Free Republic

“Soooooo if the the factory automates and eliminates the need for 90% of the labor, then that would be great...”

Of course, look at agriculture. Would you prefer to go back to the ‘good old days’ of hand plows and scythes for a bucket of grain and bag of salt? You know, ‘an honest day’s wages for an honest day’s work?

“Stop supporting China, and other competitors to America.”

How ‘bout stop supporting tort lawyers, social engineers, environmentalists, unions, grievance advocates, territorial control-freak bureaucrats, and parasitic fee and tax schemes instead? Reducing these below similar costs in developing economies will make America competitive again.

“You feel everything made in the USA is an economic mistake because slaves in communists countries should make everything for us. Then all of the ex line workers in the USA can retrain as scientists and surgeons.”

Our innovation (robotics) and free markets will beat their slaves and command economies EVERY time. See: economic history of Soviet Union, Cuba, North Korea, etc. Consider the present labor protests in Indonesia, Brazil, China, etc. When their workers receive higher wages and better living conditions their economies will achieve parity with the American economy ...circa 1950.

“The “American” producers have a responsibility to the USA.”

Whose the liberal democrat now?

“A free and enterprising people should strive to be as independent self sufficient as possible.”

Yet that should not apply to American producers and shareholders who wish to seek competitive manufacturing costs by outsourcing production?

You trumpet idependence and self-suffiency (aka ~North Korean~ Juche) yet call for tariffs and protectionism?

You don’t even appreciate why America instituted tariffs in the first place -it was to allow US industrialists to catch up to British industrialists. As long as the British were dumping finished products in the US domestic manufacturers could not compete or even get started. Guess what, now manyy US manufactures cannot compete without cheap, foreign labor so they must out source to remain competitive. Do you think prices would be cheaper in a market of 300 million producers/consumers vs a market of 6 billion?

More competitive producers have been ‘dumping’ on less competitive markets for centuries. And it’s a significant driver of innovation and cost cutting in the dumpee’s markets.

What are you going to do when robotics dominates “American manufacturing” because it’s occuring now? Will you rail against the robots?

If Americans are supposed to be independent and self sufficient why don’t you trust in their independence and self sufficiency vs. advocating tariffs and protectionism to subsidize ...what, their lack of independence and self sufficiency? What irony.

Lol, yet I’m quoting Central_va

Stop copying Great Leader!!!

Juche

"The Juche Idea, sometimes spelled Chuch'e (Chosŏn'gŭl: 주체; Hancha: 主體; Korean pronunciation: [tɕutɕʰe]), is a political thesis formed by Kim Il-sung that states that the Korean masses are the masters of the country's development. From the 1950s to the 1970s, Kim and other party theorists such as Hwang Jang-yop elaborated the Juche Idea into a set of principles that the North Korea government uses to justify its policy decisions. Among these are a strong military posture and reliance on Korean national resources.

The name comes from juche, the Korean translation for the philosophical and Marxist term "subject",[1] also meaning "main body" or "mainstream", and is sometimes translated in North Korean sources as "independent stand" or "spirit of self-reliance". It has also been interpreted as "always putting Korean things first".[2]:414 According to Kim Il-sung, the Juche Idea is based on the belief that "man is the master of everything and decides everything".

Source: Wikipedia:

"Where do we make are munitions to fight a war if every thing is eventually off shored? Every factory can and will be need one day to produce war materials. Do yo thing Free Trade means the world is now free from war? ....I don't think so, you given up long term strategy for short term small profits.

< Fidel Castro, Politburo speech #374, 24 March, 1966, IBID,pg. 214 >.

“What can create a middle class and freedom is self-sufficiency as a nation.”

Is that you Kim Jung Un?

Lol, Cuba, East Germany and North Korea are prime examples of isolationism.

Why not try this yourself, grow your own food, make your own clothes, build your own power generation facility, etc.?

The greater the market, the greater the prosperity. Take a look at history. All empires were defined in their rise and their fall by the extent of their markets.

Who cares where it’s made? Proceeds from innovation belong to the inventors, developers and investors, not to the workers. Read some history of industrialization why don’t you? Outsourcing has ALWAYS been a manufacturer’s resource to cut costs and increase competitiveness.

If you want to bemoan the loss of innovation why not focus on lawyers, patent trolls and recent changes in patent law which favor investors rather than inventors?

“... almost all innovations are created IN the USA then stolen by Japan, China and Taiwan.

That’s simply not true. Example: the Japanese invented and patented the fax machine in the 19th century. It ran via a telegraph.

