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Lysandre, the Star-Crossed
On 5/16/2022 at 9:13 PM, RoseGoesToYale said:

Educate and protect yourself in any way you can, because there may soon come a day where the government doesn't.

Truer words have never been spoken. We're letting our way of life be threatened by the "There ought to be a law!" conserva-Karens of the nation. When did we lose our backbone? What happened to rugged individualism and our collective distrust of government and centralized power? We've become less and less American by the day for probably the last 75 years, and our founders would be ashamed.

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59 minutes ago, Lysandre, the Star-Crossed said:

Truer words have never been spoken. We're letting our way of life be threatened by the "There ought to be a law!" conserva-Karens of the nation. When did we lose our backbone? What happened to rugged individualism and our collective distrust of government and centralized power? We've become less and less American by the day for probably the last 75 years, and our founders would be ashamed.

Whenever I see someone talking about rugged individualism, I think about the bail bondsman I met who, while I was waiting to get my brother out of jail, told me at length about his favorite gun, which he paid thousands of dollars for because of how cool the decorations on the barrel of the rifle were. To his credit, it did have some spikes and other protrusions that made it kind of look like something from Fury Road.

 

Then he told me how if I’d heard that the Freemasons were Satanists, wlthat was wrong, that one of his lodge members was ex-army and shared secret information about a zombie plague they had access to and how he had 49 guns for the day society crumbled due to zombies and/or civilian l war. Then he asked if I’d read the Bible and knew that King Solomon, the true founder of the Freemasons, had a large number of wives, and how about that, hm?

 

I’m not sure, but I hope that guy isn’t the true spirit of America.

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3 hours ago, Lysandre, the Star-Crossed said:

conserva-Karens

Do you have to use terms like that and slander the name of good people named Karen? :( 

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Lysandre, the Star-Crossed
3 hours ago, daveb said:

Do you have to use terms like that and slander the name of good people named Karen? :( 

I don't invent the words, I just use them. Trust me, we'd have far fewer definition debates if I was the one inventing the words...or perhaps far more 😏

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10 hours ago, Lysandre, the Star-Crossed said:

I don't invent the words, I just use them. Trust me, we'd have far fewer definition debates if I was the one inventing the words...or perhaps far more 😏

You didn't address Daveb's point about the use of a common name -- which many women were given at birth -- being used as an exemplar of something bad.  A certain personality could be described in words other than someone's name.  

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6 hours ago, Epic Tetus said:

Whenever I see someone talking about rugged individualism, I think about the bail bondsman I met who, while I was waiting to get my brother out of jail, told me at length about his favorite gun, which he paid thousands of dollars for because of how cool the decorations on the barrel of the rifle were. To his credit, it did have some spikes and other protrusions that made it kind of look like something from Fury Road.

 

Then he told me how if I’d heard that the Freemasons were Satanists, wlthat was wrong, that one of his lodge members was ex-army and shared secret information about a zombie plague they had access to and how he had 49 guns for the day society crumbled due to zombies and/or civilian l war. Then he asked if I’d read the Bible and knew that King Solomon, the true founder of the Freemasons, had a large number of wives, and how about that, hm?

 

I’m not sure, but I hope that guy isn’t the true spirit of America.

He definitely is the spirit of the current Republican Party.  

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Lysandre, the Star-Crossed
2 hours ago, Sally said:

You didn't address Daveb's point about the use of a common name -- which many women were given at birth -- being used as an exemplar of something bad.  A pertain personality could be described in words other than someone's name.  



f49017fe46aec506cd913efc49f9283597042e9f

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Just asking for a little common decency and consideration for others. Sorry if that is too much to ask.

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Lysandre, the Star-Crossed
12 minutes ago, daveb said:

Just asking for a little common decency and consideration for others. Sorry if that is too much to ask.

If you want to talk about this then let's take it to DM and avoid derailing the thread further. If not, let's just drop it. This isn't the venue for this.

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This should just be a still image put on billboards and every political ad.

 

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Wow, look at what we can do when we want to.

 

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7 hours ago, Zagadka said:

This should just be a still image put on billboards and every political ad.

 

They just don't care.  They have never cared.

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At least they are taking steps to reopen the baby formula factory the FDA shut down in February. Looks like the government created a crisis they could take credit for "solving"

 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/16/abbott-restart-production-baby-formula-shortage#:~:text=Baby formula maker Abbott to restart production amid US shortage,-Michigan plant had&text=The baby formula maker Abbott,shelves bare and parents scrambling.

 

(There are plenty of sources, this one did not have a paywall. If you don't like this one google the issue and evade any paywalls yourself)

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The issue is that the factory was horribly unsafe, was for a very long time, while Abbot reinvested profits in themselves instead of fixing their issues, comfortable with their contracts and, like in many industries, being one of the handful of corporations who control the entire market, while the US has had a ban on imports for extremely dumb reasons.

 

And guess what?

