What do you think of Modi comparing Kerala with Somalia? Is he right or did he stoop too low this time while campaigning?
Yet another example of how the strong propaganda network of Kerala media twisting facts. People who call national media Prestitutes, will find that they are far far trustworthy compared to Kerala media.In his speech Modi was trying to describe the pathetic situation of Tribal population in Kerala. When all the Human development Indicators are showing above national average for Kerala, why tribal have that much below national average which can be comparable to the least in the world. That's the message any unbiased audience will get after watching his speech.But suddenly, Kerala CM is demanding Modi to apologize for comparing Kerala to Somalia.Thank God! Honorable CM was not present when Swamy Vivekanda called the same land as a lunatic asylum.If somebody who knows to "read between the lines" of Malayalam news papers, he will be shocked to see the news next day. Front page is filled with the comments of Congress and Communist leader demanding PM's apology.The fact that it is related to the Tribal is framed as BJP's claim and written in between. No headline for that. But to avoid trouble in future, they gave a small headline in an inner page, which nobody will notice.It is obvious that people are not going to listen the speech to check the fact. Because it is really insignificant compared to a scam or murder. It is just a remark. They will just believe that PM insulted the state. They like and share or upvote the posts which blame our PM. Comment or downvote the unknown truth, May be this answer also!Tomorrow the same media will celebrate the appreciation they got in social media.The news debates are another funny part. Some elites taken the issue to a whole new level. Within 2 days they succeeded in polarizing gneral Malayali sentiments against BJP.People who stand for equality never realized a bigger Gini coefficient in the state of socialists. Yes, still we have people who lack basic needs in God's own country.Reserve Bank of IndiaYou may have seen a lot of discussions in both the Media and social media about the state of Tribals if it was mentioned by a leftist or congress leader. But when they heard unpleasant truth from a person they hate, it was twisted to hide the facts.Not just Tribal population, there are a lot of Marginalized sections in Kerala society, some economically, some socially, or some politically.One day they will mark an end to this satire.
Is India really worse off than Africa?
We badly need to build a habit: “having the courage & honesty to accept cold hard facts”.We were not raised to realizeour faultsour liesour hypocrisyour shortcomingsour narcissist mentalityour fake prideHaving lived in foreign lands for years, i learned a lot. Trust me friends, no sane , civilized & high-cultures like India & Indians. You might cry it away as racism, but that’s not going to fix a damn thing for you.You are deadly wrong if you think:India is a superpower, full of beauties,Rihtik Roshan’s & billionairesIndia is doing greatIndia is the best place to be on earthEveryone else is ‘jealous’ on youFriends,go out & see the reality of India. You might choose to be blind/ignore the facts but these sickening pictures of your country is never stopping to come out to global media.Recently I came up with a racist-blog written by some NRI indians i think. After reading it, it hurts me but i felt like the creation of ‘nation India’ was an abomination. Hate indians why? -This over-populated, poor,corrupted,dirty nation has no value of life for it’s inhabitants. And you as a 3rd worlder, want respect while being in a 1st world foreign nation? My fellas, there’s no respect for you no matter how rich/advanced/educated you are, while rest of your nation is a shithole(yes, that’s what represents your country’s identity). Don’t just listen to some liberal/POC westerners/ media praising your nation, hear it from real westerners.How can you Indians sleep with content & not see the mess your fellow country men & women are in?And to all those so called patriots,chaddis,sanghis- don’t for god’s sake compare India with Pak & so on. You peoples are the reason we are not realizing our faults & not fixing our mess - not letting us correct our faults & get better. Everyone knows Pak is a broke nation. But you know what? these sick & vile pictures can’t be found even war torn afghan/Pakistan.
Do you welcome the immigrants from what Trump called "shithole countries"?
I really do.Somehow, there is some truth to what Trump is saying. People who immigrate to the States usually come from dysfunctional countries, ruled by corrupt rulers. The reason they come, is because they want a chance to do better. Otherwise, why would anyone want to go where they are not welcomed and ridiculed by semi-illiterate presidents ?I work for a Psychiatric hospital with many Nigerians. They are all legal immigrants working with violent clients. They are respectful and proud people. They don’t deserve to be insulted! Many of them are also in schools to become RN’s. They contribute to this country and pay their taxes!On the other hand, this President has not paid his taxes for some years. And if you want to be perfectly honest, what does Melania do all day other than shops? What are her contribution to the society?She lives, so to speak, on welfare payments subsidized by Donald, who does not pay taxes, So there you have it!Incidentally, the Norwegians are not coming.Why in the world would they want to?They don’t worry about their medical care and education. It’s free.They don’t own guns. Mass shootings and murder are rare events.Their vacation lasts 5 weeks, and maternity leave is 1 year.Their taxes spent on infrastructure and their welfare rather some nonsense walls between their neighbors.In 2017, Norway came No. 1 on the list of Happiest Countries in the world, whereas USA is no. 14.Their President is not vulgar, does not knowingly tells lies in a broad daylight, and does not embarrass their country in front of the rest of the world.
Do many or most Americans believe that other countries are all poor, dangerous, and third-world “sh*tholes”?
