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Author Topic: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa  (Read 579110 times)

Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11380 on: September 15, 2021, 09:41:53 am »

Biden's Cut and Run in Afghanistan is more reminiscent of The Cut and Run during Nixon's time in South Vietnam which left that country to fall subsequently to the North Vietnamese communists. So now we have Afghanistan fallling to American enemies the terrorists of the Middle East.  Now Bagram air base may be used by the Chinese Communists. I asked previously if the Bidens might be blackmailed due to the relationship the Bidens had with China.  Could the pullout been a pay off for the blackmail?

If you're just going to make wild-ass shit up, you could at least make it plausible. Was all that from a QAnon site?

Btw, I love your loaded phrase "Now Bagram air base may be used by the Chinese Communists." You always like to work in the word "communist" whenever you can like we're still in a 1952 red scare. Maybe the FBI should start phone-tapping rock&roll singers again. The way I see it, if Afghanistan looks east to China for some foreign aid, well, can you blame them? The Brits, Russians and the Americans weren't very helpful, after all.

I heard an interesting statistic during a podcast the other day, sorry but can't remember which one. At the moment, 50% of the foreign aid in developing countries is being provided by China. If that many countries are willing to do business with China, it must mean something. Maybe things aren't so simple-minded as you seem to believe.

What I did notice, though, is that you failed to address the lunacy of Trump decision-making as described in that extract. Did you close your eyes and ears, didn't want to know maybe?
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11381 on: September 15, 2021, 10:28:11 am »

If you're just going to make wild-ass shit up, you could at least make it plausible. Was all that from a QAnon site?

Btw, I love your loaded phrase "Now Bagram air base may be used by the Chinese Communists." You always like to work in the word "communist" whenever you can like we're still in a 1952 red scare. Maybe the FBI should start phone-tapping rock&roll singers again. The way I see it, if Afghanistan looks east to China for some foreign aid, well, can you blame them? The Brits, Russians and the Americans weren't very helpful, after all.

I heard an interesting statistic during a podcast the other day, sorry but can't remember which one. At the moment, 50% of the foreign aid in developing countries is being provided by China. If that many countries are willing to do business with China, it must mean something. Maybe things aren't so simple-minded as you seem to believe.

What I did notice, though, is that you failed to address the lunacy of Trump decision-making as described in that extract. Did you close your eyes and ears, didn't want to know maybe?
Nixon left office because he tried to hide a crime.  Trump was impeached for political reasons, all Trumped up charges.  The Biden loving press refused to do real journalism and protected and still protects Biden.

The fact is Bagram was an important air base to go after terrorists in that area that would protect you and other western nations.  NATO flew out of there as well a

Unfortunately, China is replacing America with handouts and buying influence from leaders in foreign countries, many of which accept the money and put it in their personal and secret banking accounts in the Bahamas. The handouts, so-called, are not handouts in most cases.  They've bought bases for their ships with that money and should the country default, China can then move in and take over.  Good luck to those countries trusting China over America and the West.

I know nothing about QANON.  I've lived 76 years and have watched international affairs all that time.  I have a mind of my own.  I don't need others to draw my own conclusions.  Maybe you ought to try that.

digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11382 on: September 15, 2021, 10:35:23 am »

I know nothing about QANON.  I've lived 76 years and have watched international affairs all that time.  I have a mind of my own.
"The narrower the mind, the broader the statement." -Ted Cook
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James Clark

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11383 on: September 15, 2021, 11:52:41 am »

So now we have Afghanistan fallling to American enemies the terrorists of the Middle East.  Now Bagram air base may be used by the Chinese Communists. I asked previously if the Bidens might be blackmailed due to the relationship the Bidens had with China.  Could the pullout been a pay off for the blackmail?

Unless Trump (the guy who originally negotiated the pullout) was in on it, seems doubtful, don't you think?
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James Clark

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11384 on: September 15, 2021, 11:56:38 am »



Btw, I love your loaded phrase "Now Bagram air base may be used by the Chinese Communists." You always like to work in the word "communist" whenever you can like we're still in a 1952 red scare. Maybe the FBI should start phone-tapping rock&roll singers again.

Don't know if you have these problems up in CA, but out local school board elections are going goofy.  We have a nutjob candidate (trumpet, natch) that recently lost (and has been fighting the school board on some other stuff since then) who's started posting about how the school board's lawyer is a "communist" because his dad had some affiliations back in the day.    ;D

It's be funnier though, if a non-zero number of people didn't listen to her and think, "yeah... that sounds TOTALLY REASONABLE."   ::)
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11385 on: September 15, 2021, 03:41:38 pm »

Unless Trump (the guy who originally negotiated the pullout) was in on it, seems doubtful, don't you think?
Trump screwed up as much as Biden by negotiating with the Taliban and excluding the Afghan government.  However, Biden takes the blame for the way the evacuation occurred as he was in charge at the time and ordered how it was done.  He could have done it better.

