Posts by redvip2000

13

Tariffs and Taxes ... Which is it ? I want my $214 back !

by RubaDub in

jw
friends

(so as not to hijack the tariff thread, i thought this would be better to keep separate.).

i guess my economics and finance classes in college have not prepared me to understand the latest round of tariffs/taxes that trump is instituting.. i really don't understand who is "paying" these fees and where they are going.

first of all a tariff is a tax and anyone who doesn't believe that needs to invest in a bridge in new york city.. to keep this as simple as i can, i'm thinking of a $1,000 refrigerator that i am buying.

redvip2000

No China is not going to pay for it. Why would you ever believe Trump on this nonsense. Dare i say he probably doesn't even know how a tariff works. He just says whatever sounds better or makes him look better.

A tariff is paid by the receiving business. So to your point, if China sells a product to the US for $1000, the government imposes a tax of $200. These $200 are paid by US based companies who are importing the product, obviously not by China. Well of course US companies will pass that cost to the consumer which like always will take the brunt of it.

You could perhaps make the argument that by making Chinese products more expensive, there will be less demand for them, which could in fact hurt them. But there a 2 winners and two losers in this equation. The losers are China and the American consumer. The winners are the US government which sees its revenue grow and US manufacturers of those same products which now can better compete in the market since Chinese products are more expensive.

236

Do You Think Trump Bares Any Responsibility For The Mass Shootings Occuring?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when any mass shooting happens is it the president’s fault?

i’m talking over the last few decades..

redvip2000

So weird...here to even get a shotgun licence you have to be squeaky clean and have no criminal offences against your name whatsoever. Then your doctor has to confirm that you're not even a teeny weeny bit crazy. Once that's all established you get a visit from the police to view the lockable steel cabinet in which you propose to keep the weapon.

Yup, and this is the type of gun control that we need in the US, maybe even a few more things. The issue is that after centuries of gun free-for-all policies, there are now hundreds of millions of guns already on the streets, so it's debatable if at short term it would do anything. But perhaps longer term, it could begin moving things in the right direction.

No reasonable person can be against measures that will help keep guns out of the hands of crazy people. The only people that are against are... well those who know they would red flagged.

I am currently applying for a firearms ID card, and in my state there is a decent amount of control ( which is not even enough). Guess what?? I have no issues with it. Bring more checks. I'm confident I can be vetted, and maybe some nutcase out there won't.

17

The beauty in being mortal

by HiddenPimo in

i am only speaking from my personal point of view and not to encroach on anyone else's belief system:.

one of the main points of attraction to the jw life was the 'panda paradise', once i woke up, i began to think about the future and it made me realize that jw's have little or no regard for life and the way they treat others even in those who are jw's.. e.g.

no blood, shunning, theocratic warfare, no real charity work for those in need, etc.... if we live forever on earth we would get bored, we would take relationships for granted and possible want to actually die.. what makes anything valuable is the not the beauty of it but the rarity of it or the limited amount of it.. time is not only limited but all of our hourglasses are opaque leaving the amount of sand remaining a guess at best, and this is what moves us to appreciate life and ever little thing it gives us.. there is a beautiful and poignant song by jason isbell 'if we were vampires' and it perfectly describes the beauty one can find in ones mortality and how it moves us to love & care deeper than if we were immortal.. the 2nd verse goes .

redvip2000

Moreover, I read books, watch movies and tv shows almost every single day and in 26 years of life I have no been able to get boredom.

Yup. In my case for example, i have been wanting to get into painting, and learn how to play the piano. Maybe once I retire I will actually have the time to get into those things, but there just isn't enough time in a day to pursue all of your interests. Most people have one or two hobbies and that's it. And even for those there is limited time.

236

Do You Think Trump Bares Any Responsibility For The Mass Shootings Occuring?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when any mass shooting happens is it the president’s fault?

i’m talking over the last few decades..

redvip2000

but he didn't say, 'hey Joe Blow, shoot up a bunch of immigrants!'

Nor does he have to. This is why the POTUS has to be especially measured in the things he says.

For example, when the POTUS made the stupid comments about Charlottesville, white supremacy groups were fawning and salivating over his comments. To me his comments were not that bad, but they were stupid enough, that it gave fuel to the hate of his audience.

This goes against this idea that having a president who thinks and speaks with the carelessness of an average Joe on the street, is somehow a good idea.

236

Do You Think Trump Bares Any Responsibility For The Mass Shootings Occuring?

by minimus in

jw
friends

when any mass shooting happens is it the president’s fault?

i’m talking over the last few decades..

redvip2000

In reality he is in part.

Someone said here... "Humans tend to "mirror" one another's behavior.", and there is a lot of true to that. Humans have this thing where they start to follow trends set by other more prominent humans.

This is mostly because a good portion of people -- especially in America -- are complete morons who are just swayed back and forth by the things they see and read, and also by their affiliations and social circles.

For example, when Trump started to praise Putin early in this administration, many republicans started to replicate the things he was saying. Imagine that, republicans praising a pseudo-communist dictator. How is this possible? Well because they are following in line with that trend.