What made innovation possible in the US versus other countries is that in the US new products could be brought to market much faster due in most part to the (previous) US patent system which protected inventors over investors and corporate interests. People such as Tesla and Sikorsky came here to pursue their inventions. Now that the US patent system has been skewed towards the rest-of-the-world’s crappy standards innovation will skew likewise.

The previous US patent system was a huge component of American Exceptionalism.

Smash the robots and 3-D printers. Smash them all! There is no worthy employment outside the factories!

/Early 19th century bump.

China still has a large population which lives in caves. Hundreds of millions have marginal (rurual hut) housing. I believe the rationale for building the cities is the presumption that sustaining economic expansion requires additional metropolitan areas. Sort of like the US’s interstate highway system they’ve pre-built for future expansion. Ironically, they’ve mostly overlooked the need for a national highway system to connect all the cities, possibly due to a prioritization of petroleum for the existing infrastructure.

That picture is from the Gaydar Operator’s Manual. It is used for calibration of the visual alert camera.

“Slide fire on an AR 15 trumps a three round burst on M16.”

Yup. I never used the 3-rnd burst when I was in the Army. It’s only good for suppression IMO. It sucked for control and accuracy vs. the partial release and firing of semi. Besides, in an excited firing situation the chamber heats up it goes full auto anyways. Lol, had to be careful where it was pointed when chambering the next magazine. When you’re excited it gets excited too!

“There are many reasons to ask why the #IRS needs heavy firepower. For one we are 17 trillion in debt. Two is it even appropriate? #PJNET”

No one collects 17T with harsh words and letters.

Follow the money. It’s all about the debt and who will service it: serfs.

Fealty -an old word which is coming around again.

“...State Department officials engaged in an underground drug ring in Baghdad, Iraq.”

Seriously, I always wondered why the IT contractors at a FOB in the IZ I supported appeared stoned whenever I visited for work. I could smell the stuff but couldn’t figure where they’d gotten the weed from. I suppose now I know.

I think this is just a case of dirty laundry and sloppy management rather than some big plot. Sounds like State just has some lack of training and discipline issues much like any organization encounters from time to time. What affects them is their hubris which they will have to confront before they can repair.

This type of government agency partisanship is common in many countries but basically new to the US. What it produces will not be welcomed by its proponents. Agencies may well align against them effectively eliminating their influence and support from those agencies. In such environment it ultimately boils down to who has the most credible and reliable means of retaliation. Usually it is the country’s intelligence and military communities.

I don’t think this administration realizes the gravity of what they’re doing. Agencies aren’t fungible like a cabinet position or judicial nomination. They have their own culture and priorites.

For partisan control of agencies to be successful usually requires a free-wheeling covert organization operating to vigorously quell resistance such as the Soviets had with the NKVD. Perhaps such an organization already exists? The death of William Colby and near-death of Sen Inhoffe (OK) during the Clinton admin makes me suspect it does exists.

You, and a lot of others, simply don’t get it. They’re not “reading” your online activity they’re warehousing it. It is all being collected, decrypted (if applicable), categorized, linked to your contacts, activities and locations and stored for future use. Should you ever be of interest to them they have all your info going back decades at their disposal. They can and likely will use it against you in whatever capacity they so choose to whatever ends they desire.

Correct-o-mundo. There’s a good wiki page on the papers. Ellsberg’s situation and commentary is similar to Snowden’s. But even Ellsberg admits Snowden’s revelations are much more significant than his.

What was he convicted of?

Yeah, I had to do a report on them in college. Not a big deal to me then or now. Corporations and bureaucrats have always benefited from war -except when they lose of course.

Now it’s a cover up of Behghazi? But I just read it’s a cover up of the IRS targeting conservatives? It’s a scanalpalooza. It all matters what act you like best I suppose.

I said pumpkins not pumpkin patch.

It’s an obvious reference to Whittaker Chambers, a former govt. employee who hid government documents concerning suspected traitors and spies within the US government until he could safely make them public. The most notorious hiding place he used was inside a pumpkin.

Duh, history?

No idea about the secret courts. They sound bizarre. I can’t see how mass data collection could pass wiretap requirements as wiretaps are supposed to be very targeted and specific to habeas corpus for a probable cause. Mass data collection is more like gathering information to create a probable cause to satisfy habeas corpus on ~any~ target of their choosing.

In all likelyhood the data is collected and later used selectively against a target when it exposes itself -such as being elected to Congress, appointed to judiciary position, having a popular news show, website, etc.

It’s greatest asset would seem to be political to be used to influence or ruin opponents.

IMO it’s currently a political control tool. If they consolidated control of the government they may well turn it on the people.

I noticed his gf mentioned one of their leisure activities was picking pumpkins. Ok, to me that’s a reference to Whittiker Chambers who hid classified documents and microfilm in a pumpkin aka ‘the Pumpkin Papers’. Maybe that’s Snowden’s insurance?