Consider that only about 35% of Americans have a passport. Most Americans have never been outside the USA nor do they want to. Most Americans believe that America is better than any other country in the world. They believe that America is #1 and maybe the only 1st world country. They see America as the center of the world and the US dollar as the only real currency. They see every other country as less than America. This is a result of propaganda and programming from childhood.As far as shithole countries. I would say that about 35% of Americans probably believe that all poor countries and some others are shitholes. They think everyone in the world would rather live in America than their shithole countries and that we need to keep them all out.Keep in mind that not all Americans believe this. The majority do not believe this or do not care.Unfortunately we now have a president elected by these ignorant and greedy Americans so you will see more and more of this sort of belief system and behavior over the coming years. Now the bigots and ignorant people have a champion in the White House and many in Congress. They are emboldened and believe that they are the realists, the majority and the real Americans. They are a minority but they are loud and powerful and their overlords, the oligarchs, are now in control.This is just going to get worse.
If the countries that Trump referred to as shitholes are not, then why do the citizens want to leave them so badly?
You are aware that thousands of U.S. citizens emigrate from the US to other nations every year, right? Retirees take millions of dollars earned in the U.S. to Mexico, Costa Rica, Canada, and Israel (just to name a few) for a lower cost of living or more accessible health care or cultural reasons. In addition, billions of dollars are voluntarily spent by Americans to go visit a wide variety of countries, including Haiti and Angola and Kenya and all the countries Trump might have been referring to.So, the fact that people leave a country for another doesn't mean their original country is a shithole, does it? If you still think it does, then you have really insulted the United States, the nation I proudly call home. If you think America is a shithole, why don't you leave for someplace you like better? (Or do only unthinking right wing goons get to use that phrase?)
How do liberals who favor redistribution of wealth address the free-rider problem?
I think if you really ponder that issue you might realize that it really boils down to a matter of arbitrary definitions. How do you define a “liberal” and a “free-rider”? If I have a $10 billion in the bank, you could argue I’m a far greater beneficiary of the country’s legal system, its armed forces, its capital markets (and thus the national infrastructure), its governmental and monetary policy etc than someone who has far less, no? On top of it, if I built this largesse on a capital base by paying either very low cap gains taxes vs. someone who has to pay regular income taxes, does that make me a “free-rider?” Or if you are a retiree on soc sec or medicare - someone who gets far more back than they contribute (yes that’s a fact) - are you a free-rider? If you get a loan subsidized and guaranteed by the govt - are you a free-rider?What if you don’t have kids and own a house - your property taxes are paying for other people’s kids schools… are they free-riders?Ultimately I think if you live in society you’ll realize that it is impossible to account for everyone’s productivity vs. their contributions. We are all free-riders from time to time and over-payers from time to time. We have a political system that tries to iron out inequities - but it is always a work in progress.The alternative would be to move to some place like Somalia or the Congo or many other hellholes around the world - only there you can assured that you won’t be free-riding on anyone - you will truly eat what you kill, sometimes literally.See also:Zoyadnikov Berg's answer to Is socialism the ultimate outcome of capitalism?Zoyadnikov Berg's answer to Why do socialists feel like they are entitled to other peoples' money, even if they earned it fairly?
What is the cost of an AK-47?
That depends on what it is you really want and where you are. I will assume you are in the US.First, remember that the AK-47 is the original milled receiver service variant in 7.62x39mm. The AKM, which has a lighter (by just under 2 lbs), cheaper to produce, and slightly less durable stamped receiver, in 7.62x39mm also, is often confused by many people with the AK-47. So, do you really want an AK-47 or is an AKM satisfactory for you?Second, to you want a genuine AK-47 or AKM that is a military issue weapon with selective fire, full automatic capability? Or would a semiautomatic-only civilian market version suffice for you?Here in the US, you actually can legally obtain an actual, full auto capable AK-47 or AKM if you have a clean record and can find one for sale that was built before 1986 (most of them were), and are willing to pay big bucks for an extensive background check and the necessary permits to own a fully automatic weapon. By the time you get through all that you will probably wind up spending at least several thousand dollars.If you would be fine with a semiautomatic only civilian market model, but you want a milled receiver, AK-47 pattern rifle, in the US there are only two choices available as new-build rifles. The first is an Arsenal SAM7 - considered by many the “Cadillac” of civilian market AKs - which is imported from Bulgaria and runs around $1500 new, give or take. The second choice is the American-made Century Arms C39v2, which runs around a $1000 new. In some quarters the C39v2 has come under criticism for some quality/durability issues, and earlier models might have had some problems, but current production (Feb ‘18 or later) are pretty good; I would not hesitate to recommend them.If you are good with a stamped receiver semiautomatic only AKM pattern rifle, there are many choices both foreign and domestic, and these run around $500-$1000 depending on the type. Current production American-made RAS47 rifles, also by Century, run around $700-$800 and are not bad; other decent models are made by PSA (American), the WASR 10/63 (Romanian), and a good budget model is the AMD-63 (fixed stock) or AMD-65 (folding wire stock) which use a Hungarian receiver with American parts built around it. Arsenal also exports a stamped receiver product, the SLR-107, which is decent. Serbian Zastava rifles are also good stamped receiver AKs.Hope that helps.