TakeYouToTasker

But on a serious note, that's fair.

Monopolies are created through the state action of legal preference, or capital barriers imposed by regulation, not through free markets. Those you refer to as "robber barons" were largely political entrepreneurs who garnered market share by enticing government to subsidize their specific business within their industry, or their specific industry within the larger economy; or, conversely, to pass legislation which directly or indirectly harmed competing interests. So, again, laissez-faire has never actually been tried because the money and power elite have too much to lose. As for communism being a "good idea" in theory? I reject that notion soundly, as communism is the political rejection of human freedom, which makes it immoral; and is unworkable because data cannot be compiled and analyzed quickly enough to provide any substitute to market mechanisms responding to need.

I think the catcher may have snared this last one in the air.

You don't believe laissez-faire is workable? I'd accept an argument that it hasn't been tried because the power elite would have to sacrifice their caste advantages to enact it, but not that it isn't workable. Human freedom is very workable. I think you lost me on "fair trade working as well as communism". Was there a typo there?

Free trade is only possible when your trading partners engage in it as well. When both parties are engaging in free trade, that's the most fair trade their is. If one party is not, however, then "fair trade" is best.

These people are *****.

You will find, if you give it a chance, that PPP is actually a place where real, honest, and frank discussion happens quite regularly once you figure out who you want to engage with, and once you've learned to embrace the ignore feature. Politics, more than anything else in the world, is like an open flame drawing moths when it comes to trolls, and this place has more than it's fair share. But this place also has some truly bright and wonderful people, and a wealth of knowledge and ideas; and for me, that makes navigating those who are here only to get a rise out of others, or to disseminate misinformation, well worth the endeavor. To say this place has a "right leaning bent" is inaccurate. Most of the individuals here who I would call "power posters" are classically liberal to varied degrees; but there are bright, engaging, and well read and spoken folks who come down all across the philosophical and political spectrum, and I've learned things from all of them, and hope they have learned things from me as well. There's little to no value in discussing things with people who already agree with you. Echo chambers aren't good for much of anything, as you aren't going to learn anything from an individual whose ideas you already share. So again, I hope you'll stick around and agree to engage with those of us who are actually trying to talk with you rather than at or past you.

I'd say there's a massive difference between a "sick burn" and dirty politics. At the end of the day "Low energy Jeb" isn't all that much different than "The 80s called, and they want their foreign policy back". What happened to Brett Kavanaugh isn't even remotely similar, and that what the slimiest, most disgusting thing I've ever observed in my lifetime; and is going to result in actual jail time for some of the most egregious offenders. Conversely, what happened to Liz Warren was done to Liz Warren herself. There's nothing wrong with mocking a proven bald faced liar who assumed the heritage of a marginalized group she doesn't belong to in order to afford herself educational, employment, and political advantage. People who do that are disgusting, morally rudderless human beings.

I don’t believe that to be true. I believe you fully know, and understand that the discussion being held currently is the single most important discussion American citizens will have in their lifetimes, but aren’t quite sure how to respond, because the facts you’ve been presented with, and make no mistake, they are facts, run counter to what you’ve been trained to believe. I sincerely hope you decide to stick around.

I would like, very much, for you to make the case that the problem liberals are facing is that they aren’t fighting dirty enough, where you state that conservatives are; and that political violence isn’t being fostered and pushed as a legitimate course of action by the left in this country. I’ll also note you didn’t bother responding to my post outlining very specific calls to, funding of, and actual acts of political violence being perpetrated by the left.

Would a SoS be empowered to secretly declassify, or disseminate classified information, specifically military or intelligence community technology, to enemy states?

Have you lost your damn mind? The Democratic party has fully embraced the fringe elements of the left, and is calling for open violence. Members of Congress have been assaulted, and even shot. You have major Dem donor George Soros funded Antifa engaging in open street violence, and Party leaders are saying things like "There can be no return to civility until we are returned to power", "Go to the Hill today. Get up and, please, get up in the face of some congresspeople", "you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere". This is escalating, and is directly the fault of the political left who are, in the wake of losing an election, rejecting the peaceful transition of power; and encouraging people to engage in political violence. There will be blood in the streets. This genie cannot be put back in the bottle.

What are the limits on SoS declassification powers?

There were reports, circulating locally here in Rhode Island, several years ago that the Clintons were looking to make a land purchase within the state in order that Chelsea could use it for an opportunity to carpet bag in and take over one of the states four "safe seats" upon the eventual retirement of Jack Reed (S-D), Sheldon Whitehouse (S-D), or Jim Langevin (HR-D); with David Cicillini (HR-D) being less likely because the property purchase being rumored was outside of his district (RI-1). It's what prompted me to create this thread in the first place.

You hope it's the stupidest thing you'll read all day. You desperately hope.

That's because they aren't reporting the news. They're creating it. Their goal was never to present in an unbiased, or even in a biased, way. The goal was population control via carefully crafted narrative. "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia."

My understanding is that they weren't actually explosive devices. I'm not staking myself to that though.

... Oh. My. God.

They've got about two weeks to show me.

Haha... I'd describe my demeanor as having lost patience with people who are intellectually dishonest. The stakes are just too high to validate them and their message by treating them as you would treat an honest and inquisitive arbiter. I try, though sometimes I fail, to give people the benefit of the doubt initially until they demonstrate that they no longer deserve to be welcome at the table of ideas because they've put poison in what they've brought to the potluck. I also embrace healthy skepticism, and understand that every major news outlet, be they digital or print, is pushing an agenda; and that the agendas they are pushing are not always, or even usually, the agendas they want you to believe they are pushing. There is a very good book written by Daniel Boorstin in 1969 called The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America, which I recommend any person interested in truth, and the nature of power read. Everything you hear and see is designed to manipulate you in order to protect the power structure the world operates under; and the internet, in this brief moment in time, has made it possible to see beyond the Matrix. The civilized world has always operated under a global caste system. Always. And caste systems are established to protect the interests of the Brahmin at the expense of those who live under them. You are not Brahmin, nor is anyone you know, or have ever known. You are not permitted to know them. To them you are nothing more than a means to an end, entirely disposable. Worse, they actively seek to manipulate you, and deny you agency; to form the very thoughts you make for you. They have spent decades and billions of dollars studying exactly how to do so. But now, in this fleeting moment, you have the ability, if you choose to look, to see the strings the puppeteers are pulling; and if enough choose to look, to cut those strings, and to be truly free for the first time in modern history.

They most certainly do.