Politics - Quarantine Thread

[cytranic]

In the U.S. I am far more concerned about Christian extremism than about Islamic. But, yes, if we can get off of fossil fuels, there will be far less economic incentive for terrorist actions.

I disagree.

 

[brianman]

In the U.S. ... Christian extremism

Examples? Thanks.

 

[jeffro01]

Examples? Thanks.

Given the considerable examples one could pull from... Where do I start... Considering where this will go, I'll simply decline to actually start. Luckily we live in a country that is becoming more secular each and every day, it just isn't happening fast enough..

Jeff

 

[eloder]

In the U.S. I am far more concerned about Christian extremism than about Islamic. But, yes, if we can get off of fossil fuels, there will be far less economic incentive for terrorist actions.

I'd have to agree.

Anyways, I imagine going forward the less oil we have to import, the better off we'll be. The Middle East is somewhere we shouldn't have much involvement, and oil is a huge reason we have to ally ourselves with somewhat shady monarchies and dictatorships to oust even more shady regimes.

The EV revolution can't come soon enough.

 

[TeeEmCee]

Yeah, earlier today a Christian extremist blew himself up killing 30 people at a farmers market in Texas. Then, just the other day, a few more Christian extremists massacred an entire concert crowd in Ohio.
When/where exactly did this happen, you ask? It freakin' didn't!!!

I read this forum fairly often and I root for Tesla despite not owning one (would like to but it's too little car for too much money for me at this point). Tesla is a fan-supported company, it survives solely on the excitement it has sparked with so many people, including myself (again, don't own one ... yet). What moronic comments like this one manage to accomplish is that they push the likes of me into the "I'm not gonna be associated with those lunatics" crowd. By the way, if you both truly believe what you wrote then maybe you should try Syria or Iraq this holiday season, I hear they are slashing the price of beheadings this Black Friday.

 

[Ryan MF]

Examples? Thanks.

Homegrown Extremism: Deadly Attacks Since 9/11 | The International Security Program

 

[nwdiver]

No (Apparently I need >3 characters.... there.)

 

[TeeEmCee]

Mild-mannered Moderator here:

Keep it civil. First-time posters, especially, need read and heed forum rules. Calling another's comments moronic are out of line by a long mile.

Equally mild-mannered, now second-time poster here:

I wonder if everyone in this picture would agree with those two comments and with your definition of out of line. Well, not really all of them, just those who made it home: http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article6844738.ece/ALTERNATES/s1227b/EODMBataclan-10.jpg

Good night, Tesla folks!

 

[brianman]

Homegrown Extremism: Deadly Attacks Since 9/11 | The International Security Program

I have trouble taking anything this site has to say seriously when the title of the right column "Deadly Right Wing Attacks". There's no left-wing attacks? The only two types of attacks are "Jihadist" and "Right Wing"? Why is there no column for simply "mentally disturbed, affiliation seems irrelevant"? Seems at best incomplete.

Furthermore, my question to Jerry was about his "Christian extremism" comment not about "right wing".


Let's just look at the first four in their list:

• Charleston - apartheid, white supremacist, confederate, hitler
• Tallahasee - anti-government, threats against police
• Las Vegas - revolution, swastika, targeting law enforcement, they equate government and law enforcement with Nazis
• Kansas - white supremacist, carolina kkk, white patriot party, hitler

I wouldn't put any of these four into "Right Wing" by any stretch. I wouldn't put them in "Left Wing" either. I'd likely put them in the "mentally disturbed" bucket -- but that isn't good enough for folks with a bias.

And I definitely wouldn't put any of those four in a bucket labelled "Christian Extremism".


My question for Jerry still stands.

 

[Roamer]

Should I sell something for $110,000 and take a $70,000 tax hit, and have $40,000 left over to get a used Model S? Sigh. Might as well not sell it.

Better sell and take the tax hit today. If Bernie wins you will only be able to buy a used Vespa. He plans to take that tax hit to 90%. If you have a depreciated asset you will have to write a check to sell.

Now what were we talking about.

 

[FarmerDave]

Better sell and take the tax hit today. If Bernie wins you will only be able to buy a used Vespa. He plans to take that tax hit to 90%. If you have a depreciated asset you will have to write a check to sell.

Now what were we talking about.

That's incorrect, BTW. But lets not descend the thread into politics.:wink:

 

[tinpandave]

Bernie Sanders? you want to give half of your tesla to some dummy who don't want to work for one ?

 

[Julian Cox]

The political leanings of leading U.S. presidential candidates may influence stock prices at some point. Here's a report of the leading donors to mainstream candidate Jeb Bush, who was largely ignored by Republican voters so far and has left the race:
These donors lost the most money on Jeb Bush - Yahoo Finance
The point to be taken was that large donors to Bush were very heavily represented by old energy (coal and oil) and the voters found this candidate's values unattractive.

