The new USA White Power Agenda

[jakee 1,500]

1 hour ago, base698 said:

You can search the payments on government websites for internews.

Can you?

1 hour ago, base698 said:

Maybe they were paying $490 million for something other than directly influencing and censoring media narratives, but it looks pretty damning.

Who was paying who for what? You don't even believe there was an end result of this conspiracy, let alone that there is any evidence of its inner workings. See above, isn't this exactly what makes you a shitlib? You have no stance, no ideals, no principles, you'll just say anything to justify your glee at a bilionaire taking some imagined revenge on tens of thousands of ordinary working people and their families.

1 hour ago, base698 said:

They instituted a vax mandate which I got around for remote workers, partly because of the pushback myself and another person gave. Another company I was at had a attestation that you could check in a portal that they did not verify.

Right, so the whole thing about Biden trying to get you fired was always a lie. Quelle surprise.

[base698 19]

1 hour ago, jakee said:

Right, so the whole thing about Biden trying to get you fired was always a lie. Quelle surprise.

At the time it did not seem that way, I predicted enough pressure I would have to lie or quit.  You gaslighting like it wasn't a huge fucking scary thing to those of us that aren't pharma bros is insulting.

[base698 19]

1 hour ago, gowlerk said:

The something that needs to be done is simple.Raise taxes to pay for the things you want and voted for. DOGE is theatre and nothing else.

You absolutely cannot raise taxes out of it.  Taxing the top 10% ($160k a year average) at 90% gets you 2.7 trillion.  Our debt payment alone is $1 trillion.  You have to cut deep, raise taxes, and explore other income options (tariffs, war, expanding the tax base) if you want to turn it around.

[dogyks 0]

1 minute ago, base698 said:

You absolutely cannot raise taxes out of it.  Taxing the top 10% ($160k a year average) at 90% gets you 2.7 trillion.  Our debt payment alone is $1 trillion.  You have to cut deep, raise taxes, and explore other income options (tariffs, war, expanding the tax base) if you want to turn it around.

I understood there would be no math.

[base698 19]

3 hours ago, jakee said:

given that you’re making the exact same mistake all over again 100 years later?

What actions of the US government in the last 40 years look like the actions of a democracy to you?  NAFTA? Iraq War 1 and 2?  Bank bailouts?  Destabilizing the Middle East? Quantitative easing through the Fed?

Edited Saturday at 04:46 PM by base698

[base698 19]

3 hours ago, jakee said:

How long do you think your list of conservative media viewpoints needs to be in order to convince people there’s a conspiracy to suppress conservative views?

Almost none of those are conservative books, and some are probably considered far left in most circles.  Media corruption used to be a left issue before Trump took it over with his fake news.

[jakee 1,500]

1 hour ago, base698 said:

At the time it did not seem that way, I predicted enough pressure I would have to lie or quit.  You gaslighting like it wasn't a huge fucking scary thing to those of us that aren't pharma bros is insulting.

Oh you predicted pressure? You imagined what Biden might do, and even though he didn't actually do it the stuff you imagined is still his fault?

1 hour ago, base698 said:

What actions of the US government in the last 40 years look like the actions of a democracy to you?  NAFTA? Iraq War 1 and 2?  Bank bailouts?  Destabilizing the Middle East? Quantitative easing through the Fed?

Why would any of that not look like things a democracy would do? 

 

[base698 19]

43 minutes ago, jakee said:

Oh you predicted pressure? You imagined what Biden might do, and even though he didn't actually do it the stuff you imagined is still his fault

Biden literally advocated and tried for mandates at OSHA covering all companies.  What is this fucking gaslighting?  It was struck down by the supreme court, but before that happened it was a full court press about firing the unvaccinated and removing them from public life.

Edited Saturday at 06:41 PM by base698

[base698 19]

44 minutes ago, jakee said:

Why would any of that not look like things a democracy would do

None of those were popular.  A true representative democracy or democracy would not have instituted any of them.   

[billvon 3,006]

2 hours ago, base698 said:

At the time it did not seem that way, I predicted enough pressure I would have to lie or quit.  You gaslighting like it wasn't a huge fucking scary thing to those of us that aren't pharma bros is insulting.

What you are scared of is your own issue to deal with, not everyone else's.

If you are scared to drive when you aren't drunk (cause let's face it there are some idiots on the road) then you should lose your license - even if you are a truck driver and that's your livelihood.  It is not that everyone dislikes you, or the libtards are discriminating against you, or that they hate you because you are a brave independent thinker.  It is that you pose a danger to other people due to your fears.

[billvon 3,006]

9 minutes ago, base698 said:

None of those were popular.  A true representative democracy or democracy would not have instituted any of them.   

Are you confusing popular rule with a representative democracy?  Not the same by a long shot.  Lots of things that are good ideas aren't popular (taxes for example) so we elect people who we think will represent us, but also be intelligent enough to make good decisions based on their greater knowledge of government.

[billvon 3,006]

2 hours ago, base698 said:

Almost none of those are conservative books, and some are probably considered far left in most circles.  

