Trouble

It was evident that MSNBC did not give the candidates equal time. Everyone knows what Warren thinks. Would have been nice to hear from the lesser knows. It was honestly a very boring two hours and there was nothing new to be learned from the exercise.  I have to laugh at the question about climate change as not one candidate admitted to the fact that even if the USA went to zero carbon emissions it would not save Miami unless the two biggest polluters, China and India, did something as well and that isn't going to happen. What I found also interesting is the Delaney comment about the hospitals closing if they had to accept payments only at the medicare rate.  That's something I would like to hear more about but we never will because that isn't part of the pie in the sky dreams these candidates are pushing. No one ever asks and no candidate ever tells us how they will pay for all of this. It's no longer a million here and million there, it's trillions. 

13 hours ago, attrayant said:

 

Why should it fall upon Mexico to protect the borders of another country?

Maybe what the USA should do is put them on buses and transport them the the Canadian border and let them seek asylum there. By Mexico allowing them passage to the US border they are in effect abetting them entering the US illegally. 

On 6/25/2019 at 5:07 AM, Morch said:

 

Just a couple of days ago, Iranian officials reiterated that there's no interest in negotiations, talks or any such things with the USA. Leaves the question of whether they were bluffing then, posturing now or just engaging in standard issue conflict-talk. Maybe all three.

 

 

That's the first of a three part report series on assets under control of Khamenei, titled Assets of the Ayatollah:

 

Khamenei controls massive financial empire built on property seizures

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/#article/part1

 

More here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Khamenei#Financial_assets

 

And here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Execution_of_Imam_Khomeini's_Order

 

One only has to read these to see what that living in Iran under the regime must be a living hell. Hopefully there is a place in hell for Iran's leaders.

On 6/26/2019 at 2:59 AM, Justgrazing said:

Not as disadvantaged as the Japanese were after the U S flattened Hiroshima and had a good go at doing the same to Nagasaki .. and then had to live under U S military rule .. How one sided was that .. 

They started the <deleted> war. The Japanese were ruthless in their conduct of the war. The US ended it. It's been estimated that the number of lives saved in both terms of US soldiers and Japanese citizens is in the millions.  More people died in the Tokyo raids of 1945 than in the 80,000 in Hiroshima.  These estimated 120,000 lives lost in both cities was tragic, no doubt, but it brought Japan to surrender. Frankly the Japanese are lucky they lived under U. S. military rule.  It could have been the Russians.

Obviously Trump feels that the treaty is costing the US too much and is looking for Japan to fund more of the costs.  This has been a theme of Trump's Administration from the get go around the world.  I see nothing wrong in trying to get others to pony up a little more of the costs for things.

Anyone that doesn't think China is a threat has got their head buried deep in the sand.  China's activities in business, South China Sea, trade, and all other sectors are blatantly done to further China's own ambitions. The Communist government since Mao has never kept an agreement or told the truth about anything. But the world keeps doing business with them.  Money talks.  

Where there is smoke there is probably a fire.

I don't believe the US intelligence community has a clue as to what Kim wants one way or the other.  They have been wrong on so many fronts over the last couple of decades that one has to wonder what they are doing with all that money they spend. So many intelligence agencies now the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. Having travelled to North Korea, I don't really believe the intelligence community has the "on the ground people assets" to be in the know.  It's a very controlled country.  As with most tyrants, Kim wants to stay in power more than he wants improvements in his country that will help the people.  It's the same in Thailand, Iran, Cambodia and the list is long.  It's all about remaining at the top of the pyramid. Too bad really as both Iran and No Korea could probably be prosperous countries.

So when he got back to Israel he was a free man and was able to get a passport under another name.  Nice work. Seems their might be some flaws in the passport department in Israel.

