have you heard how much farmland around our military bases china has been allowed to purchase?
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2024 US Presidential Election
have you heard how much farmland around our military bases china has been allowed to purchase?
xtsho
Well-known member
It took a democrat Governor in Arizona to cancel some of the Saudi leases to grow hay and alfalfa in the desert and pump massive amounts of groundwater for free to do it. That hay/alfalfa was then shipped back to Saudi Arabia to feed cattle. They paid below market rate at $25 an acre per year. It's not all of them but it's a start.
I wonder how much in donations the Saudi's funneled to republican governor doug ducey when he was running for governor. They acquired the leases in 2014 which just happens to be the same year he became governor. Coincidence?
Arizona to cancel leases allowing Saudi-owned farm access to state's groundwater
Arizona governor Katie Hobbs said this week her administration is terminating land leases that for years have given a Saudi-owned farm nearly unfettered access to groundwater in the parched southwestern state.
apnews.com
Oh..that was @shiva82 for his garden
greyfader
Well-known member
no, it wasn't just a riot. a riot is a bunch of random people expressing dissatisfaction over an idea or event.
an insurrection is a deliberate attempt to disrupt the functions of government. as in stopping the certification of an election.
jan 6 is an unforgivable, huge error commited by donald trump and his followers. they have now realized the magnitude of the error, and the negative effect it will have on the election, and are trying to twist the truth of what happened and diminish the importance of it in the eyes of the electorate.
moose eater
Well-known member
It's a sign that AIPAC dropped a shitload of money into the campaign to defeat her.
Brother Nature
Well-known member
$9 million spent by aipac and dmipac to support the opposing candidate. She had just under $3 mill supporting her.
moose eater
Well-known member
Yep, and close to $17million was spent to defeat Bowman.
Over 95% of campaigns and political contests are won by those who spend the most money.
And I recall lots of Dems and others being up in arms over allegations of 'foreign election interference' not too many years ago. Apparently, Israel buying our elections doesn't count.
Twizzle-dick hypocrites.
Extremists? Bwahahahahahaha!!!!
Brother Nature
Well-known member
Yup, I think that is another reason the democrats shouldn’t be celebrating Harris’ boost in funding quite yet, trump still has the backing of Silicon Valley and most of wall street.
moose eater
Well-known member
I should've qualified my post by adding, "especially in local/state contests."
The reason so many mainstream Dems see the Squad as 'extremists' is they've been representing the Wall St. sect of what used to be The Peoples' Party for so long that any actual populists or truth-seeking supporters of -real- justice stand as a living confrontation to their corporatist bullshit. I'd hope, (but won't lay any money on it), that it causes their consciences some grief. That's assuming they actually have consciences. And the blind eyes given to Gaza and our assistance in war crimes, causes me to seriously doubt it.
As Cannavore has pointed out many times, the modern Dem party is a right-leaning pro-corporatist organization, and the only reason anyone dares to accuse them of being 'Leftist extremists' is because the entire Country has shifted that far to the right and supporting of corporatism.
Fucking Stockholm Syndrome on steroids, if ever there was.
It's now illegal to sleep on public property anyplace that has passed codes, ordinances, or statute/legislation to say so.
How's THAT for a litmus test of fascism as ordered by the Robber Barons of the New Millenium?
"Poor? Find a new fucking country. We don't want your kind 'round here, boy (or girl)."
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Brother Nature
Well-known member
It’s good to have you back on these threads Moose..
moose eater
Well-known member
Thanks, Brother. I've often appreciated your level contributions.
And I -do- believe that living away from 'here' for a time, especially in a place like NZ, which I've seen as more objective and sensible in years gone by, allows a better rearview mirror sort of objective perspective.
(We were accepted to further our immigration inquiry there in 1993, before I helped the State of Alaska locate my file so they could blacklist me informally but permanently in 1998, but my wife was worried about being too far from her family of origin, like, a $2,500/round trip ticket's worth, though most of that stuff has fallen apart to varying degrees over time anyway).