There are two possibilities here:

1) None of them are conservative books or

2) You are so far right that anything left of an Ayn Rand screed looks leftist or centrist to you.

[base698 19]

17 minutes ago, billvon said:

There are two possibilities here:

1) None of them are conservative books or

2) You are so far right that anything left of an Ayn Rand screed looks leftist or centrist to you.

Chomsky the big Randian socialist. Several of them are explicitly left.  Haidt would be considered right by a shitlib but in 2010 he was solidly a leftist.  Lasch could safely be considered right wing, but it's quite old.  Milosz maybe right from the authoritarian left view.

 

I used an LLM to generate the author and themes, got all of them right except Beyond Belief: 

Here is a list of the authors of the mentioned books, along with insights into their political leanings and the themes of their works:

 

1. "Trust Me, I'm Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator"

Author: Ryan Holiday

Political Leanings: Holiday's work primarily critiques modern media practices rather than promoting a specific political ideology.

Book Theme: The book exposes how online media can be manipulated, drawing from Holiday's experiences in marketing and media strategy. 

 

2. "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business"

Author: Neil Postman

Political Leanings: Postman was a cultural critic concerned with the impact of media and technology on public discourse, often highlighting the erosion of rational communication in society.

Book Theme: The book argues that television and entertainment media have transformed serious public discourse into superficial entertainment, undermining critical thinking. 

 

3. "Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology"

Author: Neil Postman

 

Political Leanings: As above, Postman critiqued the uncritical acceptance of technology's dominance over cultural and social institutions.

 

Book Theme: This work discusses how society's submission to technology leads to the devaluation of traditional cultural norms and human-centric values. 

4. "Propaganda"

Author: Edward Bernays

Political Leanings: Bernays, known as the "father of public relations," utilized his understanding of mass psychology to shape public opinion, often aligning with corporate and governmental interests.

Book Theme: The book explores the mechanisms and ethics of manipulating public opinion, advocating for the deliberate use of propaganda in shaping societal attitudes. 

5. "Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life"

Author: Rory Sutherland

 

Political Leanings: Sutherland, a British advertising executive, offers insights that blend behavioral economics with marketing, without a pronounced political bias.

Book Theme: The book delves into unconventional and creative approaches to problem-solving in business and marketing, challenging rational decision-making models.

6. "Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade"

Author: Robert Cialdini

Political Leanings: Cialdini is a psychologist whose work focuses on the science of persuasion and influence, remaining largely apolitical.

Book Theme: This work examines how setting the stage before delivering a message can significantly enhance its persuasive power.

Apologies for the earlier oversight. Here's the corrected information for the book "Beyond Belief":

"Beyond Belief: The American Press and the Coming of the Holocaust, 1933–1945"

• Author: Deborah E. Lipstadt
• Political Leanings: Lipstadt is a historian and professor specializing in Holocaust studies, known for her work in combating Holocaust denial. Her scholarship is rooted in historical analysis rather than political advocacy.
• Book Theme: This comprehensive study examines how the American press reported—or often failed to report—on the persecution of Jews in Europe leading up to and during the Holocaust. Lipstadt details how media outlets downplayed or ignored reports of Jewish persecutions over a twelve-year period, contributing to public ignorance about the unfolding atrocities.

8. "The Captive Mind"

Author: Czesław Miłosz

Political Leanings: Miłosz, a Polish poet and dissident, critiqued totalitarianism and was an advocate for intellectual and artistic freedom.

Book Theme: The book provides a profound analysis of how intellectuals in Eastern Europe rationalized their acceptance of communist ideology under oppressive regimes.

9. "The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations"

Author: Christopher Lasch

 

Political Leanings: Lasch was a social critic who examined the decline of communal and familial structures, often critiquing both liberal and conservative perspectives.

 

Book Theme: The work discusses how post-World War II America fostered a self-absorbed culture, leading to societal and psychological implications.

10. "The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion"

 

Author: Jonathan Haidt

Political Leanings: Haidt is a social psychologist who studies moral psychology, aiming to understand and bridge ideological divides without advocating for a specific political stance.

Book Theme: The book explores the psychological foundations of morality and how they influence political and religious divisions.

11. "Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media"

Authors: Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky

Political Leanings: Both authors are known for their critical views on corporate and governmental power structures, often aligning with leftist critiques of media and politics.

Book Theme: The book introduces the "propaganda model," arguing that mass media serves the interests of dominant, elite groups in society. 

 

12. "Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda"

Author: Noam Chomsky

Political Leanings: Chomsky is a linguist and political activist known for his critiques of U.S. foreign policy and mass

media, often from a libertarian socialist perspective.

 

Book Theme: This work discusses how propaganda and media

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 07:15 PM by base698

[base698 19]

35 minutes ago, billvon said:

but also be intelligent enough to make good decisions based on their greater knowledge of government.

You misspelled loot the government and Treasury and give it to people they define as making good decisions.

[billvon 3,006]

1 minute ago, base698 said:

You misspelled loot the government and Treasury and give it to people they define as making good decisions.

