While there's no way we can flip a switch and put them back in the "New" list, Gulch Producers can do a "Best of" which will essentially shuttle it to the top of the "New" list.

Just go to the post and underneath the title, you'll notice "Best of..." - keep in mind, only Producers can post to this category, so you'd have to do it for VetteGuy.

yes. I am pretty sure there is something they can do about that. let's ask admin ;)

Thank you, dear K. De gustibus ...
Best wishes to you, as always.

If Im going Mexican, I much prefer Bohemia - dont think its available in the States though. I did find that if you apply jugs of mescal to a dozen? bottles of Bohemia, add a slight altercation with authorities and you win an all expense paid, 2 week vaca in the Juarez federal penitentiary - which I would give a -7 on a scale of 5 stars...

I would agree. I wasnt being very specific in saying libertarian

lol. my dear martimus, k loves well thought out responses AND meandering :)

hear, hear

I would prefer to rephrase that: "Now is the time to advance Objectivist ideas." I'm not a fan of libertarianism as it does not have a firm philosophical base.

About a year ago, nsnelson posted a series of chapter-by-chapter discussions on Atlas Shrugged. They didn't get as much "traffic" as I thought they deserved, but I found the discussions most enjoyable. Seeing how other people interpret passages I thought I understood was enlightening as well.

The posts are still there, under "Books", but being a year old, they are not seeing much new input these days.

If we have enough new membership, it might be worth reprising these posts. Is there a way to get them back into the "new" tab without losing the existing comments?

"Civilization" is a pretty nebulous term, and I probably should have been slightly more specific. Current civilization as we know it (especially here in the US) is highly technologically-based and highly integrated - both between communities but even between nations. Much of the actual transfer of wealth happens in the form of electrons rather than hard currency transfers. So what happens if those pathways disintegrate? Banking is acknowledged by many to be the primary cause of the rise of the modern economy. If it crumbles under the weight of debt and inflation, much of the world's wealth is wiped out overnight as the infrastructure with which to conduct the modern economy goes with it.

There has never been an economy like the one in the world today - but few realize quite how fragile it truly is and how many things come crashing down when it fails. During the 1930's and the Great Depression, times were hard for many, but because wealth was still rooted in physical means, the effects were felt by many but could be worked through. If our economy collapses due to hyperinflation, inability to service debt, or a major disruption to the lines of communications between economic parties, there is no fall-back. We don't have a primarily agrarian populace who can go back to working farms. Farmers themselves are highly dependent on technology in modern agriculture practices - especially the resupply of fuel for mechanized production. If we have a true disaster, we will be far worse off than the unemployed in the 1930's because less than 10% of the people will be able to cope with the changes.

As to the Germans, they absolutely would have used atomic weapons, but probably first against the Russians. They would have targeted Moscow and left Russia reeling in its effects and decapitated for leadership while pointing at the devastation and warning the British and Americans to back off. Japan had a much larger problem there, because their only real chance to use a nuke effectively would have been to sneak a submarine to the US Pacific Coast and bomb San Francisco - an incredibly tall order given the lack of re-supply for such a vessel (especially later in the war) and the increasing vigilance of coastal patrols after events such as at Ellwood in 1941. Atomic weapons are incredible overkill against military targets excepting command-and-control installations like the Pentagon, SAC in Omaha, Nebraska, or entire carrier fleets. Even the US had problems building more than the first two - they had no plans other than invasion to fall back on if Japan had failed to surrender after Nagasaki.

One interesting side note from Mr Gunderson is that the 4 Feds who died in Waco had all been Clintons bodyguards.

I am very sad o observe that no "civilization" survived. 1000 years of "dark ages" does not qualify, in my mind, as "survival". Renaissance brought a birth. Then came the twentieth century. Do you think that Germans and Japanese would not have used nuclear weapons if they had them?

From what I have observed, within the first five responses, someone will make a comment that is mostly on a different subject and the discussion is inundated with not well thought out "contributions" in that other directions. I hope that my observations are not mistaken. If they are, please enlighten me.

Thank you, Dr. Z.
I think that the key is in the expectations. To change quickly the course ("turn on a dime?") of a ship, gazillion times heavier that the heaviest of the aircraft carriers, is worse than delusional. People get the governments that they deserve. It is an axiom. "We the people" have just begun to vaguely discern the reality through the fog of ideological, nonsensical, deliberate obfuscation. Let' hope that they will persevere.
Best wishes.
Maritimus

here is a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqjNa...

With all do respect K this is hardly childish behavior. See Ted Gunderson (retired head of FBI Los Angelos) video Jan 2014 he was murdered Dec 2014.

Anyone who supported Hillary is pretty much dead to me at this point. If you didnt like Trump, you could vote for Johnson or just abstain. A vote for Hillary is a direct vote for statism.

Thanks K. Lot of office politics contributing to my dour mood last night, and precipitating the graphic analogies.
However, I do feel like we here are either complaining about or celebrating external things, but not much action affecting external things.

Collectivists, progressives, socialists, greenies and even communists are effectively using social media and the media to purvey messages drawing in and affecting people. To a lesser extent, the religious right, tea party/republicans and big business are doing the same. It seems to me that advocates for both social and fiscal freedoms, Objectivism, individualism and responsibility do not find a tangible foothold for a variety of reasons. In addition, there seem to be fewer of us; we in-fight a bit (e.g. Objectivism vs Libertarians); and we don't seem to work on bringing people to us as much. I strongly believe most people do agree with our messages, but are easily swayed by sympathy for the victims and anger at the unfair. More measured, statistically relevant global optimizations pale in comparison to calls for justice for Trevor, Freddie, he Bundy's or fetuses.

One of my favorite lines.

point for the word "palavering"

so sorry. ugh. stay safe and of course we knew that you would be well-prepped

well, it is possible some Objectivists supported Hilary anticipating the totalitarianism of Trump. Jonathon Hoenig, for example

why wouldn't one see it as childish, teenage behavior expressed by these people? why give it more importance than that?

k; I forgot to thank you for your Post. Not only was it welcome, it's good to see your thoughtfulness appear again--maybe your questions can draw some back from the doldrums of the last year. I, as you, am working on stuff--but I don't have a clue yet where it's leading me. But question not, you always give equal or better value.