I think all too often news reporters and commentators make more out of things than really exist.  Trump is visiting So Korea for talks with Moon.  Makes sense while he is there. Pompeo made remarks to reporters that the exchange of cordial letter had occurred so hoping for more talks. So seems like reporters want to take it a step further by speculating on a possible meeting no one has made a mention of.  If it happens great but why does Reuters have to write a story based on their speculation. I would rather get news with facts after the a meeting not based on speculation. Nothing here really. Seems it's all for the headline.

I think that they intend to go after those that have already had their day in court, been denied permanent status and were issued a deportation order. They are not going after those who have not been to court.  I think the story is a little misleading.

He's damned if he does and damned it he doesn't. Go figure.

9 hours ago, Sujo said:

There will be a lot of unhappy business owners.

 

Though they themselves should be prosecuted.

From what I can see, it is not legitimate big businesses that hire illegals, it is mom and pop businesses run by immigrants themselves that hire these people. I know any number of Thai restaurants in Los Angeles that hire Thais who have overstayed their visas. They pay them about $8 an hour and generally take advantage of the situation of the workers being illegal. The employer pays no employer taxes for the employee and they get paid in cash meaning no income taxes collected. They mostly work in the underground economy.  I agree however that if caught hiring illegals then the businesses should be prosecuted and heavily fined.

That's why I contend that the illegals are a net burden on society. They mostly work in the underground economy but require services from the health, education, and social services sectors costing the taxpayer billions each year. Housekeepers, gardeners, day laborers all work in a cash dominated arena. Anyone who thinks the government is collecting taxes on all the income is very naïve.

Anyone who doesn't think that China has not done the things it is accused of doing has to be a fool. First off China has never kept a promise since Mao came to power. Problem is that big business is willing to accept what China does as long as there is profit to be made regardless of what it does to the manufacturing base or the American worker. It has one goal and that is to make a profit. No one likes to see the necessity for tariffs but how long does the USA just let the Chinese control everything?  I really don't mind paying a little more for goods if in the long run it brings a healthier US economy, jobs for people here, etc. 

What does it matter whether it is Russia or internal sources planting information or disinformation?  Let's face facts, the internet and news organizations have become rife with opinion rather than factual information.  One need look no further than this website to see what people post as the gospel. Generally speaking it is foolish to believe anything anyone says about anything if you can't verify it yourself.  I do believe there is good reporting out there but when I look at what people post and repost on platforms like facebook, you just have to eventually turn it off.  If Russia plants disinformation on a platform like facebook is it any worse that a political party planting disinformation?  Disinformation is read one day and gone the next. In the past print platforms generally stood by what they printed or retracted if found incorrect. Now the print media is generally no better than the internet often citing anonymous sources.  Can't believe anything you read anymore whether it's the internet reporting or the print media.  That's the way things are in the 21st Century.

14 hours ago, stevenl said:

So you don't mind foreign governments interfering as long as it suits you.

IF, and I say if, information becomes available that indicates anything detrimental to any candidate running for any office which might negate voters wanting to elect that candidate then the information should be made public. Whether it comes from a U.S. citizen or a foreign source is irrelevant if the information is accurate. It's information and the source of the information should not matter.  The FBI, and all law enforcement take evidence from where ever they can get it, foreign sources included. Why all of a sudden it is a problem if someone is to use information from a foreign source/government?  It seems that somehow the current logic is that if Trump receives information from a foreign source it's not right but if Hillary contracts for opposition research on Trump through an American company but comes through a British retired intelligence agent who gets information from Russian sources, all of which is false, it's okay. Logic like this astounds me. The fact of the matter is that if information is accurate, it should not matter where it comes from. In my mind if a foreign government/individual has factual information the public should know about it. What happened to Trump with the false dossier would not have been such a big deal, if it had not been the FBI, Justice Department, State Department, etc. that seemed to be using it to thwart Trump from being elected. It wasn't the dossier itself, it was the use of it by people in the government, who knew it to be false, to influence things that is abhorrent.

