Cirrus
6mo ago
Jesus healed sinners and the demon-possessed with the instruction to sin no more. His miracles weren’t meant to be a blank check to go out to continue to sin. (“A wicked generation looks for a sign”, says Jesus from Matthew 16.) That’s a big difference. Today’s social justice calls on people to tolerate and not change their ways, but Jesus calls on people to be loving. And sometimes being loving means calling on people to repent of evil and change from their sinful behaviors. God does not tolerate evil. He patiently waits, but there will come a day of the Lord where He will no longer wait.
As for Matthew the tax collector, he was by no means an elite. He may have gotten rich but only by cooperating with the Romans against his own people, much like the Jewish Councils in the Warsaw Ghetto and elsewhere occupied by the Nazis. There was no mistaking who the ruling class was at those times; the film The Pianist also depicts them a little bit.
Cirrus
6mo ago
If you want to compare historical wars with the present situation in Ukraine, I would suggest the Mexican-American war as a better template. Mapped over to historical events…
The United States —> Russia Mexico —> Ukraine Texas —> Crimea/DPR/LPR
I’m a bit short on time, but try to read the Wikipedia page and draw the comparisons. To me at least there are many similarities.
Cirrus
6mo ago
You’re acting like individual income tax avoidance is a bad thing? Just like Trump’s proposed tax incentive on tips, this too would benefit blue-collar and service sector workers. Maybe we should be advocating policies that place a greater proportional tax burden on those who society caters to already: corporations and white-collar PMCs?
This isn’t the first time that politics has created tax incentives for employers based on hours worked, either. Remember that the Affordable Care Act’s large employer mandate kicks in for “full-time” employees who work 30 or more hours per week? Take this with a huge grain of bias, but the Cato Institute in 2023 found that there was a minor effect in reducing FTEs due to the employer mandate.:
[w]e estimated that the ACA increased low-hours, involuntary parttime employment by 2–3 percentage points, or 500,000 to 1 million workers, in retail, accommodations, and food services—the sectors where employers are most likely to reduce hours if they choose to circumvent the mandate.
Cirrus
6mo ago
I was wrong about God. Grew up atheist, now I am a firm believer in the trinity as well as the power of prayer. That changed my view on other political/cultural topics too, like abortion (formerly was for it in certain circumstances, now against it), race (formerly pretty racist, now I see that all people have inherent moral value), gay marriage (formerly for it, now against it), taxation (formerly against it, now for it especially on the rich—render to Caesar and all). The best policy for society is twofold: love God and love your neighbor.
Cirrus
6mo ago
Cirrus
7mo ago
Kennedy was polling historically well for a third-party candidate, and he will remain on the ballot in most non-swing states. The nationwide realclearpolitics polling average had him at about five percent, which means 5-7 million votes.
Cirrus
7mo ago
Your vote absolutely does matter! You might not live in a swing state, but your vote can and does affect the ideological disposition of local elected candidates for office.
For example, if you are a Democrat in a red state, you might not succeed in electing a Democrat to your local congressional seat. But, on the margins, your vote can influence how radical the elected Republican might feel they are allowed to be once they get into office. I don’t have data to back this up, but I have two hypotheses which some political scientist might study someday. Elected officials with a low Cook Partisan Index score (closest to zero) are more moderate politically, and candidates elected to office with the thinnest margins display more moderate behavior in office than in blowout elections.
Cirrus
7mo ago
Starmer previously served as leader of the opposition party. He was not the incumbent. Are American voters really willing to give current Vice President Harris the benefit of the doubt?
When Al Gore ran for President in 2000, he had served as then-President Bill Clinton’s VP. Gore didn’t run away from their record, he embraced it and made it a key aspect of his policy!
(Now that I think about it, there are so many similarities with the 2000 election as with the current one. A formidable third party that could act as a Democrat spoiler. A scandal that makes the incumbent Democrat President a liability to campaign with. Concerns about election integrity. The Republican nominee criticized for lack of ‘presidential’ qualifications. A tech bubble which was at its peak value. Criticism of the Democrat President involving the country in a war in Eastern Europe. Criticism of the President’s handling of evacuating soldiers from a collapsing Muslim country where servicemen ended up dying.)
