Happy Monday ever-body! Sloopy has some sort of situation come up and I am pitch hitting. So let’s see: The Pacific group won the NHL All-Star Game and the Hipster Mancunians won the Fanny Adams cup in communist football. And now… the links!
I was skeptical about a magazine whose acronym can be pronounce “penis” publishing a study on ibuprofen and “compensated hypogonadism”. But this may be legit. Long-term ibuprofen use may be contraindicated for the dudes.
This is the situation which results in a school and probably a police station burning down. Baker acting a seven year old. What the fuck is wrong with people?
In other Florida news, there is probably a Florida Man with 4 days worth of meth, a Pub Sub, 40 feet of nylon rope, and 55 gallon barrel on his way to meet the author of this piece. This person has never been to Connecticut or Oklahoma.
You know, for all the shit we get about being ugly Americans, the other Anglophone countries do a good job of shitting up places.
For music, I think I’ve gone with Holiday in Cambodia recently, so here’s something tangentially related.
*peers warily around*
I think we are in the right place.
Good thing I can’t take ibuprofen anymore…
I take a couple of ibruprofens a month when I get a hangover head ache I assume this is not a problem…
I was using the stuff a lot a few years ago – and now I no longer take it. It’s a pretty crappy pain reliever – at least for the physical stuff that I’ve been suffering through.
I can only take Tylenol….I miss ibuprofen and, most of all…naproxen!
Acetaminophen is really bad for your liver. Don’t ever take it for a hangover.
we call it paracetamol round these parts
OH, don’t I know that stuff will zorch your liver. I don’t take it very often, and I don’t drink to hangover levels anymore. Can’t get that dehydrated.
I had some muscle inflammation in my back several years ago that giving me trouble. I took ibuprofen twice a day every day for a month and that got rid of the problem.
but the effects on the adult man remain largely unknown.
Engorged pink hat on his head.
*symphony applause*
As a Maine native, I can assure you it belongs nowhere near the top of a list of best anything. Unless you like alcoholism, child molestation or welfare. We have good beer, but that’s because it’s a state full of alcoholics. Allen’s Coffee Brandy is the #1 and #2 best selling liquor in the state because of different size bottles.
West Virginia here. I’ll call your alcoholism, child molestation and welfare and raise you some (more) incest.
Well, usually the child molestation is incest…
Still, I wasn’t saying Maine is bottom of the list. You can have that designation if you want. It’s just not top 10.
People just come to Portland, see all the beer and hipsters and call it a nice state. Portland isn’t even nice really other than as a tourist trap. Same for all the destinations down the coast.
I have family outside of Augusta. I enjoy visits to Maine but I’d agree, it’s nowhere near the top 10 states I’ve visited.
When I was in high school a friend of mine said to me: ‘Maine: A nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to live here.’ That pretty much sums it up. It’s great if you don’t mind harsh winters and want a home away from other people. Otherwise you’ve got cities that are run like shit and an economy that only cares about tourism.
Augusta is kind of a crappy area, but like most of the state there’s a lot of natural beauty. And if you’re into fishing or hunting it’s top notch.
My brother loves it but I don’t get the attraction; after living out west everything on the east coast feels to cloistered for my tastes so most of the bad things I could say about Maine would apply equally to WV. I don’t get how your state keeps electing Susan Collins but then again we keep putting Manchin and Capito in, whom both suck too…….then again #allpoliticians
I am still under the thumb of Charlie Crist, Bill Nelson, and Lil’ Marco. I’m not saying Florida is perfect.
The funny thing about Collins is she’s a RINO’s RINO…..I’ve never been aware of her doing anything but voting with the Dems…..at some point you’d think she’d piss off her base and get primaried out
As far as Susan Collins, what’s that old canard? ‘When you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything.’ People like her because they liked Olympia Snow. And they like Snow because…reasons.
If Maine politics is anything like WV politics I’d guess its because they brought home the bacon. West Virginians have flipped to team read since chocolate Jesus thumbed his nose at them but there is still a strong tendency to support whoever is most adept at bringing home federal boondoggle money
sigh..*Team Red
I’m not sure if it’s even that. I mean, they do fight a lot to keep the shipyard open, but mostly I think it’s a mix of incumbent and liking the idea of a ‘bi-partisan’ senator, regardless of the actual details. Also, Olympia Snow made Maine sort of matter.
West Virginians have flipped to team read since chocolate Jesus thumbed his nose at them but there is still a strong tendency to support whoever is most adept at bringing home federal boondoggle money
What does the Robert Byrd Endowed Chair Robert Byrd Institute of Policy at the Robert Byrd Campus at WVU reachable off the Robert Byrd Parkway think of that strategy?
And the funny thing is that asshat is still ‘the guy’ in most West Virginian’s eyes
*ahem*
Illinois resents the smaller states trying to step on its turf. We have more people shot in any given week than in Baghdad, We are going to test the limits of bankruptcy law when we go tits up in a few years, and for every alcoholic you have, we have 10 crack addicts.
WE WANT OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE IN THE SUN!
West Virginia concedes it’s place to Illinois. To use the words of our great leader; what a sh*thole!
What about the lobster? Is the lobster a lie? I always thought if I make it for an extended time to the states I could try a roadtrip to Main to try the lobster.
The lobster is kind of a lie. It’s a lie in the sense that mostly it’s marketing, and not that unique, but it’s still good.
That said, we got tons of it, and it’s good if you’re into that sort of thing. It’s a good state to visit for a bit, but it’s really a shithole if you scratch the surface a little. It’s not top notch like some of the competition that’s showing up in this thread, but it’s no slouch either.
I honestly hope this is not serious but …
Saving the NHS means forcing us to change the way we lead our lives
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/27/saving-nhs-forcing-us-to-change-way-we-live
If you imagine a healthy future for Britain, or any other country that has put the hunger of millennia behind it, you see a kind of dictatorship. Not a tyranny, but a society that ruthlessly restricts free choice. It is a future that views the mass of people as base creatures jerked around by desires they cannot control. Expert authority must engineer their lives from above for their own good and the common good.
[…]
God knows, there are good reasons to mistrust experts re-engineering societies from above. But as with tobacco, freedom of choice in the food and car markets has left us with no choice but to trust them.
Ehm… what can on say of this besides fuck off slaver?
But wait there’s more
Why not regulate social media like tobacco or alcohol?
Roger McNamee
Facebook, Google and others can foster addiction – and can be used to undermine democracy
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jan/29/social-media-tobacco-facebook-google
It is the Grauniad, Pie….I would be shocked if they didn’t advocate such.
We have no choice but to give up our freedoms of choice.
As long as we do it voluntarily.
The plebes having the freedom of choice leads to bad choices, and the nanny state can’t have any of that… After all, when your dogma and ideology is driven by the belief that social justice can only come if the state protects people from the consequences of their choices and actions, then you have to prevent them from making too many choices or taking bad actions…
“Why you fool, it’s the educated reader who CAN be gulled. All our difficulty comes with the others. When did you meet a workman who believes the papers? He takes it for granted that they’re all propaganda and skips the leading articles. He buys his paper for the football results and the little paragraphs about girls falling out of windows and corpses found in Mayfair flats. He is our problem. We have to recondition him. But the educated public, the people who read the high-brow weeklies, don’t need reconditioning. They’re all right already. They’ll believe anything.”
From a list of quotations from CS Lewis’ That Hideous Strength. If you’ve never read it, just imagine he forsaw all of the current state of academia and government, but blamed it on an ancient evil from beyond time. Then read it for its keenly insightful take on the type of people who populate such an institution.
The only novel that has ever given me nightmares.
Each novel is the space trilogy is better than the previous. Which is not hard, considering how weak the first is.
So the rest of the trilogy is worth reading? I read the first book and was kind of nonplussed. It was ok, but I got the impression that people gave more of a shit about it because it was written by Lewis, not because it was especially good.
I could take or leave the other two books, although it will clue you in on why this demigod is hanging out in rural England. The 3rd book was like having someone hold my hand and walk me through how well-meaning people could end up so stupidly wrong by simple cupidity and letting a couple of sociopaths manipulate institutions.
I enjoyed the 2nd a lot, but I can see how some wouldn’t care for it.
It’s basic plot line is the devil attempting to tempt the Adam and Eve of Venus.
That Hideous Strength (the 3rd), on the other hand, is excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YruInZvOzc
The subtitle is “In the Garden of St Anne’s on the Hill.
It’s about chapter 3.
Actually, maybe not that particular chapter, although that chapter has “St Anne’s on the Hill” in the title. It’s been awhile( 20 years) since I read it, so I can’t remember the exact details.
The overwhelming majority of my family, going beck several generations, are/were atheists/free thinkers. My paternal grandmother, upon seeing how much I loved the Narnia series, made sure I had Lewis in front of me any opportunity she got. I’m very, very, very grateful she did so.
I credit Lewis with me being a libertarian instead of a conservative.
And my Mom, but Lewis was the final straw.
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C.S. Lewis
My uncle is a fundamentalist Southern Methodist, and loves that book. I keep trying to borrow his 1st edition, but he won’t let me.
fundamentalist…methodist…
Okay, I give. If I think about it too hard my brain will stop functioning.
“By rule they eat, by rule they drink, everything else by rule but think!”
Their official dogma is called The Book of Discipline
Saving the NHS prioritized over the good of the people it presumably serves. A naked admission that the NHS exists for its own sake and people are just cattle. What a shock.
Good thing I avoid taking drugs. Even on the rare occasion I’m sick it still takes some doing to get me to take any medicine.
Not a tyranny, but a society that ruthlessly restricts free choice.
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
Real-life Monster Hunter: Capcom is offering £50,000 for anyone who can find evidence of Nessie or Bigfoot
STEVE SMITH PLAY BALROG. TAKE ON ALL CHALLENGERS
You get at least 50,000 pounds if you find STEVE SMITH.
YOU GET FREE RAPE TOO.
STEVE SMITH RAPE, THEREFORE STEVE SMITH AM.
I think that was the joke.
50,000 pounds is a lot of hikers.
STEVE SMITH LIKE JACKHAMMER, GET 50,000 POUNDS ON A SINGLE HIKER!
That’s fucking brilliant.
STEVE SMITH GREATEST TRICK IS CONVINCING WORLD STEVE SMITH NOT EXIST.
GO LOOK FOR LOCH NESSIE. NO RAPESQUATCH HERE!
I’m intrigued by the game. Depending on how my finances and time look next month I may drop release price on it.
I’m sure you all have already talked about this movie plenty, but I saw ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ this weekend. I thought it was pretty good overall, but the other people in the theater pretty much ruined a lot of it for me. They thought everything the mother did in the movie was hilarious or great. I’d go on a rant about all the instances where they laughed at tyranny or horror that was not meant to be funny, but I don’t want to spoil it for those who haven’t watched. By the time the movie was done, I hated everyone around me. My GF and I exchanged looks pretty early in, because neither of us were laughing and needed a sanity check.
But Government that is oppressive and incompetent is funny.
Well, I’m sure you could tell jokes about an oppressive and incompetent government that is funny. But the thing about the protagonist is that the movie is often not trying to make her actions funny, but rather show you a person who is full of rage and will do anything. She has no principles, and you’re supposed to be taken aback by her actions. Not laugh your tits off.
I was trying to be sarcastic, but didn’t quite pull it off. I had surmised the plot from some previews. I think most Americans want to believe that their Government is special. That’s why I want this Waco show to do well. Peele need to realize not only can crappy things happen here, they already have.
Mention MK Ultra and you’ll get “Conspiracy theory.”
And here I thought it was an OK muse song.