Your zingers don't really add anything, and indicate you aren't really thinking about any of this outside of the Internet memes you've seen.

[base698 19]

28 minutes ago, billvon said:

Your zingers don't really add anything, and indicate you aren't really thinking about any of this outside of the Internet memes you've seen.

Posts list of a dozen political books I've read.

MUST BE THE KIDS AND THEIR MEMES!

[base698 19]

33 minutes ago, billvon said:

Your zingers don't really add anything

Your standard DNC takes really don't add anything. I can leave and you can go back to, "hur dur maga people can't read CNN, look at what they said on Fox."

 

[gowlerk 2,216]

3 hours ago, base698 said:

You absolutely cannot raise taxes out of it.  Taxing the top 10% ($160k a year average) at 90% gets you 2.7 trillion.  Our debt payment alone is $1 trillion.  You have to cut deep, raise taxes, and explore other income options (tariffs, war, expanding the tax base) if you want to turn it around.

So....you accept that the USA can not afford to pay down what it owes except by nibbling at the federal civil service? Most nations have both higher income taxes and some form of VAT. Like you most western democracies are also running deficits. Unlike you they are not led by ineffective showmen bent on performance art. It is interesting that you list war as an income opportunity. Your last set of middle east adventures is a large reason for the debt you have accumulated so I'm not sure where your head is at on that. Your nation is so controlled by people who don't want to pay their share that they squeeze the taxation collection agency so hard that it can not do audits. 

[JerryBaumchen 1,371]

18 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

So....you accept that the USA can not afford to pay down what it owes except by nibbling at the federal civil service? Most nations have both higher income taxes and some form of VAT. Like you most western democracies are also running deficits. Unlike you they are not led by ineffective showmen bent on performance art. It is interesting that you list war as an income opportunity. Your last set of middle east adventures is a large reason for the debt you have accumulated so I'm not sure where your head is at on that. Your nation is so controlled by people who don't want to pay their share that they squeeze the taxation collection agency so hard that it can not do audits. 

Hi Ken,

Re:   Your nation is so controlled by people who don't want to pay their share

It has always been this way.  Today, it just worse.

As I continue to say:  It is all well & good until it is your ox that is getting gored.

Jerry Baumchen

 

[base698 19]

33 minutes ago, gowlerk said:

Your last set of middle east adventures is a large reason for the debt you have accumulated so I'm not sure where your head is at on that.

Historical where an area gets conquered and the spoils go to the victor.  Like when we annex Canada the tax base will increase and we get extra access to raw materials and resources. 

Assuming we could actually win a war and not bankrupt ourselves. Both of which are unlikely.

[gowlerk 2,216]

48 minutes ago, base698 said:

Historical where an area gets conquered and the spoils go to the victor.  Like when we annex Canada the tax base will increase and we get extra access to raw materials and resources. 

Assuming we could actually win a war and not bankrupt ourselves. Both of which are unlikely.

Now you're just talking nonsense and pushing buttons. Like I said earlier the US does not have to conquer us to get our natural resources. They are for sale and being extracted by large multi-national companies with a huge proportion of US ownership. Besides we have been doing our best to make our population unpalatable to our neighbours by admitting huge numbers of brown skinned immigrants for the last decade or so. That is somewhat on pause at the moment while we catch up on infrastructure. But soon enough we will be poisoning our blood to discourage you. We aim to be like Mexico, an anathema to US expansion. We already have Quebec and its insistence on French language and culture. Let's see you deal with them for a change.

[billvon 3,006]

2 hours ago, base698 said:

Your standard DNC takes really don't add anything. 

Since they are not DNC takes, I find no useful information in your post.  I am not a democrat and have not been for decades, nor do I agree with many of their policies.  Now, of course, they are the best alternative to a rapist and a felon trying to destroy the US government - but that's a lesser-of-two-evils thing.

[jakee 1,500]

4 hours ago, base698 said:

Biden literally advocated and tried for mandates at OSHA covering all companies.

There was never a vaccine mandate. There was a vaccine or testing mandate. You can't blame him if your company decided they wanted to impose stricter conditions on you. You can't blame if if you imagined they were going to try and be stricter. 

4 hours ago, base698 said:

It was struck down by the supreme court, but before that happened it was a full court press about firing the unvaccinated and removing them from public life.

Now that's gaslighting!

[jakee 1,500]

4 hours ago, base698 said:

None of those were popular.  A true representative democracy or democracy would not have instituted any of them.   

Even more gaslighting! Both Gulf 1 and 2 consistently polled majority support in the build up.

Not content with pretending a 'real' representative democracy would only ever do what most people want, you're pretending you've ever bothered checking what most people actually want. Bullshit evidence in support of a bullshit theory to justify your support for a totalitarian state which can do whatever the richest bosses want. Oh, unless it involves needles of course, then they've crossed the goddamn line!

[nigel99 501]

5 hours ago, billvon said:

There are two possibilities here:

1) None of them are conservative books or

2) You are so far right that anything left of an Ayn Rand screed looks leftist or centrist to you.

I thought Atlas Shrugged was a good book, and from memory it was about the rich plundering society?