Cirrus
7mo ago
Cirrus
7mo ago
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Disable every ISP in the country. Eliminate Internet service everywhere. Overcome obstacles like VPNs and Starlink by imprisoning employees of companies that offer these services.
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Nationwide prohibition on abortion, contraceptives, and pornography.
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Institute a new government works administration, like something akin to the WPA or the Civilian Conservation Corps. Hire only young male citizens. Pay them at least the median nationwide individual income.
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Finance (3) by raising taxes on all businesses that employ more than 100 individuals. The marginal tax rate should be raised from 21 percent currently to 55 percent.
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Nationalize every large media corporation and film production studio. Replace the executives and the creatives with government employees. Task them with producing art in a Soviet realism chic. A cross between Fox News and the Hallmark channel should serve as a good template for how entertainment should be manufactured.
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Confiscate all foreign-owned financial and capital assets. Give them to domestic companies and individuals, or simply let the government manage them or liquidate them to reduce the national debt.
I predict that this would ruin the economy and the currency. It would transform the source of wealth from financialization back to manufacturing, and turn the country into a net producer and exporter. By necessity, more domestic manufacturing and government works jobs would raise the status of men and make them more appealing to women. The government’s authoritarian control over technology, entertainment, and family planning would also foment greater appeal for families and natalism. Poor people have more children, so the goal should be to impoverish the people while making the state strong and in control.
Cirrus
7mo ago
“If you wanna speak then actually say something, Kamala”
Or perhaps a bit longer form:
“Kamala wants to speak? After refusing to give interviews alone? Well she’s been talking a lot tonight but she’s not saying anything in terms of policies. Not a thing. Very sad, you know, the American people want to know what your policies are, Kamala. They wanna know and you’re not telling them a thing. You can’t though because you do have a record. The Biden-Harris record, and it’s been a total disaster. You wanna run for President but you’re running away from your record. Which has been a complete horror show, so if you wanna speak then talk about the Afghanistan withdrawal or inflation or immigration. All disasters.”
Cirrus
7mo ago
Giffords’ shooting was a huge deal. I don’t think it can be understated how pivotal that event changed American politics. In my opinion, Giffords was being prepared for a long career in the U.S. Senate, perhaps even to become President someday. The shooting changed the trajectory of the U.S. forever. The media was right to cover it so much, because the shooting effectively robbed the U.S. of a future President. In another timeline we might be debating a Trump vs. Giffords election right now.
I say this as someone who lived somewhat close by to the ‘Congress on Your Corner’ event where the shooting happened. It was 2011. Giffords had served in the House of Representatives for the prior four years, and in Arizona state politics for the prior decade. She started in politics at the age of 30, and was 40 years old at the time of the shooting. A Jew, she is related to celebrity stardom (Gwyneth Paltrow) and married a corn-fed, non-Jew military guy, the current junior Senator, Mark Kelly, a man with no political aspirations himself before the shooting happened in 2011. Giffords went to the correct private liberal arts colleges, was a Fulbright Scholar, ran her family’s business, and spearheaded economic development initiatives in Hispanic, rural Arizona. Check, check, check. This was a woman with ambition for higher office. She had never spoken at the DNC but she was young. She, too, could have her 2004 Obama moment. Until a schizophrenic loser tragically came out of the woodwork.
How many ‘Congress on Your Corner’ mass public campaign events do politicians hold nowadays? Basically none, I think. If you’re not an incumbent you still have to hold outreach events, but they happen in private establishments, often with guest lists and operational security to control access. Or you just cut the populist facade and hold dinners that charge $50,000 per plate to attend. The Giffords shooting also sparked the resurgence of the gun control movement. The shooting was the beginning move toward a greater political polarization, since the media blamed Sarah Palin and her ham-fisted Internet ad about putting elected Democrats ‘in the crosshairs’ for unseating them at re-election.
Were the shooting not to happen in 2011, or if Giffords’ career hadn’t effectively ended that day, I have no doubt that she would have been Senator instead of Mark Kelly. They wanted her, not her husband. But she’s part of the same Orwellian Inner Party apparatus, that’s why she got a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022 as well as a speaking slot at the DNC this year in 2024, long after she’s become irrelevant. The DNC apparatus wanted her to become Senator, maybe even President. But it wasn’t meant to be.
