons diet before he settled down and personally I (and others I know) seem to be more depressed when having wheat in my diet, not to mention the bowl problems.
People are much more complex then the simplified view that if you try, you can overcome anything. Sorta like someone with 2 good legs telling the cripple that they can walk if they just put their mind to it.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:41PM
"seems to take a stand against, well, the teaching of critical thinking skills.", "and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." I.E. Not against teaching critical thinking. Against teaching, Teacher's Pet Project, whether that's Obama is actually the devil, or Trump's recent ancestry is Gorillas.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:09PM
Trump didn't even really lower the taxes on regular people, in fact, he eliminated some unreimbersed employee tax exemptions. In fact he did a few other things that actually increase taxes on regular people. Don't be fooled.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:46AM
I kept reading and now they are piling onto a guy for buying silver in 2001 and tripling his value. They say he is stupid for not selling at the peak in 2012 when he could have 6x-ed the value, therefore silver is a scam (or something) I saw some other posts where they say only professional traders could make money in the stock market, which is bizarre since all you've really needed to do for decades to "make money" is buy and hold as the dollar inflates.
These people seem totally without any sort of financial understanding, possibly as a genetic/developmentally determined trait (just like not everyone will be a great athlete, etc). This obviously puts them at a disadvantage everyday of their lives, so I can see why the idea of alternate economic systems would have some appeal to them.
Anyway, fascinating stuff over there so I appreciate this post.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:26PM
More importantly, there are an insane amount of people over there who will defend atrocities such as the NSA's mass surveillance.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:02PM
Don't like the posted stories? Why not submit some of your own? It would take about as much time as your whinging.
If you're too lazy even for that, and all you can do is piss and moan, the door's over there friend. Don't let it hit you on the way out.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:37AM (27 children)
Goldman Sachs predicted the historically high levels of personal studen corporate and government debt will trigger a ren year depression that will put the Great Depression completely to shame
I started stockpiling food and water at first to prepare for power outages but when I read about our upcoming depression I redoubled my food effort. Now my freezer is packed solid with meat; it will last for a while as I only use it for soup or beans
This because we had a rough time during the Dot Com Crash.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:20AM (4 children)
Foolish MDC, I only stockpile guns and amo 100% non-perishable with proper lubrication... where did you say your stockpile is again?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:24AM (3 children)
You know, if you got a holster for your gun, you wouldn't need "proper lubrication" to store it. You'd be lots more comfortable too, especially if the gun is large or has sharp parts, and your gun wouldn't smell like poo.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:04AM (2 children)
If you had stopped after "...comfortable too." it would have been funny. But you had to push it too far.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 06 2019, @12:30AM (1 child)
"But you had to push it too far"
I see what you did there
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:56AM
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:45AM (9 children)
I trust you rigged the freezer to your exercise bike already.
If you haven't, the meat won't last long without power.
If you have, the meat won't last long at the level of exercise you need to put in to keep it frozen.
(grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:51AM (8 children)
This because the freezer really is packed solid, so it would take quite a long time for the ColdOns to leak out if I don't open the door.
But seriously: somehow, some way I'll come up with the cash to buy a large deep freeze - properly they're denoted as "Chest Freezers" - that I'll keep in my garage; its lid will be on the top.
As for ammo... I hope to rotate your stock of bullets. At least once per month, take all your oldest bullets to the range then fire them, hopefully in your rifle. I mean fire your rifle - don't shoot into it, as that would lead your barrel to splinter.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday February 05 2019, @06:09AM
I don't. I'm using TNT.
This one [youtube.com] to be more specific - I hope you like it when blasted day and night for weeks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:31PM (5 children)
You're better off drying the meat as jerky. It will last forever if you protect it from moisture, and will take up less room and weigh less. You can dry fruits and veg too; if you've ever made ramen with those little packets of dried veg that's the idea.
Additionally learn how to forage the flora and fauna where you are. While others are killing each other over the canned aisle at the walmart you can gather a meal in the neighborhood park unperturbed.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by dry on Tuesday February 05 2019, @07:19PM (2 children)
Mmm, dandelion roots and tree bark with squirrel.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:35PM (1 child)
Dandelion roots are more a coffee substitute. With squirrel I'd use sumac and wild berries to mask the gaminess and wild onion or garlic to round out the flavor. Cattail shoots, purslane, and sorrel make a good salad accompaniment. Some people like dandelion leaves (they sell commercially grown ones in my supermarket) but they're a bit bitter for my taste, unless you use a sweet dressing.
