World is Falling Apart Thread (Locked forever)

[darsparx]

See and all those regulations is what prevents places like NoDa from getting any bigger. I don't drink but my dad loves them. They'd love to get bigger but they've been told that if they do get any bigger they'd need a distributor and they won't do that and sacrifice the quality they fear would come with that. I'd love to see more small businesses like them pop up and be able to be successful without the regulations. All the restaurants and other areas that have popped up around them are amazing. I've had some amazing food in that area, and would love to tour the music venues near it too...

[marurun]

Regulations are not some great evil. Health codes are regulations, for example. The key is independent regulators.

[darsparx]

I'm not saying they are evil, it's just that some seem to punish businesses getting bigger. Especially small ones like NoDa. There's so many big businesses around but even with stuff like yelp and such I'm not sure about any of the small ones around and how good they are. I don't mind regulations as long as they don't punish growth in ways that hurt these small businesses. Especially since they are usually seem much nicer than many big businesses are. There's a weird air about some of them that just throw me off...especially since I work for a one and they don't exactly encourage employees in any decent way to be warm and inviting. HT tries to make it seem that way but I don't get the same feeling with what I do...

[Blu]

Actually, some would argue there's a small/craft beer renaissance in progress and that the beer companies all merged due to that threat. The answer is almost always a strong, independent regulatory regime.

I agree, Michigan is a prime example of it. I just worry that by in large, it doesn't impact the community as much as we'd like to. Regardless, I'm all about voting with my wallet, and craft beer tastes delicious. I think this is something we can all rally around.

[J T]

This post is about potential conflicts of interest for our new president elect. This post is not an accusation, but simply the highlighting of a mechanism for corruption that Donald Trump is uniquely capable of engaging in with his business empire.

Most US presidents put their business investments into a blind trust. This is done by an independent third-party financial advisor who is ostensibly free of conflicts of interest. This is done so that the trust beneficiaries (presidents, in this case) no longer have any knowledge about the holdings of their business assets and are no longer able to intervene in how they are handled. That's why it's called a 'blind' trust. The 'blind' part is what removes the possibility for conflicts of interest.

Donald Trump is handing over control of his business empire to his children and calling it a "blind trust". Trump's kids, however, are not an independent third-party separate from their father. This arrangement might be described as a trust, but it is definitely not a blind trust. Therefore the potential for corruption from conflicts of interest still exists.

Donald Trump is known as a real estate mogul, but his business is much more than that now. For some time now, Trump has been a marketable brand. People pay a lot of money to put the word "Trump" on one of their buildings, or on a University, or steaks, or reality TV shows, or whatever. He may be involved with the product/service, or he may just lend the use of his name to make it more marketable. It's very similar to how Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian make a lot of money. They are famous for the sake of being famous, then they license the use of their brand name on various products and make a fortune from it.

You can charge whatever people are willing to pay for the use of the brand name, and prices can fluctuate wildly. This makes it ripe for the possibilities of money laundering. You can license the use of the Trump name and say that the cost was $10,000 or $10,000,000. It all depends on what someone is willing to pay. Someone could officially be paying $10,000,000 for the brand, while unofficially be paying for something else.

Here's how this would work. Let's say Russia or some other country wants something from Donald Trump. Maybe they want to avoid American intervention in their military proceedings, or maybe they don't want hassle over uranium mining, or something else. They could unofficially pay for this favor by paying an especially large sum of money for a license to put the Trump name on some buildings or something, using a third party to mask themselves. This money would then benefit Trump's children, and look like any other brand licensing deal, thus allowing this to all look like legit business while adding to the Trump family fortune.

Again, this is not an accusation, I'm just spelling out a mechanism by which possible corruption could easily go undetected. This is why it bothers me that Trump isn't using an actual blind trust.

[J T]

Trump intends to appoint Jeff Sessions as attorney general, and thus have him lead the US Department of Justice.

Let's take a look at his record:
Jeff Sessions voted for a constitutional ban on marriage equality so that gay people could not marry.
Jeff Sessions voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by employers with at least 15 employees.
Jeff Sessions voted against both the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and against expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation, gender and disability.
Jeff Sessions voted against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," thus trying to keep gay military service members in the closet.
Jeff Sessions was in favor of the supreme court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act of important protections for minority voters. He described the historic Voting Rights Act as "intrusive legislation."
Jeff Sessions has voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act
Jeff Sessions has voted repeatedly against Immigration Reform, particulalry against any bill that would provide a path to legal citizenship to individuals and families who did not first enter the country legally.