The interesting thing about the movie, and the reason why so many people are angry at it, is because it humanizes everyone. Almost nothing about it is cut and dry. I’m tempted to go on, but I’ll just leave it to you to watch it or not. I’d advise against seeing it in theaters. Having everyone around you find tyranny and oppressiveness funny, when it’s *not* a joke, was almost too much for me. It made me really disgusted by the people around me, not the movie itself.
Mrs. Whiz and I saw the movie and enjoyed it. Fortunately the other people in the audience reacted the same as we did and did not spoil it.
There are NO good people in that movie. The mother is equally as terrible as everybody.
Except the midget.
I have been on both sides of that equation.
At “Starship Troopers” my friend and I were the only two who understood that this was a dark comedy, a send up of 1950’s B movies and really, really funny. “Put your hand on that wall!!” We erupted in gales of laughter…. as the rest of the theater reacted in horror at the violence. I know they all went home complaining about the two sociopaths sitting in the middle of the theater.
Then there was “The Wild, Wild West” with Will Smith. Holy crap, what a horrible, racist pile of crap that was. I watched that one as the only white face in a crowded theater in Atlanta. Wow, did they love those stereotypes. I don’t think I even smiled through the whole movie (nor did my wife, who didn’t have the excuse of being white). Wow, was that uncomfortable. It was like going to see “Blazing Saddles” in Harlem as a KKK member. To underline it, the people closest to us kept looking over at us – obviously uncomfortable at sitting next to whitey while everyone around them was laughing at the offensive racial stereotypes.
Apparently, there was some sort of “awards” show last night, featuring a lot of people I’ve never heard of and some washed up politician, patting each other on the back. I didn’t know anything about it, but teh google news ranks it number one.
The Grannies, or something.
What a shit-show. And to make time for Herself, they didn’t even bother televising the Best Rock Album award.
Maybe just as well as they awarded it to the one nominee I wouldn’t even consider “rock”. They sure do drive the message home that this show isn’t for me. Message received. I watched Family Guy and went to bed.
Love that album, but had zippy interest in watching the grammys.
I don’t mind their music, just not might definition of rock.
AVN Awards (might not be safe for work) are much more important and interesting. I see August Ames won “Most Spectacular Boobs”. It’s good to have an In Memoriam award, but I hope they don’t repurpose that category for In Memoriam.
They might still be spectacular if they were fake enough.
August Ames (RIP) was natural and had quite a nice rack, but I think Angela White has a better rack.
Women didn’t win, I think that’s the entire story.
Modern-Day Rebel Plans To Grow Up, Get Married, Be Productive Member Of Society
http://babylonbee.com/news/modern-day-rebel-plans-grow-get-married-productive-member-society/
Babylon bee can be funny. I don’t visit the Onion anymore, and didn’t realize they had been bought by the same group that owns the Root, Jezebel, et al.
You would quickly have realized something changed if you had followed the crap they published in the Obama years.. Let’s say they were so busy trying to be woke SJW that the stuff stunk.
Almost one-third of those with legal problems in the UK report developing a stress-related or physical illness as a result of their experience, according to a new international survey comparing people’s perceptions of justice around the world.
In the UK, 31% of respondents with a legal problem over the past two years said they had become ill, the same figure as Canada and 1% higher than in the United States. Of the 45 countries surveyed, Ethiopia came out highest in this category at 41%.
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/jan/29/one-in-three-people-with-legal-problems-in-uk-develop-health-issues-report
In Romania politicians in trouble often find out they are just to sick to go to jail.
When Judge Napolitano Speaks, Why Does President Trump Listen?
libertarian absolutist – they say that like it’s a bad thing
I still don’t know WHAT IT IS.
Worse than Hitler.
What’s a “libertarian absolutist”?
The truest of libertarian or not a real libertarian, depending on which Scotsman you ask.
Hihn.
So libertarian absolutists scream for squishy statist solutions to policy issues and accuse anyone with any cultural preferences of being Paulista bigots? ;P
You sound like a paulista. Stop assaulting me with your words!
BULLY!
*butterfingers**snickers*I wish the judge really had Trump’s ear. Since trump signed the fisa legislation, it’s pretty obvious he does not.
Yeah, if Trump would only listen to that guy and not listen to Ryan or any of the other statists in the GOP, that would be amazing.
The thing that gets me is how the whole Nunes memo was held back until after the FISA reauthorization vote happened. I have a feeling a lot of people that voted “Aye” would not have done so if they had seen what agents of the state had done to not just undermine an opposition political candidate under cover of that FISA system, but how they then colluded to create a narrative to distract from it.
What if I described the Judge as a constitutionalist rather than a libertarian absolutist?
What if you’d be right?
What if the judge got his rhetorical ideas from an silly source?
What if no one knew the difference? What if people didn’t even know what the Constitution actually says!? And what if, the politicians want to keep it that way?
Sigh… It’s not like this has not been explained around here a zillion times. The Constitution is like 100 years old and written in a language no one even understand now, by a bunch of dudes who owned slaves. We have to make a new one full of social justice and gender multiculturalism or something like that.
Anybody go see “Hostiles” this weekend? I love me a good western but will skip it if it sounds like the script was written by Howard Zinn
Aren’t they all these days?
Yeah, I automatically assume any movie with a native American character will push the whole ‘red man good, white man bad’ trope however, there have been a few descent westerns in the last few years. I like the new True Grit and both neo-westerns that David McKenzie directed…….they had their political undertones but I didn’t feel like I was being smacked upside the head with an agenda.
I saw it. It was more of a people are people, War and conflict bring out the worst in everyone message. There are depict both sides as monstrous and honorable and that the grand scheme of things doesn’t define the morality of everything on the ground. It isn’t the greatest Western but if you are looking for a new Western with good leads it works.
Sweet; I have no problem with “War and conflict bring out the worst in everyone”……I’ll have to go check it out!
So you are saying it’s a Western? Okay now I have to see it.
Even Donald Trump knows when wild exaggeration wouldn’t be believed:
“No, I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist. I mean, I think that would be, maybe, going too far,” Trump said in the interview, according to Morgan. “I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone.”
Perhaps the most self-aware thing I’ve heard him say.
The interesting thing for me is that no one buys the idea that femenisim is about equality anymore, but about being for women at any cost.
It isnt even about being for women. They dont give a mosquito’s turd for women.
It’s just another flavor of cultural marxism, there’s nothing else there.
^^^^THIS^^^^
“I’m for women, I’m for men, I’m for everyone.”
Literally Hitler.
STEVE SMITH FOR WOMEN, FOR MEN, FOR EVERYONE.”
Literally STEVE SMITH.
EQUAL OPPRTUNITY RAPER.
You know, for all the shit we get about being ugly Americans, the other Anglophone countries do a good job of shitting up places.
Putting aside the common misattribution of “Ugly American,” (everyone should read that book to see what a real hero looks like), I’m reminded of a line from PJ O’Rourke:
“Once you’ve been on a plane full of drunken Australians doing wallaby imitations up and down the aisles, you’ll never make fun of Americans visiting the Wailing Wall in short shorts again.”
WTF?
The Trump administration in the memo argues such a plan would kick off a “new paradigm” for the wireless industry by creating something similar to “the 21st century equivalent of the Eisenhower National Highway System.”
The U.S. must make moves to advance in the wireless space because “China has achieved a dominant position in the manufacture and operation of network infrastructure,” the PowerPoint says, according to Axios.
“China is the dominant malicious actor in the Information Domain.”
The plan would move away from the current system in several ways, particularly from the federal government leasing airwaves to companies that independently build and operate their own systems.
The memo paints such a move as being in the interest of national security, while simultaneously creating a secure pathway for new technologies, according to the report.
Trump wants to nationalize the wireless network. He’ll stop at nothing to institute his foul dictatorship. I wouldn’t be surprised if the revenue goes directly into Trump’s secret Swiss bank account.
What can he say? He’s an expert Tropico player.
El Presidente is always right, even when he’s wrong.
El Presidente smokes the finest cigars, whomever he don’t like, he shoots or puts behind bars..
*looks outraged*
Why, I never!
It looks like Vox, but whiter. I’m going to need a better source.
Kendra Tucker looks black…ish.
“Ish?!”
“Well, what’s the word for it, Lana? You freaked out when I said ‘quadroon’!”
No, its fair. If you scroll far enough you can find some people who don’t look like Portlandia refugees.
Much easier to spy on us when they control all of the infrastructure. Also a great way to put millions of people in the Telecom business out of work.
The teacher is planning to press charges against the child.
Mother*******************************************.
I skipped over that link because I don’t want to be angry today.
7 year old, Dude.
I imagined he was the victim, perhaps I misunderstood.
No, he was. Crazy story. If you can’t handle someone you’re 3 times bigger than…. I don’t know what to say about that teacher.
To be fair if the teacher did anything to stop the kid he/she would be the one in cuffs. That’s the idiotic system we have built.
^^^^This
Yep. Since corporal punishment is off the table, legal action becomes the only recourse.
I noted that no father was mentioned in the story. Just a bratty kid, enabling mother, shithead teacher and principle, and asshole cop.
Of all the assholes in the story, I think the seven-year old is the one I have some sympathy for.
Well, maybe if you RTFA…
“Along with her husband, Rolando Fuentes, she met with lawyers to evaluate possible legal actions against the Miami-Dade School District and the police.”
Of course, it could very well be that the husband isn’t his father.
LJW noted that if the teacher had laid a finger on the kid, she’d be arrested and probably convicted of assault (because THE CHILDRENZZZ!!!)
Did you notice this wasn’t the first time he’d done it? Furthermore, the mother claimed there were 30 other women who messaged her in solidarity because their kids had done the same thing?
The thing about 7yos who hit their teachers grow up to be 17yos who hit their teachers, girlfriends, mothers, and knock over convenience stores. And there are 30 other women out there who aren’t ashamed into a grave that their kids hit teachers.
I might have had more sympathy for the 7yo except he had a habit of doing it, and the mother and 30 other women apparently think there’s nothing wrong with it.
I would die of shame, and leave him with the police to stew in his fear.
If seven-year-old me had hit a teacher, I’d be stewing in fear of my parents and wishing the police would whisk me away to the safety of jail.
^This. The fury I’d face at home would be way worse than anything the cops could dish out.
I was one heck of a jackass to my teachers… And man did I get in trouble for it. I also learned quick never to go home and tell my parents about this stuff unless I wanted an ass whooping followed by questions about what I had done to get in trouble.
Stew in his fear of what will happen when he gets home.
7 year old kids are 7 years old. And kids.
We’ve had a couple of kids with serious behavior problems in our kid’s classes over the years. I know one couple who’s kid is a real problem…. and they work really hard to help him be better. They have 2 other kids who are wonderful. They are pulling their hair out and trying everything they can… he is better than he was, so maybe they’ve found some things that work.
I can tell you one thing for certain…. treating an unruly 7 year old as if he were a 27 year old criminal is a really stupid way to go.
Maybe mom was right, and he’s being bullied. That definitely can come out as uncontrollable temper and violent outbursts. Or maybe she’s in denial about her little kid’s behavior. There’s lots off possibilities. But criminal charges are definitely a way to make it worse.
> The teacher is planning to press charges against the child.
Does the teacher actually have the authority to prosecute the child?
https://twitter.com/redsteeze/status/957835342685589504
Apparently at the Grammy’s (which I do not watch) Hillary Clinton came out to read part of that book ‘Fire and Fury’. At what point do the American people get sick and tired of rich white liberals throwing a hissy fit, while behaving like complete hypocrites?
American people or the people who form the audience at award shows?
If people stop watching it, advertisers are going to stop paying a premium for the time, pure and simple.
At what point do the American people get sick and tired of rich white liberals throwing a hissy fit, while behaving like complete hypocrites?
November 8, 2016.
Megan McArdle: You can’t always get what you want
If Republicans wouldn’t act like Democrats most of the time, Democrats wouldn’t expect Rs to act like Ds.