 

screenshot-29.png

 

If your country is brought entirely to its knees by one company having production issues, as we have from multiple industries in the recent years (oil, energy, microprocessors, chicken, tons of everything), you are a horrible country with decades of feckless, self-serving failed leadership who bred failure into every part of life, then cashed the checks and retained their power and respect.

 

The proper reaction to this is not "Abbott should resume production." The proper reaction is to jail every executive and government official that allowed this entire system while burning the system that allows these corporate monopolies with their government contracts and complete lack of accountability to the fucking ground.

 

But I suppose that after the 2008 financial collapse ending with massive rewards for the criminals who perpetuated it, absolutely no one should be surprised that it is happening again, and again. Really looking forward to the bailouts in the looming bubble collapse and housing market crisis caused by many of the exact same things, all of which will pass with bipartisan support and not a word of condemnation.

 

All of these people should be in jail. The people who put things like NAFTA and deregulation should be in jail.

 

But then there would be nobody to lead either worthless political dynasty.

 

(There are certainly people who will be in jail for stealing $20 worth of insured baby formula from Walgreens, though)

 

 

 

On a side note it is amazing how people willfully ignore that after 2 years of excuses about being powerless to do anything, a hand was waved and everything was done within days.

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Voter 'subversion': Trump Republicans push laws to make it easier to change elections, per report

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/05/19/voter-subversion-trump-republicans-push-laws-change-elections/9824186002/

 

WASHINGTON - Donald Trump-style Republicans in more than 30 states are pushing new laws that basically would make it easier for them to steal future elections, according to a new report provided to USA TODAY by a group of voting rights organizations.

"This trend increases the risk of a crisis in which the outcome of an election could be decided contrary to the will of the people," said the report compiled by three organizations: States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy, and Law Forward.

Victoria Bassetti, a senior adviser with the States United Democracy Center and one of the authors of the report, described the efforts as "election subversion," and called the idea a "new and dangerous attack on democracy."

With 50 proposals passed since the organizations started tracking them at the start of 2021, Bassetti said that "systematic election subversion like we have found is really new."

...

Since 2021, a total of 33 states are considering at least 229 bills that involve some form of election subversion, the report said. That includes the 50 bills that have been enacted in at least 14 states.

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Calligraphette_Coe
10 hours ago, Zagadka said:

The issue is that the factory was horribly unsafe, was for a very long time, while Abbot reinvested profits in themselves instead of fixing their issues, comfortable with their contracts and, like in many industries, being one of the handful of corporations who control the entire market, while the US has had a ban on imports for extremely dumb reasons.

 

And guess what?

 

screenshot-29.png

 

If your country is brought entirely to its knees by one company having production issues, as we have from multiple industries in the recent years (oil, energy, microprocessors, chicken, tons of everything), you are a horrible country with decades of feckless, self-serving failed leadership who bred failure into every part of life, then cashed the checks and retained their power and respect.

 

The proper reaction to this is not "Abbott should resume production." The proper reaction is to jail every executive and government official that allowed this entire system while burning the system that allows these corporate monopolies with their government contracts and complete lack of accountability to the fucking ground.

 

But I suppose that after the 2008 financial collapse ending with massive rewards for the criminals who perpetuated it, absolutely no one should be surprised that it is happening again, and again. Really looking forward to the bailouts in the looming bubble collapse and housing market crisis caused by many of the exact same things, all of which will pass with bipartisan support and not a word of condemnation.

 

All of these people should be in jail. The people who put things like NAFTA and deregulation should be in jail.

 

But then there would be nobody to lead either worthless political dynasty.

 

(There are certainly people who will be in jail for stealing $20 worth of insured baby formula from Walgreens, though)

 

 

 

On a side note it is amazing how people willfully ignore that after 2 years of excuses about being powerless to do anything, a hand was waved and everything was done within days.

I'm not disagreeing, but I think there needs to be a closer look on how it got this far. Abbott has been acquiring smaller fish in the whole sector and has been sued several times for possible anti-trust issues.

 

Quote

Florida sought damages and injunctive relief, alleging that Abbott and Bristol-Myers conspired to fix the prices and monopolize the market for infant formula. The complaint further alleged that Abbott and Bristol-Myers created barriers to entry into the infant formula industry through their "traditional marketing"? practices of persuading hospitals and physicians to endorse their infant formula products to patients in exchange for free products, grants and other benefits. Parents who received free samples had the wrong impression that the physicians were prescribing such formula to them, thus discouraging price-comparison shopping by consumers and limiting effective competition by other manufacturers. The Defendant companies agreed to a permanent injunction preventing them from price fixing and preventing them from creating barriers to entry into the market, as well as $13 million. Note: Texas later brought a separate suit against the infant formula companies in 1995. The case settled for $250,000 in addition to $1 million in free product.

Even when they DO enforce it, these companies get a slap on the wrist that sets them up to recoup their 'investment' several times over in many years.  But hey, infant formula isn't mentioned in the Constitution, so let's give them an almost free pass, yes? After all Corporations are people too and have all the same Constitutional rights, too, yes?