“What did he leak, after all?”

He leaked the [classified] capabilities of several classified programs. The existence, extent and capabilities of a classified program are also classified.

A RAT will define a Patriot as someone who supports their government democrats.

Fixed it.

Good question. In consideration of their actions I think they had a rather prudent naval campaign strategy albeit doomed. They atacked Pearl harbor to deprive the US of a Pacific operating base thereby protecting their western Pacific expansion, particularly their access to Dutch East Indie oil.

Midway was aimed at depriving US submarines their re-fueling depot without which they could not reach the sea of Japan. Without Midway eastern Japan would be at the extreme limit of US sub range.

It most part it was the US subs which destroyed the IJN’s ability to operate in the Pacific, making island hopping feasible.

Midway was a Japanese command failure. They failed to adjust their attack plan to the presence of the American carriers in time to save their carriers. IMO it was a case of command hubris which hindered their decision to redirect their entire attack plan against the US carriers. Plus that CXAM-1 radar-thingy and CAP of the American carriers.

Well Blackstone is active in the Tampa-St. Pete area. I heard from my realtor Blackstone’s plan is to rent their properties for 5 years, then dump them back on the market. She was perturbed as it would decrease purchasers up front, then depress values when they divest. But rents have gone up 50% in some areas and there’s all kinds of people angling to profit from it.

In my former town home prices have gone up over 20% and rentals more than 40% since October by my estimate. The market is incredibly tight where the institutions (and foreigners) are active, usually the same area. Outside the ‘investment zones’ prices remain moderate to flat. I found a nice, small area overlooked by the investors and foreigners which is the same work and ocean commute distance as my last place, plus acerage and conservation. I snapped it up and plan on buying land as soon as I can rebuild my savings.

Pasco county is doing well with Raymond James and Fidelity setting up there and more coporations to come. IMO w Pasco’s attraction is due to being the closest available land near both TPA and the coast via uncongested highways. The area I’m in is a ‘sweet spot’ in between there and Tampa.

Gulag Amerika.

Those who respect neither civility or laws eventually lose the protection of both.

Invisible unemployed, invisible persecution, invisible famine, invisible deaths. This is how communism works its dirty deeds.

I don’t think this:

“HE OR SHE STRIKES, SHOVES, KICKS OR OTHERWISE SUBJECTS SUCH PERSON TO PHYSICAL CONTACT.”

Applies to filming.

But it could say, if the officer got up close to the videographer and physical contact was made -somehow. And just like that, a class E felony.

Sounds to me it gives officers cover to initiate contact in order to have grounds for arresting an otherwise law-abiding person.

Next up whistles. When they blow the whistle you must drop to the ground and remain in the prone position until the all clear is given.

I’ll second that. Their military bases have tightest security leaving the base. On entering they look at your ID and wave you through -if that. On exiting they don an interior inspection of the vehicle to make sure none of heir ‘servants’ are getting away.

Hey, you’ve been here 15 years but frankly, it appears to me you’re off the deep end on cold fusion. You certainly have that faith-in-theory fervor of the AGW crowd going on.

Look, take my advice: essentially 99.9% of FReepers are going to disregard ‘cold fusion’ until there’s a working power plant hooked up to customers and drawing revenue. The fact that the technology is so promising yet not producing commercial power means it’s ‘too good to be true’.

All this time and it’s not producing commercial power to customers? Ergo it’s bogus. They could fly to Vanuatu or any one of thousands of Not-Part-Of-The-Big-Conspirators-Control locations and set one up and start drawing revenue, but Noooooo. And the notion that ‘Rossi et al aren’t interested in money’ is utter BS.

When a cold fusion power plant up and running and producing revenue then give me a ping.

It either works or it doesn’t. If it worked it’d receiving revenue from paying customers. But it’s not doing that.

Frankly, it all sounds like an OTC:BB outfit. <<< CLUE.

Lol. Classic commercial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=3jFwmZIeoYw

Mob violence probably won’t go that far in FL. More concealed carry licenses here than anywhere else in the country. And that’s just carry weapons.

F6 can’t happen. That was Fujita’s thesis that F5’s 318 mph was the maximum wind speed possible for a tornado. And he was right. I watched the May ‘99 tornado myself. I was living in OK at the time. It repeatedly did what Fujita predicted a maximum wind speed tornado would do. It would spin out and re-assemble. It started doing this north of Chickisaw. It would quickly widen and dissipate a bit, then draw back in and then repeat.