Gotta' love the Kiwis!! And those possum fur bikinis were pretty cool too! If they'd just learn to drive on the right side of the road and lower their beer and gasoline prices a bit!!
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greyfader
Well-known member
i wasn't speaking about yours or cannavore's idea of what extremism is, i was speaking about what the general public perceives as extremism. you guys are both fairly radical.
i don't think the democratic party is far left either, or even that left at all. they appear to be the left wing of the moderate right.
but trump is an extremist. the far right is extremist.
i agree the pro-israel lobby wields too much influence because of money.
i think all political contributions from lobbyist and corporations should be illegal.
they should only be able to accept money from small donors who are US citizens.
moose eater
Well-known member
Cool.
How 'bout a fantasy I had many idealistic years ago?
A national television and radio broadcasting entity operated on public money, like a fully funded media outlet that operates in whatever breadth every 'x' number of years per the pertinent elections as necessary; no other ads in the private sector media allowed for public offices' campaigns.
Call it an act based on national security, as it truly is.
Get sufficient signatures of support either in your locality or state, representing 'X' percentage of the registered voters in that defined framework, and each person meeting those criteria of support is given equal time on both forms of airwaves.
The sports junkies will be happy, the underdogs will be happy, the soap opera addicts will be happy, and the money that tweaks a once decent democratic process is mostly GONE.
Then follow up on my friend Ray Metcalfe's (former State of Alaska legislator and fellow activist) proposed schematic that would make it a felony for -any- public official caught participating in furtherance of legislation that benefits family, friends, or related businesses.
Ray proposed that initiative and possible legislation to both the R's and D's in Alaska.
Take one guess as to whether -either- group endorsed Ray's proposed anti-corruption initiative/legislation.
Both groups preferred a means by which to cancel out the other group's large-scale donors (sources of bribes for favoritism) and eventual beneficiaries of apparent, anticipated, or implicit kickbacks from their donations, but not their own sources for such shallow nonsense.
Therein lies a huge part of the problem. The Hatfields and McCoys of modern American partisan political shenanigans.
Got a guillotine handy?
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moose eater
Well-known member
Also, your comment wasn't the only one that implied that The Squad were extremists.
And my further addition to my own 'cleaning regimen' for the US political quagmire and related corruption includes nationalizing the weapons industry, especially as it relates to DoD contracting. Take it over, monitor it extremely closely for wayward players, make them all employees, and award bonuses for innovation. No more $169 invoices for .85 cent bolts on fighter jets.
Brother Nature
Well-known member
I think someone of your ilk would very much enjoy it here, but yeah it's far from everything, part of the appeal to myself though...Thanks, Brother. I've often appreciated your level contributions.
And I -do- believe that living away from 'here' for a time, especially in a place like NZ, which I've seen as more objective and sensible in years gone by, allows a better rearview mirror sort of objective perspective.
(We were accepted to further our immigration inquiry there in 1993, before I helped the State of Alaska locate my file so they could blacklist me informally but permanently in 1998, but my wife was worried about being too far from her family of origin, like, a $2,500/round trip ticket's worth, though most of that stuff has fallen apart to varying degrees over time anyway).
Gotta' love the Kiwis!! And those possum fur bikinis were pretty cool too! If they'd just learn to drive on the right side of the road and lower their beer and gasoline prices a bit!!
I've spent nearly the same amount of time here as I had growing up in Northern California and the biggest difference I see is that America is a culture of fear. Not to say Americans are a fearful people, but the culture seems so controlled by fear that I don't see it being sustainable, especially considering where it has lead the cultural psyche in this day and age. I don't see it as a recent occurrence either, I think the government and corporate interests really realized this in the late 50's/early 60's with your generations counter cultural revolution, the American dream was no longer enough to maintain control over the population, people wouldn't fight and die for something they no longer believed in. This scared the powers that be and they recognized and turned that fear back on the people to regain control but created an uncontrollable monster. America is afraid of everything, loosing freedom, loosing rights, loosing your job, going to hell, saying the wrong word and offending someone, someone who looks or worships different, progress. It's divided the country in an irreversible way, people don't trust their neighbors, you can't trust the words you hear from the vast majority of people in positions of authority and power, even your own elected officials. Living in a war zone will place you in a constant flight or fight response and it's a fucked up and unhealthy way to live, but I don't see the US as different, especially now, you all have the right and should be mad, but it shouldn't be at each other.
