Bolsonaro Wins in Brazil

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

13 hours ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said:

The trouble with how Europeans vote is that the anti-immigration parties treat the symptons. Not the disease. The root cause is economic - we need to create economic growth for the entire population. In the countries I know of (including my home country) the nationalist anti-imigration parties do not support policies that support the blue collar lower middle class. But they have the support of the blue collar middle class. So, they have managed to sell this story that being anti-immigrant is being pro blue collar lower middle class. They are not. 

Classic. Same here.

[ronwagn + 6,290]

On 11/7/2018 at 3:34 PM, mthebold said:

As far as I can tell, America's "allies" are just as bad as China.  VAT taxes and refusing to meet defense obligations are prime examples.  Talking about America's "Ethical/ moral superiority / leadership" sounds like buttering us up so we'll pay for things.  

The point of America is not to be a leader; it's to mind our own business.  I don't want America to throw its weight around.  I don't want us to have "influence".  I don't want us to bear responsibility for the world's safety.  All that's led to is massive de-industrialization, debt, loss of young men to war, and politicians/corporations who care more about foreigners than their fellow Americans.  Why, exactly, should an American want any of that?  

IMHO, President Trump has greatly increased America's influence and standing in the world. Definitely not in the love by the world press including the American Press! By putting America First he is emboldening those who prefer nationalism over globalism and immigration control  that meets the needs of the nations being emigrated to. America is probably about as popular as it ever has been with the average person around the globe, but that is not of primary importance. What is important is that our values be maintained and that we set a good example by living up to our Constitutional values and those of our own culture. Many countries are following President Trump's views and many are sticking with their globalist agenda. It will be interesting to see where all this leads. 

Here are some articles on my topic Conservatism Around The World https://docs.google.com/document/d/1twQ_yBtl-FPwhXf2mYA7qvGj1D8yts8El0m8nObWxuU/edit

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

2 hours ago, mthebold said:

America needed no nudge to start its revolution.

Not true.

The nudge came in form of ideas that came with immigrants. The ideas were born in Europe.

 

2 hours ago, mthebold said:

Train people to overcome adversity, and you'll have a robust economy.  Coddle them, and you'll end up with a house of cards.

Put differently: coddling people doesn't decrease the amount of suffering in the world; it only saves that suffering for a single, catastrophic failure. 

Agree 100 %. 

I don't want to coddle. I want to level the playing. When leveling turns into codling is a very difficult discussion. Probably too difficult for an internet forum.

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

5 hours ago, ronwagn said:

It sounds to me like you are making a generalization based on your political point of view. I think that all leaders are in favor of education, especially if it is practical and leads to good jobs. I am against education that propagandizes for socialism and against personal freedoms being repressed by big government. 

The fifties were right after WW2 and all of Europe was recovering economically with the help of the Marshall Plan. By the sixties they were doing well and still are except for overly large government programs and an overarching E.U. 

Can you define what you consider socialism? Do you consider Europe socialist? Where do you see government infringing on peronsal liberties? Do you think USA is investing enough into education? What do you consider good education? think we need some examples to avoid disagreeing. 

 

[Rasmus Jorgensen + 1,169]

3 hours ago, mthebold said:

Immigration and the middle class are related: the more workers you have, the lower wages go

No. Not if you can create enough economic growth. 

Where it gets unpleasant is when you need to start making demands to people. You must educate, you must do this. etc. You will say mind control, socialist propaganda etc. NO. It is just insisting that people have a base level of knowledge so that they have a chance to advance in life. Obviously at some point people need to choose for themselfes. 

Let me be clear - I do not believe in leaving anybody behind. I believe in giving them better opportunities. If they do not take these opportunities they need a push, they should not be left behind. And what I most certainly do not believe in is upholding the status qou. 

Call me naive, call me socialist, call me globalist. I have seen results when I believe in people. It makes my business better. It makes their lives better. Who cares if I had to meet them at their level first? My initial investment of time and money have paid of. 

[Marina Schwarz + 1,576]

@mthebold have you considered running for president? Please do. Not that anyone'll let you turn the U.S. into a Switzerland but I like your perspective.

2 hours ago, Rasmus Jorgensen said:

Let me be clear - I do not believe in leaving anybody behind. I believe in giving them better opportunities. If they do not take these opportunities they need a push, they should not be left behind. And what I most certainly do not believe in is upholding the status qou. 

In some parts of the world this is the definition of socialism. I'm one of these parts, with the caveat that you can lead a horse to water but etc.

Yet, it's interesting how from an American perspective (if you forgive my generalising) it's all about how far the government reaches. In fact a lot of (all?) non-socialist governments infringe on their citizens' freedoms but it goes unnoticed because, well, they are democratically elected. No such thing as absolute uninfringable freedom when you live in a society.

P.S. I think Denmark should start exporting its mentality. We need more of it.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

11 hours ago, mthebold said:

turn my country into a 3rd world hole.

I feel like you left something out of that sentence......Hmm, whatever could it be?  I don't know, it just doesn't read right.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

^^Informative comment.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

The latest from/for our friends in and out of Brazil:

Brazil's president-elect plans decree allowing wider gun ownership

SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil’s far-right President-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Saturday he plans to issue a decree allowing all Brazilians without criminal records to own firearms, welcome news to many core supporters who want him to loosen Brazil’s strict gun laws.

[Tom Kirkman + 8,860]

On 11/5/2018 at 7:43 AM, Tom Kirkman said:

P.S. in the ongoing meme war online, Twitter and Facebook are totally freaking out trying to squash memes. 

The purge against NPC memes was quite something to see.  So far, Twitter and Facebook still have to manually "flag" memes which do not meet their "standards".  No computer automated way yet exists for AI or algorithms to find, flag and remove "offensive" memes.

The authoritarian panic...  it's ... beautiful  : )

Heh heh

PC Mouthpiece Bill Maher Hilariously Called Out in Hollywood Billboards

It turns out there are still a few good-humored, politically-incorrect folks in Hollywood after all. Over the weekend, lefty-bashing street artist provocateurs publicly slammed HBO’s Bill Maher with a satirical billboard depicting him not as the thought leader he imagines himself to be, but as a rote purveyor of mainstream liberal propaganda. Specifically he was made fun of as being an “NPC.”

On Sunday  pranksters from conservative street artist group “The Faction” decided to point out the fact that Maher might actually belong to this category, going after a Real Time with Bill Maher billboard located at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard & West Holloway in West Hollywood. “The Faction” spray painted a gray, expressionless face over Maher’s  and changed the image’s tagline from “The Whole Truth and Nothing But” to “The Whole Narrative and Nothing But.” They also changed “HBO” to “NPC.”

This is the same group that put down dozens of mock Donald Trump Walk of Fame star stickers in response to the President’s real star being vandalized multiple times since his election.

For conservatives who haven’t caught on to the joke, as it’s definitely a trendy internet one (and who has time for all those anyways?), calling someone an NPC in this context is a political reference to those individuals who earnestly ingest and regurgitate the talking points of the left-wing media.

Originally, NPC is an acronym used by people in the video game industry and stands for “Non-playable character.” In video game language, NPCs are in-game characters that interact with the player, who’s attributes and actions are scripted by game developers.

That’s funny when talking about lefties like Bill Maher. It’s the idea that their views and thoughts are not necessarily based on individualized common sense, but reflect the mentality that progressive mouthpieces loudly push. It’s essentially programmed into them by Hollywood and PC culture, and regardless of whether their own introspection would help them to understand that carte blanche immigration, for example, would be disastrous, popular opinion says otherwise, so the NPC fits in.