 

Sheesh, what does anyone think is going to happen when you give Corporate American monopoly power? That they'rer NOT going to act like gangsters?

 

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13 minutes ago, Calligraphette_Coe said:

I'm not disagreeing, but I think there needs to be a closer look on how it got this far. Abbott has been acquiring smaller fish in the whole sector and has been sued several times for possible anti-trust issues.

 

Even when they DO enforce it, these companies get a slap on the wrist that sets them up to recoup their 'investment' several times over in many years.  But hey, infant formula isn't mentioned in the Constitution, so let's give them an almost free pass, yes? After all Corporations are people too and have all the same Constitutional rights, too, yes?

 

Sheesh, what does anyone think is going to happen when you give Corporate American monopoly power? That they'rer NOT going to act like gangsters?

 

Certainly.

 

There are 4 companies that control 90% of the US formula market, which is typical if almost all industries.

 

Deregulation, underfunding of remaining regulators and watchdogs, dismantling/lack of use of anti-trust tools, all got us here.

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So much depressing stuff, and feeling like ordinary people are powerless to do much. Like passengers on a train speeding towards a bridge that is being dismantled as we watch. :( 

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Calligraphette_Coe
5 hours ago, Zagadka said:

Certainly.

 

There are 4 companies that control 90% of the US formula market, which is typical if almost all industries.

 

Deregulation, underfunding of remaining regulators and watchdogs, dismantling/lack of use of anti-trust tools, all got us here.

And yet, Conservative mouthpieces like the Heritage Foundation release megatons of baffleyap to confuse and obfuscate this. Case in point...

https://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/report/antitrust-and-the-winner-take-all-economy

 

Excerpt:

 

Quote

The premise that antitrust needs to be applied far more aggressively—and perhaps amended—to discipline “new economy” giants is misplaced. Instead, existing U.S. antitrust doctrine, which emphasizes consumer welfare, is perfectly capable of rooting out any anticompetitive abuses without imposing unwarranted harm on companies. The latter point is important, because, as we will see, the new economy giants bestow truly “huge” economic benefits on American society, so excessive and misguided antitrust intervention threatens serious harm to the public good.

Makes me want to print up stickers that say 'Press button for a short MAGA message' and stick them on every hand dryer in public restrooms.

 

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7 hours ago, daveb said:

So much depressing stuff, and feeling like ordinary people are powerless to do much. Like passengers on a train speeding towards a bridge that is being dismantled as we watch. :( 

I agree, but believe the cause is something different.

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The national rent average is over $1,800.

 

National.

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In May of this year, the average rent in Seattle for a studio apartment -- NO bedroom -- is $1,839.  

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Utilizing all capabilities to enact useful policy? Nah, that would be an abuse of power! We have to play by the spirit of law and the Constitution!

 

Abusing loose declarations to retain overreach and continue a policy declared inhumane and illegal? Hell yea!

 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-statement-ruling-louisiana-v-cdc

The Department of Justice today released the following statement from spokesman Anthony Coley:

“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invoked its authority under Title 42 due to the unprecedented public-health dangers caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC has now determined, in its expert opinion, that continued reliance on this authority is no longer warranted in light of the current public-health circumstances. That decision was a lawful exercise of CDC’s authority.

“The Department of Justice intends to appeal the court’s decision in Louisiana et al. v. CDC et al.”

 

https://www.dhs.gov/news/2022/05/20/dhs-statement-district-court-ruling-title-42

As we have repeatedly stated, Title 42 is not an immigration authority, but a public health authority employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect against the spread of communicable disease, in this case, COVID-19. We will comply with the court’s order to continue enforcing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Title 42 Order as long as it remains in place. Meanwhile, DHS will continue to execute its comprehensive, whole-of-government plan to manage potential increases in the number of migrants encountered at our border. As part of this effort, DHS has established a Southwest Border Coordination Center to execute those plans. DHS will also increase personnel and resources as needed, and has already redeployed more than 600 additional law enforcement officers to the border.

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Gentle Giant

What excuse do Republicans have for voting against a bill that would help get baby formula to feed babies?

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Calligraphette_Coe
1 hour ago, Gentle Giant said:

What excuse do Republicans have for voting against a bill that would help get baby formula to feed babies?

It will add to the national debt that those same babies will have to pay off? ( Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me, either.)

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Lysandre, the Star-Crossed
4 hours ago, Gentle Giant said:

What excuse do Republicans have for voting against a bill that would help get baby formula to feed babies?

Take it as anecdotal, but I've heard usage of baby formula is higher in minority communities. It disproportionately hurts people they want to hurt, so I suspect this is malicious.

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4 hours ago, Gentle Giant said:

What excuse do Republicans have for voting against a bill that would help get baby formula to feed babies?

They're not interested in spending money on people who are already born.  

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