I'm more familiar with tree bark as a cordage source, but if you have edible varieties to recommend, more to the good.
I've always wanted to learn wild mushrooms, but the consequences of incorrectly identifying one have scared me off trying to DIY that entire category.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by dry on Wednesday February 06 2019, @04:54AM
I'm thinking of what is available in the neighbourhood park in desperate times, in particular at this time of year. Dandelion root, while bitter, is a source of carbs. The leaves at this time of year are pretty tough and bitter. They can be parboiled but not much nutrition left. No wild sumac here and have to go aways to find cattails. There is sorrel around though most parks seem too alkaline. have to watch sorrel as well as it contains enough oxatilyc (sp?) acid (think rhubarb leaves) to poison someone if they pigged out too much. No wild alliums either.
As for tree bark, actually the cambium, true emergency food. The natives would eat pine bark in extreme emergencies, its possible to make something like flour out of it but I believe it's pretty labour intensive. Most trees are sorta edible, I like nibbling on maple flowers in the spring and for vitamin C, most conifers needles will make tea that'll keep you scurvy free.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @09:56PM (1 child)
In fact I was preparing to make beef jerky when I ran out of food stamps. Can you recommend a marinade? The recipe I intended to use requires a very pricey marinade.
On a positive note, I've got a Jesus Big bottle of Soy Sauce. Could I use Soy Sauce but nothing else?
It happens that I've got quite a lot of frozen fish; humanity has been eating dried fish since the dawn of it.
Most of the beef I've got is way too fatty, but perhaps I can cut out lower-fat portions for drying, then fry up the fatty stuff.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:43PM
I have used soy sauce and worcestershire sauce with brown sugar (I like a bit of sweetness in the jerky), garlic powder and onion powder. Slice your meat thin when it's still half frozen (otherwise it's hard to slice consistently) and throw it into a ziplock bag in the fridge to marinate for a day. If you buy a roast in a supermarket with a deli counter you can often ask them to slice it for you.
To dry the meat I have always used a dehydrator but I read people use ovens on low heat too.
Personally I don't trim fat off the meat because the marbling makes it so much tastier than lean pieces. If you're making jerky as a survival food you might consider leaving it on, also, because calories in that situation are what you want to keep going.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Pslytely Psycho on Tuesday February 05 2019, @01:49PM
I have a re-branded (Black and Decker, no longer available) version of this. It added about five dollars a month to my electric bill so reasonable power consumption unlike the ones from the 70's and earlier that practically needed their own power plant (grin).
https://www.amazon.com/Haier-HF50CM23NW-Capacity-Chest-Freezer/dp/B0198ZXHEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1549373956&sr=1-1&keywords=chest+freezer&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A7061735011 [amazon.com]
I've had it for just short of five years, unfortunately they are more expensive now, mine was $139 at the time.
5 cubic feet is quite a lot of storage, they do go higher, but much more expensive. I wouldn't waste money on a 3 cu. ft. the price difference isn't that much unless you absolutely can't afford it.
I did see the same one for $179 from a site called Jet, but I know nothing of that site.
Peace out man....
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 3, Funny) by driverless on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:50AM
Well, my pants are packed solid with meat [grabs crotch]... oh, sorry, wrong thread there.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @02:49PM (1 child)
About a year and a half, tops. By this time in 2020 you probably won't see but the inklings of a recession. By this time in 2022, you may start to see it -- but your meat will be so freezer burnt it'll be freezer-jerky with no flavoring. Once it starts it'll take some time to put into full-play, as it'll take a whole-world economic movement to put this country into the hurts (remember, the US lives on a lot of debt, and they won't buck the US all at once). By 2024 your meat will be hard as leather and tastes like a shoe. By the time things really get bad, 5 years out, you'll have no use for anything that you've put into your freezer. It'll just be in such a sorry state you can't use it.