” right-leaning libertarian”
Where does that fall in relation to ‘libertarian absolutist’?
There is a special axis just for that.
You know who else belonged to an axis…
X? Y?
Told you that math was sexist!
Where is the XX graph for female mathematicians?
Symmetry in a parabola?
Stormy Daniels?
Not funny guys.
Maybe not, but this is funny:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rurBHWxYaR0
And conducted an invasion?
These guys?
http://www.wideopenspaces.com/invasion-axis-deer/
Hate crime linked to schools in England and Wales soars
Police data shows 48% rise in hate crime flagged as race-related and 167% increase in transgender-related hate crime
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/29/transgender-related-hate-crime-linked-to-schools-rises
And none of it is fake or misleading. So much hate. Sad
When you criminalize normal juvenile behavior, the crime statistics are bound to go up.
‘167% increase in transgender-related hate crime’
To be fair, 75% of the genders being assaulted didn’t exist until last year.
Without reading it, imma guess bull shit. Gee, can it be their definition of ‘hate’ has expanded? Merely challenging someone’s views is a ‘hate crime’ now.
Just look at the Jordan Peterson fall out and how Newman is claiming his ‘alt-right’ trolls’ are *violently* stalking her.
https://hequal.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/cathy-newmans-feminist-fans-sent-30-times-more-violent-sexist-abuse-to-peterson-his-supporters-than-vice-versa/amp/?__twitter_impression=true
I actually looked in the tweets out of curiosity after the interview and saw very little abuse or misogyny. Mostly ridicule. But this is them trying to change the narrative. They need no proof of this, just claims.
Criticizing a woman is misogyny, you should know that.
What else was she gonna do after that disaster? Change her mind?
Sexist! Women don’t change their minds, reality warps in such a way that they have always been right.
How do you violently stalk someone?
Supreme Court may deal major blow to labor unions
“On the court’s docket next month are fees paid in 22 states by police, firefighters, teachers and other government workers who decline to join unions that must represent them anyway. But much more is at stake in a nation with declining union membership and growing economic inequality.”
Growing economic inequality? Last I heard everyone has the same freedoms to pursue wealth, or did I miss some new law.
But not everyone makes the same amount. But money isn’t everything too.
Well, that’s the problem with that dusty old constitution, it just guarantees the right to pursue happiness; it should guarantee the right to happiness.
Winston Churchill branded RACIST as lefties storm London cafe in weird protest
Well to be fair …
…he said some extremely accurate stuff about people after first-hand experience.
I don’t really see much to argue with there.
because you be not woke?
So unwoke; the unwokest.
Not only racist but Islamophobic. Terrible.
Deplorable even.
Now they are literally standing with Nazis.
I think attacking national icons is a killer strategy. The left should keep it up.
Would you like some article with your ads? I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many ads on a single page.
Scriptblocker says what?
On my phone ad blocking causes issues for some reason.
> You will never make colonialism palatable
Wasn’t this kind of the mid-20th century consensus anyways? It sounds like the protest is about something that everybody basically agree about 70 years ago and now mainly exists in the realm of kitsch.
Christ what an asshole.
Whoever came up with “Peach Fawty Five” is a genius and I thought it sounded like a mixed drink.
So here’s my first stab at a “Peach Fawty Five”, though its definitely work in progress.
1 part Peach Schnapps
1 part Colt 45 Malt Liqour
Half part California produced vodka, Hangar 1
Liberal dash of bitters
Splash of Blue Curacao.
The Colt 45 adds that extra bit of classiness.
If you’re ever in Colorado I recommend trying Brainless on Peaches. https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/22893/62823/. Normally I’m not a fruit flavored beer drinker but this stuff is amazing.
Utah as well, but Epic has a pretty wide distribution footprint, we get their stuff here in Ohio. The Elder Brett is a favorite of mine as well.
Frustrating that they don’t distribute to Kansas. We’re right next door damn it!
I have yet to find anything from Epic that I didn’t like.
And for the women, try Brainless on Herb.
And then you put it in a quart size bottle and put the bottle in a paper bag, right?
So among random things on the interwebz I found interesting
About 2360 years ago, an influential Athenian got a law passed to help some of his friends avoid being imprisoned for not paying a debt to the city. Other Athenians subsequently charged him with legislative corruption. This case would fit easily into a twenty-first century struggle for a well-functioning republic.
In support of this indictment, an Athenian speech described another city’s legislative mechanism. The Greeks living in Locris reportedly proposed laws while wearing a noose:
if any one wishes to enact a new statute, he proposes it with his neck in a noose, and if the statute is judged to be good and useful, the proposer goes away alive, but, if not, the noose is drawn and he dies. … [in more than two hundred years] they had only one new statute passed.[1]
https://www.purplemotes.net/2008/10/19/some-peculiar-legal-institutions/
That’s silly, if politicians were afraid to act, nothing would get done…
Truly, although one would not be remiss at observing that maybe, just maybe, laws are passed a bit eagerly these days and without what the impartial observer would consider full thought as to the consequences of said laws.
Government not so much shut down as strung up. I love it.
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
They usually at least *try* to hide their bias.
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2018/01/28/hillary-clinton-makes-grammys-cameo-to-mock-trump-by-reading-fire-and-fury.html
***
Hillary Clinton’s surprise Trump-bashing cameo during the 60th Annual Grammy Awards on Sunday night caused at least a couple of viewers to switch channels, namely the president’s U.N. ambassador, and his oldest son.
Grammys host James Corden set up a pre-taped bit about who might take home next year’s spoken word gong.
“We know that our current president does love winning awards and the good news is he may just be the subject of next year’s winner [for Best Spoken Word Album],” Corden announced. “The question I’ve got is, who’ll be the narrator?”
Outspoken anti-Trump stars John Legend and Cher then auditioned to be the narrator for Michael Wolff’s book “Fire and Fury” about Trump’s White House.
Snoop Dogg, DJ Khaled and Cardi B also read excerpts from the book during the fake auditions.
Finally, Clinton read from the book and Corden declared, “That’s it! We’ve got it!”
Clinton said, “You think so? The Grammy’s in the bag?”
Corden replied, “In the bag!”
…
After the show, Grammys Executive Producer Ken Ehrlich said getting Clinton to appear in the skit wasn’t tough. However, he credited Corden with sealing the deal.
“She kind of took a couple of days to say ‘yes,’ but ultimately she saw the script, she knew what we were doing and she liked it.”
Clinton recorded the segment near her home on Friday, the Grammys producer added.
He also admitted that he was aware the cameo was receiving some backlash, but said they stand by what they did.
***
I used to think that at least with a republican president they media hold them accountable. But that’s not the case. The media just uselessly attack him for stupidity. Never do they go after politicians for true atrocities. Remember Flint, Michigan? What politician got in trouble?
Remember Yemen? Remember what a joke our presence in Afghanistan has become?
The media doesn’t criticize that (in fact the only praise he’s received from them is when he bombed Assad), because the Left is all in on war now. Fuck, they want a war with Russia over fantasies.
Cosmotarians and Leftists (but, I repeat myself) are gleefully re-tweeting Bill Kristol. These people are a joke
Isnt that the book where Wolffe implies that Trump and Haley are having an affair? So, they are running with that? Jesus.
Clinton said, “You think so? The Grammy’s in the bag?”
Watch. Morgan Freeman wins a Grammy for his dramatic narration of the Velveteen Rabbit.
Advocates make argument for extending food stamps to pets
Just gonna leave this here.
well dogs is man’s best friends and also animals should have the same rights as humans. Exempt them damn cats
If the government would just accept welfare as a necessary inefficiency, scrap the huge infrastructure of case workers and police who support it, and revert to a system of cash payments, this kind of thing wouldn’t be an issue. People spend way too much time preoccupied with what a small number of people do with their meager government assistance stipends.
They don’t deserve one red cent. There. I spent hardly any time thinking about it.
Fine. But just because they don’t deserve it doesn’t mean you can’t just give it to them and move on.
Cash payments are a great idea, but they only work if society is willing to snub the basket cases who waste theirs and come back crying for more. Society would have to be willing to let starve the loser who blew his money on lotto tickets and now can’t afford food, and also be willing to turn CPS on parents who buy a new toy instead of feeding their children. A large number of people would call these actions heartless, so I don’t think we’re at the point where bringing responsibility back allows us to shed the burden of a nanny bureaucracy.
Young couple contracts hookworms in feet at Punta Cana beach resort
http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2018/01/28/young-couple-contracts-hookworms-in-feet-at-punta-cana-beach-resort.html
***
A young Canadian couple who recently returned from the Dominican Republic is warning those who are planning to travel “somewhere tropical” about the risks of walking barefoot in the sand after coming home with “incredibly itchy” feet — which turned out to be parasites.
***
innertoobz sez
***
Life Cycle: Eggs are passed in the stool , and under favorable conditions (moisture, warmth, shade), larvae hatch in 1 to 2 days. The released rhabditiform larvae grow in the feces and/or the soil , and after 5 to 10 days (and two molts) they become filariform (third-stage) larvae that are infective .
***
So this disease is spread by people shitting outside. Would it be fair to call such places shit-holes?
The best part:
You gotta love that free healthcare, man!
But that American healthcare system is a joke. Not even up to par.
All they had to do was go to tractor supply and pick some up, no questions asked.
Yeah, or order it online from a pet meds website.
Well, if it isn’t licensed, then it must not be safe! Why else would it be unlicensed? Canada is just trying to protect them from bad choices.
Invermectin is the active ingredient in heartworm pills for dogs. Those pills are available by prescription only from a vet who charges an arm and a leg for both the prescription and the pills themselves.
As Suthenboy noted, you can buy liquid or paste Invermectin from any farm store in the country over the counter and dose your dogs yourself at approx 1/1000th of the cost (or whatever it comes out too). Not many people are aware of this and still shell out 5 or 10 bucks per heartworm pill when you can give a 5 cent squirt of the liquid stuff on a piece of bread instead.
Yet another example of how restricting medications is primarily about raising money for the Guild.
Huh. I thought they pretty much stuck to interstellar transport.
The spice is just sandworm shit.
Another Hillary story – because we all know we can’t get enough of this beloved public servant
#MeToo meets #ItsAllAboutMe Hillary Clinton
But that’s all in the past. She’s on the right side of history damnit.
It’s funny because the left doesn’t realize that given enough time, we are all on the wrong side of history.
So, her defense of her rapist husband and harassment of his victims has gone down the memory hole.
Also the more recent revelation that she kept a serial sexual harasser on her campaign staff.
Oh whoops I thought I was replying to an earlier story on the grammys. Looks like this story was exactly what my comment was about. Monday derps I’m gonna go back to bed.
It’s amusing that the fifteen minutes the left devoted to sheepishly admitting that maybe they should have taken the allegations against Clinton more seriously amounted to nothing. They expected to use it as a club against Moore and Moore as a club against Trump, and then it all fell apart, including their newfound disquiet about Clinton. Quick, sweep it under the rug!
Me too is a joke now. No adults should pay attention anymore
So Ontario and the Ontario PC party are filled with children.
Hayeksplosives recommended I repost my late-night insomnia-fueled thoughts this morning, so I do now. Her comment prompted my thought:
My theory, like everything I put my brain to, is full of naught but rank conjecture – but it feels truthy.
90% (or thereabouts) of the US population hasn’t lifted a finger thinking about social-political issues. They have a hard time naming any politician besides the president, think the Supreme Court is the NBA All-Pro team, can barely find their own state on a map. But they know what they like and don’t like.
We glibs are in the 10%. I can only speak for myself here, but I’m not all that far into the 10%. But I keep abreast of issues, I have a decent grasp on how the govt operates (was going to say “works”, lol), etc. On the other hand, the “libertarian” you referred to knows that that label is different – and different is good. He’s not one of those rank partisans, you know.