A new Harvard study (not exactly the bastion of conservatism) again relates how mass immigration of low skilled workers affects the lower and middle classes because it keeps wages low.  Labor is a part of supply and demand. The more the supply of cheap labor the lower the wages.  Simple economics really. Is there really any wonder there is a widening gap between wealthy and poor?  The liberal solution to wages is to increase the minimum wage.  This increases the prices of goods which only hurts the poor more. It's almost laughable there is so little understanding of basic economics.  The supposed core values of welcoming the poor from around the world with open arms which all the Dem candidates are trying to sell is only hurting the legal immigrants and the poor and middle classes. Further no one can convince me that these illegal immigrants don't cost that taxpayers more in services than is collected in taxes from them.  Most work in the underground economy anyway.  It's a net loss all around.

9 hours ago, stanleycoin said:

Maybe Legalize all drugs, you get

Control, Tax revenue, and Bad boys out of business.

Win, Win, Win.

A drug bust on this scale is testament to countries doing it all wrong.

for the last 50 100 years. 

 

 

 

You ever known anyone who's on meth or heroin?  Meth is a nasty drug and very difficult to get away from.  Ruins lives and I have seen it first hand. Quite honestly for a shipment this size I would not mind seeing the death penalty. If I were the Australian government I would stop all imports from Thailand for a year as punishment for the Thai authorities not catching it.  Put some of the onus on them for catching drugs being exported. I used to feel legalizing was okay until I saw what meth was like. It will be interesting to see what it's like in 20 years now that many of the states here in the USA have legalized marijuana. Seems like medical science has already seen problems with habitual users. Time will tell on that one but we already know the effects of meth use. Not a drug the majority of people can handle on a casual basis. It's very addictive. Same with heroin.  Take a trip to San Francisco.

I generally have never had a problem with the Roe vs. Wade decision and I am sorry to see that the right and left have gone bonkers over abortion this election season.  Notice how it never seems to have been much of an issue except during election season.  Now it's a constant barrage of news on the issue. I don't like the fact that Biden and other politicians flip flop so easily depending on where they can get votes. It seems like most have no moral or ethical compass of their own.  It's all about the votes and where they think they can appeal to some base.  The big problem I have with the abortion issue is why anyone thinks is a right to have an abortion and that the taxpayers should fund it.  Seems like the taxpayers are always paying for mistakes that low IQ people make.  They have a morning after pill these days, contraceptives, pills and still people are having sex without any protection and subsequently pregnancies.  The woman then can't make up her mind and we now have to enter into another controversy over late term abortions and the left wants free abortions.  Should it be that taxpayers problem at all?  

I guess maybe the Dems want the hotel to do a background check on every reservation made to insure who can and cannot stay at the hotel.  It just never ends with trying to get Trump in the sights for something.  Watched the Senate hearings for Attorney General Barr today.  Very little learned other than the Dems are on the attack against Barr for nothing more than not releasing Mueller's summaries to the press sooner.  He said too many times to count that he wanted to release the full report not piece meal things out.  The Dems are arguing about nothing important just trying to discredit the guy.  They got the whole report and they waste time one dialogue between Mueller and Barr.  Waste of time in the overall scheme of things.

Cameras everywhere these days.  As much as I am against seemingly constant surveillance, maybe it always isn't so bad.

8 hours ago, Ulic said:

Was there ever any doubt that this would happen. China promises everything to get what it wants and then step by step walks it back, or like trade agreements agreed to with Nixon in the 70's just stalls, saying these changes take time. And the West continues to wait. China's politics and creep is generational while politics in the West is from election cycle to election cycle. China plays 3D Chess while the West is playing Checkers. Nobody should be surprised.

You got that right.  When in history did any Communist government ever keep an agreement or promise?

10 hours ago, PETERTHEEATER said:

And, I assume, in keeping with other Adobe products the size of the application will be astronomical?

App is free. The form is made using Adobe Acrobat.  Not a cheap program but probably one of the most useful for businesses.  I have an old professional version of Adobe Acrobat and think it is a very useful program.