Dried foods. Not frozen foods. Beans are hard and dry -- just add water and heat. Gardens replenish themselves -- just compost your scraps and keep them outside (you've got a fence, right?) Meat was never one of those non-perishable things. The old'timers (indians) used meats as clothes and bags and tools -- and you're suggesting eating it? Their prepared meat was only for trips of weeks, maybe, not years.
Dude..
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @05:52PM
Your critique of what MDC seems to be doing is spot-on, but diversity in food storage is smart. Yes, if you want to store food today for use five years from now, drying is the way to go. But it's also real good to have a big deep freeze and throw some poultry or your share of a hog or steer in from time to time. (Venison's good too, but medium-size game get poached up fast in any depression worth talking about, so don't count on that.) Some shelves full of canned food are also good.
Think of the freezer (and the shelves of canned goods) as a buffer. You take some meat out and you put some meat in, but no meat stays in the freezer over a year or so. In any economy, you get a significant benefit from buying meat in the times, quantities, and varieties that are cheap, instead of going to the store every week and buying a week's worth of meat at whatever price they're offering. And when times are hard, it's even more valuable -- if you can't afford to keep it full, you put a little less meat in every year than you take out, but having started with a freezer full, it'll be several years before you simultaneously have no money and no meat.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @02:53PM (6 children)
Get a pressure canner, can your food.
a) Done right, it lasts indefinitely
b) The cans don't require electricity to stay good
c) A suitably chosen pressure canner can also be used reliably on a wood stove
d) You can preserve meat, staples and vegetables this way
e) The cans are reusable, so cycling through your old stock isn't a dead loss (OK, the lids are really cheap but not free)
f) You can stock and stack way, way more cans than you are ever likely to be able to purchase freezer space
g) A pressure canner also makes a good field expedient sterilisation tool for medical equipment, if admittedly not as hot as a proper autoclave, but a hell of a lot better than nothing
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday February 05 2019, @04:11PM
Be aware, canning meats is a slightly different ballgame than canning fruits, veggies, jams, jellies, etc. Animal fats prevent the lids from sealing. You have to be vigilant - check every single canned product with meat in it. If it doesn't seal, you can make an immediate second attempt, if that fails, just eat the stuff.
The sealing surfaces MUST stay dry and clean, or it will not seal.
When my stepdad was alive, we canned a lot of venison, so I got plenty of experience at this. Beef has more fat than venison, and pork has a helluva lot more than beef.
You have been warned - good luck!
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Tuesday February 05 2019, @08:56PM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Tuesday February 05 2019, @10:01PM
You can embalm a stiff in it.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 05 2019, @11:51PM
Crystalline sugar will also virtually last forever. Wheat in its whole form last long enough (hundreds of years). Brown sugar will last, but will become a brick that needs orange peels to break up and eventually the molasses will separate, but the flavor is generally ok. Extra virgin olive oil can make it a decade or more (cool/dark storage - and ONLY EXTRA VIRGIN). Vinegar and liquor are also way up there in years.
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Wednesday February 06 2019, @02:26PM
Unpalatable does not equal inedible.
The USDA [usda.gov] even says that food (not infant formula) is safe well past the expiration date unless spoilage is evident.
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Thursday February 07 2019, @03:56AM
Some brands of freeze dried food last a good quarter century, or longer. Freeze driers aren't cheap, but you can buy big batches of pre-canned stuff flushed with nitrogen that can outlive you in any realistic hardship scenario. It's not too much more than frozen or fresh, and honestly, some of it isn't bad eating.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday February 05 2019, @03:41PM
Meanwhile, I bought a boat... I can catch more protein (fish) from a boat that costs less to purchase than a new econobox car than I can possibly grow on 5 acres of land.
No solution is perfect, but while waiting for the collapse the boat is much more enjoyable than a well stocked bomb shelter full of canned food, and thinking about responses to civil unrest is also more attractive with a boat than a hole in the ground with a limited supply of ammunition.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday February 06 2019, @05:07AM
Until you lose power for a few days. Then it'll become packed solid with a waste disposal problem. I don't think there's anything wrong with the idea of stockpiling food. But there's some serious questions you need to be asking here. How long are you going to live at your present residence? And are you going to move that food when you move?