I imagine he thinks there is a line that goes like:
Democrat—————-Libertarian—————-Republican
He probably thinks of himself as a sensible centrist, hence the label. And sadly, if I’m right, this puts him in the upper quarter of the 90% of political morons.
Thanks Gay Jay and the original libertarian Bill “I love war and gun confiscation” Weld!
a sensible centrist – unlike those far-centrists right?
Well, radical centrism is a thing – it’s probably the best way to classify fascism.
A lot of people say “libertarian” and mean “libertine”. It’s the difference between “A legitimate government exists solely for the purpose of protecting individual liberty” and “I think the government should let people do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else”.
“I think the government should let people do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else”.
I’m not seeing the downside here.
Neither do I.
The problem would only arise when you tack on something else. Like “… and the government should support people’s lifestyles” or some such.
But you could play this game with the other premise as well. “A legitimate government exists solely for the purpose of protecting individual liberty … which is why it has to expel all the degenerates who vote for more government”
Freedom means being free from difficult choices and consequences. Freedom means not having 23 brands of deodorant to choose between, but one brand provided for free every three months with the rest of your toiletry ration. Freedom means everyone eats a little less so that everyone eats, and if sometimes there’s not enough to eat, at least we all starve together.
Well progged.
It’s the difference between believing that rights are things that exist prior to government and that rights are things bestowed by government.
I don’t think that is as baked into the second proposition as you assume.
It get’s in the way of most people’s political philosophy, which basically boils down to: “I think the government should make people do what I want, regardless.”
I don’t have a problem with “I think the government should let people do what they want as long as they don’t hurt anyone else”…..my observation is that libertines (i.e. left-libertarians) rarely apply their understanding of the NAP in a consistent way. See freedom of association, etc.
Disclaimer: not ALL left-libertarians
My thing is that the government doesn’t have *the right* to allow people to do things. The Constitution is a great example of this. The Bill of Rights never says anything like, “Because we wrote this bit in the Constitution here, people are allowed to say pretty much whatever they want”, it says, “the government is not allowed to interfere with the people’s right to say more or less whatever they want”. It assumes the prior existence of rights, natural rights if you will, and then delineates the limits within which the government may operate in such a way as to infringe on those rights as little as possible in order to ultimately support them.
I completely agree, I hadn’t really thought through the implied authority of the “should let” part. Negative Rights FTW!
I don’t think you’re saying what you think you’re saying.
The Nolan chart and the phrase “socially liberal and fiscally conservative” are all attempts to claim that libertarians are some sort of sensible centrists who combine the best elements of Republicans and Democrats.
Somewhat related…
There seems to be declining emphasis on economic positions in some libertarian circles. One might forget that the LP’s original motto was TANSTAAFL, or that Reason‘s tagline is (still) “free minds and free markets”. I don’t know exactly why this is; a conspiratorial sort might say it’s an attempt to appeal to the young, hip demographic who was all-in for Grandpa Gulag, or a co-opting of a political movement a la Conquest’s Second Law, but I don’t feel that those explanations are satisfactory.
As was pointed out last night; I don’t think Hayeksplosives co-worker has the faintest clue as to what libertarian means beside “People should be able to do what they want man….ya know……freedom from fear, freedom from want,…..I’m an FDR libertarian!”
FDR libertarian? I think that is the Niskanen institute. Or a single issue pro-booze libertarian.
I came up with that on the fly but I think it works; there are plenty of hipster douchebags out there who would love to progsplain how libertarian all the paragons of progressivism are
Wasn’t Moynihan gushing over Obama?
That was because how charming and cool Obama is. Especially compared to the current president. He did say it wasn’t about his politics just about how charismatic he is.
IMO Obama’s “charismatic” schtick wore thin pretty quickly. Anybody who still thought he was charismatic after 8 years of him being President was either not paying much attention or had joined a personality cult.
IMO Obama’s “charismatic” schtick wore thin pretty quickly.
He had the charisma of a paternalistic egotist. For people who find that repellant, this charisma wears thin quickly, but for people who don’t it lasts.
I agree with you about how happily uniformed most of the country is. I am not sure if due to human nature or the terrible education system but it defiantly an issue. If I recall correctly one of the reasons the founders tried to limit voting to land owners was the idea that they would make sure to be informed on the issues because they had a stake in the game.
This issue is also why charming politicians like Obama are so dangerous. They are so cool that people either ignore what they are doing or don’t bother to find out. An example is pot smokers not knowing or caring that Obama’s DEA was raiding state pot dispensaries during his first term. Because obviously Obama was way to hip to do something like that.
Los Angeles: Man pleads no contest to disparaging Muslims on Islamic Center’s Facebook page
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2018/01/los-angeles-man-pleads-no-contest-to-disparaging-muslims-on-islamic-centers-facebook-page
***
An Agoura Hills man who posted anti-Muslim rhetoric on the Islamic Center of Southern California’s Facebook page has pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges, the state attorney general’s office announced Friday.
The statement said that the defendant, Mark Feigin, also made threatening phone calls to the center. But Feigin’s attorney denies that his client ever made any calls and said the threat charge was dropped.
“It is disgraceful for a prosecutor to drop a charge, and then issue a press release implying that it got a conviction on that charge,” attorney Caleb Mason said in a statement to The Times on Saturday. “An accurate press release would have read: ‘We dropped the threat charge against Mr. Feigin because we didn’t have a case against him.’ “…
The Los Angeles Police Department launched an investigation into Feigin, 41, after the Islamic center received telephonic threats, LAPD officials said after they arrested him during a traffic stop. Those threats, however, did not come from Feigin, Mason said.
***
Please tell me he only pleaded nolo so he can appeal the charge on first amendment grounds.
If it were you, would you really want to press the issue so your name is out in the wider public and your career and friendships are over because you are now ‘literally Hitler’. This is the rationale that progressives make. They know that most regular people would just take the slap on the wrist, rather than fighting the issue. After all, ‘free speech’ is a white supremacist buzz word or some nonsense like that
Oh my God. This state is insane. Someone is brought to court for speech on Facebook?! Unreal. I really hope I get offered that position in Texas. I want out of this state, ASAP!
I dunno, crazy thought here, wasn’t the whole purpose of the Bill of Rights to enshrine the notion that certain values, like freedom of speech, cannot be taken away?
… no matter where in the country you are
Madison was a treasonous slaveowner after all.
I wasn’t addressing the Federalist/Anti-Federalist dispute on the necessity of the BoR.
“We will not turn a blind eye to violent threats targeted at individuals based on prejudice, whether because of race, ethnicity, religion, disability, gender or sexual orientation,” Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said in a statement. “An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us.”
An unsubstantiated prosecution of one of us is an unsubstantiated prosecution of all of us.
Donald Trump: Democracy is weird
“There are rumblings.”
Endless repetitions from sore losers and the squeals of swamp critters do not amount to rumblings.
Trump has no concept of public service – unlike all the other politicins
low salaries compared with the private sector – yeah where is this true?
Definitely not in the U.S.
Average Total Compensation, All Levels of Education:
Federal Government: $64.80 per hour
Private Sector: $55.30 per hour
Note that as you go down the education ladder, the disparity grows. The only group where the trend is reversed are people with PhDs, but they make up only 9% of the Federal workforce (compared to 3% of the private sector).
There’s some confusion on occasion because in some cases government salaries are lower than equivalent salaries in the private sector, but when stuff like benefits and PTO are taken into account the overall compensation is spectacular. For instance, I work for UMD as a web developer. I make about ten, twenty thousand less than I could make in the private sector, at least based on jobs I’ve seen in the area. On the other hand, between sick, annual, and personal leave I have about a month and a half of PTO, I get a respectable contribution to my 403b every two weeks, excellent health and dental, tuition remission, and a slew of other random benefits. The leave alone is at least twice what I’d get from most private sector jobs at the same level.
Wages break in favor of the private sector at master’s degrees and above, so if you factor out benefits you can get a whole 29% of the Federal workforce being paid less on average than the private sector. But, people with master’s degrees and above only make up 11% of the private sector workforce. The Feds are top heavy and it would be disingenuous to say that any of those “underpaid”, overeducated Federal workers are making some kind of noble sacrifice for civil service. The Feds are propping up their employment and subsidizing their degrees, relative to the private sector. They’re making a self-serving choice just like everyone else collecting a paycheck.
There’s a lot of truth to the old received wisdom that government jobs basically trade high salaries for stability, benefits, and vacation. Except that the difference in pay is completely torpedoed by the difference in perqs and benefits. Like you say, the idea that government employees are sacrificing anything is complete and utter nonsense.
To further add to the confusion, some agencies intentionally pay more than their private sector counterparts. The SEC for instance, is grade heavy due to the fact they don’t want their employee’s leaving for a Wall St firm.
I used to contract for a very profitable group within the then-government-run British Telecom. Their product was a hardware and software solution for trading desks, and when I arrived, even the guys who used to solder up the S-100 boards were at ‘senior engineer’ grade.
One of the secretarial staff (a woman, no less) was on a higher grade than my brother, who worked in a different branch of BT as a field installation manager.
I’ve seen “Secretaries” as high as GS-13.
This was the whole production facility.
At the time, the unit was so obscenely profitable, and there were private companies looking to poach chunks of the team. Industrial espionage, the whole 9 yards.
“It is ok if he is elected in some Africa, Asia or Middle Eastern backwater somewhere. But America. WOW.”
Whoa, hold on there. Is this person saying that Africa, Asia, and the Mid East are shitholes?
“It just goes to show that while Democracy might be the best way of selecting leaders at the moment, it is a deeply flawed system.”
That’s why we live in a constitutional republic. If we would stick to the constitution, then who we elect to office wouldn’t matter nearly as much.
Say it with me now: The United States is a representative, constitutional republic, not a democracy.
it is a deeply flawed system otherwise a specimen such as Trump will never occupy even the littlest of pubic office.
What unicorn fairy dust system produces better results every time? Hereditary monarchy, like the one that produced Charles II of Spain? Elective monarchy, like the one that gave the world centuries of corrupt Popes? Dictatorship? Oligarchy? Do tell.
“he is effectively Vladimir Putin’s vassal”
Show us some proof or STFU. These people are really getting annoying.
What proof can there be?
The U.S. is a first-rate superpower. Russia is a third-rate regional power with delusions of grandeur.
The former can’t possibly be a vassal of the latter.
If he was a Russian vassal he would be making nice with Kim Jong Un.
He certainly wouldn’t be as pro-energy as he is. You’d have to be pretty fucking stupid to believe Trump is Putin’s bitch but has done nothing to stem the tide of cheap petroleum.
Which is fucking Russia’s oil-dependent economy in the ass.
American Rushes to Help After a Storm Nearly Wipes Out the Chadian Air Force
U.S. airmen build shelters, train Chadians on new planes
http://warisboring.com/american-rushes-to-help-after-a-storm-nearly-wipes-out-the-chadian-air-force/
Call me crazy, but I don’t think a 3rd world country can maintain an air force.
***
On July 1, 2017, severe wind and heavy rain inflicted significant damage to a large number of Chadian air force aircraft stationed at N’Djamena air base. Three of the air force’s six Fennec helicopters and several hangars were seriously damaged or even totally destroyed.
Less severe damage was observed on at least one MiG-29, one PC-12 and two Su-25s that were struck by debris as hangars collapsed over them.
ADVERTISING
These losses represented a major blow to Chad’s campaign against the Boko Haram militant group. Recognizing this, the U.S. military rushed to help the Chadians rebuild.
At the request of Chadian government, representatives of U.S. Africa Command traveled to N’Djamena during the summer of 2017. And on Jan. 7, 2018, airmen from the 635th Material Maintenance Squadron, based at Holloman in New Mexico, deployed to the Chadian capital.