Interestingly., I just read that a fight broke out between the Taliban's Baradar and Haqqani their interior minister who's part of al-Qaeda.  If their arrangement falls apart, and Haqqani wins, we could have Al Qaeda running Afghanistan.  What a mess.  It reminds me of Biden's old boss Obama when he pulled out of Iraq in 2011 and created ISIS that Trump had to destroy.  We might be back there sooner than anyone now thinks.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58560923

digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11386 on: September 15, 2021, 03:45:13 pm »

Milley had to contact a Chinese general to reassure the general that Trump would not start a war with them.
Wow!
Leave it to Trump to confirm all this; stable genius indeed:

Sept. 15, 2021, 12:12 PM MDT / Updated Sept. 15, 2021, 12:48 PM MDT
By Dareh Gregorian
Quote
The office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley defended him Wednesday after former President Donald Trump accused Milley of "treason" for calling a Chinese military official last year, as reported in a new book.

Trump criticized Milley on Tuesday following the release of a portion of "Peril," a book by The Washington Post's Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which reported that Milley told his Chinese counterpart before the presidential election last year that he would warn him beforehand of any attack by the U.S.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11387 on: September 15, 2021, 04:35:43 pm »

Leave it to Trump to confirm all this; stable genius indeed:

Sept. 15, 2021, 12:12 PM MDT / Updated Sept. 15, 2021, 12:48 PM MDT
By Dareh Gregorian

Too funny.
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PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11388 on: September 15, 2021, 05:23:43 pm »

Apparently, democrats think union workers making hybrid autos are more important than pure EV's protecting the climate better.  Just more hypocrisy.

Now c'mon Alan, think. Either way we get the EVs, but with the union incentive we get more jobs with better pay and benefits and fewer jobs with worse. No hypocrisy there. Political payback? Almost surely. Both parties have been doing it for ages, the GOP with tax cuts for the rich and corporations and lax regulations, for example, and the Dems with social programs and entitlements. Big whoop.
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11389 on: September 15, 2021, 05:44:23 pm »

"The narrower the mind, the broader the statement." -Ted Cook

Excellent! :)
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Peter McLennan

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11390 on: September 15, 2021, 05:48:36 pm »

https://youtu.be/s0lf5aMZb1s

Trump's "all the best properties" in big trouble.
4.5 mins.
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11391 on: September 15, 2021, 06:04:02 pm »

https://youtu.be/s0lf5aMZb1s

Trump's "all the best properties" in big trouble.
4.5 mins.
Love it!
Only thing better “lock him up” 😋
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TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11392 on: September 15, 2021, 06:41:52 pm »

The talk about Trump real estate reminded me of a Vanity Fair article on how foreign governments funneled money into Trump's pockets thru various means. The article begins with the government of Qatar renting office space, which they never occupied, in the most valuable asset Trump owns—his 30% stake in a partnership with Vornado of a San Francisco office tower. The space was leased after Trump criticized Qatar and coincidentally Trump's tune quickly changed after they became his tenant.

The headline, subheading and a link to the article are below. I'll leave out the bold and the all caps from the headline.

“One Of The Most Significant Potential Conflicts Of Interest In American History”: How Everyone From Foreign Governments To Federal Contractors Is Quitely Lining Trump's Pockets

It sure seems like the Qatari government is using a dummy office to pay the president. Countless other foreign and American companies are also handing Trump money—sometimes without even knowing it—creating the most tangled web of ethical pitfalls the White House has ever seen. 


https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/09/how-everyone-is-quietly-lining-trumps-pockets
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Chris Kern

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11393 on: September 15, 2021, 07:07:58 pm »

Trump's "all the best properties" in big trouble.

What?  Even the insurrectionists are avoiding the Trump International in Washington?  Sad. . . .
« Last Edit: September 15, 2021, 07:13:56 pm by Chris Kern »
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TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11394 on: September 15, 2021, 09:50:00 pm »

Car manufacturers such as Tesla who pay their employeees twice as much as the unionized factories and award them also equity options

Gee, since you underlined it, I'd like to believe that's true. But underlining and screen shots from somewhere, for some jobs, don't really convince me.

When comparing union to nonunion pay, we really should be comparing frontline assembly workers. They're the "auto workers" in the United Auto Workers bargaining agreements. The degreed or licensed professionals in other fields that have been hired to work in the auto industry aren't really the "domestic assembly" part of the equation.

Let's look at one difference between say nonunion Tesla and unionized GM. You highlighted half of one difference—Tesla offering incentives in stock options to employees. According to one recent article: "At lower pay levels in the company, employees are also benefiting, but to a much lower degree. According to sources talking to Electrek, most new hires are given between $20,000 and $40,000 of restricted stocks that vest over three years, starting a year after they start working at Tesla". That's a welcome bonus to get for an assembly line worker. Like some other startups, Tesla hasn't had any annual profit to share in the decade leading up to their first ever annual profit last year, stock is what they have had available to work with in giving incentives. There just isn't any cash for bonuses when you're losing money each year, over ten years, and are relying on borrowing and selling stock to investors to continue from year to year.