Cirrus
7mo ago
What surprises me is how little self-respect the corporate media seem to have. The Harris campaign treats reporters with complete disdain. Harris refuses to answer even the most basic questions, let alone explain any substantive policy proposals. The DNC handed out hundreds of press credentials/passes not to actual reporters but to TikTok influencers. The DNC gave clueless celebrities the choicest access to insiders in a display reminiscent of a foreigner’s pre-planned trip to Beijing or Pyongyang. Reporters fawned over the cult of personality of an empty vessel for President. Do they have no shame? Do Comcast and Time Warner shareholders really care so little about journalism in favor of maximizing profit?
Glenn Greenwald, an actual journalist, covered these sentiments very well. I would refer you to his opinion pieces.
Cirrus
7mo ago
Most people who post here are Grey Tribe and ensconced in heavily blue cities. Some are not American. They are not a good representation of the American electorate.
Cirrus
7mo ago
One thing assisting Musk would be twitter’s massive loss in value after he bought it, according to one recent, independent value estimate. You post unrealized gains or losses using the cost basis of the asset on acquisition. Will Musk get a tax break for the unrealized loss?
Cirrus
7mo ago
Okay, I’ll be the one to bite the bullet and speak plainly. Baltimore is a majority-black city, has been for decades now. In that link I cited above (from the Baltimore City Planner’s Office, no less), the announcement states that the city “is growing browner” and has not only a declining population from 2010 to 2020, but also a declining white population, from 32% in 2000 to 28% in 2020.
You made a very good write-up and I enjoyed reading it. However, curiously absent from your discussion was the topic of race. You didn’t mention the races of anyone in your write-up. Certainly Baltimore’s majority-minority demographics are a unique trait for this city compared to most places in the United States. Do you think that the city’s multi-racial aspect has anything to do with its problems? As you describe things, Baltimore seems like a very low-trust, corrupt, impoverished “shithole”. Do you think that’s because of how many non-whites (and particularly the proportion of blacks and mixed-race people) there are who live there?
Cirrus
8mo ago
Germans care particularly about maintaining the integrity of NATO and the European Union. Trump, if not explicitly anti-NATO, at least wants its members to “pay their fair share” regarding military expenditures. And Trump appears more conciliatory towards Russia, which still poses an economic/geopolitical threat in the minds of many pro-EU Europeans. Harris, on the other hand, represents more of the same for Germans: an easier, more prosperous life nestled under the pax-Americana security blanket, where Americans pay for your defense and guarantee your freedom so you can use more of your money on butter, not guns.
Why wouldn’t a German vote for Harris over Trump, given that choice??
Cirrus
10mo ago
His personality is enough to ruin him. The Establishment wants defense in depth. It’s easier to defend your way of doing things when the Schelling point is based on personalities, rather than policies.
If the Establishment didn’t do everything it could to destroy Trump and make an example out of him, then there could be a future Trump who goes a bit further. Someone with Trump’s appeal but who could also seriously change policy and the way things are done.
It’s the same reason why progressives have ratcheted up the social movement lunacy to defend pedophiles (as MAPs) and transgenders. When all of the oxygen in the room is being sucked on these topics, it means that people aren’t challenging gay marriage (which was a controversial topic only 12 years ago). Gay marriage is effectively off-limits until the pedo-question is settled, so progressives have an incentive to waste people’s time on pedophiles so that they aren’t having to defend gays. Even though it’s a harder assignment defending pedophiles rather than gays.
Cirrus
10mo ago
Nothing ever happens. Old, fat, Fox News-watching boomers will grunt and groan for a while but people will gradually forget about Trump. The Deep State will triumph and after Trump eventually dies a Nikki Haley-type figure will return the GOP to its blissful days of corporatist, Reaganite neoconservatism.
The only time something happens is when the economy collapses. Politics like this is just a sideshow. Keep your eyes open wide when the Dow Jones goes down to 25,000, when the unemployment rate hits 8 percent, or when housing prices drop by 40 percent. The Dow is down by about 2,000 points from its all-time high in the past several days.
