ThndrShk2k posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvS351QKFV4

Gene Hackman Fan posted:

inaccurate, trotsky believed in something other than money.

white sauce posted:

How do you do, fellow Bernouts?

Frijolero posted:

Bring back the USSR

fits my needs posted:

https://twitter.com/amjoyshow/status/964900878951043072

etalian posted:

tower time posted:

I have it on good authority that the kremlin even managed to infiltrate the local republican party in travis county through one Robert Morrow

tower time posted:

I have it on good authority that the kremlin even managed to infiltrate the local republican party in travis county through one Robert Morrow

tower time posted:

I have it on good authority that the kremlin even managed to infiltrate the local republican party in travis county through one Robert Morrow

etalian posted:

His anime tits are awesome platform didn't have widespread appeal for some reason.

If electing to president he would appoint a Anime Tits Czar

Vox Nihili posted:

http://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/news/economy/prison-fees-inmates-debt/index.html

Jeremy Barrett remembers very little of the assault that would change his life.

He was at the end of a three-year sentence in a Florida state prison when he was caught stealing potatoes from the prison kitchen. As punishment, he was sent to confinement with a cellmate who, according to court filings, was "severely mentally ill." The man attacked Barrett in a violent rage, ultimately gouging out one of his eyes. "I went into shock," Barrett said.

When he got out of prison one month later, Barrett, 36, sued the Florida Department of Corrections for negligence. The department responded with a counterclaim or a "cost of incarceration lien" of $54,750 -- the total cost of Barrett's 1,095 day stay in the prison at $50 a day.

quote:

We have to hear about this investigation every day and it seems Very Stupid because we were all there in 2016 and we know the only thing that "Russia" could have had any involvement in that made any difference was the Podesta email releases. Until they can demonstrate that the Russian state gave wikileaks those emails and that Donald Trump was somehow involved in that - I don't even see why the investigation is occurring?

bennyfranks posted:

Seems the one thing greater than Sanders' narcissism is his shame at being caught. We'll finally have a respite from his constant touring of the morning news shows and he's finally going to go away, like he should have done in April of 2016 (at least). Another blessing from Mueller!

Nonsense posted:

Good morning loser thread. How does it feel to have been unwitting dupes of Putin?

Yinlock posted:

busting a fat one is now illegal

Nonsense posted:

Good morning loser thread. How does it feel to have been unwitting dupes of Putin?

Steven Saylor, Catilina's Riddle posted:

A little later I overheard another argument, this one between an orator on a makeshift wooden pedestal and a citizen who refused to let him deliver his speech, engaging him in a heated debate instead.

'The Rullan land reform would have changed everything for the better!' insisted the orator.

'Nonsense!' shouted the citizen. 'It was one of the most poorly thought-out pieces of legislation ever proposed, and Cicero was right to speak out against it'

'Cicero is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Optimates.'

'And why not? It's up to the Best People to speak out against these mad schemes put forward by Caesar simply to curry favour with the mob — and to get his hands on Egypt, into the deal.'

'It was Rullus who proposed the law, not Caesar.'

'Rullus opens his mouth and Caesar's words come out'

'Very well, then, we agree that the argument was not Rullus against Cicero, but Caesar against the Optimates,' said the orator.

'Exactly!'

'And you must also agree that if the Rullan bill had become law, there could have been redistribution of land to the people who need it without recourse to violence or unfair confiscation.'

'Absurd! It would never have worked. Who in Rome wants to head out for the countryside and become a farmer, anyway, when here in the city there's the circus and the festivals and the free grain dole?'

'It's attitudes like that that are ruining the Republic!'

'It's Romans who are ruining the Republic, because they've grown soft and lazy. That's why we need the Optimates to keep their hands on the tiller.'

'Their hands in the till, you mean. Better to have the hands of the common man on a plough.'

'Ridiculous — look at the mess up in Etruria with Sulla's veterans. Not one in ten of them turned out to be a decent farmer. Now they're all bankrupt and looking to that demagogue Catilina to bail them out, with fire and sword if he has to.'

'So you don't want land reform, you don't like Catilina—'

'I despise him! He and his circle of pampered, well-born, irresponsible dilettantes. They've had their chance to lead decent lives and they've wasted themselves instead — going hopelessly into debt to more responsible and upright citizens. This whole radical scheme of his to forgive debts is no favour to the masses — it's a way to get himself and his friends off the hook, and to plunder the property of those who deserve to keep what they and their ancestors have accumulated. If schemers like Catilina end up powerless and impoverished, it's no more than they deserve. And if the voters of Rome have no more sense than to go along with their crazy ideas—'

'All right, all right, far be it from me to stand up for Catilina. But you seem to have just as low an opinion of Caesar—'

'Who is just as much in debt! No wonder they both suck up to the famous millionaire. Catilina and Caesar are like twin babies hanging off Crassus's teats. Ha! Like Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf!' The speaker made obscene popping noises with his lips.

This last elicited equal parts of laughter and hissing from the crowd, who were either amused or offended by such blasphemy.

'Very well, citizen, you insult Catilina, you insult Caesar and Crassus — I suppose you cling to Pompey.'

'I have no use for Pompey either. They're all wild horses trying to break from the chariot. They're in a race with each other, and they care nothing at all for the common good.'

'And Cicero does?' sneered the orator.

'Yes, Cicero does. Catilina, Caesar, Crassus, Pompey — every one of them would make himself dictator if he could, and cut off the heads of the rest. You can't say that about a man like Cicero. He's spoken against tyranny since the dictatorship of Sulla, when it took a brave man to do so. A mouthpiece, you call him — very well, that's what a consul should be, speaking out for those in the Senate whose families made the Republic what it is and have been running it ever since the kings were thrown down. We don't need rule by the mob, or rule by dictators, but the steady, slow, sure rule of those who know best.'