The POTUS does set the temperature on many issues, especially for the droves of morons and idiots that walk the streets of this country, who don't have the ability to discern things for themselves

17

The beauty in being mortal

by HiddenPimo in

i am only speaking from my personal point of view and not to encroach on anyone else's belief system:.

one of the main points of attraction to the jw life was the 'panda paradise', once i woke up, i began to think about the future and it made me realize that jw's have little or no regard for life and the way they treat others even in those who are jw's.. e.g.

no blood, shunning, theocratic warfare, no real charity work for those in need, etc.... if we live forever on earth we would get bored, we would take relationships for granted and possible want to actually die.. what makes anything valuable is the not the beauty of it but the rarity of it or the limited amount of it.. time is not only limited but all of our hourglasses are opaque leaving the amount of sand remaining a guess at best, and this is what moves us to appreciate life and ever little thing it gives us.. there is a beautiful and poignant song by jason isbell 'if we were vampires' and it perfectly describes the beauty one can find in ones mortality and how it moves us to love & care deeper than if we were immortal.. the 2nd verse goes .

redvip2000

Just my two cents:

I tend to disagree. It's almost like the traditional situation of the person who wins the lottery and then says they will work because otherwise they will sit home bored.

The only reason why you would be bored is because you are not seeking new interests. There is a tremendous amount of things that you are not doing, simply because you are not sure you like them as you never tried them.

I know without a doubt that I will die without doing one fraction of the things I wanted to do, and without going to many places I wanted to go. Life is just not long enough to accomplish everything.

Also, the amount of things that there are to do, are not static. There are hobbies and other things to do, that didn't exist 50 or 100 years ago, and so even if you are now 1 million years old, and have done everything possible on your bucket list, changes are there are now thousands of new things waiting for you.

There is nothing beautiful about being mortal, this is just yet another thing we tell ourselves in order to make our current condition more palatable.

144

If You Criticize A Person of Color Are You A Racist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

seriously, it’s getting to a point that you can’t make a negative comment about someone without being charged as a racist, homophobe or sexist!

if you criticize a female, you are obviously sexist.

if you criticize someone who happens to be gay, you must hate homosexuals.

redvip2000

?? Really ?
These 4 congresswomen are NOT foreigners my friend. They are American citizens ! So yes, it's racist, prejudice rhetoric. And yes, it's also outrageous, stupid, and very exaggerated on Trump's part.

You need to check the definition of racism. The thing is, if you start calling everything racism,then the word starts being diluted into nonsense.

Again this is not racism. Racism is a general disposition of disliking or hating a group of people based on their race. This is not the same as disliking or criticizing someone that happens to be from another race.

If you know Trump, you know that he would say exactly the same thing if someone from a white European country criticized him. He would also tell this person to go back to his country. It is not racism.

4

The tale of two worlds

by redvip2000 in

jw
friends

i saw this picture today, not sure you saw it as well, but couldn't resist sharing.

it basically shows the existing fence between usa and mexico.

apparently someone installed some see-saws on the fence so that children on both sides can play together.

redvip2000

Those who refuse to enter the country legally are already far less likely to change for the better or contribute to society.

I'm not sure if that's really true. There are many illegals that come here and become productive member of society...others don't. Many enter illegally and then work their way to become legal as well. Again many don't.

The greater point is that we need to create an incentive for legal immigration and not for illegal immigration. Reward the ones that follow process and be tough on those who don't. It's the only way forward.

39

Does It Bother You That Amazon’s Alexa Can Hear What You Re Doing?

by minimus in

jw
friends

there really is no privacy if you own alexa.

there is a report of alexa hearing a couple having sex.

.

redvip2000

does Alexa listen in apart from when the name is commanded?

You're not getting it. It needs to listen at all times so it recognizes when you issue the vocal keyword. How else would it know you said it? If i'm not listening to you, why I know if you tell me a keyword?

Once it detects the keyword, it records your voice snippet and sends it to Amazon to fetch a response. That voice snippet is likely stored and probably associated with your email, which could then be used to build a profile of your interests. That data is worth money.

Also I like how all of you are terrified about Amazon Echos, but ignore the copious amount of data that is collected from you with every text, voice call, and online activity. And who cares? Unless you live like a hermit, this is the price to pay in a modern society with all the conveniences.

Luckily, nobody gives a shit about your family discussions, the complaints about your spouse, or the minutiae of your life. At best, they simply want to gather some data on what you want to buy, so they can sell it to other companies.

144

If You Criticize A Person of Color Are You A Racist?

by minimus in

jw
friends

seriously, it’s getting to a point that you can’t make a negative comment about someone without being charged as a racist, homophobe or sexist!

if you criticize a female, you are obviously sexist.

if you criticize someone who happens to be gay, you must hate homosexuals.

redvip2000

This really happened. Not fake news, it's reality. Sick racism. If it's not racist, I don't know what is

Aren't there other words to qualify stupid things other than racism? This is NOT racism. If a person tells a foreigner that he should go back to his country, you can perhaps say it's outrageous, exaggerated, stupid.

But this is not the same as saying that you hate everybody that is of the same race as that person, which IS racism.

In other words, if i tell someone: "If you don't like it here, then just go back to country A", this is not the same as saying "I hate everybody that is part of your ethnicity or comes from your country"