Their main goal was to build maintenance shelters and conduct training for Chadian airmen. The 635th MMS team started work on three large maintenance shelters to house some Chadian aircraft. The work is schedule to be done by mid-February 2018.
***
Why?
Back in the late ’70’s, early ’80s we gave Bolivia 5 jets, I forget what model. To celebrate the Bolivians held a parade on the highway between LaPaz and the airport…at an altitude of 2 miles in the top of the Andes. The jets were to make a flyover.
The jets made their flyover and everyone in the parade cheered and applauded and waved banners…then they watched in horror as all 5 jets, one after another, crashed into the mountainside.
Yep.
You got a cite for that, or even better, a link to a film clip?!
Crazy.
I searched here and couldn’t find it. Did find some stories about crashed Bolivian Air Force transports.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Lists_of_accidents_and_incidents_involving_military_aircraft
Not finding it here: http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/americas/bolivia/Bolivia-af-home.htm
MiG-29, one PC-12 and two Su-25s ,
Those are all russian. Why would U.S. troops be involved in building maintenance and repair facilities?
Duh… So that in 10 years when France immolates itself and the Legion is no longer nearby, the Chicoms will have a spiffy facility to move into.
How are we gonna get the per-unit cost down on the F-35 if we don’t go out and sell the shit out of it?
The easiest way to make a profit from the F-35 would be to sell it to Russia and China. That would have some drawbacks though.
Seems like the easiest way to win a war would be to drop the whole project on someone else’s doorstep, gratis, and let them bankrupt themselves.
Get to take a nice peek under the hood of those export models…
Because Chad is fighting Boko Haram and Al Qaida in the Maghreb.
The Pilatus PC-12 is Swiss a small passenger/cargo turboprop. 8-10 people < 5000lbs of cargo.
I thought it was a weird yoga course.
Interesting article in the WSJ about school vouchers. It questions the benefits of vouchers somewhat, and I question the criteria they’re using to make that judgement–but it’s full of interesting facts, starting with this:
http://archive.is/7DhFk#selection-2147.0-2151.299
No sub needed
There’s a link in that quote to an earlier story about where that $20 billion is coming from–the first $9 billion appears to be coming from spending cuts to other programs.
From the second article:
—WSJ link to follow
Cutting the budget to privatize the system?
The teachers’ unions are going to be furious.
Here’s another interesting fact from the first article linked above:
So, sending kids to private schools with vouchers actually saves Milwaukee’s taxpayers’ money.
The Trump administration may be flat wrong about, x, y, and z, but they’ve also got this thing called “competence”. There’s no substitute for competence.
Second Link:
http://archive.is/7pvsp
“Trump Budget Proposal Cuts Work Study, Bolsters School Choice”
Blueprint envisions 13.5% decrease in education funding overall
Vouchers > charter schools
I will never understand people who support charter schools, but oppose vouchers. Actually, I believe that their opposition to vouchers is rooted in their belief that keeping the poor in their community, but in better schools is fine. But, allowing poor kids to attend the same school as their kids is offensive
Eliminating public schools = even better.
Vouchers are better, I agree. I would he more in favor of getting rid of the tax that pays for the public schools and letting people do what they want with their kids schooling.
Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good
“There is no substitute for competence”
This is why we must crush the patriarchal meritocracy.
Cool with school choice, but I’d rather the federal government just roll back its involvement over time.
School choice is the means to accomplish that. Vouchers are the way to accomplish that.
If dumping poor, public school kids on the street overnight is politically impossible, then here’s the way to privatize the system.
And if they’re doing it despite budget cuts, then it’s all good–then the government is, in fact, getting smaller.
I didn’t see that the budget was getting cut so much as the money just being spent in a different way. Vouchers are sort of a step in the right direction. However, the way colleges are funded through federal student loans isn’t that far from a voucher system amd we can all see how well that is going.
Under the specific condition that vouchers are re-allocations of funds already being spent on K-12 education, I disagree. The money is already being spent, the moral hazard is already there.
The difference between vouchers and the subsidized student loans is that the latter injects additional money into the demand side whereas the former just increases liquidity on the demand side without changing the amount of money.
I think it would depend on if the vouchers were held to set amount and perhaps parents could keep anything over the tuition cost, providing an competitive cost pressure among schools to keep tuition rates down.
I believe the upper limit for federal student loans are far above most school’s undergrad tuition costs, which provides an incentive for schools to increase tuition higher since federal funding will match it.
“I believe the upper limit for federal student loans are far above most school’s undergrad tuition costs, which provides an incentive for schools to increase tuition higher since federal funding will match it.”
Yup.
Fewer students in public schools and more in private schools–at lower cost to taxpayers than public school students–is making the government smaller.
Meanwhile, they cut the discretionary budget for the Department of Education by 13.5%–in one year. Further expansions of their school choice initiatives to $20 billion will come at the expense of other spending initiatives.
The budget where the Department of Education’s budget is suddenly cut to zero has a zero percent chance of happening with this congress and this electorate. It is impossible. Making the government smaller while cutting the Department of Education’s discretionary budget is possible, however, and that’s what the Trump administration is doing.
Maybe look at this way:
Moving students from private schools to public schools and bringing them under the auspices of government is called “nationalization”.
Moving students from public schools and into privates schools is “privatization”.
If the government can spend less taxpayer money than they would have otherwise on privatizing the school population, then we libertarian capitalists should want them to do that.
Our goal isn’t to seize the levers of government and use its coercive power to inflict the privatization of schools on everyone under threat of violence–and then deny them the right to vote libertarians out of power.
Our goal is privatize as much as we can, give people the right to make choices out from under the teachers’ unions as best as we can, and continually urge American voters to want, demand, and defend more freedom for themselves at the expense of government.
What the Trump administration is doing here is amazing.
Milton Friedman is dancing in his grave.
Yeah.
At the local level.
The federal government should be rolling back its spending on education.
If they’re supplying the money, they’ll also be calling the tune. It will just get the feds more involved in private education. No vouchers. Tax credits or nothing.
A significant cut to college work-study programs
If your work-study program requires special government funding, then you’re doing it wrong.
WARNING: May cause localized swelling in the groin.
http://archive.is/mDZdV
3, 7, 18, 21, 22, 28, 32, 35, 36, 47.
well there ibuprofen for that
55 has it going on, but Viking Barbie (#12) made me laugh.
#17 looks too much like a Real Doll. #25 has a dumb piercing. Excluded from the orgy.
Whistleblowing Tesla Engineers Say Model 3 Batteries Being Made by Hand, Slowing Production, Creating Potential Fire Hazard
Artisanal batteries!
100% natural organic ingredients
I’ve heard it argued that the only truly artisanal product still made in any signifigant quantity in the U.S. is bathtub meth.
I’ll have you know there are hipsters in Brooklyn selling artisanal mayonnaise.
Why not just buy the fucking batteries from Panasonic?
Panasonic batteries are neither locally-sourced nor organic.
Yes, but they exist. I would think that would be a major point in their favor.
Crazy talk.
The word “organic” comes from the Greek word “organon”, which means tool or instrument.
Therefore, everything man-made is organic.
The word shares the same root as “work”. It is from the Proto-Indo-European root *werg.
…..The more you know!
Meanings are transmitted unchanged via etymology, are they now?
It’s odd for a word that once referred to artificial things has now come to mean the opposite. The current meaning of organic dates to 1942:
***
organic (adj.)
1510s, “serving as an organ or instrument,” from Latin organicus, from Greek organikos “of or pertaining to an organ, serving as instruments or engines,” from organon “instrument” (see organ). Sense of “from organized living beings” is first recorded 1778 (earlier this sense was in organical, mid-15c.). Meaning “free from pesticides and fertilizers” first attested 1942. Organic chemistry is attested from 1831.
***
My favorite etymological flip-flop
***
Fizzle: The verb fizzle once referred to the act of producing quiet flatulence (think “SBD”); American college slang flipped the word’s meaning to refer to failing at things.
***
Bemused is the worst offender, and it’s all because the dictionary maker was too dense to understand what Alexander Pope meant by it.
“Verbiage” is the word I hear mispronounced and misused the most.
https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/957759761419784192
This is actual bravery. Regardless of your opinion on the message, this took balls. In contrast, anti-Trump remarks to a room of rich white liberals is not brave, it is the very opposite of brave
That’s a good response
Yesterday I mentioned my Ikea Kallax modification for storing records. You can read about it – along with pictures – via my shitty blog.
And yes that carpeting is getting replaced soon. My house was a rental for 20-something years before I bought it so, needless to say, it’s been a long, long project updating everything.
Looks great.
+1. Nice work.
This is very interesting to me.
I have 3 of the 4×4 Expedit, and 2 of the 2×4, most in the same ‘blonde’ laminate you don’t like (worse – mine don’t match; 2 of the 4×4 are a darker walnut color)
How would you describe the difference in the material? the Kallax look…shiny. like they’re polymer surfaced or something. And i love the idea of the feet… but would be concerned about the strength of the material to actually handle the pressure on those feet. A fully loaded 4×4 set of shelves is…. unbelievably heavy. I think the 2×2 setup is far more reasonable. i feel like the Expedit, stacked 4 high, would break down the middle if it were supported only by feet on the corners.
Most of my shelves are actually broken down in the attic and 60% of my records are in boxes. I’ve got a few of the shelves set up for stuff i like to access regularly, but its definitely going to be time to rebuild the whole setup at some point soon. B
Many of the pieces IKEA produce are actually coated with polymer-coated paper.
Personally, If I had to use that kind of product for record storage, I’d run threaded studs all the way across and cinch them up with nylock nuts on each end. My bigger fear than sagging shelves – which I don’t doubt would happen, is the unit racking (twisting), because all the force is concentrated on a couple of 1/4 dowels and a few sheetrock screws.
” threaded studs all the way across”
trying to imagine what you propose, and i’m not really seeing it.
I think i’d probably just buy metal shelves and spare myself the bob villa.
or just not load the existing things to full capacity on the top shelf. (or at all. use the top row for other things)
I don’t disagree – the additional cost of putting in the studs and the still-suboptimal result of doing so makes a powerful argument in favor of steel shelves.
The one thing LH did do which will probably save the project from problems is that central leg, although I’d have gone all-out and put 2 in. The loading of the shelves will be putting a significant fraction of the mass of both levels of records on the right on the middle of a span constructed out of a material that is ill-suited to torsion.
fwiw, those old Expedits operated perfectly fine for me for ~10+ years, fully loaded to the top
and even crazier – for a while i stacked the 2×4 on TOP of the 4.×4, making them 6 high, and fully loaded as well.
I later decided this was basically asking to become a “Man found dead inside apartment, buried underneath vinyl” situation, so changed things a bit.
having broke them down 2-3 times since, i think i’ve gradually worn open some of the joints where the soft-wood dowels link the pieces, and i don’t think they’re in ideal condition anymore…
….so i think my own personal project was likely to paint the broken-down Expedit pieces (something flat and industrial, like grey primer, followed by grey hard coat), and use them for other sort of furniture applications. (i.e. not record-storage)
the records tho… will eventually need their own room, and i’d probably get these Kallax things for that purpose. I personally couldn’t do the 2×4 down on the floor level, because half the point for me is having the records from waist-to-eye-level for quick scanning
Depends on how handy you are, but torsion boxes mounted straight on the wall studs might work better.
At least with the weight of LPs, I would be worried about any of the larger Kallax bookshelves. All of that weight on top can cause bad things to happen.
The Kallax – based on moving the Expedits to the garage – were definitely a little lighter, but they seem just as rigid. But still I added the “fifth foot” in the middle, just in case. Perhaps a 2X4 would get by with six Captiva feet on the bottom.