This last set off a round of jeering from some newcomers who had just arrived in the crowd, and the debate degenerated into a shouting match. Fortunately, the agitation in the crowd provided an opening, and we were able to press on. A moment later Meto drew beside me with an earnest look on his face.

'Papa, I couldn't follow their argument at all!'

'I could, but only barely. Land reform! The populists all promise it, but they can't make it come true. The Optimates turn it into a dirty word.'

'What was the Rullan bill they were talking about?'

'Something that was proposed earlier this year. I remember our neighbour Claudia railing against it. I really don't know the details,' I admitted.

Rufus turned towards us. 'One of Caesar's ideas, in conjunction with Crassus, and typically brilliant. The problem: how to find land for those who need it here in Italy. The solution: sell public lands we've conquered in distant countries and set aside those proceeds to buy land in Italy on which to settle the poor in agricultural colonies. Not a wholesale confiscation and redistribution of land from rich to poor, as Catilina proposes, but the expenditure of public funds to effect a fair reapportionment.'

'Why did the man bring up Egypt?' said Meto.

"The foreign lands to be sold include those in Egypt, which the late Alexander II bequeathed to Rome. The Rullan law proposed setting up a special commission of ten men who would oversee the project, including its administration in Egypt—'

'And Caesar would have been one of the commissioners,' said Mummius dryly, joining the discussion. 'He'd have picked Egypt like a fig from a tree.'

'If you like,' Rufus conceded. 'Crassus would have been on the commission as well, since his support was vital With Egypt under their sway, they'd have had a bastion against Pompey's power in the East, you see. You'd have thought the Optimates would like that, since they fear Pompey, too. But as long as Pompey is away from Rome and campaigning in the East, the Optimates fear Caesar and Crassus more.'

'Not to mention Catilina and the mob,' I said.

'Yes, but Catilina intentionally distanced himself from the Rullan bill. Too mild for him; to have been seen as a force behind it would have compromised his radical reputation. Nor would his support have been an asset to the bill; his enthusiasm would have further alarmed the Optimates, who were already suspicious of the idea.'

'Even so, I imagine Catilina would have accepted an appointment as one of the new land commissioners, along with Caesar and Crassus.'

Rufus smiled wryly. 'Your grasp of politics is more subtle than you let on, Gordianus.'

'But the bill was defeated,' said Meto.

'Yes. The Optimates saw it as merely a tool for Caesar and Crassus, and yes, perhaps Catilina, to increase their power, and any talk of land reform immediately sets them on edge. They always pretend to support the idea in the abstract, but no concrete proposal ever satisfies them. Cicero became their spokesman, as he has been since they rallied to support him for the consulship. But he didn't limit himself to debating the matter in the Senate. He came here, to the Forum, and brought the issue directly to the people.'

'But it's the sort of bill the people like, isn't it? That's why they call Caesar a populist, isn't it?' asked Meto. 'Why would Cicero debate against the bill before the very people it's meant to help?'

'Because Cicero could talk a condemned man into chopping off his own head,' said Rufus. 'He knows how to make a speech; he knows what arguments will impress the mob. First, he said that the law was directed against Pompey, even though Pompey was specifically excluded from the investigations that were to be made into the acquisitions of other generals abroad. The people don't like it when they hear that something will hurt Pompey. Pompey is the darling of the mob; successful generals always are. To denigrate Pompey is to denigrate the people of Rome, to call Pompey into question is to insult Rome's favourite son, et cetera, et cetera. Then Cicero took aim at the commission itself, saying it would become a little court of ten despots. They would embezzle the funds they raised, robbing the Roman people of their own wealth; they would punish their enemies by forcing them to sell their lands, which would be almost as wicked as the proscriptions and confiscations that Sulla carried out; they would forcibly move the contented urban poor onto barren tracts of land where they would starve. Well, you know how persuasive Cicero can be, especially when it comes to convincing people to work against their own interests. I do believe he could convince a beggar that a rock is better than a coin because it weighs more, and an empty stomach is better than a full one because it causes no indigestion.'

'But Rullus must have defended the law,' said Meto.

‘Yes, and Rullus was pounded into dust — rhetorically speaking. Caesar and Crassus each wet a finger, held it in the wind, and decided to keep quiet, though in debate either one is a match for Cicero, at least to my ear. The time was simply not right, and the law was dropped. Soon people got distracted by other matters, like the incident in the theatre, and Catilina's new campaign for consul.'

'You say the time was not right for such reform,' I said. 'In Rome, and with the Optimates in control of the Senate, when is it ever the right time for change?'

'Nunquam,' said Rufus, smiling ruefully: never.

SKULL.GIF posted:

when you discover the suck zone in a historical fiction novel from the 90s:

bennyfranks posted:

Now now, in the interests of unity, its important to acknowledge that these kids made some mistakes and welcome them back to the heel of the Democratic Party and focus on #Resisting Drumpf.

Jazerus posted:

the dynamics of congress are very romanesque now, yeah

conservatives and centrists ensuring that no relief to the poor occurs so that they can continue their wholesale looting undisturbed

basically what i'm saying is, i can't wait until bernie crosses the potomac with three legions

SKULL.GIF posted:

when you discover the suck zone in a historical fiction novel from the 90s:

Agean90 posted:

you were doing good until you used heel, a hashtag, and drumpf, now your just an over the top parody

SKULL.GIF posted:

when you discover the suck zone in a historical fiction novel from the 90s:

Uncle Wemus posted:

I like how bad dems are just attacking bernie over this

The Kingfish posted:

My only regret is that I had but one vote to give for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Uncle Wemus posted:

I like how bad dems are just attacking bernie over this