Portland protests Aug. 17: What you need to know

These socialists always fail long term.

Its the richest history of failure even.

 

Elected democrats and antifa never change.

 

Venezuela was once the richest, most stable, democracy in Latin America.

Venezuela’s government overvalued its currency exchange rate for a prolonged period. Basically, it made the Venezuelan bolívar artificially strong.

This benefited Venezuela’s rich. It allowed them to cheaply buy US dollars and set up foreign bank accounts to shield themselves from higher inflation or economic crisis back home. The result: A lot of capital left Venezuela.

There was an additional reason to prop up the Venezuelan bolívar: to give the currency more spending power abroad.

A strong currency allowed Venezuelans to buy cheap imports, but it also stifled domestic growth. If you can import cars or sofas for less than building them at home, there’s no economic incentive to develop your own industry.

So their only real industry was oil, and when prices crashed in the 80's, they went right down the toilet.

 

Alger Hiss was the lefts hero.

 

I'm not so optimistic.
Economic failure, yes. It's mind-boggling to see people saying that they think it would be a good idea to try socialism when it's been tried over and over and over, in Latin America, in China, in Germany ... always with the same result.

But ...you'll notice one thing: when the Communists took over a country, they did not actually attack the deep culture, except for religion. They actually strengthened the family. The Soviets awarded Gold Medals to women who had more than the normal number of children. (I actually bought a set of Bulgarian copies on EBay and awarded them to a friend's daughter who had four lovely bright kids.)

For years, Cuban homosexuals were sent to re-education camps. (Which didn't keep the American Left from loving Fidel, go figure.) Now they've changed and Che Guevara's granddaughter is crusading for gay marriage.

They made the schools teach mind-numbing 'Marxism-Leninism' and destroyed their philosophy departments ... but otherwise their approach to education was very tradtional. No touchy-feely grievance studies there. Russian kids learned about the great Russian novelists, classical music was subsidized, their mathematics and physics and chemistry programs were first-rate. They talent-spotted math and science ability in the schools and put their brightest kids in special schools where they were taught by university professors -- no affirmative action there, and no "Caucasion Peoples' Studies Programs" anywhere.

When I lived there briefly in the mid-80s, I could discuss Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie with the hotel janitor! (True story. Although maybe
he was actually a KGB colonel. But even if he was ... he was the product of a traditional education system.)

Even today, Cuban kids come out way ahead in mathematics compared to every other Latin American country.

Which makes utter sense when you think about it. These Communists wanted to make their countries strong, not wreck them.
They wanted heavy industry with scientists and engineers and technicians and skilled workers -- you've got to have that if you want a hundred armored divisions and ICBMs.

But our 'Left' today don't want these things at all. They want to undermine society, to saw away at all the social sinews , to redefine normality out of recognition. They last thing they want is steel mills and large families and classical music and kids learning about the culture of dead white racist men. It suits them for the moment to have a division of labor, in which some of them burn the flag while others shout "Russians!" and wave it. But you can tell the ones doing the waving are insincere.

Socialist economics has failed, you're right, and they don't really intend to nationalize all the industries and set up a Central Planning Board to compute how many tea spoons should be produced over the next five years. They'll do a National Socialist or Chinese approach and just make sure all businesses carry out state directives re.. employing the right quota of their client victim groups, manipulate the news the right way, and fire any dissidents.

Why this is so, is sort of a mystery to me. I don't buy into the theory that it's all due to a long-term plan hatched by Antonio Gramsci and Theodore Adorno 75 years ago ... I think it may have to do with our wonderful liberty, individualism and prosperity.

I don't know what has caused it, but it's obvious where it's going.

 

I'm a (very) small time player in the stock market but still pay some attention.

The economy is fine, things are getting better, but there is now continued talk of 'recession' and these things can become 'self fulfilling prophecies' if the talk continues. There is little doubt in my mind that this talk is deliberate and that people who don't like Trump, like Bill Maher, actually want a recession. And by repeating recession often enough, and scaring investors, it's probably the easiest argument to make.

It's the "Russia Collusion", "White Nationalism" scare and now, equally without any evidence, it's "Recession!!"

If it does happen, and Trump remains President, it might be a great time to buy in. It also wouldn't surprise me if this was a deliberate move to bring the market down so some Wall Street investors can get back in more cheaply. But thats conspiracy talk now.

 

I've been trying to understand 'inverted yield curves', which apparently, in the US, predict recessions. There is a relevant article here -- it's behind a paywall so if you're interested I'll try to post some of it and if you can figure it out you can explain it to me.

 

Perhaps it's all a longing for some ancient form of 'tribalism' where everyone shares the same values, goals, feelings of 'belonging', etc. And some politicians, and dictators, have little difficulty in firing up the masses claiming that they can help them realize this long held subliminal dream.

 

Thanks for your confidence, Doug, but that's all beyond my ken. Nonetheless if you have it handy I'd enjoy reading it.

 

McCarthyism/John Birchers was god awful, cruel, and as wrong as those are who are looking for any wrong word, term, thought, or belief now. It all smacks of Marxism and thought/speech control so that no dissent or difference of opinion is allowed other than those in power. Again antithesis to the modern American conservative/libertarian/classical liberal. No transformation of values whatsoever. Just that the players change from time to time.

