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The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

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Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#291

Post by ogogmad »

carlosjobim wrote: post #283
whatever1 wrote: post #150

Power corrupts, end of story. Democracy (limited terms), taxation and anti-monopoly regulation are examples that show a path to cure the disease. Nobody should be trusted with too much power for too long.

> taxation Taxation is the system where innocent people are forced to pay enormous amounts of money to the rich, powerful, corrupt. The whole basis for the Babylon system is taxation. Epstein and associates are able to thrive thanks to taxation. It has always been from the poor to the rich, never the other way around. Why do you think kings invented taxation in the first place?

If not for taxes, how would you fund prisons, police, the army, etc? Not to mention other things.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#292

Post by alphazard »

palata wrote: post #272
alphazard wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxation is the mechanism that moves power from the people to the government, and increasingly politicians and their specific interests. Do you actually believe that if your taxes went up, power would be less concentrated, or that you or your countrymen would have more power? Every government goon doing authoritarian dirty work collects a paycheck and wouldn't do their job without it.

I think they mean "taxation of the too rich" in that case. > moves power from the people to the government In a functioning democracy, the government is the people. If the government is against the people, it's not a functioning democracy. And needless to say, a non-functioning democracy is not a proof that the concept of democracy doesn't work.

> I think they mean "taxation of the too rich" in that case.

Everyone wants taxes to go up on everyone making more than them, and for their own taxes to go down. The problem is this is a collective negotiation, not a discussion about what to ask the genie for when we rub the lamp. If the middle class wants to decrease their own taxes (which is the political issue that objectively affects them the most, and how they lose their power), then they are going to have to meet the wealthy half way. Idealism is the enemy of the the common sense, rational, self-interested move.

> And needless to say, a non-functioning democracy is not a proof that the concept of democracy doesn't work.

Yes, democracy is a good idea precisely because imperfect implementations of it work well. If it worked in theory and not in practice, then it wouldn't be a good idea. Contrast it to communism, which is literally an info-hazard. If you try to bring it in to existence, you won't achieve your goal, and the system you do create will be much worse for you. Even if it works in theory, it's a bad idea because it doesn't work in practice.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#293

Post by jimbohn »

stef25 wrote: post #284
jimbohn wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a European, I find it very funny to see how nobody in the US is willing to address the elephant in the room called Mossad. This looks more likely an israeli operation which sourced girls from russia and likely had the FSB as a customer/scratch my back I scratch yours/collab thing. I mean, most US politicians and the president seem to be on an "israel first" agenda.

Also as a European, these mossad conspiracy theories are laughable. Story doesn't add up ? Mossad! You even threw in the FSB for good measure.

Who said the story doesn't add up? Things seem to add up pretty nicely. Mossad and FSB are the first suspects, given their history. The countries have quite an overlapping background among their elites, and it shows. Regardless, do you agree or not that in the US media it seems ok to point the finger at russia, but not at israel, when it comes to this?

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#294

Post by dauertewigkeit »

alphazard wrote: post #258
whatever1 wrote: post #150

Power corrupts, end of story. Democracy (limited terms), taxation and anti-monopoly regulation are examples that show a path to cure the disease. Nobody should be trusted with too much power for too long.

Taxation is the mechanism that moves power from the people to the government, and increasingly politicians and their specific interests. Do you actually believe that if your taxes went up, power would be less concentrated, or that you or your countrymen would have more power? Every government goon doing authoritarian dirty work collects a paycheck and wouldn't do their job without it.

Weird post.

Who is saying YOUR taxes or MY taxes should go up? Our taxes should go down. Billionaires should be taxed more instead.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#296

Post by cogman10 »

direwolf20 wrote: post #192

The most surprising name in the Epstein files is Rebecca Watson also known as Skepchick on YouTube. She has been a thorn in their side for years and years.

She was supremely harassed at one point (see: elevatorgate). Now I have to wonder how much of that was Epstein powered.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#297

Post by vee-kay »

stef25 wrote: post #275
vee-kay wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

This is what google shows: 7 deaths out of 24K vaccinated individuals. "An Indian government committee and subsequent investigations concluded that the seven deaths were most probably unrelated to the vaccine itself. The reported causes included drowning, snake bite, intentional ingestion of poisonous substances (suicide), malaria, brain hemorrhage, and viral fever." This was in a trail for the HPV virus so presumabl…

[flagged]

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#298

Post by felixgallo »

alphazard wrote: post #292
palata wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think they mean "taxation of the too rich" in that case. > moves power from the people to the government In a functioning democracy, the government is the people. If the government is against the people, it's not a functioning democracy. And needless to say, a non-functioning democracy is not a proof that the concept of democracy doesn't work.

> I think they mean "taxation of the too rich" in that case. Everyone wants taxes to go up on everyone making more than them, and for their own taxes to go down. The problem is this is a collective negotiation, not a discussion about what to ask the genie for when we rub the lamp. If the middle class wants to decrease their own taxes (which is the political issue that objectively affects them the most, and how they l…

I'm having difficulty parsing what you're saying in your first paragraph. What is it to 'meet the wealthy half way'? Did the ultra wealthy meet the middle class or the poor half way when they essentially ended their tax obligations and legalized mass influence buying in Citizens United? What's the 'half measure' that is going to rein all that back in?

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#299

Post by carlosjobim »

api wrote: post #236
a-french-anon wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> end of story. Is it? Here's another version I like even more that unsettles democracy dogmatics: power attracts the corrupt.

Why is that only a problem for democracy? It’s one of the central problems of civilization and has been discussed by philosophers since the Greeks. In monarchies you’d often end up with kings and people in line for the throne being murdered and all kinds of palace intrigue to select for the most conniving psychopath. In theocratic systems you get hypocrite self dealing priests. In socialist and communist systems you…

I see things the same way as you do. Human behaviour and conflict can never be solved, and especially not by any kind of "system", which is just thin air of imagination.

The closest we can get is striving to elevate our cultural and spiritual level as individuals, family, friends, neighbours and strangers.

The entire power of the psychopaths in charge all stem from corrupting normal people, and the more that can be avoided, the less power they have.

But it is difficult, because they corrupt our strongest feelings: fear, greed, pride, laziness, desire, community.

Millions of young men have died in senseless wars because they didn't want to be seen as "cowards", they thought of their "honour". Who remembers them now?

Who even thinks about the thousands of young soldiers dying in the battlefields in Ukraine? Why is Trump the only leader who talks about their deaths?

Billions of people are paying taxes to support their psychopath rulers, because of simple fear. If everybody stopped tomorrow, the world would be liberated. But people are held in fear.

Re: The time I didn't meet Jeffrey Epstein

#300

Post by thrance »

tirant wrote: post #153
whatever1 wrote: post #150

Power corrupts, end of story. Democracy (limited terms), taxation and anti-monopoly regulation are examples that show a path to cure the disease. Nobody should be trusted with too much power for too long.

Fully agree on the root cause, but not on the solution. We should strive for extremely limited power by our public representatives, so their corruption impact is reduced to a minimum. But not only limited power, but also limited budget access, as an extension to limit that power. And that actually means reduced taxation. But at the same time, the budget for justice system needs to increase. It should be most probably…

Weak public servants mean strong private actors: that's what's currently eating the US republic from the inside. You have a few billionaires (Trump, Musk, Bezos, Thiel, Ellison, Zuckerberg...) able to buy their way into power and keeping the opposition down. Reducing taxation only makes these people even more powerful, and worsen the situation. You can't have democracy when some people are able to get this much richer and more powerful than the rest, it's as simple as that.
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