And yes the Kallax – at least the model I bought – are shiny as if hit with a paint gun. But not all of them are like that. You can still get them with a faux wood finish.
that sort of catastrophic failure is exactly the sort of thing that concerns me. the boards are basically laminated styrofoam/particleboard.
Scientists find method of measuring effects of a fourth dimension
long story short- no evidence for a 4th spatial dimension
***
Two teams of scientists have measured the effects of a fourth dimension in a pair of lab experiments. Scientists didn’t discover an extra dimension, but they did show how materials might behave if there was one.
“We don’t have four spatial dimensions,” researcher Mikael Rechtsman, a physicist at Penn State University, told UPI.
Physicists have been interested in the quantum Hall effect since it was first described in the 1980s. The effect described the fixed, quantized nature of conductivity in 2D materials.
“This was surprising to physicists because you have disorder in a material — between different samples you expect to have different fluctuations,” Rechtsman said.
When materials move from 2D to 3D, the quantum Hall effect disappears, but using advanced mathematics, physicists showed — in theory — how the effect would reappear in a hypothetical fourth dimension.
Until now, the hypothetical fourth dimension was only a math formula. Rechtsman and his colleagues translated the effect to the material world. They did so by emulating a 4D material with an array of wavelengths. To create the wavelengths, scientists etched tiny tubed patterns into a piece of glass using a laser. The system is known as a waveguide.
***
“Marty, you’re not thinking 4th dimensionally!”
I call it a clock.
fun fact: it is impossible to write definitions for “clock” and “time” that are not circular
time: what clocks measure
clock: a device for measuring time
Time: the linear and irreversible progress of existence and experience.
Time: An interval between collisions.
Clock: A device for normalizing or regulating intervals.
OK, you got me there.
So the girly-man ibuprofen story:
After reading it, not so sure it’s as terrible as it’s made out to be. Testosterone levels stayed constant in all groups (control and ibuprofen), but the LSH went up in the ibuprofen group. They’re measuring “compensated hypogonadism”, a diagnosis that’s a bit controversial on its own, by looking at the free test to LSH ratio, so obviously this went down. Looking into compensated hypogonadism, it’s not associated with any sexual performance problems and its association with sperm quality parameters is not clear. Basically, these guys wanted to get a blockbuster publication, the media grabbed it because you have a super common drug affecting people’s dangly bits = automatic mega clicks.
Just switch to Aspirin.
Hemophiliacs hardest hit.
I don’t read news articles about scientific studies. If anything, I click through to the actual study and then read that.
Media people are concerned with getting clicks and/or ratings, not with telling the truth. This is why every scientific article is wildly misrepresented and exaggerated.
Today in the left eating its own, the New York Times is now a White Supremacist paper
“pro-Trump PR?”
Also Radley Balko?
I fully expect Balko to start saying that the word ‘chain migration’ is in fact White supremacy, without any basis for such an accusation, of course. Balko is more concerned with looking ‘cool’ than having any principles at this point. The ‘man’ is such an inconsistent shit that he thinks one can say ‘local police are unbelievably corrupt, while the FBI is pristine and pure’ and still be taken seriously
Was Balko ever actually a libertarian or just an anti-cop guy?
Anyway I do remember him saying on Reason he didn’t care about the Duke Lacrosse because they were rich white kids.
Also the notion that we need Top Men to keep the local cops on line is nothing new.
Sure it’s nothing new, but it’s also hilariously retarded.
How can someone say local police are thugs, while deeming the secret actions of a national police force with unlimited resources is totes good. Only a mentally retarded chimpanzee would hold such an opinion
The FBI can take down Trump which is all that matters to Balko.
The FBI can take down Trump
“You’re all fired.”
/Head of the Executive Branch
an anti-cop guy
Unless the cops in question are with the FBI, which is trustworthy somehow despite its record of instigating criminal acts, seizing property via asset forfeiture, never recording interviews, and using false but immaterial statements to entrap people.
If my comment reads like I hadn’t fully read the thread… it’s because I hadn’t. However, I think it adds some context for Balko’s hypocritical FBI apologetics.
I don’t really know who the Miler guy is so I Wikipedia it
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Miller_(political_advisor)
I find it interesting that he is called far-right in the first sentence and then it is not really expanded much. The references citations go to articles that don’t really make the case for far right (at least the two i read) except some dubious association with Richard Spencer.
I am not saying he is not far right, but an encyclopedia should be a little more careful with these things.
Judging from his band, I wouldn’t have guessed far right.
Fun Fact – My MiL went on some dates with the Space Cowboy when she was an undergrad at BU.
She experienced the Pompatus of Love?
Worth noting: Richard Spencer is not what I would call right wing, much less far right. Being a racist doesnt peg on the political spectrum and being a nazi, if that is what he is, makes him far left.
“DCResisterBee ?
@DC_Resister_Bee
Jan 27
More
Replying to @sarahkendzior @nadinevdVelde @nytimes
I cancelled my subscription to the NY Times and put it into @thinkprogress instead.”
/face palm.
From a reply supporting her initial, retarded Tweet.
What you’re feeling isn’t a paradox, son. That’s what we call cognitive dissonance. See, if you want to be tolerant, you have to, you know, tolerate. And being happy that people are saying things you agree with isn’t tolerance. You don’t have to tolerate things you find agreeable, see. That’s not what tolerance means.
It’s called Repressive tolerance. Robespierre, Lenin, Mao and plenty of others had said similar things.
Wow, so all of these people are cancelling their subscription to the NYT because some dingbat is all wee weed up over someone’s differing opinion on immigration? It’s not enough that the NYT churns out several Trump attack pieces every week? Lol, this stuff just keeps getting better.
#Woke
OPSEC people, OPSEC.
http://time.com/5122495/strava-heatmap-military-bases/?utm_campaign=time&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&xid=time_socialflow_twitter
I will never understand people who support charter schools, but oppose vouchers.
Vouchers can be used to support evul jesus brainwashing academies.
I don’t know why the Krauts don’t have the worst reputation as tourists. I have so many obnoxious Kraut stories.
You know which other Germans went to other countries and caused problems?
My ex-sister in law?
The Frankfurt School?
Donald Trump’s grandfather?
/prog herpderp
HIS REAL NAME IS DRUMPF!! *spittle flies*
George Soros?
Because you’ve never had a busload of Japanese tourists unass themselves into wherever you are?
Nope, but I have seen Krauts do this!
Hah! Was in Banff at the famous hotel one morning. Nice buffet breakfast…then the Japanese tour group descended like hungry locusts. You’d have thought they never saw meat before. A skinny chick elbowed her way in front of me and piled about eight inches of bacon onto her plate. Her mamasan knocked over three other ladies in her scramble to dip endless ladles of eggs onto her plate. I think the hotel had to send for an entire truck of pastries to replenish their supply.
I’ve heard that the Brits are (in)famous for their propensity toward forming orderly lines and that Americans have a hard time with that, but I swear to God I’ve seen more foreigners totally disregard lines in the US. Shit, I was pushing a stroller with my then-infant daughter in it heading into a “family” bathroom in the mall to change her diaper when three Pakistani (?) women of various ages literally pushed past me as if I wasn’t there. I don’t know if they couldn’t see me for the head scarves, or maybe because I had about two feet on the tallest one they didn’t realize I was a person and not some very realistic statuary or something, but I was livid.
Historically, yeah, in Britain queuing was expected. It’s one of the reasons the NHS worked for so long – join the line, don’t cut in, wait your turn, don’t yell and complain.
Haven’t been back in years, but I doubt it’s the same now.
My parents were having an anniversary lunch on the deck at the Lake Louise Lodge, when a coupla Krauts sat right down at their table with them. No asking, no greeting, no nothing. Just sat down at their table. My Ma, who was as German as it gets without actually being born in Germany, could not stand people from the Old Country.
German Tourist behavior is so real, and so obnoxious that it was the butt of a number of Monty Python sketches.
My wife is from Korea and is about 5 ft tall. I can always find her in a crowd by simply looking for a bunch of people who have a surprised/outraged look on their face as they spin around to see who just elbowed them out of the way.
When we visit Korea my wife is constantly annoyed by how slow I move. I can’t get over my Minnesoda roots and start pushing my way through crowds like the natives do. I keep waiting for gaps so I won’t have to bump and jostle anyone.
I always joked with her anytime that we saw a semi-circle of Koreans pushing and shoving to get through a gate or a to the ticket booth and called it “an orderly Korean line.”
Japan has a lot of bumping and pushing, but nothing like Korea. They don’t mean to be rude, but I think in those countries, they don’t have the same understanding of personal space that we do. My wife is a very polite person for the most part and she doesn’t see anything wrong with pushing through a crowd.
That reminds me of the time I was trying to order pastries in a very crowded bakery in the Kraut-speaking part of Italy. I was politely waiting to be served, and it took about 5 minutes for me to realize I would literally never get my lunch with that attitude.
I’ve noticed at our local Chinese buffet-style restaurant, the workers (who are Chinese), will walk right in front of you, even if you are walking along the main aisle. You might expect employees to yield to their customers, but instead they make a beeline from where they are to where they are going.
When we visit national parks, the key is to go where busses cannot. The people you meet at the end of a really strenuous hike are all super nice, regardless of their nationality.
Even the French.
“Even the French.”
Surely not!
The bus tourists are definitely the worst.
Every time I’ve been to Yellowstone I’ve seen at least one bus based tourist who steps across barriers onto a hydrothermal feature.
Then again you see idiotic behavior from even what you would otherwise expect to be the least likely groups. In Canyonlands I saw a few boy scouts climbing up a steep hill covered in biologic soil crust and the scout leaders were oblivious.
My kids buy a “Death In (Name of Park)” wherever we go. They love to read about the stupidity of tourists around deadly hazards.
Uffda. My wife and I went on a trip to Cheju-do island in Korea and we went on a bus tour almost every day.
My favorite was these 4 old mean Korean women who bitched at the driver and tour guide about everything. One day they even bitched about the rain like the driver made it happen on purpose.
Until you’ve seen a busload of them unleashed on a beach ,wearing knee socks, sandals, and speedos, you really don’t know just how bad they are.
Yes, I saw this. I studied abroad in Alanya, Turkey. The town was populated by a few Turks and a whole shitload of beet-red shirtless Germans who had never heard the phrase “indoor voice” (Innenstimme).
I sympathize. I was at a beach in Portugal, and my brother and I seriously debated calling some sort of medical attention for some people who lived where the sun does not shine. I seriously saw blisters on their shoulders and they were still in the sun.
Big hands, I know you’re the one.
For those who love beer, and have a special someone, Bell’s brewing is one again offering up handwritten Beerentine’s.
Valentine’s day is the stupidest of holidays. I wish it would go away.
I can’t get past the date verification thing.
‘Please enter at least a 4-digit value for the year.’
‘Please enter at least a 4-digit value for the year.’
‘Please enter at least a 4-digit value for the year.’
‘Please enter at least a 4-digit value for the year.’
‘Please enter at least a 4-digit value for the year.’
And that is that.
Isn’t it “pinch hitting?”
Yes. Although that sounds like sexual harassment.
Last week,I mentioned I would attend a local meeting where the transit authority would propose extending a suburban rail line. I went, along with about 100 other folks. First thing, I identified the reporter in the room and made sure I got his attention and made a comment. So today the story is top of the first page in the newspaper. There are nine of us who managed to get quoted: all were wildly or mildly in favor of the project, except for me. This project is a boondoggle of the first order: I’ve calculated that the annual carrying cost of the construction bonds (20 yr., 2.5% interest) is about $21 million. And the fare box receipts for the projected ridership? About $3.5 million per year! Guess who will pick up the difference AND the millions needed each year for labor and maintenance? My next stop will be to write a letter to the editor pointing all this out. Yeah, it is unlikely I can turn the tide alone, but someone has to speak up. I urge each of you to be the person in the room hollering “the emperor is naked” whenever your local politicians and their fanboy enablers start demanding free shit in your neighborhood.