Being away has made me significantly more defensive of the US in a lot of ways, there are a lot of ridiculous stereotypes about my country, but in the last decade it's hard to not just feel cynically sad and yet kinda happy to not be a part of it.
On a lighter note, here's a possum fur willie warmer...
moose eater
Well-known member
I think there's a great deal of accuracy in your assessment, Brother.I think someone of your ilk would very much enjoy it here, but yeah it's far from everything, part of the appeal to myself though...
I've spent nearly the same amount of time here as I had growing up in Northern California and the biggest difference I see is that America is a culture of fear. Not to say Americans are a fearful people, but the culture seems so controlled by fear that I don't see it being sustainable, especially considering where it has lead the cultural psyche in this day and age. I don't see it as a recent occurrence either, I think the government and corporate interests really realized this in the late 50's/early 60's with your generations counter cultural revolution, the American dream was no longer enough to maintain control over the population, people wouldn't fight and die for something they no longer believed in. This scared the powers that be and they recognized and turned that fear back on the people to regain control but created an uncontrollable monster. America is afraid of everything, loosing freedom, loosing rights, loosing your job, going to hell, saying the wrong word and offending someone, someone who looks or worships different, progress. It's divided the country in an irreversible way, people don't trust their neighbors, you can't trust the words you hear from the vast majority of people in positions of authority and power, even your own elected officials. Living in a war zone will place you in a constant flight or fight response and it's a fucked up and unhealthy way to live, but I don't see the US as different, especially now, you all have the right and should be mad, but it shouldn't be at each other.
Being away has made me significantly more defensive of the US in a lot of ways, there are a lot of ridiculous stereotypes about my country, but in the last decade it's hard to not just feel cynically sad and yet kinda happy to not be a part of it.
On a lighter note, here's a possum fur willie warmer...
Fear that you speak of drives and legitimizes the 'lesser of 2 evils/weasels' mentality that would have everyone believing (and fearing) that the world will end tomorrow, or even yesterday, if we don't support the lesser weasel.
And yet, after all of the stuffed-shirt pieces of shit that have occupied the White House and sold us out. Over and over and over... We're still here.
Go figger?
Every culture and government runs its course. Maybe this one has. There are sure signs that it has.
The tragically nostalgic might like to hang onto some things that may have never been, and if they were a reality, it might've died a long time ago. ... Ironically, in great part, as a result of the very (recently) fearful and frightened peoples' lack of participation in civic duties and that whole 'eternal vigilance' thing that mostly just lives on bikers' t-shirts anymore.
Re. the willy warmer, I think I prefer staring at the (in active use and being worn) possum bikinis. They have a Raquel Welch quality to them.
We sat back, many of us, ate pizza, went to ball games, fucked partners, watched sports and television, took vacations, and rarely actually took the time to drive the proverbial bus, and now someone has noticed that there's no real driver and the thing's headed for the guardrail on the bridge.
Some will counter that realization with delusions of how it's all OK, and that nothing's really as wrong as it is, electing yet another buffoon, and others will panic and elect another war criminal idiot who's equally sold out to Wall St.
Consequences of this society's own making. We have the government we deserve. The one we allowed to grow and get fat, corrupt, dishonest, and much more. Period.
Our Nation kills people wholesale in illegal wars while people bitch about the cost of fuel, condoms, cable subscriptions, and bananas, as though there's never been any connection between their aloofness, selfishness, neglect of taking charge of their civic duties, and the carnage their government wreaks elsewhere or even at home.
The beds people make for themselves..... But it's the apparent mass cultural dissociative disorder of it all that really pisses me off at times.
moose eater
Well-known member
Like a cheesy rendition of good cop bad cop, but it's more a matter of psychopathic cop, and dissociated soulless cop. Nearly all of it done with exaggerated presentation of egos and C-grade theatrical delivery.