 

Beyond mine too, actually. (Well, I've always thought, with respect to serious economics, that I could maybe understand it, if I spent the same amount of time and effort it might take to master quantum physics -- but at least with the latter, there is large agreement among the experts in the field, so would actually have learned something solid, whereas with economics, each year's Nobel Prize winner is in sharp disagreement with last year's, so it would be effort wasted. .. if they can't even agree among themselves.)

One of my previous wives is an economist at a major university here, maybe I can get her to explain it. The thing that I took away from that article is that we might well expect an economic downturn soon, whatever the Leftist media say, although of course they would be delighted at any sort of mass human misery so long as they could blame it on Mr Trump.

 

If I had to make a defence of the conservative intolerance of the 1950s, I would note that it was true, at that time, that the US existed in a world in which a very unpleasant system -- the Society of the Gulag -- seemed to be spreading inexorably, and had an advance guard inside the US -- the Communist Party, which at one point had 100,000 members, perhaps 1 000 000 sympathyzers, controlled 11 national labor unions and had put several dozen agents into the government.

But ... we got through it. McCarthyism didn't dissolve away common sense. Different now.

We've got to get out.

 

Yes, I've wondered what the mentality is. But I'm probably too old to be able to 'bellyfeel' it, as Orwell would put it.

Back in the 60s/70s, if you felt that way, you went off and formed a commune in the woods of Oregon. Everyone shared everything because the occasional check from Mom and Dad would cover the basics, capitalism being so very productive. You stayed stoned all day, played music around the campfires, swam in the river, made love freely -- actually, that doesn't sound too bad when I think about it! -- but of course these 'intentional societies' failed even faster than the Gulag ones.

The insane demand for absolute ideological conformity which has gripped the academy, the demand that you instantly embrace the most recent affront to common sense, and is now spreading into society -- if you reveal your non-progressive views at Google, out you go -- where does it come from? I don't even think these people are happy. Look at the staring eyes, the crazy expressions, the boiling rage ... I would like to understand it, at least on a know-your-enemy basis, but I just can't get inside their heads.

 

And no riots in Portland

I'm quite sure Trump will just double down and declare AntiFa dangerous terrorists anyway. It's the wet dream of every MOF (Mean Old Fart) a reason for the FBI to arrest every teen wearing black denim.

 

Good, I guess.

Mr Trump is a huge albatross around my side's neck. Where is .... oh, forget it.

Words are losing their meaning: 'white supremacist', 'terrorist' ... as soon as I see these words, my reaction is like that of the fellow
in that misquoted line, whose original is in German, that begins "When I hear the word 'culture' ... "

If there are any Republicans in Oregon left, and if they had any tactical sense, they would organize a patriotic rally, maybe a parade, in Portland for
Memorial Day. Lots of American flags, lots of God Bless America signs. ... some crosses and even Stars of David., no one armed, no one even wearing a helmet. Hopefully with a lot of Republican grandmothers and old Vietnam vets wearing fatigues and those hats you can get with your unit designation. Completely defenseless. Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer and similar types specifically disinvited. Not even any OathKeepers, except maybe in a couple of unmarked ambulances nearby.

And then hopefully some horrible devil would in the previous couple of weeks do whatever he could to remind AntiFa in Portland that the US flag flew over slavery ... over the extermination of the Native American population ... over the suppression of revolution in the Third World ... that the KKK and neo-Nazis fly it .. and that these people will probably be at the rally, out of uniform ... and that anyway, all these Trump supporters are white supremacists anyhow, just fascism light ... homophobes and transphobes and beastiality-phobes and if they can get away with holding a rally in Rose City today ... and we owe it to the sacred memory of Van-what's-his-name who didn't hesitate to confront the System AR15 in hand ...... and the Right wing are watching to see if we're really up to it or are we sissies who just let the Republican fascists get away with things....

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.

But a sense of tactics and conservatism are seldom found together.

 

Have you ever seen a bigger bunch of losers? Those pampered beta males are a mindless, violent herd and are the perfect useful idiots for trump to spread his racist demagoguery.

 

BETA Males. Just like TRUMP.

 

The guy in brown is 8 feet tall

 

It must have been the American flag that got you so offended.

 

"Pampered Beta males" .... gotta love it. Of a piece with the idea that flag-burning is the true patriotism. Orwellian inversion of language.

The Left's idea of an alpha male and a true patriot is... Bradley Manning

 

I saw a bigger bunch of losers in the Antifa crowd. I think both sides are pretty dumb, but I would say Antifa are the worst of the 2. Antifa suppresses free speech, which is far worse than anything the proud boys promote.

 

As soon as I'm 60 I'm swapping my 350 2 stroke twin cylinder into a mobility scooter.

 

Here is the left wing idea of an alpha:

 

Another hate group spawned by democrats. I predict in 10 years the democrats will be calling Antifa, BLM, et al, conservatives. That way they can distance themselves from yet another disaster they created.

 

Why do you support the violent suppression of free thought?