Cirrus
1yr ago
I sincerely doubt anything is going to happen in 2024. The powers that be (TPTB — the PMC elites) simply don’t want anything to disrupt Biden’s chances of winning a comfy re-election. So nothing will happen. “It’s the economy, stupid” all the way down. Don’t be surprised to see the DOW approach 45000 and the S&P 500 approach 6000 this year. As long as Number Go Up, the typical voter will allow any demented meat puppet (Biden) to remain in office.
You point out 2008 and 2020. Those were the last two election years involving a Republican presidential incumbent. TPTB wanted to change to a PMC Democrat, as part of the long-term, Davos-approved plan for managed decline in the West. So, lo and behold, we got the Great Financial Crisis in 2008 (talk about a September/October surprise!) and we got COVID Floyd in 2020. TPTB overestimated its chances against Trump (as well as Brexit) in 2016, and 2012 was a rare election when TPTB would have been satisfied with Romney as much as Obama.
Cirrus
1yr ago
Age limits for Congress and/or the Presidency. It’s simple to understand and therefore could have a popular groundswell of support. The Constitution already has age minimums for these elected offices. Public opinion polling shows that a majority of Americans are fatigued of old people like Trump and Biden running the show, so there could be bipartisan support. State legislatures already have age limits for certain other privileges such as obtaining a driver’s license (or needing to retake a driving test at a certain age). I could definitely see this happening especially in the next few years.
Cirrus
1yr ago
Donald Trump will be 82 years old in 2028 and Joe Biden will be 86 years old, assuming that they are both still alive by then. For comparison’s sake, Leonid Brezhnev died in office as General Secretary of the USSR Communist Party at age 75. His successor, Yuri Andropov, died at age 69. He was followed in the 1980s by Constantin Chernenko who died in office at age 73.
Some historians argue that the Soviet’s gerontocracy contributed to that country’s demise, as older, risk-averse leaders left their nations brittle and unprepared for change. The trend of elderly leaders changed, as you all know, with Mikhail Gorbachev (aged 54 when he took office in 1985), youthful by comparison. He was the first such leader to actually grow up his whole life in the USSR. He was a true believer, having been a party functionary since his youth. He genuinely believed that his proposals—perestroika and glasnost—would strengthen the state for years to come. He reflected the naive mindset that bought the Helsinki Accords hook, line, and sinker.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to compare those Accords with modern-day Wokism currently afflicting Western European culture. The older generation of leaders will roll their eyes. But they signed on to it. The next batch of younger idealist leaders—the Gorbachevs of our future—will take Wokism seriously to the detriment of our national integrity.
Expect woke-sympathetic Western leaders to act with indecision (or even create the groundwork for a national fracturing) when racial unrest in our new multi-racial societies boils over. Our future leaders will be expected to cash the checks that today’s elderly statesmen are writing. Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be long gone, but the culture of wokism will linger with us for a generation to come.
Cirrus
1yr ago
AMEN!! No matter what the LEGACY MEDIA tells you, real American PATRIOTS stand up and let their FAITH in GOD be known to all! White black or otherwise, we are ALL children of GOD on this blessed day!!!
~ Mrs. Cirrus
Sent from my iPad
Cirrus
1yr ago
Quality contribution! You’re absolutely right. Jesus was compassionate but also discerning. He didn’t naively just stand there and let his religious enemies stone him to death, but he actively engaged in dialogue with them and revealed their hypocrisies.
I don’t know much about Ayaan Hirsi Ali but I’m willing to be charitable to her searching for the truth in Christ. Her ‘road to Damascus’ event may be sincerely in her future. Let’s pray that her heart be softened and receptive to the word.
It’s possible that the director/screenwriters/producers believed that the 2019 film produced a moral panic and they didn’t want blood on their hands. Perhaps they believed that they might be perceived as responsible for some incel-inspired shooting or violence against the state? So, they had to make a sequel to defang Phoenix’s Joker and make his character weak and pathetic. “Look at your ‘hero’ now, you filthy incels!”
The production studio, believing this same ridiculous notion, merely did a cost-benefit analysis. “Which will lose us less money: a box office bomb or a lawsuit and reputational damage of aggrieved families of the Great Incel Shooting of 2024?”
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