“Guess who will pick up the difference AND the millions needed each year for labor and maintenance?”
Usually the federal government and the state, so everyone other than the people who use the system
Keep on fighting the good fight.
You won’t win, but at least you get to be really pissed off a lot.
I’ll never know, because the transit folks are putting completion on this project as year 2040 and I expect to be long gone! In the meantime, they keep getting the taxpayer suckers to put up money for “feasibility studies” and the choo-choo rah-rah folks keep buying in.
That sucks. I am proud to say that TampaBayMan has voted down the trains so bad that they did not even try in 2016.
Every once in a while I’ll Google the names of the graffiti artists whose names I see on the train bridge across the Potomac. Today is DC legend Cool “Disco” Dan.
The only graffiti around here (southwest Ohio) is a “MEASESE” tag and a “<3 u rachel babybird" on a disused railroad bridge going over the interstate. Not sure who or what "MEASESE" is.
There’s a famous graffiti artist in Dayton called Meas, according to Google. “MEASESE” could be “Meas Ese”
not just the bridge, apparently there are still dilapidated buildings standing with his tag from the 80s on them..
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2017/07/28/a-folk-hero-d-c-street-art-legend-cool-disco-dan-dies-at-47/?utm_term=.758805b9c634
Back in the day, my favorite was the Ska Penis. Not traditional graffiti, as it was pretty much just a marker drawing on various mailboxes and light posts in upper NW.
i don’t ride the red line past Brookland much anymore but i was sad to read someone defaced the Sean Taylor memorial mural.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2015/03/26/someone-defaced-the-sean-taylor-graffiti-mural-at-the-brookland-metro-station/?utm_term=.c13c703f9c55
WTF, for a Blogspot blog??? That’s so stupid I’m tempted to believe that it’s a false flag.
https://www.apnews.com/c88b9c3081e043bab90efc3b29b5f27d/Kochs-warm-to-Trump-policies,-not-behavior
Kochs warm to Trump. Christ
Oh noes, not the kochtopus!
Will Reason move from TDS to Trump Cocksucking?
“Trump’s three marriages are proof of the end of the socons and thus the libertarian moment is upon us.”
“Trump’s appearance in Home Alone 2 is proof of his love of capitalism and consumerism therefore he is libertarian.”
God damn that would be just as equally unbearable.
“How Trump’s Toupee and Tan are examples of the wonders of liberal capital consumerism which makes him libertarian.”
“Trump uses Twitter. FDR and Rockefeller couldn’t use Twitter therefore he is a libertarian.”
You’re good at this
Lowering taxes is an effective cure-all.
They should try it again next year.
VW, BMW and Mercedes tested dirty diesels on monkeys caged in gas chambers
http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/01/29/vw-bmw-and-mercedes-tested-dirty-diesels-on-monkeys-caged-in-gas-chambers.html
You know what other German liked to use gas chambers?
So a step forward for Germans?
Drake?
I no Nothing about that!
Nice reporting. What happened to the damn monkeys?
Lamp shades.
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.
Boyle?
I believe Boyle was British. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Boyle
Reading the Grauniad reminds that many of the left flat out despise libertarians as literally being genocidal.
I hey have never bothered to hide their loathing of libertarians and think Trump and the GOP are too libertarian already. Hence why cosmotarianism is doomed to failure.
I think you guys might enjoy this one.
Bankrupt city to give away free money
Lol.
Huh. I wonder what happened to the businesses that used to provide those nice middle class incomes…
Ah, Stockton, just have to hold out long enough for that magic railroad to come along and save your asses.
https://www.google.ca/amp/reason.com/blog/2016/03/30/the-demise-of-the-republican-party-and-d/amp
Two years and thus article still makes me chuckle.
Thus spake Groovus:
That’s a fine question, and it ever goes unanswered. Though the absence of an answer kind of provides one IMO.
Hope Groovus is okay.
Hope Bailey’s chimpanzee brain is OK.
“non-warmongering Democrats”
No such thing
There’s Greenwald and…um…
Also I love how he is assuming that these “socially liberal” business leaders will be fiscally conservative let alone anti-war.
“Socially liberal” is also the greatest bait and switch ever devised. These “socially liberal” people are the greatest authoritarians. Case in point: Gay Jay.
From what I can gather “social liberal” was coined to mean the opposite of classical liberal. And even in US context the social liberals were gun grabbers.
And the libertarian use of it was always a nonsensical way to avoid talking about ending the welfare state.
Also note how Bailey said “non warmongering” instead of “anti-war”
“Melding socially liberal businesspeople, non-warmongering Democrats, and avowed libertarians into a new party”
Yeah, I always sort of liked Ron, but that sentence is just impossibly stupid.
Unintended consequences of trademark law lead to this comment: [I can’t wait for the November Foxtrot Lima’s Immense Match between the Region East of New York Partisans and the Delaware River Accipitridae! Especially since it’s being played at the Amalgamated Territories Financial Institution Sporting and Entertainment Venue in the City of Water!]
Just makes it easier to spy on us. But if you have nothing to hide.
https://hotair.com/archives/2018/01/29/hey-whos-nationalizing-cellular-service-america/
Ajit is the man. Whoever tricked Trump into appointing free market radicals in education and the FCC really pulled one over on the president.
So are lefties going to oppose this because Trump while still heaping abuse on Ajit Pai for favoring the market over government? Or do they embrace this because FAKE NEWZZZ and, hey, Trump won’t be around forever.
Question-
Is it even possible for the feds to nationalize an industry or product?
I think FDR nationalized or tried to some manufacturing during WW2, but I don’t think outside of a non emergency power there is a legal mechanism for our government to do this. At least I hope there isnt.
Between the expansive interpretation of the commerce clause, and the perennial favorite FYTW clause, I don’t think there’s much standing in their way, apart from Congress.
There is no constitutional mechanism for Obama’s Government Motors antics, but there it is anyway.
The feds took over the Bell System and phone service during WWI.
More recently, the SC slapped Truman down for trying to do similarly
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Youngstown_Sheet_%26_Tube_Co._v._Sawyer
Pardon my rant about why I hate HR . My wife worked a couple temp jobs last year when she was waiting for her new job to start. Her W2 from them is missing Federal Withholding but has chunks of everything else on there (state tax, social security, etc). I’ve called the company for a week now and left 3 messages for their HR person who does the W2, just wanting to confirm that this wasn’t a mistake. The exasperated receptionist finally agreed to personally walk the message back to this jerk.
What is about government and HR employees that they can’t exhibit the barest amount of courtesy and competence on the job? Surely, it couldn’t be that neither group produces anything of value and are just there to make the productive workers’ lives more difficult. The amount of money missing is negligible and not worth my time pursuing, but now I’m just pissed about her inability to do her fucking job so won’t let it drop on principle.
HR are basically corporate secret police, primarily tasked with protecting a company from its own workers.
My wife had this problem when dealing with a denied medical insurance claim.
Insurance Company: “That procedure isn’t covered by your company insurance policy.”
Wife talks to HR person and asks to see the insurance policy.
HR drone: “We can’t show you the actual policy. That’s confidential. You have to deal with the insurance company.”
This was her pre-lawyer days. I wonder what wrath would fall on HR and the insurance co. now.
HR’s efficiency is judged by determining if they kept the company out of trouble with the law, not with how good they are at doing the things that employees need them to do.
Agreed. Their impact is growing too on businesses as the law becomes more encompassing. I’ve mentioned it before, but promotions and raises at my company are overseen by HR based on years experience + education degree. It doesn’t matter how well qualified you are for the position, the formula has to be followed regardless.
I suspect this is a defense against gender or race discrimination lawsuits. It also prevents a company from using their best employees to their greatest potential.
Bernie steps off the Dem reservation.
http://freebeacon.com/politics/sanders-bonuses-due-tax-reform-everybody-pleased-worker-gets-raise/
LINK!
And has also been suddenly afflicted by caring about deficits. This thing is worse than the flu of 2017.
Doddering old commie points out water is wet, contra prevailing wisdom among fellow socialists.
I watched a show about Anthony Bourdain in Puerto Rico. Pretty much every episode of that show is the same. He goes to some place ruined by socialism and eats and gets drunk with the locals.
Puerto Rico used to be prosperous, because the govt offered a tax break to companies. The tax break expired in 2006 and now they have $70 billion in debt.
He met some ass hat who’s trying to stop the construction of a hotel near his favorite surfing beach, because to hell with all the people who might work there. Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate is 10% and the govt provides 25% of the jobs. And even though the cost of living is lower, it has the same minimum wage as the rest of the US.
9 of the top 10 zip codes for disability payments are in Puerto Rico. The cost of living is lower there, but the various welfare payments are the same as the rest of the US. You might as well rename it Welfare Island.
What a clusterfuck!
All of these places are wonderful when you can get paid to hang out and eat and drink for a few day and then get the fuck out.
I went to a nice little bar in Puerto Rico – Marilyn’s Place. There was even a bar cat.
The bartender hardly spoke any English but booze is a universal language. “Geeen and Tonic?”
The bar in the Dam Square railroad station in Amsterdam has a bar parrot who roams the place. The bartender was constantly shooing him away from the lemon and lime slices.
My favorite bar was the one with 400 year old mung hanging from the walls and chandeliers.
And the staircase there is a death sentence.
You can see why the Dems are trying so hard to get it statehood.
We should grant Puerto Rico their independence.
Been saying that for years.
Genius
The second and more important point that he misses is that the U.S. trade balance is determined not by the level of a country’s exchange rate. Rather, it is determined by the difference between the country’s saving and investment levels.
If a country saves less than it invests, as is the case in the United States, it will run a trade deficit irrespective of the level of its currency.
Had Mnuchin understood this basic point of economics, he would not now be wasting his time promoting a weak dollar. Rather, he would be making every effort to increase the country’s savings rate.
Hmmm.
OK, I’m pretty illiterate when it comes to international economics, but the strength, or otherwise, of the US dollar has some effect on trade balances, right?
Roughly speaking – the stronger the U.S. dollar, the more expensive U.S. products are overseas, causing less to be purchased and U.S. exports to decline. Meanwhile, U.S. consumers are able to purchase foreign goods for less, causing imports from foreign countries to increase.
So, stronger dollar = wider trade deficit for the U.S., all things being equal.
Whether that’s bad or even something we should worry about is up for debate.
RN, I’m gonna pimp my hero here – go watch “Free To Choose” on youtube. All of it, if you have time, but otherwise, just start at #1 and go to about #3 or #4.
I got my w2 in the mail today, I will probably do my taxes later this week. Does anyone know if the trump tax cuts go into effect for FY 2017?
90% certain they go into effect as of January 1 but you won’t see it until February.
I don’t think they go into effect until FY 2018. The adjusted withholding just went through for me and I’ve been getting an extra $40/paycheck which was unexpected and nice to have. That’ll help cover the increase in my health insurance premium.
I’ve been trying to figure out if the obamacare mandate is still in effect for FY 2017 and surprisingly there’s almost nothing out there about it. The best I can tell is that the mandate is not actually gutted until 2018 or possibly even 19.
Calendar Year 2018, not fiscal year. If you are a business and your fiscal year is different than the calendar year, you will have to prorate.
Technically the individual mandate still exists, they just set the penalty to zero dollars. And I think I read that doesn’t happen until 2019. Sorry, no reference.
I does the enforcement of the insurance mandate work?
I don’t recall ever having providing proof of insurance when I file my taxes. If one lies about having it, would you have to be audited for the IRS to catch it? Is there a criminal penalty for lying about it?