I know Trump said he wants to be a president for ALL Americans and he held up a rainbow flag that said LGBT for Trump, but you really have to wonder about his commitment to that when Mike Pence is his VP and he fills his cabinet with people like Jeff Sessions and Steve Bannon (more on him later).

[jp1]

Trump intends to appoint Jeff Sessions as attorney general, and thus have him lead the US Department of Justice.

Let's take a look at his record:
Jeff Sessions voted for a constitutional ban on marriage equality so that gay people could not marry.
Jeff Sessions voted against the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which would prohibit discrimination in hiring and employment on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity by employers with at least 15 employees.
Jeff Sessions voted against both the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and against expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation, gender and disability.
Jeff Sessions voted against repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," thus trying to keep gay military service members in the closet.
Jeff Sessions was in favor of the supreme court decision to gut the Voting Rights Act of important protections for minority voters. He described the historic Voting Rights Act as "intrusive legislation."
Jeff Sessions has voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act
Jeff Sessions has voted repeatedly against Immigration Reform, particulalry against any bill that would provide a path to legal citizenship to individuals and families who did not first enter the country legally.

I know Trump said he wants to be a president for ALL Americans and he held up a rainbow flag that said LGBT for Trump, but you really have to wonder about his commitment to that when Mike Pence is his VP and he fills his cabinet with people like Jeff Sessions and Steve Bannon (more on him later).

The current outlook is pretty bleak. I wonder how some of the more vocal Trump supporters feel about these appointments. They send a pretty clear message about his intentions.

[MrPopo]

I was at the grocery store today and the latest Enquirer just lists his campaign promises on the front page where you normally see about how Michelle Obama is secretly a lesbian and living a lie with Barack.

[Sarge]

The craft beer regulations in my home state of Mississippi are ridiculous. I have a co-worker and former classmate that operate a craft brewery here in town, and while things are still getting better, there are still some regs that keep them from competing effectively.

http://mayhewjunction.com/

http://www.eater.com/drinks/2015/8/12/9 ... -until-now

[CRTGAMER]

A great speech worth another look, more need to watch this. Condensed sections quoted below, watch the video to get a better perspective. "WE ARE ALL ON THE SAME TEAM."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erWNJ-M4Ydc



We Need To Remember What President Obama Said After the Election
We’ve come a long way from Obama’s speech on November 9, in which he asked supporters to “root for” the new president-elect, and display empathy and “presumption of good faith” in voters across the aisle. His excellent speech is worth quoting in depth:

Entire Transcript - https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the ... -election/

"It is no secret that the president-elect and I have some pretty significant differences. But remember, eight years ago, President Bush and I had some pretty significant differences. But President Bush’s team could not have been more professional, or more gracious… One thing you realize quickly in this job is that the presidency and the vice presidency is bigger than any of us. So I have instructed my team to follow the example that President Bush’s team followed eight years ago, and work as hard as we can to make sure that this is a successful transition for the president-elect—because we are now all rooting for his success, and united in leading the country. The peaceful transition of power is one of the hallmarks of our democracy and over the next few months we are going to show that to the world.

… Now, everybody is sad when their side loses an election. But the day after, we have to remember that we’re actually all on one team. This is an intramural scrimmage. We’re not Democrats first, we’re not Republicans first, we are Americans first. We’re patriots first. We all want what’s best for this country. That’s what I heard in Mr. Trump’s remarks last night, that’s what I heard when I spoke to him directly, and I was heartened by that. That’s what the country needs: a sense of unity, a sense of inclusion, a respect for our institutions, our way of life, rule of law, and a respect for each other.

… The path this country has taken has never been a straight line—we zig and zag, and sometimes we move in ways that some people think is forward, and others think is moving back. And that’s okay. … That’s the way politics works sometimes. We try really hard to persuade people that we’re right. And then people vote. And then if we lose, we learn from our mistakes, we do some reflection, we lick our wounds, we brush ourselves off, we get back in the arena. We go at it. We try even harder the next time.

The point, though, is that we all go forward—with the presumption of good faith in our fellow citizens. Because that presumption of good faith is essential to a vibrant and functioning democracy. That’s how this country has moved forward for 240 years. It's how we've pushed boundaries and promoted freedom around the world. That's how we've expanded the rights of our founding to reach all of our citizens. It's how we have come this far. And that's why I'm confident that this incredible journey that we're on, as Americans, will go on. And I'm looking forward to doing everything that I can to make sure that the next president is successful in that.

I've said before, I think of this job as being a relay runner. You take the baton, you run your best race and hopefully by the time you hand it off, you're a little further ahead, you've made a little progress. And I can say that we've done that and I want to make sure that handoff is well executed because ultimately we're all on the same team."