The other half of the incentive question is what the UAW negotiated several years ago for every full-time GM assembly worker—which is profit sharing. Their approach was that if workers were going to have to take pay cuts in order to rebuild and restore profitability to GM and other auto manufacturers—the workers should share in the reward and profits. The deal they negotiated was a $1,000 dollar annual cash bonus to each full-time hourly worker for every $1 billion dollars in net profit for the company. Over the past several years, that's meant an annual bonus of $8,000 to $12,000 in cash to each worker.

The obvious advantage to workers is that they choose how to invest or spend their cash bonus—maybe they'll buy Tesla stock with it; or put it in a college or retirement fund; whatever they decide to do. Another advantage of cash bonuses is that they are not tied to the whims of Wall Street fluctuations. There is also an incentive for productivity and efficiency as the workers share in the resulting profits.
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TechTalk

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11395 on: September 15, 2021, 11:02:54 pm »

Car manufacturers such as Tesla who pay their employeees twice as much as the unionized factories and award them also equity options

So, your evidence of Tesla paying their employees twice as much are a couple of screen shots (from somewhere) showing salaries of $170,000 to $181,000 at Tesla. Something tells me that may not be representative of your average worker on the assembly line putting your car together.

A new hire UAW hourly line worker at GM starts at $17 per hour with scheduled annual pay increasing to $32.32 by eight years on the job. In addition to that is the profit sharing mentioned above, which was capped at $12,000 per year, but now has no cap. There are additional annual performance bonuses of $1,000 to 4% of qualified earnings and a quality bonus of $500. Additionally, there are a variety of other benefits included in their contract. It's easy to find this information because the contract is a matter of public record.

It's not as easy to find information for Tesla, but a Forbes article led me to a presentation Tesla made last year in Texas pitching their new factory there. If you prefer screen shots, below you'll find one for what Tesla pitched to Texas for jobs they would be offering. It proposes: "5,000 jobs; Approximately 65% unskilled labor; Living wage $15/hour - construction and permanent labor force; Average annual salary $47,147; Full benefits".

So, the assertion that Tesla pays twice as much as unionized factories still doesn't convince me, even with the underline.
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LesPalenik

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11396 on: September 15, 2021, 11:17:24 pm »

Gee, since you underlined it, I'd like to believe that's true. But underlining and screen shots from somewhere, for some jobs, don't really convince me.

Here is the source I used for my examples of salaries at Tesla and GM:
https://medium.com/@paysa/tech-salaries-who-pays-more-tesla-or-general-motors-2edb83480581

here are two more links showing average salaries at Tesla and GM:
https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Employer=Tesla_Motors/Salary

as to the profitability of the company, according to Bloomberg, Tesla's last 8 quarters have been profitable, breaking record practically every quarter.

Quote
Tesla extended its earnings streak for an eighth consecutive quarter, the longest stretch of profitability in company history, posting the highest net income in company history on higher sales of Model 3 and Y electric vehicles.

The Palo Alto, California-based company led by billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk said net income for the quarter that ended June 30 was $1.12 billion, a tenfold increase from $104 million a year ago. Earnings per share were $1.02, beating a consensus expectation for net income of $600 million, according to FactSet. Sales for the quarter that ended June 30 were also a best-ever $11.96 billion, nearly double the $6 billion of the year-earlier quarter. Analysts expected $11.4 billion.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alanohnsman/2021/07/26/tesla-profit-streak-rolls-on-for-eighth-quarter-powered-by-record-net-income/?sh=6e1dccc11f74
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Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11397 on: September 16, 2021, 08:25:39 am »

Now c'mon Alan, think. Either way we get the EVs, but with the union incentive we get more jobs with better pay and benefits and fewer jobs with worse. No hypocrisy there. Political payback? Almost surely. Both parties have been doing it for ages, the GOP with tax cuts for the rich and corporations and lax regulations, for example, and the Dems with social programs and entitlements. Big whoop.
Peter, A freer market makes an economy more productive, not less.  You want to lower costs and prices not make them higher. Our standard of living goes up with higher productivity and less cost.     If the government requires more expensive union help or adds costs with more regulation, VAT taxes like in Europe, etc., prices go up to cover these additional costs.  The general public's standard of living goes down.   Higher labor rates and regulation domestically have forced manufacturing offshore so there are fewer American jobs at any wage level.

Now we may want these social benefits.  We may be willing to accept higher prices and less value for certain social values.  We can argue about that.  But let's not shoot ourselves in the foot.  In general, the best economy with fewer negative consequences is formed with less government involvement. 

Alan Klein

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11398 on: September 16, 2021, 08:26:43 am »

Excellent! :)
So you had to join Andrew in a personal attack.

PeterAit

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #11399 on: September 16, 2021, 09:57:16 am »


The fact is Bagram was an important air base to go after terrorists in that area that would protect you and other western nations.  NATO flew out of there as well a


Is this like the drone strike against a terrorist driving a truck-full of explosives toward the airport that killed 10 civilians including 7 kids, except it turned out to be an aid worker driving a truck filled with drinking water?
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