A couple years ago a buddy of mine’s wife didn’t carry insurance for the year. He left the question about insurance blank and didn’t pay the penalty. As of right now it hasn’t come back on him. I don’t know if this is good advice or not, but so far it has worked for him.
You don’t provide proof of insurance to the IRS, your insurance company does. The notice you get in the mail is for your information only, they send another copy to the IRS.
Norm McDonald is now tweeting an imaginary golf tournament in which he is the leading player
https://twitter.com/normmacdonald
I hope he wins
Cinderella story, out of nowhere, former greenskeeper, now about to become the Masters champion.
Does anyone know if the trump tax cuts go into effect for FY 2017?
You could call the IRS and ask, but Trump completely defunded them, so there are no tax experts to answer the phones.
He could probably look it up on the Internet, but since Trump banned net neutrality, it will probably take you several days to get the information.
You laugh but…
Due to the tax law changes signed into law on December 22, 2017, the IRS withholding calculator is currently unavailable. The IRS will update the calculator as soon as updated withholding information is available.
there are no tax experts to answer the phones
So, business as usual.
I’ve mentioned it before, but promotions and raises at my company are overseen by HR based on years experience + education degree. It doesn’t matter how well qualified you are for the position, the formula has to be followed regardless.
Fairness, FTW!
In which the Niskanen Center attempts to impute a false equivalence between pro-government lefties and their pro-business counterparts on the right.
This is such a lopsided, half-assed effort to cram Democrats and Republicans into the same box that I could almost shrug it off as well-intentioned equivocating. But it’s premised on an argument I find flawed and a little infuriating. I don’t decry the notion of income inequality because I don’t believe it exists, I decry it because the cures offered up by its critics are invariably worse than the disease. If lefties approached the idea of income inequality with pro-market, pro-individual solutions of the sort that the Niskanen paper offers–cutting down on needless licensing schemes, for example–there would be something worth discussing with them. But the left is stuck in a single gear on the issue: rather than going to the root of the problem, they’d prefer, in typical fashion, to treat symptoms: they’d rather boost the minimum wage than get rid of lucrative local controls on professional entry. They’d prefer to expand Section 8 allowances than give up their benighted zoning schemes. Failing schools? Increase funding–it doesn’t matter how it’s spent, just give them more money, and don’t you dare bring up the idea of competition. And so on. To the extent that “conservatives and libertarians” don’t buy into the left’s zero-sum mythos of income inequality, it’s because the left offers no serious-minded reforms, just doubling down on what created the mess in the first place.
Was that published before or after they published that article that advocated for nationalized single-payer health care as a way of reducing the disincentives for people to get off welfare?
This is what happens when your brain is addled with SJW nonsense. Case in point: Brink Lindsey
Furthermore, it’s far from clear why “income inequality” should be a rallying cry in the first place. I don’t oppose obtuse licensure schemes because it enriches incumbents at the expense of newbies, though it certainly does, but because it is a deeply immoral system quite aside from the imputed wealth transfer. It is immoral to capriciously deny people opportunities to improve their lives through work–period. That others benefit at their expense reinforces the terrible wrong that has been perpetrated. It is a colossal evil to lock certain students into failing schools to preserve property values in other districts–period. It’s no less an evil if it’s done in the name of preserving jobs for the politically-connected, or for minorities. It’s evil to enjoin people from developing their properties as they see fit. The wealth transfer and resultant income inequality compound the wrongness of the wrong, but efforts to ameliorate those effects without overturning the initial misguided policies is foolish and results in even more byzantine regulation. So, no, I have no interest in discussing “income inequality” with people bent on further enchaining the human spirit.
They make no distinction whatsoever between inequality caused by cronyist government policies and inequality caused by some people working harder, working longer, or working in a more lucrative field.
They bitch about being called communists, yet they treat a difference in income as some kind of terrible problem that the government must stamp out by any means necessary.
Commodious, I do use a similar argument with lefties to bring them into agreement that regulatory capture and cronyism is bad, and can often get them to admit that a large number of regulations and a huge federal budget are going to be pursued by companies as a source of revenue. Then they disagree when I say that the Free Market wouldn’t end up with quite this many inequalities because there would not have been all of the bailouts and protection from competition the Government has established through its regulation of the market.
Like the public sector? Of the 25 highest-income counties in the U.S., 11 are in Central Maryland or Northern Virginia.
but the strength, or otherwise, of the US dollar has some effect on trade balances, right?
Some people think so.
Also, I cannot stop asking myself where that guy has been for the past decade or more, as the government has actively been making war on savers, and desperately trying to inflict higher inflation on us.
He’s an interesting combination: AEI fellow but also past apparatchik at IMF.
My wife and I have been doing some financial house cleaning, and part of that has been to set up a good emergency fund in an account that will allow us quick access but still at least match inflation. Trying to find savings accounts with interest rates even approaching inflation seems nigh impossible. Best we could find was Ally, and that’s an issue of finding the least worst option.
since Trump banned net neutrality, it will probably take you several days to get the information.
“Please deposit one hundred dollars for an additional three minute.”
All moved in to our first home. Now I get to pay rent to the government instead of an individual landlord.
https://twitter.com/willwilkinson/status/958017285570121731
More ‘libertarians’ (used exceptionally loosely) attack Jordan Peterson for the cocktail parties and lolz
The “libertarian” label is going the way of “liberal”, it seems.
So now what are we supposed to call ourselves?
Nazis.
Back to “Classical Liberal” I guess … ::kicks pebble::
I dunno. I started going with “classical liberal” a little while ago. For whatever reasons I’ve become what I suppose would be called more “paleo-libertarian” since my teenage years. There’s also a lot of baggage attached to the libertarian label. Besides, I tend to think of the principles most people here seem to consider “libertarian” as older, traditional things for which we already have a name, not a new, trendy set of ideas that needs a new label.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lefties of all stripes start using it, having completely destroyed “liberal” and “progressive”.
Protip: If you need to keep changing the terms for your movement because once people learn what ideology attaches to the label you become unpopular, your ideology is wrong.
***
Conflating discrimination and free speech is exactly what white nationalists do. To be clear, Peterson is not a white nationalist or member of the “alt-right.” He says he hates those guys and tries to steer his followers away from them. At the same time, if you watch a few Peterson videos on Youtube, the site’s algorithm will send you down the rabbit hole of “alt-light” to “alt-right” hate accounts. Unfortunately, Peterson and his followers don’t seem to understand why that’s happening.
***
Is that because people who like white nationalist videos also like Jordan Peterson or is it because YouTube deliberated tweaked the algorithm so that he would be associated with them?
Incidentally, if you watch popular progressive videos, you will find suggestions for communist videos. But heaven forbid you accuse Thom Hartmann of being a communist.
I have an ingrained distrust of anyone who spells Tom with an h.
So we’ve gone from guilt by association to guilt by algorithm? Isn’t that just great.
Wilkinson is a hack. His linked article is pathetic and contains multiple logical errors. The first and foremost of which is declaring that just because a government declares the intention of a broadly defined law to be more narrow in scope than its wording would suggest makes it more narrow in application.
The thing is that Peterson was citing passages in the Canadian Human Rights commission’s website when he made those assertions. He was quoting their actual language.
Then, when the spotlight came onto those pages, they commission edited their website (without any announcement or acknowledgement). The changes basically obfuscated and softened what they’d been flat out asserting – that failure to use the pronouns properly – even without mens rea – could get one ‘convicted’ of a human rights violation.
The fact that they haven’t prosecuted anyone … yet… in no way changes what Peterson was warning about.
The good news; The Niskanen center is pretty much dead. It has no energy behind it. I’ve never had anyone share one of their articles with me saying that it was making good points. When people do link to one, it’s to savage something stupid that it contains.
So Wilkinson is doomed to labor away – churning out words that few read and even fewer remember fondly. One hundred years from now, it will be as if he never existed at all.
Exactly. This whole thing is an exercise in the “trust us” theory of government.
That Wilkinson would recommend a garbage article complete with glaring logical errors speaks volumes about his intellectual worth. He’s a slave to fashion.
a government declares the intention of a broadly defined law to be more narrow in scope than its wording would suggest makes it more narrow in application.
Stated preference v. revealed preference. The stated preference is narrow, the revealed preference is broad.
Only a fool believes that, when stated preference differs from revealed preference, it is stated preference that actually counts.
Mr. Liberaltarian earlier had three straight retweets from fuckin’ Sad Beard. He’s a joke, and not a funny one.
Holy shit! That essay Wilkinson linked to was a disingenuous dumpster fire.
Anyone who had spent 30 minutes listening to any peterson lecture on the subject of CB-16 would have recognized the essay was garbage. Which tells me that wilkinson doesn’t really do alot of research. Which is unsurprising given the garbage that keeps coming out of his center.
It’s funny he works for them, presumably a think tank established by this guy.
If ibuprofen reduced sperm count, I would be childless.
Speaking of Jordan Peterson- Conor Friederdorf has what seems to me to be a very nice coherent takedown of the rhetorical tactic employed in that BBC(?) interview.
“So, what you’re saying here is [something completely different than the actual point made].”
Oh, has Conor wandered back over to sensibility again? He’ll do that from time-to-time. Something about that column drives previously reasonable people nuts.
“What I’m saying here is [repeat previous statement verbatim].”
Don’t read this if you’ve eaten recently. I haven’t been around here much lately, so apologies if it’s been posted previously.
The shit about deliberately provoking situations to get arrests sort of ties in with this book I’ve been reading about government sector unions. The book mentioned the common tactic of police “trolling” – a practice where police seek out and escalate situations right at the end of their shift so that they have to work over and collect overtime pay, which boosts their yearly income and ultimately their pension.
Ugh.
We’ve been watching “Dope” on Netflix, and it’s been…interesting. It’s definitely, shall we say, uncritical of the police, but the most egregious bit that stuck out to me was the Chicago episode. The cops pull over an SUV and the lead officer goes over to the driver’s side door and jiggles a loose speaker housing. He says something like, “See that…that’s loose…they hide guns in there…there’s no other reason for that to be loose.”
Right…so it could be that someone’s hiding a pistol there or, and I know this is crazy, it could be that the driver’s side speaker housing in a part of the door next to the driver’s foot might be loose because after ten or more years of wear and tear the plastic connectors aren’t the best. Or maybe he has aftermarket speakers and the installer broke the plastic housing putting it back into the door. But no, you’re right, assume the driver has concealed a pistol there in the past and happened to remove it on the day you pulled him over.
Same guy pulls a car over for…driving funny, maybe…and walks up to the driver’s side window all Officer Friendly, asks the driver to get his license and reg, AND THEN PUTS HIS HAND ON HIS PISTOL.
So now what are we supposed to call ourselves?
Nazis.
duh
I was thinking “Classical Gliberals” might not be a bad choice.
I thought we decided on shitlords.
I was thinking “Classical Gliberals” might not be a bad choice.
I think I’ll just refer to myself as a “dipsomaniac asshole”.
It’s got a nice ring to it.
And the apparent benefit of being true!
today I learned
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Army_of_a_Dream
***
The Army of a Dream is a speculative fiction short story written by Rudyard Kipling, published in the Morning Post in June 1904.[1] It models an alternate way of organizing the military, along lines of responsibility and competence instead of heredity and privilege, as he had seen that the British Military was at that time.
…
The story itself involves a military man taking the narrator around and showing off his military unit, the Tynesiders. It is revealed that in their society, military service is voluntary, but almost universal, because only those who have served may vote, along with a number of other incentives.
…
Rudyard Kipling was, in general, a major influence on one of the 20th century’s most influential writers, Robert A. Heinlein. In his seminal work Starship Troopers, Heinlein models a similar society, where one is not a citizen unless one becomes a veteran of government service.
***
“Well everything’s stolen nowadays. Why the fax machine is nothing but a waffle iron with a phone attached.”