The one new energy company, NextEra, is not a positive catalyst for solar and other forms of new energy because of its practices. NextEra is presently trying to buy Hawaii's largest electrical utility, but NextEra's policies have been more along the lines of throwing up roadblocks to residents benefiting from rooftop solar and promoting its own solar solutions instead.

If voters continue to turn their back on candidates supported by the old energy concerns, such a switch in sentiment will bode well for companies such as Tesla and Solar City.

I'm gonna say something really really controversial. I think Trump is A OK, which is a good thing because I also think he's going to win the Presidency.

The guy likes American jobs, American Infrastructure, American Energy Independence and and positive US balance of trade.

Tesla and Solar Energy - check.

OK so the guy is a moron in public statements about the environment but yet again he HATES the Kochs and he HATES the cronyism that sees the likes of Boeing tell the Pentagon what to buy via its plants, shills and revolving door policies. Anti corruption is good, no GREAT for Tesla. Can anyone see Trump backing NADA to stop Tesla selling cars so that dealers can sell more Toyota, Hyundai, Nissan, Subaru in peace from American competition at home? I don't think so.

Now I am going to say something incredibly stupid. The dream ticket for for the Nov 2016 general election IMHO is Trump / Gore. Never gonna happen. Yet stranger things have happened. Would Trump look at the guy Jeb Bush cheated out of the White House after he won the popular vote, plus a guy that could bring the Dems in congress to the table at any time of asking? Possibly. Would Gore agree - doubtful but not impossible, would that ticket unite the nation and deliver a total landslide?

 

[RobStark]

The guy likes American jobs, American Infrastructure, American Energy Independence and and positive US balance of trade.

What presidential candidate doesn't like those things?

The problem with Trump is coercing American companies to put jobs here instead of attracting investment with good policies.

And bashing foreign trade partners and implying a trade war if we don't have a positive trade balance with a particular country.

Trump has a fundamentally flawed view of trade among other things.

According to Trump when Tesla buys Panasonic batteries from Japan Americans lose everything and Japan wins everything. He wants to screw the American consumer because other countries screw their consumers.

When entities freely chose to trade both sides win. If I buy a Chinese widget for $1 then I wanted the widget more than I wanted $1. The Chinese company wanted $1 more than the widget. If I could get a higher quality widget for $1 I would have bought that. If the Chinese company could have attained a higher price from another customer they would have sold to them instead of me. In trade both parties win.

 

[Tinky]

You sound like a Socialist. You had better hope Sanders wins

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe like Cuba, where the few control all the serfs

 

[JRP3]

Maybe like Cuba, where the few control all the serfs

Yeah, good thing the few don't have all the power here

 

[Raffy.Roma]

You sound like a Socialist. You had better hope Sanders wins

Please no politics in this thread unless it's directly related to the Climate Change/Global Warming issue.

 

[Tinky]

Yep - just like Cuba, but we have better cars

 

[nwdiver]

Yep - just like Cuba, but we have better cars

Really more like Denmark, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and Finland... but ~50% of us have a far more active imagination.... and trouble distinguishing reality from fantasy.

Physics is what it is- We either move away from fossil fuels or there will be consequences.

Industry 4.0 is what it is- We either adopt a minimum income to keep consumption afloat or outlaw automation and outsourcing becoming a nation of Amish 2.0.

Time to wake up and accept reality.

 

[ohmman]

You sound like a Socialist. You had better hope Sanders wins

I don't want to stay off topic, but I feel the need to respond. I do believe that with the increased uptake of robotics, machine learning, and AI, we will be displacing jobs very, very rapidly. What happens when we suddenly replace truck drivers with automated vehicles? How do we integrate huge amounts of adults who were previously in clerical work back into an economy where repetitive, easy to automate labor has no value? In capitalism, the owner of the technology becomes the holder of all the capital displaced out of those workers' hands. I think it's reasonable to discuss the alternatives to our existing economic system, trying to stay away from ideological labeling ("you're a socialist").

Eric Brynjolfsson does a pretty good job laying out how the economy has changed in the digital era. To summarize, we can now make identical copies of software for no added capital cost, and deliver those copies anywhere in the world instantaneously. This is a vastly different situation from manufacturing, upon which America's form of capitalism is built. It allows for rapid concentration of wealth outside of the typical curve, which is what we've seen in the last two decades.

I don't see the harm in discussing and analyzing alternatives, and following an evidence based approach to tweak or improve the existing system. Dragging our feet until there are tens or hundreds of millions unemployed doesn't seem reasonable or supportive of good decision making policy.

Sorry for the OT post.