Just evacuate. Lol. My favorite FR Internet Expert was the guy posting after the 2004 tsunami who insisted you could duck under a tsunami, let it pass and pop-up safe behind it no problem. He argued it for days then disappeared. I suppose he viewed a video of the tsunami.

Uh, do you know he’s a conservative governor?

If I had to guess I’d say it was because he was against giving special tax breaks to the company. He’s been cutting state budgets and payrolls for a while now. That lowers taxpayers’ burden. I’d think the same would be his motivation here.

” About then came the surge and you know the rest. Without the surge the troops were already improving the situation because they finally had battle experienced competent officers. Competent officers get replaced by reliable bureaucrats whose military talents consist in sucking up to politicians and implementing stupid politically correct requirements.”

This is a popular myth which needs to be dispelled. It does not credit the decision makers and servicemembers who defeated the insurgency.

Look, I was there at that time. Due to frequently having to travel across Iraq I took particular interest in Iraq strategic issues. I read the daily BUAs and SIGACTS and was always aware of the threatcon.

I want to make this clear about the “Surge”. In December, 2006 80+ attacks were occuring per day which was the long term norm. In mid-December, 2006, just after Gen Petraeus was selected to command in Iraq and prior to Surge troop arrivals several Iranian “diplomats” were aprehended and detained by (non-Surge) US forces. Several Iraqi PMs made a lot of protestations over the aprehensions, demanding release, etc.. The next day attacks against Coalition and Iraqi forces went to 11. By the end of the week attacks were below 10 and remained low throughout the Surge.

The Surge was prefaced by arrest and deportation of the insurgents’ Iranian pay masters. After that Coalition and Iraqi forces simply ejected the unpaid Jihadis. That is the Surge. I credit Gen Petraeus and Special Operations Command for the success of the Surge.

The current GOP is debauched. They are the establishment Republicans Reagan warned of.

Nothing will improve until the TEA party is on ballots across the country. Until then there is no option other than two factions of a single oligarchy.

Don't get you hopes up. This is probably the top for this cycle and it's below the [NOAA-lol] estimate.

It's likely down hill from here. A cool summer and colder winter.

You knew this was coming:

The US had several towed 8" and larger guns.

The 240 mm howitzer M1 was towed.

Even the frickin 280mm M65 atomic cannon was towed.

Here's an

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_howitzers

Btw I am an engineer and served in the US Army artillery -if that helps.

You think he’ll stay behind? Ha. He’ll leave with the coalition. You know the drill, talk C about their benefactor, then quitely slip out to live ‘in exile’ in France, Sweden, Holland, etc. with billions they feathered in Swiss bank accounts.

By not staying and fighting he gets an agreement with the Taliban to not extradite him. But they’ll still execute him for cooperating with the coalition. When the money runs out the local support dies -literally.

The Lockean/Hobbsean thing is basically ‘if a person is fully responsible and accountable for their fate they should be unfettered in achieving it.

Something like that.

When you view foreigners as barbarians there’s really only two options. Avoid them or attack them.

I prefer “Ratcare”.

When I was researching a recent smart phone purchase I thought of a similar device. A display-based docking hub for all devices to interface with. I think they’re technically feasible but didn’t see anyone offering one yet.

What I envisioned was a 32”+ 1920x1080 2ms LED touch screen (why not?) display with 32GB+ RAM, quad core processor, 1TB SSD, g/n/ac WiFI and have multiple HDMI and USB3 ports for connecting/charging devices.

It would run a custom Linux OS for device support and a GUI for host selection via the HDMIs and WiFi interfaces in addition to its own computing applications.

It would use VMs to run the Linux host OS and all connected guest OSs via a secure hypervisor. Connected devices which do not present a guest OS would use the Linux host for device and application access.

The hypervisor feature is required to prevent it from becoming a multi-platform virus hub between guest OSs. In essence it would be a multi-platform communications hub for devices and VM host for connected OSs via root access to their host device or alternatively, a hypervisor would spin up for their access if the device is not trusted for direct (Linux host) access. For guest OSs Read/writes would be sent to their host devices but all interaction would be via the hub.

Well, that’s my device and I’m sticking to it.

What about Win 2000? But you’re right about every-other OS. What they do is upgrade the kernal, platform, code, APIs, etc. in the first release then continue development into the second release as the final version. Ergo, 95 to 98; 2000 to XP; Vista to W7; W8 to ? Just read the kernal versions between releases.

W8 actually has some really good computing features and benefits so we’ll see how they fix it. Right now it just has a horrible and poorly thought out desktop. They were trying to steal-back consumers from tablets to save the workstation. The desktop may be dead however. The computing power in tablets is just getting too strong. Who wouldn’t want to take their entire system with them wherever they go with their backup in the cloud? Irresistable and inevitable IMO.